It's a fine day for a circus!

Brodie got his first taste of showbiz when he appeared in Farnahan's Circus at The New School. What a blast. He got to be a snowcone vendor. When he came home and told us what part he got he said he was a defender. Hope you enjoy the show!

Sledding

Finally some good snow. We had a tiny bit of snow, but it was enough for a little sledding.

The Great Ice Storm of 2009

The great Ice Storm of 2009 was quite an adventure. It began innocently enough with a little freezing rain. Before we knew it we were living in a winter wonderland with no power and trees breaking and falling all around us. It was increadibly beautiful and horribly devastating at the same time. We lost power on a Tuesday afternoon. Brodie and I went outside and couldn't believe the level of destruction that was already taking place. Trees were breaking and limbs falling all around. We had to be careful to stay in the street away from trees for our own safety. The sounds were incredible too. We didn't get our power back until late Thursday evening. We spent our days walking around looking at everything, going to eat at some of the few restaurants with power, or sitting in front of our gas fireplace. Thank goodness for gas water heaters and a gas fireplace. How I wish we had a gas cooktop. We moved a mattress to the living room and slept in front of the fireplace. Brodie thought it was a great adventure. We went to see Stella Luna at WAC on Friday morning. Our power went off again while we were gone. Our heater went out too so when the power came back on the house stayed cold. Luckily on Saturday someone came to fix it and the weather was beautiful. We had to start the clean-up process, but it was very warm outside. Brodie wore shorts while we cleaned up all the sticks and debris left behind after the storm. We hired some guys to cut the broken limbs out of our trees and we cut them up and piled them on the street to be picked up. I'll post a link to our photos sometime soon.

Merry Christmas

The Christmas season was lots of fun too. We got to do the Christmas Parade in Fayetteville with our good friends Kevin, Dawn, Kade and Kamden. We did the Santa breakfast at ACO with Xavier, JC, and David. Then we rode the Santa train to Rogers and back. Thank goodness we had some help with that. Back-up parents!!!! How can four little boys be that crazy? We were lucky enough to enjoy Christmas Eve services at New Heights Church with Barbara, Buddy and Sophie and have Christmas Eve dinner with them too. We were sorry we missed the Cartwright's Christmas Eve party -maybe next year. Our families came here the weekend after Christmas. We so enjoyed getting to see everyone. Sunday morning we went to the hotel for breakfast and a swim before everyone left. Hard to believe we have reached the end of another year.

Our Fall has been much the same. We've taken a quick trip to Silver Dollar City and Springfield with Doris, Kim, Maya, and Xavier. We went to see the Backyardians in Springfield and then a day at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. We also enjoyed the Razorback games this fall. We haven't been that good this year, but we have gotten to enjoy them with friends and that makes it special in the end. We hosted our 2nd annual Pumpkin Carving Party and had the Mad Science Guy come to provide the entertainment. It was lots of fun for all of us. Ben and I were exhausted by all the work needed to get things ready, but were happy to we are able to do it. The next weekend we left for Disney World with our friends Dawn, Kevin and Kade. That was a real treat. We are a blessed family.

Summer

We've had a busy and fun summer. We started the summer at the beach in Matagorda Bay, Texas, then on to Galvaston-Khema area. Later in the summer we went to Beaver Creek for a few days and then Brodie and I went to Kentucky for a family reunion. Soooo it was a really fun and busy summer with lots of swimming mixed in.

Our Family 9-28-08
We returned home from church today and I wanted to get a photo of us. Turned out well I think. We are a lucky family.