Swingin

My favorite guys enjoying our new front porch swing! Love these two! :)

A trip to the fire station

A few weeks ago, the kids and I decided to visit the fire station. It's pretty close to our house and we usually pass it at least once a day. I thought it would be fun for the kids to see the truck up close and also an opportunity for us to drop a few goodies off for the firemen. Emma and I made chocolate chip cookies while the little kids were napping (Annie was at school). The girls were so excited about going to visit the firehouse.

My little baker! :)

When we got to the fire station we knocked on the door and found 2 firemen out working on the truck. They were SO kind! They spent several minutes showing the kids the truck and all of their gear and just letting them climb around and check things out (I knew bringing a treat was a good idea! ha).

This fireman spent probably 20 minutes showing the kids all of his equipment and putting it on for them. He showed them a couple of tricks like keeping his boots inside his pants and putting them on together and even showed the kids how he could breathe clean air from a tank on his back. (Annie said "just like when daddy scuba dives". smart kiddo). He also let the girls try on his hat and gloves.

This is the other fireman we met. (I feel bad, I didn't get their names.) He let the girls climb up on the truck and even took Jack to see the inside! :) We had a great visit to the fire station and appreciate all that out firemen do to help keep us safe! :)

*Just a funny note... Emma was quite upset to not be going to school in VA. She loved Mrs. Lisa's class at Mrs. Suzie's school and was sad not to have a class to go to here. We finally convinced her that she was going to "home school". She kept telling Annie (and anyone who would listen) all about her home school and what she was going to be doing. The trip to the fire station was her first home school field trip! ha!

So much to say!

My last post was about our last day in Birmingham (sad)! I spent the day with Kate at the Rick and Bubba show and then came home to supervise packing (big fun)! Kate had taken the day off of work and so she spent a lot of the afternoon with the kids and I...playing at the park, getting ice cream cones at Chick fil a and finally grabbing a quick dinner of carryout pizza on paper plates! Saturday Josh, Grandmother and I spent the WHOLE day cleaning up! It's amazing how much dirt we live on top of and don't even notice. I mean, I'm not a neat freak or anything but I don't live in squalor either (at least I didn't think I did! Ha!). Kate and Jason were awesome and volunteered to play with the girls at their house pretty much all afternoon so we could really get some work done. They really are AWESOME! One (or two) of the things I will miss most about Birmingham! :) After cleaning and cleaning and cleaning (you know how it goes....there's always more to do), we finally picked up the kiddos and headed to Gadsden for the night. We were able to have a quick visit with Becca and Walker and Laynee and then we fell into bed (literally! I think Annie T. was asleep before Becca even left....she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer)!
It was going to take about 5 days before our stuff would be delivered so we decided to use the days in between to get in one last visit. We spent Saturday night with granmother and hung around for one more lunch with Aunt Jane and Uncle B and then headed to Chattanooga to spend a little time with my parents and Daniel. We had lots of fun....making sure to get in one last turn (for a little while at least) on the cardboard hill (a favorite) and one last spin on the carousel. So glad we got to visit for a few days before hitting the road for Virginia.
We decided we would go up on Tuesday so we would be there when our stuff arrived on Wednesday morning. The Normans (some of our new favorite people) offered to let us spend the night with them on Tuesday and we jumped on it! (We stayed with them the last time we came to visit and they were the most gracious hosts!) We decided we weren't going to rush but just take our time and stop when we wanted or needed to.
This was our first (and most fun stop).....

YUM!

Josh and the girls "milked" this cow in the lobby of the visitor center! It simulated real milking so the girls thought it was really cool to "fill the bucket with milk"!

Hairnets all around!
We toured the milk plant...no photos allowed past this point!

Even Jack had to wear a hairnet! Hilarious! He was so good though....didn't even try to pull it off.

Enjoying a "ride" and some super cow ice cream before heading back to the car!
So glad we made this detour! :)

After stopping at Mayfield, we crawled back into the car for the long haul. We made a couple of other stops but nothing exciting....just necessary ones. The kids did great...lots of movie watching and minimal complaining! My kind of ride! Everyone arrived in one piece (no heads had to be knocked off! ha) around 10:15 Virginia time! We got the kids to bed and ran one quick errand (to pick up keys) and then crawled in the bed ourselves! The next day would be BUSY!!
Busy, doesn't even begin to describe the next morning. Josh got up early to meet the movers (and some helpers from church) at the house. I stayed behind at the Normans and waited for my babysitters to arrive. Yes, I said babysitters....several church members volunteered to stay with the kids ALL DAY so that I could be at the house to help! Not only were there people watching my kiddos but there were people at our house ALL DAY LONG helping. Helping unpack boxes, put together bed and other furniture, bringing meals. It was amazing.

This is what the living room looked like when I got there on Wednesday morning.

And THIS is what it looked like when we went to bed. I mean, we had some workers! The whole downstairs (including the kitchen and all of my fine china and crystal) were totally unpacked before bed on Wednesday night! Seriously, I could hardly believe it. We are so thankful for all of the help (and there was lots of it)!!

Another thing our church members did was landscape our yard. The ferns hanging from the porch and all of the mulch and plants along the walk way are new! I had no idea how much this would make a house feel like a home! We cannot get over the how generous and willing to help our new church family has been! We are really excited to finally be here and see what God has in store for our family, church and community! I think it's going to be BIG!

I promise I'm not a stalker....

You might remember this picture from a couple of months ago....

The kids and I went to Books A Million to get a copy of the new Rick and Bubba book signed and of course get our picture made with them. Josh was out of town so he missed out on the fun. (This was the book that was signed "Your wife rocks!" and led them to talk about the kids and I on the air. I KNEW there was reason I liked these guys!)

Well, as you can tell I am a big fan of Rick and Bubba! I think they're hilarious and just fun. There studio is in Vestavia, a mere five miles or so from our house in Birmingham. I knew I couldn't leave Alabama without stopping by for a little visit! Anyone can go and listen but you have to get tickets....the tickets are free but are HARD to come by. They "sell out" for months at a time. Of course, because that's how I roll, I waited until the last minute to try to go to the show (literally the last week we were in town)! I knew that my best chance to get in was to take dessert (and a cute baby) and stand outside the window. My friend Leslie decided she would go with me (that made 2 cute babies standing outside the window). I made a mint brownie pie the night before and was up at headed to the studio right after dropping kids off at school. I was planning to make one pit stop for icecream and then be there in time to hear the last hour of the show. Well, of course the best laid plans (or last second plans in this case) often go to waste. Because there had been several storms in the early morning all of the traffic lights were out which made the ten minute (or less drive) into more like an hour or more. This meant that Leslie and I made it to the studio just in time for the VERY last segment. BOO! That didn't stop us begging at the window and at least getting in the door in time to say a quick hello, drop off our pie and take pictures!

Rick, Greenlee, Leslie, Me, Jack (is he about to fall out of that wrap or what?!?!) and Bubba!

Jack with Rick and Bubba!

They were so kind and told us that because we hadn't been able to get there in time we could come back any other day this week and they would let us in to watch the show! YAY! Well, Leslie couldn't make it any other days that week so I debated about going back or not. Finally I got THE BEST idea! Josh's cousin, Kate, is also a BIG fan so I called her and asked her if she wanted to go with me. The only day Kate could go was on Friday (the DAY my movers were coming). Josh was so sweet to get all of the kids to school and stay home with the packers so Kate and I could go! (The kids are his too, right? ha!)

Kate and I made another dessert (iced sugar cookies, this time) and headed back to the window! This time we didn't even have to beg!

This sign hangs right over our "beggin spot" at the window!

YAY! We didn't have tickets but that didn't stop us!

The RULES! :)

During the show!

Everyone was so friendly and came to "visit" between segments (hey, they know who pays the bills!) and take pictures with all of us at the end!

Kate and I with Rick and Bubba!

With our favorite, The "REAL" Greg Burgess!

What a fun experience! I am so glad we were able to go before we left town! Also, so glad to have friends/family who are up for anything! :)

Easter (part 2)

After our egg hunt with the Harpers we headed to Gadsden to spend the night with my Grandmother. We knew we wanted to go to church with her on Easter morning and knew we would have a hard time getting there on Sunday morning so we decided to just go ahead and get in an extra visit!

We had not dyed eggs yet so we did that on Saturday night! It is always one of those things that seems like it will be so much fun and then it's kind of a bust (at least for mom).

Our supplies.

Gracie watching her egg!

Annie dips her first egg.

Emma getting ready for the first dip!

Waiting for our eggs!

Josh and Jack watching the fun.

The finished product.

After we finished dying our eggs, we headed in and had a quick dinner and then headed to bed. The next morning we woke up and went to church with Grandmother and Mom and Dad. Grandmother's church always has a really nice service and they did not disappoint. Their interim pastor is one of our favorite people and his message was spot on.

After church, we came home to find a few goodies.

The kids' Easter baskets

The girls got some cute new rain boots and sunglasses and Jack got The Jesus Storybook Bible. If you haven't seen this bible, you really need to check it out. It is SO good. It is a story bible and it has the cutest illustrations but most importantly each story (even the Old Testament ones) points to Jesus.

We didn't try to take a family picture (remember the dedication day debacle?) but we did get a couple of pictures of the kids with mom and dad and grandmother.

CUTE! I love this!

And this! :)

Easter (part 1)

This year Easter was so late (yay!) that we had plenty of opportunity to celebrate and enjoy the spring weather! We of course, hid Easter eggs and had fun with our friends and family but also took time to remember what Easter is really all about. We went to a really good service on Maundy Thursday to remind us of what the coming days held for Jesus and then of course went to church with family on Easter Sunday.

One of the ways we enjoyed Easter weekend was by having an egg hunt and cookout with our dear friends, the Harpers, at Leslie's parent's house. We LOVED being able to reconnect with them during our time in Birmingham! We have such a history with them and it's so neat to know each other with families and in a little more grown up capacity!

On Saturday morning we loaded up and headed to "Max's Grams and Pop Pop's house"! Our first task (and let me tell you it was a task!) was trying to get a picture of the big kids and our families together! Good luck, right?

These are the best we could do....

Not too shabby! It could be worse!

After the pictures, Leslie and I hid about 1000 eggs (no, only 100 but it sure seemed like more) for the kids to hunt! They waited so patiently until we called them to hunt...then it was a madhouse! :)

Leslie's mom picked up these little baskets so all of the kids could match! How sweet of her!

Here they are all lined up and ready to go!

Ready to be found!

And they're off! :)

Check out Emma's stash!

Josh and Jack watching the fun! Next year Jack will be hunting eggs too! Oh my!

Greenlee and Grams! Greenlee wanted to hunt eggs but wasn't quite ready! Next year I have a feeling she'll be a woman on a mission! :)

After our egg hunt, we took a break for a yummy hot dog on the grill! It was the perfect day to be outside so we had our lunch on the screened in porch! It was so nice! After our hot dogs (the same ones that Sneaky Pete's uses!) we had the cutest smores made with peeps! I wish I had gotten a picture!

The kids were dying to hunt eggs again so after lunch, Les and I hid them again (and again!).

Max looking for eggs.

Look at the bucketful! :)

The dads and the little ones!

What a sweet day spent with friends! We're can't wait for the second annual Green-Harper-Thompson Easter Egg hunt! :)