Sydney

Sydney is spending the night at her friend Lucy's house tonight, and I intercepted her walking there when Ruthie and I were coming home from gymnastics.

Chet had told her to pack an overnight bag, but instead of choosing a backpack, she put her belongings in a pillowcase to sling over her shoulder.

Chet said he was tempted to find a large stick for the pillowcase to hang on.

It was the last day of school for the public schools here. All of the children in the neighborhood are thrilled.

Happy Tuesday!

Lowe's

Saturday Chet and I needed to go to 84 Lumber to check on something, and also went to Lowe's because it's right next door.

We left Sydney, Lorelei, and Ford at home watching a movie while we did that, but Ruthie accompanied us.

It was, of course, freezing in Lowe's, and since I ALWAYS have a sweatshirt with me, Ruthie was able to borrow it and stay warm.

She asked me to take her picture whilst lounging in the outdoor furniture section.

Happy Monday!

Mother's Day

The Thursday just before Mother's Day weekend, Chet, Ford, Ruthie, and I drove to Jacksonville, FL to check on our new house (have I mentioned Jacksonville OR our new house yet?).

We spent Friday and Saturday doing house business, and got to visit with Chet's parents who drove into town midday Saturday.

Sunday morning (Mother's Day) we drove back to Mississippi.

It was an odd-ish Mother's Day, but also great. Chet made sure to take some pictures of me with the kids that evening.

There's no such thing as a picture where everyone looks their best, so I chose the one that is most real.

Happy Wednesday (all day long I thought today was Thursday)!

Welcome, May

That is...welcome, SECOND HALF OF MAY.

Where has this month gone?!

I know part of the problem is that I was out of town two weekends in a row (Jacksonville, FL Mother's Day weekend and Gulf Shores, AL this past weekend).

I visited Gulf Shores with three of my friends I will soon say goodbye to (when we move to FL in a month...gulp). 

We stayed in a cute little beach house, surrounded by hundreds of other cute little beach houses, on this street:

That's all I have time to share at the moment. More on the trip(s) later (hopefully).

So Long, April

Ruthie approached me this evening as I was helping Chet clean the kitchen after dinner. She said, "Okay, I'm ready to go! And I have three dogs."

(The other two dogs were tucked away inside that greenish-blue sling and in the cat backpack.)

I can't think of a better way to end April!

TGIF!

On to May!

Wild Acres

Yesterday the kids and I met my friend Stephanie and her daughter Nora at a family owned...petting zoo? It's called Wild Acres, and they LOVED it.

Here is Sydney feeding a porcupine, which was also in her lap:

I was able to get a good picture, because I was standing OUTSIDE the porcupine enclosure. It turns out that porcupines are in the top five of the world's largest rodents. 

No, thank you.

The animals I willingly touch include cats, dogs, and horses, in that order. Oh, and sheep, because I petted one of those yesterday, and it was fine.

Happy Thursday!

Lunch After Church

This past Sunday -- for the first time since Chet deployed in February 2020 -- we went out to lunch after church.

Here was the timeline:

1. Chet deployed (I normally don't take the children to restaurants by myself)

2. COVID happened

3. Chet returned from deployment (July 2020), but wasn't allowed to go to restaurants until THIS PAST FRIDAY (I wish I were kidding)

We celebrated Chet's release from "captivity" by going to a restaurant we like that serves both breakfast all day AND Thai food, and has a pond of fish:

What more could one ask for?

Happy Wednesday!