Wordless Wednesday - Pure Blissful Joy

Little Rock fun - Part Two

First, a little about today. Last night Analese woke up around 11:30 burning with fever (102). I gave her Tylenol and she slept the rest of the night. No fever today, so I think it was related to that darned flu shot. We did not go to the gymnastics classes today because I wanted to be sure she was OK. Both girls took long afternoon naps. I had some very rare quiet time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I folded laundry while watching Hoarders. I asked my TiVo to please not record any more of that. SUPER disturbing/disgusting/depressing! I had to finish that episode, though. Like watching a train wreck.

Back to our Little Rock trip, a trip to Arkansas would not be complete without a visit to the country home where Lee grew up. We had so much fun joy riding on the John Deere, y'all! Analese even drove!





The girls really loved swinging on the old tire swing that Lee and his siblings used to swing on.




Thanks for the good times, Grandpa!



More to come as time permits.

Little Rock fun - Part One

We headed up to Branson for a couple of days to hit Silver Dollar City.



It was a lot of fun, and it was a fantastic time of year to go. It was us and lots of retirees. We never had to stand in line for any ride, and we had a fun and relaxing time. I also racked up some serious miles wearing my pedometer! Our hotel had sleep number beds! I joked with Lee that it felt like we were checking into a nursing home rather than a hotel! And these retirees act like they have never seen a baby in their lives! Mariele was oohed and aahed over quite a lot. But I do think it is nice to see all of these people having such a fun time!

Then we headed back down to Little Rock to spend some time with the family. My mother, as usual, spoils my girls. She is not the only guilty one, though. It is no wonder Analese loves to visit Arkansas!



My grandmother came up to visit with us. My brother was there also. Mariele thought my brother was the boogie-man with his beard. She has a huge distrust of men with excess facial hair. She will not give them the time of day!

Lee's brother and his wife were in from New Zealand where they have spent the past 13 months working. They will be back in the U.S. permanently in January. It was so good to see them. Lee's other sister flew in from Wisconsin for the weekend, so it was a rare gathering of Lee and all three of his siblings at the same time!



Analese was truly and blissfully happy to see all of her family. That kid really does love her family. She loves her Grandma Linda.



She loves her Uncle David.




She loves her Meemee.



She loves Aunt Netty.



And they ALL dote on her. She just eats up the attention!

Here are some group shots that were good.






More to follow, but I think it is time to go to bed.

Mariele's ped check-up

We are back from our Arkansas/Missouri vacation. It was wonderful, and we were there for the first autumn breezes. Even greater, we came back home to true fall weather! We do feel refreshed and relaxed, and we were able to spend some good quality time with all of the family. I plan to attempt to blog about our trip for the rest of this week. I have so many great photos to share, but I will have to find little snatches of time to blog. Today was Mariele's pediatrician appointment. It was technically the 18 month well child visit, but it was a couple of months late since she is now 20 months. Here are her stats:

Weight: 22 pounds 13 ounces (20%)

Height: 31 1/2 inches (25%)

Head: 18 3/4 inches (75%)

She is my little petite cutie with the big, smart head!





The physician assistant asked if I wanted to get her a flu shot. I texted the idea by Lee and he thought it was a good idea. So I asked if she could get Analese a flu vaccine as well. She said that Analese could get the nasal mist because they give the mist to kids over age two. Then after explaining to Analese that she would get tickly medicine in her nose, I was informed that they were out of the nasal mist. I explained to Analese that she would have to get pokey medicine also. She was very brave, but still volunteered her sister to go first. I know she was frightened, and she did cry afterwards, but I made it up to her later by getting her a special book at the store. Plus, she really does love sporting the band-aid!

One happy girl and her new playset!

Mariele was deeply entrenched in her nap by the time the playset installers left, but Analese was eager to check it out. She was only able to play for 20 minutes or so before we were due at a friend's house. Both girls did play for two solid hours this evening, however. I got some pics of Mariele with my iPhone, but these camera pics are just of Analese and her first time playing on her new playset. I forgot to mention that we did some landscaping preparation before this playset was installed. It involved hauling a bunch of dirt and leveling the ground. I hauled my fair share of dirt (okay, I hauled exactly three wheelbarrow loads - like I said, my fair share). Lee and the dude he works with totally hauled lots of dirt. Our next step will involve bringing in sod and having pretty green grass under this thing.

At long last.....The playset!!!

Today was the day we have been anticipating for many months....the playset install! We selected the playset and obtained our HOA approval way back in June. Then the hot summer happened, we traveled a bit, and we sat on the whole playset project until the weather simmered down just a touch. That brings us to today! It was my husband's brilliant idea to take the photos every 20 minutes or so from Analese's bedroom window upstairs. It is a cool time elapse of the construction of this playset. We did pay for the installation, and that was money very well spent. It took three men who were experts at the installation five and a half hours to install it. Here are the time elapse photos.

Hey! I remember that day!

That is the phrase that Analese always exclaims every time we drive by the South Shore Park of our community's lake. One day several months ago, we picked up some Chipotle burritos and had a little picnic style lunch in this lakeside park. We go to the North Shore park fairly often, and it has the playground and the sand area for playing. The South Shore park is only accessible by an obscure trail through the woods next to a very busy parkway, unless you are one of the select few rich folks who live in one of the lakeside mansions and can boat across the lake to the park. Today we grabbed some Freebird burritos and went to this park to recreate this happy memory that Analese seems to treasure (which is very sweet to me). The kids really had a great time. We got some iPhone photos. Of course, we can't get one where both girls are smiling at the same time. Analese and I are still in our church clothes, but Mariele is in her play clothes.





Notice the half mast flag in this photo. We will never forget 9/11/01.