Spring has Sprung and we are loving it!!

Spring is here and with it came some very warm temps!! We are spending lots of time outside enjoying the beautiful weather!

Cooper found this four leaf clover at one of FHU baseball games. He actually found 3 that day!!



Watching a little Lion baseball



We've been to the park numerous times over the past few weeks!!



We got out one day and flew kites. It's been just about too windy to fly though. We all had a good time trying and did manage to get the kite to stay up for quite a while.

Onions...how we dislike you!!

I mean seriously...look at all of those onions...and in such a small area too! Yuck! I can't stand onions but know I'll have to deal with them in the yard until it gets too hot for them to grow. Last summer with buying our house and moving in and all of that we never quite got our flower beds looking like we wanted. Our goal this year is to get them in better shape! While Chad was away this weekend the boys and I spent quite a bit of time outside playing and digging onions out of the flower beds! And do you want to know what the great part about it was? Sure you do!! I didn't even ask them to help!!! They VOLUNTEERED on their own to dig up onions and weeds!! I'm sure the fact that they could use shovels all by themselves was a big part of them wanting to help. Whatever works!! They turned out to be super onion pullers...getting roots more times than not! Hopefully those pesky things will stay out of our flower beds!!



Cooper digging in the dirt! I can't actually say he pulled up more than a couple onions but he sure enjoyed the dirt!


Cade turned out to be a Super Duper onion digger/puller! We would dig the dirt around the onions to loosen it up (makes it easier to get the root) and then pull the onions out!


Chance was a great help too but didn't last quite as long as Cade.


Now look how much better this little area looks. Can't wait to get me some flowers planted in there!! Now we're working in the bushes next to the house. It's a much bigger area and has lots of onions!

Shiloh National Military Park

This morning we headed to Shiloh Military Park to spend the day. With it being Memorial day there was lots going on at the park. We had a great time. The boys loved being there in the wide open and looking at many of the monuments. Cade with the help of us all completed the Junior Ranger program. He was given a booklet and told to complete at least 8 of the activities. These activities included drawing certain things around the park and answering questions about the battle and many of the monuments. I think the adults enjoyed helping Cade just as much as Cade enjoyed doing it. I learned so much about the battle of Shiloh. It was a fantastic day!





The boys loved being at Rhea Springs! We took our lunch and stayed here for quite a while.




The boys worked on their Junior Ranger books. Cade completed most of his book. Chance did a couple drawings in his. Here is the flag he chose to draw from the visitor center!




We now have a junior ranger in the family!!

Thank you for the sunshine!

This past weekend brought some of the worst weather we've had in a long time with more rain than I've ever seen fall in such a short amount of time. We were under tornado watches/warnings and flood warnings all weekend. It was crazy! Henderson got lots and lots of rain and had some flooding and washed out roads, etc. Some of the surrounding counties are still dealing with major damage due to flooding and tornados. I've seen pictures of Nashville, Tn that make me want to cry. They are suffering some major losses there.

We continue to keep the surrounding counties and other places in our thoughts and prayers as they deal with the affects of the weekends storms with loss of life, homes, businesses, etc. It's going to be a LONG road to getting things back like they were...don't know if they will ever really get back to the way they were.


After the terrible weekend weather Monday brought nothing but blue skies and sunshine! We were so thankful to see the sunshine that we made sunshine snacks and then headed outdoors for hours of play! Chad and Cade have been home from school all week due to the storm damage. It's been nice having them home but I hate the reason they are out. Waiting to hear if he'll go back on Thursday or not!

The season has begun!

Saturday was supposed to be opening day for baseball season but due to bad weather we weren't able to play. Last night the boys finally got to play their "real" first game of the season. They've played a couple of scrimmage games but this was the first with them all dressed in their uniforms and on the new field!! They looked so cute! They played hard and did pretty well. I think there were some first game jitters but they seemed to have fun. Cade got a hit both times at bat and played the field pretty well too. He did about cause me to have a nervous breakdown though with his first at bat!! He hit the ball barely to the pitcher and ran to first but instead of running through first he turned toward second. Well he turned back around to get on first but the boy had the ball by this point and all he had to do was tag Cade and he would be out so our coach started yelling for Cade to run, so he did......all the way to third with the first baseman running behind him trying to tag him out the whole way!!! Thankfully Chad was coaching 3rd and had him stop!! Whew! Only in 5-6 yr old baseball can you get a triple on a ball that barely makes it to the pitcher!! Sure is fun to watch!! Once my heart slowed down I was able to enjoy the rest of the game!!

Paden and Sarah came to watch cade play and made this sign for him! They are the best!


This was Chad giving him pointers after his big run!!

Painting Fun!

What a week we've had! Nothing but sunshine everyday!!! Spent some time outside this morning painting and doing a little of this and little of that. One thing the kids love to do is paint. The kids can never seem to paint without it ending up all over them. Today was no exception. After a few minutes of using the brushes I start hearing, "can I paint my hands?", "Can I use my fingers to paint a picture?", "I want to make foot prints", and so on! I've learned they can't just finger paint (you know, using one finger dipped in paint) ..they use the entire hand covered in paint. They actually did paint some pictures of trees (I was painting with them and showing them how to do it) before they got carried away with the paint. They had a good time making a colorful mess!!

They love picnics!

My kids would eat lunch outside every single day I think if I would let them. This week has been absolutely gorgeous so we've actually eaten outside for lunch everyday so far...either here at the house or at the park. Food just seems to taste so much better when you eat it outside...even for the kids!

Slip-N-Slide

Today I let the kids do the slip N slide. It was actually not as warm as I thought it was supposed to be outside but they played anyway and had a blast! I had already told them twice this week that they could play on it and twice I cancelled because it was cooler than weather.com said it was supposed to be!! Today was no different but it was warm enough that they enjoyed it for a little while (it was in the lower/mid 70's but it was supposed to reach 79 which I'm not sure if it ever did.) It would have helped if the sun would have come out and stayed but oh well! Here are a few pictures of them slipping and sliding!!

Little Green!!

This afternoon Chance came around the corner of the house holding a caterpillar! We all held and watched "little green" for a while. We now have him in a container with lots of leaves and a little water hoping to see him change into a butterfly. Hopefully he'll stay alive long enough to change!! Here are a few pictures of "little green"!
I asked Cooper where the caterpillar was and he said "in the tree"!
Silly Sarah
Everyone looking at "little green"

Caterpillar craft

Today the kids made caterpillars from egg cartons to go along with this cute Spring book! Chad's mom gave us this book last year I think. It's a really cute book and teaches in a very simple way the life cycle of the butterfly.

Spring time fun!

Now that spring time is here (although it feels like winter today) and Easter is this weekend we decided to make something fun today. We all made "spring time nest" . The kids had a good time making the nest but had an even better time eating the eggs! Here are a few pictures of how they turned out! They are very easy to make just a little messy. It seems like all the really fun stuff is messy!!!

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