2 Little Chickens

Not an animal person....but when I see the smile they bring to my kiddos faces I give in rather easily! The guy that sold us our jeep has chicken houses! Lucy Jane casually mentioned that she would love a pet chicken! He then shared with her that he would love to bring her a chicken! Two days later I get a call to stop by the car dealership! Guess what?! He gave us TWO! One for each kid... Isn't he sweet! 

She was so happy! We stopped by there after Bible school so I had my nieces and nephew with us! We took a trip to Atwoods and got stocked up on chicken stuff! 

We bought a little chicken food and some stuff to out in their crate! The sweet guy at Atwoods helped us pick out just the right stuff!

We brought the chickens home and gave them lots of loving!!!

They even got to FaceTime with Tee Tee!

Chicken #1, Kaylor Joe (named by Lucy Jane) got his leg caught in the cage by sweet cousin Annalyse! He was hurt pretty bad so we had to call Daddy to come take care of the sweet baby. Unfortunately, he didn't make it.

Chicken #2, Lucy Jane, was feeling lonely so we gave her a stuffed animal to comfort her through the night.

Sadly, rich found sweet Lucy Jane unresponsive the next morning. I was really counting on some eggs...but we obviously aren't cut out for animals around the Richardson house! 

Even Luke misses the sweet chicks! Fun experience for Lucy Jane! :) 

Mermaid Party!

Lucy Jane turned 4 on a Tuesday, so we planned her party for the following Saturday! We got the pool all ready and turned up the heater because the weather was a whopping 54 degrees that morning! Crazy May Arkansas weather! :)

I ordered Lucy Jane's cake from Shelby Lynn's in Springdale! They did an awesome job! 

She wanted a mermaid party, but not The Little Mermaid! 

I used cute water bottle labels to decorate the drinks!

The party favors were sand buckets with a tiara and mermaid bubble bath for all the girlies!!!

The banner is hard to see because of the lighting! But it was stinking cute! 

This little girl was ready for her party, cold or warm she didn't care! 

She had a blast playing with her friends and eating yummy snacks! It was a girls only party! Her brother even napped during the celebration to comply with the rules! :)

Can you tell how cold they were!!!

So thankful for sweet friends to celebrate with!!!! Such a fun theme and a great time!!! Love my little mermaid! 

Sun, Sand, and Sweet Friends

We have been talking about trying to go to the beach in July! I was so excited because the beach is my favorite place in the world and I want to share that with my kiddos! Well....we all know how spontaneous Rich can be...and that I am never given planning time for vacations! Charity and I found on on Tuesday around 3 that we were leaving that night around 8 to head to the beach! We quickly packed and got last minute stuff from the store and headed out!!! 

Kids started off with corn dogs for dinner to go! :)

Our plan was to drive several hours and get a place to stay thru the night before finishing the drive on Wednesday morning! I don't know what big events go down in South Arkansas, but there were NO HOTELS for hours! Finally, a little after 3:00, we drove up on this doozy! 

And lucky for us the sign said Vacancy! I almost refused to get out of the car! Kaylor has been awake the entire car ride, and Lucy Jane was ready for some good sleep! We unloaded, killed some bugs, and tried to rest for a couple hours!  

NASTY!!!!!!!

We headed out Wednesday morning and drove and drove and drove. We stopped at a fruit stand and got some fresh produce to bring with us! It was a great break for Kaylor, and a neat little "southern" stop! The name of the store was "Taters and Maters" :) Lucy Jane was riding with the Stevens at this point and they drove right past us accidently! When we finally called to check in, they were ahead by 50 miles! :)

We made several stops and a few wrong turns before finally making it to The Hangout in Gulf Shores to eat and play! 

This is a happy place for Lucy Jane! She loves all the activities they have for kids, and even danced to a song or two! The poor kiddos were so tired and we still had an hour and a half to go before getting to pensacola! (Lord, help us all)

BUT we made it!!!!! Rich and I were up early on Thursday, and I was so anxious to get out in the water! The kids slept and slept! Lucy Jane and Charley play so well together! Their plan was to share the loft room, but they have ended up passing out in the parents rooms because of exhaustion! 

They couldn't get down to the water quick enough!!!! 

He napped on my lap all morning, and spent the afternoon laying on my chest! I tried to tell him it was hard to work on my tan while holding him, but he didn't care! :) Lucy Jane was so busy playing that I didn't get many pictures the first day! 

Friday morning, the guys took Lucy Jane and Charley to the market to buy seafood for supper! Kaylor was napping so charity and I stayed in the condo with the little boys! The girls had a blast with their Daddy's! 

They brought back lots of yummy food!

The afternoon was spent lounging in the sun! Lucy Jane and charley played in the sand all afternoon! My favorite thing to do is play in the water! Lucy Jane had a ball jumping in the water alternating between me and her Daddy! 

Excuse the hair! She won the battle of wearing her hair down!

Kaylor thinks if he is at the beach he should just be laying on me resting, napping, and totally relaxed! This was really sweet the first day, but now I have some really awkward tan lines! 

I laid in the pool and he slept on me for two hours underneath this towel! :) poor Rich accidently had his phone in the ocean while filling up the pool, so he's out of service!!!

The kids have played so well together! Wrestling in the floor, giggling, and playing! :)

We hit up Baskin Robbins and headed back to the condo so the guys could take the girls crab hunting! The first night they tried to go Lucy Jane fell and scraped up her arms so they came back! Second attempt, Lucy Jane comes into my bed and says, mom I know I'm supposed to be catching crabs, but a big one ran across my foot and it really freaked me out! I started crying so Daddy brought me back! It was terrible!!!! She cracks me up with her drama! 

Rich had the bright idea on Saturday morning to go parasailing! We thought we could talk Lucy Jane into it! She wouldn't ride with her daddy, and the weight minimum is 200 pounds combined so her and I couldn't go together! So we rented a jet ski instead! She hated it! She had rather play in the water, so after renting it for an hour and riding only 10 minutes that's what we did! She met two little girls and they played all afternoon! They jumped off the pontoon boat and swam all day! She had a blast!!! We ate lunch outside and I soaked up our last day of beachy sunshine! 

We had no extra clothes and were starving for some supper after being in the sun all day, so we stopped at the local "tourist store" and bought cover ups so we could go to dinner! Lucy Jane loved her tie dye dress! The boys stayed in their swimsuits!

They had people painting faces and making balloon art for the kids! Lucy Jane loved it!

We left early in the morning to come home so that we could get all the driving done in one day! No more nasty MOtels for me! 

Lucy Jane was feeding Kaylor a sausage biscuit at our first gas stop! 

I am truly shocked at how smooth the ride home went! Lucy Jane crashed out and took a nap! 

I know we broke the law, don't judge!

And Kaylor stayed awake THE ENTIRE trip! This boy didn't sleep a wink, but thankfully was happy and smiley most of the trip! 

So glad my kids are able to have these memories! They loved it so much and it made my heart happy to see them at my favorite spot ever!!!