Ava's 2nd Birthday

It's so hard to believe that it has been 2 years since our sweet baby girl came into our lives. Ava, you bring such joy and laughter into our hearts. Your silliness and unending love amaze and amuse us everyday. It seems like you are growing up so fast and I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

We knew it wouldn't be long until the two blondes found the dirt!

Ethan's 6th Birthday

I can't believe my baby boy is already 6 years old! He was so excited to be 6! He just can't wait to grow up and just want time to stop!

When we went to school Ethan's name was on the sign out front wishing him a happy birthday. He said his class sang him happy birthday and his name was also announced on the speaker during announcements.

I picked Ethan up from school and brought him back to work with me. Teresa and Carrie made his "office" festive with balloons and presents. The sales guys got him a baseball glove, some batting gloves and those little things you put under your eyes to look mean, at least that's what they told him they are for!

My St. Patrick's day baby celebrated his big day with a small party with the family. (We did the blowout birthday party last year and my rule is big party's every other year!) Ethan's big present was a pony named Butterscotch. That's right a real pony! Every person that has asked what Ethan got has said, "A real pony?" Nana and Poppy came up from Little Rock and brought Ethan a saddle. Noni and Paw Paw finished out with a new hat and some cowboy boots.

He was really excited, but I think Ava was by far the horse lover in the family. We may have a little rodeo queen on our hands!

A little catch up...

It has been so long since the last time I've blogged!  I've been trying to go back and write about the things I've missed, but I think I'm just going to start over since the kiddo's birthdays are already just around the corner.

Well, lets see... The last months have been quite crazy at the Dickerson house.  Last year we bought 11 acres in Clarksville with plans to sell our house and build there.  The economy and the local housing market put a little kink in our plans.  While we were searching for house plans we realized we loved our house as much as any we could build.  We put together some numbers and decided we could update our own house with everything we wanted and still come out cheaper.  Right after New Year's we started our house remodeling.  The first thing we tackled was taking the acoustic texture off of the ceilings.  WOW! That was a mess!!!  We actually lived through it, though.  The next thing was refinishing our hardwood floors.  We had to abandon ship during this process because the fumes were too much to handle.  We moved in with Billy and Marian thinking it would only take 3 or 4 days to finish.  Three weeks and A LOT of patience with our contractor later the results were phenomenal!  We finally moved back home on February 21.  We had our work cut out for us when we got home.  Everything was covered in about an inch of dust!  We spent every minute cleaning and putting our home back together.  The next week we were finally ready to go with the new carpet install.  Chris and I moved every piece of furniture in our house by ourselves!  I am one tough lady, let me tell ya!  (Well, in the beginning, LOL!) 

It's great to finally be able to say that we do not have to move one more piece of furniture!  We made it through it!  Oh, and in the middle of all of that, Chris removed our old fireplace and built a beautiful drystack fireplace.  He is so talented when it comes to those kinds of things. 

We still have a few things left to do but nothing major.  It has all come together so well.  We absolutely love it!

Big Tough Iron Man and Sweet Little Bumble Bee

 

This year for Halloween Ethan was adamant that he was going to be his new favorite superhero, Ironman! He had so much fun in his costume with his big muscles!

 

Sweet baby girl dressed up as the cutest bumble bee you have ever seen! She was adorable!

We started out our trick or treating adventure at Noni and Paw Paw's house where we stopped for a little costume photo session. Then we trick or treated Grandpa Werner's house.

Next we went to Aunt Dana's house. Aunt Dana and Aunt Sis had lots of goodies for the kiddos. Then for the grand finale, Uncle Michael's house.

We only made a few stops this year because it is a lot of work to get two kids into and out of the car that many times! We almost needed a checklist for all the pieces of the costumes...Bumble Bee Wings?...Check!, Iron Man Mask?...Check!, Candy Buckets?...Check!, Ava's Shoes?...Where are Ava's shoes? I don't know. Where did you put them? Here they are. Okay let's go! Trick or Treat! Thank You! Okay everybody back in the car! Next stop! Whew!

Wooo Pig Sooie!

We all made the trip to Fayetteville to cheer on the Hogs as we took on number one ranked Alabama.  The stadium was packed to record capacity so the crowd at Razorback stadium was crazy!  Aunt Becka took Ethan and Nate down to the stadium to do a little tailgating with Uncle Collin and his family.  Here is a little video of the kids in a dance contest...

And of course, calling the Hogs!

The kids had a blast and they didn't even lose Aunt Becka once!  The kids and Aunt Becka made it back to Dinah and Carolines for kickoff.  We cheered hard and the Razorbacks played an outstanding game against Bama.  Unfortunately the Hogs lost a heartbreaking game 24-20.  However, the sadness from losing was replaced with excitement the next morning when we opended the newspaper and saw the front page!

Baby Boy Goes To Kindergarten

Well, I never thought this day would come, but here I am writing about my baby boy's first day of kindergarten. Ethan has been looking forward to this day since his last day of pre-school. He is such a social little guy that loves to be with his friends. He couldn't wait for Summer to be over so he could see Noah, Phillip and Gage. Ethan went to kindercamp for two weeks before school started. This was such a great opportunity for him to get to know the in's and out's of kindergarten before there were hundreds of kids there. On the last day of kindercamp I went to eat lunch with the big man. It was such a shock to see him tell me exactly what to do. We lined up and waited our turn to scan his lunch card, then he got his tray and milk and carried all by himself to his table. The entire time he was telling me "Mommy, you have to do it this way." I followed his lead and we cleaned up our trays just like he had been taught. I know Ethan is old enough to handle all of this, but this is the first time I've seen him in action without Mommy. Needless to say, I was beaming at his accomplishments. Even if it only was going through the lunch by himself, to me it was a milestone!

 

After a successful kindercamp, it was now time to prepare for the big day...Kindergarten!!! Outfitted with the newest and coolest backpack, we made our way to Clarksville Primary School. The first week we were allowed to walk our new students to their classroom. I was ready to snap a few hundred pictures of the big event, however little man had other ideas. He would not pose for one picture!!! Of course I had Ava in tow so the picture taking turned out to be quite impossible. Deciding to forgoe the snapshots, we made our way to Ethan's hallway. As we passed other kids in the hallway clinging to their mothers, I began to worry. Ethan, however, was ready to go and not giving it a second thought. We stopped at the door of his new classroom and I tried for one last picture opportunity. Ethan was having none of it. I said "Okay, Bubby, are you ready?" to which he replied, "Mommy, I got this." I think that quote about sums it up. He headed off into his class and didn't even look back. Ava and I made our way back up the hallway where we were met with a teacher handing out kleenex for all the moms. I thought to myself, "Oh all of these poor moms crying! I'm sure glad that's not me!". Ava and I made it back to the car and right when we were about to pull out of our parking space it hit me...My baby boy is growing up. He doesn't need me like he always has. A few tears began to fall and then I remembered what he told me at the door, "Mommy, I got this!" and I knew he was going to do great!

 

Ethan and Mayson after their first day of kindergarten. Go Panthers!

Cheers To 15 Years!

 

We helped Dinah and Caroline celebrate their 15 year anniversary with a fabulous party in Fayetteville. The entire Dickerson gang spent the weekend shopping, eating and partying! The venue was gorgeous and the food and drinks were fabulous. Music was provided by the Acoustic Refugees, which we always love! Dinah and Caroline put together a wonderful slide show of everyone over the years that brought lots of laughs and a few tears. The highlight of the evening, or perhaps the low point depending on how you rate Dinah's dance skill (lol!), was the choreographed dance by Dinah, Caroline and the younger members of the family!