Our First Cruise

I'm a little behind on my blog, but a few weeks ago, we took our very first cruise!! We took the boys with us, and my parents also got to go!! We left from Mobile, Alabama so that we could just drive there and even though it was the oldest, smallest cruise ship that Carnival has (they are about to sell it), we still had a wonderful time!! Since this was our first and we weren't really sure how things would go, we chose to take a 4-day cruise that ported in Cozumel, Mexico.

Carnival Holiday in Mobile, Alabama.
Isn't this beautiful???!!!
They have a program for kids called Camp Carnival, where you can take your kids and they will play games and acitivites with them all day. Hayden didn't go at all, but here is Hunter on the opening night playing a "pass the balloon" game. Once they started dancing, he was out of there.
Here we are having "Cocktails with the Captain" before the Captain's Dinner.
My mom and dad with the boys.
Our "formal" attire...

Hayden swimming in the kiddie pool on the ship. I didn't know this, but they fill the pools each day with salt water.
The day we ported in Cozumel, it started to rain (figures) and was overcast all day. We had chosen to go on an excursion to the beach. We went to Playa del Mia, and it was really nice. They had games set up to play, a playground, swimming pool, beach massages (I still wish I would've gotten one of those), ping pong tables, volleyball, and of course tons of water activities. This is Hayden't first time to the beach. He's a little nervous!!

Hunter in the ocean.

They had a water trampoline and a glacier slide to play on, but you had to be able to swim out to it. Of course, the boys wanted to go, so my dad and Chris swam out there with a kid on their back. They were dying by the time they got there. Needless to say, they didn't go out to the glaicier slide. HA! We also got a taxi, and went into town to shop a little bit. I was a little bit nervous just because you always hear things about other countries. But everyone was so nice; they just all wanted you to come into their store, so they practically dragged you in. I wish we would've had more time to shop. There were some really neat shops!!
Stingray towel that was on our bed one night. They made a different animal out of towels every night.
Every night, we chose to eat dinner at the same restaurant. This was our server, Tina. She is the best waitress I have ever had!!! She was absolutely wonderful!!! The first night, Hunter was so hungry he ordered 2 orders of chicken nuggets and ate every bit of it. They also put this stuff on his plate to make it look pretty that he immediately took off. The 2nd night, he ordered chicken again, and she went ahead and brought out 2 orders, and took the stuff off for him. How is that for customer service? I'm telling you, we ate so much food on this trip!! Everything was so delicious!!!
I will leave you drooling with a picture from chocolate night. Look at that spread!! They had every kind of chocolate you could think of. I think I tried all of them! HA!!

We had a wonderful, relaxing vacation and will definitely be taking a cruise again sometime!

My Little All-Star

Hunter tried out for All-Stars this year. Springdale ended up having 2 8-year old teams and 1 7-year old team, so out of 32 7-yr olds, he made the top 12. YAY!!!

The bad part about All-Stars is that it falls about the same time as our 2 week dead period. (Arkansas now requires all schools to take 2 weeks off from athletics, so this is pretty much the only time Chris takes off for us to go on vacation.) We had already planned to take our cruise, so Hunter missed about 3 practices and a small tournament they decided to play at the last minute which probably was part of the problem.

*****WARNING!!! THERE WILL BE GRIPING INVOLVED HERE*****

We knew that Hunter probably wouldn't start because it wouldn't be fair to the kids that made all the practices, but we were not prepared for this weekend tournament at all!! It was a very humbling experience for the both of us.

When we got back from vacation, Hunter got to practice a couple times with the team. They practiced him at 1st, 2nd, 3rd, SS, and pitcher. We honestly thought he would be playing infield because he has a great arm, and he played 2nd base for 2 great teams both last year as a 6-yr old and this year. (sorry to brag) So, I practiced with him in the yard as an infielder.

Come game time, they put him in Right Center the whole entire time and batted him 10th in the line-up!!!! We could not believe it!!! Of course, we tell him to do the very best he can no matter where they put him. Now, I am completely ok with other kids playing in front of my kid when they play better than my kid, but if you are losing, CHANGE THINGS UP!!! I thought I would be a better spectator as a mother since I have seen what all a coach has to put up with on the other side. The worst part was that the 2nd baseman (one of the coach's kids) was TERRIBLE!!! He couldn't hit, and he missed many more than he caught. And to make it all worse, he cried everytime something didn't go his way. They did take the boy out one time when he was crying, but they put the other coach's kid in, and he missed everything that came to him too!!! Overall in the tournament, our team went 3-2, which is better than we thought with all 7-year olds, but was very stressful for Chris and I. The most important thing, though, is that Hunter had a good time!! None of that seemed to bother him; only us!!! :)

So, I guess the point of all of this is that I need you guys to pray for me over the next 10-14 years that I will do the right things and support my kids' teams no matter what!! Also, pray for my husband because he has to put up with me! And thanks for letting me vent!

My Little Wildcat

How many of you have a 2 year old that knows all the words to your high school alma mater? This past year, I decided that we had been at Har-Ber long enough that I needed to learn the words to the school song, and the boys learned them with me!!! Chris thought it would be awesome if Hayden would sing it at a school pep rally, but that would never happen. Here he is singing the Har-Ber Wildcat alma mater. He sings it pretty slow, and some of the words are hard to understand, so the words are posted here if you want to follow along:

WE SALUTE THE BEACON OF THE WEST

TO ALL OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS.

THE WILDCATS WILL PASS EVERY TEST

WITH VICTORY AND HONOR.

HAR-BER HIGH OUR PRAISE BE THINE.

MAY YOUR NAME FOREVER SHINE.

TO OUR SCHOOL WE WILL BE EVER TRUE,

AND THROUGH THE YEARS SUPPORT THE HAR-BER BLUE!

THANK YOU www.bye-bye-binky.com/ !!!!! Thanks to the advice on this website, I think Hayden is done with his paci!!! YAY!! The website says to poke holes in the pacifiers the first night, cut the tip off the 2nd night, and keep cutting more off each night until the child no longer wants it. This is actually pretty funny to watch. Hayden didn't really notice the first night, but the 2nd night he was not happy at all. He would actually take his paci out of his mouth and start slapping at it, like it had done something wrong. (As far as crying goes, that was the worst night) But now we are on the 3rd night without a paci. He has asked for it one time each day, but I just change the subject and he forgets all about it!!!

Which picture do you think is the cutest? WITH???

OR WITHOUT???

Show Us Where You Live Friday....Bathrooms

This week is bathrooms at Kelly's Korner. Feel free to check out the other rooms and post your own rooms. I'd love to see.

My bathrooms are not very exciting, but here they are:

My Master Bath

I'm thinking about painting in here...just have to find the time. I am also getting rid of these floors as soon as I get the money, unless someone can tell me a good, easy way to clean them. They are granite, and they show EVERYTHING!! Regular mopping streaks them and leaves spots. They are a pain!

I do like the vanity, though! :-)

The boys' bathroom.....

1/2 bath.....(hard to take good pictures in such a small space)

Summertime...And The Livin's Easy!!

This post is just to fill you guys in on the past few weeks. We have been so busy since school has been out, trying to get to doctor appointments, running errands, cleaning, etc....But there has been some fun, summertime events going on as well.

I told you about my new dog, Zoey. Here is a picture of her after her first trip to the groomer. I told them I wanted a big pink bow in her hair!! I am "pinking" her up as much as possible since I never had a girl to do that to! Isn't she cute???!!!
I bought Chris tickets to a Texas Rangers game, so we went last weekend to watch them play the A's. (I think the score was 14-1, so it was a good game to go to..lots of action)

The boys LOVE their new Ranger shirts. If I'm not paying attention, Hunter will "try" to wear his EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! Do any of your kids do that?

The boys in front of the NEW Dallas Cowboys stadium!!My friend, Danielle, that moved to Houston, TX (Katy) last year, came home and stayed with her parents for a couple of weeks. She just had a baby a few months ago, and I just realized I didn't get a picture of him!! She invited us over to swim, so we went and had a wonderful time catching up, swimming, and holding babies!! I miss her so much!!
The boys playing at her pool.......

We are now finished with baseball. Hunter's team, The Rivercats, finished 16-3. He tried out for All-Stars and we'll find out tomorrow if he made it. I will let you know!!! Hunter improved so much this season! In the beginning, I would get nervous about him striking out when he got up to bat, but the 2nd half of the season, I was confident he would put the ball into play (and it would be a good hit)

If you know me at all, you know I have always been a nail-biter. Well, I have FINALLY let my nails grow up, but my oldest son has picked up my bad habit! It drives me CRAZY to see him bite his nails!!! Here is proof for him that he does this between EVERY pitch!!!
And here's what Hayden does before the game starts while "Bubba" is warming up!

I also just bought a new car last week!! My lease on my 4Runner was up, so I've been trying to decide what to get. I have owned Toyota vehicles for the past 12 years, but our Toyota car dealer opened his own dealership, which is GM, so I decided to give him a chance. I test-drove the GMC Acadia and fell in love with it!
My 4Runner had 3rd row seating, but it was very difficult to get to and we didn't use it nearly as much as I thought we would. So, I got bucket seats on the 2nd row of this vehicle to make it easier to get to the back.
Other than that, the boys have been doing typical summertime things.....playing in the sprinkler, going to birthday parties, having sleepovers, etc.... I just started Zoey in a puppy obedience class that will last for 8 weeks, Hunter is signed up for basketball and football camps at Har-Ber, and Chris is gone several weekends for football stuff, and we go on our cruise to Cozumel in 2 weeks, so it will be a busy, busy summer!! Hope you have a wonderful one as well!!!

After 10 Years, I Have My Girl!!!

This weekend, we celebrated our 10-year anniversary!! My parents came to town to watch the boys, and we went to Big Cedar Lodge in Branson, Missouri. It was so nice to get away for a couple days. We ate dinner at Shorty Smalls at The Landing and walked around the shops a while. Then we went to our room and exchanged gifts. I got him tickets to a Texas Rangers baseball game and a Texas Rangers baseball jersey. He told me we would pick up my gift on the way back home Sunday...that it wasn't ready yet. HMMMM!!! (That had me thinking and asking questions all weekend!) Before we were married, we had friends and family answer questions to predict where we'd be in 10 years and we sealed the box and stored it away. We opened that up also and read what everyone had to say. It was pretty funny and most of it was pretty accurate!

The next day, we stayed in bed watching TV until 10 0'clock!!! We never get to do that!! Then we went shopping and ate dinner at The Pasta House.

On the way home Sunday, we stopped at Lambert's to order side dishes to go! I think they thought we were crazy, but we LOVE their fried potatoes and fried okra!!!! YUMMY!!!! That made my whole weekend! Then we drove to pick up my anniversary gift!!!

Here she is................Isn't she just adorable????!!!!! After much deliberation, we have decided to name her Zoey! We dog sat for a Shih-tzu a while back name Coco, so that is automatically what the boys wanted to call her, but I couldn't steal her name from my friend's dog. I have wanted another indoor dog for a while. I'm not sure that NOW was the perfect time, but that's ok! Chris thought she would be a perfect 10 year anniversary gift, and she should be with us up until our 25th anniversary!! AND SHE'S A GIRL!!!!! I'm surrrounded by boys, and I think if I kept having babies, I'd keep having boys, so this is the only way I can get a girl baby!!!

Here are some of our wedding pictures from 10 years ago!! Do you think we have changed any?

These are pictures from our honeymoon to Montego Bay, Jamaica. We stayed at a Sandals Resort. It was wonderful!! We plan to go back one of these days!!

What a great 10 years!!! It has gone by so fast, and we have been so blessed to have accomplished what we have in that amount of time. I love you, honey, and I'm looking forward to many, many more years together.

Show Us Where You Live Friday...Guest Bedroom

This week at Kelly's Korner, you can see a tour of guest bedrooms. My guest bedroom is still a work-in-progress. I also think it looks a little better in person than in the pictures. In a home full of boys, I have to have a little girliness, so this is it!! In our old house, I had the walls purple, but decided to go with green this time. It's still growing on me! Take a look........

There is a green stripe in the bedding that you can't see from the pictures. I think my parents might be the only people that have ever used this room, so it's usually called "Nana and Papa's room" I thought I would spend more time in here on the computer, but I usually keep it downstairs.

My desk that hardly ever gets used now that we have a laptop.

Mirror from Southern Living at Home....

Waste basket from Southern Living at Home....