We Love Our Backyard!

No doubt about it - it is summer in Tennessee! The evidence is the number of hours we are spending in our backyard these days. We love where we live! We have a small house, but our backyard is nice and big and flat with wonderful trees in the background. This time of year it seems we spend more time out than in. The kids love it! And, this year, we have a special addition to our yard - a garden! Kiran is such a great "farmer." He has really been excited about helping with the garden each day, and oh the excitement when we see tiny seedlings appearing!!! We have lots of goodies in our garden - beans, swiss chard, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, squash, black-eyed peas, cantaloupe, watermelon (Kiran's favorite to talk about), okra, and more. If all of this actually makes it, we are going to be busy and calling friends to come help with the harvest! We mainly consider it an experiment this year. Here are some photos of family fun and gardening in the past month!

Riding toys are a favorite of both Kiran and Ellery!
The blower and weedeater only required minimal maintenance this year before they were back in business!
The Beginning!
Gardening is a family project! Daddy and Kiran like to dig! Momma likes to plant! Ellery likes to . . . dangle her feet in the post holes! (a picture to come)
Here is the first photo - we'll get a new shot up soon - everything in this square is huge now!
Ellery waving to our yard man!
We have a climber!
A sandbox is fun even with no sand yet!


Tractor time!
"Can I please go out now?"
More garden work!
You wouldn't be getting an accurate look into our family life if you didn't get to see a fews bugs or such creatures as these found under an old stump!
A real firefighter! Burning out a stump and making room for our new fire pit!
Capturing a shot of the "motor" starting up on the tractor. Every day, about 50 times, I get asked, "Do you want to hear me start my tractor (or mower or weedeater or blower), Momma?" I love to be asked and hear it start every time! He always turns off the "motor" and takes his keys out of the "ignition" when he is done.
Playing next to the tent, our little girl loves sticks just about as much as her big brother does!

A Boot Scootin' Time in TX!

We had such a nice time in TX with my family! I was determined to take my camera this trip even if it was an extra bag to tote through the airport. I am so glad that I did! Here are some of my favorite shots!



The Girls!
Special time with Sal!
The Fam
A Blast with Granna and Grandad!
Clapping and chatting with Sal!
Snuggling with June!
A Fun "Work" visit at Skint and Geral's
that of course included a yummy snack after working hard!
Playing with Grandad at the playground - check out that hair!
Hanging out with Granna!
Being Silly with Aunt Amanda!
Kiran and Kurt got to spend some good quality time together on a Home Depot kid's project at an arts festival! They made a bob sled together! Thanks, Uncle Kurt!

A Funny Story: The day before we left for TX, we prayed before dinner and as he often does, Kiran wanted to add a few words. He prayed for everyone we would be seeing in TX. Then, he prayed that Sammy Jo would STAY AT HOME! Well, as you can see here, Kiran finally realized that Sammy justs wants to play, and boy did they ever become good friends! He has talked about her so much since we got home!
Playing in Sal's backyard
Cuddling with Aunt Amanda
Working on Skint's blower with Grandad!

Ellery loves walking with Granna!
Cousins Playing at the Park!
Grandad and Kiran driving one of the two red tractors!

Playing with Sal!Meeting Aunt Trece and showing off her new cowgirl boots!

I just happened to catch this before both kiddos climbed out!
Kiran has hardly taken off the boots from Grandad! They are wonderful and just what a hard worker needs!Riding home from the airport in TN! This pose shows "like father like son" is true in our family.

And, . . . he's out! What a special week!

Ellery is 10 Months Old Today!

What a busy girl we have! She is on the go all of the time. Her favorite thing right now is to walk everywhere with us holding her hands! Ellery also loves to pull up to anything she can reach! Every time I turn around right now, Ellery is standing beside something. She is beginning to walk along furniture, and yesterday, she stood for a few minutes and even kept her balance for a couple of seconds (hands free)! With every new accomplishment, you can really tell that Ellery is proud of herself - she will sort of cackle with a little laugh that seems to say, "Look what I just did!" She loves being outside and will sit and then crawl around in the grass like a champ. She is eating all kinds of big girl foods. Ellery still has just the 2 bottom front teeth, but she seems to be working on getting some more through soon. At her last doctor appointment several weeks ago, she weighed 17 lbs, 4 oz. She is doing much better with sleeping lately which means Kiran is sleeping much better lately which means Mom and Dad are finally getting more much needed rest! Thanks for that, sweet girl! Here are a few moments from the past 2 months.

Digging in Kiran's imagination box


Hanging out with Daddy!
My Little Helper!



Excited pose!




Sleepy girl!

This was at the end of March at a coffee house at church. The band played bluegrass music. Ellery had just started wanting to walk with us holding her hands, and she walked all the way through the tables to get a front row seat! She loved the music!

Uh-oh!

Our Little Excavator!

Busted!