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Arkansas or BUST!

We're here...we made it will all our stuff! The kids and I were SO happy to see Troy on Father's Day. He drove up a week after us and we missed him like crazy! Our trip up took a long 11 hours, but it was actually the best trip we've made up. Although it was long, the kids were great! I had Duncan and Savannah in my car watching movies. Kendall was with Grammy, Aunt Kim and Joshua (my oldest nephew) and was sung to for about the entire 11 hours. She can now sing, "I gotta gal named Boney Maroney...She's as skinny as a sticka macaroni" like nobody's business!

I will tell you that even though we had "Arkansas or Bust" on the back of our car, thanks to Genelle!...there was no doubt about where we were going, cause we looked a bit "hillbilly-ish" with the bikes strapped to the top of my van. YOu may think, "we'll that's not that big of a deal." But that's cause you didn't see my entire set of SIX dining room chairs strapped to the top of my mama's van!!! It was QUITE the spectical!!! We it was QUITE halarious really. And no, I am so not kidding!

We've been in our house in AR for a week. The kids haven't really said much at all about how small it is compared to our house in TX. Goes to show how much they really don't care about that anyway. The kids have commented most on how they can just run and run in the backyard! They love it!! They have races, they time each other on how fast they run, they have a tree they can climb...it's so fun for them. However, Duncan has been slowed down due to an infection in his foot that started from a splinter. He has a staph infection and it's been quite the chore to keep socks and shoes on my little boy!!! We've already been to the pediatrician twice and go again tomorrow for another check. OK..so I'm now realizing how boring this is...I have no wit about me tonight. But here's some cute pics of the kids.

This is an "intermission" time for Kendall at the river/creek. My daddy and I packed the kids up to take them and on the way I let them load up on snacks and drinks...something I NEVER do. Here's little Kendall enjoying her doritos and grape Crush!

You can't REALLY see how clear the water is.. but it's just beautiful. This what we plan on doing a LOT of! They had a blast!

Adios Texas Amigos

Well, it's time. Time to move away from Texas. The place God brought me to when I graduated from NSU. That was 1995. I would say that I have spent the best years of my life here in TX. I have grown up here. I arrived here with a suitcase and credit card. And I'm so not kidding! Thank the Lord for my friends who literally sheltered and fed me until I found a job. Then I found Troy. That's an amazing story in itself. We got married, had kids and life was set. Great job for my man, comfy house for me and the kids. But God knew the desires of our hearts. Mine to live by my family and Troy's to be out in the country where he could easily take a fishing or hunting trip. My dear man has sacrificed ALL of that (unhealthily, I think) to work hard at his job and be with his kids and me during his "free" time. He's always said he'd have time for it later, when the kids were bigger. We've prayed about this move...a lot...for lots of years. I wasn't sure how it would all pan out, but God did. I would have never dreamed it, but God did. His dreams for me are so much better than my own. Why do I question that things wouldn't be even better in Arkansas? And EVEN if ....just EVEN if they aren't...that's still the very best plan He has for our family and I'll take it over my plan, any...single... day. I finally have enough faith to really really know that he is enough for me. That even if my worst fears happens, I will survive...because of Him. I know it and I've seen it happen in many of the people God has brought to me while here in TX. I have seen strength and found it in so many of these wonderful TX people I've met. SO what am I really afraid of? CHANGE! I don't like change although I DON'T really want to stay here forever! I like my comfortable life. I have a great life here, but something just isn't settled here in my soul. So Arkansas, here we come. Coming to swim in your clear cold rivers, float the Norfork, explore caverns and caves, watch my husband coach my son along during his first of many hunting trips, to have it be a really big deal to my girls' to make a trip to the city mall to shop ;), to meet my mom at El Charro's for some Mexican food ;), go shopping in Springfield with my sister...TO HAVE FREE BABYSITTERS!!!!...and provide one for my sister and her husband....but most of all to be with family, just hangin out...after church or during the kids activities. I JUST can't wait to be with my family!

Thank you Texas...but I'm outta here.....

Daddy Daughter Dance

I'm such a daddy's girl. I love my mama like no body's business too, don't get me wrong. But I am a daddy's girl for sure. One of my favorite things to do is sit next to him while watching TV and he always tucks his arm around me. He has the most callused hands I've ever seen and is the strongest person I know. I love to see him hold my kids' hands and he does, often. I have many great memories of us just talking, laughing, or most often him telling me some kind of advice. I remember dancing with my daddy a lot. He is a really good dancer too. I loved dancing with him at my wedding and our latest dance together was jitterbug style while in AL at the beach. Great precious memories. I guess that's why I love the Daddy Daughter dance Troy and Savannah go to.

Savannah starts planning what she's going to wear and how she's going to fix her hair around Christmas . Since Aunt Deanna rolled her hair @ Christmas, that's what she'd decided on. So I bought these "hot sticks" to roll her hair in. I was determined to use every stick in the thingy so it would be really curly. Well...CURLY it WAS! Duncan kept popping in to check the progress and was in there when I took them out for the "big reveal". He said, "Nina (that's what he's always called her), I don't really like your hair, Nina. You know who you look like, Nina? You look like one of those presidents." I about died and tried to change up the conversation a bit so he'd HUSH! She didn't seem to be paying attention, but then after it sunk in she was like, "Duncan, what do you mean...I mean, what ARE you talking about...A PRESIDENT...Uh!" Then in his calm, matter of fact voice he said, "You know like the one on the dollar, Nina. That president." I had to leave the room...cause HE WAS RIGHT!!!! She looked like George Washington.! It was so funny. Still.....Savannah was like, HUH? Thank goodness. It did calm down and looked so pretty, so don't worry :)

Anyway, she got completely ready and Troy didn't see her at all. She wanted to really surprise him. The first time she saw him was when he came to the door to ring the doorbell to pick her up. Isn't that sweet!!! The entire time she's waiting, sitting on the couch waiting for him to drive around from the garage to get to the front of the house. It's so cute. She looked beautiful and Troy looked pretty handsome too. They met her Indian Princess circle at Chili's to eat, then they all went to the dance. My source (Troy) tells me that they danced A LOT and we now have to give him tutorials on how to do the Cupid Shuffle. However, I can't believe he can't do it b/c we did it 1,000 times at the beach last summer!

So my girl was feeling like a princess when she got home. What every girl wants. She is so blessed and will one day love to sit by him on the couch, while he tucks his strong arm around her. What a great daddy she has. What a treasure.

Just Duncan

We went to Savannah's school carnival Saturday. It was a lot of fun. The highlight for Duncan was getting his WHOLE face painted. He even got stripes in his hair! These pictures where taken at the table after we got home. I was sitting across from him trying to get him to smile....just smile, not a goofy smile. Well, he just couldn't do it. And so I think I pretty much captured his personality fairly well in these pics. He is such a fun kid....so animated, so silly, and just plain cute. Oh I love this boy!

Fishing in the Freezing Cold-Trout Derby

Ending the day with a hot dog off the big grill.

Duncan doing the casting competition. Check out the stance. He had a few spectators that got a kick out of watching him cast. He did win a snickers bar for his efforts though!

Poor Kendall was FREEZING! It was miserably cold, but we still had such a great morning.

We went to the McKinney Trout Derby a few weekends ago. IT WAS SO COLD!!! The wind was miserable, but it was still a great time. The kids drank their weight in hot chocolate, had candy and ended the morning with a hot dog off the grill. Basically the way it works is they dump a bunch of trout in the lake and the kids try to fish'em out. No license necessary. Troy and Duncan went last year, but we all decided to give it a try this year. What a fun day we had!!!! We didn't get any fish but sure made some memories!

February Flashback Part 2

We went out on an unusually warm day and went exploring. Troy takes Duncan on these outings most of the time, but today while Savannah was in school Kendall, Duncan and I decided to go. We threw about 50 lbs. :) of rocks in the water and they climbed all kinds of "mts." But the exploration was not complete until Mr.D-Man ran from where we were playing to the playground. He really wanted to listen to my IPOD and run BY HIMSELF! So I let him and followed along on the street in the van, yelling and cheering him on like he was running the NY Marathon or something. Uhhh...well, I didn't think how strange what might look to see a lady yelling out her window to a child running away from the van! Here's a picture of my little one day marathon man. Kendall playing in the "creek." She loved it.

Duncan helped her up the "mountain!" He also loves basketball ever since Savannah cheered for UPWARD bball. This is his uniform and he has it on EVERY chance he gets.

A page from a book he wrote at Preschool. Check out that jump shot!

And finally....this is Kendall's FAVORITE baby. She picked her out after Christmas for saying goodbye to diapers. She HAD to have this baby. She is pretty cute. Makes me giggle though....

Here's our Mardi Gras pictures. We had king cake, made masks and listened to the Mardi Gras Mambo about a gazillion and one times. We also had muffelletta sandwiches...yumm.

Alright, after further review...I don't know where the rest of my pics are of Mardi Gras Conly style. And I do realize Savannah Banana isn't in these pics...but the girl's at school! Plus, she's had her spotlight blogs a lot lately. BTW, she's raised $500 for the CF foundation! Cool huh?

Hopefully I'll be caught up on the next blog.

Love to all....Kellye