Easter Week Happenings

We have four birthdays in a month, beginning with Isaac and ending with David - whew.  This is always one of the busiest times of the year and with Easter being in this time frame it makes it even busier!  Here are some glimpses of our week.......

The boys enjoyed the traditional egg coloring. Ignore the crockpot - that was for later in the day!

 Ignore the clutter in the background.......memories are more important than picking up! - most of the time!

My rose bushes are just about to burst with color!

Here's Rachel, studying out on the porch.  She declined to be photographed from the front side.

 

Snowball, the cat, continues to think he is a dog.  He loves to roll over on his back to have his tummy rubbed. I never in a million years thought I would like cats, but the several that we have had  over the last few years have been really snuggly and fun!

We had a big storm front move in and ended up with half an inch of rain!  Lightning, thunder, rain, and yes......HAIL are not the norm for April in Arizona!

 We went to the rodeo grounds bright and early Easter morning for a sunrise service and Easter Egg Hunt.  Yes, it was muddy from the big rain, but we enjoyed watching a bit of the high school regional rodeo before we headed off to church.  And......we had a phone call from Jonathan, in Germany, which was an added bonus to the day!

We were facing due east, right into the morning sun, but you can see the rider on a bucking horse!

Boy, Joshua, sorry I cut your head off!

We have Rachel, Joshua, and David all having birthdays over the next two weeks.  AND, the big exciting news around here is that my parents are moving to Tucson from Florida!  We can't wait to have them closer and to be able to see them more often!

Isaac Turns Seven!

Yes, this young man is now seven, SEVEN!!!!! years old!

Presents were plentiful................

Smiles were abundant...............

The much-wanted train set was received...........

Strawberry cake was sung over (Isaac informed us that 'real' mean wear pink and have pink cake!)......

A very special book came in the mail from Courtney in Alabama.......

All in all, April 10 was a very good day for this very special boy.  Happy 7th Birthday, Isaac!  You are much loved and bring so much joy to our family!

It's Been Awhile...........

Well, this is a random post, nothing terribly exciting.........I had a major Trojan horse attack my laptop and it was unrecoverable.  Bummer.  I had some things on there that I really didn't want to lose!  My computer has always been the expendable one and too many "unqualified" children have been on it and loaded some rather interesting things. And no, it's not the little boys!  But no more!  My dear hubby bought me this brand new one and no one's little fingers are going to touch this - period!

Miss Amanda  went back home awhile back but I had to post this one last picture.  She and the boys got into a puzzle marathon the last day, and had them all on display for us to see.  These boys LOVE puzzles!

 

 

We have had lovely weather recently and all the trees are either budding out or blooming.  This is one of our apple trees.  Of course, we are in a freeze warning for tonight, so who knows what will happen.  No matter how nice the weather gets, I force myself to never, ever plant any flowers until May 1st!

 

 

 

David's been playing baseball this spring and is enjoying it.  He's had quite a year playing three different sports - football, basketball, and now baseball.  It's been a good experience for him to work with all the different coaches and to adapt to their different coaching styles.  And thankfully, no serious injuries!

 

 

This past weekend, Isaac, David, and Joe went to help some Miss Amanda's family load up their moving truck.  Joshua and I were recovering from colds and a cough so we stayed behind.  It was good to have some quality time with Joshua - we did a few errands, and then ate lunch at Railroad Park.  And yes, a few trains did go screaming by!  Definitely a highlight for him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the weather being nice and warm - most days - we are getting the garden ready for planting.  David did the disking and then Joe followed up with the tilling.  Isaac and Joshua are so excited to get planting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming home from the grocery store the other day, this is the sight we had as we turned into our road.  Animals appear and then disappear in various farmers' fields at the drop of a hat.  You might remember that we had hundreds of sheep across the street from us for awhile.  Then, they just disappeared!  You would think that someone in our family would notice hundreds of sheep being hauled off  to........?????  But no, they were just gone!  And these cows?  We enjoyed seeing them for about a week, and now they are gone, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And last, but not least...........another beautiful Arizona sky!  Yes, the land is brown and dusty, but there is nothing more gorgeous than the incredibly deep, deep blue of the sky.  I never get tired of looking at it.