A Father's Day Tag

After we participated in the Mother's Day tag, Taylor has been talking about wanting to start a Father's Day tag. We came up with 25 questions together. If you are tagged, post the questions and your answers on your family's blog and tag 5 more people.

1. What is your dad's favorite food? Beef Enchiladas
2. Who is his favorite team? Alabama Crimson Tide
3. What does he do at work? Work on valves
4. If he could have any job, what would it be? a principal
5. What do you and your dad like to do together? play football
6. What does he do when he is not at work? watch TV
7. Does he snore? yes, very loud
8. How does he make you laugh? by tickling me
9. What is he good at? playing the guitar
10. What is his dream vacation? taking us to Disneyworld
11. What would he do with $1 million? buy a motorcycle
12. What is his favorite TV show? Ninja Warrior
13. What did he study in college? science
14. Who is his best friend? Jerry Kirby
15. How does he comfort you? by hugging me
16. What is his nickname for you? boogerhead
17. How long does it take him to get ready for work? about 30 minutes
18. How much does he weigh? 125 pounds
19. What are his hobbies? playing video games, playing football
20. If he were a superhero, who would he be, and why? Superman, because he is strong
21. What is one thing he can't live without? his family and diet coke
22. What makes him happy? presents and Dreamland ribs
23. What are his bad habits? watching TV
24. What is his favorite snack or treat? honeybun cake
25. How do you know he loves you? he comforts me and plays with me

I am tagging: Riley Benham, Payton, Hannah Parkes, Ross Jordan, Ariel Odom, and Emily Kimball.

Another pit stop

After leaving Dianne's we headed west through Oklahoma. We kept seeing signs for Cherokee Trading Posts. I was explaining to the girls about how they have Cherokee ancestors. So we decide to stop off and look around. It was a little touristy, but the girls had so much fun looking at all the dreamcatchers, pottery, weapons, dolls, jewelry, etc. I let them each pick out a little souvenir. Hayden and Taylor opted for the little leather bag filled with shiny rocks they got to handpick. Payton wanted one of the fanciest dreamcatchers in the place. We settled on the small keychain one after I told her we would try it out and get a bigger one on the way back through, if the small one worked. As we were checking out, the lady told us about the live buffalo they had. We went to the fenced area to see them, but they were way on the other side and weren't moving. After a few minutes we loaded back into the car and start to drive off. Then we notice the two big ones and the baby one running across the field. It was feeding time, so we all got back out of the car and the girls were able to watch the buffalo get fed. The funniest part was Hayden yelling "Buffalo!!" at the top of her lungs to get their attention. It didn't work.

Good friends mean good times

I am so lucky to have a great friend like Dianne. I am even luckier that she lives between Alabama and Utah so I get to visit her and the fam on the way. We miss the Mitchells alot so it is great to spend time with them. Our overnight visit with them last summer was entirely too short. So this year, we decided to spend an extra day with them. It still was not enough. Her two little ones are adorable and Bradley is growing up to be such a nice young man. Of course, I love anytime I get to spend with Dianne, and Arin is nice enough to tolerate us together. It goes without saying that we get a little silly around each other. So we made the most of our time together: a picnic, swimming at Arin's sister's house, a latenight trip to the grocery store, etc. We just enjoyed hanging out. Dianne made hairbows for the girls while I copied recipes from her cooking magazines (I found a delicious looking recipe for strawberries and cream french toast sticks that I might have to share.) Obviously, I couldn't let the time go by with out taking some pictures. So here they are:

My girls are in love with Lyla/Baby Juju. She is quite the princess and such a good baby.

The Mitchells are big OSU fans. Arin's brother will be starting for them next season. Hayden found this OSU helmet and put it on. I had to take a picture of her for Bryan. Taylor asked Dianne if they rooted for Alabama or Auburn. It was cracking me up, because it is a strange idea to Taylor that someone could like a team other than those two. Dianne had the best mix for wheat pancakes. I didn't tell my kids they were wheat and they gobbled them up and asked for seconds. Hayden and Aidan were nice enough to help in the preparation. My kids were introduced to a whole new way of eating pancakes and it is now their favorite: spread with peanut butter. Maybe we are the only ones who had never had PB on our pancakes, but now they won't eat them any other way. Arin's sister was so nice to let the girls swim in her pool. I think a little recreation helped make the last two days of driving more enjoyable.

While all the kids are playing in the pool and having a squirt gun fight, Aidan was busy trying to wrestle Bradley, trying push Arin in the pool, and taking a break for some skittles.

We were sad to leave them and Dianne said Aidan was sad we left, too. I am definately looking forward to seeing them again on our way back home.

Road trip - must haves:

On May 31st, we left on our road trip to Utah. I was definately excited about our final destination and a few stops in between. However, I was having a little anxiety about being in the car for three days with my kids. They were great last summer when we took the same trip, but I was still a little nervous. I shouldn't have been, because they were great. From my experience of the past two summers, I have come up with a list of things that are a must have for a smooth road trip. Here they are in no particular order:



Crayola Window Markers - these provide endless amounts of fun. Just be sure to have a generous supply of Windex wipes on hand, also.

Bottled Water - just don't freeze it the night before. This results in you having to keep bottles in your windshield all day to thaw them.

A couple of fun stops in between - Our choices were one of the Cherokee Trading Posts/Tourist trap in Oklahoma and the Capulin volcano in New Mexico. (more on these two in future posts.)
Leapsters (with headphones) MP3 player - preloaded with all your favorite tunes and the necessary gadgets to run it through your car stereo. I am done with the days of constantly changing CDs.

Crayola Model Magic - minimal mess, easy clean-up and tons 'o fun for everyone.

A mascot - a beautiful project from the previously mentioned model magic. By the end of the trip we had an entire family complete with a baby, a dog, and a few pieces of furniture.
Great friends to stop and see along the way - I highly recommend the Mitchells!! (more about them in another post)

And last but not least, an awesome destination! (more about that in MANY more posts)

Hayden finally turns 5!!!

After many months of counting down. Hayden finally had her birthday on May 29th. Her day of fun started with the traditional breakfast date out with Bryan. As usual, she picked Cracker Barrel and told Bryan he HAD to order pancakes. I am not sure why she cared what Bryan ate, but that was part of her plan. When the got home, the girls were ready with her presents. I had taken Taylor and Payton to Walmart the day before and let them each have $5 to spend to buy her something. They wanted to get the most for their money so they headed to the section of $.88 toys. They bought an assortment of things that included, my personal favorite (heavy sarcasm intended,) a recorder. Hannah had spent the night so she was there to join in the fun. The girls spent time decorating the gift bags and getting everything ready for Hayden. She, of course loved all of her presents. I couldn't resist taking a picture of all the girls modeling the "Bubba" teeth, one of the gifts from Payton.

The day continued with a trip to the mall. Hayden decided to do that instead of having a birthday party. We went to all of her favorite mall stores and she got to ride the carousel three times in a row. Instead of "just looking" at the Disney store, she was able to pick out whatever she wanted (within reason.) When we went to Petrie's she saw a three part Best Friends Forever necklace set and wanted to spend some of her birthday money on that so she could give each of her sisters one of the necklaces as a surprise. After several other stops, we headed home totally exhausted. The day wasn't over though. She got a visit from Grandma Jeannie along with another birthday present.The day ended with her getting to pick anything that she wanted for dinner. She had already decided weeks before that she would have her birthday dinner at the "computer McDonalds." She spent her first day being five, doing exactly what she wanted to do. She was so happy and I can't ask for anything better than that.