Week 89: Auntie Jen's wedding

Tate made his first trip to Kansas City, MO. Why? His Auntie Jen (on my dad's side of the family) got married. The wedding was great and doubled as a mini family reunion. There are four kids on my dad's side of the family -- Jennifer (and Patrick) are in Kansas City, Rick (Terah and Brayden) are in Arizona, Adam roams (he's wrapping up a campaign in Idaho and I think he's moving to DC) and of course Chuck, Tate and I are in Jonesboro.
All that being said, Tate got a chance to catch up with uncle Adam. Adam, who is not married and has no children, let Tate play with his I-phone. Sucker!!!! I must say the phone still worked after Tate was through playing with it.
The day of the wedding Tate put on his Sunday best and headed for the church. I must say he looked very handsome! He was very busy playing and what not, but took a minute to have his picture made with mom. After the wedding we headed to the reception. There he caught up with cousin Brayden. Those two together are a couple of lady-killers!
It was a great weekend. It was so good to see the family, even if it was such a quick trip. I can't wait for us to all get together again!

Week 88: The Lodge at Lake Degray and Grandpa Harris

We maintain a busy lifestyle. As I like to say "we don't let the grass grow under us." Last weekend was no exception. Chuck had to go to a Thursday-Friday IT meeting for work. The meeting was held at the Lake DeGray State Park Lodge. I spent A LOT of time on that lake growing up. It will always have a special place in my heart. Even though we frequent Bull Shoals Lake now whenever an opportunity presents itself I go back to the lake of my childhood. That being said, Tate and I decided to tag along. We weren't the only ones. The electric cooperatives are very family oriented. So as Thursday's meeting came to a close barbecue grills at a near by pavilion fired up and some of the guys heading up the meeting grilled chicken, steak, sausage and hamburgers for meeting attendees and their families. It was great fun. The kids played together and had a blast!
Of course while Chuck was in meetings, Tate and I had to entertain ourselves somehow. So, of course, I pulled out the camera and took pictures of him exploring the lodge. Some of these pictures are posed (or at least a pose was attempted), others are naturally occurring shots.
After we left the state park we headed to my dad's house in Hot Springs. Again more fun was had. Tate played and played and played and ate and played some more and then he crashed! All-in-all it was a great weekend.
Stay tuned...this weekend we're heading to Kansas City, MO., for my step-sister's wedding, which will double as a mini family reunion.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Week 87: Something new X2

About two weeks ago Tate got something new and so did I. I have pictures of both, well, sort of.
For the longest we've been looking for one of those yellow and red Little Tikes cars. Sometime ago Tate attended a birthday party where he got to play in one of these cars. He loved the car so much that we literally had to pull him out of it. We've been looking for one ever since. We looked at Wal-Mart (in several towns), Target and the Toy Castle. Finally Tate's Nana Hardin found one. Being the wonderful grandmother that she is she snatched it up and promptly delivered. Once Chuck got it put together Tate hopped in. He's awfully proud it. The little guy has even been spotted sitting in it watching TV.
As for me, I got a new lense for my camera. I won't go into the long drawn-out and very sad story. Let's just say I dropped my camera one day and smashed the lense. I thought Adventure's of Tate would have be put on hold until I could replace it. However, a very generous person, who wishes to remain anonymous, came to my rescue. I've included the first picture I snapped with the new lense, my subject, of course, was Tate.
With that being said I'm going to take this opportunity to extended my sincere and heartfelt thank you. You know who you are.

For Halloween this year Tate was Bam Bam. Getting the costume together was a true labor of love. Myself, Chuck, and Chuck's parents all had a hand in Tate's costume. There was even some sewing involved. (Bet y'all didn't know Chuck is handy with a sewing machine. Thanks Baby!!!!)
Anyhow Tate had a blast at the Halloween Party hosted by his teacher, Miss Regina (the best pre-school teacher ever!!!!) Next, Tate stopped by his Chuck's office for a few minutes. Then headed home to rest for a little while before his first true trick-or-treating experience. He and pal Emalyn, dressed as a lady bug, hit the street for some serious trick-or-treating. The pair had a ball, as did all the parents involved.