Madeline

Sunday was a BEAUTIFUL day and I was fortunate enough to have scheduled a shoot. The temperature was just great, the company even better, so we ended up spending at least 2 hours playing and talking and taking pictures. This job is most rewarding when it doesn't feel like a job at all. I almost felt like I should have been paying them! Madeline and her new baby brother, Hudson, had fun with Lucy and Knox, too. Madeline is a knock out of a little girl and will no doubt give her mom and dad plenty to worry about when she is a teenager....

Leah

Leah has been Lucy's BFF since day 1 of mothers day out when they were just a little over a year old. Every morning of preschool, she runs up to me with the biggest smile and makes my day! Leah just turned 3 this month.

Oh, Blogger.

Why can't you and my computer get along? After 4 attempts to upload photos over the past 2 weeks, these finally worked! Dan is graciously ordering Mamma a new laptop this weekend during "Tax Free" extravaganza, so hopefully my Internet woes will be a thing of the past!

The most exciting thing lately has been Lucy's swim test. She was dressed head to toe and with a hooded jacket. She had to perform all the techniques she had been working on for 5 weeks. She did great! It was freaky to see her floating in the pool with her clothes on-an image I hope I NEVER have to witness again. But, I feel confident that now I have at least armed her with skills to save herself if she ever was to find herself in a water predicament. Now, I am going to post quickly before the computer shuts itself down again!

Mule Day 2008

Our Mule Day festivites kicked off with the annual open house breakfast at the Maury County Farm Bureau. Knox and Lucy rubbed elbows with likes of Senator Frist and Alexander. And getting your dose of politics with a side of homeade biscuits and gravy is definately the best way to do it.
Farm Bureau's next Young Farmer of the Year?

We headed to the parade and waved at pretty much every mule and horse that came down the road. Lucy was impressed with the "princesses" seated atop convertibles and really liked the Navy Band. When we saw a gentleman dressed as a mountain man, I said, "Lucy, look, he is like Davy Crockett!" She replied, "No mom, thats Daniel Boone." Obviously her pap has been schooling her on the importance of frontier heroes.
Our friend Peder and his boys, Owen and Grant joined us for their first Mule Day experience.

It was all just a little too much for Knox. Really its a bit much for all of us, but its just something you've got to do!

Easter come and gone.

As I was reading The Night Before Christmas at bedtime tonight (Lucy's pick, not mine), I realized I had yet to get to the pictures from Easter.

Decorating Eggs.

Easter Morning, dressed for church.

Knox getting assistance opening his first Easter basket.

Too bad I had to eat the Cadbury eggs the Easter bunny had left for him. :-)

Where did that 3 weeks go?!

So its been awhile since my last post-March has just been a blurry rush of events, thoroughly overloading my calendar and my memory card. Lets catch up, shall we?

About a million years ago, it snowed. Finally! Lucy saw it begin the night before and could barely sleep from excitement. Dan was home since it was a Saturday, so we all got to play outside together.

Lucy is in swim lessons now...Infant Swim Resource to be exact. Its based on the philosphy that kids need to know how to save themselves from drowning before they need to know how to backstroke. Babies as early as 6 months have gone through this process-its amazing to watch some of the younger ones. We go every day for 10 minute 1 on 1 lessons for 6-8 weeks. We are currently on week 4 and Lucy is swimming under water and rolling over to her back when she needs to take a breath. Her confidence level has skyrocketed, and although I am not quite ready to throw her into the deep end and hope for the best, I am feeling better about her being in and around water.

That's Ms. Kennette, the instructor. She lost her own son to a drowning incident several years ago and has since dedicated her life to teaching kids how to save themselves.

Easter is fast approaching and since this is Lucy's favorite holiday, we have tried our best to make it last. She met one of her idols (THE Easter Bunny) at the preschool egg hunt. Lucy has for awhile now wanted to grow up and BE the Easter Bunny. Her plan at this point is to be a pink bunny, and Knox will be a blue bunny. She will carry the big eggs, and he will handle the little ones. This might sound a little whack, but considering that before that she wanted to be an Easter EGG, we feel like she is making steps in the right direction.

We have survived one double ear infection, a brief stomach virus (that was Dan's), a full week of barely any sleep (anyone who would like to have a come to Jesus talk with Knox is more than welcomed to), and we are now embracing spring and the events it has in store for us.

Happy Easter!

Beer Making is Fun.

Dan turned the big 3-0 this weekend and to celebrate, we left town! We headed to Chattanooga for a family weekend, but had an alterior motive...beer making. We had heard of a place called Chattanooga-U-Brew. Basically the concept is a build a bear for adults. Dan's sister, Melanie, offered to keep our kids so we could give it a try.

Thats Lookout Mt. in the reflection.

This place was very hard to find! We circled around in a old neighborhood in the St. Elmo district for a few minutes before spotting the door on the back basement of a warehouse. I was pretty sure we were going to need to know a secret knock to get in. Once inside, we met Greg, the owner (a granola kind of guy who had apparently been drinking since the sun came up and never set his glass down while we were there) who talked us through the process and set us up with a copper kettle and a hand scribbled recipe. Greg started this enterprise after finding the equipment for sale in Atlanta. He worked several years for Dog Fish Breweries and now makes canoes for a living (which were piled up next to the beer supplies).

Yes, it might be a meth lab, too.

Dan chose a Hefeweizin to brew up.

We had hands on with everystep, including measuring out the wheat, weighing it, cracking it. Duncan was our "guide". He rents a corner of the basement where he is co-owner of Moccasin Bend Brewery, an upstart brewery that is not yet big enough to be considered a micro brewery, but is already having success selling in serveral resturants around Chattanooga. We later at lunch at one the pizza parlors and tasted his Pumpkin Seed Ale-an orignal recipe of his. He was incredibly knowledgeable about everything, and we learned a ton.

Watching out for boil overs.

Hops! The smell was overwhelming.

Last step before fermentation is pitching the yeast.

So in a few weeks, Dan will return to can, label, and box up his brew. The name is still up the air...think of a good one and win a 6 pack! We will end up with about 13 gallons of beer-around 20 6 packs, I think. That'll keep him busy for awhile and might make us some new friends.