Mo' Branson

See, Noah was there too!

And so was Ooh Ooh

Our "Girls" Trip (Plus Noah!)

We just got back from a fun trip to Branson. It was just the girls and Noah. For those of you who don't know...there is no one in the world who loves Branson like we do. My parents went their on there Honeymoon, and took us there every year when we were growing up.

We had a great time. The kiddos were all really good. Even Noah. He hardly made a noise the whole time we were there. He really loves to be outside. Hope was on cloud 9 the whole trip. She loves to be with "the cousins." It was really fun to get away and to spend time with my mom, my sister and her girls. We all laughed a lot. Here are a couple of good quotes from the trip:

• Riley to Clara said "You are annoying." To which Clara replied "I am not. And I don't know what annoying means."
• Hope as we were driving down "the strip" in Branson "There are so many things to see!"
• While talking to Ross on the phone at Silver Dollar City. I said "Do you want me to get you a pop gun while we are here?" He said "Nah, I will either break it or dad will hide it from me." (Ross always had to have a pop gun every year we went to SDC when we were little.)

Some of my other favorite times were:

• Getting soaked on the toboggan with Riley and Julia
• Clara and Hope walking with their new umbrellas
• The picture of us on the log ride. Clara was scared out of her mind, and Julia, who had just remembered that they take your picture as you go down, was sitting up so straight and perfect with her most perfect smile.
• My mom somehow snuck back to the pottery place and bought me a mug that I wanted so badly (Thanks mom!)
• Noah laughed out loud, at 2 in the morning, in his sleep!
• The search for the chocolate covered pretzels that somehow have disappeared (fess up now!)

I don't have many pictures from the trip. I will have to get a disc from Mimi for more!

This is all the girls going to give dry Nenny a hug after they had gotten soaked at the water play area.

Here are some crazy hats

"Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil"

Noah's Baptism

Today was a very special day. Noah Red was welcomed into the family of God through the sacrament of baptism. It was a beautiful reminder of God's amazing grace.

Hope wore this gown when she was baptized on January 9, 2005. We have had their names and baptism dates embroidered on the slip of the gown.

The celebration continued afterwards with family and friends at Jenn and Wes's house. Wes and Jennifer are both Hope and Noah's Godparents. All of Noah's grandparents were there, including Grandma Sharon! We were missing a few family members, especially Uncle Ross, but we really enjoyed all who were there!


Aunt Frankee surprised us all when she showed up from West Memphis!

Thank you, God for Noah Red.

I think he was relieved to get the frilly gown off! I love this picture of him with his Nenny.

Hope and Clara decided the best thing to do at a Baptism party was to take a bubble bath! Oh, to be 3 again!

Pics from the week

This sparkler represents one big step for Hope. Hope hates fireworks. All fireworks. Even the snakes that are just black foamy things that make no noise. John was determined to break her this week. He lit sparklers every night as she watched (and cried) from the window. On Friday he lit sparkler after sparkler, until she finally held one herself!!! I think she probably did at least 10 sparklers that night. The best part was hearing her just squeal with excitement. Good times!
Noah was 10 weeks old this week. Question, when do you stop counting in weeks? And why does 2 months sound older than 10 weeks? I am just trying to hold on to the little baby stage for as long as I possibly can. But, if I ever say "Noah is 93 weeks old today," please promise me that you will tell me it's time to stop!

I laughed out loud when I saw Hope's face in this picture!

Dodson Studio

John's good friend Adam is an amazing photographer. The wedding pictures he takes are always awesome. When I was pregnant with Noah, I really wanted to do one of his "Baby Mama" sessions, but didn't for 2 reasons. One is that Adam lives in Northwest Arkansa, and two, I wasn't sure I wanted to document the "giganticness" that was me.

When we headed to NWA a few weeks ago, I begged John to beg Adam to take some pictures of Noah. They are now posted to his blog! I am pretty sure it is illegal for me to copy his pictures to put on the blog, and I am pretty sure he checks this blog....so please go to his blog to see them! His link, Dodson Studio Blog is listed to the right, or go to www.dodsonstudioblog.com. Thanks Adam! I cracked up at the one with Noah's arm. Too funny. I can't wait to see more!

Oh, and if you are ever in Northwest Arkansas and need some photos taken, or if you are getting married soon, give Adam a call! He really is amazing!

These are a few of my favorite things

Warning: This is a very random post!



First of all, I love this new feature of blogger. I have my friends and favorite blogs listed to the right. Now, it also shows the title of their latest post, and (this is my favorite part) if lists them in the order that they were updated, so now I don't have to click on every blog on the list just to check to see if they have been updated! And it's kind of like a little competition to see who is on the top of the list. Surely you all know how competitive I am.



John and I have been talking about having a garage sale. We moved into a smaller house than what we had in Texas, so we have a lot of clutter. With the move plus the addition of Noah, we lost a lot of rooms. We lost our Guest Room,Office, the pantry, the dining room, and most importantly, the playroom. We love living where we are living, but still, we lost some space. You get the picture. Okay, back to the clutter. I have been feeling the need to simplify. We have too many pots, too many clothes, too many toys, too many desks, too many sippy cups. In thinking about all we could get rid of, I started thinking about everything I actually wanted to keep. So here is a list of my favorite material possessions (in no particular order.)

1. Pictures
2. Home videos
3. My Mama Lou's Bible (actually, we just discovered I had this, but I love it and it won't be misplaced again!)
4. The Bible John gave me the night before our wedding
5. The baptism gown and slip
6. The babies' coming home outfits
7. My camera I bought myself when I was having a pity party about moving to Texas
8. My favorite nursing bra (hey, it's hard to find a good one)
9. Hope's Ooh Ooh monkey (it's really hers, but I love that she loves him so)
10. The Peanut Shell (ok, it really belongs to Andrea)
11. My Yellow Box Flip Flops
12. My gray yoga pants that are soo thin because I wear them all the time. I have had them for about 12 years now.

I told you this post was random. Really random. Most of my things are sentimental things. I think this just confirms to me that stuff is just stuff. Stuff we can live without. Someone remind me of this if you see me checking out at Target!

Here is a picture of our VERY favorite things!

Now, those are the things John and I can't live without!

Happy 4th of July!

We have had a laid back 4th of July. Ross, you have not been far from our thoughts all day. We are very proud of you! Whenever you ask Hope what Uncle Ross is, she says "He's a Hero!" We love you and are counting down the days till you head home (~66!)

2 Month Check Up

Here are Noah's 2 Month Stats:

9 lbs 15 oz

22 and 1/4 inches

25th percentile for both height and weight

50th percentile for head circumference

Everything else looked great! He was not happy about the shots, and still seems to be hurting a little today. We have snuggled with him all day.

Hope got in a little sprinkler time this afternoon.

We went peach picking with "the cousins," Nenny, and Papa Paul this morning. It was so much fun. I am waiting for the pictures from Nenny's camera. She ate at least 5 whole peaches while we were picking them. At one point, she had three in her hand and was snack on all of them at the same time!

Kissy my Sissy

They really do seem to love eachother! Despite being woken up by eachother (they are both guilty of waking the other up!), stolen blankets, playing too rough, and swiped pacies! Let's pray they stay close as the number of offenses grows!

2 Months Old!

One Month

Two MonthsOne Month
Two Months

Crazy Crazy Crazy! Time has never flown so fast! This sweet boy is growing way too fast. I just want to slow time down! Here are some comparison pictures from one month old to two months old. It looks like the bear and "pretend Noah" are shrinking! I will update after his two month checkup on Tuesday!