Wild Animal Kingdom

We left a box for goodwill just outside our carport door and a momma wren was naive enough to build a nest in a basket on top of it. The placement could not be more perfect for viewing. The icing on the cake is that we can see the nest from inside the house. We have even been caught by the mailman watching the birds from our window!

We have had a grand time watching the progress: from building their nest, seeing each new egg added, to this week watching the baby birds hatch and grow each day. There were 4 eggs laid and we count 4 babies too! Laurie loves to see the momma bird swoop into the garage and hop from hiding place to hiding place to fly to her nest. It is so sweet to hear the babies chirping for her and see their little mouths open for dinner.























































Our conversations this week have been interesting.

Me: Do you see the baby birds?
Laurie: They in the tunnel!
Me: They are?
Laurie: In the Easter Basket!

Me: Do you see the momma bird flying?
Laurie: Momma bird hiding. She in the car.

Me: Is the momma bird feeding the babies?
Laurie: They eating supper.
Me: They are eating supper?
Laurie: They having picnic!

Me: (on seeing a puppy on our walk) Do you see the baby dog?
Laurie: Where baby dog's momma bird?

It's been a good week.

Milestones

The day before Anna Fair's half birthday, we discovered the tiniest little needle prick of a tooth. Can you just barely see it on the front, left?




























Now that she is 6 months, we started feeding Anna Fair solids. Well, she's been eating cereal for a while, but she ate a yummy dinner of squash to celebrate 1/2 a year with our girl.




And of course, the lesser known milestone: red, plastic, clown lips.

Poof, No Poof

Is it just me, or does Anna Fair look like a completely different baby when her hair isn't all poofed up?















Regardless, we love her poofy, frizzy, curly, puffy, fuzzy, wild hair and all. Happy half birthday, Baby Anna Fair!

Traveling

Traveling is what Anna Fair would be charged with if she played basketball. When I left the room, she was on the blanket, when I came back, she was not.

Anna Fair has recently learned to roll over and she does it non stop. From the moment you lie her down she starts flinging those chubby little legs trying to throw herself over. It makes diaper changes all the more exciting!














And who doesn't love a kid with a flower headband on?

Spring in Natchez

I love the spring! We want to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather we are having. Waking up from our long winter's nap to warm ourselves in the sun. We want to play outside until we are sunburned, exhausted, and our feet have so many blisters we have to wear socks with our sandals. What better excuse than to visit my parents? We played on the boat, ran hard, picked flowers, rode the choo choo train (yes, I know, that is not a train), chased Mini Pearl to give her kisses and enjoyed being with the people we love so much! Thanks for having us, Bebe and Granddaddy!

Easter at the Governor's Mansion

Wow! We had a busy Easter, one final Easter post: We were fortunate enough to attend the Easter party at the Governor's mansion again. Laurie has done nothing but talk about it since. There were so many activities to do, Laurie was quite overwhelmed. She ran from one activity to the next and back again. From the choo-choo train ride to face painting, cupcakes, jumpyland, baby chicks and baby rabbits and splashing in the fountain. I believe she loved the cute animals the best. It was all we could do to keep her from SQUEEZING the life out of the poor dears.

Happy Easter

Our family had a wonderful and busy day. Made better by sharing it with great family and friends.













We attended church in the morning. What an amazing gift we have in Jesus and one we look forward to sharing more and more with our children. Hallelujah! Praise God forever!





























We came home to open our Easter baskets and snack on candy. Then took off to Yazoo City for lunch, egg hunting, and jumpy land with the Barbours.





























We hope you had a happy Easter, too.

Hunter at Heart

It is fun to compare where we were last year (when we found 1 egg and were content to ponder why we wanted it) with this year. I thought she might be vaguely interested because others were. How wrong I was. She knew exactly what was up and was very competitive about it, going so far to push lesser competitors out of her way. We continued the hunt in our back yard, we hid and hunted for a good hour of entertainment. I guess she comes by it naturally: like father, like daughter.

Laurie obviously enjoys Jump Land. And, yes, that is her Easter dress she is wearing.

Easter Egg Hunt With The Minors

The Minors are so kind to include us in their family's annual Easter egg hunt. Laurie acted like she was an old pro at finding eggs and knocked down a few cousins to make sure she got her fair share (sorry cousin Katherine!). We had a blast eating cupcakes, doing crafts, and loving on Hunny Bunny. Just so you know, we threw Laurie's dress (that I smocked and first time it's been worn!!) in the wash and all stains were successfully removed!

You can just see Anna Fair's leg in that last photo.

Easter Egg Dye

I really wanted to dye Easter eggs with Laurie last year, but decided against it because... Well, because she was only 15 months old and I knew in my heart it would be a big mess.

This year, at age 25 months, we still might have been a little young. Daddy and I picked out beautiful shades of pink, blue, green and yellow for our egg dying. We carefully laid out all our supplies, towels for wiping up spills, even a drying tray. We dutifully attempted to show Laurie how to carefully place our eggs in the cups, leave to soak, and then scoop them out with our wands.
















It did not go well.














Laurie plunked all her eggs in the cups at once, continually pulled them out, with her fingers, to check the progress. And then placed the eggs back in different cups. Most of our eggs are varying shades of green, with one dingy brown, and all are cracked. My fingers are all stained and Laurie is green up to her elbow. How sad. Do you think the Easter Bunny will still visit with such pathetic Easter Eggs to offer?

Where Do The Little Piggies Go?

If you are Anna Fair, right in your mouth. Look who has found her toes? And takes great joy in nibbling on them every chance she gets. Though, if my toes were as sweet and chubby and dimpley and buttery delicious, I would smack on them too. And truth be told, I do like to nibble on Anna Fair's toes, too.

Zoo With The Hickmans

As it was a beautiful, sunshiney day, we headed to the zoo with the Hickmans. We love Harper and Dalton, they may be just as busy and full of energy as Laurie is! I think Harper may have had her fill of two-year olds, Laurie hugged her every chance she got and Harper is not quick enough to fend her off! It's been a while since we've been to the zoo and it was fun to see the new baby giraffe and tiger enclosure.

I am off to recover...I mean nap, Hope is coming over to keep the girls for us tonight! We love Hope!