Meet Mr. Barkley

Meet two new best friends and the newest member to our family. Somehow we went from no dogs to two dogs. Barkley was found in the parking lot at school and when the librarian couldn't keep it at her house (her dog didn't get along with Barkley) we ended up with him. Will and Walker are beyond excited. "Barkey" as Walker says weighs 2.5 lbs and is the cutest thing ever. He appears to have lab in him, so he probably won't be small for long.

Trike-A-Thon

Here are a few pictures from the Trike-a-thon today. Will only wanted to decorate his bike with a flag (and Mommy made a little sign for the front). I've heard about bike safety all week long..."always wear your helmet, be careful near driveways, never ride in the street, ..."

Will with Mrs. Jane Ann. The theme this year was circus.

Will with the two miniature horses that came to visit after the trike-a-thon.

Once a Laker, Always a Laker

Friday night in Russell County means Laker Football at the newly named Finley Field. This year celebrates 40 years of Laker Football. Last night at the game (which RC lost, but we won't talk about that), all former players were recognized as well as past coaches and staff. I'll try to post a few team pictures later. future laker?!

It appears as if Walker is trying to steal the 30-yard marker. That might cause a problem during the game.

Just kiddin!!!!

Two cutie pies enjoying the game.

Let's get ready to rummmmmmbbbbbblllllleeeee!!!!!!

Catch-Up

This is my first post since school has started. We've been busy, busy, busy around the Stephens' house. Here is a precious picture that I just had to share. School started three weeks ago, and Walker has been to the doctor 3 times (Will once). He has to go back on Tuesday, but seems to be feeling better now. He had a bad virus. Here he is taking a nap today with "Glowy". Will the morning of his 1st day back at the Little Learning Center. He loves "school" so much. He has gotten Star Student once. Ms. Katha and Ms. Dana were both bragging on him for helping the new student.Walker thought that since Will got a picture with his backpack, he needed a picture taken to. This is Walker's first day back to Ms. Linda's. He loves to go and play with the little kids, especially his cousin, Alexa. Meet the newest member of our family, Harley! Will said he wanted to name her after the motorcycle. Walker just says "Hawley...shes a gurl". So sweet! Harley is a true mutt. Her dad is a beagle and her mom is a blue-tick, coonhound, shar-pei. But she is awfully cute! Don't ask Shannon what happened to Miley. This one is crazy about Harley. And she is crazy about him. He pretty much carries her around like this and she just goes along with it.

As Walker would say "HEAVY!"

Here is Will at the Stingray Bay (Opry Mills).

They love the carousel.

Here are a few pictures from Charli's b-day party. We somehow missed a picture of the b-day girl, but here is Walker and Hannah. Will and Ashley. She is one of his absolute favorite people.

Here is my great-nephew, Elliot. Can you believe I'm a great-aunt?! My two-favorite guys!

I've officially joined the Mini-Van Mom's Club. They are currently trying to find the captain chairs to go in the middle instead of the bench seat. That was a condition of me buying it. An almost 2-year old and almost 5-year old sitting right beside each can make for an interesting ride.

Will & Walker's Day

A couple of years ago, Will & I started a little tradition known as "Will's Day. "Will's Day" is always the day before school starts, in which Will gets to choose whatever he wants to do all day long. If Daddy is not working he gets to tag along as well. It is now known as "Will & Walker's Day", although this year Will pretty much had the say so in what we did. I don't think Walker will let that slide next year. Anyways, this year Will had heard about Dinosaur World in Cave City(Thanks, Jill!). We also found out that there was a Wildlife Museum, and that is what Will wanted to do. Of course Walker agreed. We started out at the Wildlife Museum. The boys really enjoyed the museum (even though the airfreshener smell and the labeling of the animals were quite hilarious to me). We had to go through the museum twice.

The Bengel Tiger was a favorite, as well as the white reindeer.
Then we had breakfast for lunch at Cracker Barrel. Will & Walker had biscuit n' gravy and I had pancakes. It WAS Will & Walker's day, so they got to choose whatever they wanted.
Next we headed to Dinosaur World. It's not an action-packed adventure, but the boys really enjoyed the dinosaurs, the fossil dig, and the boneyard. Here are the boys "scared" of T-Rex. The Wooly Mammoth was also a favorite.

Will being ate by the dinosaur.

Fossil Dig. They got to dig for 15 minutes and keep any three things they wanted. Will kept two parts of shark's teeth and a part of a turtella (I think thats what it was).
The Boneyard, in which they were paleontologist and found the remains of a dinosaur.
After getting home, Will decided we needed to eat Mexican for supper. That is not surprising at all. If you ask Will where he wants to eat he immediately screams "MEXICAN!" Here's Walker not wanting his picture taken.
We ended the day with a swim and then straight to bed. We've got to get up early in the morning and even earlier on Wednesday, the first official day of school.

Brotherly Love

Isn't this just precious?! Yesterday, I worked on my classroom and had a check-up. Will & Walker had a boys day with their Daddy. After a day of doing farming "stuff" with their Daddy and Pa they were worn out. When Shannon went to check on them, this is what he found. So sweet!

Mini-Vacation

We left on Friday for a mini-vacation. Friday night we had tickets to see the Reds vs. the Brewers. This was mine, as well as the boys, first major league baseball game (I usually stick to t-ball games).

Walker eating a ballpark hotdog. They were yummy, but the nachos were the best!
Will with his souvenoir bat.
Great seats, great weather, and the REDS WON!!!!

Followed by a spectacular fireworks show. Walker fell asleep right before the firework show started. Amazing how he stayed asleep through the show, but as soon as it was over he woke up.

On Saturday we went to the Cincinnati Museum. We started off with Dinosaurs Unearthed.

Here is Walker "cheesing". This is his cheese smile for the camera.
Will with his favorite dinosaur T-Rex.

Then we checked out the Childrens Museum. The boys LOVED this! We ended up staying 6 hours and they didn't want to leave then. The museum is full of different centers that the kids can "play" in. Here are a few pictures in some of their favorite centers, however I think they loved them all, even housekeeping. The names aren't correct, but each center had a main theme.The water center.

The Town Center.

Construction center.

The multi-cultural centers. Will & Walker in the canoe.

The boys favorite center was The Woods. Here is Will, Walker & Shannon in the tree house.

Will & Walker loved the slide in the woods. There is a story about Walker coming halfway down the slide and then screaming at the top of his lungs. We couldn't get him down and he couldn't get back up to the top. I climbed to the top but you had to crawl through a tunnel to get to the slide and I had a dress on. There was a lady there who thought it was her child stuck in the slide, but then she found her son and I knew it was Walker. A complete stranger offered to crawl through the tunnel for me, and as he crawled through Shannon had coaxed Walker down the slide. Needless to say Walker then wanted to slide ten thousand more times and loved every second of it.
On Sunday, Will & Shannon went exploring Mammoth Cave. Walker and I headed to BG for a little shopping while they took the 2 hour tour.