You Might Be A Redneck If....

A go-kart is your preferred mode of transportation, 2nd only to a horse!

You think your baby brother should look out the "sunroof"!

You learn to drive a tractor before you get your first tooth!

At 8 months old you know how to raise and lower the bucket!

You have a dirt pile in your front yard that is used for entertaining the grandkids!

The girls are totally enjoying introducing baby R to the joys of "country" living in Arkansas. T said the other day that "Arkansas is great because you can walk outside with no shoes on, and nobody looks at you funny." They have introduced baby R to the dirt pile (which is at MiMi & PaPa's house simply for the purpose of playing in); the go-kart; and PaPa has taken him for rides on the tractor (which he is quite fond of). Who needs a mall??? : )

R doing well in Iraq...

R sent us some more pics from Iraq. He is doing well. This is R with his Iraqi counterpart...the guy he is there to train/help. They have developed a great relationship so far and things are going well for them. Check out R's deployment haircut!! Isn't it lovely? He is not allowed to have this haircut when he is at home with us. The girls and I don't like it at all. We already told him he has to start letting it grow out so that he will have hair when he comes home for R & R!

R's a big boy now!

After hanging on to the infant seat as long as we possibly could, R finally moved up to his "big boy" carseat! He has been quickly outgrowing the infant seat, but I was reluctant to move up to the new seat. He travels so well in the car, and I just had this feeling that changing his seat was going to change that. But, luckily, he loves his new seat just as much (if not more) than his old seat! He can see out the window better now, and he still travels like a champ!!

I have to admit though, while we enjoy every milestone that little R reaches, it is also a little sad because he just seems to be growing up so fast, and we know that he is our last! : (

Off to Camp!

T with all her gear, ready for camp!

At T's school, all the 5th graders go to an overnight camp. She has been looking forward to it, but I wondered how she would do away from home overnight sleeping in a cabin. Other than a run-in with a cockroach in the bathroom, she said it was great! They went canoing (which she said was hard) and they went fishing (where she caught her first ever fish). Our animal-lover T had a hard time with the worms they were using for bait...she said it was very cruel to break a worm in two and put it on a hook for a fish to eat!!



I have to admit it was a struggle for me. It was overnight, a 2-hour drive by bus, with people taking care of her that I have never met!! But I made it through, although A and I agreed that the house was way too quiet without T around!

A different kind of saddle...

A couple of weeks ago, my parents and I took the kids to the zoo. The weather was perfect, and we had a great day! They had a camel ride, and we thought R might get a kick out of seeing the girls on a creature he is probably seeing everyday right now. It took a little convincing to get A on it, but they both rode it and thought it was kind of cool! We didn't put little R on it because that would mean I had to get on it with him, and that just wasn't going to happen!! : )

Back in the saddle

After over a year and a half, T is finally back to riding lessons! We had a hard time finding western lessons in Georgia, but now that we are in Arkansas that hasn't been a problem. T went for her first lesson on Saturday, and she was ecstatic!! She was nervous, and even a little scared (her last lessons were on a very small pony), but she did great, and she can't wait to go back next week!!

Doing Our Part

When we moved to Arkansas, we decided to start a family project and start recycling. We have a RecycleWorks facility here in town, so we thought we would take advantage of it. At first the girls weren't too excited, but now they have really gotten into it! They are always asking me before they throw something away if it can go in the recycle bins instead. Once a week we take all of our recyclables to the facility, and the girls put it in the bins. We have found that over half of our trash can be recycled instead of thrown away!

R in Iraq

R has finally made it to his semi-permanent home in Iraq. After a short wait in Kuwait, and then some travelling with some short stops, he is now at his destination. It has been quite a trip...starting off by being stuck at the airport in Maine and having to sleep there overnight. But he is in Iraq now, and he is ready to get busy doing the job he is there to do! He has been gone for a month now...1 down, 11 to go!!!

R is FINALLY sitting up on his own!!!!

Little R finally decided he was a big boy and could sit up on his own. He still falls over on occasion, but he is doing a great job. Next on the agenda is getting a tooth...

2008 Miss Daisy

A was in her first ever pageant on Saturday, and she WON!! She has been counting down the days until this pageant for weeks now, and when it finally got here she loved it! She had 6 girls in her age group, and she won! She did such a great job, I was SOOO proud of her! Her new tiara is now her most prized possession, of course! It's amazing to think that little A who used to cry if she was not in my arms or within reach of me had the confidence to get out there and win a pageant! So now not only is she our little princess, she is the reigning "Miss Daisy"!!!