handsful

But, I’m cramming it in anyway. As busy as we are, it’s gotta be done.

My dad turned 70 last week! Mom and Dad drove over to our place to celebrate…we hung out, showed them the house (they’d not seen it since moving day…) and garden, opened a few presents, and then went to a local place for a great southern-style lunch. We sent dad home with a slice of pecan sticky bun cheesecake from a nearby bakery. Hope he liked it! Happy Birthday, Dad :) Love you!

I’m keepin’ my eye on you, Granpa…

This has been a BIG week for our Lainey-girl! First, we discovered she had a loose tooth. She spent the next week or so wiggling and twisting, and sure enough yanked that puppy out a few days ago. She was rewarded with 4 quarters from the “daddy-fairy” (no toothfairy here…)

Last weekend, Lainey decided she was done with her training wheels and set out to learn to ride her two-wheeler. It’s not been easy, and she’s had a few frustrated tears for sure. But, she’s doing great and showing herself to be very persistent when she wants something. Marley has been a fabulous big sister-teacher.

Dylan watching the progress…imagine one day when HE rides a bike?!

A hard-working girl. We wrestled with that helmet…it was either too loose or too tight. And, you can see here that the tooth was still hanging on.

While she was learning to ride, Randy was beginning the fence for our garden. We went back and forth on this. Fence, no fence, fence, etc. In the end we decided to go for it and build one…better safe than sorry, I guess. He designed it himself (as is usual when he builds anything), and he’s doing it right. Payton and Ethan have been big helpers! I added another 2 rows of corn last night, while the guys got one side done, began another side, and started the framework for the gate. It’s a big job.

Yesterday, we called our neighbors to see if we could come and visit their donkeys. Yes, we’re in the country now. Mr. and Mrs. Fesperman are both 80 and the sweetest couple around. Just last Sunday, we were out in the backyard…we look up to see Mr. F driving down our yard in his golf cart. He was bringing over a whole bag of homemade mini pecan pies for us. Oh my gracious, they have been so yummy!!

So, Marley, Lainey, Dylan, and I headed across the street to have a little farm experience. Mr. F met us at the barn and drove us over to see his 4 “pet” donkeys.

Tom-Tom is the big white one…then there’s the family of daddy, mommy, and little baby. They came right over for head scratches and apple treats. Well, Tom-Tom stayed behind the fence and made a bunch of noise at us. The roosters crowed a lot (we regularly hear them at our house, they think the sun rises about every few minutes), and the cows pretty much ignored us. Mr. F used to run a very prosperous working farm, but now just keeps his animals for “fun” and for the tax breaks :)

Marley took a lot of the pictures in this post…thanks, girl.

You’re pretty much up to date on us, now…don’t you feel better now?