Deann Arnold Photography Sneak Peek!

We wore pink and green for our spring photos.  I can't wait to see the rest!

Ruston, Highchair, and Strep Throat

I had a lot of plans to get us out of town this Spring Break.  I am so glad they all fell through.  We've had a fabulous time making little memories in town with the exception of a couple day trips.  We have been running lots of errands but other than that we've been home.

We ran to Ruston to eat dinner for Merideth's 30th birthday.  I dropped the boys off with Nana and Grandad so I could eat with the girls.  We had a great time at Log Cabin.

Molly, me, Amy, and Merideth (we are all 30!)

Henry is such a big boy!  This is first time to sit in a restaurant high chair.

He is so big he is pulling up on the sides of the crib...time to lower it!

We met Neil's parents in Minden yesterday to pick up Bennett.  He ran up to me and said "I'm sick and I need to go to the doctor."  I thought I would watch him for a little bit but he woke up this morning and said the same thing.  I made an appointment and it was confirmed that he has strep throat.  They wanted to give him a shot, but since he is allergic to that class of drugs...it's an oral medication for B.  Hopefully he will feel better soon.  He actually just told me that he wasn't sick anymore and he wanted to go outside and play.  We had plans to go to the zoo today, but she said he should stay home.  She said he will be fine tomorrow. :)

Sweet boy with his gloves at the Dr.

Spring Break rocks!

We've been having a really nice Spring Break.  I love being off work to be with my people.  Bennett and I have been running around like crazy.  We have taken Henry to daycare for a couple hours each day so that he can get used to his new place.  I am excited to spend some one on one time with my big boy!

Lunch with Daddy at Don Juanz

We went out to the camp to see the progress.  Neil has been working so hard to try to get the camp ready.  I can't wait to spend the night out there.

my beautiful, sweet boy

We played with our shadows

Bennett got to drive the digger!

Mr. Ramsey was so sweet to drive him around.

Henry and Grandad

Look at those handsome Lewis boys!

On Tuesday, Bennett and I went shopping for the Blush and Bashful brunch that I am helping with at church.  It is going to be so great...sign up today!  (excuse the tangent!)

We met Ann and Max at Kiddie Mia's for some spaghetti and games.  Bennett has been asking to go to Kiddie Mia's for weeks.  He loves this place.  For less than $10 we both ate lunch and played games.  Pretty sweet deal.

Max and Bennett

Decisions, Decisions

It's no secret that we have been trying to find childcare for Henry since before he was born.  I put him on a daycare list back in December 2010.  I went back to work when Henry was 5 1/2 months old in 2012 and he was still NOT in anywhere.  

We were desperate.  

I called around everywhere and finally found a couple of people that kept kids in their homes.  We went to one lady that had about 12 half naked kids at her house and we ran out the door and never turned back.  Then we stumbled upon Mimi and Charles.  

I went and met them the week before I went back to work and immediately fell in love with them.  They live all the way out on Cross Lake which is about 30 minutes out of the way for us. But, when you are thinking about your baby...it doesn't matter as long as they are getting good care.  They loved on Henry so much.  They have pictures of him on their cell phones.  They kissed him all day long!  We felt so comfortable having him there.

Well, last Thursday a daycare called and said he was in and would start on Monday.  Neil and I were totally stuck as to what to do.  We had become OK with the really long drive out to their house, were excited that I could keep him home this summer without paying for daycare, and we love Mary and Charles!

Mimi, Charles, and Henry

Really long story short...we decided to move Henry to his new daycare.  We just couldn't go back on anymore waiting lists and hope he got in for the fall.  It was too much of a gamble.

So, I picked Henry up on Friday from 2 very sad people.  Charles was sobbing. Mary said that she cried all day the day before.  They told me how much they loved us and him,  Ugh, it broke my heart to take him away from them.  Through tears, Charles said "take care of him."  

You're killing me, Charles!

The whole way home I was just saying "Lord, am I doing the right thing? I feel terrible! What should I do!?" I really feel in my heart that we did the right thing by moving him.  Mimi and Charles were perfect for this season of our lives.  We were so glad to have them.

I got home and cleaned out all his stuff.   

I really think it was perfect timing because I am Spring Break this week.  It is great because Henry can go for a few hours each day to get used to it rather then us dumping him off on his first day for 8 hours.

Ms. Shirley, Henry, and Ms. Shancey (love those thighs!)

Henry and Tina (Amy's mom work there and we felt so cool seeing her)

Henry loved his new daycare.  He slept, ate, and played well.  I am so happy for him to get to be around other kids.

St. Patty's, Crawfish, and a Birthday

I had to start off by showing what Henry gave the sweet couple that keeps him.  We just love Charles and Mimi!

Charles said he was going to take the framed picture down to "show the guys!"

Wow!  Our St. Patrick's Day was a busy one!  We also had a ton of family fun.  We started off the morning with an everything green breakfast.  Bennett, Henry, and I made green pancakes with green glaze and green sprinkles.  Talk about delicious.  We even dyed Henry's oatmeal green!  Bennett helped with that and got a little "squeeze happy" with the food coloring bottle.  Henry's meal was by far the greenest and so were his diapers for the rest of the day.  We were excited that Leslie joined us for breakfast...too bad I didn't get a picture of her! :(

my 2 helpers

mmmmm green milk!

nothing like a green milk mustache with a side of green pancakes, green apple, and kiwi

We had a soccer game after breakfast that was a total bust for Bennett.  He was just not interested.  I am shocked because he can dribble the soccer ball all over our yard.  I think he just doesn't like the "other team taking the ball away from him" aspect of the game.  We went to lunch at Another Broken Egg for Janine's (AKA Nana) birthday.  She is a St. Patty's Day baby.

This is what the boys gave her for her birthday.

Bennett helping to blow out the candle

Andrew hosted a crawfish boil at his house on Saturday.  Andrew is pretty darn funny with is planning.  His boil was starting at 2 pm and he didn't even come get a pot from us until noon.  He didn't even have the crawfish until Rebecca picked them up from Ruston and brought them over!  hilarious.  We enjoyed fun and friends for a bit before we headed to Georgia's 4th birthday party!

me and April

Rebecca and Justin

Rebecca, me, Henry, Neil, Janine, Richard, Bennett, and Andrew

Uncle A about to dunk B in the crawfish!

The gymnastics party was tons of fun.  It wasn't boring at all!  The kids loved it and were busy the entire time.  Henry and Evie even had a little spot of the ground to play.

Bennett jumping in to the foam see the birthday girl, GGB

This totally scares me

Gooooo Mason!

The dads were doing a great job holding up this wall

Sweet Briggs

Yay for a family photo!  

Boys see "Lormax"

Neil and Bennett went to see "Lorax" the other night.  It was a special treat for Bennett.  He went on a school night in his pjs.  He keeps calling it "The Lormax."  Neil said that people in the theater would start laughing and then Bennett would realize he should laugh so he would laugh later...sort of a delayed laugh.  haha!

Date your men

We had a great date night last Friday night.  Mom wanted to come over to see the kids and told Neil and I to go out on a date. 

Let me think about it.

OK!

We headed to Country Tavern for steak salad and had a great time.  The highlight of the night was when we saw a car load of students come in to eat before the Sadie Hawkins dance.  Neil head one of them say "what are all these teachers doing here?" 

ha.

I guess teachers aren't allowed anywhere a student might be after school hours.  I thought it was funny and got me thinking.  I used to think it was really random when I would see a teacher out around town.  I guess we are only meant to be AT SCHOOL.

We headed to Red Mango for dessert.



One of the workers brought tic tac toe over to our table. We are both really good at tic tac toe. :)

After our date, I took Bennett with me to the Sadies dance for a little fun.  I thought if I let him stay up until 9:15 he would sleep late the next morning.  No dice.  He was up earlier.  Oh well...he had a lot of fun.

We stopped to talk to Corproal Carter (our school police officer) and he told him "I gotta go dance!"

me and B

My sweet boy in front of the picture background

We walked in to the gym with all the lights and loud music.  He was scared to death!  Poor baby!  He had no idea what to expect.  He really liked watching the kids dance...too bad we couldn't get him out there to bust a move.

Carnival and First Wagon Ride

We had a great time at the school carnival today.  I was so thankful that Erinn picked Bennett up from school and brought him along with her 3 kids.  That was a car load!  Thanks so much, Erinn.

The kids LOVED the carnival.  I was super impressed by the set-up all done by Mrs. White and Z-club.  Most other clubs added a booth to the carnival to help with Coach David Abney's medical fund.  You can watch the awesome video about his story here.  It was so great to see our school come together for a wonderful cause.

Bucket toss

We loved jumping!

Good throwing arm! You can see his sprayed hair in this.

He got a gator painted on his face.

My phone went dead before I could get pictures of his spray painted hair.  He also wanted to sing on the microphone at the choir booth.  He wanted to sing "You are my Sunshine" and "ABCs."  He started singing and then realized that everyone was watching and then ran to me and hugged my neck hard and said "I was scared."  Sweet baby!  I love him so much!  All the kids joined in on the ABCs...it was so sweet!

We got home to some great outdoor weather.  Henry got to have is first wagon ride!  He is getting so big I just can't believe it.  

I love this chunky boy.  Oh, he is so cute!

2 brothers in the wagon...what an adorable sight for my eyes (and their grandparent's eyes)!

Crunching the Numbers

Now that I am back to work full time it really makes me think about the time like ACTUAL hours I am with my people.  I love being with my husband and kids so much and sometimes work gets in the way of that.

It got me thinking.

I am at work with 150 other kids everyday 5 days a week for 40 hours a week.  I leave work at 4pm and get Bennett and then we make a 1 hour round trip picking up Henry and getting home.  We are usually home together starting at 5pm and the kids go to bed by 8...so I am with my family 3 hours a day for a total of 15 hours a week.  I don't even include the morning because we are just running 90 to nothing to get out of the house!  40 at work and 15 at home  hmmmmmmm...

So, it brings up the question... Am I doing the right thing?

Yes, we need my income and insurance.

Yes, I enjoy my job.

Yes, I like that my kids are easy with adjusting to new environment of daycare/school.

And yes, we would like to win the lottery so we can all be home together (Neil included).  Considering we don't play the lottery I doubt that will happen! :)

As I am typing this, I see that I guess I am doing the right thing.  I will work until I retire after 20 years of service.  Only 17 more to go!

Soccer, Bunnies, and Family Time

Our Saturday was busy.  It was filled with our favorite people.  Family and friends. Couldn't ask for a better weekend.

We started with Bennett's soccer game.  They are the Jolly Green Giants.  Bennett loves the cheer "Ho Ho Ho, Green Giants!"

HenHen was such a good boy at the game.

We the game and headed to Breakfast with Bunnies.  I thought they were going to have REAL rabbits.  Boy was I wrong.  It turned out to be LIVE bunnies but in the form of PEOPLE IN COSTUMES. hmmmm. 

Henry and EB



My boys did not know what to think of this.  I guess they were on the same page as their mama!

 We headed to Benton after lunch to celebrate Mrs. Lewis' 95th birthday.  She was sick and wasn't able to make it to the celebration.  Please say a prayer for her...she is in ICU with the flu.  We enjoyed the company of family and watching all the kids play.

And, changing Bennett's clothes twice due to accidents.

Nana and Henry

Andrew and Henry

All the people with March birthdays in the family

boys having fun throwing balloons off the balcony

Connor showing off his back bends

Adults and kids being silly

I almost forgot to mention that we had a fun hair session.  I did Emily's hair and Missy did mine.  I love a fancy braid!!