Gifts from God!

Even covered in red mud, sheetrock dust, and holding a box of bugs (Yes, the bugs will travel back to the rental house with us!) our boys are so precious! I thank God for them daily and pray for their safety too-which is much needed considering they are both such daredevils! I am so blessed-not because of a new house, but because of the 2 boys and thier dad that will be living in it! Thanks to God! He is so good!

The house is moving right along! They are putting up the siding up under the porches and around areas of the house. The cedar-shake style siding should be put on the first of next week! Hopefully the brick on the front will be finished around that same time!

They finished all of the sheetrock over the weekend and are mudding the walls now. It will take a little while for them to finish that task. Thank goodness, because I am really struggling with choosing my paint colors!
The guys came on Monday to finish the porches. We decided to stamp tan colored conrete in a cobblestone pattern on the front and back porch. It was really cool to watch them do this! I can't wait to see the finished look! On Tuesday they will wash the gray color stuff off the porch and will later put a clear sealant on them. We will keep you posted on the outcome-hope it's good!
Havey helps Mr. Hayes on the bulldozer.
SL gets to help too!

To squish or not to squish? That is the question! Well, we decided to squish our bricks! In other words, the brick layers will squeeze a bit of morter out of the joints between each brick. We saw this look on a lot of houses in Birmingham and absolutely loved it! It apparently has not made it to Columbus or Starkville yet because several people think we are crazy! That's okay, it's not their house. We just like that textured look for our home. This photo is of the back of the house. This is the 2nd time they have done this wall because they forgot to turn the bricks in one area and had to tear the bricks down and begin again, but now they've got it!

SL took this picture on Monday. He does good getting everyone in the photo, but he doesn't give you much warning before he snaps the picture. (Let's hope that is why this is such a bad photo of me.) This is Marena, our soon to be neighbor. She is from Russia and speaks English and Russian, so the boys are always getting her to tell them words in Russian. Hays and Marena are building a house near ours. They have a sweet little boy named Amory. He is 3 years old and plays wonderfully with our boys!

Ben was out of town last Monday night, but the boys really wanted to show him the castle they made from Lincoln Logs, so I took a picture. They wanted me to also put it on the BLOG for you all to see! I think they did a great job!

That sweet Easter bunny left a trail of jellybeans at the new house! The boys discovered it when they opened the front door. So they followed it into the house, around the corner...

up the stairs...
and it stopped in what will be the playroom upstairs. Havey fell down in amazement at what he found!
WOW! That bunny brought a jumper for the boys!

Thank you Easter bunny!

The Easter bunny was very good to the boys. You can tell by SL's face that he found lots of candy inside his basket, along with a book, and a few other treats. The bunny wanted them to have a Flippity-Floppity, Hippity-Hoppity Easter, so he gave both boys 2 new pair of flip-flops.

Bro' is so surprised by the new Leapster cartrige that he found in his basket. Could this be as good as candy-nope, I don't think so!

Havey is still entertained by the empty shot that the nurse gave him and SL at the ER last night. It shoots water really far! For those of you who have not heard, SL turned his rocking chair over onto the coffee table and busted the back of his head open on Good Friday evening. Yes, we spent the about 3 hours of that night in the hospital. We had the option for him to get 1-2 stiches. We decided that a scar on the back of his head was easier to deal with than holding him down on the table to get the stitches, just to diminish his chances of a scar. The doctort sent us home with an antibiotic to keep away infection and told us to keep neosporin on it. The hole was deep, but not very wide. His head is healing just fine. He and Ben think a scar on your head is cool. I am just glad that his hair will lay over it-you can hardly tell it is there! He just keeps telling everyone that he has a hole in his head and people seem to be very concerned by this!!

My boys look so handsome in their Easter outfits.

Stephen Louis had to look for Baby Austin after church was over to tell her Hello. I wanted to find her too and see her all dressed up. She looked beautiful in her Easter dress!

We love our Mrs. Emby and Mr. Matt!

I am always so excited to get a picture of all of us together on special occasions. Thanks Emily and Matt for walking over and taking the photo.

On Good Friday we went to the Egg Hunt that was outside the Brickerton Shops. It was still cool weather, but we had fun. There were tons of people there. We were over to the side of the crowd so when they yelled for the kids to "Go" our boys were not run over by all of the other kids. Some kids, especially smaller ones, were not able to find many or any eggs. Havey, being the good big bro' that he is, helped me keep a watch on SL and they both found several eggs. I passed one little boy, about SL's age, who did not have any eggs in his basket and there were none left to be picked up, so I suggested that they share one of their eggs with him. I was so pleased when they eagerly ran up behind him and gave him one from each of their baskets. The little boy's mom was so surprised and touched by their kindness that she began to get tears in her eyes. I was so proud of our boys and their big hearts. I saw her a little later and she said she was so impressed by their kindness and thanked them again. (Yes, I'm bragging on my babies to all of you who are reading this.) Later, I found out that Havey did not just give him one egg, but two. He told me he felt bad that the little boy did not have any eggs so he gave him another so he would have at least three. Of course, this brought tears of joy to my eyes. This kindness and love is what it is all about!!

Ready to hunt for some more eggs!
It's time to jump! They had all sorts of activities for the kids to do after the egg hunt. They really had a great time.
Havey looks out for little bro'. He was helping him stay in line so he did not loose his spot!
Climbing up the bouncy hill on the jumper is tough, but fun.
We dyed Easter eggs on Friday afternoon and they loved it!

Check out those cool colored fingers. Surprisingly, it did wash off before Church on Sunday!

They each show off their favorite egg.

All of the Kindergarten Classes at Heritage Academy had their Egg Hunt at one of the classmate's house. They had so much fun, but it was so cold that after they hunted eggs and played for a little while we went back to the school to have their Easter snack.

GO!
Benjamin Harris found lots of candy filled eggs!
Stephen Louis and Collin (Madison's little bro') got to hunt eggs too.
We made Easter basket cupcakes filled with jellybean eggs for snack. Cute and yummy!
Playtime at school is such fun!

The three year old classes at Stephen Louis's school had a great time at their egg hunt. It was at one of the little boy's grandparents. They had all sorts of outdoor play toys and the kids had all kinds of snacks. They each found several eggs and SL was so thrilled about the candy inside each egg! READY, SET, GO!
SL and Will found lots of eggs!.
Snack Time!

Ms. Missy is such a sweet teacher!

SL really enjoyed playing with this little puppy. He followed it everywhere!

Let's Go Fly A Kite, Up To The Highest Height! Let's Go Fly A Kite And Send It Souring! Up Through The Atmoshere! Up Where The Air Is Clear! Come Let's Go Fly A Kite!

Okay, Okay-I love Mary Poppins and this is one of the songs from the movie, but I also love flying kites! We all had so much fun playing at the Starkville house that windy day. It is truly great to have room to run outside with no traffic, power lines, or noise from the train and sirens. It helps one enjoy the simple and important things in life! What a beautiful day-look at that sky! We are so blessed to have found this spot to build our new house and to build many more memories together!

God, as always, is so good!

Havey has his kite souring! It took a little running with it from mom to get it started, but he kept it up and learned to manuever it quickly! What fun!
Ben helps Stephen Louis get his in the air too!
Thanks Ben for getting us these great kites! What a treat for a windy day!

Benjamin Harris and Stephen Louis had their good friend Will come over to play one afternoon. They had a blast together. They even built a cool playhouse!

Havey spent some of his Dollars and bought this cool new kids blender. It really works, for only $5. I was as thrilled as the boys!

Party Day at Lee Park
Stephen Louis wanted to have his party at Lee Park with all of his friends! He wanted a Bug Party because he loves to hunt for bugs. It was such a beautiful day, even though rain was forecasted. God took care of us and gave us a sunny, fun-filled day to play!

A picnic lunch with sandwhiches, doritos, cheese puffs, ice-cream and a Caterpillar cake was what he requested and it seemed to be a success. He sent everyone home with a bug box or bug net for party favors. He wanted his friends to hunt bugs like he does. I hope everyone had as much fun at the party as we did!

SL loves Baby Austin!