neighbors

Ok, so I just have a few random pictures to post.   A few weekends ago, our semi-new neighbor Jack turned 4 and had a party with a bounce house and some fun games.  Maryanne was entertained by Jack's teenage twin sisters.

It was fun to meet a few more of the neighbors who live a little further down the road.  Lucy met a new friend named Stephanie who is just a few weeks older than her. 

Another neighbor (and member of our church) has a tradition of making sushi on conference weekend and brought us some (a lot!) and even Maryanne gobbled some of them down.

These are across the street neighbors who came to play.  Look at the coloring of these two babies.

And I might as well give a shout out to this neighbor - who is my BNF (Best Neighbor Forever) ... regardless of where we live.  It's Amanda.  She is having a birthday in a couple days so it seems fitting to just say ---- she is just a really great person and I love her.  She is a patient, devoted and playful mom -- she is one of the best moms I know.  She makes me homemade jam, she lets my kids hang out at her house all day, she encourages me to work out with her, she lets me swim in her pool all summer, she rocks at video games (thus a hero of Luke's), she is mother to Josh who is adored by all and wife to Drew who is hilarious and cool.  She's funny and loving and wonderful.  Wouldn't you want her to be your neighbor too?

And shoot - now that I am really just writing about neighbors instead of just posting a few random pictures, I have to say that the WALKERS are basically the glue of the entire neighborhood and if it weren't for them, we wouldn't know all these wonderful people.  I mean, they invited us to a barbeque literally minutes after our moving truck pulled into our driveway 5 years ago.  So, we were hot and tired and minutes later swimming in their pool and eating their awesome food.  And they've been inviting and hosting us ever since.  Any time I post about a neighborhood party, I'm sure they are hosting.  So, they are featured here, here, here, here and here.
 oh and here...

Allison (left) is our steady babysitter and we love her so much.  She is fun and responsible.  A great combination.  And Amanda is graduating as salutatorian at her high school and a really cool girl too.   Anyway, we love these guys.

Well, hurray for neighbors!  And the best kind of neighbors?  Are the family kind. 

Aussies visit Memphis

Joey's dear parents who just completed a mission to Australia (their 4th mission!) drove all the way to Memphis to see their 2 kids, 2 kid-in-laws and 7 grandchildren. And meet their newest (and 46th!) grandchild Maryanne.  We had a blast with them and really cherished their presence.

grandma and maryanne practicing their "ones"  and grandma surrounded by admirers

Lucy was making G&G laugh that morning doing her ritual of checking to see if her clothes fit her before putting them on. She lays her chosen clothes out on the floor and then lays on top of them and measures it out.  Then jumps up and says "yep! they fit!" and puts them on.  

  

 after loving and hugging and eating and lounging with these dear folk - we took them to our memphis zoo.
the 4 of us in the underwater sea lion bubble

 maryanne enjoyed the zoo... and had her very first ice cream which she seems to be taking pretty seriously

wishing her top teeth could look like this hippos.  She's got bulging, red and swollen top gums and is just waiting in pain for them to break through.

rebel grandma encouraging luke to bang on the fenced off bell 

 Joey & Kate shooting the breeze with their pops

  I love this pic of Joey with his mommy eating ice cream in the sunshine.  a rewind moment from 30 years ago.

 back at home - bedtime stories.  grandpa and grandma obliged us by reading to the kids.  my heart swells to see my kids in their jammies curled up next to Joey's parents getting some grandparent one-on-one time.

reading the Lucy book

Lucy wanted to recreate a picture in her book of Grandma Hale and her with a curlers.   (we think Lucy looks the most like Grandma Hale.  Those beautiful wide set twinkly eyes.)

 Next day Joey took all of us deep into Shelby Forest to share his hobby with his parents.  All 13 of us golfed 9 holes which I'm sure wasn't Joey & Caleb's fastest round ever.   His parents were awesome!  Dad Hale was a natural and his throws looked effortless.  Mom Hale said she could see how someone would really get into this!  (like mother like son)  I followed along grumbling. 

Mom Hale got all sorts of flower bouquets and leaf corsage from the kids.

Lucy threw my pink disk for me when I got done pretending to disc golf

 And Sunday afternoon our neighbor almost hit a bunny with his mower and brought it over for us to take care of.  Luke couldn't have been more excited.  He is always begging for a pet.  So, we played with Peter (a very docile bunny - probably traumatized from the near mowing accident) for an afternoon and then finally let this poor bunny go in our neighbor's yard where he hopefully was reunited with his bunny family.

 oh man, that is a cute bunny.

Well, we loved our time with these two.  Being around Dad Hale with his laid-back approach to life and perfect comic timing and Mom Hale with her quiet melodious voice yet fierce loyalties to family and faith and passion for life leaves me feeling like I want to be a truer bluer human being. 

easter

 egg hunt #1 - Neighborhood hunt at the Walker's.
(we were all commenting on the cold weather.  it was in the 90's last year and this year we were all in sweaters and jackets)

Egg Hunt #3 - Primary Easter Party at the Law's  (egg hunt number 2 was Luke's preschool - no pics)
(more funny weather for an egg hunt.  rainy and wet.  but at least it was just a drizzle until after the egg hunt and i think it makes things interesting, right?)

Egg Decorating

Amanda's baby chicks!

woops - careful maryannie!

Wilson's Easter Pinata 

 We had so many Easter Festivities this year that on Easter Sunday we decided to not do Easter baskets or anything - but maybe it might be a good idea to actually teach our kids about the Resurrection cause at that point, I was pretty sure my kids had no idea why we celebrated Easter and were just loving all the candy.  

I don't know why I never talk about religion or my beliefs on my blog.  I get shy about it I guess.  But I shouldn't.  My little family had a Sunday devotional and talked about Jesus and the story of the end of His mortal life and the resurrection.  It was my Easter highlight for sure.  I have no idea why, but Luke was 100% plugged in to what we were saying.  He was looking right into our eyes and listening to every word.  (a true Easter miracle)  And he asked questions and had interesting descriptions of his own feelings about death and life, etc. 

My favorite part was when he made the connection that Aunt Sarah will be resurrected and said he couldn't wait to see her again and how happy he was that she wouldn't be sick and she could just play with him. 

At the end, we both bore our testimonies to our kids in tears how sweet it is to know we can all live again and that death is not the end.  Luke exclaimed with ferver, "Oh! Jesus is SO nice!  He's so, so, SO nice to us!  And we all get to live again!!"

I agree Luke.  Jesus IS so nice.