Sunday, August 16, 2015

Special Moments

We experienced some special moments last weekend during the Will Golf 4 Kids tournament and Color of Hope Gala.  Both of these events benefit the Arkansas Children's Hospital and as you know that hospital is near and dear to our hearts.  These events raised over $890k this year for the hospital.  In the past few years a lot of that money has gone towards the new Angel One helicopters needed.  The two new helicopters recently arrived and they brought one of them to the golf tournament.  I decided to take Evan and Nora to see the helicopter (and Scott was playing in the tournament at the time).

Seeing the Angel One helicopter brings back a lot of emotions, but also so much gratitude.  They save so many lives around our state every day!  They had brought a few of the pilots and medical attendants.  As soon as I saw one of them I knew it was the medical attendant that flew with Evan.  I will never forget his face.  Thank you Ray for what you do.  It was a very special moment and Ray asked if he could take a picture with us.  He said it is just as special to him to see one of his former patients doing so well now.

This picture is very special to me
Look how beautiful this new red helicopter is......these are very specialized and expensive helicopters.  They can transport ECMO patients, which is pretty rare.  They come to NWA an average of 5 times a week!

Friday evening we attended the Color of Hope gala.  I have served on the silent auction committee the last two years and I am very proud to be a part of this exciting event.
Everything was beautiful and the auction raised a record amount this year!

Another special moment was the announcement that ACH will be building a new hospital here in NWA.  That is amazing news.  The land was donated by two very special families!

Friday, August 14, 2015

Life Lately

Well, our life lately has been very busy.  We are finishing up the new house and packing up the old house.  There are the times when I say that I will never move again.  The only good thing is that it forces me to de-clutter.  We are moving next week, so it is crunch time.
The new house is coming together real nicely and here is a sneak peak at our new kitchen.
Here are some more snapshots from our life lately.  Evan is going to hate me for these pictures one day, but for right now he thinks he looks pretty good.  The fun of having an older sister.
I never realized how many costumes we have.....
two bumble bees
two cinderellas
two Elsa's
two pink princesses (not sure what costume this is)
They had a lot of fun playing dress up.

Look at this precious little girl.  She has been really busy lately too.  She is crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything and emptying every cabinet or drawer or laundry basket she can get her hands on.
We have taken the boat out a few times and Nora enjoys the swing......she also cant help but to fall asleep, just like her brother.  All three of our kids have enjoyed the swing on the boat.  I don't remember who gave me that idea, but it was a good one.  Hannah would say "how come I didn't think of that"
Brother and sister taking a swing nap.  I think its one of the funniest pictures.
Scott and I enjoyed a date night and went to the Kenny Chesney concert.  I only knew 1 song, but still had a great time.  He knows how to bring the party.
We had great seats
We had a picnic by the creek when it was almost 100 degrees out.  The temperature was so nice by the creek
Two kids got a new hair cut
Nora did not need a hair cut yet, but she was still all smiles
Well and then this happened

How do we already have a 1st grader?
We love the non traditional school calendar, but it is tough to get back into a school routine when it is still summer and it stays light out longer and there is still so much summer fun to be had.  
I had lunch with Hannah on her first day of school.  She was a little nervous about 1st grade, but she is adjusting.  She only knew 3 kids in her class.
Evan has been saying some really funny stuff lately and I need to do a better job of writing it down.  i aways think that I will remember all of the things he says, but that is not the case.
The other day I was putting some leftover noodles away into a container and he asked what I was doing.  I told him and then he said "oh that's where noodles live"
Last weekend Hannah was gone with her grandparents and Evan really missed her.  I didn't realize that he kept taking my phone over the weekend and asking Siri to call Hannah.  Well, Siri did call my friend Hannah and I didn't realize that's what he was doing.  Hannah called me back and was wondering why I kept calling her.  

I caught a sweet moment of these two while they were sleeping.
And then I took a picture of my one good sleeping child......Nora sleeps good at night, but daytime sleep is also a struggle.  But I will take the good night sleep any day!
That's enough of our life lately.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Wrapping Up Germany

After our trip to London we had a few more days in Cologne.  We visited the Phantasialand theme park with the whole family.  We have been going the last few years and we all really enjoy it.  I remember the park from when I was a kid and it is still fun.
Hannah and I got some jumping in
Then we moved on to face painting
And I just realized that those are the only pictures I have from that day.  There are quite a few rides that Hannah and Evan both can ride.  It was really hot out, so after lunch we were all pretty beat and had some ice cream and then headed back home.  
Scott and I went out to dinner with my brother and Joerg and all three kids stayed with my parents.  We went to Oma Kleinman's for Schnitzel.
The Schnitzel is bigger than my head
No trip to Germany is complete without a trip to the costume store
Miss Nora turned 8 months old while we were in Germany.  She started crawling and pulling up the day before we went back home.  It made for an exhausting plane ride, because she just wanted down to practice her new skills.
She also got 3 new teeth while we were in Germany
She was a trooper though and did great on our trip back.  She also adjusted back to Arkansas time pretty quickly.