Haircuts and sunflowers

Just wanted to get a quick post out with pictures in the sunflowers from Shelby Farms and Trey’s FIRST HAIRCUT!  The sunflower photos were quite an ordeal.  On the way out of the house, my camera strap snagged on a door knob and jerked it out of my hands.  It crashed to the ground…lens first.  Luckily, the only thing that appears to be broken was the lens.  The camera’s in fine shape.  Also, luckily I’ve got the best insurance in the world (Thanks Larry Brooks at State Farm!) and I got a check for the broken lens within a week.  Unluckily (if that’s a word), I only valued the lens at about half of what it was worth with the insurance company…so the check won’t cover the full replacement cost.  Guess that’s my fault for not taking my time to really look up the cost of some of my equipment before taking out a policy.

So, that’s how the sunflower trip started.  On the way there, we knew we were in for a treat.  Neither Haley nor Trey had their naps that day.  Their grumpiness was in the air.  So between the unbearable heat and the grumpy kids, the pictures didn’t turn out so well.  Go figure.

Trey’s haircut went as planned.  We gave him his haircut at home rather than taking him to a barber because there really wasn’t much to cut.  Literally, two snips and we were done. 

St. Louis

This past weekend we went to St. Louis.  We made it a long weekend that started by heading to STL on Thursday night.  Friday was spent visiting relatives.  We also took a quick trip to the zoo.

Saturday morning started early.  We went to Blue Springs Ranch to go floating down the river.  There were about 20 of us that went.  It was great to see some of the faces that we hadn’t seen in over a year.   After canoeing for about 5 hours, we headed back to John and Margie’s for a cookout.

It was publicly announced that Laura’s sister, Kathleen, and Jason are engaged!  Everyone was so happy for them.  Laura and I were too.  I think we were just as happy that we don’t have to keep in the secret anymore.

All in all, we had a great trip.  Haley and Trey absolutely enjoyed themselves.  The biggest thing we realized is that we need to go to St. Louis a little more often.  Special thanks to John, Margie, Tom, Megan, Buddy and Zoe for sharing their house with us.

Jessie and Lamberts

Since Toy Story 3 struck, we’ve been having a great time pretending to be Jessie the cowgirl.  Haley LOVES Jessie.  And Bullseye.  And Woody.  And Buzz Lightyear.  Everyone in our family has a “toy story” name.  We’re constantly having to play Toy Story.  I’m not sure exactly how you play Toy Story because Haley never makes us actually do anything other than agree to our Toy Story names.  But she does have a ball.

T-Boy has been toddling around like crazy.  He averages about 4 bloody lips a week now from falling down.  I hate to see him fall, but it usually doesn’t phase him for long.  He’s making such funny faces too.  Like if you tell him “no”, he wrinkles up his eyebrows and just shoots you this evil look.  It is really cute.

We went to Lambert’s and ate last night.  Haley had a great time with the rolls.  She got to catch one and was so proud of herself.  I was pretty proud too.

Family Portraits…AGAIN?

You guessed it!  It’s that time of year again!  Family portrait time.  It’s been a while since we took family portraits so we thought we’d take advantage of the 98 degree heat and lack of naps to take some family photos.

We took our friend Peachy along for the ride.  We figured we’d get some fantastic, wall-worthy photos.  Alas, we got a few, but that illusive “perfect family shot” got away yet again.  Maybe we’ll give it another try on a day when it is much cooler.  And, when we’ve had success getting the kids down for a nap.  At least we got a couple shots of them…right?

While we’re at it, I couldn’t resist throwing in a few pictures of Trey.  Laura and Haley went to a birthday party this past weekend and of course, I had to pull out the camera.  Trey’s been making this awful looking face where he wrinkles up his eyebrows when you tell him no.  I managed to get one shot of that (the one in the black and white below).  And yes…that is a faux-hawk.  Not only did I do it for the pictures, but I managed to give him one before we went to church on Sunday too.  The nursery workers loved it!

4th of July!

A little late, I know, but the 4th was a smashing success.  We started off the weekend with the Lakeland Kid’s Parade in our neighborhood.  It didn’t go as well as we envisioned.   Primarily because we forgot to put panties on Haley.  Does that make us bad parents?  Nah…well, maybe!?!  We didn’t realize it and neither did Haley until she got to the start of the parade and was sitting in the wagon.  We then witnessed a minor meltdown.  Honestly…I couldn’t blame her. 

So we rushed home to get her some panties and still managed to catch part of the parade.  Haley didn’t mind holding up the police escorts by stopping for a little hopscotch.  Afterwards, there was refreshments and we got a chance to get the kids’ pictures taken with the policemen.  Haley seemed to enjoy it, but Trey wanted nothing to do with it.

That evening, we invited over some friends and had a “cookout” in the cove.  I put cookout in quotes because we didn’t really cook.  A few of our friends did, but we ran to Little Caesars for a $5 hot and ready.  I know…pretty lame to celebrate the Independence of the United States with a pizza.  The Lakeland fireworks weren’t bad.  In fact, we’d have probably thought they were awesome had we not seen Bellevue’s the weekend before.

We rounded out the weekend with a visit to Tupelo to visit my grandfather and a trip to a friend’s house for dinner.  We were able to get a few fireworks shot off that night before hitting the sack and wrapping up a solid 4th of July weekend!

Starlight Spectacular

Laura and I went to Starlight Spectacular at Bellevue this past weekend.  I got to shoot the Mandisa / Matthew West concert.  Pretty cool stuff.  I’m really enjoying shooting things for Bellevue.  For one, I just enjoy taking pictures.  But also, it’s neat to be able to get the “behind the scenes” views of things. 

The concerts were great as were the fireworks.  Since I was busy taking pictures, I didn’t have time to enjoy all the things I normally enjoy at Starlight.  Things like corn dogs, funnel cakes and other tasty carnival food.  I did manage to find time to chow down on a snow cone.

Laura and I were “kidless” for Starlight.  Haley and Trey are with my parents in Jackson.  We get them back on Wednesday.  Its been fun doing things that we can’t normally do when the kids are around.  Things like hitting J Alexander’s after church with friends and going to the movies.  But we sure are ready to get them back.  I’ve talked to Haley on the phone a few times since she’s been gone.  She sounds so old!  I guess I normally talk to her face to face and physically see her as my little bitty girl.  But on the phone, when I don’t see her in front of me, she doesn’t seem like a three year old.  Makes me sad.

First Skating Adventure

Hayden and I love presenting new experiences for Haley.  We decided to take her skating and she was SO excited.  I took her to watch my 7th grade girls skate at the youth outing for Bellevue and Haley wanted to try.  I didn’t think that was the best timing, but we took her later that week.  She was a trooper and didn’t complain about falling once.  Hayden took her ‘round and ‘round.  I didn’t think she’d hold out for so long but wasn’t even ready to quit when it was time to leave.  She got herself ready to go- lace socks and knee pads…that’s our princess!  Speaking of being a princess, what kind of Princess can go anywhere without a prince?  We’ve had Prince Eric (recently watched the Little Mermaid for the first time) living with us for a couple weeks now.  He goes everywhere with us and eats dinner at our table.  Prince Eric and Princess Haley go to the ball almost every day- dancing in our sun room…with music, of course!

We also had a fun weekend in Jackson last weekend.  We went to celebrate the marriage of Michael and Anna Walley.  It was great to visit with family and catch up with friends.  We quickly realized we are the veteran married couple and couldn’t be more excited about the upcoming weddings of all our engaged friends!  It was fun to watch Hayden having fun with some old buddies…he hadn’t realized how long it had been since they’d seen each other.  Good times.

Jerry’s Snow Cones

Recently we went with our neighbors to Jerry’s Snow Cones in Memphis. Jerry’s is located back in a neighborhood.  I can’t tell you exactly where it is because we were following our neighbors.  VERY CLOSELY.  We went through some neighborhoods that I wouldn’t want to get lost in alone.

But the drive was worth it.  Jerry’s was pretty neat.  It really took you back to a time around the 50’s.  Lots of people driving up, waiting in line for their frozen concoction, and then sitting around on the sidewalk, parking lot and hoods of cars just enjoying the frozen treats.  We just hung out as the sun dropped lower and lower in the sky.

It really did seem like time stood still for just a little bit.  Haley seemed to enjoy her snow cone.  Of course, Trey did as well.  If it is edible, Trey is on board.  We’ll definitely be hitting this joint again before the summer is over.

Catching up

We’re so far behind on blog posts it isn’t even funny.  I’m hoping to catch up over the next couple weeks.  Life around the Simons house has been crazy.  Haley’s learning something new every day.  Which is exciting.  yet scary. 

Trey’s getting into everything.  He just had his first birthday a couple weeks ago.  So he’s officially one.  We had to get outside and get his one year old pictures.  We got some great ones. 

When Haley turned 1, Laura went to portrait innovations and got some pictures made.  They turned out pretty good.  Nothing to write home about, but not bad either.  They had this prop.  It was a block with the number “1” on it.  She wanted to get the same shot of Trey, so much to my disagreement, she took him.  Well, the pictures came out bad.  Mediocre would be putting it nicely.  So there you have it.  I hope she learned her lesson.

Happy Birthday, Trey!

Trey is ONE!!  We had such a fun weekend celebrating Trey’s birthday.  I cannot believe he’s been in our family for a year!  It has been the best year yet.  The joy and happiness he adds to our family is indescribable.  He is constantly smiling and is getting quite a sense of humor.  He loves life and is content wherever he is…especially if big sister, Haley, is around.  Thinking back over the past year I have a great sense of accomplishment for myself in learning to juggle life with two kids and a great sense of pride in how well Haley has handled the adjustment of sharing EVERYTHING!  She loves her brother so much- constantly letting him know with hugs, kisses, laughter, and encouragement as he hits his milestones.  They are already such great friends…I look forward to that relationship getting stronger and stronger.  (And for those of you reading this that have several kids, let me live in ignorant bliss thinking they’ll always want to play together and be friends!) 

We had a dinosaur party for Trey (T-Rex, as we called him this weekend) and it was fun.  I loved getting the decorations ready and trying to make his day special…even if he is a little to young to know what a great party he had!  The Simons, Murphy’s, Nana Clack, KJ, and my parents were all in attendance.  Friday night we had a little cook out and ate dinosaur cookies for our dessert…made by Haley and I!  Saturday was the real party and since the pork took a little longer than I planned, we opened presents and ate cake first!  Trey had a great time watching Haley and Seth open all his presents and show him what he got.  He just smiled and laughed at all the commotion.  We’ve already started playing with all the new toys and reading the new books.  Trey wasn’t feeling that well on Saturday so he took a time-out to rest with Dad on the big chair.  That didn’t stop him from eating his cake.  Haley helped show him the good stuff- ICING.  She helped herself…as an example, of course! 

It was a special day and gave me pause to reflect on the blessing of both my kids.  I am overwhelmed that God has loaned us these amazing people to teach, love, and encourage.  Every night when I check on them before I go to bed I thank Him for the amazing gift Hayden and I have of parenthood and for these incredible individuals.  What an amazing year!