Road Trippin'

Hubby and I were blessed to be able to take a road trip weekend, just the two of us. We just drove, made no plans, except sleeping in...you know, the kind of stuff you dream about after you have children, but rarely get to do. So, we left home Friday morning and ended up in Arkansas. Now, I know that doesn't sound too exciting, but really it was. We took Talimena Scenic Byway all the way to Mena, Arkansas where we found a cute little place with cabins (Mena Mountain Top Cabin Motel) and dined at The Fish Net Restaurant, which was fantastic! Oh, and by the way, Mena is in a dry county, no beer. Closest beer was actually in Oklahoma...go figure. Saturday morning, we took a little jaunt to Hot Springs, Arkansas and checked out the Hot Springs National Park, which was totally cool. It was so wonderful to take a road trip with my man!

Scenic Talimena Drive- Even in winter it is beautiful!

Our cute little cabin in Mena, AR

Sunset over the Ouchita Mountains from our cabin porch

Some of the trees were already blooming in Hot Springs- this is outside the Natl. Park Admin Building

Hot springs fountain in part of the promenade part of the park

Hot Springs National Park Visitors Center- in the old Fordyce Bath House that you can tour

Checking out the bath house...sweat box, anyone??

The details in the bath house (built early 1900's) are amazing! This is one of the ceilings.

The actual spring flowing that feeds this bath house

Ranger Rains

One of the old tubs that were used in the bath houses....I want one for my house! It would hold a ton of hot water!

Little Boys

Cooper's first bowling experience

 January is almost gone and it's been a fun month! Here's a few random pics of my babies.

These crazy little kids!!

These are little men I always step on

 Never a dull moment!

Yum yum yummmm! Me want cookies!! (Teething biscuits, that is)

Teeth!!...and stuff

  Clayton is 8 1/2 months old now! He has two little teeth that have popped out in the last couple weeks and working on some more! He is growing so very fast! He had his first teething cookie last week and loved it...it was a complete mess, of course, which made it that much more fun to watch.
   Cooper is growing, too! He is getting tall and I am beginning to notice that shirts that were just right in the fall are now a little on the short side. He is soaking in everything as well. I finally had to ask the preschool director the days of the week and months of the year songs so that I could help him with them and he's getting pretty good! We are starting to learn reading a little and he seems to be super excited to do that. And, we are still doing speech therapy and his hearing was going to be checked, but his ears weren't all clear. Next week, we actually have to go to the ENT because he has fluid on his left ear again...praying we don't have to do tubes again.
   Dennis is staying busy and I have my hands full with keeping books and taking care of the boys. This month is flying by and I will be another year older in about 6 more weeks. That's about all the updates here, now back to taking care of business (:

Happy 2012!!!

Wow! I didn't get a chance to blog over the course of our four Christmas celebrations, but we had a great Christmas! Dennis has some time off, which has been wonderful for all of us and the boys are so much fun!! Kids really help you remember the joy of Christmas and it is amazing! Cooper is really understanding that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and he loved playing with the little nativity dolls and telling me the story, as well as having a little Santa fun, too. Clayton just wanted to touch all the presents and stare at the lights. Luckily, he didn't learn to army crawl really good until just a few days ago or the tree might be in jeopardy.

We had Christmas with our friends, the Stotts family first, then with Dennis' family, then our house with some of my family, and our last one this past Saturday with more of my family.....what a whirlwind! We are so amazingly blessed to be able to celebrate with our friends and family and we are so thankful or each and every one of them.

2011 was a little bit crazy but also wonderful with the birth of our second child! For me, personally, I was not physically well for a majority of it between recovering from giving birth and turning around and having gall bladder surgery, and part of it, I thought I would literally go insane. But it ended wonderfully and 2012 will be awesome!

Clayton hanging out

Cooper, David, and Grace

Dennis and his new hunting gear

All the Rains cousins!

Mommy helping Coop with his Bat Cave

Adorable!

Santa's goodies- Coop insisted we leave coffee, too

Trucks on Christmas morning

Santa has been here!

Santa left us a letter

...and the reindeer ate their food, but Dancer left a little something

Dennis and his new chair blind....what was I thinking!?!? I created a monster!

My sister, Sasha & niece, Chloe

Mamaw, the boys, and Dennis

Papaw with his sign that Chris (next to him-sister's boyfirend) made...I got one, too....way cool!

Chris, Sasha, Chloe, Cooper, Marie, and Poppy

Uncle Ryan and Clayton

I just loved this one....a boy and hid dog

My little party animal

It's December!!

 Our small town has a Christmas parade every year on the first Thursday of December. There are a ton of volunteers that dress up for not only the parade, but the day of, and go to local businesses, schools, an

Mr & Mrs Potato Head (aka our neighbor Traci and her sister Terri)

 

 

 

d daycares to visit. Of course, the main attraction is Santa, but the rest of the characters get lots of attention, too! Cooper goes to the preschool program at our church and I managed to make it back to catch the kids' reactions and Clayton thought it was pretty interesting, too.

Cooper with Mr & Mrs Claus...he had to sweeten up Mrs Claus with a hug and kiss before she left!

Clayton was pooped after our character visit

Well, I just loved this picture with his tongue sticking out!

Fall Vacation 2011

Well, we finally  managed to take some time off in October and November and do a little camping! After the rough, long, hot summer, it was nice to take a break!! This was Clayton's very first camping season and our first time to experience Jellystone Park in Branson and it was so much fun!!

We made one trip for fall break then went back about a week later to stay a week. During fall break, they had trick or treating for the kids, Halloween site decorating contest, a chili cook-off and a hayride...all of which we participated in and had a blast!

Our second trip, we did Dixie Stampede Christmas show...priceless for Cooper! He actually ate (which if you know Cooper, is a HUGE deal!) and I have never seen him sit so still as he did watching that show...he loved it!! We also rode the Ducks to see some Christmas lights and of course, what is Branson without a little holiday shopping!? Oh, and don't forget about adding to the Christmas ornament collection! Needless to say, it's not even Thanksgiving and I am ready to put up my tree!!