Don's 40th Birthday

This weekend we went to Nashville to celebrate Don's (Matt's brother) 40th birthday. There was a surprise element to it, he knew his family was coming but not that some of his softball buddies from Memphis were coming in :) He also was surprised with a new grill...it is huge but he has been wanting it so everyone pitched in an bought it for him. Only bad thing is it wasn't assembled so he had to do that Saturday morning so he could cook for everyone. He went shopping with his mom and all the "surprise" people showed up while he was gone. We also decorated everything (in black and white of course) and set up all the food. Gabby had gone all out with a "baseball/softball" game food items....we had hot dogs, hamburgers, bbq bologna sandwiches, nachos, and drinks. The kids got to run around outside as it wasn't raining (at least for most of the day), jump on the trampoline and smack around a Spongebob pinata :) We almost set the house on fire with all the candles on his cake :) Then everyone took cover inside while it hailed! There were 3 tornadoes in the area but other than some flickering lights we were good. We always have so much fun with Don, Gabby and their kiddos :)

Don has played softball for years and kept lots of his old jersey's so we decorated the house with them :)


He got 2 cakes, someone must love him alot to make him 2 cakes :)


The chef with his new grill


So much grill...so little food :)


Food table


A bunch of the kiddos jumping on the trampoline


Don with his softball buddies


Look at all those candles

Bunks Beds in use

Yesterday afternoon we went and got the mattress's for the bunk beds and then this afternoon we assembled the bunk beds. After washing the kids new sheets and getting the beds all made up the kids were thrilled to get to enjoy their new beds. Madison really likes them too and keeps telling us she is big enough for bunk beds :) Maybe we will let her sleep on the lower bunk occasionally. We are letting the kids take turns on the top bunk. Each child gets it for a month at a time. All will be fair since they will each get it for 6 months. Taylor is starting out on top. Here are a few pics of the beds and one pic of them enjoying their new beds. We are so proud of them and thank Aaron for lending his time and skill in making them (and Daddy too!).







Notice Madison's foam curlers, we are trying to get her curls to come back...the winter has been hard on them and also it is really getting long and that is pulling the curl out :(

Freedom Musical

Thursday night before school was out for spring break the 3rd grade classes at Taylor's school put on a Freedom Musical program. It had all patriotic songs and the kids were all dressed in red, white or blue. It was very neat. Not all of the 3rd graders participated in the program but Taylor really wanted too. The pics didn't turn out very good b/c we were sitting pretty high in the bleachers.

Part of the 3rd grade classes (there are 18 3rd grade classes with about 20 students in each class).


Before the program started


Some of the songs incorporated hand movements


The last song was really neat and the kids used different colored plates along with the hand movement.

Bunk beds

I am going to have to start posting more often as I have gotten behind in what we have been up to. We have been looking for bunk beds for Taylor and Caleb who are currently (but temporarily) sharing a room. We didn't want to spend a lot of money b/c the kids already have beds. After weeks of searching and not finding we asked our friend Aaron if he could make some. We were so excited when he said yes! And the cost to make them was $100.00. And I bet they are built better than those who pay $600 for. Matt and Aaron spent a Saturday and part of a Sunday working on them and the kids even got to lend a hand. We are hoping to get them assembled in the kids room on Friday so they can sleep in them. We are taking baby steps :) Actually we have just been so busy that we haven't been able to go get mattress's and there isn't any reason to assemble them until we have those. Hopefully the rain will give us enough of a break that we can get mattress's Thursday.

Caleb standing on the wood at the beginning of the project


Aaron cutting the wood


Taylor sanding the wood


Matt and Aaron hard at work...see the sawdust flying :)


Assembling the bed frames


Almost done


We forgot to get a picture of the finished beds before the guys took them apart for us to load in the truck and bring home.

The beds have been painted but sadly there are no pictures of this. Matt and his mom did the painting while me and the kids were gone for Spring Break. They are a pretty gray/blue color. I will post a picture of them once they are assembled in the kids room.

How Caleb likes to relax after a long, stressful day...

(BTW, he was supervised while taking a candlelight bubble bath)

Cave exploring and creek fun!

Last month when we went to Nashville we went down to explore the cave on Matt's brothers property. The kids have been wanting to show it to us so we "caved" and went. It was really warm but pretty muddy. Madison had to wear Riley's old boots and could barely walk in them, it was quite amusing :) She was determined to keep up with everyone else though so off she went. We had to walk through the woods to get to the cave. It is nothing much really but to the kids is pretty awesome....you can go in on one side and come out on the other. On one end shorter people can stand up but the other end requires squatting for all except the smallest of people (like Madison, Shelby, Kelsey and Caleb).

Here we are "squatting" on one end


The kiddos inside the cave


Caleb splashing around in the water that is in the cave


The 3 little girls playing in the water (luckily it was really warm b/c they got soaked)


Taylor climbing over a log to get into the other end of the cave


After playing in the cave awhile we decided to walk down the creek to go back to the house. Madison did really well walking in those boots even on the uneven rock bed of the creek. There were many times when I thought she was going to fall down but she managed to stay standing until almost the very end when she finally wobbled just enough that she fell, she was able to catch herself though and only got the sleeves of her shirt wet. She was having such a good time even though she had a hard time keeping up with everyone else :) There aren't many pictures b/c I didn't have the camera with me...Matt had it at this point.

Here she is going down the creek


Taylor, Haley, Riley, Caleb and Kelsey making their way down the creek