Happy Birthday Landre

Sara Kennedy's best little friend, Landre turned 5 this week. SK and Landre were born exactly one week apart. They are the sweetest little friends and do everything together. She had a "girlie" party and they had the best time painting castles. Starr, Mary Brenton, Landre, SK and Delaney- I'm sure this crew will make lots of memories together!

Happy Birthday, Zan

Our sweet friend and neighbor, Zan had his 4th b-day party over the weekend. We had so much fun visiting and the kids loved jumping and sliding at Deep South. What a fun way to spend the morning! Happy Birthday, Zan Man!

SNOW

We had our first snow in MS (since New Year's Eve, 2000). Sara Kennedy had already "heard" we might get snow. So, I was praying we would at least get a few flurries. We woke up Saturday morning to lots of snow- it just didn't "stick." But, we still had fun playing in it. SK thought it was great! Cooper fussed the whole time b/c he didn't want to wear a coat! It was so much fun to watch Sara Kennedy run around, squealing with delight. No snow men this year- maybe next time!

Yeah~ The Boutwells are Blogging!

Hip, Hip, Horray! My friend, Linda (who I have known since forever) has started a blog. Check it out from my link!

Jon David is 4!!

Birthday Season has started! Since Sara Kennedy has been born it seems like all our friends kids are born around the same time. Will and I call it Birthday Season- it begins the 2nd week of January and we literally have a birthday party every weekend until the 2nd week in February (including SK's.) We had 2 last week, Anderson (I forgot my camera) and Jon David's. Both were at Pump It Up and lots of fun. Happy Birthday boys!

Fun Times at Home

Will cooked out Sunday night and the kids had so much fun on their riding toys. Here's our big man on his tractor. Sara Kennedy riding her Barbie Jeep~ check out the stroller she has tied to the back!
Their sweet Daddy reading them bedtime stories. They love for him to read to them. He changes the names of the characters in the books and SK catches him everytime- she thinks it's so funny!!
Cooper is under Sara Kennedy's spell. I don't know how much longer this will go on- but for now, he's smitten with her (most of the time). Here he is in a big tupperware box in the "bed" she made for him. She made the bed while he was still napping. When he got up she said, "Come get in your bed "Coopie," and he crawled right in. Most days they play Princess and puppy- you can guess who the puppy is. He crawls all over the house and barks- I'll try and capture a picture to post soon.

I'm Sorry- Did you say Peace?

Last Monday I took SK to dance (Wendy and I usually take turns taking her and Landre, but decided since it was right after the holidays we would take the week off). When we got there, the usual teacher Ms. Heidi wasn't there. They had a substitute. Well, Sara Kennedy doesn't like change very much. So, she decided she wasn't going to go in and sit down. All of the other little ballerinas were sitting on there number and my little ballerina was hanging on my leg. The substitute looked at me like- can you do something with her? And I looked at her like- can you? Anywho, I decided, it wasn't worth it. I told Sara Kennedy we were leaving and she was grounded the rest of the afternoon. No tv or playing outside. I had told her we could get a Happy Meal after dance and that too was taken away. We had the talk about why you can't act that way and I'm convinced she'll do better this week (at least it's Wendy's turn to take SK and Landre :) So, when we got home the phone rang. It was CA's secretary telling me that Sara Kennedy had been chosen by her teacher for the character trait of the month and would be recognized at Chapel that week. Guess what the trait for the month of December was: PEACE! I laughed and said, "Well, she hasn't been very peaceful this afternoon, but I'm glad she is at school." Will and I went to chapel Wed. morning and watched her get her award. Her teacher gave the sweetest little speech about her and said she always tries to resolve conflict in the classroom and wants everyone to get along. (at least she does somewhere :) We were so proud of our girl!(The "peaceful" cutie with the big, pink bow)

The Wiltshires are Blogging

(I have no doubt SK and Cooper think we're related to Hudson and Haley- we couldn't be any closer. What a sweet blessing in our lives)

YEAH! One of my very best friend's in the whole world (since birth) has started a blog! Kim Wiltshire. She and Matt live in Tupelo and I don't see them nearly as much as I'd like (but we talk every day- more than once). She , Haley and Hudson spent the night with us Thursday night and we had so much fun. Check them out by linking to the Wiltshires from ours. OK- I've tried not to do it, but I've waited long enough. I'm challenging:

The Ellis's (our neighbors, I know they're doing some fun stuff worth sharing :)

The Haley's (live way too far away- we need to know what they're up to)
The Kendrick's (have a baby that is way too cute to not brag on)
The Martin's (she's working on it)
The Webb's (considering it, making plans :)

to start a blog. If you weren't mentioned- don't worry, I'm coming for you too! :)

Supper Club

Several of us have talked for months about starting a Supper Club. Well, it finally happened and we had our first one this past Friday night. We decided to go to Bonefish (thanks MeMaw & Pepaw for babysitting) because we didn't want anyone to have to have anything at their house right after Christmas. It was so much fun! There are seven couples, so we'll each have a turn to host and we'll go out some too. I have a feeling there will be many happenings worth "blogging" about!

Happy New Year

New Year's Eve
We had such a fun New Year's Eve. We started off the evening at the local fireworks stand. Sara Kennedy had fun picking out sparklers (which she calls SPRINKLERS). Cooper had fun too. Then, we headed to our neighbors, Terry, Jean Elaine's and Zan's. Rob, Noel, Mary Brieten, Stacey and Brian came too. This is where the fun started. Terry is an excellent cook on the grill- which makes the events of the night so funny. I don't know what or how it happened but first the sausage was burned to a crisp. After we got over laughing about that, Rob warned us that the Chickens were on their way inside. They too were burned beyond belief. Not just a little crunchy- burned! Rob actually got a picture of the chickens on fire! I was a little late for that. After the guys worked on the chickens we were able to eat the meat and it was really good. We had a great dinner and went outside to watch the guys with the fireworks. After the kids did a few sparklers (under close supervision I might add :) they were off to the swingset. The big kids (Will, Rob, Terry, and Brian) finished off most of them. They had a blast. Some of the best quotes of the evening from them were "Fire in the Hole!", "Not my Christmas shirt, man", and "Uhoh, grass fire!" After the firework excitement we got to see a big show from the people across the lake. They obviously spent alot more than $36 on their show :) We had a New Year's countdown at 9:40 and SK was tuckered out. She was asleep by the time we got home. What a fun way to ring in the New Year!