A day at the park and the Union County Fair

Brody and I picked Brooke up early from school last Friday, and we stopped at the little park there in Strong to let them play. They had so much fun! And Brody is getting so much easier to take places like that. He can actually play on most everything, and he LOVES that he can do some of things that Brooke can do - like ride on these little bouncy things:


One thing that did make it a little difficult was that he wants to climb on everything. And he can be four or five rungs up in about 5 seconds. I guess I should just let him try it, but being the worrier that I am, I just imagine him placing a foot wrong and plummeting to the earth below, hitting every metal bar on the way down. I get these horrible thoughts in my head, and I just can't let them go. So....needless to say, this is about as high as I would let him go.

His favorite was, of course, the swings! And I have to admit, they are mommy's favorite too. I know that he is safe and secure, and he can't fall off or run off or anything else.

Now Brooke is quite the little monkey. She was up to the top of this thing in about 7 seconds flat. I expected her to take off swinging from the trees any second. Brody tried his hardest to join her up there - thank goodness the rungs were spaced so far apart. Again, this is as far as he got.
Silly boy.

Brooke going about 100 mph around this little bicycle pedal thing. I tried to put Brody on one and hold on to him while she pedaled them around....and I could hardly keep up.
Weeeeeee!!!!! (We made Brooke photographer for a few minutes)

On to the fair, which was last night. It was Brooke's 5th birthday, so we celebrated by taking her and Caleb (and Brody, of course) to ride rides and check out all the animals! (Her real party will be Saturday.) I didn't know if Brody would be able to ride anything or not, being that he is somewhat of short stature, and he did miss the height minimum by an inch and a half, but we were able to sneak him on a few rides.

Watching the little girls show their lambs in the livestock barn.

Riding the carousel! And Brody LOVED it this time! Even with me just standing beside him rather than on the animal with him.

Happy Birthday Brooke!
Playing with Brooke's little plastic sword that she won playing "Pick Up Ducks".

Birthday Shoutout - Layla and Mamaw A!!!

Okay, so I said we were done with birthdays for while, and technically we are, but I just got these pictures from Karen, so I am going to backtrack a few weeks.

A couple Saturdays ago, we went to Mamaw's pool for Layla's 2nd birthday. Who would've thought that having a pool party in August, that you would have to worry about it being too cool to swim? Well, none of us did, but that was what happened. It was one of those days when a storm was rolling in and it was about 75 degrees. We got in the pool for a little bit, but Brody and I were both too cool, so we only stayed for 5 minutes...tops.

He is doing sooo good with his swimming! I just put his little floaties on him, and he can swim around on his own! I always have my hand about 2 inches from him, but still. We are so proud of him!



Here are a few pics from once we got out and dried off. I think this pic is so sweet. And yes, that is drool running down his face. He was very tickled about something.
Playing with his Papaw


We also ate at Abe's for Mamaw Agnes' birthday last weekend. It was yummy as usual. Brody is such a little roadrunner that we couldn't get a good pic of him with Mamaw, but here a few good tries. Happy Birthday Mamaw! We love you!

Louisiana Boardwalk

So, today we went to the Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier with Aimee and Eli. We really had a great time. Brent, Brody and I started off the morning at the doctors office (Brent has had a nasty encounter with poison ivy), but we were soon on our way. We arrived a little after noon, and had a yummy lunch at Fudruckers, then it was off to shop!

Brody was so busy watching everyone and everything going on at the restaurant that he could hardly eat, so I just put his chicken on his little tray and he munched while we shopped.

We spotted the carousel and decided that we would give it a whirl and see if Brody liked it any better than he did the last time we tried (at the Ft. Worth Zoo). And he did! I think it helped that I actually got on the horse with him rather than just holding on to him. But whatever the reason, he loved it today!


When we made our way to KB Toys we let Brody out of his stroller to stretch his legs and use a little of that energy.

He shot a few hoops....

Played in the ball pit....
Scoped out all the new toys on the shelves....
And shot a few more hoops....

Soon after, we finally headed home. It was about 5:00 and Brody hadn't had a nap all day. So, needless to say, he was out within 5 minutes of being in the car. He snoozed all the way home, while we listend to the Razorbacks pull of a season opener win (barely)!! Go Hogs!!

Birthday Shoutout - Mom, Tara, and Papa!!!

Well, we finished off a round of birthdays, for a couple weeks anyway. Then we start back again in September. Last week, we celebrated Mom's and Papa's birthday at Papa Pablanos!!

They, of course, had to wear the the infamous Mexican sombraro while they were sung to.

Brooke and I enjoying the party
Then, all the kiddos had to take turns trying on the sombraro. (Just the thought of how many different heads those hats have been on.....makes me cringe.)

After the celebration at Papa Pablano's, we went to Tara's house (it was her birthday also) for a little cake and gift time!

Tara with her new neckalce and earrings!! Can you tell that Brooke like to be in every picture we make? If you look back, she is posed beside me in all of my birthday picstures too. So funny.


My new hiarcut! Sorry that it is sideways, I forgot to rotate some of these in 'My Pictures'.

Brody still loves bathtime! It is his favorite part of the evening I think. It even one-ups eating in his book! Here he is blowing bubbles in the water. This is usually followed by some spitting and sputtering - but he goes right back at it.

He will hate me for these pictures one day...
Playing in the mud with Daddy. You can see in the first picture, he knows to drink from a water hose like an old pro. (Again, sorry for being sideways.)

Natalie Grant (the Christian singer) came to ElDorado for a concert with 2 Empty Chairs last weekend. I was a little hesitant about bringing Brody, but he did awesome. We put cotton in his ears, and he and Brooke clapped and danced for an hour and a half!

Tuesday evening we ate dinner with Dad and Karen. After we stuffed ourselves, we went outside to play and work off a little of that roast and potatoes.

Dad and Brent playing ball, Brody playing with his buckets, and Karen with a camera in her hand.

You can see that Brody's toys are put to good use!

Brody taking a break and cooling off with some of MiMi's tea. That cup is almost as big as he is!

At one point we saw Brody run off to the edge of the yard. At first we couldnt figure out what he was doing....then we saw him squat. Hey, he needed his privacy!!

I wonder what they were looking at????
Must be pretty interesting up there!
Just before we went in, Dad turned on the sprinkler in the yard. I think this was Brody's favorite part of the evening!
He couldnt resist running through a few of them.