More fun celebrations...

The kids were exhausted after our 3 hour hike so they took a break on a rock wall. So cute!

Grandma and Grandpa's visit

This is my new favorite picture. I love that both Chris and Richard are laughing. We had a really great day!

We were blessed to have Chris's parents, Bryce and Donnell, come for a visit this last weekend. Here are some of the pictures that Bryce emailed me. Thank you, Bryce!

Hannah turned 3 on Tuesday so Monday night we had a little party for her. She truly was the princess!

Richard got to pick out one present and now he is permanently Iron Man. I can't get this off of him. Luckily he has a break from it at school. But that is about it. He LOVES his new toy!

Sunday after church we went hiking to the falls we went to the weekend before. This time we ended up on a 3 hour hike. It was a lot of fun and really beautiful, but Hannah fell asleep and I carried her much of the way. I was totally wiped out. But we had a lot of fun.

Thank you so much Bryce and Donnell for the fun visit and these great pics. We had a really nice time and the kids are already missing you!

Catching up

This post is from two and three weekends ago. We get some pretty major thunder storms around here. The kids wanted to splash in the puddles that were left behind. Richard and Hannah got SOAKING wet. It was fun.

Later that afternoon the rain cleared up and we went to the Strawberry Festival. It was a total bummer. There were hardly any strawberries, no fun recipes and samples, and EVERYTHING was a FORTUNE. Each ride cost $1.00. I just thought that was far too much. So the kids each got one ride and we went to McDonald's to let them play.

Hannah wanted to go on this ride so bad. Then when it started she cried and screamed the whole time. So sad.

Last weekend we did some hiking and fishing and had a nice picnic in our car since it rained at the end of the day.

We went to Petit Jean State Park and found this beautiful view. Chris had already hiked down and he looked like a groundhog sticking his head out of the ground. I love this pic.

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.