This is a picture of the rear lights on our new car. I've always thought the lights on the Altima were interesting! Henry thinks it looks like something he's seen before. What do they look like to you? I want to see if I am crazy or not because I agree with him. Please don't look ahead to see what everyone else says. Make your own guess first.

Last fall, members of our church, Thern and Trillia, were part of a show on DIY (Do It Yourself) Network. The show "Grounds for Improvement" came to help them build a new deck. The episode airs today at 4:30 on DIY. Several members of our church were there to lend a helping hand (and get on national TV) including Brian, Zerita's new husband. I hope someone records it! We don't get the DIY Network.

"I love to eat Heinz Ketchup. I will sometimes eat a little drop of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing." Henry ~ age 2


"I love Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. In addition, I will also devour Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing and Heinz Ketchup, too. I have been known to lick all the ranch dressing off lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, chicken nuggets, etc. I will also smile on demand." Jonathan ~ age 2

Ally and Caden came to visit us today (and Chandra, too).

Someone turned the tv on just as Dora was starting! If we had only had the video camera when Dora came on. All three toddlers started screaming and jumping up and down.


Caden isn't too intested in Dora. He's just interested in chewing on his hands.









I decided to get a group picture.



Take 1




Take 2




Take 3




Take 4

I am definitely seeing some progress!


Look, we have grass growing, too!

Last weekend, the boys loved helping their daddy in the yard until they got tired of their tools and wanted to use Daddy's real tools. Eventually, they just decided to run around in the yard while we prepared the yard for seeding. With all the rain we've had this week, we're hoping to see some new grass soon.

Please pray for Sarah. For those of you not from CCK, she is a young woman in our church who is in ICU in critical condition with a bacterial infection that has caused her blood to be toxic. You can see updates on her sister's blog.

Anyone who knows me pretty well knows that my favorite flower is the hydrangea. When I bought my first house in 2001, I was determined to grow my own. After much trauma - Brad running over it with his car, sweet Samuel picking the flowers off to give to me and his mom, my neighbor mowing over it and weeding-eating it to death - I gave up. It wasn't meant to be; I am not a gardener.

Last year, at our friends' wedding, the centerpieces were potted hydrangeas. The person at each table with the sticker on the botton of his/her seat got to take the hydrangea home. Guess who won!? After some research on hydrangeas, Rob and I found the perfect place to plant it. It made no progress during the first summer.

I have checked on it occassionally this spring with no success, but I am finally seeing some green! I bought some Miracle-Gro specifically for "acid-loving" hydrangeas. We'll see how it goes.




Day 1











Edited to add a picture of the nice couple who gave us the hydrangea - Hi Amy!

The Cornerstone Church website is finally up and running! Make sure you check it out!!

We traveled to Kingsport on Friday to return my dad's car. In the short time we were there - 3 1/2 hours - we saw my dad; my aunt and uncle; a friend from high school and college who happened to drive by when we were all outside at my dad's house; my dad's next door neighbor (remember the nosey one that helped my mom when she fell?); my brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews. That's a lot of people to see! Here's some pictures from the whirlwind trip:

Boys and Grandpa



My nephews and my boys

Adam wanted to ride in our new car to dinner.

We got our new car on Thursday. It's a 2002 Nissan Altima, and it's is definitely a gift from God. A man that Rob works with is going back home to Japan - Rob works for a Japanese company - and he needed to sell his car. It was an incredible deal - about $1500 less than wholesale. If we had purchased this car at a dealer it would have been several thousand dollars more!

An interesting fact that we've learned through this is that in Japan most people buy new cars because used cars are "looked down on." Their fear of man is our gain!

We moved the boys' car seats to the new car so they could go for a spin. But with gas prices pushing $3.00 a gallon, we may be moving them to the car every weekend instead of driving the van around town.

We headed back to the zoo this morning! We went with Johanna and Ada and Kristie and her boys, Samuel, Josh, Noah and Gabe. It's so nice having the membership to the zoo. We can just go whenever we want and not worry about taking it all in because we can just come back another day! We'll definitely be asking for a new zoo pass for the boys' next birthday.


I was surprised that the boys did so well with the chimpanzees after our last trip to the zoo. This chimpanzee wasn't very interested in Henry and Jonathan, and they weren't very interested in him either. They just liked playing with the machine that turns pennies into souviners for the small price of 75 cents.


There is an interesting traveling exhibit at the zoo right now. It's mole rats. There was an area that kids could "dress" the naked mole rats. The boys enjoyed playing with the magnets. In this exhibit, there is a porcupine, rats (oh, boy), guinea pigs and a chinchilla. So if you are fearful of rodents, I wouldn't visit this exhibit.

Congratulation to my cousin, Tina and her husband, Daniel, on the birth of their second son, Bryson James who was born today! Brother Will is very happy to have a new brother. Look at that newborn Tennessee hat!

When we bought our house last year, the former owners told us that they put up lattice in the backyard for privacy. It was sooo ugly. Rob started demolishing it on Saturday.

For those who were wondering when we were going to get our boys' ratty hair cut, it's done.

Look at the bee in this picture!! I didn't even see it until I enlarged the picture to figure out what was on Henry's shirt. If he only knew....

We bought clippers in January so we could learn to cut it ourselves. What a nightmare! Lots of conflict and bad haircuts. I was too embarassed to even to take "after" pictures. (You can see pictures from that day by clicking here.) So, I knew they needed a hair cut, but I was afraid to attempt it again. Maybe one day we'll get those clippers back out and try again. But for now, it's back to Glenn's Barber Shop.



This picture is just for fun. Jonathan was trying to show me his new tooth.

Have you noticed that I haven't posted any pictures (of my own) this week? Last Thursday in the rush to get to Charlotte for the Women's Conference, I lost the data card for our digital camera. I thought, "No big deaL! We'll just go get another one." Rob informed me that they aren't cheap! We bought a replacement on Wednesday, but I was determined to find that silly card before we opened the new one. I just found it!

When the boys wake up I'll post a new picture! They don't look like the same kids. You'll have to check back later to see why.

After a rough trip to Wal-mart, I thought it would be good to let the boys play at the park. There was a sprinkling of people there with their toddlers and pre-schoolers. At first things were great. The boys were having fun! The all the sudden I had that fear that every mother knows! WHERE'S HENRY!? I look around everywhere. He was no where in sight. That when I started to panic. I noticed that three moms are commenting on the toddler running as fast as he could away from the playgroud....Sure enough, it was my child! After a 50 yard sprint and a quick, firm discussion, we returned to the playground. When we got in the car I commended him for staying on the playground after I told him to. He just smiled and said, "Run Mommy!" Maybe those harnesses for toddlers aren't all that bad.

Most of you reading this already know Little Andy...just remember to pray today. He is at Vanderbilt for his heart cath.

For those who don't know Andy's story, go to this link to read more about this miracle baby. Scroll down to the October 8th entry to read all of this story.

Edited 4/6 - I found out last night that they took Andy yesterday, but his heart cath is actually TODAY.

Just a quick note for those who didn't attend the women's conference. The messages are ALREADY on the website at Crossway Church. Here's the link.

I borrowed this picture from Jill's blog. This is a picture of the women who attended from our chuch.

My picture of the sign at the Knoxville Zoo made it on the Girl Talk Blog. Check it out here!