The Bright Eyed Brunette

JJ and Trey.  Doesn't Trey look SO excited that I'm taking his picture?! Ok, so none of these are my kids, but they were just so cute, I had to take their picture!  They little kids from the pre school class hold the flags and Bible for the pledges and they were just so stinkin' cute :) More:   We have been sick off and on all week around here.  I started getting sick last Saturday, and every medicine I have taken has not helped.  Carlie started getting it on Wednesday and Makena got it today!  I kept telling her not to drink after me because I was sick, but I caught her I know 3 times doing it!  I took my mid-term yesterday, and I find out what I made tomorrow!  It was super hard, so maybe I did OK! Special prayer request: Please pray for Miles Anderson and his family.  He is an eleven year old boy that goes to the girls school and he had a tumor removed from between his eyes this afternoon.  I know that he has some more test to go through, so please just pray for them.

Well this Wednesday hasn't been filled with nearly enough studying for that mid-term tomorrow, but we did have some fun.  I had to run into town and pick up Noah from my mom because she had to take my Papa the doctor and to get an MRI.  We ended up grabbing some Wendy's before coming home.  I studied for a little while and found out that I made a B in both of the classes that I finished.  I was happy with that because they were both super consuming!  I took all four kids (mine plus Noah) to swim at Mom and Dad's with Aunt Vicki and Maxee.  They had a really good time playing together, even though Noah was truly worried that Nanny was not there!  He was very relieved when she  made it back :)  So here are a few pictures: Noah and Trey trying to fool me into thinking they were taking a nap in their blanket tent! T was showing Aunt Vicki his back flip off the diving board Noah was happy just floating in his ring. My happy girl Maxee Parker sliding down the slide I was tr

This week is Vacation Bible School at our church.  Our theme is Rev It Up: Full Throttle For God (race car theme) and the kids are absolutely loving it!  I'm not sure about last night, but tonight we had somewhere around 35 kids, which is pretty good for a community this size.  A lot of kids that we normally have were either out of town or at church camp and some have even moved :(  I am doing music (again) for pre-school through age 12 and I am so glad that Carl has been around to help me.  He has been my go-to guy :)  Here are a few pictures of the week so far: Trey thinks his sunglasses are awesome because Carl gave them to him :)  They were watching Speed Bump (see below) This is Speed Bump:  my dad!  Each night there is a little skit that involves a character named Speed Bump.  As you can tell by the looks on the kids faces, he is hilarious!  This is probably their very favorite part :) Makena, walking to the room with her classmates. Look at all those handsome boys:  Aver

Carl decided he was going to start the pump up in our pasture so he could wet-down a spot he is going to try and plant some corn in (for the deer). He was working hard trying to get the water to go where he wanted it to go. Some little people decided that they wanted to play in the mud!  I never played in the mud because, well, I'm not really a mud girl, so I was pretty grossed out by all of this! Carlie was grossed out by it too because only Makena and Trey played in it :) Even Happy got in on the action! They had to rinse off in the "clean" water!! That well water was FREEZING COLD!! Fun, cheap entertainment.  Even if they do look like some country bumpkins!!

Carlie was flying high in the airplanes Trey was ready for his turn Makena getting all buckled up and ready to fly. Makena and Carl were ready to ride.  I couldn't do this ride because I don't think I could handle the slam down! Makena is a real thrill seeker.  She loves all the high thrill rides. Instead I was crazy enough to do this ride... Makena rode it with me :) It was NUTS!! Check out the big ole gap Carlie has on her top teeth! She is losing teeth left and right :) Tuesday we drove down to Hot Springs to spend the day at Magic Springs.  The kids had a blast.  I didn't get many pictures because we went to Crystal Falls (the water park) and I just put my camera in the car. It was a very fun trip!

We got woke up on Tuesday morning by a little thunderstorm.  Thankfully it wasn't really raining much by the time we got done with breakfast.  The kids wanted to go back out to the hatcheries to feed the fish like they did last year, so we did that first.  Here are few pictures: In front of the sign.  The funny thing is, I didn't even have to ask them to stand here, they just saw the sign and posed!! Carlie feeding the fishes!! Makena loves watching them swim fast to get he food. I don't know what was up with Trey and those silly poses. A few minutes after these pictures Makena and Trey both slid down on some moss.  Makena cut her knee and Trey got his bottom all wet! All that splashing and I only threw on little piece of fish food in there!! After we left the hatcheries we went to ride the go-carts and then we went to visit the Buffalo River. I can't wait for the day when we can all float the Buffalo.  It's something that Carl and I used to enjoy a lot, but I

Ready to set sail! Carlie showing off her drink.  She kept trying to talk me into letting her have coffee....I don't think so! He was so excited about driving the boat...and maybe a little nervous! Captain Dave helping T Captain Carlie! And Makena Me and Carl on the lower deck They were all so happy :) Trey was about to pop Carl in the head...he was crying just moments after this! Trey was looking down at me.  I wish you could see it better. Enjoying the beautiful night.

Monday we left for our annual trip to Branson.  We were so excited, but had not really decided what all we were going to do yet. I guess that I had been so busy trying to get all those papers written that I hadn't really researched my trip schedule very well.  We arrived in Branson around 1:00 p.m. and went straight to the hotel, got checked in, rested (for a minute), then went to the lake to swim...or not!!  Not thinking about all the floods that had taken place earlier in the year, we bee-bopped down there only to find out there was NO Swimming beaches!!  They were all under water.  The kids LOVED Tablerock lake last year, so they were a little disappointed.  We decided to go back to the hotel to swim for a little while before driving down to Branson Landing for dinner.  It was a really fun night even though the floods had damaged the equipment for the water/lights/fire show, we ended up going on a moonlight cruise of Lake Tanycomo.  I would highly recommend it...it was fairly in