BBQ and Birthdays

Friday night Nathan and I went on a double date, well sort-of anyway. Our friend (and my co-worker) Laikken went to Rivertowne BBQ with us. We joked around about it being a double date because I had to sit on the side of the table with Noah so Laikken and Nathan sat together. We love that place!

The love birds cheesing it up for their double date!

Me and my handsome date!

Saturday was a big game for the Arkansas Razorbacks! They played #4 ranked Alabama. Well, not to my surprise, we lost. I love the Razorbacks, but I don't love them too much to know when we are out of our league - and Alabama is just better than us. The End. We watched the first of the game and then we had to head to Russellville for a party. Nathan wasn't too happy about the party being scheduled in the middle of the Razorback game, but after how the game went, he was glad we left. I saved him alot of yelling at the tv and throwing things! :)

Whooo Pig Sooie! Isn't that Razorback adorable?!

Noah watching the game!

Noah after I told him that the Razorbacks lost! :(

We had a birthday party at the Jump Place in Russellville for me niece Eliza Nell, me nephew Christian, my sister-in-law Emily (who was too pregnant to attend), my sister Jaime, my brother-in-law Ben, and my sister-in-law Kesha! This is a crazy time for birthdays in my family! Once again, Noah had a blast at the Jump Place - he loves anywhere that he can run around. After we left there we went to Savannah's in Dardanelle to eat. After we got there we saw that Some Guy Named Robb was singing there - we felt like groupies since we saw him last week at The Journey open house! Noah loves live music, so he was perfect while we were eating - he even clapped after the songs were over. Noah's babysitter Laurie just happened to show up to eat there too - and he threw his arms up and hugged and kissed all over her and her daughter when he saw her. It made all of us feel good! :)

Noahs favorite thing at The Jump Place!

My brother Eli, his son Greyson, and Noah all wearing the Michael Jordan gear! :)

Noah LOVES Greyson, someday Greyson will love Noah too! HA!

Noah eating at Savannah's

Sunday we went to Church. Noah didn't do so well in the nursery this week. He got so upset he made himself sick. So, his number came flashing up on the screen during the service. I felt so bad for him. He just doesn't know anyone in there yet, and I know it will take time. I spoke to some people there though and we are working on a few things that may make it easier on us all. I really hope it works out because Nathan and I are liking the Church so far! We ended the weekend at the park - Nathan practiced batting for softball and Noah and I played. We had a great weekend!

Noah and Daddy matched for Church!

Noah at the park!

This boy loves being outside!

Watching Daddy hit :)

LA or Bust for the Sheas!

My sister and her husband and their 2 sons are moving to Los Angeles today! It will be a big change from Arkansas, but that is where my brother-in-law will be working and they have been apart due to his job locations for awhile now so it is time for them to all finally be together. Their daughter just started college at UCA so she will still be here - yay! So, safe travels and I hope you find great happiness together in LA!

My brother-in-law Ben, working like always! Thanks for taking care of my sister and family.

My sister Jaime - have fun in the big city, you know it is where you belong! :)

My nephew Bridger - I just know you are going to find your niche in LA, I can tell. Also - those bookstores there are going to blow your mind - enjoy! 

My nephew Jaxon, the baby of the family. Enjoy the beaches and all the other cool things you are going to get to discover and be around at a young age. I am jealous :)

My beautiful niece Tori - I am glad you are staying in Arkansas! You have quite the family to represent at all our family functions! Love and miss you!

Eliza Nell's Surprise!

That afternoon we went to the office where I work to reveal Eliza Nell's birthday present to her. She got a mini horse! We are keeping him at the office because it has such a good open space. Mom gave her some horse gifts as clues, but I think she was still clueless. She was then blindfolded and carried out for the reveal. She was so cute - she turned to mom and buried her face when she saw the horse. Every one was looking at her, so she got embarrassed. The horses name is Elliot and everyone loved him! The kids rode and played with him for awhile and then he got tired so we all went in for cupcakes and let Elliot rest. Noah chased after the horse, but wasn't so sure about it when it was his turn. He was cranky and so was Elliot so we will have to try again later.

Meet Elliot the mini horse - yes, he is a male, but when your owner is a 5 year old girl, you wear some pink!

Eliza Nell opening presents - she has no idea there is a horse outside!

Grandma carrying blindfolded Liza outside.

Surprise!

Noah liked running around better than the horse!

Eliza was SO excited!

All the family watching the kids ride the horse.

Eliza wanted to hug Noah, but he didn't have time for that - he needed to run!

Noah thought he wanted on the horse...

He thought wrong!

The beautiful Eliza and her horse cake!

Eliza Nell, like all the grandkids, are very blessed!

Full Circle Saturday

Inez Case



Or Grandma Case, as I always called her.

Saturday morning I had to go to my grandmas funeral. Grandma Case wasn't technically my grandma, she was my half sisters grandma, but growing up she always babysat us and acted as if she was our grandma. I didn't see her as much after we moved to Ft. Smith when I was in the 4th grade, and then when we moved back I was in junior high, so we didn't need a babysitter anymore. We went and visited her a few times or would see her at some birthday parties or baby/wedding showers, but not very often. I have the best memories of going to Grandma Cases house and playing card and board games with her. She would play for hours with us! She was the first one to read me Ferdinand, my favorite kids book, and she would read it to me whenever I asked. I would just climb onto the arm of her recliner and she would read away. She always got my favorite strawberry and peach ice cream bars from the Schwan's guy and anytime I was sick she would give me Sprite in a can with a straw. It made everything better. She was a retired beautician, and she always let me spin in her beauty chair - she was a great lady. She had a very nice service and she will be missed.

Mr. Frowny :)

Nathan, just before I beat him - he was in shock! :)

Saturday afternoon Nathan and I took Noah to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. He loved it! He ran from game to game and rode everything three or four times. We took turns eating and chasing him. Nathan and I love Chuck E. Cheese pizza, so we had to have some while we were there. We love that place. We even used to go before Noah was born by ourselves to play games and eat. We played a few games also. Noah ended up with 250 tickets and got a slinky and a ring.

Setting the new high score on the basketball game, like always :)

Someone looks happy about their new slinky!

We left there and went to Goody's Frozen Yogurt. I had heard alot about it so we thought we would give it a try. I love the idea of the place, but the yogurt was nothing special. I can totally see where a kid would go crazy in there because of all the choices and crazy topping options. I can see me taking Noah back when he is old enough to appreciate it. We listened to another Arkansas Razorback victory on the way home on the radio.

Noah got to eat out of both of our ice creams, he was in heaven!

He has started doing this now, he grits his teeth and makes to fists and squeezes
them so hard he shakes - he cracks me  up!

It was a sad day and a happy day - life coming full circle in the same day like that can amaze me. We said goodbye to an amazing woman and saw her for the last time and saw our son see things for the very first time and have a great day.

The Journey

We have been wanting to go to church for a while now, we just didn't know where. I decided to just wait for a sign of where we need to go. I kept hearing about The Journey church coming to Clarksville. It came up alot and at strange times, so I decided we needed to give it a try.

It rained all day Friday and was cooler than expected, so it made our plans to go to The Journey's open house a little tricky. They had some jump houses, but we didn't let Noah do them. It was too cold and wet so we just went on a tour of the church and listened to Some Guy Named Robb sing some songs. They had some good food and the building looked awesome! I was very impressed with their church nursery! They have a video monitor of all the kids rooms out in the hall so you can check on your kid without peeking in. The videos also record, so if anything ever happens, you can watch the video. Another thing I absolutely loved was the way they paged the parent. They give each child a number and if your kid needs you they will put the number on a little monitor on the side of the stage where the service is and you can go back to them. I have never took Noah to church, and Nathan and I haven't been to church in years, so this may be common practice - but we were impressed! I really liked the church, it was so modern and fun.

Noah's 1st time to go to Church! So Handsome!

We talked it over and decided to go to our first church service as a family and give The Journey a try. I was nervous about dropping Noah off. I have never been nervous about dropping Noah off anywhere because he knew or had been around the people I was dropping him off with. But, he didn't know any of these people. I knew quite a few of the kids in his class and knew of his teachers. One of his teachers put her arms out and he went to her and started playing in the floor. So, I snuck out. All through service I kept waiting for his number to come up on the screen, but it never did. The service was good, very different from what we were used to. Very laid back. We both liked it. After the service I went and got him and he had been crying. They said he would get fussy if they didn't walk him around, but I thought he did pretty good I thought for being out of his element. We went to lunch at Kountry Kitchen and then took Noah home to nap while I went to my first basketball meeting of the year. I volunteer as a basketball coach for the Lamar Youth and it is about time to start, which I look forward too and don't all at the same time. I love the kids and games, I just hate being away from Noah on my days off. I am not gone that much and he gets to spend more time with Nathan and his grandparents this way, but it is still hard.

I am excited to give this church a try and who knows, maybe we have found where we belong!

Noah's 1st time to the "Beach"

Finally the weather has been cooling off enough for us to be outside without it being too hot to even move! Even the low 90's feel good now after having those dry heat days of 110+! Nathan worked half of Labor Day so Noah and I spent the morning catching up with the Kardashians. Nathan got home when Noah woke up from his nap and I wanted to take Noah somewhere to play outside. Nathan suggested Piney Bay - it was perfect! They have the "beach" and water and swings! So, after I packed our stuff - we were off!

Half way there I realized I forgot my camera - I was literally sick! As you can tell, I love taking pictures, especially of Noah's firsts. I had my phone so I took some on there. I was digging in our beach bag and found a water camera in the bottom of it. I have no idea what is on it or when we bought it, but it still had 12 pictures available on it! YAY! It took some getting used to - I had to look through a lens instead of looking at the screen on the back, but it worked. I took the camera to Wal-Mart to develop the pictures doing in the hour lab. Apparently, the hour lab no longer exists for film cameras! You have to send them off and it takes 5 days to get them back! 5 days! That is like an eternity when you are used to instantly being able to see them! It turned out to be 8 days - ridiculous! So, that is why I am just now posting this - I had to wait to get my pictures back.

Noah loved to run (stumble) on the sand and chase his football while Daddy tried to even out his farmer's tan. We took him to swing for a little bit. He LOVES to swing! Then we changed him to take a little dip in the water! He would just run right out there in the water and splash it around! He is fearless (or clueless, but fearless sounds better).

When it was time to go, we saw a park ranger by our car. He kept talking to people and pointing at our car, like he was looking for who it belonged to. It was then we realized that we didn't pay the $1 swimming fee. We were not really going to swim, and didn't see the sign about it until after we were already at the swim area. We walked up to turn ourselves in - ha! He said as long as it was just Noah swimming not to worry about it - thank goodness. I am not sure what kind of ticket that is, but I didn't want to find out. So, just so everyone knows, Piney Bay is serious about that $1 swimming fee - pay up! :)

I am hoping to be able to take Noah back out there a few times before it really turns off cold. He loves to run and play outside. It was a good labor free Labor day!