Birthday Party

Here are some shots from Charlie's first birthday party!

Jack was kind enough to help Charlie with blowing out the candle and opening the gifts.

Its a frog in case you are wondering.
Charlie had just eaten a big dinner, so he didn't eat the cake. However on his actual b-day, 9th, we had chocolate cake and he devoured it! He was a mess and we caught it on video but not with the camera (sorry!).

Our kids are famous now. Well, not really. But they inspired 2 new menu items at our favorite place to eat lunch, The Old Towne Store. Its a health food store that also has a bakery/deli. I LOVE to eat there!!!! And since we're friends w/ the people that own it and work there, they always whip something up for the boys. Now our special requests have been added to the menu.

If its too small to read: the Jack Special is 1/2 a peanut butter and honey sandwhich and the Charlie Special is 1/2 a turkey and cheese sandwhich.

This morning we planted the plants in our 4 ft by 4 ft raised beds. I went to a seminar on square foot gardening and we're going to try this method. We have high hopes for lots of vegetables! Good thing we didn't plant yesterday. We had a bad storm pass through last night; tornado siren and all. The siren is just a block from our house, so it was very loud last night at 11pm. The four of us had a fun "hall party" listening to the radio.

A year ago today.....

... CHARLIE WAS BORN!!! He turned one today! Here is our precious birthday boy! We're having his birthday party on Saturday, so check back in a few days for some messy cake eating!

New Pets

We have become what I guess would be called backyard hobby farmers. We are planting a garden tomorrow and a few weeks ago a friend gave us 5 baby chickens. I have been wanting chickens for a while and Mark was now forced to build a coup for me to house these eventual egg-layers! Well, Mark's dad got involved helping build the coup and yard and he never just throws anything together. So we have a top-notch set-up. Here is Jack playing inside the coup before the chicks moved in.

Jack was selling hamburgers, popcorn, and pizza to us through the nest door.

Here he is going in through the front door.
And Charlie sat by studying nature. He particularly likes eating it too. Today while I was working on our garden he ate a clump of good ol' earth. Where was I, you ask? Right there beside him. You can't take your eyes off him for a minute!

John and Jack putting the finishing touches on the coup and yard.

Mark and Jack trying to coax the chicks into their new home.

Thinking about coming out.

The chicks finally came out of the pet carrier when I got on the other side and started talking to them. They're really fun to watch - pecking, stretching their wings. One of the chicks is pretty aggressive towards the others, so we think it might be a rooster. We are beginners for sure! But what fun!

Tunnel Play

Jack and Charlie have started to play together really well. Sometimes it makes me nervous b/c they can be so rough, but they love it. Boys! One thing they love to do is play in this tunnel. They'll chase each other and Jack will throw things in the tunnel for Charlie to go after or while he is in there. Here is a pic of Charlie during this playtime. Do you think he is having fun? Notice the 5th tooth coming in on the bottom.

Charlie chasing Jack

Look how tight his shirt is. Is it b/c he is growing? NO! His face says "Ah, help me!"
His brother is trying to drag him out.

Jack is so proud of his new Thomas the Train t-shirt. Thanks Teresa! Maybe I'm boasting, but we sure do have cute kids.

The Zoo

Last weekend we took a mini-vacation to Little Rock. We stayed in a hotel that had an indoor pool and swam on Friday. Then on Sat, we went to the zoo. Here is a picture of Charlie and Jack on the drive up there.

And this is Jack on the return drive. If I had taken a picture of Charlie, all you could have seen was the top of his head, he fell asleep before we left the zoo parking lot. And Jack was out no less than 5 minutes later. They were exhausted! But they had a good time!

Jack enjoying breakfast in bed at the hotel.


The zoo had a 30 min show w/ a singing hostess (the red haired lady you see in the background) and this tree frog. It seemed that the boys enjoyed the show, although they didn't participate in any of the songs. I asked Jack if he wanted to take a picture with the frog and he said yes. However, he was less than thrilled when he actually got close.


Do they look like they are having a good time? Maybe a little tired.

The day we visited the zoo, the bears were celebrating their birthdays. Jack got to view one bear eating his cake from his daddy's shoulders. There was quite a crowd.

When we asked Jack what his favorite part about the zoo was, he said "The choo-choo train and tiger." We weren't able to photograph the tigers, but we did get the train ride. Here we are waiting for the train ride to start.

I think that's an orangutan up there. It was huge!

Random Shots of the boys

Mark went out of town for a week, attending a conference in TN. The boys missed him a lot, especially Jack. Mark returned after Jack had gone to bed, so it was a suprise to find daddy home the next morning. This is a snapshot of that morning. Precious!

Bath-time around here is wild! I much prefer Mark to give them a bath here lately - they are so rough!


We had a beautiful winter day back in the beginning of March, so we went to the park.