HAIR!

I took the braids out of the girls' hair during family movie night and low and behold...these girls have tons of hair!

I included this picture to show Mickey's new do-the mohawk

Happy Easter!

Spring Football Practice

Two soccer games rained out and mom at work on a Saturday leaves dad to entertain four restless children. Wait, free admission and free parking at the UK football spring practice Blue-White Scrimmage? Yes!

Four kids having fun on the front row watching the Cats play...

...then turning their attention to other pressing matters...like a leaf floating in a puddle under the bleachers.

Being very close to the White team bench, the kids had fun finding players' names in the program, calling to them, and then waving. It always brought a wave and a smile from the players. Of course you would smile too with those four waving at you.

Grandpa & Meemaw come for a visit

We've enjoyed spending the last few days with my parents visiting. We packed a lot in, and thus, my absence from the blog world. The boys each had 2 games in 3 days and Grandpa and Meemaw cheered them on to victory in each game. My dad and I worked on several projects around the house while the kids were in school on Monday & Tuesday. Meemaw kept the home fires burning with cooking, cleaning and getting the kids ready for bed each night.

My dad brought his new toy all the way from Indiana and we put it to use right away with a load of free mulch that I scored from the Lexington Urban Gov't. Wohoo! Free mulch!

Next we used the skid loader to til up more garden space.

The girls helped carry some scrap wood to the burn pile.

Of course they wanted to stop and pose for a picture

We finished up last night by planting
some corn, sweet potatoes, radishes and onions.

We've gone from 1 cute little rabbit in the field behind our house to many rabbits in the field (funny how that happens) so Dad suggested a fence this year. I think it was well worth the investment.

My sister Kelly made these cute stepping stones and Dad & I made a path from the driveway to try and cut down on the mud my precious ones keep tracking into the house. Thanks, Kel!

Visit with Uncle Andy & Aunt Caroline

Still trying to catch up on spring break posts. We traveled last Saturday to Chicago to meet up with some other families with Ethiopian children. We went out to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law.

Mickey going for a ride and Aunt Caroline's sporty car

Uncle Andy took us for ice cream at the 1st McDonald's ever! (Des Plaines, IL)

Well, the 1st McDonald's is now a museum, but there is one that serves food across the street.

Essie & Mickey

Chloe & Mommy

Indiana Critters

One of the most fun parts of a trip to Indiana is seeing all of Aunt Kelly's critters. My sister Kelly lives next door to my parents and works as a vet tech. Therefore, she has a lot of critters. On Friday, Kelly, Essie & I bundled up to go feed the critters. On the walk from my parents house to Kelly's backyard, I said, "when did you get baby bunnies?" To which Kelly responded, "I don't have baby bunnies." To which I responded, "um...yes you do." To which Kelly squealed and said, "Oh my goodness, 3 baby bunnies!!!" Apparently her adult bunnies had babies at least a month ago, but the babies only emerged from the unnoticed den that day. Adorable does not describe how cute these bunnies are. Of course Ababa said 'no' when I texted him a picture of what we found, so we took lots of pictures.

Chloe

Essie

Essie feeding the donkey donks

A.J.

feeding time

Mickey with baby guinea pig

Donovan going for a swim after the kids repeated threw his toys in the doggy pool

Oh my goodness! Can anything be any cuter?

The Woodpile

Grandpa needed some wood moved and since he's had shoulder surgery, he's not supposed to be doing that sort of thing. Since Mickey learned to drive the tractor and little wagon, we decided it was the perfect job for all the kids to work on last week while we were at Grandpa and Meemaw's house. My dad thought it would be great if the kids could get some of it moved, but they decided to surprise him while he was away from home on Friday and moved the entire pile (see pic below). Mickey motivated all the kids to help by giving them rides in the empty wagon back to the original pile. I was very proud of all my kids as it took them a good 3 hours to finish the job. AJ even helped out, even after he skinned his right hand by fooling around with the tractor tire (even though mommy told him repeatedly not to do that. Lesson learned, needless to say).

Best buds-Chloe and cousin Hunter

Pretty sure this wagon wasn't meant for such a load, but it did remind me of the wagons we saw in Ethiopia piled high with all sorts of things.

My Grandpa Neild always worked with his tongue out (sign of concentration). Glad AJ inherited this trait.

AJ wanted me to take a picture of Grandpa's cows, included the new baby, which you can hardly see standing in front of the black cow on the left.

The finished pile of wood.

Swimming in Indiana

Angelic choir (he, he)

Essie, Hunter & Chloe serenaded us yesterday. Couldn't resist getting it on video.

Mickey learns to drive (a tractor)

Mickey was in boy heaven today when Grandpa taught him to drive the lawn mower. He caught on quickly and the other kids loved getting a ride.

Mickey said, "This is the best thing I've never had!"

The little ones playing dead

After the fun, Grandpa needed some help moving wood. The kids were happy to oblige.