Trappers

They absolutely LOVE their live traps they got from Santa. They are constantly going to the creek to set them or check them. The day after Christmas, Paw Paw Rusty and Kamden went to the creek to set his. They baited it up real good with some stinky sardines. So the next morning after Nonnie, Paw Paw and Maw Maw left to go home, Kamden went to check his trap. He caught a possum! He was so excited! He came back home and Heath and I went back with him to the creek to let it go.

On the way to the trap.

A picture with his first catch!

Daddy teaching him how to 'catch and release'.

Austin was in bed sick for a few days after Christmas, so he missed out on all this fun. Believe me, they've caught several more since then. They are patiently (or not-so-patiently) waiting for the day they catch their first raccoon!

Christmas in Searcy

So, we made it back to Searcy on Christmas Eve just in time to get the car unloaded and get ready for Santa to come! As I mentioned before Maw Maw Rat, Nonnie & Paw Paw Rusty came back to spend Christmas with us and we were so glad they came!

Heath starting the process of his homemade cinnamon rolls for our trditional Christmas morning breakfast.

On Christmas Eve when Santa came, our elf, Norman, decided to play a trick on the boys and hide their gifts from Santa. When they came downstairs Christmas morning all they had was a book and their stocking!! Luckily, Norman left them a note with a clue where their first gift was. So, off they went to find it!

It was live traps and they were hid in the garage.

The next clue led them to remote control helicopters in Kamden's chalkboard closet.

Their third and final clue sent them outside to the trampoline and they found their new rip riders.

After all that fun was over, it was time to open presents.

I love Kamden's face in this one!

The adults had gifts to open too!

This is what Kamden thought about that. Can you say SPOILED?!?

These are the targets for the bows they got. I didn't get a picture of them opening the bows but they were so excited!

Christmas in Jena

As usual, I am way behind on my blogging. So within the next few days I'll try to play catch-up. We spent four days in Jena before Christmas and let me tell you, they were BUSY! We had a Christmas at someone's house every day we were there.
Friday night we had Christmas at Nonnie and Paw Paw's house with a little karaoke entertainment. :)

Saturday night, we had Christmas with Heath's family at Jonathan's house. We were supposed to have fireworks and a hayride but the weather didn't cooperate. We all had fun anyway!

Then on Sunday, we went to Maw Maw Sue & Chuck's house to have Christmas with them.

Monday night, we had Christmas at Maw Maw Rat's house. As always, she had a house full of people and we had a great time!.
All 13 great grandkids were there!

Tuesday morning, Christmas Eve, we headed back to Arkansas so Santa come for a visit. (I'll post more about that later.)

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

It's so hard to believe in a little over a week Santa will be here!! We have been having lots of fun around here getting ready for Christmas. Kamden did most of the tree decorating this year since Austin is just too grown up for us now. I only have a picture of him decorating one tree but he actually did 2. Maybe before we take them down I'll get a picture of the finished product.


Norman came back to visit us again this year and we have an excited little boy every morning to see what he is up to. This is just a few of the things he has done.

Playing a game of Wahoo with friends.

Zip lining from the blinds.

Cheering on the Saints.

Marshmallow bubble bath.

A mirror message to Austin.

Last week the boys were out of school for 3 days because of all the ice and snow we got. They had a good time slippin' and slidin' on the ice. I grabbed one quick picture but it wasn't an action shot. It was TOO cold out there for me!


Today we decorated gingerbread trains. Here is the picture of our finished train. Austin had the engine. I had the box car and Kamden had the caboose.

Happy Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we decided to go home to Jena. We got to spend almost a week there and we had lots of fun. The boys did A LOT of hunting. They hunted squirrels and deer almost every day we were there. Kamden got to shoot at his first squirrels. I'm not real sure who killed them. I heard conflicting stories. Someone told me Kamden killed them and someone else told me Paw Paw Rusty killed them. Anyway, here is Kamden's picture with the 2 squirrels from that day's hunt.

On Thursday, we had Thanksgiving at Maw Maw Rat's house. I didn't get any pictures but we had tons to eat and enjoyed getting to visit with everyone. All the great grandkids had a blast. They each took one of Maw Maw's purses (without her knowing) and filled them up with pecans. I'm pretty sure she'll be finding pecans in her purses for months. HA!

After Thanksgiving, Nonnie & Paw Paw took the boys deer hunting while I braved the sale at Wal-Mart. Austin killed his first deer! He was SO excited he could hardly sleep that night. He just kept telling us the story over and over again. Kamden was jealous, of course, and it was all Paw Paw's fault because he was hunting with him.

Austin and his deer and the squirrels he killed that morning.

Here is Austin and his hunting partner, Nonnie.

Friday, Heath roasted a hog at his mom's house and we went to eat with them that night. Everybody was there so we had a great time catching up with everyone and we can't wait til Christmas to do it all over again.

All the grandkids were there. Will and Nicolas were there at separate times so we had to take two different grandkid pictures.

This one has Will in it.

And this one has Nicolas in it.

Heath with all his sisters.

Saturday, Maw Maw Rat came to momma's house to cook all the squirrels and make squirrel gravy for the men . Luckily, she came early enough to cook her famous 'Rat biscuits' for breakfast. Here is her picture of her doing what she does best.

Then the boys 'helped' Nonnie rake her yard. They just wanted to do the fun part of jumping in the pile and then setting it on fire. I did get them to pose for a silly face picture.

That wraps up our Thanksgiving trip to Jena and in less than 2 weeks we'll be heading back!!!

Guess Who Got Braces?

KAMDEN!!



Last Monday, Kamden had a consultation with the orthodontist because the space between his two front teeth is keeping his other two front teeth from erupting. He recommended that we do a limited set of braces on the front top teeth to pull them together so the others can come down. The sooner we could start this process the better off we will be so he got braces today! He has been SO excited for the past week. He has counted down the days and reminded us often that he was getting braces on Monday. Our appointment was at 8:00 this morning and we were done by 8:45. He did great! He told me 'that didn't hurt at all!' He chose to black and yellow rubber bands because those are Saints colors. (They didn't have gold.)

Here is his picture with his new braces.



Now the not-so-fun news:
Because of the size of the gap between his teeth, as they pull them together it will create a large amount of gum tissue scrunched up between the teeth. He will probably have to have oral surgery done to remove the gum tissue so the teeth will come together properly. Dr. Hopkins said that sometimes this problem will work itself out and there is no need for surgery. Please join me in praying that this happens. The surgery is minor but it is still surgery!

Costume Dilemas!

The boys couldn't decide what they wanted to be this year for Halloween. So, on Monday after school, I told them they had to decide in case I needed to buy the costume. Time was running out! Well, Austin decided he wanted to be Turtle Man from Call of The Wildman and Kamden decided on Batman. They got all their stuff out and had a 'trial-run' to make sure everything was going to work. Things couldn't have went better; we had everything we needed except Austin's hat.

So, Thursday evening they came inside to get dressed. Austin got his outfit on. We even drew the feather tattoo on his arm. Kamden got dressed as Batman...and then he decided he didn't want to be Batman because he was 'too mature' for that. Keep in mind, it is 6:00 and he wants a different costume! I told him he didn't have much of a choice, he could be a baseball player or Drew Brees. He chose Drew Brees and he told me 'now, he looked a lot more mature'. HA!

Off we go trick or treating. At our 2nd house, the people didn't know who Austin was dressed as so that embarrassed him and he insisted that I take him home to change. He ended up being a duck hunter. I didn't get a picture of him in his camo with his face painted so you'll just see him as the Turtle Man.



In spite of all that, they had a great time and got TONS of candy!

Here is Kamden with his candy.