Time With Grandma Joan

We had a nice relaxing time with Grandma Joan. Willie and I loved seeing his family and spending some quality time with them. We loved playing games, playing on the lawn, throwing extra large frisbee and shooting rockets at each other. Parker and Lincoln loved playing with all the cool toys as well as Lizzie, croquet and watching new movies like Brother Bear.

I love the action shots on the next two photos. Parker is getting pretty brave.

We were introduced to a fabulous fruit dip recipe from Kim. She is great at getting us addicted to new recipes. Terrah made a fabulous beef pot pie for us one night. Yum! Here's the gang enjoying the great dinner.

Uncle Jared diggin' in.
The boys loved the picnic they had. Too bad they don't like the pot pie too much.
Tori was enjoying dinner. What a great kiddo.
There is one thing that is different about Georgia and Utah. It's the water temperature. The water started out at about 57 degrees. The kids were just looking at it at first. After about six big pots of boiling water we were able to raise the temperature up to about 78. That was nice for everyone and the kids really enjoyed pool time after that.
Our little dude trying on daddy's glasses.
Henry had his own private pool. What a set up. This kid had a great time in the water.

He was kind enough to be a gentleman and let Tori in to play too. Or maybe Tori was being kind to Henry. Either way they had fun splashing around. We love when we get to spend time with cousin Tori. You're a keeper Tori.

Before leaving Grandma Joans she let the kids pick out a new/old kids book from her bookshelf. Wow what a Grandma! All the kids loved picking out their new books. Thanks Grandma for the cool new books.
I love when Anna graces us with her beautiful talents. We enjoyed the private concert. Anna, your skills are amazing!

Henry meets Grandpa Thede.

Henry met one of the men that he is named after. Henry's middle name is T. We picked the letter T to give tribute to his two great grandfathers; Thede and Ted. Ted past away before Henry could meet him. We were blessed to have the opportunity to meet Thede while we were in Utah. Henry loved it. He also loved meeting Grandma Jean.

We also took some time to have a great sloppy joe dinner and play on the playground. Henry spent some time with Aunt Kim. Willie was able to reminisce with Terrah and his other siblings. Parker was best buds with Uncle Jake. Aunt Anna and Lincoln were chumming up too.

Thanks for a great reunion at Willow Park. Good times and good food. We loved visiting.

Firefly Frenzy

It's firefly season in the South. One night I decided to keep the boys up a little later than normal so that they could experience the fun activity of catching firefly's. The boys were so excited to use their butterfly catcher and their 'Harrison bug box.' I laid Henry down for bed locked the door and went out. Willie came home just as we were finishing up and getting ready for bed. He wished he could have been a part of it.

We decided that we should let the boys have another firefly night before we went to Utah for vacation. We weren't sure of when the firefly's would be gone. Willie took the boys this time. They had so much fun. I think it's a memory they will keep. Parker gets so excited to look for the yellow light that comes on. Lincoln gets excited to run but quickly backs off when the bug gets too near.

The first time we caught around eight lightning bugs. The second time it was around 10 or 12.
We enjoy this little adventure. The boys love going out late to run around.

We came back from out trip to Utah and since we were used to staying up a little later we thought we would let the boys catch the firefly's again. Parker was more brave and would put them in his hand to put them into the bug box. Lincoln still stands back but pretends to catch them.

Crawling.

Henry started crawling. He likes to do the army crawl. The other boys never did that maneuver so it's kind of fun to watch him move around. I was talking to my grandma and she mentioned that army crawling babies read better. We'll see over the years who will be the best reader.

How to Beat the Heat.

I was very reluctant to take the boys swimming all by myself. Parker doesn't know how to swim and we weren't able to get him signed up for the first couple of sessions. Once the weather turned to the 90's with the little bit of humidity I couldn't resist when a friend asked if we were up for the pool. I said yes.

Henry had his first visit to the pool this season. He loved it, especially when he could see Lincoln.

All the kids having fun in the pool.
We ended up going swimming four out of five days. We did a different pool every day. That's one nice thing about Georgia, there are a lot of pools.
Salt water pools are really cool. I loved it.

Animal Meeting.

A local library invited a few farm friends to visit the kids in the area. The boys had a lot of fun seeing two sheep, a goat, a pig, a rabbit, a miniature horse, a cow, an alpaca, a rooster and a miniature donkey. The boys were able to get up close and personal with each animal. The animals were extremely tame especially around so many kids.

When the day was done I asked the boys what their favorite part was. Lincoln replied that he liked the pig and Parker liked the rabbit. My favorite part was watching Parker hold the rooster. Pretty fun. We also happened to run into some friends while we were out.

Parker's Joy School buddies.

The Rooster.