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We are on a little trip through Arkansas for Spring Break.

I will write more on it later, but wanted to post a few pics because this state is too beautiful not to share.

These photos were all taken on a hike in the vicinity of the Buffalo River. My camera is not working very well and all of my photos have a strange blue cast, so I have edited them in various colors just for the fun of it. Otherwise, Arkansas would look like it is covered in a blue sadness that never goes away and trust me – it is not. It is a gorgeous state that happens to be bursting with spring color at this moment.

The forsythia is obscene.

And I haven’t yet taken a single photo of it because every time I pass a giant, glowing, bright yellow, Arkansas forsythia, I think – oh… well… there will be another one soon.

If I get home without a shot of this Arkansas forsythia, I am never going to forgive myself.

In the meantime – enjoy a bit of the cliffs overlooking the Buffalo!

Ethan had to dress up for a recent school dance.

So we had to purchase a tie and a dress shirt for him.

For some reason I can’t really understand, I went into complete hyper-drive spaz mode over purchasing this tie.  We drove to Manhattan (Kansas) on a Saturday morning to get the ensemble and after much debate, chose the white tie and the turquoise shirt.  But then later as we were checking out, we ran into Nurse Kay.  I explained to her what we were purchasing and as she looked over the shirt and the tie that was laying on the counter she said, “I like the shirt.”

She said nothing about the tie.

Nothing.

Not one word…

Making me feel like maybe the tie wasn’t very good.

Like maybe the tie was completely WRONG.

Like maybe I was buying the UGLIEST TIE EVER!

But I didn’t have time to pick out a different tie because Ethan was due at his basketball game in less than an hour and he still had to get home and change!

But I was still worried about that tie.

So when I got home  I laid out his dress clothes on his bed with the pants, the shirt, the belt, socks, shoes, and the tie and  I looked it all over.  I called Calder to come upstairs and look it over with me.  Calder said, “I think you should have picked a plain white tie.”

This did not make me feel any better.

I started to fret out loud, but then Calder said, “Mom!  Calm down!  It’s just a tie!”

But I couldn’t calm down!

It was my mission to get Ethan a tie!

And I had FAILED!!!

So I schlepped back to Manhattan and after obsessing for what seemed like a decade over the tie selection in J.C. Penneys I finally bought a different tie….

A black tie.

The entire family voted on which tie looked better.

The white tie won.

By a landslide.

But I decided to keep the black tie anyway.

In a house of four boys, I am sure it will come in handy at some point.

And then Ethan got a tie tying lesson from his dad as he watched the KU game.

It took several tries to get it right.

The CD used the black tie to demonstrate.

Ethan and his date.

Calder and his.

Thank goodness we only have one semi-formal a year!

I can’t handle the stress!

I can only imagine how hard I would freak out if I had a daughter!

My eldest is seventeen now.

He’s really tall and has great cheek bones.

I don’t know if you are supposed to note your son’s cheek bones, but I can’t help it.

He’s taller than his dad…

and of course his mom.

But I still outweigh him!

He’s a great kid.

I’ve got him for another year and a half.

And then he will fly.

There are so many things he needs to know before he goes!

I better start making a list!