VISITING MY OZARK ROOTS

Cotter Bridge

Wonderful new cabin on ancestral land! We had to hike in and wade through a creek to get there. Boy, was it worth it!

View from my rocking chair on the deck!

View to the left beneath the cabin

I've GOT to take Lainey there someday to play in the creek!

Grammy's Favorite Picture

Grammy likes this picture Mommy took with her iPhone. I love swinging at the church!

Lainey's Fun Day Oct. 25

I got to ride in a boat with Tigger at Wal-Mart! Grammy bought me lots of winter pajamas!
I let Papaw hold my balloon dogs at Fun Fest.
Ashley W. painted my face to match my ladybug costume.

It was Granny Hickey's 90th birthday. I have very good genes.

New Photos of the Grandchildren

I love it when Jody and Ginger send pictures! Here's Lainey getting her first haircut today, and Charlie a couple of days ago, probably wrestling with one of his brothers.

Ginger and Lainey will come this weekend for Granny Hickey's 90th birthday and Fun Fest at FBC. I think Jody and Charlie (not sure who else) will come for Thanksgiving!

LAINEY OCT. 15

Lainey with her stuffed animalsI

Note to self: Lainey has enough stuffed animals.

She's into PlayDoh and coloring now.

LAINEY AT THE SCHOOL PLAYGROUND

After my appointment at UAMS yesterday, we went to Cabot. We decided to eat lunch at a barbecue place called The Mean Pig. However, when we pulled up, there were a couple of young guys throwing up in the grass, and I said maybe we should choose another place. One of them explained, though. The place has a very hot sauce, and if you can hold it in your mouth for 5 minutes, you can win a t-shirt. They lost big.

When Lainey got home, we took her to the school playground near her house! She can swing on a big swing and climb everything! She almost fell off the teeter-totter but I caught her in time!

She told us that she's 2 now and she'll go to that school when she's 5, but she doesn't know that's 3 more years. I guess she'll get to subtraction soon.

She kept saying, "It's a beautiful day!" and "I'm so happy!" and even "This is GREAT!" She didn't want to leave, but at least she knew we were going to Sonic afterwards, which is her favorite place!

THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR JUMPING ON THE BED!

Jody sent this photo of Charlie today. He has a cut between two black eyes from a jumping-on-the-bed incident. Jody said there was a lot of blood, but after the initial pain, he took it in stride. He's a tough little kid! He reminds me so much of Jody!

Notice the ball in his hand. He's getting good at playing ball, even at just 2 years old, and he loves to go to his Dad's softball games and run around the field after the games. About 3 more years and he'll probably be on his own ball team.

A FALL DAY WITH LAINEY

It was sweater weather this morning when Lainey played outside. She knows that on Halloween she'll wear a costume and get candy from the neighbors, but she doesn't have the details down yet. I asked her what she would say when she knocked on doors, and she said, "Please?"

Lainey was a surprise baby, and her mom had planned to take some students to Italy the summer she was born. I've told Ginger we could babysit any summer, but she wants to wait until Lainey is old enough to go. So the other night they were looking at pictures of Rome, and Ginger asked, "Do you want to go to Rome with Mommy someday?" and she said, "No, I want to go to Silver Dollar City!"