Mower Sleeper... strikes again

I know I'd shown this before... but at 2 Nate slept in Brian's arms on the mower. And it's soo sweet to see him now at 3... still falling asleep in his Daddy's arms doing his most favorite thing in the WORLD... ride the mower with Daddy.

If he could just stay awake to enjoy the ride.

Gotta love the mower... Brian serviced it himself... we're totally keeping this until it doesn't move;) It may not be pretty... but it works (for now)!!

It's just something about the loud noise, the gas engine smell and Daddy's arms that makes it a cozy spot for a nap;) Daddy likes the time, too;)

Looks like we're not the only ones who are exhausted!

More Wordless Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

Field Trip to the Bird Zoo with Grammie

A few weeks ago we took a great field trip to a fun place with an amazing person :)

so great to see her cracking up:)

If you guessed GRAMMIE... you were right;)

We were very excited that Grammie came to visit and was able to go to a local bird attraction with us. Actually, I don't know how I would have been able to last the day (and be able to attend the home school class) without Grammie:)

One of the coolest things about my mom is that she knows soo much about nature... trees, bird, flowers, lizards. You ask... she knows! And if she doesn't know, she'll look it up and have an answer quickly.

So you can imagine the benefit of having her along with us as we saw all these guys;)

These birds were just gorgeous:) And even though the weather has been a little crazy this spring, we had beautiful weather... we couldn't have had a better day!!

Lots of fun memories:)

When we finally got back home after our field tripping day, we got to work in the yard...

doing the main reason Grammie got to come to see us:) Planting all her "extra" hosta!!

Love this picture with the kids all "helping" her plant! She definitely had plenty of little hands to get all the hosta (and other transplanted treasures) into the ground;)

We all had a good time and love the new plants in the garden!! And we're very grateful for Grammie's help in the garden and time with us a the bird zoo;)

Weekend Favs

Too high??

Wesley chasing bubbles:)

A shared yawn:) LOL:)

And the best of all:)

Pey throwing a football to the boys and...

waving to neighbors driving by:)

You all it was an AWESOME visit home! Good to see out family and even all be home at the same time for a few minutes. But to see my Dad getting to spend a few moments outside... getting to enjoy the day after being bed-ridden for over 3 weeks!!

Isn't that like the LOrd to give us sweet memories and glimpses of hope? Just so thankful for our trip!!
And continue to keep Pey and my mom Grammie in your prayers.

More Wordless Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

"Me Took", says the New Biscuit Maker

and he knew exactly what to do;)

More Wordless Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

Just a Little... Snow

While we did get a tiny snow in late January, we finally got a snow event last weekend.... at least for our area;)

Growing up in MD, we saw plenty of snow and even a few blizzards:) One of my favorite blizzard stories was getting stuck at school because of snow.... yep, we sure did play in the gym, watch afternoon cartoons in the library and eat pizza for dinner! We didn't spend the night though, a bus equipped for snow brought us home at about bedtime;) My mom's version of the story is totally different, her viewpoint being the parent trying to get her kids (my brother and I) home:/

So the quarter of an inch snow we had last weekend... wasn't much:( 

But for my Southern kids... it was SNOW:)

Chris excitedly watching all the snow falling... it was a pretty sight!

Anna in the "bucket" swing

the girls trying to have a snowball fight

my neighbor's apple trees... boughs still snowy

More Wordless Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

We Could Live on a Farm

I wanted to share a few more pictures from a quick visit we made to a local family farm because some were soo cute. And how we felt after we left that afternoon!!

You can easily see that the kids had a blast...

everything from snuggling with new puppies,

chasing chickens (or watching the puppies do it),

brushing a horse,

feeding the horses (and trying to feed the goat),

finding the peacock!

We loved it all!!

I grew up in a community surrounded by houses, but I remember passing some farms with horses grazing in the field. I took horse riding lessons with my Girl Scout Troop and even with a nasty horse-dander allergy, have ridden a couple of times since then. I've always wanted to have a decent sized garden where we could eat from it during harvest and make our own spaghetti sauce and salsa! I got to help feed a baby goat as a child and have wanted a goat since... possibly now for goat's milk and to kill snakes;)

But I know NOTHING about farm animals.. there would be a huge learning curve and definitely some really funny stories;)

I was also inspired by the teenage child of the family we were visiting. She cared for all the animals feeding them and giving them attention. She easily walked the horse to the barn for the kids to brush him and then got him ready so the kids could ride him. All the responsibility she displayed, the confidence and knowledge. Would love to have my kids have a similar experience!

And then there's the "farm feel"... that you MUST spend time outside with the animals... feeding and caring for them. Outside... the beautiful sunset, the "simple" life.

We left talking about living on a farm, owning horses of our own.... 

we could live on a farm:)

More Wordless Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

Horse Lover

A local family was visiting a family farm and asked us to join them... fun and simple field trips are always nice, especially with friends:)

My kids love animals... they were all over the farm! Literally in chicken coups, dog pens and sitting on fences to pet the horses:) Thankfully the owners have their kids helping with the farm so the animals are very used to kids!!

I have lots of pictures... but I loved this series!

A beautiful moment between the gorgeous horse and my normally busy little boy:)


A wonderful afternoon :) Beautiful (and full of personality) animals:)
And super sweet friends for including us in their adventures;)

More Wordless Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

Fish Friends

We had the opportunity to fish "sit" for some friends:) Basil definitely enjoyed the visit from Walter:)

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another:

 "What! You too?

 I thought I was the only one.”  

 -C.S. Lewis

More Wordless Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

Toothless

He just keeps loosing them:)

More Wordless Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

Only at Grandma's

More Wordless Wednesday at  5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

Simple & Beautiful Cake

In preparing for Grandaddy's Birthday, Lydia helped bake his birthday cake;)

Since we have food allergies, we followed the very easy recipe of cake mix and a cake of soda. Mix it up very well and stick the cake(s) in the oven!! Lydia did the mixing alone.

She sprayed the pans, I divided the batter and put them in the oven.

The simplicity of the baking (and the super sweet and cute helper).
And then the simplicity of the decorating, I thought would be fun to share our final product!

I definitely am not a decorator at heart... but every once in a while a crazy idea WORKS for me :) Like using a single bow on the top!!

Oh and in case you're wondering....

it was red velvet, Granddaddy's favorite!


Linking up to Works for Me Wednesday!

More Wordless Wednesday at  NapTime MomTog, 5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go.

Afternoon Siesta

Jack napping.

Collar napping.

Too funny to see them napping "together" as we ate our lunch.

More Wordless Wednesday at  NapTime MomTog, 5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go

Our Little Soccer Players

Our nights are full of soccer lately! Iy's a little rushed getting out the door each night but the kids are LOVING soccer;)

It's been great seeing them run across the field in pursuit of the ball and aggressively get involved in the game. We still have plenty of learning to go... but it's been fun!

My active little Chris watching the ball and getting to it;)

And my surprising little Anna;) She seems soo bashful sometimes, but in the soccer field she is beginning to really come out;)

In fact, last night she was blocking a goal kick (i think that's what it's called) and she got the ball in her eye. HARD!! She immediately wanted to be off the field and took a little while to recover.

We were soo proud of her for jumping back into the game and dribbling the ball alone down field almost in range to score a goal:) It was very exciting!!

And THIS Momma needs to learn to be a little quieter!! I'm definitely the LOUD, soccer mom... Just trying to help my little soccer players... LOL!!