Nashville Trip/Dove Weekend

Opening weekend of dove season, I had the privilege of taking Mary Ellen Axford back to her parents in Franklin, TN and visiting with my old friend Ellie and her new sweet baby girl Annie. Oh yeah, Tommy was there too. The boys stayed home with their daddy to shoot up some doves.

 I took a picture of the boys with Mary Ellen right before we left. I think a little girl would look good in our family.

 This sweet little breath of heaven stayed awake the whole eight hour drive until about 30 minutes before we arrived. Thank God for Dora and Strawberry Shortcake.

 Sweet Little Annie Axford

 Big sis keeping a watch on things.

 Meanwhile back on the farm.

 I don't think there was much hunting going on. They look like they've had one too many out of their Daddy's ice chest.

 I don't think they missed me much. I bet they were glad I wasn't there to tell them to stay out of the mud



First Day of School

Davis started 1st grade this year, and Wilson started preschool. My boys are growing up too fast!

I love their guts!

Wilson picked out his backpack. It is so him! I'm just surprised Davis didn't want one too since he is infatuated with dinosaurs. He went with Batman instead. I guess Batman is way cooler.

My big boy in his 1st grade desk.

I walked over to pre-k and snapped a picture of Wilson taking his first nap in school. Before he went to sleep he told his teachers to stop all that yacking so he could go to sleep. We had talk when we got home about things he can and cannot say to his teachers.

Have I ever said how lucky I am to work where my kids go to school?

Pinterest...My New Obsession

Pinterest is a new obsession of mine, and I'm ashamed to admit the reason I'm been neglecting my blog this summer. Everytime I get on my computer to blog, I stop by Pinterest first and end up spending way too much time there. I signed up for it earlier this summer and immediately became addicted. If you aren't familiar with it, it is a site that allows you to organize and share things you find from around the web on a virtual pinboard. I use it to organize recipes I want to try, home ideas, DIY projects, gift ideas, ideas for teaching, and a whole bunch of others. Each time you pin something you can give it a description and Pinterest does the rest and automatically sites the source and provides a trail to get back to the source. It keeps me virtually organized. Check it out and you can start pinning for yourself and you can also follow me.

Weekend in Memphis

I attended a Christian conference in Southhaven, MS Friday night and Saturday morning with some friends. Ben decided to bring the boys and meet me in Memphis for the weekend. This would be our last getaway before we headed back to school and harvest began.

Ben and the boys drove in Friday night and he took them to his favorite Memphis BBQ restaurant, the Rendezvous.

Saturday morning Ben took the boys to the Memphis Zoo while they waited for me to get out of my conference.

Davis and Wilson loved the birds

Saturday afternoon we took the family to a Redbirds game.

Wilson enjoyed cotton candy, popcorn, and ice cream for dinner that night.

I know...parents of the year!

Popcorn can be counted as a vegetable, right?

It was extremely hot. Memphis in July isn't much to be desired.

But we managed to have fun!

Leaving the park, I tried to take a boys standing at the entrance.
Can you find them?


Before we left Memphis Sunday morning, we stopped for brunch at Brother Juniper's. Ben had read about it on roadfood.com and I am so glad that he did. It was excellent!

Goobers waiting at the coffee bar in Brother Juniper's
Just a little FYI, Rachael Ray made a stop there for breakfast on one of her shows.

Fig Picking at Granny's

The boys and I traveled north to Lake Providence to pick figs so Granny could make us some more fig preserves

Wilson started off strong.

Both boys were meticulous in choosing just the right figs.

Perhaps Wilson was too picky. This was all he managed to pick and then he was done. Looking at his face, I guess he was ashamed.

Davis was a bit more productive. Nonetheless we picked enough for 8 jars. I hope it lasts until next summer. Thank you Granny!

Lake Fun

As we pulled up to the camp one night the boys spotted two armadillos and jumped out to catch them. Unfortunately, they got away.

Tree Climbing

Even Daddy can climb trees

I'm not sure what this face is about. I think Ben told him to kiss the fish.

The boys finally like swimming in the lake this summer.

Trying out our new kayak that Pop Pop gave us.

Feeding the fish and turtles as Netterville's Landing

Wilson is serious about lizard catching.

No one is allowed to move or talk when he is hunting lizards.

4th of July Weekend

Fried Friday at Netterville's Landing

Fourth of July Fun and Food at the VandeVens

Sweet babies

Goon Squad

Water Slide fun

Our Entertainment-Bradley Bridges

Wilson's favorite ,the jumper, only because he was scared of the water slide that we later bribed him to slide down. He then proclaimed he was getting one for Christmas and then refused to slide down it again.

Hanging upside down

Both of our boys were scared to ride the tube even though they did it last year. We made them do it anyway. I know, we're bad parents forcing our children to have fun.

We were going so slow we couldn't even catch a breeze in the boat, and Davis is giving the thumbs down signal to slow down. I guess this won't be the summer we teach him how to water ski.