Friends of all Kinds

Last weekend sure was a busy one! Not only did we have an Easter egg hunt but two parties as well. Saturday night we had friends over to our house for dinner. Our friends, Emily and Joey, brought a special guest for the boys (see below). We were fortunate that Mom was still in town so the adults were able to go out for drinks....Whoo hoo!

On Sunday, we had a party over at Anna's house. For those of you who don't know, Anna watched Grady while I worked. She runs a great at home day care. We are still friends with all of the parents and try to get together every now and then.

Anna's "kids". We have all multiplied!! There are so many more kids in our little bunch.

The original crew (minus Quinn).

Not sure what is going on in the tent but it resulted in bringing the house down, literally. The tent poles were broken shortly after this pic was taken.

The best chocolate moustache ever. It's perfectly formed.

If you follow our blog, you know that Emily has a plethora of wild animals at any given time. Her newest is, Jack, a grey squirrel. He was found close to a school and brought to her as she rehabilitates animals. His brothers and sisters were taken back to the nest by mama squirrel. Apparently, Jack had knocked himself out and mom thought he was a gonner. She left him and that's where Emily came in.

Myles loved feeding him walnuts.

Ahhh, there's a squirrel on my leg. Grady just loved him. We are heading over to Emily's when she releases him for a little going away party.

Dad even got in on the action. Who wouldn't want to hold this cute little thing?

Bye Mimi

Oh, I had two sad little boys yesterday as Mimi had to say goodbye. She was here for 10 days watching the boys as I worked. Not only did she watch the kids but she created a beautiful front yard for us. Mom and I have our differences when it comes to yard work and she thinks I don't appreciate all the work she did to "add curb appeal" to our yard but I do! I might not jump up and down when I see a flower but I do think it looks wonderful. She also told me about 1000 times that I have to water the new plants....I got it, I got it....will do. She described her telling me to water the yard like me telling her to use gym equipments. That's about right, Mom.


So, she had to leave after I got off of work and the waterworks began. I immediately packed them up and took them to the ice cream shop in town. It seemed to make things a little better. We miss you, Mimi. Thank you for all of your help.

Myles helping Mimi in the yard.

I know this one is blurry but I thought it was cute. Mimi took it while I was working.

Myles misses Mimi. "Where did Mimi go?"

Yard work.

Wish I had some before pics. It looked awful.

Easter Egg Hunt

It was time again for the annual Black Mountain Easter Egg Hunt. Unfortunately, Josh couldn't make it as he was putting the roof on our addition. So, Mimi came with me to help wrangle the boys. Fun was had by all.

The boys LOVED the Easter bunny.

Eli, Grady and Myles.

Who can resist a giant fire dog?

We had to go back for round number two with the Easter bunny. I had to pull Myles off of him.

Bouncy House!!

The Easter egg hunt was underway. There were kids running around like mad. Myles held his own and found a ton.

Luckily, these eggs weren't filled with candy....just trinkets.

Best friends. Eli and Lilyanne are cousins but we feel like part of the family as well. We see Lilyanne almost everyday and Eli lives down the street. I love that they have such tight friends already.

Special Visitors

The boys have had a great week! First, Grandpa stopped by on his way back from South Carolina. He was visiting his kids down there and swung by to see Grady and Myles. They were so excited to see him! He also came bearing Easter baskets from Gramma. Thank you all for the goodies.

A few days after Grandpa left, we picked up Mimi from Aunt Duffy's house. She is staying with us for 10 days as I am working at the park. It's Earth Day again, so I am super busy at work. I have programs every day for the next three weeks. I have to admit, it's great to be in the "real" world for a bit.

Grandpa came with us to the park.

Enjoying the wonderful Spring weather. Grandpa, thank you so much for stopping by. It was a real treat for the boys as they love you so much. We really appreciate all you do for us. We took Mimi to the Biltmore to see the Festival of Flowers.

Smell the wisteria

Lilyanne, Anika and Kirsten joined us.

Tip toe through the tulips

Talk about a nice lawn.

I love this picture. It's so real! I took another one that was much better but this one made me laugh. Myles was grumpy because Anika wouldn't hold his hand....too cute.

Anika tackling Myles.

Best buddies. Don't they look so much older than they are?

After the gardens we checked out the farm.

Addition: Week 3

Josh has accomplished a lot of work on the addition this week. The inside is almost finished with the exception of a door, trim and some built-ins. He has been working until 9 or 10 every night, trying to get this wrapped up. Needless to say, I have been spending a ton of time with the boys. On Saturday, Josh offered to take them to his friends party so I could paint. Oh, what a glorious 3 hours it was!! Mindless painting was like heaven. Silence....no one talking...Lovely!

The boys, of course, still want to help Dad with everything. Mostly just driving him crazy with incessant questions. Most of which have nothing to with what he is work on. "Um, Dad, what if a T-rex and a beaver met? Would they be friends". This and other questions of this nature are slowly driving Josh insane. Now he just has to finish the outside.....

The best "helpers" a Dad could ever want.

Josh cut the hole connecting the new room to our bedroom. (Notice the mountain of dirty laundry to the left?) I refused to go to the laundry mat, knowing that the washer and dryer were coming on Friday. Ah, drywall, my new nemesis. I had the pleasure of helping Josh hang the drywall. Not a job I would ever want to do again. Plus, the dust has permeated my entire house. It is amazing how far that dust can travel. I've been dusting for days. My new washer and dryer!! I have never been so happy to buy an appliance. A real full size washer! Whoo Hoo! After the boys went to sleep tonight, Josh and I started putting up the closet organizers.