Our Summer

The summers in Lexington are hot and humid and for some reason we love it. It does limit the activities we can do during the day...swimming.
We signed Mac up for swim lessons. He was super nervous the first day so he talked to the instructor before the lesson. "Excuse me teacher, excuse me, don't put my head under the water!" After the teacher promised he wouldn't Mac was ready for the lesson.

He held on tight.

After every one of his turns he looked back at me and gave me the thumbs up. I wish I got a picture of that, I was too busy cheering for him.

Summer nights...

This is Drew's first year playing softball with his firm. The miracle drugs are working and Drew is moving better than ever! Last night they had an early game so we went to cheer for Dinsmore!

Gray flirted with all the ladies.

Wondering what the band aid's for? Friday night he tripped while in the movie store and hit one of the shelves just right. He came out with an one inch cut right below his eyebrow. And after the game, G tripped walking to the car and cut open his lip. Good thing he heals nicely and he's so stinkin cute!
G cheered loud the whole game "Go Dadda, Go Dadda!" While Mac informed everyone about cats and dogs! Love my boys.

We ended up losing by 2 but they all played great!

Some nights we are lucky enough to be invited over to our friends houses for dinner. The Powells were nice to have all of us over for a Memorial day BBQ. We truly have been blessed to have such great friends.

thanks Nancy for the pics!

Chickens

Have you ever had a dream/want, that didn't always make sense? For me it was chickens. Forever I wanted chickens in my backyard. I thought it would be perfect to wake up to freshly laid eggs. Now, I didn't grow up with farm animals. In fact I don't like animals. I will never own a dog or cat. I'm sensitive to smells and there's nothing worse then stepping in dog poo. So for me, wanting chickens really didn't make sense. Right? But it was a dream of mine and when I started looking into it, I thought," Why not, lets do it." So now we are the proud owners of three hens!

After much research Drew designed and built the coop.

Saturday we got the Hens from a local farm. They are 2 years old and have a lot of personality. We quickly learned that they hate cats. They freaked out when they saw one. Squawking, flying, feathers everywhere. Not good.

Frances (Rhode Island Red), Rosie (Araucana) and Sophia (Silver Laced Wyandotte). I still feel weird calling them by name. I promise I'm not a crazy hen lady.

Mac loves the chickens, Frances is his favorite .

Sophia laying her egg.

Since Saturday afternoon they've laid 5 eggs. Not too bad.

This has been quite the weekend. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet. One day Drew will love the chickens and I'll want them gone and the next it's the opposite. It's been a fun learning experience for us all!

Did I mentioned I love my husband for supporting me in everything I do and come up with? No matter how crazy or stinky it is!

My Boys

I was just looking through all my pictures and found some gems. I haven't really been in the mood to just do a journal post, so here it goes. If you don't love my kids you better stop reading now:)
Since the weather has turned super nice we spend most of the day outside. I overheard Drew telling a friend "Ya, I know, I guess we just don't get weeds in our yard" Are you serious? The boys play and I weed. We are happier outside, doing what we like to do best, digging.
Boys in the backyard playing with Mason and Coolidge Grigg. Mac had success finding worms while the others caught flies.

Mac...

Still loves dinosaurs but is getting more interested in other things like volcanoes and the series Life. He asks for the "scary stuff" which means animals fighting. Should I be worried? He's becoming a helper. Instead of bugging G (there's still a fair share of this) he tries to make G happy. He dances, sings, and comes up with activities G would like. He's growing up too fast. His new favorite questions to ask people are "What's your favorite color?" His is orange and "How old are you?" and follows up with "Oh, I'm 3 and my dad is 27!" For some reason he can't remember my age. He loves primary which is a nice recent change. Has memorized the first article of faith and I hear him singing "He sent His Son" as he's playing. His favorite song in the car is "Bullet Proof" by La Roux. He dances with his eyes closed and his fingers in the shape of what he calls the peacock. When he's not doing any of this he's wrestling and wanting to play catch. Yesterday Mac jumped on me and put his hands around my neck, I told him to stop he was hurting mommy and he said "Mom, I just choking you." like, what's the big deal I see all the time on Kung Fu Panda. Crazy kid!!

Gray...

Is becoming less clumsy which is a blessing to us all. He's talking a ton. My favorite lines are..."Get it!...Now!", "Mac!", "I'll get it!" ,"Watch it, again" , "Mom, look, Dad" (every time Drew gets home) He always says thanks and when he sees a bug he says "mom, (blows a raspberry)" every time. Gray loves cheese which doesn't help with his constipation problem. He's a hoarder of all things, food, and toys. Always hiding things and lining them up, letting no one get to his things. This kid loves family night. The minute we mention FHE, G runs to his spot on the couch in the front room and yells for us until we sit down next to him. He loves singing "Do as I'm Doing" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." G's favorite song in the car is "Break your Heart" by Taio Cruz. The minute we get in the car he says "Break your heart" over and over again until I put it on. G is a happy fun loving kid that has a hard time focusing and never really slows down. He laughs constantly and can be talked into doing anything his brother wants him to do. Yesterday it was throwing rocks at the sliding glass door while Mac sat back and giggled. It's amazing how much love I have for these two boys!

The boys were wearing the same shirt today, so I thought I would take a few pictures. Then I remembered why I don't do this...

After Mac said, " I was cheesing really hard mom" Yes you were Mac!

Mac more excited about the hug than G.

Just what we needed!!!

2 weeks ago I texted my mother in law...

Me: I just bought fabric to make curtains for Mac's room. How soon can you get here? Ha Ha!

Mom:How does tomorrow sound?

Me: Sounds too good to be true!

Mom:Ya it is. Maybe in two or three weeks.

Me: Perfect

Later that day I got a call from mom, she found plane tickets for her and Dad for the following week. YES!!!!!

Most of the week consisted of Lowes. Grandpa Dad built Mac and G a little ship in the back corner of our backyard. It turned out adorable and they love playing on it.

the guys building the ship

The finished product!!!

The telescope

gun

Mac refers to himself as captain Mac

While the guys were outside the ladies (mom) sewed pillows and curtains for mac's room, curtains for the kitchen, the cute little flags on the ship and some how we found time for pedicures:)

It's hard to get a good picture of the curtains because of the lighting. This picture does not do it justice they are so stinkin cute! They complete his room.

Last week me and the boys painted these signs and the crocheted dinosaurs Amy made look so cute up there.

The kitchen curtains.

Saturday we gave our slaves a rest, we went to the farmers market and to see the filly.
We had fabulous week. We obviously got a lot done (it's great marrying into a talented family:)). We ate and ate. We played. Really, the 6 days went by way too fast. This visit was much needed. The boys loved showing grandma Rita and Grandpa dad all their things and having them all to their selves. We love you!!!

Derby Day!

This year we threw a little Derby party, hats were required. 5 families, 10 adults, and 21 kids. It was raining all day so we held all the activities inside. We decorated hats. Put in our guesses for the race. The winners got bags of candy. We ate lots of food and drank virgin mint juleps. It was a great night!
Yes, those are sombreros, that's all the dollar store had. They ended up looking super cute!

My New Life

This morning I had a good cry....



I love Christian and Stephanie's story. Their faith and hope is inspiring.

Everything Else

April was a big month for us. We went to visit my brother in NY and then every weekend after that was filled to the max. Here's all the things that didn't fit into the other April posts...

Let's start with last weekend. I mentioned Serve the City in my last post but didn't really describe it. It's a great organization that Drew got involved with over a year ago. 6 churches and their congregations come together to serve the city twice a year. Drew has been heavily involved with all their planning (meetings every Saturday for 2 hrs and an occasional meeting during the week for the past 3 months) and has loved meeting other pastors and preachers in the area. In fact Brother Mosely from the Mt. Calvary Baptist church prayed for Drew when he found out we Mormons have a lay ministry (don't get paid), "Please bless Drew cause he's the only one not getting paid for this":) It's been a great way to have other churches get to know our faith and realize we're not so bad:)

Saturday was the big service day and we met at Crossroads Christian Church. Despite the rain 600 people showed up and over 160 were from our ward and another 100 from the neighboring wards. We got shirts, were assigned to a service project and then the Mayor and our President of the Lexington LDS stake, Pres. Lindmark, spoke to us.

We were assigned to clean up Kirklevington Park while Drew was in charge of the food drive and cleaning up a cemetery.
A couple of days before, city workers cut down all the dead branches in the park and then we hauled the branches to the road so they could be picked up. It was HARD work but fun to work alongside new and old friends! (thanks Angela B. for the pics)
Moving on...
A couple of weeks ago we went with some friends to Raven Run to hike around. I am proud to say Mac hiked the whole mile loop without being held once. It was a first!

Couldn't keep the kids away from the water!

Last our little Gray...

This kid cracks me up. Gray got our boggle game, took all the dice out, then put them in the boggle grid, then lined them up. Repeat. For an hour, no joke! All the while making this cute concentrated face. Love him!

So there you have it the last of the wonderful month of April!