Our Summer Vacation

Yes, I know...I have again fallen off of the blog wagon, and have lots of catching up to do...hopefully soon.

However...

We just returned from a fun summer vacation to California last week, and I am proud to say that I have already ordered a photo book with our pictures from Snapfish!

Yea for me...that NEVER happens!

Here is the link if you would like to check it out.

Five Question Friday

This is my first time to participate in

Five Question Friday.

It is a weekly meme, with different questions each week!

1. Do you know what your REAL hair color is?

Yes, and unfortunately, since it has been way too long since I have had my highlights, everyone that sees me knows what my real hair color is too!  :)

2. Do you plan ahead for summer, or fly by the seat of your pants?

We usually plan some sort of family vacation,
and the older kids spend a week at a
Christian summer camp,
but other than that, we just kind of let things happen.

3. What is your favorite meal to cook?

I don't know that I have a specific single favorite meal,
but this potato cheese soup recipe
(linked to my recipe blog),
is one that is fast, easy, and delicious.
Everyone always likes it.  

4. Do you get offended by not receiving thank yous?

Thank you notes?
Not at all!
A verbal "thank you" when I give someone something is more than enough for me!

Save yourself some ink and a stamp when you come to my name on your thank you list!

Sorry Miss Manners...I've got bigger fish to fry than waiting by the mailbox for a thank you note!  :)

5. How did you meet your best friend?

I met my BFF, Teresa, in college at OBU in Arkadelphia! We were both in the same sorority (EEE). 

Right after Corey and I got married, I schemed with our other sweet friend Nancy, and we forcefully, I mean, thoughtfully set Teresa up on a blind date with Ky, Corey's best friend from high school. 

The rest is history!

5 kids, and almost 20 years later...
we still love to tell the story...and we are all still best buds!  :)

Here is a picture of me with Nancy (far left) and Teresa (far right) when we met for breakfast at Mimi's Cafe last year.

And here is a picture of Corey, me, Ky and Teresa with our youngest kiddos, Carson (the mystery man under the party hat), and Rachel as we celebrated New Years Eve a little over a year ago!

Love ya Teresa! 

Valentines Day In The Kitchen

Yesterday, Carson and I got busy in the kitchen to make Valentine's treats for everyone.  We made this recipe for Valentine's Confetti.  

Carson knows how to make microwave popcorn, so he got us started by popping our first bag.

After he popped the popcorn, I melted the candy coating.

We poured  it into the popcorn, and added the MnMs.  

Carson then stirred it up for us.

We spread it out on parchment paper to dry.

Carson sprinkled a few more MnMs, and some peanuts on top!  

He was feeling pretty proud of our little project!  :)

His attention span maxed out when it was time to fill the bags,

so I finished that part up.

We were both really happy with how the treat bags turned out!

When Caylie came home from CoOp, we started handing bags out. 

It was fun to give people a treat that we had worked together to make!

Caylie and Christian each made cards for everyone in the family, and they were 

very special. 

 I love things that are made by my kiddos!

Corey got us gift certificates to some fun stores, and then we all went out to eat at Chip's, one of our favorite casual restaurants. 

 It was a fun and relaxed Valentine's day!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Blissdom...

The latest buzz around our house is that Caylie and I are planning to go to the Blissdom blogging conference next week!!!

We both have blogs, enjoy recording the events of our lives...(she's more consistent than me!), and are interested in learning more about blogging.

I had never considered going to a blogging conference, but when I started hearing about the Blissdom conference, it looked kind of interesting, and I mentioned it to Corey.

Corey has always encouraged me to learn more about blogging, and our family loves to be able to look back and read the posts that both Caylie and I write.

My birthday was last week, and although we went out to eat together, and Corey had some beautiful flowers delivered to the house, I guess he had not given me what he considered "my real birthday gift", so he and Caylie came to me last night, and handed me a hand written "certificate". It said that as a late birthday gift, he was sending Caylie and me to Blissdom together!

I was surprised, and speechless!

He knew that I would start coming up with reasons why it wasn't practical, etc., etc., and so he had already written things like, "Not An Option!", "Kids Are Taken Care Of", and "You ARE Doing It" on the paper!

He knows me well...

Caylie and I are both excited to get to go and learn more about blogging, and spend some quality girl time together with others that share the same interest!

But I'm nervous too!

Aaaa....

Writing the Waves,
Christi

And The Birthdays Keep On Coming...Happy Birthday Corey!

Well, Corey's birthday was yesterday! That should wind things up around here (in the birthday department) until February. We get off to a big start each year!

Last night we celebrated by going out to eat barbecue with his parents, his sister Kinley, and her two children, Jordan and Jackson. We had a nice time, and then his parents and Jordan came and spent the night at our house.

This morning, Corey, his dad, Christian, Carson, and Jordan, all went to the Big Buck Classic...a deer hunting expo that was in town. (Though none of them are very much into deer hunting!) It had live animals, and other things that the kids (and the men!) were all interested in seeing.

After the Big Buck Classic, they headed to Jordan's basketball game, then with Mickey (Corey's brother-in-law) added to the mix, they came here to watch the Razorbacks.

Corey's mom, Kinley, Caylie and I all took that as our cue to run out and hit a few stores!

We wound things up with Mexican food at our house before everyone went home a little while ago.

It has been a busy, but fun weekend so far.

Now I'm heading out the door do the the c25k training that I just started on Thursday. Hopefully I will have the discipline to stick with it through the end! Thank goodness I have my own personal trainer...Caylie! She is quite the encourager...and has very little tolerance for excuses!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Travelers Game

Last night, Corey decided to take the boys to a Travelers baseball game. Although Christian has been several times before, and we took Carson one time, as an infant (which doesn't really count), this was their first "guys" night at the ball field!

After Corey got Carson all fixed up with a Travs t-shirt and cap, they enjoyed some pregame snacks...

Right now, Carson enjoys nothing more than hanging out with Christian. He LOVES doing what his big brother is doing...and thankfully Christian is a GREAT big brother.

There were some inflatable things set up for the kids to play on, so of course, Carson had to check it all out!
The boys made their way up this ladder for the big slide...even Christian said that the ladder was hard to climb, but where there's a will, there's a way!

They didn't stay for the entire game, since baseball games run sooo long, but I think they all had a fun time, and Carson sure liked having a night out with his daddy and big brother...the first of many, I'm sure!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Well, let's get started...

Well, Corey is out on the road with his partner today, and should be back soon. He is excited about both his new business partner, and their new business brokerage, and for that, we are sooo thankful! We feel blessed that he is getting to do something that he loves, and are hopeful that it will thrive.

Over the last few days, I've had at least one sick kiddo home from school, and today, they are all back up and running. Carson has a lingering cough, but it doesn't seem to be anything to worry about. He spent half of the night in bed with us, which I actually LOVE, but worry that it could end up backfiring pretty quickly. We rationalized that since he had a cough, and couldn't sleep, that we could flex a little bit. BUT, after the cough is gone little buddy, ya can't keep camping out in our bed...Daddy unfortunately, isn't as much of a co-sleeping fan, and spent half of the night on the sofa!


Caylie has her 2nd night of "pre-performance" for her musical theatre program tonight. Last night was the first pre-performance, and it was done for a tough audience apparently. (The pre-performances are done for various local organizations.) She said that some of the teenagers on the front row, looked like they couldn't have been more bored...even when the cast was sitting on the edge of the stage right in front of them! I guess it is just an example of how you can't always count on being praised for what you do, even if you put your heart into it! Maybe tonight will be better, and then the REAL opening night is tomorrow night, so I know that will offer the cast a bigger boost!


Yesterday, Christian had a little bit of a scare! He and some friends were playing in the driveway with a golf ball...they bounced the golf ball really hard, and it popped up and hit the mirror of the car, shattering it into pieces! He immediately came in and told us about it, and offered to pay for it, telling us over and again how it was just an accident. While we knew that it wasn't earth shattering, we told him that we would have to think about how we would handle it. We said that he should have known better than to be bouncing a hard golf ball right beside the car. I couldn't help but throw in this very "mom" comment..."Now, if someone is driving dangerously, and they have an 'accident', is it really an accident?" Christian seemed to get the point right away, but we still told him that we would have to think about it. A little later, after dinner, we told him that we would not ask him to pay for it this time, but that we hoped that he would be more careful from now on. I think we played our cards right. He was oh, so relieved, and thankful for not having to dish out the dough to pay for it, but I'm sure he will think twice before he starts bouncing golf balls around again!


Writing the waves,
Christi