Christmas with the Herring's

Christmas at Gran and Pop's


Santa brought Dalton a pogo stick! To date, he can jump 6 times without falling. I am so impressed! If we aren't at the ER by New Years Day, it will be a miracle!


Dalton wanted to leave Santa broccoli and Diet Coke. He also left a note for him that said,"Dear Santa, The ranch is in the fridge."When he woke up the next morning, he found this sweet note from Santa with ranch dressing smeared on the plate. Plus an empty Diet Coke can. So fun!








His Christmas loot!


Macey's first Christmas visit from Santa.



Oasis had a great Christmas Eve service. Some of the kids got to sing a few songs. So sweet!





Cousins Macey and Tucker


Miss blue eyes!


My brother, sister, and me.


Sisters!


This girl loves to crinkle her nose up. It cracks me up!


Saigel got to come spend the night over the break. We love this girl!

Testing, testing....

I have found an app (thanks to my friend, Cindy) on my IPhone that helps me upload pics to my blog! So excited! This may help me join the blog world again if it works!


Dalton and Santa on the Polar Express train ride in Branson.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

First Day of K4 at Arkansas Baptist

Dalton started K4 at Arkansas Baptist School today. (tear, tear:) Actually, I felt very good about leaving him this morning. He did great too. He went to bed the night before at 8:00, but at 10:30, he was still awake saying, "I can't go to sleep. I'm so excited about school!" This makes a mommy very happy to hear that!

Look at that big boy ready for Pre-K!

This is Mrs. Smith, his sweet teacher's aid. His teacher, Mrs. Hogue, had to have emergency surgery this week, but will be back Monday. We are very anxious to meet her.

Even Little Sis had to get in on the "First Day of School" action. However, she was not in favor of getting out of bed so early! God has blessed me with one child that will sleep past 6 AM....YES!

When he got in the truck that afternoon, John asked him how his day was. He said, "Awesome!" I would call that a SUCCESS!

More Summer Fun

One great thing that happened this summer is that my parents moved from Forrest City to Searcy. Which means that Gran and Pop live about 30 minutes closer to us than they did and are in a much better town. They have plugged in to a great church there, met new friends, and seem to be very happy. We all got together at their new house for my mom's birthday in July.

And...Macey will have another girl cousin in December....My brother Spencer and his wife Kim are expecting a little girl! Macey is very excited about this!

Gran gettn some Macey time.


Best cousins....Dalton and "Jay"

Another great thing about Gran and Pop living in Searcy is that they live close to my brother who has a swimming pool. Therefore, no visit was complete without a swim in the pool.

Even Mom and Dad need a break sometimes. Thanks to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kristin, we got to leave the kiddos for a few days and sneak away to Branson. We have been there many times, but this time we did 2 two things that we haven't done before....took a cruise on the Branson Belle and got a couples massage. Highly recommend both!

Lisa Dugger Speer and I have been friends since high school. We were roomies in college two times and have stayed in contact ever since. She was my maid of honor in my wedding and just a super friend. She is one of those friends that even though we don't talk every day, when we do talk, it seems we just pick right up where we left off and it's like we never left each other. She is a nurse in the labor/delivery in Conway and got to be my nurse when Dalton was born....if that doesn't make you close, nothing will! Ha!

We got our kids together for lunch at McDonalds and a playdate at the WonderPlace. They had a great time and she and I enjoyed visiting while the boys played.

Macey, Dalton, Dylan, and Braydon

We also got to have a few playdates with Addison and Riley. Riley looks like she is sleeping, but she isn't. They were sitting on the couch just like this watching a movie and I had to get a picture. Dalton has got it made with these two sweet girls on his side!

Saigel came to sleep over at our house a few times this summer and we had a blast with her. Dalton and Saigel have decided they are getting married when they get older. I heard Dalton ask her, "Saigel, are you still gonna marry me one day?" and she said, "Yes, but we are gonna have a dog and you are gonna change the diapers!" Dalton said, "No, I don't wanna change the diapers!" I told Cindy it was so cute....their first argument! Ha!
I also overheard him tell her "I love you" several times, which sounds like someone else I know...his Dad!

Look who's 3 months old in July! Macey Grae is the best baby! She is so sweet and such a good-natured baby. She has started cooing a lot and smiles all the time. She is sleeping all night (9 pm to 7 or 8 AM! :), wearing 3 mo. clothes, taking a 6 oz bottle every 3-4 hours, and wearing size 1 diapers. I caught her tonight laughing at her silly brother! Who, by the way, is conviced that he is going to marry her also one day. I keep trying to tell him that he will not want to do that when he gets older, but he does not believe me. I was trying to get her to say, "Ma-ma" and "Da-da" the other night and Dalton interrupted and said, "No, Mom, say,'Buba!'" I can't wait to hear her call him, "Buba!"

Pool Party!

We did a one-hour gymnastics class on Tuesdays at the Little Gym this summer, too. He loved it. John and I are so amazed at his gross motor skills. He definitely excells in this area. This is his sweet instructor, Ms Leah.

This has been an excellent summer. I thank God everyday for these two beautiful healthy kids that he has blessed me and John with. I also thank him for the time off that I have had to get to know Macey and spend more time with Dalton and John. We are anxious to get into a routine, but somewhat concerned about how we will go about getting 2 ready in the morning. I am excited about Dalton starting K4 this year at Arkansas Baptist. I look forward to all the great things he will learn and the new experiences he will have this year.

Summer Fun

"He's Wild! He's Wild! God is Wild about us!" We had a great week at Vacation Bible School...."Pandamania, Where God is Wild about us!" Dalton was super excited every day to get to go back. So excited that he wanted to take a nap early because he knew after nap, he would get to go to Bible School! This is him and Saigel posing in front of one of the pandas at church.

The next week after Bible School, we took a quick family trip to Branson. We stayed at the Grand Country Inn. They have an indoor water park, putt-putt golf, arcade room, pizza parlor, etc...all on site! Perfect place for kiddos!

Posing for a pic during a competitive game of putt-putt golf.

Dalton has really come out of his shell with the whole swimming thing this year. Much more willing to try new things in the water and seems to really enjoy it. I am thinking we may join the Maumelle Swim Team next year....we'll see.


Even Little Miss Macey enjoyed hanging out in her adorable swim suit.

(Thanks Ms Lauren :)

Dad and Dalton enjoying the lazy river in the indoor water park.

Fishing date with Dad....Look at all the fish they caught!

Miss America!

Enjoying the July4th parade with friends Addison and Riley West. Aren't these kids getting so big?

I bought these T-shirts from etsy.com before Macey was born. She has finally gotten big enough to wear it so I had to get a pic of them both in their Big Brother Little Sister T-shirts. I love this. Also, I have this blank space in my living room that I have always thought would be perfect for a pew. I finally found one that I liked at Hobby Lobby on sale! I think it will be a perfect spot for many Big Brother and Little Sister photo opps to come!

And....look who's riding without training wheels at only 4 years old! We were so shocked that he could do this. We were talking about it at supper that night and he said he wanted to try it.....30 minutes later he was riding on his own in the grass....45 minutes later, Dad took him down to the Maumelle Soccer field and rode around the track so fast that Dad could not keep up with him! He really is growing up!

While the boys were learning to ride bikes, Mom and Macey were having a small photo shoot! Look at these eyes! She is such a sweet and good baby. We are so blessed with these 2 kids and have really had so much fun this summer with both of them.

Macey Grae Herring

Hello blog world.....Meet Macey Grae Herring! She made her grand entrance on April 25, 2011 weighing in at 8 lb. 6oz. Despite all the storms that night, my labor and delivery experience was AWESOME this time! We had to move into storm shelter two times and the last time they decided to keep me there and prepare to deliver her. She is perfect! We were all very surprised by how long her feet and fingers were!


We were all very surprised at the size of her finger and feet.....they are huge! Do I see a piano player in the future? ha!

So many visitors came to meet Macey. This is her cousins, Tanner and Jansen.

Aunt Kim, Uncle Spencer, and Aunt "Gigi" Gina

Proud Papa John!

With all the storms that night, it could have been very nerve-racking and scary. But my nurse, Terry, was awesome. She kept us laughing and turned a tense situation into a very calm and peaceful environment.

Littel Miss Macey Grae all ready to go home.

We decided to go surprise Big Brother Dalton and pick him up early from school so that he could be there when we got home with Macey for the first time. He has been such a great Big Brother and has adjusted very well. He gets asked often, "Do you like your sister?" He says, "No, I love her!"

More visitors at home....Cindy Mickan.

We have had so many come by to meet and love on Macey. From church to work, I did not have to worry about supper for 3 weeks after she was born! What a blessing! We ate well, too! These poor men at my house eventually had to go back to my cooking :)!

Dalton enjoying some little sister time.

Dalton's job was to show off his "Big Brother" picture album to visitors when they came over. Here he is showing it to Lauren and P.J

Pop enjoying his first grand-daughter.

She is such a good baby! She really only cries when she is hungry or sleepy. She loves to be held and cuddled. This is totally different from her brother who did not want to be held and just wanted to be put in his bed to go to sleep. We are trying to get her used to going to bed by herself without needing to be rocked to sleep and she usually does very well with that. At the time of this writing, she is 8 weeks old and has started sleeping through the night, most of the time. She has also started smiling at us,too! So cute!

Gran and Pop stayed with us a few nights the first week she was home. What a great help that was!

Grandma and Autumn

When my parents came to help, John and I were so tired, that we fed her and put her to bed with this note for Pop and Gran, "Feed me at 3:30" and then we went to bed!

Her first bath and of course Dalton is front and center!

I am enjoying this little girl and all the frilly things that come with her!

However, getting her ready is alot more involved that getting a little boy ready. You have to pick out socks, shoes, headbands, bows, panties, etc... So fun!

Mom and Macey

Dad enjoying both of his kids! Love this picture!