Wedding, Friends, and Family

Weekend before last we headed down to East Texas for a friend's wedding. Unfortunately, we left the camera (along with the gift - whole other story) in our car...at my parent's house...and then rode with my mom in their car. So, we don't have pictures from the wedding. Oops! But you can just trust me when I say that the wedding was beautiful. We're very excited for Phillip and Sarah Foreman!

After the wedding, the Owens came back with us to my parent's house for the night. Lexie and I have been friends since 5th grade and even survived as roommates at Harding together for a while! Fortunately for us, our husbands also like each other and now we've gotten add some kiddos to the mix. This is her sweet baby boy, Hudson. Isn't he adorable?!

He's very laid back, so he and Ted got along quite well...Here's a pic of all 6 of us before church Sunday morning. We had a great time hanging out with them and just wish we all lived closer so we could do it more often.We also enjoyed spending time with my parents even though it was a very quick trip. Here's a sweet picture of Madigan and Gee Gee before church on Sunday. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us all crash in your house for the night! We had a great time!

North Carolina - Summer 2009

We made it back last week from our summer trip to see Ted's family. As always, we had a wonderful time! We were able to stay for almost a whole week this time, which was great. But, that means that I have LOTS of pictures to post of the trip! So, I'll go easy on the commentary and get to the pics!

This was taken at the airport when we arrived...at 1:00 in the MORNING! Madigan looks really sleepy, huh? She didn't sleep a wink on either plane and lasted until 2:00 that morning before going to sleep and Gramps and Grandi's house. She actually entertained people in the airport and the plane with some upbeat songs like "My God is so Big" and "This World is not my Home ". :)
Once she woke up the next morning, the fun began. Riding in Gramps' old stroller (while on one of those ancient house phones - she'd never seen such a thing!)

Making Pudding Pops with Gramps and Aunt Kate

I love this picture! It captures their relationship really well!

As you can see, Madigan did the sampling while Aunt Kate did the work.

Why wait until they're frozen?

The finished product - what a mess, but oh so good!!!Reading with Aunt Kate

Having tea parties with the bears

And then with the grown ups!Good form, now we just need to get the pinky out. :)

Watering Grandi's plantsToe nail painting with Aunt Kate (who else?!)

I also really like this picture. Grandi recently had rotator cuff surgery and is still working to the the mobility back in her shoulder. So several times a day she would go do her "exercises" on the bed. Madigan started joining her and entertaining her with stories while they "worked out"!We also went to Pullen Park again and rode the train. Such a fun place!

Relaxing with Aunt KateSwingin HIGH!!Playing Mousetrap with Mommy and Aunt Kate. Well actually, we just set it up and tried to catch the mouse at the end. Isn't that all anybody ever did?Madigan opening some "treats" from Aunt Kate. This is a princess headband, which was possibly the one princess accessory that we didn't have yet...And Gramps got her a new pink dress from his recent trip to Honduras. So pretty!Last but not least, a sweet picture of Madigan cuddling with Grandi after Madi's bath.

We had so much fun and loved getting to spend so much time with the family. Thanks to Grandi, Gramps and Aunt Kate for putting your life on hold for us for a week! We love you all!

Heifer Village Grand Opening

A couple of weeks ago, the education center at Heifer (where Ted works) opened. Avery and Ella were with us that weekend, so they got to join us for the grand opening. It was really fun! They had a ton of crafts and activities set up for the kids on the main lawn. Creating flags, designing piggy banks, planting flowers, making straw art, practicing origami, etc. You name it - they had it.

The girls also got to see how people make bricks and ropes.They really were very interested. It was just hot!The fire department was there and gave out fireman hats and badge tattoos.And, Dan Zanes performed. If you're asking, "who?" then you probably don't have a kid who enjoys watching Playhouse Disney on Saturday or Sunday mornings. His song "House Party" is one of the commercial breaks they show quite a bit. He's very entertaining and has really fun hair. This was actually just a picture of them testing the sound system. I didn't get any pictures during the actual performance. And finally, we got around to touring the actual education center. It was really cool! I recommend it to any of you who are local. It's got all of the great components of a children's museum at a very reasonable cost (free!).



By far, the biggest hit was the scanners. The kids could take a basket of "groceries" up and scan them on the machine to find out the price and more information about the items.
Miss Independent had to try it out for herself. This was a fun exhibit that the girls liked. They played "school" for quite a while.
Remember the fun days of lockers at school? I always got stuck with a bottom locker...Here the girls were resting and watching a movie about what Heifer does.
Again, the education center was VERY cool. However, the hit of the trip was by far the animals. We were able to put animal food on a shovel and feed it to the animals. Avery liked feeding the pigs...
Ella liked feeding the goats (especially when the tallest one got ahold of the cup and got it stuck on it's face!)...
Ted liked feeding the alpaca...
And Madigan spent the entire time saying "Stinky!" and looking like this... :)It was a very good Saturday morning!

It's a...

We had our drs appt yesterday and found out that the newest Bowsman is going to be a...
Well, I'll just let Madigan tell you.


That's right! It's a Boy!!!!! Everything looked great in the ultrasound and the due date is still early November. We're very excited and are now trying hard to think of a boy name. Any suggestions?

A cute moment from the ultrasound - the baby was very active and put on quite a show for us. At one point he even had his knee touching his forehead. The lady doing the ultrasound said "you're going to have your hands full with this one!". That's good since Madigan is such a laid back, passive kid (obviously I'm being sarcastic...). Anyway, he really liked keeping his hand near his mouth and looked like he was sucking his thumb. At one point he took his hand away from his face and looked like he was waving it. We looked over at Madigan and she was waving back. :) So sweet!

And now, I'll entertain you with some outtakes from trying to get the video for this post.
Take 1 - Madigan thinks it's really funny to say that the baby is a girl now that she knows it's a boy. She's a bit of a stinker. (We blame Uncle Matt).


Take 2 - In her LOW voice


Take 3 - Cheesin' it


Anyway, thanks for all of the prayers. We'll keep you updated as we get closer to meeting our sweet baby boy!

Camp Pa and Gee Gee - Year 2

While Ted and I were enjoying the Rangers' game, Madigan was kicking off her week at Camp Pa and Gee Gee with her cool cousins. Last year (the first year my parents had them all), I was only able to leave her 24 hours. This time, she went for four whole days! I barely survived - she did just fine. Since I wasn't actually there for most of the week, I won't give lengthy commentary, but be warned - there are a LOT of pictures!

This year, the cousins had matching "camp" T-shirts.

The Front

The Back

After church on Sunday, the girls were able to accompany Gee Gee to a gathering for the kiddos at their congregation. They went to one of the elder's houses who had animals, swings, toys, and lots of food. They also got to go on a hayride. This is a pic of Madigan getting ready to ride. Gee Gee said of all of the activities they had for the kids, the girls favorite thing to do was dig in a large pile of dirt. Imagine that. :)Other camp activites...

Primping - aka: toe nail painting

Going to church

Playing in the tent (yes, the tent was INSIDE the house again)

Swinging on the hammock

One of the major activies was swimming. This year the girls had the option of several pools to play in.

The Big Pool

The Small Pool

And the Alligator pool that sprayed water out of it's headThe Sandbox

Throwing rocks in the creek

Riding in the Yard Bug

I was assured that Gee Gee didn't REALLY let the girls drive the Yard Bug. It was for photo purposes only. (I hope)

Arts/Crafts

These are some flower vases that the girls decorated for their parents. We've still got the flowers on our counter. They're a bit dead, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Cousin Bonding

Eating

Eating AgainDid I mention that they ate a lot?Watching tadpoles in the water

Gee Gee also took them to the park for picnics and to play. Yes, they are eating again.

"Umm Avery, what are you doing?"

Photo session at the park museumIn front of a spinning wheelMore cousin photosHollywood!

I finally finished work and was able to drive down to stay for a few days on Wednesday. Mema and Papa were also coming to see the girls that day. So, Gee Gee told them that if they helped clean the house, they would get $2 each. If they did a REALLY good job, she would pay them $5 each. I'll take this moment to mention that I don't ever remember my mother offering to pay me money for cleaning up a mess that I made. But whatever...
Still cleaning - make sure you note which child is NOT holding a broom/mop in this picture. We're going to have lots of fun when it comes to chores. :)

But, they did it and each earned their $5. And, the house WAS very clean when I got there. :)

Mema, Papa, and the 3 great granddaughters

On Thursday, Mom and I took the girls to the zoo in Tyler. Yes, they did have matching camp shirts for this event also.

"Let's Go, Gee Gee!"

Madigan spent most of her time walking around like this and saying "Stinky!!!"
Gee Gee even let the girls visit the gift shop before we left and spend their cleaning money. Here's the girls with their purchases.

Gee Gee and the girls

Smile!

The girls had a WONDERFUL time and were completely worn out by the time we left on Friday. In fact, they didn't say more than 10 words combined for the first hour of our trip home. (I wasn't complaining - just noticing.) Thanks to Gee Gee and Pa for such a great trip and special tradition. The girls loved every bit of it and the parents enjoyed a little break. :) Here's to many more years of camping!