Leadership skills

I was trying to put a positive spin on Arden’s assertive nature. I think I created a monster!

Arden’s not bossy- she’s got leadership skills

Pony Hair

Arden has started letting me fix her hair a little more! I have gotten her to wear a ponytail a few times, but she calls it pony hair! As in, “Mommy, I want pony hair!”. I will gladly oblige! It’s just hard to keep her still enough to get it all in a elastic band! And she wants to try to do it herself! Her hair is still pretty fine, but it’s thickening up. I think it’s going to be a lot like my own hair, but with a little more curl. Mrs. Cindy that cuts our hair tells me how great my hair is all the time and she really thinks Arden is going to have the same thickness and texture. Thank goodness! I wouldn’t know what to do with a really curly headed kid, especially a girl! The color is lighter than it was when she was born and continues to lighten. And for the most part it looks good and I don’t have to do much if anything to it! It sure took her awhile to get a head full of hair in, but at least it was worth the wait!

 

Side pony

Low pony

Half pony

My favorite

High pony

A girl and her dog

Last night Stratton had his first Baseball practice, so Arden and I played outside with Sadey for a while. The weather has been nicer for playing outside. We’ve had quite a bit of rain, too! So Arden thinks she needs to wear her rain boots pretty much all the time. 

Notice her boots are on the wrong feet?

The kids love to play in Sadey’s pin? Sadey has to be locked up again after we got home on Easter Sunday and she was gone! She had broken a fence board and gotten into the neighbor’s yard!

We weren’t the only ones playing outside and Sadey was barking and growling at the kids down the hill!

SADEY!! Sadey Barking!

Oh yes, she’s kissing Sadey.

I think Sadey looks confused!

Easter Sunday

I’m beginning to think that the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and all the others need to come during naptime, not at night! Neither of my kids are “morning people” (wonder where they get that??) and so having a surprise in the morning when they are cranky and moody isn’t the best timing. Needless to say, I didn’t get a picture of the two of them happily holding their Easter basket and goodies!

Plus, Sunday mornings are just the worst time to throw in an added event! We are usually already rushing around trying to get everyone up, fed and dressed for church! But we did it!

Stratton looked so handsome (and OLD!) in his shirt and tie!

Arden didn’t want Stratton in the pictures. .

Family shot

Pops and Stratton in their matching ties!

????

Gigi and Arden

After church we had lunch with some of the Wilson’s at Grandpa’s house.

Stratton, Arden and Darcy (wearing matching dresses!) aren’t they cute!!

Melt me.

This picture almost convinces me we need to have another baby. . .Almost but not enough!

Aunt Paula brought a bunch of eggs and hid them for the kids to find.

Arden keeps her eye on Darcy!

Then they built a tent

Crazy Kids!!

We made our way back to Gigi and Pops house and Arden picked flowers on the way.

And dropped most of them.

And she was not in the mood to have her picture taken, but her little outfit was cute, so I had to throw this in!

Easter 2015- Friday and Saturday

Friday night we took the kids to Spring Sing. I like they both liked it pretty good. It was Arden’s first time. Stratton told us afterwards that there should be more spring stuff in it and not so much scary stuff? I’m not sure what he thought was scary??

We stayed at Nan and Pa’s house Friday night. We had such a nice day on Saturday! We got up and around a little late, then we met the crew for lunch at the Greek House! We should have taken a picture of our table! There were 13 of us! Sam and Wade and their three kids, and Kristen and Brett and their 2 kids, and us! The restaurant was packed (as everything is in Searcy on Spring Sing weekend!) It took awhile and was a little chaotic but it was a fun lunch! After lunch we headed to Harding for a Easter Egg hunt on the Front Lawn! It was a perfect afternoon! The weather was sunny and just a tad cool- perfect for playing outside! The hunt was so much fun! There were plenty of people there, but it wasn’t overly crowded! I think we my have to make this a tradition!

The areas that they hunted were divided by age, so this is the only one I got of my two. . .

Arden and McKinnon got to hunt together, kinda! McKinnon is a little more of a go-getter than Arden! She had a basket full before they even let them start! She shared some of them with Arden, so she could go get more!

Arden only picked up PINK eggs!

Ian and Stratton got to hunt together. It took them awhile to warm up to each other this time, but once they did they had lots of fun. Running around and beating trees with sticks. . .you know “boy stuff”.

15 years and 7 kids later!

It’s been almost 16 years since we first met! Our freshman year of college we became friends when we lived in Cathcart (2 Short Hall) together! Sam was my suitemate, and Kristen was just 2 doors down from my room. Seems like yesterday!

 

6 of out of 7 kids! Laney (Sam’s oldest), Kate (Kristen’s oldest), Ian (Kristen’s youngest), Stratton, McKinnon (Sam’s middle), and Arden, missing Shepherd (Sam’s youngest) he was in his stroller.

I forget how nice the campus is when the weather is nice. After the egg hunt, most of the other kids and families cleared out and we pretty much had the front lawn to ourselves! The kids ripped and roared, and chased each other and had so much fun! We got to visit a little while the kids played. Sam and Wade needed to leave to head back home and Kristen and her crew had tickets to the 2pm Spring Sing show. We took our kids to the student center to use the bathroom, get a snack and make a trip through the bookstore. We all got a new t-shirt and I got a LARGE coffee and we had planned to go back out to the front lawn and play and walk around campus some more since it was so nice, but Stratton decided to have a major meltdown in the student center because we wouldn’t let him have a coke and gummy candy. Really?! He just got a new shirt and we even bought him a Harding Football! Was he grateful about that? Nope. He screamed and cried all the way to the car (which of course was on the other side of campus) I was mortified. I know it was because he was tired, but still! He got his rear tore up when we got to the car. Then we went to Nan and Pa’s and got our stuff together and headed towards Hickory Ridge in hopes they would take a nap!- They were both asleep before we got out of town!

Trying to get Arden in her carseat Jarrod pulled a muscle or something in his back, so he was pretty miserable the rest of the day. He laid on the couch, and the kids played and we dyed Easter eggs then we had dinner. It was pretty late by the time we finally got them both asleep! Then it was time to wait on the Easter Bunny to come!