Sooner Celebration

Sooner Celebration is a tradition in our lil town. The whole town comes out for a 5k run, horseshoes, turtle races, kids games, a parade, a stockshow and much more. You know all the small town greats!!
This year Kaylee decided she wanted to try to show her heifer, Twinkle. To go back a few months, Dale had a heifer we raised up on feed as soon as Kaylee turned 9 in Jan. and was making arrangements to get her ready for Kaylee to show. This was a heifer we raised and although everyone thinks their stuff is great, she really is a very good heifer that would have done very well for Kaylee in the show ring! After much thought, she decided she did not want to show her and much to her Daddy's dismay, he turned her out to the pasture. Well come May, we went to a cattle sale and Daddy's girl strikes again!! She fell in LOVE w/a lil heifer and you guessed it.....talked her Daddy into buying it! She has been working very hard and showing lots of initiative to get ready for the big day. Due to Dale's crazy schedule, he made arrangements for Twinkle to "live" at a college friends house for him to halter break her and get her all ready for Kaylee to show her. Jason did and awesome job getting Twinkle ready and Kaylee did a great job going over every chance she got getting herself ready. Even though Kaylee has been around cattle her whole life, she is still very timid around them. Dale does a great job having LOTS of patience with her and letting her work at her own pace. Me on the other hand....it is best for me to stay away!!

So we took Twinkle to her first show yesterday and although Kaylee refused to go in the ring w/out Daddy, her and Twinkle did great! Twinkle was the only Shorthorn heifer, so she was Champion Shorthorn heifer!

Kaylee is practicing a lil before it is her turn to go in. I think Twinkle was about to go to sleep at this point!

"I will only walk her around if you walk with me!"

She is doing pretty good, but not ready for Daddy to let go yet.

Yippee!! Daddy can finally let go!!

But still not willing to walk alone!

In for Supreme Heifer. She is getting braver!!

And did a great job.....not sure how long it will take for her to realize she can do it on her own, but I am going to let her and her Daddy make that decision!

This is the first year that the kids have not had a class float for the parade. Needless to say, Mommy was in no condition, at 9 months pregnant, to plan/organize it and noone else stepped up. So Daddy saved the day and brought a Gator home from work and they probably enjoyed that more! I got them some candy and they asked Kaylee's friend Kaitlyn, our friends Jennie and Jason Elmore's lil girl Pepper, and Dale's boss' Granddaughter Jelani to ride with them. I think they all had a blast and it was SUPER easy for Mommy!!

The Cradle

We have pretty much everything ready and waiting for the arrival of lil Miss Kelsee. This is the cradle she will spend her first few weeks sleeping in!! This cradle has a story that I wanted to share with you.
When my sister was pregnant with Meagan (over 14 years ago) my Aunt purchased this and told her she wanted all the Great-Grandkids on the Lawson side of the family to sleep in it. Not all have slept in it due to other cradles being in their families. However, all my sister and I's kids have, along with others, and now it is Miss Kelsee's turn! All the kids that have slept in it have their names and birthdays written on the bottom, so it is neat to look back at all the one's that have used it! We are still using the original sheets and bumper pads!! We are looking forward to seeing Kelsee sleep in this precious, very special cradle!

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school for the kids. Kaylee started 4th grade and Braden started 2nd. Wow! Where has the time gone!?!? Braden has been ready to go back since he got out last year and popped up this morning and had his breakfast ate and was ready in record time! Kaylee on the other hand, was not quite ready to start this year. I am not sure why she isn't ready to go back this year except that as she gets older and the work gets harder and she is getting that older kid mentality! We are very excited about this school year and both of them have great, experienced teachers and will have a great year! Although I am exited for them, I am apprehensive for me! I will be staying home this year and sending them off. I have only worked at the school 2 years, but have never been home without kids!! May be a long 2-4 weeks until Miss Kelsee gets here!

Braden was excited about his desk on Back to School night! And was even more excited that he sits next to Brynlee....not sure how long she will keep it that way!

Kaylee at back to school night. She didn't really care where she sat, was just amazed at how big the books were!

My handsome lil 2nd grader on the first day!

My beautiful 4th grader on her first day! I cannot believe she has grown up so fast!

My babies!!

She wanted one showing off her new backpack!

Braden and Mrs. Pierce (this is her 32nd year to teach!). He was not wanting to stop for a pic...can you tell!!?!?!

Putting his things away in his cubby

One last cheese!!! Before I got "ok Mom take Sissy now!"

Kaylee and Mrs. Adair

Ready for the day to begin!!!

Braden vs. the Scooter

Saturday evening while at the Sprague's house, Braden had a battle with the scooter. We were sitting outside about dark and the boys were all riding bikes and scooters and all of a sudden I heard a blood curdling scream come from Braden. I had my back to him so I could not see what happened but I hoisted my pregnant self up and got over there as fast as I could. Momma instinct knew it was not a good cry!! Oh and Daddy was sitting facing him and just sat there!! Said it didn't look bad to him!! As I got closer I noticed there was blood.....LOTS of blood!! Needless to say I rushed him in quickly to find something to put on it and start cleaning up all the blood so we could see where it was coming from. Robert, who is an EMT, was right behind me! I was shocked to see these 2 little spots were creating that much blood!! But as we cleaned, the larger of the the 2 looked pretty deep and was questionable as to whether or not it needed a stitch. The Momma's said yes....the Daddy's said no. So we called for another opinion! Kody went and got Phillip (the paramedic that lives across the street) for the final opinion. He agreed w/ the men! Of course!! Anyway, we put ice on it and sat for what seemed like forever!! After it stopped bleeding and he quit squinching his eyebrows the hole was not quite so big.
Braden was very brave! He cried at first, but that didn't last long. He let them check him out and even sat very still for a long period of time while Robert and I held ice on his head. I think Mommy was probably more nervous than he was!!
Needless to say, we were able to avoid an ER visit, but we (once again!) have a nice spot on our head for the first day of school!! Boys will be boys I guess!!

Kelsee Anne's Baby Shower

Some great friends of mine hosted a wonderful baby shower for us on Sunday. We had a great time and got LOTS of wonderful things to help get us ready for lil Miss Kelsee's arrival.

The kids and I in front of the adorable "cake" they had made for us!

My sister, Emily, was able to make it!! I was so glad she took the time out to come and share this special time with us!

Dale's Mom was also able to make it.

Isn't this cupcake idea just adorable!!

Emily and I and the kids! They are so excited and ready for their baby sister and baby cousin to get here!

Amber and Rachael, my 2 best friends that did an amazing job on hosting the shower. (There were also 2 other hostesses, Shannon and Dana that were not able to make it)

Getting ready to open gifts

Nana, Dale's mom, had made him and both kids a quilt. This is Kelsee's work in progress!

The kids got her a much needed diaper bag!!

While I was in Canton I got the girls matching outfits. We can't wait for her to get here and fit into hers before big sister outgrows hers!!

And cousin Macie has one too!

We got this precious burp rag from Melissa Thedford and Emily Ott. It is so cute I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to use it!

A precious blanket made for us by Debbie Brock and Desiree Tennyson

Some of the guests

The boys wanted a pic with just the 2 of them!!

Eureka Springs Trip

This summer we decided to take a low key vacation. We spent the weekend with Dale's Mom and Grandpa in Eureka Springs, AR. Although we were not there long, we had a great time and were glad the kids got to enjoy this time with their Nana and Grandpa.
On the first night there we went to see the Passion Play. This is a HUGE statue of Jesus they have there. As you can see compared to the kids it is quite large!

They had a pre-show so this is Kaylee and Daddy waiting on the pre-show to start.

Braden, Nana and Grandpa waiting on it to start.

While waiting on the Passion Play to start we enjoyed some Lemon Chill and popcorn. The play was amazing!! The kids did great till about 1/2 way through, then had their moments from there. Two hours with no break was a LONG time for all of us, but worth it to see the wonderful story of Jesus played out like that.

Our room had a jacuzzi tub that the kids had to "swim" in....of course!!

Our resort had a stable with the nicest people and horses available for riding. Braden was all of over this!! The first day he was able to take Sundance for a "test drive" to see if he wanted to go on the trail ride the next day. He had a blast and could not wait for 9:00 the next day!

Taking a round on Sundance

Kaylee preferred them with a fence in between!!

His new best friend!!

There was a pond available for fishing....too bad it was too hot and they caught nothing!!

But she tried for a lil while anyway

Daddy had a bright idea of buying water balloons. So it was hilarious when the attack was all on him!!!

Look out Daddy!!! You have worked to give her that arm, now you are paying for it!!

While we were there a friend of ours from college, Andy O'Neil, and his wonderful wife, Trisha, and precious daughter, Kaitlyn, came over and spent a lil time with us. We enjoyed a great visit with them. We discovered it has been 7 years since we have seen them!! Kaylee was about Kaitlyn's age and Braden was just a baby. We went to AR for Dale to be in their wedding. We decided we were not going to let 7 years go by this time!

Trying to get a pic of all 3 kids was challenging.....but not because of the lil one...it was Braden being a lil stinker!!

On the 2nd night we took them to the Ozark Mountain Jamboree. Dale and I went to this on our last trip to Eureka Springs and thought it was hilarious so we decided to take them. They quickly agreed!

They sale these hats there. I got one when we went a few years ago so the kids were so excited to get one of their own!

Braden has really enjoyed playing his guitar lately and really enjoyed watching "Ponytail" play his. Of all the characters in the show this was his fav!

Grandpa wanted a pic w/ the kids and Ponytail too!

The next morning Braden is finally going to get to go on his trail ride w/ Sundance!!

Kaylee got on the horse and tried, but she lasted about a whole 2 minutes. Oh well, that is ok!

Off he goes!

Just a lil way down from our cabin there was an opening where the trail crossed the road. We walked down there and caught a few pics as they went by.

The riders as they finished up! Braden had a great time on the horses and especially the Daddy time!