Summer Fun 2010

Well. Looks like summer is coming to an end here at the Pursley home. Seems like the older the kids get, the quicker it goes. Here are some of my favorites from this summer.

Ms. Stylish.

Some crazy clouds one summer day.

Daddy and Courtney waxing the boat.

4th of July at the park.

Ethan and the high dive. Let me tell you. ITS HIGH!

One day we were outside and a Springdale cop pulled up and gave us stickers...better than tickets.

An awesome reunion with Amber!

Courtney learned how to ski this summer. She is amazing. She can do it all by herself and goes crazy in and out of the wake. She has so much fun and when she's not, she just jumps off.

Carter rockin the big boy skis.

Courtney and Kaylee just being cute.

Nothing better than making heart cookies to finish out the season. Right?

Golfin'. L O V E golfin'.

Courtney and Paul had a first together. We went golfing at Dad's. (it's not really his but he lives there. Not at the course. But right by it. Whatever.) At Tannenbaum Golf Course Arkansas' Best Kept Golfing Secret. We went with my sister and her husband and my Dad of course. We all did, well, we golfed. Paul was a first timer and to be honest, you couldn't tell. Other than his lack of club knowledge and not knowing to take your putter with you when you hit close to to the tee. He learned these things quickly though. He can hit though. I will tell you that much. And his form isn't bad either. It was a lot of fun to get out there together. Courtney was a trooper! She was mainly the golf cart watcher, until about the 10th hole when I finally told her she could come out on the green with us. She did awesome, didn't complain other than having to go potty. That course has NO potties. Lunch break is about it. She did take lots of pictures for us though. But not his first one.

Courtney and Bopa at one of the prettiest holes.

All of us on the green. Dave, Paul, Me, Dad and Ali.

Such form. HA.It was going far though...see me squinting?

Self portrait.

Being my silly girl. Almost done.

Courtney proving Uncle Dave made it.

Ali took this pic of me. Hard shot. Think I may have cheated here.

Paul clearing the water...almost.

Lookin like a pro.

Courtney goes to the dentist

Still playing blog catch-up. Courtney had her first dentist appointment on June 10th this year. Yes, we waited until she was 3. She did awesome and has what the dentist call the "Hollywood smile". Great for cuteness as a 3 year old. Not so great when her big teeth get here. Braces will be in her future, luckily she already wants them, since Mommy has them. Courtney went to Dr. Ward. AWESOME! Click the pic below to check out their site. He is a great dentist and his girls are great with kids. They even took xrays! No cavities and she is a good brush-er (well, I am). Little known fact even I didn't know. The dentist recommends brushing your child's teeth for them until they are....ready??? TWELVE!!! He says to let them, but to also do it for them after they are done. Until 12! Sorry baby girl...you'll be going to 5th grade after I brush your teeth.

We told her to lay down...she tried laying on her belly.

Checking out the "sucker thingy".

Getting her first official cleaning.

By the end, she was a pro at the "sucker thingy".

Happy Birthday...a while ago!

As the previous post stated...I'm blogging out of order. Paul turned 34 July 28th. I never know what to do for his birthday, I usually totally stress it and want it to be perfect. Well, this year, I did the opposite and it turned out great! I invited friends over the day before I think and we grilled some chicken and had some cake and just hung out. What Paul likes to do. Shawn was Shawn and brought a BUNCH of candles including the kind that you can't blow out; oh, and the huge balloon that would still be alive today if I hadn't decided he needed to go during nap time one day.

Blogging Out of Order...Disney World 2010

First of all, I am spoiled. Totally spoiled. These pictures are NOT from my good camera. They are from my point and shoot Sony W7. A good camera for it's time, but it's not "it's time" anymore. Horrible quality photos but GREAT memories. More pics from Dad's "good camera" to come.

So, on with it. Disney World 2010 was AWESOME! My parents took me and my 3 sisters along with our husbands and all the grandkids that could go. We were at the parks, yes, parkS for 5 days and it was so much fun! Courtney absolutely LOVED the characters. She was so excited to see June and Leo from Little Einsteins. We watched the shows; which Courtney always had to ask at the end "why do they always have something scary in them?". They did too! Bugs Life, Little Mermaid (funny story behind that), even Nemo! We rode the rides. Oh the rides were great! We drank lots of water and sweat lots of sweat in Florida in August. We BBQ'd each night, stayed up late at the parks, watched the best fireworks ever designed, laughed A LOT and just had good plain fun.

the simple things in life

Oh, the simple things in life. How we take them for granted. Paul is in CA. Paul has been in CA for 5 days. Paul will be in CA for another 7 days. I am home with Courtney. All day. Every day. And it's been raining. So we are home. All day.

Sounds bad, right? Oh, no. It's not. It's becoming awesome! Yes, there are tough times, times I am at the end of my rope. Even times (actually A time) Paul called and I answered the phone in tears and simply said "here, YOU try to talk to Courtney". ...she would NOT go to bed, nothing more, nothing less... But what I have actually realized is that I take so many small things for granted.

Being a stay at home mom since the day my daughter was born, I know nothing else. Courtney knows nothing else. If I was to say "Mommy is going to work", she would literally look at me like I was crazy and probably say something the the effect of "no, DADDY is going to work". It's the way it is in our family and I am truly BLESSED to have the ability to say that. Times like now especially as Paul is in CA to earn money as he was laid off 2 weeks ago.

Since Paul has been gone I have quite literally spent every waking moment with Courtney, other than 2 hours of gym time. Don't want to be a liar or anything. And on the honesty note, that is A LOT of alone time with your daughter. (she rarely naps) It's tough some days, especially when it's raining to think of things to do. Even Courtney is tired of tv! That's where the simple things kick in. Seriously. Playing ball...yes, we play ball IN our house...with her. TICKLING her. Coloring. Making the only thing each of us knows how to with play doh; snakes. Playing pretend. Reading a book. Watching WipeOut. Letting her help put dishes up. Watching her play in the rain. Playing in the rain WITH her. Letting her figure out how to button her jammies; even if it takes longer than I do.

All these things we have been doing together. And many times she has just looked at me and said "I love you, Mommy". Or just her giggle. Today we did something for Daddy...he doesn't know yet, so I can't go writing about it on the internet...and she looks at me and says "THAT is why Daddy loves me". Really, our 3 year old knows these things!?

Tonight I read Courtney a book before bed. I will admit, I do not always read her a book. It's just not part of our bed time routine...but tonight she asked and I did. I read her this book:

it is 63 pages long and has a paragraph per page. Not the shortest book in the world. But I read it, and I LOVE reading to her. And when I said "THE END", she grabs the book and says "my turn to read it to you". And you know what? I let her. And I'm glad I did. I learned tonight. I learned that my daughter not only loves me reading to her but she really pays attention. She went through each of the 63 pages and read it back to me. No, not word for word. She can not read, yet. But she told the same story right back to me in her words. It was PRICELESS.

It's the simple little things in life that matter. May we all remember that.