Happy Birthday!

We celebrated Josh's 28th birthday on Thursday with a picnic lunch and a concert at the park!

Owen sharing his fat-free Pringles

with Daddy...how sweet!

Owen was such a daddy's boy...it's like he really knew it was Josh's Birthday. He kept climbing all over him and giving him hugs & kisses!
I love this picture....




After Owen finished eating, he decided it was time to hit the playground. He would run to the playground and then turn around and look at us like "come on"...and then he would run back over to us. This went on for a good 5 minutes....Owen thought it was hilarious!




climbing....

climbing...

and more climbing...

That night we headed back to Gully Park for the Big Uns concert. This was the first concert of the Gully Park Summer Concert Series and it was packed! We went to most of the summer concerts last year, but Owen was just a little guy and slept most of the time. But this year, he's old enough to really enjoy it! He didn't stop the whole time we were there....he ate dinner, danced, played with Honey, danced some more, climbing in/out of the chairs, played ball with some kids, and did some more dancing! We all had a great time!

I usually cook (which doesn't happen very often) or we go out to eat for Josh's birthday, but because of the concert I had to postpone the "birthday dinner". So...we celebrated Josh's birthday for 2 days and had his "birthday dinner" on Friday night. The menu: Steak, twice baked potatoes, bacon wrapped green beans, sauteed mushrooms, and chocolate pie. (Owen had grilled chicken and a low fat version on twice baked potatoes) It was delicious and we all ate way too much!

I forgot to take a picture of the pie so I borrowed this picture from Taste of Home....and to be honest, this one looks better, but mine was just as yummy!

Miracle League is coming to NWA!

We have recently been granted the wonderful opportunity to help out with something that is near to our hearts. Miracle league is a baseball program for special needs kids and we get to be a part of it. A field is currently under construction in Springdale and the season starts in September! This story aired on Channel 9 last night, it is a wonderful story and shows what Miracle League is all about!





There is a fundraising event in conjunction with the NWA Naturals coming up on Wednesday, June 2nd. "Pack the Park for Miracle League" is a special night at Arvest Stadium, where you can present this coupon and receive a ticket for only $6 and $3 goes to Miracle League. It is a great chance to get out and enjoy some baseball at a discounted ticket price and help the Miracle League at the same time!


You can also visit www.miracleleaguear.com to find out more...

More News

TEAM Talent on FOX Family Edge...



You can also watch the story on the NWA homepage.

More on TEAM Talent...

This is a clip from the KNWA broadcast Monday night after the TEAM Talent Art Gallery

Happy Birthday Mackenzie!

Our good friends, David and Erin Hogue welcomed their first baby girl Monday night. Mackenzie weighed in at 8 lbs and is 20 inches long. She is so precious!

TEAM Talent Art Gallery

Children's Therapy TEAM presented the 1st Annual TEAM Talent Art Gallery tonight at the Fayetteville Town Center

TEAM Talent is a program at Children's Therapy TEAM that is offered to special needs children here in Northwest Arkansas. The program started in the Summer of 2009 as a way for the kiddo's to explore all their talents. The curriculum is divided into an acting program in the Fall and an art program in the Spring. At the end of the Fall semester, the kids put on a Christmas program and the Spring semester concluded with an Art Gallery!

This Spring, the kids met every Monday night to explore their artistic abilities. Each child was presented with supplies and given a general theme....then they put their creative minds to work and created some amazing masterpieces. And tonight we not only had the opportunity to view their artwork, but we also got to ask each artists about their masterpieces....I absolutely loved hearing all their unique stories about each piece of work!

Sam presenting the 7 Day Forecast...

Josh and Sam

A display of artwork from many different artist
Mary's masterpieces...

Katie, South, and Lexie enjoying some of the delicious goodies...

Ethan showing off his balloon hat...

Annie, Josh, and Owen

In addition to all the artwork, there was face painting and balloon animals...so much fun!!!!

Owen and I with Kole...

You can catch a glimpse of the TEAM Talent Art Show at 10pm tonight on KNWA (channel 9) and around 9 pm Wednesday on Fox

Saturday....

Owen and I started our Saturday morning with the neighborhood garage sales. Our neighborhood has a joint garage sale with the connecting neighborhood every year...it's always the second weekend in May. I thought we might find some fun toys for Owen's daycare, but apparently you have to get up early for the good deals. Since we're not really early risers, Owen and I ended up doing some garage sale browsing instead of garage sale shopping.

After our morning adventures, we headed to the Arvest Ballpart for the March of Dimes march for babies. Their mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. All of the money raised helps to support research and programs that help babies begin healthy lives. We have a Children's Therapy TEAM that walks in the march for
babies every year.

Owen and Mary Claire waiting for the walk to begin...

Our kids in front of the Children's Therapy TEAM booth...

After the March of Dimes walk, we went to the Bentonville clinic to work on the mats in the gym. Owen and Josh had a blast playing on all the equipment. I'm not sure who had more fun, Josh or Owen. They played in the ball pit, jumped on the trampoline, climbed on the jungle gym, and went down the slide...then I had to pull Josh away to help me with the mats.

"This is fun"

The finished product...

Owen played so hard that he crashed on the way home...

For dinner we tried a new dish....low fat king chicken. It passed the test for all three of us so...it's a keeper!

For those other VLCAD parents out there...here's the recipe

3 large chicken breast, cooked and cubed

2 cans low-fat cream of mushroom soup

1 can low-fat cream of chicken soup

1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chiles

1 green peper, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1- 6.5 oz package of corn tortillas

2 cups shredded fat free Cheddar cheese

Saute green pepper and onion in nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking oil spray

Mix sauteed green pepper and onions with both soups, rotel, and cubed chicken

In a 13x9 casserole dish, layer mixture alternately with tortillas and cheese

(make sure cheese is not on top - it melts better)

Bake at 300 for 40-45 minutes

On Your M.A.R.K. Academy

Josh played in a charitable golf tournament for On Your M.A.R.K. Academy last Saturday. This was the first golf tournament for OYMA....but I'm sure it will become an annual event. There was such a great turn out and everyone had a blast!

On Your Mark Acadamy is a school for children with special needs here in Northwest Arkansas. They have low teacher to child ratios and provide a unique and individualized learning environment for each child. This school is connected to Children's Therapy TEAM where I work...so I have had the wonderful opportunity to watch each of these children grow and develop. You can learn more about On Your Mark Academy here.

Caroline and Danielle, two therapist from Children's Therapy TEAM

Marsha and Stefan...Marsha is an occupational therapist at Children's Therapy TEAM and mother to Stefan. Stefan is a student at OYMA.
All the golfers getting ready....

John Micheal, Josh, Bill, and Travis were a team....

Lance also joined their team for the first 9 holes...

Josh's team didn't win, but they all had

a great time trying...

Anniversary

Josh and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Tuesday! The morning was hectic as usual, and we went about our usual routine... but I had a break around lunch time so Josh met me for lunch at U.S. Pizza. Usually our lunches don't match up so we rarely have lunch dates. When I got to U.S. Pizza Josh was already sitting at a table with a dozen roses!

Lunch was great! We shared our favorite pizza, which just happens to share a name with our son, Owen's sundried tomato basil pizza!

We also went out for dinner that night... we were both craving Mexican food so we decided to try El Sol. Dinner was great, it was nice to have a peaceful meal and just get to visit with each other. After dinner we decided to try out a new place on Dickson called Orange Mango...

We didn't have any clue what to expect, all we knew was that it was frozen yogurt! We were like kids in a candy store when we walked in and realized that all of the yogurt was either fat free or low fat! To most people this probably isn't that exciting, but the place is perfect for Owen. We have been trying to find a place where we can take him for special treats and now we have found it!

Here's how it works...

Choose your yogurt from this wall... All the green are fat free and the orange are low fat!

After you get your yogurt you load up on toppings... there is a lot of fresh fruit to choose from, Owen will love it!!!

After you are satisfied with your concoction, you weigh it and pay by the ounce... Since Owen wasn't with us, we decided to pile on the candy toppings, next time it will be fat free yogurt and fresh fruit!