A tropical visit...

I love spring afternoons where the kids can play in the backyard after school! One of the simple joys of life.

Yesterday, when we went out there, we heard the squawk of the neighborhood macaw parrot, Louie. I glanced across the fence and saw Louie on our neighbor's back fence. Louie is a giant macaw who lives on the next street. We often see him on the fences around his house or high in trees around the street, but I've never seen him in our backyard before!

We called "Louie! Hello!" and Louie hurried down the fence to our yard.


The kids (my three plus Jon, our neighbor) were so excited when they spotted him! He is a very friendly bird and let us get right next to him. He danced with the kids and seemed to really enjoy their company and attention. He said "Hello" and "Cracker". When we asked "Polly want a cracker?", he would perk up and start nodding his head. It was the funniest thing! I could tell from his eyes he knew what we were saying.







Hannah was fascinated and said "Bird!" and just laughed and laughed at him, especially when he was doing his nodding head dance.


Eventually the kids went back to playing, but Louie stayed on the fence right next to wherever they were. They talked to him and he just enjoyed watching them.




After we had to go in to do homework, he stayed on the fence and started squawking at us again! He would stop if one of us came back in the backyard. It's as if he was asking us to come back out and play!

Isn't he a pretty bird? And so friendly! I hope he visits us again!

Cinderella

Poor Cinderella was bored one day, so I let her clean baseboards. She was actually very happy about doing this!

Ready to travel!

Sometime later this year (dates TBD), we are taking Aaron on a mission trip with us to Honduras. The Good Shepherd Children's Home is a home for children in Honduras who don't have family or whose family cannot care for them. We are friends with the associate directors of the home, and we are going to visit them for a week to help around the home. Neither of us has ever been to the children's home, but we know many people who have and we cannot wait to see what God is going to do through our trip! We are also very excited about giving Aaron a global vision.

We have our passports, and we are ready to travel!


Aaron is most excited right now about flying on an airplane. I'm looking forward to teaching him more about what the home is all about and what we can do to help.

Snow day #3

One of our favorite "traditions" on snow days is to go around the corner to the Dye's house to make snow cream. It's so easy--just put out bowls when it starts to snow, and then mix the snow with sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and a splash or two of milk to get the consistency right. Delicious! Going to the Dye's makes it more fun though because they have a great sledding hill and we get to see friends instead of being cooped up by ourselves in the house.

On our 3rd snow day of the year, February 10, 2011, I took pictures. (I didn't even take pictures of the 2nd snow, because it was so wet and yucky, so we didn't get out in it!)

Hannah played in the garage, with the tricycle.


Aaron and his friend Jon get ready for a big ride down!




The driveway was great for sledding, too!


The trampoline was fun!


Grown-ups like to sled, too! Hayden and his kids came down to join us in the fun!


Time for snow cream!




My kids had to go inside for the snow cream. Claire was freezing, and Aaron's pants were completely soaked so he had to change into some of Cooper's pajama pants.


Hannah LOVES snow cream!


Mark had the right idea...this time he didn't even suit up. He just stayed inside with his coffee and computer.


Later that day we had Madelyn and Katelyn over to play, and Jon came down, too. It was good to play with friends even though school was cancelled.


That picture was taken just minutes before the huge meltdown Aaron had from too much stimulation and activity all day! I sent all the kids home and let Aaron have some quiet time to himself.

Snow days are great for memories, but after having 4 or 5 this year, we're really hoping it's all done.

Snow day #1

We had so many snow days this winter (I'm speaking as if they are DONE because they had better be!), that even the kids got tired of playing in it. 

Here are some pics of snow day #1, January 10, 2011!  We woke up to a winter wonderland!  I got Chris to stay home late, not only to make his drive to work a little safer, but also so he could help me play in the snow with the kids.  It's exhausting getting all their clothes and boots on, then helping them adjust mittens and hats and whatnot once we're out there. 

It was deep snow, perfect for snow angels!


The kids got sleds for Christmas, and we got to try them out on our cove.




My little snow angel!


Our house dressed in white!


And this is where the fun ends...Claire gets hit with a snowball, and while Aaron thinks it's hilarious, Claire...not so much.


This is her best pouty face.


Hannah finally woke up and got to come see the "no".

I met THE Pioneer Woman!

One of my favorite blogs to read is The Pioneer Woman.  I love her recipes and photography, and her funny stories about ranch life.  Her youngest son was born the day before Aaron, so I feel like we have a connection, ya know?  Ha!

I got her cookbook for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I LOVE it.  I make a lot of her recipes both from the cookbook and her blog.  She recently wrote a new book chronicling her love story with her husband, a cowboy (she was a city girl so it was an unlikely match).  She is on a book tour right now, and she came to Memphis to do signings!  I was so excited, I wrote it on my calendar as soon as the date was announced. 

Luckily, my sweet friend Amy knows I love PW, and she snagged me tickets for the autograph line a couple of weeks ago, which meant I got to be towards the front of the line at the signing!  THANKS A TON, Amy!

Mom and I went to the signing, and met my friend Regina there. Regina had saved us front-row seats since she got there super-early with her boys. THANKS, Regina! (I have great friends, huh?)

Here's Regina and I right up front!


Ree's husband, whom she calls "Marlboro Man" on her blog, was there and signing books as well. He's a real, live cowboy!


Regina getting books signed...


And we finally got to meet The Pioneer Woman herself! 


Ree was so down-to-earth and super sweet.


I told her about our babies being 1 day apart, and how I vividly remembered June 5, 2004, her son's birthday.  It's the day Reagan died, if you didn't know.  I was at a family reunion, in the early stages of labor. 





Gotta love random guy in the background!


And us with our autographed books!

Aaron's Wild Ride

I took a few minutes this evening to make a video of Aaron's riding on Saturday.  Enjoy!