Fun with the Cousins

Maddie and Lillian enjoyed spending time with Charley and Josey today.  Maddie then ended the day with a horse ride with Kris and her boys.  I love that they are able to spend time with their cousins!

What a beautiful group of girls!!  Charley and Josey are wonderful with our little ones!

Papa enjoyed visiting with Lee, Christy and the girls. Lee's dog Avery has been experiencing a little bad luck lately.  Check out his cute little collar!  Poor thing!  Also, Lillian enjoyed sitting on the four wheeler.  However, when Pop started it, the tears began.  She also wouldn't ride in the Polaris, so I didn't get as many pictures of her. She and I headed back to the cabin and played with the kitties.

These girls had a ball exploring!

After we got home from Lee's, Pop and Maddie journeyed north to ride one of the miniature horses with Kris.  Lillian and I stayed home, and had lots of fun! It's wonderful having family with some many fun things to do!

Faculty Walk

The Federal Institute of Corrections of Aliceville adopted us shortly after the prison was built.  They have been phenomenal  in their support of our school.  Recently, they sponsored a 5K walk with proceeds going toward the purchasing of Christmas presents for all of our students.  Last year, the employees each adopted one or more students and presented them with wonderful gifts.  We are trying to help this year. I was in Alex City with the girls and sadly missed this event.  However, I want to say thank you to the Warden and her awesome staff. We have  been humbled and blessed by her and her tireless staff!  We think they are a very special group!!

All of these pictures were "stolen" from Facebook.  I truly love my coworkers and wish I could have been there!

My two sweet Jessica's

A mom, sister and baby joined this group!

Mr. Smart, Warden, and employees

 

Hard at it!

Best Faculty Ever!!

It's My Birthday

Birthdays seem to be coming around a whole lot faster these days.  So, when Reed asked what I wanted for my birthday, it didn't take me long to answer.  I told him I needed some new clothes that I wanted to buy myself, and I wanted to see my girls!  After a brief doctor's visit, I headed east and spent the afternoon and night with them.  After a picnic and a trip to the park the next morning, I headed home. Quick, but lots of fun.  I told Reed that just seeing their precious reactions when I picked them up from school made my day complete! We had originally planned on meeting at the zoo, but Josh and Reed were working and Uncle C was out of town with friends for the weekend.

Love, love, love these sweeties!

Little Bit went for a little afternoon car ride

The girls had a ball playing in their back yard! I am amazed by how quickly Maddie is growing up!

This one is such a cutie!  If Maddie can do it, she thinks she can too!

 

 

Early the next morning, the girls and I headed to the Alex City Park for a picnic and a little fun!

 

Little Bit is serious about mealtime.  She held on to her French toast until the last bite was gone!

This trip was somewhat of a challenge.  The park has a great toddler area, but Lillian wanted to do the same things Maddie did! 

A couple of my all time favorite pictures of Maddie were taken here.  Lillian is not quite tall enough yet, but Big Sis tried to help her out!

Just a few months ago, Maddie wouldn't swing down from this rope or pole.  This time she was a pro!

Maddie is very patient with Lillian, which is a good thing!  Lillian is quite determined to be a big girl like her sister.

Before  I headed home, I put on my crown like all good princesses do, and enjoyed a very precious birthday cookie.  Reed met me in Tuscaloosa for a late-lunch/early-supper.  All in all, I had a great day!

Say Cheese

Trying to get a picture of my big boys and girl can be quite a challenge!  They do so love when I take their picture!

This one turned out quite nice.  So, I asked Josh to get in the picture, too.  The problem was that Big Sis and Little Brother just wouldn't cooperate.  Poor Josh!

Attempt 1

Attempt 2- Not too bad-except Josh looks miserable!

Attempt 3-

Attempt 4

Attempt 5

And Finally!!

I do love these stinkers!!

One Thing Leads to Another

Well, the problem started when acorns from a large limb starting falling into the pool.  Reed spent a couple of afternoons trimming all the limbs that he could reach. Thanks to me zooming in, the pictures don't really do justice to how high up he was-or how dangerous this looked from the ground. Day two of this project he borrowed Lee's pole saw. This really just made him go higher and reach farther. I will say the results were a great improvement, and we had a nice little stack of firewood!! Now, scroll to the bottom picture and you can see how this project led to quite a scare for me (and excuse the corrective spelling)!

I had decided it would be great to have a fire since it was our first really cold night! I have a feeling my days of bringing in firewood are over!

Needless to say, we didn't have a fire that night, and Reed never found the little rascal. Also, if any of my neighbors are reading this, feel free to come running my way when you hear me scream!

The Big Girls

Allison and Jesse made a quick, but fun visit when the girls were here last.  Maddie loves for them to come!  They are both wonderful with the girls! 

Let me see you stomp and shake it!

Bike and stroller rides!  Tackling the big hill is a challenge!

This precious smile pretty much sums up the great time they have with these sweet, sweet girls!

Pumpkin Patch

Pop and I got to go with Maddie's class to a very nice pumpkin patch in Lafayette, Alabama.  We also got to take Lillian with us, so that just made it even more fun!  It was a beautiful day with lots of activities just right for little ones.

We were able to get a couple of photo ops on this adventure!

Cutest pumpkins in the patch!!

 Both girls were all smiles at the beginning of the trainride! I am sad to say that Lillian wasn't too impressed with the trainride or the hayride!

No pumpkin patch would be complete without jumpers!  Lillian likes to do anything her big sister does, so after watching Maddie for a while she joined in the fun!

Both girls had a ball!

Next, we hopped on the hayride in search of four perfect pumpkins.  For some reason, I only have a couple of pictures of this.  I think it's because we had such a hard time making this important decision!

Next, we headed to see the animals!  I think the favorite had to be holding the baby rabbits!  Maddie loved it!  Lillian basically just didn't acknowledge them!  Precious!  I think she thought they were stuffed!

If I don't look will it just go away?

Next, we saw the horses, chicks, donkey, and turkeys!  Before we finished the day with a picnic, Maddie got to grind corn for cornmeal!

Maddie enjoyed the day with her friends!

And so did we!!!