The Weekend of the Bean

This past weekend we were in Martin for The Soybean Festival.  This is an annual event in downtown Martin, and one that holds a feeling of magic amongst the community during the week-long festival.  In my opinion, anyway. :)

It was always exciting when I was growing up, and over the past few years it has grown significantly with more and more added each year.  Since being married, we've missed a few years here and there, but have been able to attend the past two years and look forward to raising the boys with a sense of community pride as our town hosts The Soybean Festival. 

The pictures I took while we were there are quite lame; it was busy and I just forgot to take pictures, but here are a few.

--Emmitt was taking it all in--

Lawson riding the teeter-totter amongst the Friday Night Pig-Out-in-the-Park cookers...

Lawson rode a few rides...

...and played a few games. 

He had a great time!

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Prior to The Soybean Festival...

We left Columbia and headed to Martin on Thursday afternoon... my mom and sister came and spent the week with us and we had a great visit!  The boys enjoyed all of their love and attention, and we shopped, ate out for lunch, Russ grilled dinner at night, and mom made a yummy apple cake from Southern Living... fall is upon us!!  Once again, I took one picture the whole week they were here... I've got to work on that!

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During The Soybean Festival...

While in Martin, we had the opportunity to visit with friends and family, alike... on Friday, we joined Mrs. Jane and all of the other K-5th graders in Martin at the Festival... (kind of crazy), but nonetheless, it was fun and Lawson was able to hang out with Mrs. Jane, and Emmitt and I walked around and talked to many people that I hadn't seen in a very long time; hugs and smiles were exchanged.  It was fun.

We also went to see the Westview Chargers {our high school alma mater} play Camden on Friday night with a WIN so that was exciting!  Lawson and Emmitt sat beautifully through the game and we were able to sit with my best friend, Jennifer, and her family which was fun... we look forward to attending the games when we move back.

My dad has some new chickens at his house, so we went to visit him for a while and the chickens were really neat for Lawson to see... Emmitt slept the whole time we were there, but the rabbits, kittens, and chickens were lots of fun!

On Saturday night, we took a date night with friends Ben and Jennifer and that was such an enjoyable evening... I must say that eating out with Emmitt is flat out not enjoyable.  Thank you, Mr. Richard and Mrs. Jane for keeping the boys; sorry they were little stinkers at bedtime!  : ) 

Saturday afternoon was very lazy and we spent a little while outside.  Emmitt is quite fond of the ranger these days...

Here he is sporting his GOLD on the ranger... Mizzou football game pics to come next!

I think that wraps up our Bean week and weekend.  It was great fun and great memories were made, even if they are only mental without pictures.  :)  We look forward to life in Martin... will you please pray for our house to sell?  Thanks!  :)



Play Date

About three weeks ago, we enjoyed a play date at the park with two of Lawson's friends from school.

They had a great time, and I enjoyed visiting with their moms, too.

Here they are... these three sweethearts...

-Lawson, Lyla, and Jorah-

And of course, Mr. Emmitt also joined us.  :)  He had so much fun!  He is finally wearing shoes and wore them for a long period of time while at the park.  I was quite happy!

--Lyla on the swing--

--Jorah was so sweet with Emmitt--

I love this picture... I believe this is proof that they were truly enjoying each others company. 

Stephen's Park is probably the nicest park I've ever been to for kids.  It has a great sand area for digging and they found lots of treasures.

Lyla, Jorah, and Lawson at the swings...

--Emmitt--

--Lawson and Lyla--

--Lawson--

It was so much fun! 

We sadly learned that Lyla is going to another school this year and Jorah is in the other class at school this year, so we hope to play again soon as Lawson will miss these two girls. 

Great friends warm the heart, don't they?

Ours were warmed that day... may yours be warmed by someone today.

Thanks for reading; I hope you have a great week!

We're Moving Home

Yes, you read that right.  We're moving home... moving back to our hometown of Martin, Tennessee.

Some of you read and follow regularly, and if so, you're probably scratching your head thinking, "what?, they just moved to Columbia, MO"... and you are right.  We just moved here last November, the week before Thanksgiving to be exact. 

Russ (we) took a career move and we moved from Evansville, Indiana with great excitement.  We were moving to a really nice city, Russ was going to be working from home, and I was going to be staying at home with our children.  It was an exciting move for us as a family, and we are extremely thankful for taking this move.  We have made friends through church, have several great neighbors, live in a great neighborhood, have seen and done some neat things, and we are extremely pleased with Lawson's school.  Life is great in Columbia.

With all of that said, you maybe wondering "why?"... Why are they moving back? 

As great as life is here in Columbia, we are six hours from our family.  Russ travels frequently, leaving me here with the boys, which is not a big deal, but having family to help would be very nice.  And just the simple fact that we have come to realize that raising our boys close to family is important to us.  Our children will be around their grandparents on a daily basis, they will get to know their other family members and cousins, they will have the opportunity for agricultural exposure, and they will be raised with many of our friends' children.  These things are important to us. 

We've always valued these things, however it wasn't until visiting our hometown became more difficult due to distance that we noticed how much we valued these things.  And agriculturally speaking, that's who we are.  Our agriculture backgrounds made us (Russ and me) who we are today and living in a nice subdivision isn't going to gain the boys those experiences.  All of those pieces combined, we made the decision that we need to be at "home".

It's been eight years since we've lived at "home".  Russ and I married, returned from our honeymoon, and immediately left for West Lafayette, Indiana.  We have never had our family in our back yard, so to speak.  We are a little nervous about this aspect, but believe the other advantages outweigh the possibility of our family driving us crazy. :)  We love you, mom and dad... on both sides.    There will be a balance and I believe we can find it.  Our boys deserve this.  And so does our family.

So, how did this happen and what happens next?

Well, we made the decision to simply ask Russ' boss if we could move to Tennessee.  This was a BIG decision and took a LOT of courage.  What would they say?  How would they respond?  Would they say, "are you crazy?"  We just didn't know how this would all turn out.  But, we prayed, and we prayed, and we prayed.  Russ and I have always been very private with our moving decisions, not telling anyone we were moving until it was a signed and sealed deal... having everyone's input is not always a good thing, if you know what I mean.  But this time around, we told everybody!  If we thought they would pray, we told them.  And let me tell you, we have never felt so good about a decision... God's hands were so evident in every step of this decision.  It is the right thing to do... without a doubt. 

As to what happens next... our house has been on the market now for 68 days.  :(  Yes, I've neglected posting this.  Our last house sold in 30 days so this has been discouraging to us, but once again, God is on our side and isn't quiting on us now.  He is faithful to His children and we trust Him.  We have a house there in Martin on contract and they are so kindly waiting until ours sells, no matter how long it takes.  Isn't that nice?

We are very excited and ask for your prayers, too.  Will you please pray that our house will sell to the special couple/family who needs our house?  We know it isn't all about us and therefore pray for the family who needs to live here... we pray that God will bring them to our door, and that they will fall in love, causing them to buy our house.

With a corporate move, there is typically a buy-out if your house doesn't sell within a 60-90 day period, they pay your closing costs and realtor costs, and then they come pack you up, move you out, then move you in and unpack you.  Not this time.  This will be our first move as big boys and girls moving all by ourselves.  A little scary, but that was their condition on us moving back home.  It's all us.  So, here we go.

I will keep you posted, but in the mean time, we ask that you please pray for our house to sell, and for praise and thanksgiving for the opportunity to move back home for God truly answered the prayers of many.

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I found a picture that I think is perfect for this post...

8 years later... we're returning "home".

In this picture, we are leaving our wedding reception, which was held in Martin, with a wide-open road ahead.  We would have never imagined we would be moving back to West Tennessee only eight short years later.

We're excited about what's to come and trust in our Lord to continue to guide and bless us and our family.

Thanks for reading and thank you for praying, too!

First Day of School

Today was the big day! 

Lawson returned to preschool and he was so excited!

He awoke a little earlier than normal and when I reminded him of this special day, his smile was priceless!

Russ so sweetly took these pictures as we attempted to get a good "first day of school" picture!

(Why are pictures so difficult to take at this age?!)

I printed these cute signs here and taped a paint stick to the back... I hope to use them in the coming years.

According to his teachers, he had a great day and was so "grown up". 

He has definitely changed and grown over the summer... 

Sadly, we learned that our favorite teacher here in Columbia, Mrs. LeeAnne, will not be with him this year.  :(  She is retiring after 25 years.  We received the news when we arrived, and were introduced to his new teacher, Mrs. Stephanie.

She seemed very kind and Lawson seemed to quickly warm up to her, and he has spoken well of her since being at home.  Mrs. LeeAnne was there today and will also be there Thursday to help with transition, but I must say that I wasn't able to hold back my tears.  I was just so shocked and sad.  I know he will be fine and I trust the church's judgement to ensure a good teacher for their program. 

Mrs. LeeAnne will always have a special place in our hearts.

As to his day, this is what he told me...

My favorite thing was playing outside (typical boy).

I liked making my necklace and bookworm. (see below)

We read a book.

Nobody went to time out.

Sums it up in the words of a little boy, I suppose.

And lastly, a little picture with note-worthy information on this first day...

And we're off... off to a great year, I'm sure!

The Zoo (STL)

Two weeks ago, we took a little trip to St. Louis and visited the zoo; we had so much fun!

This was our first family-of-four vacation.  Of course, it was only two hours from home, but nonetheless, it was a great getaway for just the four of us.

Emmitt is finally getting a little easier and is walking and running, and over the past few weeks he has discovered dogs and other animals causing him to get extremely excited... we could hardly wait to see how he responded to the zoo animals...  I think this first picture says it all!

They let us pet the guinea pigs... how much better can you get for your first stop at the zoo?!

And just in case you can't tell... he LOVED it!

Daddy and Lawson petting the Burrow... (looked like a donkey to me)

-There were cool games to stop and play along the way-

This was probably my favorite stop of the day - the goats!

I am quite fond of goats as we had them when I was a little girl and for some reason I simply think they are cute.

We were able to get up close and personal with them and they were so very gentle.

Lawson thoroughly enjoyed himself and was able to brush them with the provided brushes... 

Emmitt so badly wanted to be brave and get down to play, but he comfortably hung out in dad's arms.

Here he is with a cute little kid; his little horns are just beginning to develop.

-Emmitt was enjoying his gentleness-

I like this picture of Lawson with the unofficially named "Calico Goat".

The aquarium area was neat... fish, otters, hippos, and more gliding effortlessly through the blue water seemed to be mesmerizing for some reason.

The elephant was a hit for the day. 

Baby Kinze was no where in sight, but seeing this mama elephant was really exciting!

I believe I forgot to mention that the weather man's prediction was about 7 degrees off and it was 93 degrees vs. the forecasted 86.  Some may think that 7 degrees is not that big of a deal, but let me tell ya... 93 degrees was HOT.  We were extremely thankful for the mature trees providing shade, as well as the mist fans, but I was certainly wishing for that 86 degrees!  

All of that to say that many animals were resting in the shade and weren't very visible to their guests.  Can't say that I blame them.  This was the only bear that we saw, and it is a Sloth Bear.  If you look closely you will see his claws are like a sloth's and so is the shape of face/nose.

He was entertaining us with his ball and believe it or not, Emmitt was more interested in the water shooting in the air. :)

I learned a little something that day... I had no clue that penguins live in hot conditions... like 93 degrees hot.  Did you?  Well, I suppose they are ok as they were swimming and flipping around without any obvious cares in the world.  I do like penguins, I must say.

-Emmitt particularly loved this fountain-

We rode the carousel, the lion to be exact.  The "conductor" came by to see if it was ok that he was riding an animal that didn't "go up and down"... I said, "absolutely, I specifically picked this one for that very reason!"

Russ and Lawson were ahead of me, and I was disappointed that I couldn't take their picture.  All of the sudden, I caught a glimpse of them in the mirror so I captured it to add to our memories!  :)

We also road the train... Here Lawson is saying "choo, choo!", as he pulls the imaginary string.  :)

Emmitt couldn't decide where or which direction to look... there were cool animals all around!

I didn't realize how much I liked these next few animals, they were so neat! 

The stripes on the zebra were so vibrant and beautiful!

This was the only cat we could see, but we could certainly hear many more.  (kind of scary)

She was hiding up high in the tree to stay cool, I'm guessing.

She finally looked right at me... isn't she beautiful?  She looks so peaceful to me.  I really like her... in her cage, that is.

The Zoo MAP was a big deal for Lawson.  He is all about them these days.  Russ has printed several off for him in the past few weeks and if we see them at the mall or a fire exit map in another store, etc. we have to stop and look at them. 

He was all about this zoo map!

These camels were also really cool to me.

And lastly, the giraffes... like the zebras, their colors and shapes were beautiful!  I was amazed at how beautiful they were.  And SO big!!! 

We saw much more, of course, but these were a few of our favorites.  We did not, however, make it to the reptile house.  Did I mention it was HOT?  It was too hot to trudge up the big hill with our strollers to wait in line to go into the reptile house, so we detoured that area on the map and Lawson helped lead us back to the Welcome Center.

And believe it or not, we left the zoo with nothing more than the (free) zoo map and two St. Louis Zoo pressed pennies!  Since Russ and I have been dating/married, we always press our pennies when it is available.  We have several from the past 13 years, and now Lawson and Emmitt each have one from our first family-of-four vacation! :) 

It was a great day!  Lots of memories full of priceless smiles and two excited little boys!  And for the record... both boys did beautifully.  There was no crying, whining, fighting, none of the such.  I'm thinking they might have been afraid we would leave them there!

And lastly, I couldn't believe it, but this trip to the zoo cost us a grand total of $60. The zoo is actually free.  However,  you can get a pass to ride the train and the carousel, go through the petting zoo, see the sting rays, and watch a 3D movie all for $10 each, excluding Emmitt because he is under two, and then all four of us ate a hot and really good kid-friendly lunch in the air conditioned restaurant for $30!

We got in and out for $60 and had passes for anything and everything possible. 

We didn't get a souveineer other than the penny because number one, we don't need anything else at our house, and number two, because Lawson never saw the super big and nice gift shop, and we didn't mention it.   I don't think that makes us bad parents, but I will say it made me feel really bad until Russ said, "Hey Lawson, what was your favorite part of the zoo today?"  His response, in a very excited voice, "My favorite part was the train, dad!"

The train... not the animals, but the train.  :) 

It was a great day, and we look forward to more fun trips with our boys!