Summer Fun!

Mimi and Papaw got a boat!! We spent the 4th of July weekend in Russellville with them, and stayed on the boat as much as possible. Alivia loves the water. Aleigh is still a little scared. Despite wearing a life jacket at all times, she thinks she is going to sink. She is content with hanging on to the ladder and slowly climbing down into the water, but she will not let go...even if we are right beside her in the water. Alivia's favorite thing to do is jump off of the side of the boat....

That picture cracks me up every time I see it!!. Look at those legs!

This is how Aleigh and I prefer to spend our boat time...

She's my little Sun Baby. (Yes, she is coated in sunblock. No sunburns were acquired in the making of this picture).

We are having a great summer, so far! Hopefully, we will have a few more weekends on the lake. It's going by so fast!

I can't believe that it's only a month until Alivia starts kindergarten and Shawn starts school at the U of A in Fayetteville. Aleigh wants to go to pre-school so bad, and it's hard to explain to her that she still has one more year until she can start. She wants to do everything Alivia does. I think I will have to buy her a lunchbox to take to Granny and Pops' house. She's already been looking at them because she knows Alivia is getting one for kindergarten. They are growing up!

Vacation 2010

We wanted to go back to the beach again this year, but decided it would be nice to go visit Shawn's grandparents since we don't get to see them very often. I guess we made a good decision! About a month after we changed our plans, the oil spill occurred.


We went to Memphis first. We've been wanting to take the girls to the Memphis zoo for a while now. They have one of four panda exhibits in the United States. It is a very beautiful zoo. They have made a couple of expansions since our last visit, and they are planning another one that looks amazing!

Our next stop was Holly Springs to visit Mamma. The girls enjoyed visiting her house, but they were a little shy. Finally, Alivia came out of her shell and sat down by Mamma and told her all about the nightmare that she had the night before. I have no idea of why she decided to tell her about that! Aleigh just asked for snacks...does this surprise anyone???

That afternoon, we left for Vicksburg to see Grandma and Grandpa Simons. Of course, Shawn called them right as we left Holly Springs to let them know that we were coming. That was fine with them. We had a huge, delicious meal waiting for us when we arrived that evening...steak with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, peas, jello with fruit, and cookies!! After all of the driving, we relaxed some the next day. We took the girls swimming and went back to Grandma and Grandpa's that evening for another great supper! Chicken, potatoes, green beans, cold macaroni salad, and more desserts!

Of course, I had to hit the outlet mall the next day. We bought a ton of clothes for the girls at the Osh Kosh outlet!! They are both shoppers, so they loved picking out and trying on several different outfits. I could have spent the rest of the day (and our money) at the Kitchen Collections store. Did I need anything? No. Did I want everything? YES!!!










It was a fun trip, but it's nice to be home. We definately want to go back soon!

Pre-School Graduation

Alivia graduated from pre-school on Thursday, May 27. They performed a Western themed program. It was so cute! They wore jeans, boots, bandanas and cowboy/cowgirl hats. They sang several songs and danced a little bit. I guess this is the beginning of all of the cute performances that we will be attending while the girls are in school. We were so proud of Alivia! She was not shy or nervous about being in front of everyone. After all of the kids received their diplomas, Aleigh said, "My turn!" and took off for the stage! Luckily, I caught her before she made it.

We were all excited when we walked into the pre-school and saw Grandma Garr sitting in the audience!! She has not been in good health, but she felt good that day and decided to come. She looked really good and enjoyed the ceremony!

Aleigh is 3!

Happy Birthday to Aleigh! She was really looking forward to her 3rd birthday party. Her theme was SpongeBob SquarePants. She got a lot of fun gifts and a new picnic table! She got her very own Tag reader like Alivia's, a princess dress up kit, some pretty dresses, a Play-Doh Ice Cream shop, Hungry Hungry Hippos, a princess keyboard, and lots of coloring things.

Kindergarten registration

Alivia is officially registered for kindergarten. *Sigh* Hard to believe she will be starting in the fall. August 19th to be exact.

She will be going to Rena Elementary, home of the Rena Rockets! It is about a mile from our house. I was really impressed at registration. I thought we would just fill out some paperwork, maybe look around for a little while, and be on our way. Luckily, I was wrong.

After we turned in the paperwork, they asked us to line up in the hallway for a tour. They gave all of the kids cowboy/girl hats. They could choose red or blue trim. Of course, Alivia chose red because it matched her red outfit! They took us to the library (where they had big comfy couches and chairs), the music room, and the kindergarten class rooms. There are five kindergarten teachers at our school, we met all of them, and visited all of their class rooms. Each teacher gave a 5-10 minute "mini-class" in each of their rooms. The kids sat on rugs in the middle of the floor and the parents stood at the back of the room and watched. It was so cute! We really liked all of the teachers, but Alivia and I have already picked our favorite...Mrs. Brown! At the end of the tour, the kids had a cookie and juice or milk, and they received a BIG bag of goodies! It had several books, crayons, scissors, glue, cards, magnetic numbers and letters with a magnet board, and Play-Doh. The teachers provided ideas on how to use everything over the summer to prepare for kindergarten. Alivia has already been writing stories, practicing with her scissors, and sorting her letters and numbers.

We all feel so much better about kindergarten now! I think this is going to be a great school. Alivia is excited and ready to get started!

Easter 2010

Happy Easter!!

Alivia and Aleigh enjoyed their Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny left them lots of surprises in their Easter baskets. They found all of the eggs that he hid in the house, then we went to a field by our house to hide the eggs again. Surprisingly, I got more pics of Aleigh than Alivia. Usually Alivia hogs the spotlight, but I guess she wasn't in the mood for pictures today.

Alivia is 5!

Needless to say, Alivia was very excited about turning five. She wanted to go to a restaurant for her birthday dinner on Thursday, her actual birthday. She chose The Lighthouse. It's a more up-scale seafood place that is right on the river. No McDonald's for our girl! We all enjoyed the nice dinner together. Before we left for the restaurant, we gave Alivia her "big" birthday surprise....a princess bicycle!

Alivia's birthday party was on the following Saturday. Her theme was Yo Gabba Gabba, which I thought she was too old for, but that's what Aleigh had for her 2nd birthday, so Alivia had to do that, too.

Granny and Pops got her the pearl necklace that she wanted, and we got her a jewelry box to keep it in. She also received some pretty clothes, Zhu Zhu Pets with a playhouse, a Tag reader with books, movies, a puzzle, and lots of other surprises!

Happy birthday to Alivia!