Life Flight

There was a health fair in town yesterday and I caught wind there would be a helicopter... naturally we couldn't miss the chance for a free cholesterol check for Mr. Spann (teehee) & a helicopter for the kids! The boys... and the parental unit... thought the helicopter was super cool. Sure hope we never need to be life-flighted though!
This is where we were "heading" when the locked-in-the-car incident occurred. After that drama, I said we definitely needed to go enjoy the helicopter!

Firetruck... at our house

Little boys love fire trucks... but it is a little different when the truck has to come to your house for a purpose. Dear little Lincoln, with the help of his big brother, managed to lock himself in my car with the keys today. ??!?!! Thankfully, besides some trauma from catching his finger in the inside door handle and having it pinched for several minutes, he came away unharmed from the whole ordeal... and we're really grateful for our little fire department that is a hop, skip, and a jump from our house & the firemen who didn't seem to mind coming out to rescue our cutie pie. Oy vey.

the "other child"

Blissful

It has been awhile since Sammy got any blog time, but his activity has been noteworthy lately - so here ya go, Sam.

During the holidays we noticed Sammy seemed to be losing weight. Now, don't forget, this was a 17 lb cat... he could manage to lose a few lbs. It was around New Years that I thought "wow, he is really losing some weight!" - but he was otherwise acting normal. Well, around the beginning of February, suddenly he was lethargic and so the worry set in. When he became extremely lethargic over the weekend (sickness always on the weekend...!), I took him in first thing Monday. $$$$$$ later, he appeared "perfect". Even his weight, now a mere 12 lbs, was now in the "normal" range. By that night (after being poked and prodded at the vet), he was already acting better. Bah! He now seems to be gaining weight again... so maybe it really was a new years resolution? Who knows! What a cat...

After hulling a million packages of strawberries... Sammy decided the discard pile would be a great place to sit down for a spell.

Hot Springs, AR

(Above: part of "Bathhouse Row")

Now that we've moved back to TN, we've looked forward to taking vacations to new locations since we had typically used all our vacation days to see family (not that we dont love our families... but we love adventure!). Well, my friend Mandy and I got talking about meeting somewhere for a joint-getaway and Arkansas is smack in the middle of our home & their home near Dallas. What can I say, I knew nothing about Arkansas (except that Bill Clinton came from there... and something about Where the Red Fern Grows). A little Google action later, we had paid for a 3 bedroom condo in Hot Springs to share with our friends! ...With no idea where we were going or what the place would be like... love it :)

Well, luckily, we really, really enjoyed Hot Springs! We plan to return- we liked it that much. A cute little town with some great architecture, fun shops and restaurants, cool history, and a beautiful location. Each night we'd put the kids to bed and play, play, play. It was so much fun and such a nice break from the norm.

And now... some pictures!

(some hot spring on display by the visitor center...)

(Insta friends, silly-string fight, random man walking by had a BOA on him... )

(These bath pictures just make me laugh! We have pictures of them in the bath together when around 8ish months old, I need to find them so we can compare :)

Sipping Sprite in Arkansas

We just got back from a GREAT trip! - and before I fall into my bed, I leave you with this cute picture of the kids and this little video clip that makes me smile -- Lincoln sipping some Sprite in Hot Springs, AR. Can you tell he isn't a normal soda drinker? A nice, long post to come later...

There will be days...

Some days I need quotes like this one, about 'parenting 505' (*love it!*)... other days, we get days that are so sweetly content and enjoyable - like today. Although this picture isn't from today, it captures those feelings perfectly. Love these cute boys.

VDay 2012

Hmmm, I just realized that none of these pictures involve Vday for me & Matt... ya know, the couple -- but lets face it, we know what everyone really wants to see: the boys! We had a lovely Valentines, complete with pink heart pancakes, a playdate, visitors, service, gyros for dinner, a giant warm cookie with Blue Bell ice cream on top for dessert, a pink bath before bed for the boys, finished off by a romantic evening of finishing an espionage TV series we've been watching for months (netflix is spoiling/ruining us...). I got a large pot of white/pink/red tulips and Matt got a ginormous bag of peanut M&Ms <3
There have been lots of reports of sickness, often serious, from friends and acquaintances lately and we find ourselves filled with gratitude for our family and our health - and an acknowledgment of how fragile life can be. Hug your loved ones! Hope you had a love-filled Valentines!