On The Bluff

On the Monday after Easter everyone got to stay around an extra day so we took advantage of it. We went to eat and after dinner we spent some time on the Bluff. It was enjoyable and something a little different for us. Avery had a great time running around. I had a great time taking pictures. Poppa had a great time with Avery. Everyone had a good time enjoying the beautiful weather, scenery, and company. Hope we get to do something like that again soon.

A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like A Medicine

Sometimes our Son In Law just makes us laugh.

What a Wonderful Easter Weekend

We were blessed to have Casey, Charlie, & Josh home for Easter Weekend. One of the fun things we did while they were here was dye some eggs. Avery really enjoyed it.

I found that taking pictures while dyeing eggs makes for colorful pictures.

Josh asked me today "Why do you take so many pictures?" I answered. "Its just a hobby. You know how you like to sit and watch sports on TV? Same sort of thing. Just something I enjoy".

Yes I enjoy it. Thankfully I have this blog to post some of my favorites on.

So here are a few more.

Avery also enjoyed hiding and hunting the eggs once they dried. She even enjoyed hunting the eggs that she hid herself.

Casey is such a good mommy to Avery. She plays and plays with her. They played Hide and Seek, Casey hid eggs while Avery searched for them, Avery hid eggs while Casey searched for them. They played Mommy and "Lil Girl" (guess who was the Lil Girl-Yep - Casey was). She is such a great mommy. I love watching them play together.

Arent they beautiful together?!

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday. We know we are blessed. It started off with a wonderful church service. Then a wonderful meal. Then a wonderful day with family and friends.

Good Times

Wonderful Wonderful Wonderful

One Sweet Family

This weekend I got to spend about an hour with one of the sweetest families I have ever known. Our wonderful Pastor and his beautiful wife along with their three boys. I found out how much more difficult it is to photograph children. When two are smiling, the other is running away. When two are happy, one is ready to be done...

But I think in it all we got a few good shots.

This little family is expecting. They are expecting a little girl from Peru. Their adoption process is well on its way and that precious little girl should be here sometime soon. Cant wait to make some more pictures for them with their new addition. In this picture Calley is holding a map of Peru as they wait for her.

The morning went really well. I could have done a ton more. The boys would not have been too thrilled with that though, so that was that.

80th Birthday Party

Last weekend we had a wonderful celebration. Todds Dad is turning 80! A bunch of us gathered together to celebrate. This, of course, was right up Todd's alley because he loves this kind of thing.

The food was wonderful.

Everyone had a good time, especially the kids.

The conversation was interesting and funny at times. This is Mickey -Todd's brother explaining politics or religion.

This is Sandra, Todd's sister with her grand daughter Courtney.This is her again with her three kids Kaitlyn, Ryan, and Donny.

We saw so many people we hadnt seen in a very long time and lots that I had never met. It was nice.

Bill seemed pleased and like he enjoyed the whole thing. I guess its always nice having people you love say nice things about you.
An extra birthday gift from Josh - Putting on the Ole Miss Hat!!!!!

This is Bill and his sister Aunt Cathy.

This is Bill and Linda with all their children. The first guy is Dale. We dont get to see him very often and it was great to see him for Bills birthday.

This is Bill and Linda with all their grandchildren and great grandchildren that were there. Oh and by the way, we REALLY MISSED STEPHANIE AND ZACH, Mics kids. :(
Here is the whole group of us minus a few who left a little early.
Also a big THANK YOU to Bill and Lindafor raising such a wonderful son! I am blessed to be his wife.


OK here is one more HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY BILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gentleness

Todd and I have been teaching a series to the childrens group at our church on The Fruits of the Spirit. It has gone really well and we have enjoyed it. I think the kids have too. Last week was the week we learned about gentleness.

Every week we like to have an "activity" pertaining to the particular "Fruit of the Spirit" we have discussed. For example for "Love" we created a gift bag that they decorated and gave it to someone they love, or someone they thought needed a little extra love. For "Kindness" we put together a treat bag for the teachers at my school and the next day I delivered a little kindness to them. So for "Gentleness" I decided to go by the local farm supply and pick up a few baby chicks. I thought they would have some since Easter was pretty close. I was right. They did. So Todd and I went by and picked up three of them. Now of course I have no where to house chickens. But I did not go to buy them until I knew they would have a good home after my use of them. I checked with Brother Paul who has his own mini farm at his house where they have Chickens, Turkeys, Peacocks, and Guineas. He gladly agreed to adopt my chicks when we were through with them. So we taught our lesson on gentleness and then after our lesson all of the children each got a chance to hold a baby chick. Actually they all took a couple of turns at it and seemed very excited and pleased. And for the most part were very gentle. :)

Now Avery Grace is not here during the week and was not at church on Wednesday night. I really wanted her to be able to be gentle with the chick and enjoy it too. So we sent two of the little chicks to live with Brother Paul after church on Wednesday night, but the last little one stayed with us through the weekend so that Avery could have a little fun with it. I was glad we decided to do that because she really enjoyed chasing the little chick which we never came up with a name for. She loved holding him and feeding him.She wasnt too thrilled when I told her it would go to live at Brother Pauls with its other chick friends. She said "No -my chick". But it was time for the little chick to go live over there. Those things grow crazy fast. I think this thing doubled in size in the almost week we had it.

We enjoyed having the chick for a few days. It slept in the kitchen. hehehe I had a basket it stayed in unless we took it outside for a bit. I thought it might drive me crazy chirping all night. But around 8 pm it decided it was bed time and quietly slept all night each night. I am glad we did this. It was good all the way around.

Galatians 5:22 & 23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law.

Memories Old and New

I remember playing dress up in my moms dresses when I was little. For some reason I remember this black sorta chiffon dress. It would be so cool to still have it. Oh well, I know thats crazy talk. Last weekend when I was able to get those lovely shots by the azalea, I was also able to get some of a different sort.
I was looking for something in the closet when I noticed that box. The one that has been in a closet somewhere since 1983. Um yea thats almost 28 years! Thus the yellowing. But Avery didnt seem to mind.
I remember when she was little and I thought some day Casey might wear my gown in her wedding. Again, Crazy talk. Of course she didnt wear it. It was way outdated. By the way if you watch the Duggars and saw the Renewal of Vows Episode they showed pictures of their wedding. Yes my dress looks very similar to hers. I guess I was the modest sort. Ha! Well I will tell you this. I tried on several gowns and when I put this one on, I KNEW it was the dress. I did have that experience lots of people hope for when trying on wedding gowns. I remember thinking how beautiful it was. :)

Anyway, when I saw the box in the top of the closet I KNEW Avery would want to play dress up in it. So I pulled the box down and asked her if she wanted to dress like a real princess in Nonnas Wedding Dress. I was right, she did. I mean WHY NOT? It was just sitting there. ALL THOSE YEARS. So thats what we did.
She seemed very happy to be putting it on. Her daddy thought it was somehow "creepy". I didnt think so though.

We of course went outside for pictures. It was fun watching her prance around. Although it was hard for her to move much in the dress. She kept telling Casey "You be the King mama, I be the princess" And would take Caseys hand and dance. So sweet!

Being a "real" princess is a little tiring though. Thank goodness for the Queen "Mum"
At some point we shook it out and folded it back up.
Back into the box it went.
Until next time.
Thank God for these great memories.
I love our little princess.