So what have we been up to since it's been a couple of months since I've posted? Well, I actually did sit down to write one day, but my pictures wouldn't come up, so it's taken me this long to get another chance. Below are a TON of pictures that will hopefully show what our life has been like this spring.
Below, the first 3 pictures are Will's photography. Maggie had gotten into some make-up, so Will decided to do a little photo shoot.
Memphis Zoo trip
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| Will and Bonner Brownlee at the zoo |
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| Maggie and Bella |
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| Meredith and Mia |
The Brownlees moved to Memphis last summer and have gone to our church and homeschooled this year, so our kids have really enjoyed getting to hang out with them.
Over spring break, we went to Tchula for a visit while Samuel and Emily were in town with their kids. We had so much fun with them, and of course Meredith was THRILLED to have cousins her age to play with.
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| Our kids ALWAYS ask to do at least one silly picture. |
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| Forrest was leaning his head like the girls -- just not pulling his hair straight out. |
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| Meredith with Chanin |
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| On the 4-wheeler with Papa |
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| Saying goodbye |
After staying in Tchula for a night, we headed to Jackson to visit the new Children's Museum. It was very fun, but just about as crowded as Disney World over Christmas.
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| This picture was for Ryan -- the Scrabble king. |
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| And of course, they had to have a princess dress-up section. |
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| Will played another boy in checkers. He lost, but I was very proud of him for sitting down with a total stranger who was probably at least 2 years older. |
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Constructing a floor for the "house."
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Another highlight to our spring break was getting to stay with Jan Jan and riding out to Pinchback with her. I have so many memories of going fishing in the lake, hunting in the woods, and eating a big game meal in the house below. Jan Jan and Henry Forrest lived here for a while before moving into town.
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| Pinchback Lake -- The remains of the old pier are in the background |
The day we were planning to leave, one of my good friends Laura Beth called me to say she was at her in-laws' house only 30 minutes away. I rode over to visit for a couple of hours and got to meet her sweet little boy Thomas. He was so cute and cuddly! Of course, we ended up staying in Tchula for another night, but meeting this little guy was definitely worth the delay.
Back in the fall, I had asked Daddy if he had a chainsaw and would he be willing to cut down a couple of dead trees in our backyard. He came up about 3 weeks ago after he had gotten a rain and couldn't get in the field. We went to a baseball game with him on Tuesday night, then on Wednesday, he and I got to work on the trees -- while the kids were supposed to be working on school. He tied a rope high up on the first, smallest tree, then told me where to stand and which way to pull. His plan was to cut about halfway through, then come back and help me pull straight. He cut a little too far though, and the tree came crashing down -- a little to the left of where we wanted it, but no harm done.
Then came the second tree. Daddy's words for that one were, "This one worries me." I told him that if he was really worried, then he didn't have to cut it down. His response, "I didn't say I wasn't going to do it, I just said it worries me." So we borrowed our neighbor's ladder to put the rope up as high as possible. There were three scenarios should the plan go awry: 1) It could fall back onto the fence and our neighbor's house which was the direction the wind was blowing 2) It could fall onto our play area 3) It could fall on our house. Our plan was to pull it out into the open space of our yard. Again, Daddy said he would cut about halfway through, then come back and help me pull. I held the rope with all my might (not much) as he started to cut. He got about halfway through when I heard a loud cracking sound and the second tree went crashing down -- right over the play fort and part of our fence. Oops!! Thankfully, the damage was minor -- we nailed the fence boards back up, and replaced the board on the play fort that had snapped. Later, I bought a new tarp cover for the fort, and it's as good as new. So that is the saga of Papa and the dead trees. I will say that I am thankful that he came up to cut those down! Since then, we have had 3 major storm systems move through, and those trees would have probably done more damage. Below is a picture of all that was cut -- he also cut a couple of big limbs from another tree.
Will's baseball for 2011
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| First time as catcher |
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| Maggie's favorite pastime -- this was during Will's first game |
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| First baseman |
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| Strike 1 |
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Strike 2
To Will's credit, the machine was pitching way over on the right side, and he bats left handed. He would have had to stand smack dab up to the plate to reach the ball. |
ECS baseball game
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| This rocky place with the giant waterhole is where our kids stay during most of the home games. For some reason throwing rocks into the murky water is super fun! |
New Playground at Shelby Farms
And finally, my story of the little ducks. I was driving from dropping the kids off at a mother's day out program, when I saw a mother duck with 8 little ducklings walking down the sidewalk. Since I had my camera, I turned around to take a picture, when I saw that she was crossing the road with her little babies. She took them across 4 lanes, but when she reached the curb only 2 of the little ducklings could make it up. After watching for a minute or so, I walked down and gave each of the 6 ducklings a little boost onto the grass. Such a sweet little group.
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| Safe and sound with Mama |
