Spring Break and finally some spring weather!

Valley View has missed so many days this year due to the snow/ice/sleet that they had to use two of their spring breaks days to make up for those snow days. They were out Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So, Stratton got to go to work on the farm for the rest of that week! He had a great time, he got to ride the tractor and play in mud- what else could a 4 year old boy ask for??

We got this pic from my mom. She had gone to pick him up at the shop and apparently he got so muddy and dirty that she wouldn’t let him ride in her car, so she made him strip down to his undies (good thing it was kinda warm!) to ride back to their house!

Arden had a good time without Stratton around! Occasionally she would go look for him around the house, but I think she enjoyed the peace and quiet! Ha!

Gigi bought her a new baby doll that came with it’s own little bathtub ad lots of accessories. She loves it!

We didn’t do anything, mainly because I thought Arden was on the verge of getting sick again. She had a cough, runny nose, and sounded kinda wheezy. We ended up not going to church Wednesday night and keeping her in just in case she had a virus. She has allergies, so I figured that was the main issue but then she started running a low temp. I took her to sick call on Thursday morning, we ended up seeing our least favorite doctor- Arden was awful towards him! I have never seen her act like that! She kicked and screamed and I am pretty sure she would have bit him if she hadn’t had a pacifier in her mouth! His diagnosis was that it’s just symptoms of teething. Hmmm. . . .I wasn’t convinced. Anyway, I decided that since her ears looked ok I would give it a couple of days and see if she got any better. After her appointment, I took her back to school. She was cranky but since she wasn’t running a fever at that time, I thought she might as well to to school so I can go to work!

She’s stinker to her daddy. She’s always teasing him! They got to spend some good quality time together without Stratton up in the middle this week.

Aunt Judy sent her some new jammies in the mail! Well as soon as I opened them she started pulling her clothes off! She wanted to put them on! And she wore them until bath/bedtime!

This isn’t the best picture, but if you look really close you can see a little curl on the back of her head. She’s getting thicker hair. . . when it’s wet or humid it likes to curl up in the back. It’s cute, but I wish it would grown longer AND thicker, not just thicker!

Friday afternoon Mom took Stratton up to Greenway and he caught a ride home with Jarrod from work. We ran to eat and then to Sam’s. Saturday Jarrod didn’t have to work so he ran some errands and then that evening we had an overdue birthday dinner with his family for his, mine, Daniel and Jennifer’s birthdays! We went to Skinny J’s, and it was great (as usual) I was surprised at Arden, she tired everything- even my steak! The kids were really good, Stratton and Archer got to sit by each other and they played and giggled. Arden was a mess and was showing off and being funny.

After we ate we went back to our house and let the kids play for a little while before they headed back to Searcy. Sunday we got up and went to church in Hickory Ridge and had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa.

My dad had bought a new Ranger on Saturday and Jarrod offered to put the accessories on it for him, since the dealership was going to charge him to install the added features. Jarrod and my dad worked on that after we had lunch, while the rest of us took naps!

I am fairly sure Stratton is ready to go back to school! This morning when I dropped him off, he said (in an overdramatic, exhausted voice) “I sure am glad I’m going back to school after working hard on the farm last week”. Poor Kid. Such a tough life.

Ag For Autism- Bracket Bonanza 2014

Ag for Autism Bracket Bonanza is over! Whew!

Some of the most popular items at the auction- art and guns!

We raffled off keys to win a shotgun. They had to use their key to open the gun case. That was fun!

The winner’s wife was ecstatic!

Even though we were “working” we had a good time!

Lori was drawn as one of the Sweet 16 in the cash giveaway!! But she didn’t win.

It was a great event! We ended up selling almost 400 tickets to the event! We had great auction items and one lucky lady went home with $5000! We made $45,000 after all the bills were paid! That’s almost $10,000 more than last year! It’s a crazy event to plan and prepare for, but always worth it.

Finally! Outside play time!

Nothing new. We’ve been busy as always! We’ve been able to enjoy a few evenings outside- which is so nice! It took forever for all the sleet and ice to all melt away. Only in Arkansas can you play in left over sleet and ice in 65 degree temperatures.

Jarrod finally got to set up Stratton’s soccer goals!

Our front yard is now a soccer field!

Arden 18 months

Impossible.

My sweet baby is 6 months away from being two. It’s as bittersweet as all the little milestones are.

The “terrible two’s” are at our doorstep. She’s beginning to have more and more meltdowns. One about every evening right around dinner, after her bath (she hates getting out of the tub and having to put clothes back on) and anytime she’s really tired you can bet there is going to be a fit for sure! And she has been in trouble for biting at school (twice this week). She will be moving up to the next room at school next week! I hope that helps with the issues at school. At home she is a momma’s girl. She is almost always at my side (or on my hip- it’s a good thing she’s so small). She does like her daddy sometimes, too. Like when I get on to her! She loves Stratton (most of the time) and is now mimicking everything he does, however she likes to do things herself and really isn’t to obliging him when he wants to come to her aid! She can be sweet as sugar one minute and sitting in his lap and the next she’s tearing into him! Whew! Talk about some mood swings! But I don’t want to make it sound like she’s much trouble, because she’s really very good and pretty easy going. I know she’s just going through a phase where she knows what she wants but she’s not able to tell us or demonstrate what it is, so she gets frustrated. She is talking more and saying a lot more words. But if she’s not in the mood, it’s over. And if she is in the mood, she’s a riot. We laugh so much lately at the stuff she does!

At her 18 month appointment she weighs in at a hefty (note the sarcasm) 23 pounds and is 31 inches tall. She’s made it to the 50th percentile on weight, but still barely in the 25th percentile for height. I think she’s going to be a mini-me. Poor thing. She’s wearing mostly 12-18 mo size stuff still. She has a few 18-24, but they are still big on her. Her stature makes me want to sing the “I’m a Little Teacup” song, she’s short and stout- just like a little teacup!

Such. A. Mess.

She’s such a big, little thing!

Apparently the cow has a cold and needs his nose cleaned.

She likes to relax while riding along, maybe catch some zzzz.

For comparisons sake, Stratton at 18 months was 3.5 inches taller and 5 pounds heavier. It doesn’t sound like much, but this was also the month for him that he slowed down a little and we actually hit the percentiles at 85th. Nice.

A New Home. . .

. . .for Armor Seed Corporate!

We moved last Friday and Saturday (before the ice and sleet) to the offices next door. They will be doing some construction to the interior to make us a larger conference room, and a front office, but most of the offices, including mine are pretty much ready. They are going to repaint our trim and do some touching up here and there, but nothing major. That’s one thing that has been so hard about this weather. We’d all anticipated coming in on Monday and setting our offices up (and computers, networks, etc. . .) but because of the weather no one came in on Monday, Tuesday the computers and networks got set up and then yesterday those that were here still didn’t have access to the internet or our main network, so they unpacked a lot of stuff. I had to come in today because they finally got everyone up and running and I had to unpack all my office stuff! And there was no way I could bring the kids up here with the construction going on! It was crazy this morning! They gutted the entire front where a reception desk was and three walls! It was so loud! They got it all ripped out by 2pm so maybe the worst is over! (Yeah, right!) It will be so nice when it’s all finished! I am really going to have to do some work making my office look nice. I didn’t go to much trouble before since I knew we’d be moving relatively soon. This time Kelly says we will be here at least 10 years. . .but I think I’ve heard that before!

I have a lot of work to do decorating!! But, on the bright side, I have a window now!!

A big blank slate

What a week!!

Today is Thursday, and it’s my first real day out of the house since SUNDAY!!

Sunday

We went to Hickory Ridge Sunday for church and my mom had the family over for Jarrod and my birthday. When we left at 9am that morning it was starting to rain a little, but wasn’t too bad. By the time we left that afternoon it was freezing rain and sleeting hard.  On the way home we saw a couple that had run off in the ditch and we tried to help. It ended up being more than Jarrod’s truck could handle, but we tried. It made me nervous! I was scared we were going to get stuck too, or worse end up in the ditch full of water with them!!  We made it home and stayed put!

We were fairly sure they would cancel school on Monday, and they did. My office was even closed! I took these Sunday night when we got home. . .

Yes. She has on Harlem Globetrotter sweat bands. She loves them and wants to wear them ALL. THE. TIME.

Arden do you want to stay home from school?? “NOOOO!!!”

{This is her new “NO” face.}

This picture is funny because if you look at the TV the phone number displayed on the screen is the schools automated message number. At that exact moment they were calling to confirm that school was cancelled for Monday!

Monday

Over the night we got about 3 inches of SLEET. Crazy!! The sleet drifts were all the way to the top of the front porch and higher!

We normally have a sidewalk.

Arden will not keep pants on.

The kids played well. . .most of the time.

We ventured out around 10am. . .it was SO COLD!!

The sun was so bright

Arden wasn’t as much of a fan this time.

When Jarrod got home we got the sled out

Stratton had a blast. I rode it with Arden and she wasn’t a fan!

Tuesday

We stayed in till Jarrod got home around 4pm then he and Stratton went out for a little while. Arden has a little bit of a cold and I didn’t want to aggravate her symptoms. She screamed and cried the whole time they were out! Goodness!

Look close! He wrote “Amy” without any help with spelling!

My artists at work!

What a mess! It looks like a daycare not a house!!

The kids were very well behaved for the most part. It’s just hard being cooped up in the house for days! My saving grace was coffee!!

Wednesday

I really thought this would be our last day at home. We didn’t venture out, the roads were still bad and nothing was melting!! We played and I did laundry. That’s about it!

I did really love getting to nap and cuddle with my girl. She’s such a sweet cuddle bug!

The kids were so good. We actually had very few incidents!

We decided to try and get out last night and met some friends for dinner at Cracker Barrel. The main roads weren’t too bad, but the side roads, parking lots and any of the neighborhood roads are still really bad!

Thursday

I HAD to come to work today. . .more on that later. . .so the kids got to spend the day with Amy and Juliet!! This is the picture I got around noon . . .

They are camping!

Looks like they are having a great time. I just hope they are being good! And of course I just got the call from the school- they are out again tomorrow. Nice. A WHOLE week. Well, there goes Spring Break, I’m sure!