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The new address is:

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Playland Paradise

When it comes to parks, we've been around the block a time or two. The boys love, love, love to be let loose to romp and run and climb and play. Aaron, Caleb, and I went to the grand-daddy of all parks today to attend a birthday party. We could only stay for a short time because we had to get back to Jonathan's game; but here are a few pictures of the boys playing and singing to the birthday boy, Ethan.

Rise and Shine!

Our Aaron has such a sweet spirit and tender little heart. Five minutes hardly ever pass without him checking in on Levi. He can be found every morning peeking over Levi's bassinet before Levi wakes up. And this morning, since we weren't rushing him to get ready for school, he just watched Levi sleep for a long time. So I thought I'd take a picture to remember these precious brotherly love moments. Levi doesn't realize just how loved and blessed he really is!

Stop and Think

We've been working with the boys about how we stop and think before we make a choice to do something. This is a huge work still in major progress. We had to reiterate our point with Caleb twice today. First when he thought it would be a good idea to smear yogurt all over the window in the truck; and second, when he decided to dump out water from a water gun on Aaron's head. But I think this idea of thinking is finally starting to wear off on the boys. Evidence of this is found in the following conversation I overheard today as the boys were coloring in the playroom. I'm thinking they were about to dump the crayons out of the box, which would have made a big mess.

Caleb: Let me color, too.

Aaron: Wait! Now let's stop and think about what we're doing.

Caleb: Will we get in trouble for doing this?

Aaron: Well, we better not.

And their playroom is still neat and tidy!

Put a Smile On

Little Levi is starting to smile!! Here are some pics of one of his first!

School Daze

Jonathan and Aaron attend one of the best schools in our state and are learning lots. Their teachers keep them engaged in fun, yet educational, learning activities, and provide an environment where parents are strongly encouraged to be a significant part of students' experiences. Though the school is not a Christian school, Christian values and morals provide the background for the leadership and faculty. We feel very blessed for our kiddos to go to this school, and we even enjoy supporting and participating in many of its activities.

The following pictures are from Jonathan's Valentine's/Grandparents' Program. We also took video, but I'm trying to figure out how to shorten to just the highlights of the production.

Earlier this year, Aaron's class took a field trip to the Children's Museum of Memphis; and Jeff captured some of the fun on camera.

And today, Aaron's class had another field trip to the Memphis Zoo; so Jeff and I tagged along with Levi and Caleb in tow. After the first hour, the bottom fell out of the sky; and down came the rain. Before the flood, we saw lots of the zoo and had a great time with Aaron's friends we were assigned to chaperon, Jerryun and Adam.

Guitar Heroes and Rock Stars

We pray for our boys' future success everyday, and hope they always have high aspirations and set huge goals for themselves. We express our expectations to them all the time, and try to motivate them along their life's journeys, wherever that may lead. With all that being said, Jonathan and Aaron may have found their calling recently as rock stars.

Jonathan was introduced to Guitar Hero on the Wii a few weekends ago, and was hooked from the start. He stayed up late, refusing to put it down until he "rocked" the song "Slow Ride." He finally succeeded and is ready for us to buy him the game so he can rock it out on the other songs. In the picture, you can see him playing lead; and Aaron is helping out with his own guitar.

Aaron, with the help of long-distance friends, Priscilla and Cameron Grace, put on a rock concert for all of us. He was the lead singer and Priscilla played the guitar. We must also give credit to Priscilla for designing the costume and writing the song that Aaron wasn't quite able to read and perform. However, the concert was a complete success. We recorded it, but it's taking a while to figure out how to get it just right to upload. So these are just a sampling of how rockin' it was.

The boys make us proud everyday with all they accomplish, and we know there's much more for them to attain. Whether or not they are guitar heroes or rock stars, we hope they know we will always be beside them (or in the crowd) cheering them on!

Little Levi

It's been a month, and Levi is not so little anymore! Our baby boy is growing like crazy, no matter how much I want him to stay my baby boy. At four weeks old, Levi's favorite things are eating, sleeping, and staring at lights. He just started grinning at us on April 8th, which we all find adorable! He is also starting to sleep longer at night, so we're getting more rest.

I have totally loved having a new baby. We say he is completely spoiled because he really likes to be held and cuddled; but I just can't help it. He is our last baby, so I want to relish every minute I have with him. My favorite moments are when I am feeding him, and he grabs hold of my thumb and pinkie and squeezes as hard as he can. I look at his little fingers around mine and dream of what great things his little hands will do and what awesome plans God has in store for my baby's future.

Even Levi's big brothers continually take care of him. They check on him every morning, hold him after school, and dispense hugs and sugars at bedtime. When he cries, they stick his paci in his mouth and pat his tummy or rub his little forehead. It is a such a joy to watch as they love their baby brother with all their heart!

Anyway, there you have it-Levi's life story so far. Hope you enjoy the pics!

Growing Grass, Growing Jonathan

So it's finally Spring, which brings warm weather and tall grass. Jeff went out to mow last weekend, and Jonathan thought he would give it a try too! Here's our big guy mowing the lawn. . . we can't believe he's even close to old enough!

Surprise!

The Thursday before Easter, Jeff and I spontaneously decided to head back home for the holidays to surprise our family. So Friday night at 9:00 we pulled into my unsuspecting parents' driveway, and boy were they happy!!


We spent Saturday with Jeff's brothers and sisters cooking out, and all the grandkids hunted Easter eggs. I forgot the camera, but Jeff's mom captured the fun. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them.

After dying eggs, we had Easter dinner at Mama Nance and Daddy Wayne's, where we also flew kites and hunted eggs again.





While in town, we also visited Jeff's Mammaw and Roy, my Mammaw and Papa Don, Aunt Cathy and Jordan, and even Becky. Everyone was excited to see us, but even more excited to hold little Levi!