First Lost Tooth and First Game for TIff!

Can you tell how happy Kaebrie is to finally have her first tooth ready to fall out?
She was just so expressive! Above, a bit apprehensive...not sure if it was going to hurt! Below... more nerves on how this was going to work!
Ouch! It did hurt to pull on it!
And bravery! Twisting and pulling and twisting and pulling!
It is almost out! But it was time to go. Tiff had his very first baseball game and we had to be on time.
And right after the first inning, out came Rose! (yes, she names her loose teeth).
Meet Rose!
Now, on to the game! Tiff kept peeking around to see us. He was excited about batting for the first time!
Even better! He got to play catcher for an inning. He really liked wearing that special gear!
First bat!
They won the game!!!!
Back at home, Kaebrie puts Rose in the little pillow my mom made me when I was five and lost my first tooth.
I thought she was sleeping, but she wasn't. I wanted to get a picture with her new bed mate, Aubie!
A great night of firsts!

What About My Birthday Trip????

Weird, I know. Me, the blogging maniac who normally gets pictures posted the same day has NO pictures up from her trip to Italy and have been home for 2 weeks already. Why? I keep getting asked.

First off, it was impossible to blog from there. It would have taken pictures to long to upload and we were exhausted every night! Face book was just so much faster to post a handful of pictures on daily.

And the main reason, I have these blogs printed every year into a book since I have had to take a scrap booking hiatus for a few years due to lack of time. :) I am getting these trip photos made into a separate photo book and didn't want to duplicate. I have been working on that book all week and now need Sam's help with the final details. I think once I upload it and have it printed, it will be publishable where I can post a link and anyone can look through it. If that is the case, I will post the link here when I get it.

So here are a handful of pictures, mostly my favorites, narrowed down from over 1700 pictures. Not joking, I really did take that many!

Above, my favorite of us, over the town of Manarola in the Cinque Terra, which was the most amazing place!

Below, our first picture in Venice, which was also our favorite!
Florence...
Vatican Museum.. (love this one of Sam)....
Rome..(Arch of Titus)? ...can't remember, see why I need Sam for the details..this might be the Arch of Constantine...
Rome.....
More Rome....we sure had a beautiful sunset our last night and had the best time taking pictures in it....
looks fake...i promise it isn't!
Venice.... :)
My favorite night shot in Venice...
France...
And that it is for now! 236 more in the picture book!
It was a fantastic trip! 14 days through 4 countries. What a way to turn 40!
I am so thankful we moved our dates as originally were supposed to be flying back home about now. That volcano would have made that impossible!
Keep checking back for that book link!

Play Ball!

Well, it is finally Christopher's turn to try out the sport of baseball!

He is on the 7 and 8 year old team and I hope he is learning the rules of how to play. Being the youngest he spends most of his time in the outfield. He loves to bat and it makes him very happy when he hits the ball.

Tonight was the Opening Ceremonies where EVERY boy, from ages 5 - 12 was introduced. They looked great out there on the field with all the bright team colors.

His first game is coming up on Tuesday and we can't wait to watch him play!


The first time any of the kids have ever had personalized sport shirts!
Showing Daddy his uniform after putting it on for the first time.

Yazzi taking a drink from the leak in the hose. Nothing to do with baseball but I was taking picture of Tiff and couldn't resist.
Don't you love the colors?
The State Farm team!
It is easy to find him - the youngest and the tallest!
LOVE this one of Collin!
This is her "I am so up to something" look! I love her eyes, with that dark rim around them. SO unique in this family.

Mississippi State Vet School

Here they are! Let me introduce you to our home school group! I think we were only missing two families on this adventure.

We drove over 2 hours up to Mississippi State to their Vet School Open House.
We got a tour of the school, saw the classrooms and the labs, met real students and had a wonderful morning.Tiff was fascinated with the horse skeleton....
While Kaebrie liked the dolphin.

Christopher liked those baby pigs!
Kaebrie was full of questions, as usual. :)
She said this was the biggest cow she had ever seen.
Those tiny baby chicks were adorable as well.
This was not adorable. An opinions are varied on how cool this was. Yes, that is a real hole into one of the stomachs of the cow. This student reached in and pulled out some of the hay it had eaten for breakfast. I thought it was really neat, and so did Kaitlynn. She asked if she could put on the glove and do it. Collin, on the other hand, immediately left the room.
You could see the stomach muscles moving the hay around.
Ever wondered how much the average home school group weighs?
Now you know.......1,893 pounds!
Kaitlynn is sold. She is ready to sign on the dotted line and be a State student in the Vet department.
Collin insisted on wearing his Auburn jacket, though I warned him that might not be a good idea. Nobody smeared cow manure in his hair, and he did get 4 War Eagles, which he liked.
Afterwards, we went to Louisville to visit friends and we stopped by our old house. The new pastor has since added a second story to the tree house Sam built when Collin was 5. All the kids enjoyed going all the way up!
We left the house at 6:40 am and returned home at 9:30 pm, a long, but fun day willed with learning, friends and time together.

Easter

Happy Easter!
I remembered to snap a few pictures as we headed out the door for Sunday School. Individual and a group shot Easter Sunday morning is a tradition around here!



Service was wonderful and well attended. We love our church (and our pastor too)! :)