Halloween at Grandma's

Home by late Tues. night in Utah by Friday. All of this traveling is enough to wear a kid out and block the door so that you can't make her go anywhere else for at least a few hours! 

 After a bit of sleep we were back and ready to ride the spooky train with Grandma, even if she looks like a scary witch.

 Mom and Think are ready.

 Grandma is showing off her true nature!  While Ava is turning blue, just kidding she is just the cutest Smurfette ever!

 The scary mob of people we like to call Family!

 What better way to get ready for bed after a late spooky train ride than to wrestle with Tate and Dad!

Good thing we are on vacation, again.  No rest for the Hannants!

Last of Arkansas I Promise

These were just too sweet I had to post them!

It seems as if I went a little picture crazy this time.  Oh well my kids are cute I wanted to remember them sweet before they turn into teenage toads!

The Good, The Great,and the Not so Pretty!

Now that Dad has gone home it is just us Princess!

 The plague of a Mom, is that the kids get ready for the day, but not always true for a Mom, even on vacation.

 Inonna has rubbed off on Avery, if only I could get her to swifter my floors!

 This week, isn't as warm as last.  Instead of swimming we actually bath the kids!

 Big Daddy is teaching the girls about Cramer!  I think Addie was more interested in his candy, and Avery said she would rather eat her hand than watch Cramer! But you can't blame him for trying, he is greatly out numbered!

 Aunt Chelsea and her annual pumpkin carving party.  We cheated a little, Potato Head pumpkin seemed like the greatest idea ever!  

 Hanging out with Pops.  Addie is off loving Koda the cat (her bestest friend ever).

 More hanging out with Pops, but this time at the office.

 As you can tell, working hours at the office are creative.  We have always believed that work can wait until its a little closer to a deadline!

 It wouldn't be a trip to Arkansas if we didn't go swimming pool fishing! Honestly I am amazed that fishing pole still works!  To say the least Addie is an avid angler.

Until Next Time!  As always we had a great time and can't wait to come again! 

Gentry Safari

We said the last of our Good Byes, Doris and Ray hit the road and we were off to the wild!

 In Arkansas it is normal for 4 year old to drive, what can I say Arkansans are advanced!

 I am not sure which is more scary Addie driving or the Emu?

 The Drive ThrU Safari was full of exciting animals!  The Emus were a bit creepy, while the Zebras were more friendly!  This now wanted to kiss, I can't say I blame him, we are pretty cute!

 Avery was enamored with all the new sight and animals.  It was a lot of firsts for this little girl!

 While Inonna was being chased by the big scary Aflac duck! He had a little crush, Lewy better watch out, this duck was persistent!

 Addie was chasing all things animal!  She gave up on the peacock and moved on to the chicken, goats, pigs, she wanted to catch a kangaroo, but they wouldn't come out and play!

 Avery on the other hand loved the animals from the safety of the car, and the arms of her Dad!  Addie and Avery might look alike, but couldn't be more different.  When we brought Addie when she was Avery's age she was chasing the goats in her squeaky shoes.  I'm not sure Avery's squeakers ever hit the dirt!

 Dad is the animal whisperer. He was fair and just and made sure that they greedy goats didn't get all of our animal feed! Avery was not sure what to think of the ponies.

 Addie was off to try and hug all the animals she could catch.  Addie is a fast kid, if you ask her she is super fast, but the animals must have been super super fast, because they seemed to always be one step ahead of her.

 Avery, still not sure what to make of all this wild safari stuff!

 Gees Mom, what made you think I wanted to ride a turtle!  It seemed like a good idea to me, but Avery had a different idea I guess.

 For now we will stick with the cement animals with Avery!  They aren't as intimidating, you know turtles are pretty darn scary!

What a beautiful Day to get out and enjoy some wild animals, and wear our little animals out! Just one of our favorite things to do when we come to Arkansas.

The Princess and the Prince

Addie was so excited to see Princess Meli and Prince Gavin!  Meli decided that it was probably safer for her and her Princess gown to get ready at Dad's.  

Its a good thing Mom is experienced with a Zipper, otherwise.....

Now that the Princess is ready the entourage is off to track down the groom! Now where could he be, I hope he didn't get cold feet, that could be awkward.

We all know how the bride gets ready, but do you know what it takes for a flower girl to be ready for her big debut.  First one must take a quick swim and practice practice practice.  They always say when your nervous imagine everyone in their underwear.  We like to shake things up bit, put a new spin on the saying. Practice naked so when the real thing happens you are ready for anything!

 As we waited and waited on the bride and groom to be ready, we swung away the time.  No complaints here it kept them out of the dirt, I bet they didn't think of that when they hung the swing  in a tree near the chapel!

While exploring the grounds around the chapel Addie made an amazing discovery.  She found the tooth fairy!  It is true the tooth fairy resides at Belle Gabel Chapel in Fayetteville, Arkansas!  Not only does this picture capture a beautiful family, but it document the finding of the the tooth fairy!

We all know that Addie can't keep a straight face to save her life!  The Photo Booth was perfect for her.  She found all the accessaries and got the party started!

It wouldn't be a wedding if there wasn't dancing!  Okay, it wouldn't have been Meli and Gavin's wedding if their wasn't dancing!  Who know Addie had so many moves, she definitely didn't get it from her Mom!

She even managed to steel a few dances with the groom, I think that she might have even taught him a few moves.

Man a wedding is exhausting even when your just a guest.  We tried to party with the best of them but come 9:30pm we were pooped.  Feet could no longer be contained in beautiful blue suede heels, Addie had danced all one could dance, Avery's legs were broken, and Dad could not keep Addie from trying to leave Mom behind.  "Come on Dad let just go" direct quote out of the mouth of my babe.  Geez kid, I'm afraid you are going to be waiting on your mother for many more years, 12 at least.

Pre-Wedding Fiesta

When your not the bride wedding festivities are lots of fun!  

 If the Sun is shinning then the kiddos are swimming!  When we were kids we swam till our lips turned blue and we couldn't feel our limbs and we turned out okay! 

As kids we played with our cousins all of the time.  Every summer we could get together and run amuck! And It was high time that we got together to teach our children the ways of their parents!

 

A Dance party on the furniture, proved that they passed with flying colors.  The 2nd generation of cousins  is defenitely ready to make trouble! 

 Why is it that it takes a wedding or a funeral to get a family together?  Either way someone is always left out of all the fun.  Growing up it seemed as if we got together more often, now it practically takes an act of Congress to get us all together.

Since I am not allowing anyone to die, and MoMo is the only one left to marry off, we are going to have to start coming up with other reasons to get the whole gang together more often!

My children need to know that Auntie Doris can hold her own against Auntie Joey.  And that Auntie Rachie and Auntie Bethy are the best manicurist in town. Pretty much they are the best at everything, I mean they did run Auntie Loni's Cafe all on their own at a very young age!

Their are so many stories that kids need to have and their is absolutely no way that they can be packed into a crazy weekend!  Our family seems to have an infinite amount of aunties and twice as many stories.

For starters it would take more than a long weekend just to explain how all our Aunties are technically or spiritually related.  (We have a lot of adopted Aunties)

Thing 2

Don't be fooled by this adorable face! This little girl is trouble! As I attempted to get my house cleaned up and get my family ready for our trip to Arkansas, Avery wanted to play with every toy we owned!

My Addie on the other hand was perfectly content playing with a handful of toys and staying out of my way as I prepped the house to have the carpets cleaned. But Nooooooo, Avery needed to be in the middle of everything and have my undivided attention! After she helped unfold my laundry, reposition all the toys and then spread crumbs all over my clean kitchen floor I have up! Sad but true the 1 year old wins again!