a downtown adventure!

This past weekend was a blast! We spent Friday night with some friends getting ready for our garage sale and all day Saturday morning putting it on. We put Charlie in a high chair in the garage to eat breakfast with us while we were selling things and had someone want to buy him! Nope, our cutie pie is NOT for sale! Luke and his friends Tate and Mary Ross had a great time on our playset and the sale was successful.

Saturday night Chad and I decided to take the boys downtown for an adventure! We ate at the Flying Fish. Luke, who is still VERY into his sea creature phase, was thrilled! We sat right next to lots of fish on the wall and even a shark, Luke's favorite. Charlie enjoyed trying fish for the first time too! Yummy! After dinner, we strolled down to the river and watched some boats before heading back up to take a trolley ride. Luke couldn't have been more excited---it was his first trolley ride and he loved it! Charlie was just thrilled to see people and wave to every single one of them! He's our social butterfly!

Luke--so happy to be next to fish and a shark!

Charlie and his first bite of fish!

My boys on the river!

Luke's reaction to seeing the trolley approach and finding out we were going to ride it!

Mommy and her boys take a ride!

Nana and Poppy come to visit

I'm back-tracking a little since Charlie has been 1 for almost 2 weeks now, but I've been meaning to post some pictures from Chad's parents' visit! We hadn't seen Nana and Poppy since Thanksgiving, so Charlie obviously changed a lot and Luke had as well. Our boys were SO happy to see them--especially Luke, who didn't give them a chance to breathe before wanting them to play boat, sea creatures or planes with him. It was a special time to catch up with them and celebrate Charlie's birthday too. Thanks for coming to visit us (and letting us wear you out), Nana and Poppy!! We love you!

Luke and Charlie with Nana and Poppy!

Nana and the birthday boy!

Earth day--every day!

Luke and I have been talking about Earth Day, which is this Wednesday, April 22nd. I've told him that it's a special day we focus on helping save our Earth, by keeping it clean, saving energy, etc. He knows that we need to turn out lights when we leave the room and he has a HUGE desire to pick up trash thanks to a fun game we play on Starfall. This year we're planning on planting some herbs or flowers (to be decided after our Lowe's run tonight). Luke also wants to pick up trash--so I may get some gloves on the kid and head out to a park to do just that! Anyone with little kiddos want to join us after school on Wednesday?

I've always tried to get out and do something to help save the Earth on Earth Day's in the past, but have really felt the need to not just go green on 1 given day a year, and instead, try to make several changes to incorporate saving the Earth every day! I wrote a post about this last August and heard from lots of you with ideas you all do around your house. So I wanted to share this post from the blog, Simple Mom, I came across recently with 40 tips to Go Green. I, personally, still can't get my mind around #32--but kudos to those of you who do!! Good luck and let us know if you are doing anything for Earth Day and/or anything else new you have come up with to be more environmentally conscious!

our birthday boy!

It's hard to believe our Cheerio-lovin', head-tiltin', crab-crawlin', Mocha-chasin', danger-findin', adorable grinnin', froggy huggin' bundle of joy is 1 year old!!! What a treat this past year has been. Charlie is such an amazing blessing and we love him with all of our hearts!!

In some ways it seems as if he really grew up over night---which is what Luke thought was going to happen to Charlie on his birthday. Chad went in to get Luke up on Wednesday and Luke was thrilled that it was Charlie's birthday, because Charlie was going to be a big boy---literally. Chad said Luke was actually disappointed when he saw that Charlie was still the same size!

Charlie told me he wanted to have a birthday playdate with his friends---instead of always going to playdates with Luke's friends. Lucky for Charlie, Luke's friends all have younger brothers and sisters around Charlie's age! So, we invited a few little bits over to play and have lunch. It was lots of fun for Charlie and Mommy!

Then, later that day, we had a family cookout. Chad's parents came to town for the celebration, and my parents, sister and her boyfriend all came over to join in the fun! We ate burgers and dogs, played and of course had Charlie's first bite of cake!! Charlie loves frogs and ducks, so our favorite cake lady made a perfect cake for his first birthday! It was a perfect way to celebrate Chuckles' day. Happy Birthday little muffin! We love you so much!!

Charlie and his buddies!

Our head-tiltin', froggy huggin' little 1 year old!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

A Joyous Day!

Chad's favorite holiday has always been Easter. For the longest time, I didn't agree with his choice. Not because I don't love Easter, I do--but Christmas has always been my favorite. I have always loved the miracle story of Jesus' birth and of course, the carols, gift-buying, tree-decorating, Santa wishing, etc.

However, the past couple of years, Easter has had more and more of an impact on me. It's just the whole idea of what the Lord sacrificed for us, His Son, for us??? And---what an amazing miracle, for Him to die and rise to give us eternal life. What LOVE!!! Without fail, every year, when we sing Christ the Lord is Risen Today during Easter service, I cry! How joyous!!! This year was especially sweet because Luke is old enough to start understanding (as much as a 3 and a half year old can) the meaning of Easter. He actually didn't even care about the Easter bunny. Not at all that there is anything wrong with the Easter bunny and eggs and chocolate---because there isn't! Bring on the chocolate!! And, not that Luke didn't love the little happies the Easter brought and all the egg hunting we did, but--it was really special to be able to share the joy in our Savior dying and saving us, with Luke.

We did have a great time on all of our egg hunts---I think there were 4 different ones! It's a fun tradition and wonderful to share with family and friends!

So excited about his Little Einstein's book

Still looking for another egg

Oooh, I found a blue one!! My new favorite color!

Charlie and his Easter basket!

Our Easter chickies!

the big "project"

A new "project" has begun at our house! We bought a playset for the backyard and have been trying to keep it under wraps from Luke. We had the boxes sitting in our garage for a couple of weeks, until this weekend, when the building started. Chad and I toyed with the idea of paying someone big bucks to assemble it for us, but came to our senses and realized it's part of being a parent and it's a LOT of money to pay someone to do.

Well, after reading the 70 page booklet, watching the video of how to assemble it, unloading huge boxes of parts and counting them all---Chad was tempted to reconsider and shell out some cash!! BUT---he forged on! Some friends came by for a few hours to help him get it started and the task was under way. We kept telling Luke that Daddy was working on a "project" and he seemed fine with that for a while. He then started asking about a playground because he saw some pictures and oh yeah, the big slide laying on the ground!! So, we told him what it was going to be and he was all smiles!! I was hoping to have it finished (I sound like I've been doing all the hard work, don't I?) by Easter, but it all depends on weather and maybe other helpers---Ahem, Dad, Ahem--welcome back to Memphis--think you can give up some golf to help Chad out?? :)

Getting started

Luke checking out what his Daddy is doing

Charlie licking his chops--hammer in hand and Daddy's little helper outfit on!