Thursday, July 16, 2009

Arrggh! The pirate turns 4...


Samuel had an exciting morning of pirates and fun. Here are a few of the early pics for the day's adventures - Samuel seemed to have a blast and Lucy LOVED being the pirate princess! It's hard to believe that Samuel is all ready four. Samuel's comment about the party. "This is the best birthday party I have ever had in my whole life!" I'll take that as a successful birthday!





Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Watermelon update

Before


After


Look at how big this watermelon is now ! They still have several weeks to go but I think this one may be our first of the season (we didn't end up picking it July 4 because we aren't sure it's ready). Can't wait to dig into these watermelons!

Vivid imagination


Here is Samuel outside playing on top of our hill - his imagination is amazing!

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Happy Independence Day!













We began our 4th of July festivities early by going last night to see fireworks and enjoy a festival nearby. Lucy did NOT like the fireworks but Samuel loved watching them and hearing the cannons. Hope you enjoy your 4th of July holiday and are grateful to be an American...I think we will be enjoying our freedom to grow watermelons in our backyard by eating our first one of the season!

He loves sticks

Samuel loves sticks - he can make anything out of them and thinks they are such a novelty. I guess it is a consequence of not having trees in your yard. He loves to use them at swords, guns or bow and arrows - here are a few pics of him in the last couple of days with sticks -

eating popcorn while watching fireworks
a bow and arrow!





More Garden fun


It's the simple things in life that make summers so fun!

I think it's love


Cowgirl Fairy




She loves to dress up!

Newspaper Boy!

A few weekends ago Samuel, Lucy and I were looking at cousin Wyatt's blog - he is a cutie and you can check him out at his blog.


Samuel: "Mama, how do you spell "Chunky Monkey".

Me: "Why do you want to know?"

Samuel: "We can make a newspaper and give it out to all of our neighbors. We can put a picture of Wyatt and Chunky Monkey on it."

Me: "So you want to start a newspaper?"

Samuel: "Yes, we can put it out in our neighborhood"

Me: "Well, what kind of story will we write about Wyatt because newpapers usually have stories."

Samuel: "I will write a story about me and Wyatt....{Samuel went into a story about he and Wyatt at Grandmama's swinging on the swings, eating snacks that grandmama made, riding in the Ranger with Papa, checking on the chickens and playing in the water. At the end he said "THE END"}


I told Samuel that sounded like a good story and we could write it down but I needed to finish my homework. (I didn't want to stifle his ambitious journalism career). I apparently didn't finish my homework fast enough because Samuel came back with this story written and said.


Samuel: "Here Mama, I wrote a story - What does it say?"



Friday, June 19, 2009

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











Monday, June 15, 2009

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.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

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!


Tuesday, June 09, 2009

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?"


Monday, June 08, 2009

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"

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

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!