Is it May already??

I can not believe it is already May. I have not posted in so long, it was very difficult to choose which "events" to include and which pictures to choose. I did not do a very good job narrowing it down, but I did the best I could. Here are some of the high-lights of our life over the last 2 months....

We got some snow in early March, actually two snows in one week! Logan was not too sure about the snow, and she was afraid to hold it. Hoy was trying to get her to try to eat some of it.

This is the veiw down one of the creeks from a bridge on the way to work one morning during the snow. I thought it was so beautiful that I had to stop and take a picture.

Ali's birthday was March 21. Our families went to Olive Garden for dinner and we came back to the house for cake and ice cream, which is an annual tradition. Here is Ali with the girls getting ready to blow out the candles.

And here is our little family on Ali's birthday.

It has also become a tradition to go to Wye Mountain in the Spring to take pictures in the flower field. Last year Logan was little difficult because she was so tired when we got there, but this year we could not get her to sit still long enough to take a picture. The best we could do was get shots of her walking and running through the flowers!

Here is sweet little Lucy posing as usual for the camera. She was just happy watching Logan running around everywhere.

Right before Easter we had a pretty good storm one night. Hoy was at church working on the Easter drama production while Ali and the girls were at home. Here is picture of the hail on the deck.

Here is Hoy with the girls following the last night of the Easter production at church. He was a Roman guard, which he has done the last 2 years. We thought that Logan might be scared of Hoy in costume, but she ran right up to him saying "Daddy!"

This is Logan's Easter party at school. She is sharing eggs with one of her best friends, Kyndal, and Kyndal's daddy. They had an Easter egg hunt every day the week before Easter to practice finding eggs and placing them in their baskets carefully. On Friday we had the party, and most of the kids had the whole Easter egg hunting down perfectly!

Logan is eating her cupcake at the Easter party at school. You may notice that her name is on the table where she is assigned to sit for meals and table activities, and she knows exactly where to go to sit when she is told to find her place.

Here are everyone's Easter baskets on Sunday morning. The Easter bunny was very kind to us this year. Nonnie, Poppy, Granny, Daddy (Hoy), Mommy (Ali), Logan, and Lucy all had baskets full of candy.

When we got home from church, the first thing we did was hide eggs and let Logan go hunting. She knew exactly what to do from practing at school, and she was very excited to share with Lucy. This is one of my favorite pictures of Logan hunting eggs.

After Logan had found all of the eggs and found a way to keep them all in her basket, she immediately sat down and began showing Lucy. She was so excited to share with Lucy. We are always so proud to document these moments for future reference when the girls are fighting over simple things.

Here are family pictures right before going inside, changing clothes, eating a quick lunch, and putting the girls down for a nap. They were both exhaused at this point.

Hoy and Logan are putting down some new top soil and sod over the trench down the middle of our backyard from the lightening strike a few months ago. Everything is pretty much back to normal from that exciting event. Notice Logan has her own set of tools!

Lucy got tubes placed in her ears a few weeks ago after having an ear infection for about 6 weeks and several bouts of pneumonia. We were pretty excited about having it done since Logan has done so well after having her's placed. Logan and Lucy were about the same ages when having tubes placed in their ears. This is us waiting in the lobby before going back for the procedure, which takes about 10 minutes!

Here is Lucy with Dr. Barbara Morris, who put the tubes in her ears. Dr. Morris also did the tubes for Logan's ears. We LOVE her!

And here is Lucy waking up from the anesthesia, and she is not very happy. It is not unusual for them to be very upset when waking up. She went home with Ali's parents for the rest of the day, and she did perfect. We go back for a check-up with Dr. Morris this week, but as far as we can tell everything is doing great.

Logan is our little "fru-fru" girl. She loves shoes and loves getting dressed up. She can walk perfectly in Ali's shoes and her Nonnie's high heels. We love these kind of pictures of her acting silly. These are the kind of pictures that make school yearbooks!

Here is Hoy in Logan's little pink boots. Of course, Logan insisted on him trying them on, and Ali insisted on taking a picture. I think Logan looks better in them!?!





Here is Lucy acting like a big girl and eating from the high-chair. Logan is alway happy to share with her sister, but this is kind of confusing to her. We have not gotten her a booster seat yet, which we need to do terribly bad, so "Sissy" sitting in her chair is a little upsetting to her.



Lucy had tubes placed on a Tuesday, and Thursday she began crawling. They also tell me that this is not unusual either. That once they are feeling better, that they will begin to reach milestones quicker...we'll see.

One of the girls favorite things to do right now is go for a wagon ride with Poppy. This is the wagon that my Pa-Paw took me riding in when I was their age, so it is very special for my dad to take the girls riding in this wagon. Logan is so sweet to hold on to her sister and make sure she is safe.

Probably their second favorite thing to do is rock together in the big rocking chair on Nonnie and Poppy's deck. Logan can rock this huge thing by herself, and as usual she is holding on to her "Sissy" to make sure she is safe. They have not been able to get in the pool yet this year because it is still too cold, but that will probably become their favorite thing soon!

Here is a picture of Logan squeeling, like she does all the time. Hoy has been warned about the deafing sound of many little girls squeeling at one time when the girls get older and have their friends over playing!

No photo album is complete without a picture of the baby crying. Lucy was upset one night while waiting for her bottle, which is about the only time she cries, so I had to capture the moment. We are so blessed to have such a sweet, happy, and easy second child. She really makes life and being a parent such joy.

We also had to document one of these moments too....a bad hair day. Logan had just gotten up one morning and is sitting in her high-chair eating breakfast. She went to school with this hair! I think this might be another potential yearbook picture!

We went camping with Ali's mom and dad one weekend at White Oak Lake. They have a fancy version of a pop-up camper that will sleep 6 adult. We had the best time cooking outside, playing with the girls, playing cards, and just doing camping stuff. Here is picture of the boys cooking us eggs over the grill.

Logan's face after eating a smore, which she loved.

Hoy and Ali's mom cooking dinner of steak and pan fried potatoes, which is a meal for kings in Hoy's book.

Logan and Lucy enjoying the folding chairs. They both sat there for many hours during the weekend.

Here is Logan playing dress up with Nonnie's sun-visor. She refused to wear it the correct way. I guess it was just more fun with it this way. I'm not sure if she liked it this way to be different or because it made the hat look like Mommy's nursing hat. We are proud that she is creative...I think!

The first morning we were there it was really cold, and here is sweet Lucy wrapped in a blanket trying to stay warm.

And here is Logan with her jammies on under her clothes because we had not packed warm enough. It did warm up nicely after lunch, but the first few hours were spent looking a little rediculous just to stay warm!

Another picture of us trying to stay warm.

We have just about successfully potty-trained Logan, and so we had to bring the potty chair with us camping. She is alway so proud to use the potty chair, and we still get so excited for her.

This is one of our favorite pictures from the weekend....the girls sleeping together in the camper. We do not let them sleep together at home because Logan is still sometimes too rough with Lucy. Logan like to touch eyes, stick fingers in mouths, and treat Lucy like her baby-doll. But here they were supervised, and we thought they were so cute!

We had to eat dinner inside the camper one night because of rain. Usually rain can put a damper on a camping trip, but rain at night while sleeping was wonderful.

Last weekend we went to the zoo, which was really fun for Logan. She has gotten really good at knowing her animals and what sounds they make, so she really took it all in when she was able to see so many of the animals in real life. Lucy however, just sat back for the ride.

Ali and Logan riding the horse at the zoo.

Then there is Mother's Day. Ali's parents were out of town, so we spent the day with Hoy's family. We went to the farm, and the girls had such a great time. Here is Hoy's grand-mother with her four great-grandchildren.

Logan and Lucy posing on the swing for Mommy to take a picture.

Here is our little family on Mother's Day.

The last few pictures on this post are photographs of tornado damage in central Arkansas over the last few months. Our state has been devistated by these storms. We have friends, co-workers, and patients affected by these storms, and our hearts ache for your losses. We just want to give honor to you and your strength as you pull through this.

This is the only photograph posted that I actually took myself. I took this picture because this tornado hit a neighborhood about 1/2 mile from our home. I wanted it to be a reminder of how fortunate we are to have been spared in this storm, but also how quickly life can be turned upside down.



This is a picture from a local new channel's website of a home in Clinton that was destroyed in a February tornado. Ali travels to Clinton in her nursing practice, and stories keep coming up from patients who have lost so much but did at least survive. This picture may look dramatic, but this is truly the scene everywhere in Clinton. This small town has yet to begin to recover from this storm.



These last 2 pictures are from Damascus when a tornado destroyed a strip of their small town on a Friday in early May. Damascus is on the way to Clinton, and Ali drives through this town every month. This particular site is right on the highway that goes straight into Clinton. We do not have any pictures from the recent tornado that destroyed most of Stuttgart, but we also have many friends affected by that storm as well. May God bless you all!!

Fair well for now!