Arkansas Railroad Museum

Forgive me, this is a long one... ;)

I wanted to share some photos from our trip to the Arkansas Railroad Museum on Wednesday. We really weren't sure what we were going to find upon arriving in Pine Bluff and were hoping for a train car for the kids to climb around in. We were excited that the museum was a mini railroad mecca for a small child who loves trains. The museum is the home of Engine 819 - the last 4-8-4 Nothern type steam locomotive that was built in Pine Bluff, or Arkansas, for that matter. (We had purchased a photo of the 819 for Noah's room while at the Smokey Mountain Rail Road for the Thomas the Tank Engine ride last year). We also found passenger cars, cabooses, baggage cars, and more, all restored to their original state back in the days of the steam engines. Noah was in a bit of an awe as he looked at the photos, uniforms, memorabilia, mini train set-ups in HO, G, and Lionel. He was a little shy of climbing up in the train cars and engines, but was fine as long as his Daddy went along with him. There was a ton of stuff to look at and see, even experience. You could walk through almost all the train cars and sit in the seats, lay on the beds, check out the stoves, and so much more. There were tons of artifacts to look at that were used during the time period of the steam engines and it was interesting to walk through and take it all in. As Doug said to me, it puts in you a different place and time and is just a small glimpse of what it was like back then. Amazing. Perhaps I have caught a tiny bit of the train fever our little boy has had since he got his very first train for his first birthday.

Birthday Love

Today was my birthday - 29 years. Seems absolutely unreal to be saying that - 29. I guess it will feel that way from now on, huh? =) I had a great day with my family. My friend Ramona came over this morning and vegged out with me while the kids played and later after Doug got home we enjoyed some Moe's Southwestern Grill (Yum) and watched Monday night football. Noah picked out the cake pan for my cake - he thought a football cake would be way cool, so a football cake it was. I thought it was really cute that that was the pan he picked... well, he took a while to pick, looking over a princess castle pan, a scoobydoo pan, and lots more, but he did finally decide on the football. We hung out while the football game was on with the kids being silly - you can see Rachel's hat - she came up with that all on her own. She definitely cracks us up. Noah was a cutie tackling Doug all night and giving thumbs up. Love those guys. It was certainly a nice day. =) A very special Happy Birthday going out to my niece Olivia who also had a birthday today!! She is a big four year old now!!! Happy Birthday Livey!

1st Big Soccer Game

Noah had his first big soccer game today. We were so excited because he was really into the whole experience and he ran fast and played hard. There are two thirty minute halves to the game for these little guys, where they play three on three with no goalie. Noah played 3/4 of the entire game and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. By the end of the game he was exhausted and ready to be done, but he was so excited about how he played and how he did. He was a happy kid for the rest of the day, telling us how much he liked soccer. We couldn't have been any prouder of our little dude as we were watching him out there playing and smiling and having fun.

Shots Hurt.

He's pointing to his Spiderman sticker from the pediatrician - It says Strong and Brave. He had a wellness check up to get cleared for fall sports yesterday and the nurse advised that we go ahead and get his kindergarten shots and records up to date. The poor guy got four shots: two in each arm. Ouch! He was really brave, he only cried for a minute, but then told me that it hurt, hurt, hurt!! Other then a small problem with the tube still in his right ear, his pediatrician says he looks great! He is 45.5 inches tall and weighs 49 pounds - 97th percentile all around. He's the size of a 1st grader already and he's only 4 and a half and still in preschool. Looks like he takes after his Daddy for sure. =)

Happy Birthday Baby Lydia Gail!

We are so excited to meet you! =) Baby Lydia was born early this morning and we are told she is just perfect and beautiful! We are so excited about her arrival and wishing her a very special Happy Birthday! ;)

Hello?

Noah's last day of soccer camp was on Friday. It worked out nice because there were about 35 kids at the camp and the last day there were only about 15 there because the two major local highschools had their big rivalry football game. The last few minutes of the practice the kids were scrimmaging and Noah got to score a goal. It was so cute to hear the big kids tell each other, don't take the ball from Noah, and then tell him "Take it to the goal Noah!!!". He thought he was big stuff while all that was going on. We are so proud of him and he seems to like playing, although he did say that he had been playing "a lot of soccer this week". Along with getting up at 7:30am for school and having soccer practice from 5:30 - 7pm, it's a very long day for a little man who hasn't taken naps in over a year. A couple of pictures of our very sweet girl on the phone. She happily entertained herself this week with my cell phone and car keys and the last couple of days she played with a little girl who's sister was at the camp as well. Rachel is really good at kicking the soccer ball too... I see sports in this little one's future for sure. ;)

Soccer Camp!

Check out our lil' DUDE! He's playing soccer!!!! Noah started his first day of Soccer Camp today and he did really well (okay, in a Mom's eyes - a mom who never played soccer and has no idea what is going on)! Seriously though, it looked like he was doing good. ;) The camp is all this week from 5:30-7:00 M, T, Th, F and he has his first practice with his team on Wed. He is once again (at least at the camp) the youngest little dude out there and certainly one of the smallest. The older boys were really good about helping him and showing him the ropes. I was so proud of him as Rachel and I watched from the sidelines. Miss Hollywood occupied herself with her baby doll, my cell phone, car keys and briefly a pack of crackers she decided to feed to a colony of ants... incidently that liked baby flesh much more than crackers! OUCH! (Yes, we picked up and moved after that episode). This newly appointed soccer mom (ha ha) has learned a few lessons already - take lots and lots of water to camp/practices (definitely more than one bottle), we really do need soccer socks and also that investing in fabric folding chairs would be a very useful thing. You can't put a price on the pride I felt watching my little boy out there today. This face still hasn't stopped smiling thinking of him chasing that ball and running with the big boys. Man, I love that little dude.