The First Fruits

Today we harvested the "first fruits" of our garden labor - 2 cucumbers and 1 squash! And we found a watermelon the size of our feet growing in the watermelon jungle on the hill...

Here is one mighty proud farmer!

It's a cucumber - no it's Larry Boy!

A trip to the Zoo

We took advantage of our zoo passes today and enjoyed the 95+ degree weather with our dear friends the Johnson's. Mrs. Jessica keeps Lucy and Samuel for us during the school year and Jordan and Connor are kind of like big brother for Lucy and Samuel. The kids got to touch a snake, feed the birds, and watch the lions playing really close to the window. We had a great time and enjoyed our friends -

Zoo fun with the Lions

3-2-1 Blast Off

It started with a simple request - it usually does - "Mama, can I use this box to make a space ship?" and ended up with this ...



The 12343 Banana space ship with custom paint job and the ability to fly wherever the imagination can take it. That's the radio tower in the back with a space cave tucked underneath. Of course there were a few questions like, "Mama, how do I go to the bathroom on a space ship?" and "Can we get a snack on this space ship?" but for the most part I enjoyed watching them play and then made lunch - friendly alien food!

PS - FYI - Jeremy is NOT in Africa - if you received a random email it's NOT from us. It's from someone hacking into our email.

Summer fun!

It's amazing how much joy and laughter can come from a 6x6 plastic turtle pool. Saturday I loaded the children up and headed to Walmart to purchase the summer pool. It's actually our first turtle pool and I can tell we will get our $15 worth out of this thing fast (Lucy cries when we have to let the water out). AND the practical part is - at the end of the day we can use the water in the pool to water our garden! Yippee - summer fun in the backyard!

Garden Manners -

As Lucy passed behind the scarecrow in the garden I heard her say " 'scuse me scarecrow". How polite!

Lucy and her Papa

When Lucy finally saw Papa on Sunday she did not want to let him go!

A Kinsey Weekend

This weekend we made a quick trip to Lee to celebrate cousin Abbey's wedding reception (she and Brian got married in Jamaica in April) and to celebrate Grandpa Kinsey's 60th year of being a deacon. We got to see lots of family and enjoy the gnats and laughs. I didn't get many pictures from the weekend but I did get a few of Lucy doing various things (Samuel was usually off playing) Here is Lucy having "tea" with Aunt France and Granny

Lucy and bunnies She's just too cute!

Lucy and Papa at Lee First Baptist

At Abbey's wedding reception

I want to share a quick story Aunt Frances (Granny's older sister and Samuel's Great-Great Aunt) told me while we ate a good ole covered dish supper at Lee First Baptist. Lucy was very interested in the gnats that were circling her chicken and rice and she was distracted when they would land land near her or get stuck in the sticky goodness. Aunt Frances said that when Aunt Carol (Ronnie's wife) first started eating chicken and rice at dinners at the farm with all the gnats- Carol would add a bit more pepper to the chicken and rice and disguise how many gnats might have been added to the meal. I hope I got that story right - thought it was a good one to share!

A Kinsey Weekend Part II

Uncle Casey with neice, nephew and son!

Uncle Casey and Cousin Wyatt

Four Generations of Kinsey men - Casey, Wyatt, Grandpa and Daddy.

Samuel and Shay playing downstairs at Granny and Grandpa's. They seemed to enjoy playing with one another and Samuel even asked "Mama, can Shay come over for a playdate?"

Quotes

Sunday morning Samuel crawled into bed with us and said

Samuel: " Mama, I'm sp-amished. When are we going to eat breakfast?"
Mama: "Samuel, we can go right now and eat breakfast if you are famished".
Samuel: "Thanks, Mama"

WOW!

Yesterday, Grandpa Noonan came to spend the day with Lucy and Samuel while Jeremy finishes school and I start school. Besides playing rescue heroes, going out to eat, doing a few fix-it jobs around the house and playing - he made this with the kids -




What a great addition to our garden! Don't you like the Mr. Potato Head pieces? And trust me - when I got home late last night and walked around the corner to the garden I was startled at first by the silhouette of the scarecrow -

he's tall! Grandpa Noonan is an amazing handyman and a wonderful grandpa - THANKS, GRANDPA NOONAN!