Nannie

My sweet grandmother, Nannie, passed away earlier this month. She had turned 90 just the month before that.

Nannie was always at least 50% of the reason I kept this blog. She always had something encouraging and southern to say. She lived much of her life gladly and graciously letting Pop be in the spotlight. She sent sweet emails to Nate. She helped make sure our family could visit Virginia every year. She was a lovely host. One of my favorite places--ever--to go growing up was Hanshill, where she and Pop spent every summer. She was just a wonderful grandmother.

Summer

Ahhhh--summer! We've been having lazy mornings, pool days, fun outings, and a general good time. We are in the midst of VBS week, so I'm actually busy, but after Friday, my official/major/main summer commitments are done. Yay!

Pictures

Some pictures from this week!

We took the children to their first "real concert" on Saturday at the Segerstrom Center:

It was pretty long. Here are the boys two hours into the show:

Sunday was our 12-year anniversary! Jon and I went to 10th Street beach to walk. We hadn't been there since that fateful night 15 years ago when I stepped on glass and had to get stitches! (And then he had to call Mama and Daddy at midnight to tell them what happened and take me to the ER.) Then we went to a delicious dinner at one of our favorite places, The Sundried Tomato. 

Here are some chick pics:

On Tuesday, Lucy's class performed their play. Lucy was one of the fish in The Fisherman's Wife. It was really cute. (That's her flute case she's wearing around her neck. She knitted it.)

Chicks at 8 weeks

Levi-isms

• Jon and I overheard Levi playing with a new Lego policeman who came with accessories like hand cuffs, motorcycle, etc.: "Now I'm going to put the hand cups on you, bad guy!"
• The kids and I were talking about the ten plagues in Old Testament Egypt, and we described the water turning to blood. Lucy said, incredulous, "Who would want to drink blood?!" and Levi answered, quickly: "Mosquitoes!"
• Jon was watching a basketball game between Oklahoma City and Memphis. Levi said, "I'm not cheering for Menthis."
• New one to add 5/31/14: "Mom, are you wearing glip gloss?"

Nate's class play

Jon and I went to the first performance of Nate's class play, "Noah's Ark," this morning. In the third grade at this school, students learn about "Hebrew Stories"--so even though this is a public school, they read about the Old Testament.

Nate was Noah in the play! Here's a video:

Pictures

Lucy's book. "The <author> is Lucy"

Some chick pics. Nate with each chick:

Love this boy:

Practicing crossing his eyes:

Nine

I missed posting about Nate's birthday. This guy turned 9 twelve days ago. We went for smoothies after school on the actual day, and for dinner, he asked for steak, sweet potato rounds, and plantain chips. Then we had family over on Saturday for dinner.  For the party, we had spicy honey chicken, salad, and bread/chips. Nate chose to have two friends (cousin Seth and church friend Sam) sleep over as his "party."

Happy birthday, big guy!

Growing chicks

Boy, do these chickens grow fast!

Here is Minion at one week old:

Here's our completed coop and the proud builder:

I added an egg flag.

Chicks at two weeks old:

Two-week-old Minion on Levi's head:

Joy at two-and-a-half weeks:

Nate with Star at three weeks:

All the chicks at three weeks:

They're so fun and cute! They've outgrown the brooder, and since it has been so hot during the day, I've been letting them stay in the coop during the day and putting them in the brooder overnight. They'll be able to stay outside full time in another week or two.