Bentonville Steals

So I only have 2 of them (well, maybe two and a half), but for those that live in my area, I've had a few fun outings in the past few days that cost little-to-nothing and thought I would share.
The Bentonville square is one of my favorite places in this city. It is filled with things to do (family-oriented) for hours and we have spent quite a bit of time there in the past year.
Let me give you an example of a "day on the square" we have now done twice:

**Take the kids to play at the Splash Park for an hour or so.

 ** Dry them off and put them in the double jogger for our run through Crystal Bridges Trail (which is breathtaking GORGEOUS).

**Take a detour to check progress from the "lookout tower" of what Crystal Bridges Museum will soon be!! So excited for this one!!

**Stop by our favorite, Table Mesa to grab some Sweet Potato Fries to-go...they're AMAZING and the best part is a whole to-go box full, costs only $1. Seriously.

 **Take our goodies to the fountains and play on the ridge in the pretty atmosphere (our kids LOVE this fountain!)

**The you can go to another restaurant on the square called Central Station and they give free ice cream to the kids! again, SERIOUSLY.

**Sit outside at their table son the square and let the kids eat some ice cream.

**By now we're usually reaching 2.5-3 hours, and if the kids are up for it, we will head to the other side of the square and play at the park (which, of course, happens to also be our favorite).

I did this little outing with Noah last week, and Jason and I took the kids out on the same little routine 2 nights ago. So much fun and we only spent a dollar when it was all said and done (and even got a workout in).

Then this morning, I got up with Lincoln while the rest of the house slept, and we headed to Krispy Kreme with a coupon for a free donut we've been holding on to for a few weeks now.

When we got there,

I let Lincoln pick out his free donut (and of course he insisted on "paying for it himself with his coupon), and while we were waiting they gave us 2 hot glazed ones (as usual, i think?).

Lincoln ate the one he picked out, and I put the 2 additional free glazed in the bag to take home for daddy for his breakfast - zero money spent! Lincoln and I had a good time together...we hung out in there for about 45 minutes, watching them make the donuts (he was fascinated...and wore the hat the whole time), and he even did a little dance party for the customers which was hilarious.

So those are my two recent "cheap dates" if you will, that were a blast with my fam. Love them.

And just to add for you B'ville folks out there, we all found an awesome snow cone stand a mile or so off the square tonight called "Frozen Tung". We are snow cone snobs to some degree and loved these tonight!

Jason and I were just sitting here talking about how exciting these next few months are going to be. I remember this time last year being super fun with each other and our kids - especially the ages they are at. This warm weather this weekend has given us a taste of what's to come and I can't wait. Now if our dang pool would hurry and open! :)

Heavy Heart

I'm really not sure where to start...this week has been rough (we'll start there, I guess). As it is for the rest of the nation, Joplin remains heavy on my heart. I had the opportunity to spend 2 consecutive days there this past week and though they were long, exhausting, and emotionally draining, I am thankful for an active "body" that lives close and can just help where needed. It was massively encouraging to meet the vast amount of volunteers from all over the country who took time out of their lives to offer help and support. Literally, one day i worked with people from 4 different states who had just showed up to use their specific skills in helping.
The creativity of how people used their God-given talents was tremendous. The stories of the people of Joplin were heart-wrenching yet, oddly enough, uplifting in some respects.

One person took us through their flattened home and showed us the tiny bathroom that protected their entire family...his neighbor, however, had just pulled their 12-year-old son from the rubble; he did not survive.

Another lady wanted my help in looking at her sister's flat tire. As we were looking at it, I asked about her sister. She had been thrown into a field and died...her daughter in ICU from the storm...this poor lady was just trying to get her deceased sister's car out of the parking lot.

Some men from our team were helping a lady sift through the rubble that once was her house. She said the only 2 things she wanted to find was her wedding ring and a stuffed animal she had as a child. The men miraculously found both.

A group of us unloaded a packed uhaul of case of water into a semi for a good hour. I randomly asked the driver of the uhaul where he was from (thinking NWA); he was from Texas. Took a donation at his home church and drove it all the way up - with 2 flat tires on the way.

It was very common for people to load their cars/boxes up with food and water and walk/drive up and down the destruction offering it to the workers and families. One guy made a massive make-shift cooler with a pulley system attached and drug loads of fresh-cut watermelon, grapes, and other fresh fruits through the streets offering it to people.

Logan's Steakhouse (this is the group we got hooked up with) had 6 or so regional managers from all over the country cooking gigantic thick burgers for the people. They've been there since Sunday in the same spot, cooking about 2,000 burgers/day from 10-5. They plan to be there at least a week doing the same thing every day. One lady said it was the first hot meal she had since the tornado.

When we were giving burgers to a lady, a friend recognized her and ran to hug her. It was obvious they had not yet seen each other since the tornado. They both broke down crying in each other's arms...completely overcome with emotion.

One family whose house was completely destroyed, could not find their little dog the night of the tornado. The next day when they came back to sift through the rubble, their dog was there waiting on them.

These stories are just some of the ones I heard during my short time in Joplin. I'll be honest, after those 2 days, my mood was down. I didn't sleep well and I was having a hard time finding joy. In that day, I got news our buyer's loan went through successfully and we were set on closing this coming Thursday. But shortly after that, i got news from our buyer's that there is one potential glitch, completely independent of the loan and all, that could jeopardize the sale. We will know for certain if it's a "go" or not Monday. This crushed me and caused a wave of anxiety that added to my overall mood yesterday.

So I've prayed a lot these past for days. For the people of Joplin...for God's provision...against my own worry.

He is faithful.

Devestation

I really don't have anything fluid or intellectual to write, more than my mind is just all-consumed by the horrible tragedies that occurred last night only 45 minutes away from our home in Joplin. Tornadoes and rotation were everywhere in our area last night. One hit 6 miles from my parent's house and the monster one in Joplin has already claimed 89 lives.

Our town was in and out of danger until about 1:00 when they gave everyone the clear to "get some rest".

Then we woke up this morning to see the Joplin devastation and realize it was worse than we had imagined.

My heart is heavy. The images are surreal. And I know with all the warnings and rotations we were directly under last night, it could have just as easily been us.

This is where I love social media. There are currently multitudes of things been quickly organized through it's use. There's no way anyone can turn away not knowing how they could have helped.

I plan on joining some fellow therapists in the upcoming days on a crisis team headed up there to help debrief and provide crisis intervention (along with whatever needs arise).

Pray for these people. I know tornadoes and inclement weather are a part of where we live, but this season seems especially bad this year.

My Big Little Boy

Today is the last day without Lincoln. It's been a fun week but we're excited to see the little booger! So I thought I'd do an update on my little Noah Jack:

Sleeping: this has been the interesting one. Not sure if he's in a major growth spurt, but this week has looked as so - I have to wake him up at 10:30, he takes a 3-4 hour nap after lunch, then goes to bed at 8:00. That's a lot of sleep (even by my standards!).

Eating: the pickiest, food-snob on the planet right now (or so I thought). Would only eat fruit. I seriously felt helpless. Then this week, I let him sit at the little table Lincoln sits at (instead of high chair) and he has eaten every morsel of food (even all veggies) that I have given him. Guess he just wanted the freedom??

Talking: He is a much better talker than Lincoln ever was at this age. He has even said "What is that?" a few times (I swear - my sister heard one of them and was thrown aback). But the every day ones are "my paci!", "bobble" for bottle, "ba" (for bath), "bye", "daddy", "mommy", "papa", "mimi", "benny", "Bru" (bruce), "do" (dog), "baw" (ball), "more", "cacka" (cracker), "no", "ank-yoo" for thank-you, and then the funny thing is playing the mimic game where you get him to repeat your word. He can almost always repeat it! So funny cause, like I said, Lincoln was not this way. I felt like Lincoln's language would NEVER develop!

He can sign more and thank-you, though he prefers to just say it. Silly guy.

Loves: Outside. Anything outside. His milk. His blankie (this one's pretty hilarious). Playing "couch", gathering things and compiling them in buckets, then dumping bucket and gathering more things...over and over...balls. he said "ba-bal" for basketball and "fu-ball" for his football yesterday. Our dogs - well, any dog for that matter. Cuddling while drinking his milk - i LOVE this. BATHS. He will start tugging at shirt and pulling down pants when he decides he wants one. The water. He's gonna love the pool this summer! Playing chase with Lincoln.

Dislikes: getting his diaper changed. getting out of the bath. When we leave him. When I give him veggies. When it's time to come inside. When Lincoln takes his toy.

He's still a pretty even-tempered guy. He doesn't really throw tantrums yet and if he gets upset he's the easiest thing in the world to calm down. I know our time is coming (Lincoln was late on this, too). Though he doesn't have the crazy extroverted personality Lincoln had at this age, he's definitely getting a pretty stinkin cute one. He's just the fun-loving toddler right now, usually with a smile on his face and giggles all around. Love this little guy.

Just Us

 Me and my little Noah...
This week we're getting to spend loads of time together - just us. Lincoln wanted to go stay with Jason's parents (he's been asking for a month now!) so we decided this week was a good one since Jason has to work late every night at camps. We wondered if he would still have the same fervor of leaving us (Lincoln) when he actually pulled away in his Poppa's car without Noah and us. Let me tell you - he had NO problem! He was super excited, and from what I can tell, he's having a blast still. I'm so thankful he likes going to stay with them and can do it independently. It gives Jason's parents some great time with him and him a chance to really get to know them better! This is the 4th time he's gone to do this now.
Noah has gone with him the past 2 times, but I'm loving me some Noah time this week and glad he didn't go!
We've gotten to ride motorcycles!

 Play with Papa!

Eaten at one of my personal favs (that's floods back memories of my times in Cali):

 Played with my sisters...

 Spent time at Aunt Amy and Cousin Tucker's house...

And watched this little guy dance, laugh, and love being the center of attention!

Noah is our current "mega sleeper" (it's 10:15 and I still haven't heard him). So the added pleasure of this luxury has also been nice. :) LOVE this little guy.

More Pics

Thanks for yall's advice! This stuff is fun :)

1st Go at Photography

Tonight I took my first "go" at trying to photograph baby E. (Bethany's precious). No - I'm not trying to start getting in to photography...she's just one of my best friends and we thought we'd play since I have a fun camera. And it was a blast. So, I'd love feedback from you photography folks out there cause I really have no clue what I am doing. Here are 4/368 we took. :) And, where do you print them to ensure best quality (after they've been edited online??) I have no clue. Would love some opinions!!!