Weekend fun

Friday after school we headed to the pool. Hannah and I swam 3 times that day; while Richard was at school, after school with Richard, and as a whole family when Chris got home from work.

Saturday we headed out fishing. It was 20 degrees colder than Friday and windy so we didn't get much fishing done. The water was choppy and the fish just weren't biting. So we went for a beautiful drive later.

Here is Richard with his new hair cut. At school Friday he caused quite a stir. His teachers almost fell over from the shock and the kids, especially the girls, where paying him a lot of attention. He thought it was pretty cool!

Chris found these unusual flowers and now we are seeing them EVERYWHERE.

Then we went swimming that afternoon.

Bad Dreams

Hannah woke up in hysterics last night crying, "Mommy, there is a monster in my closet!" I put her on the pillow on the floor next to my bed and went to get her blanket from her room. She slept peacefully the rest of the night.

This morning on the way to school, all she talked about was her bad dream that is in the closet. At first she started to cry when she was telling Richard about it. He comforted her and gave her a hug and let her know, "It was just a dream, it is in your head."

Hannah argued that, "No, it was real and it is in our closet." She proceeded to ask me for the next 40 minutes, "Mommy, will you get the bad dream out of my closet? Mom, I want you to get that bad dream out." And so forth.

My little angel was so upset and didn't want to go into her closet with me, but we are going on a bad monster dream hunt so she can have peaceful dreams tonight.

Down by the riverside...

Our pool is days away from opening and it has been HOT. The kids have enjoyed playing in the river and digging in the mud the last 3 days.

Then they like to "get a little sun on (their) skin," as Richard puts it.

These beautiful flowers are at our apartment complex. They just get prettier, bigger, and brighter each day. It is so much fun. (This picture doesn't even do them justice.)

Fun family times

We packed up early Saturday morning and headed to some federal forest areas nearby. Chris wanted to try out his new gun. We spent some time shooting targets and learning gun safety. We forgot a box to shoot at so Chris used fallend branches and tape to make this nifty little target holder.

Here is our Hannah banners having a great time.

Richard had a lot of fun until one of the guns kicked back and bumped his nose. He bled for a moment, and Chris tried so hard to get him back "on the horse." Richard shot one more time, but was really gun shy. Ha, ha.

Then we went to a nearby lake for fishing. And drove to a campsite for a hot dog roast, but found it was right by a river that was perfect for fishing and playing in. The weather was perfect and the water fairly warm so the kids got right in and had a BLAST!

On the long drive home we sang some primary songs and Richard and Hannah started hugging each other. They are such good friends.

Growing

Richard is learning about growing this week in school and we passed by a bunch of baby trees. He went to pick one and the roots and acorn it was growing from came out too. He wanted to take it to school to share with his class. Hannah was so sad that we left it at the school that I had to go back and get her one, along with a whole acorn. Look how happy it made my little one!

Richard's teachers were thrilled and thought it was so cool that they had just read about acorn becoming trees yesterday. Fun stuff!

Fishing the Arkansas River

Our views

This is part of the drive every morning to Richard's school. It is so beautiful!

Notice the pollen on the hood of the car. This yellow pollen is EVERYWHERE!!! Thank goodness none of us are allergic to it! Every single car is just COVERED in it.

The park

Monday after school, I took the kids to the park. They were so excited to try out their new buckets. Richard left his at school with some discoveries in it so he used his easter bucket.

Easter Sunday

We had a very low-key Easter between General Conference, being away from family, and that we went to the huge egg hunt/party last weekend. The kids didn't mind, so long as they got some surprises from the Easter Bunny.

The kids each got a shovel and pain filled with chocolate, a poster, and a toy or two. Hannah got these number/letter foams that the kids had a lot of fun with. Richard got an airplane set. They were both very happy.

At first, Richard thought this was a kite, but still happy to know that he could hang this cool poster on his wall.

Chris helped Hannah open her poster and she shouted, "That is what I wanted. I wanted this." I'm sure the Easter Bunny is very pleased with his/her decision to get this poster. Hannah talks to the Mad Hatter almost every day and puts her princess dress on to be Alice. Very cute!

It was a nice, peaceful, relaxing day. I'm so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement. What a blessing to know the truth of our Father's plan and to strive to live the gospel daily. I find great joy in watching my children learn about Jesus. Each night I sing a few songs to them before bed and one or the other will ALWAYS ask for, "Heavenly Father" (A Child's Prayer) or I Am a Child of God. And they are getting really good at saying their prayers and thinking of family as we do so. I'm also thankful for the loving example of a worthy priesthood holder as a husband and father. We have been so blessed and I KNOW that it is all due to the love of a wonderful Father in Heaven.

Discovering...

Saturday we ventured out to find a shooting range and passed by a lake that we later stopped out. Chris had the kids gather sticks and old fishing gear that was lying around the shores of the lake. He untangled some fishing line that he found and began to makec these fun fishing poles for the kids to practice fishing.

This is one of the items Richard and I found...

...and this is how we got it. (Thanks for the flattering shot, Chris, lol)

Then Chris tried to get a turtle shell we found floating...

...but it was dead. So sad.

You know you are in Arkansas when you find a toilet seat floating in the pollen infested lake...

...and an old, flat tire.

But we had a lot of fun soaking in some rays and spending quality time together as a family.