What we have been up to...

...making beautiful hair...

...having tons of fun at the park...

...a LOT of fishing...


...and even MORE swimming. We found this beach over the weekend and it was so much fun!

Thoughts and Movie Reviews

I realize these movies have been out for a while. We are not good at staying "current" with a lot of things and that doesn't bother us in the least. It has been a long time since I have done a movie review because I just don't really care about too many of them. But I watched this one this week and it was very thought provoking. (There may be some spoilers so beware. lol)

The overall tone of the movie was sullen and quite depressing. If you don't already know, the movie is about a retired widower whose kids all cancelled on him for a famiy reunion. He decides to pack up a bag and head out to see each of them. He encounters problems all along the way and doesn't get to spend much time with any of them. (All four kids live in different cities/states.)

His perception is that they are all just too busy with careers to bother with dear ole dad. The movie seems to be more from his perspective and your heart really aches for the man. The reality is that each of them is hiding a truth from him to save him the pain.

So here are the thoughts I've been having:

When did we all become too "BUSY" for our family and what is MOST important?!?!

Chris and I have really been focusing on this since our most recent move and his 60+ hour work week. Are all of our material possessions so important that he needs to be in this job that is making him miserable in a place that we are all feeling isolated?

We just feel like there is more to life than being busy, busy, busy. In fact, I've learned to despise that word. Chris and I are trying to take the steps to slow our lives down and have more time as a family: focusing on our relationsips and spirituality. We are both in school to improve our education and minds. We are reading scriptures and other books to the kids more often, and we reserve Saturday for FAMILY ONLY activies. Neither of us do homework on Saturday. We go hiking, swimming, watch movies, take picnics, and go on adventures all day.

I want my kids to learn that faster pace and cramming your day full of stuff isn't living life to the fullest. What matters most is family, God, education, and learning to work efficiently. I love the days we don't turn a movie on or use the computer. We don't have iPods or Blackberries for a reason. I would rather talk to my kids and learn from each other than constantly being on electronics. We are just learning and have a long way to go, but it has been so nice.

The other part of the movie that got me thinking was that all of the kids were lying to their father. How is that saving him heartache? In the end he finds out what they are each hiding and they all become so much closer. This is a powerful message. Though the truth can be painful, it is far more powerful and freeing than a lie.

On a lighter note, "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" is hilarious. It was a lot of fun to watch. Both Chris and I had some great laughs throughout the entire movie. I didn't realize Sarah Jessica Parker could deliver funny so well.

I would love to hear thoughts from any of you on this.

One weekend, two lakes, tons of fun!

For Memorial weekend we headed to the lake. Lake Chicot State Park is in the southeastern most part of Arkansas and that is where we were able to get a camping site. It was exhaustingly hot, bug-infested, and crowded, but we had quite a bit of fun.

The weekend started off with a 2 1/2 hour drive where we found an Amish country store and stopped to buy some goodies. Once we got out camp set up we went to the fishing dock. We were there until the sun set. Here are a few pictures of our fun evening.

We watched this beautiful sunset as we fished until it was dark.

The kids had fun at the camp and made friends quickly. My little socialites.

Oh! This is where my kids get it from. lol

It was so hot that we bought a wading pool in town and put our feet in. Then we ended up paying to swim in the big pool at the campground. They had water slides and fountains. It was a blast and completely refreshing.

I have never actually seen one of these, just in the movies. Chris and I laughed about it and I quickly snapped a pic.

Monday we went to a lake up north...Greers Ferry. We were hoping to get in some good fishing and swimming but 30 minutes after we got there the winds and the rain came calling. We were DUMPED on! We gathered up our fishing gear and ran to the car in the rain, luckily we were in our swimsuits because we were DRENCHED!

In the car we made sandwiches then headed for a drive to another part of the lake to wait out the rain. The kids napped and then we went fishing again. All-in-all it was a really fun day.

My favorite part of the day was when Chris was at the back of the car handing forward sandwich stuff. The kids and I were safely in the car and Chris was under the back door. A bolt of lightening with instantaneous thunder. It was close, REALLY CLOSE. We all jumped and I turned around to check the kids, but what I saw was Chris...frozen, jumped out of his skin, terrified. I am still giggling about it. Does that make me a bad wife? Hey, he laughs at me all the time. :)

A dirty, fun time

A couple of weekends ago we loaded up the car and headed to a campground we found with a river running right next to it. It was a good place for Chris to fish and the kids to swim. But when we got there the water had raised so much that we couldn't swim. Chris and the kids fished for a bit then Richard and Hannah started to play in the dirt.

My kids are such cards. I love their silly faces all the time.

These two got so very dirty! It was a lot of fun.

On the way out we found a turtle crossing the road. Chris grabbed it and put it in the dirt-covered car. He tried feedit it a chip so it would come out of it's shell. That didn't work. lol

The second we put it back on the ground it hurried off, as fast as a turtle can hurry.

On the way home we stopped at Hot Springs, AR to take a few pics of this beautiful view. We were looking for the bath houses they have with natural hot spring pools but none of them were open. :(

I LOVE MY DARLING KIDS!!!

Hair fun

It is a rare thing for Hannah to let me do her hair. Therefore, I have been trying to get her to let me do "princess hair" from the the blogs I have recently been visiting. She gets to pick a style and then I get to try it out. It has been really fun. Here is one of her new do's.

Please pardon the uneven parts, I'm a bit rusty and Hannah is a bit wiggly.

Pre-graduation

These pics were taken on our way to Richard's pre-K graduation.

His whole school had planned a huge program with fun songs. Richard was the ONLY kid, of 150+ students, that REFUSED to participate. Chris and I bribed him with EVERYTHING, even a trip to Disneyland, but he would not budge. It was so disappointing and frustrating that he would not even stand with his class that Chris decided we should just go home. :(

A big thank you to Mrs. Brizzolara and Ms. Elliott for being so great with Richard for the last three months. We were not only lucky to get into Fair Park Elementary in the middle of the year, but to have these ladies as his teacher and paraprofessional. They really made Richard's first schooling experience special and I was so impressed with what they did. Thank you!