The Zoo

Essie has been earning stickers on her chore chart and each completed chart earns her a trip to a place of her choice.  So far we've enjoyed Jump Zone, Playworld Pizza, and now it's the zoo.  She was excited to go to the zoo and we were excited to get to use our season passes!  It was HOT, HUMID, and PACKED but a good time was had by all anyway.

Mother's Day

This past mother's day was difficult for us with the recent loss of Meemaw.  Travis and Essie did an amazing job making me feel special with breakfast in bed, flowers, bracelet charms, and a handprint frame. 

Essie wanted to paint her YaYa a picture to make her feel special on Mother's day...

That evening we all met at the Big Dam Bridge in Little Rock for Illuminate the Cure.  It's a lantern release for breast cancer.  Over 700 lanterns were released.  It was one of the most beautiful and moving moments I've ever experienced.  It was breathtaking and of course Essie thought it was just like the movie Tangled!

Fancy Nancy & Mother's Day Breakfast

We heard that the illustrator of the "Fancy Nancy" series was coming to town on her fancy pink RV to promote her new book.  I just knew we would have to fancy up our little princess to meet her.  So Thursday night we got gussied up and drove to Little Rock.  Essie loved it...especially the RV!

Friday morning Snugglebugs offered a "Mother's Day Breakfast".  So I got to eat with her, she sang the most beautiful song for me, and gave me an adorable apron & flower. 

Toad Suck part 2 & painting class

We ended up going to Toad Suck for a second round...

afterwards we took Essie to a painting class.  A local elementary art teacher offers classes in her home and they were doing a mother's day painting.  We had to stay with her since it was her first time but she did great!  I am taking her painting to hang in my classroom.  

Fishing and Toad Suck

Essie got to go fishing for the first time ever last week.  My dad's company was supposed to host a fishing derby for kids but the bad weather cancelled it.  We decided to go ahead and hit the stocked pond anyway.  Essie was not a fan of fishing but she did enjoy seeing the ones everyone else caught.

This weekend our friends Sarah, Matthew, and Cooper came in from Jonesboro! It was so good to see them and it just makes us feel at home when they are here. Essie was so excited she asked every few minutes if they were here yet. She and Cooper had fun Friday night playing until late.

 

Today we had planned to go to Toad Suck but the weather again got in our way. We ate breakfast at Bobs and hid out at Jump Zone until it stopped raining. We did go back and enjoy the festival activities even though it was COOOOOOOLD and wet. 

Just for fun here is a picture of Essie last year and this year!