Ice cream and strawberries

I've got two funny stories I have to share. Last week while I was at Awanas Curtis was watching Tate. Curtis said he came downstairs to find Tate sitting on the couch and red strawberry stains covering the couch. (I should have known better than to buy a yellow couch with 3 kids.) Anyhow, Tate also had strawberry all down his shirt, his mouth and all over his hands. Curtis asked Tate if he had put the strawberry all over the couch and Tate replied, "No daddy, Miley did it."

So the other story is that tonight after dinner the kids were having ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. Hayden looked up from his ice cream and said, "Momma this ice cream is almost as good as Jesus, it's second but it's almost as good." Oh, the things that kids say. Way too cute. I have to laugh at them while I can, who knows what they'll be into next.

Miley, a garden and strawberry patch

So Miley is now a fashion diva. I saw this little dress at Wal-Mart the other day and just couldn't resist. It is just way too cute. So yes, now we're those crazy people who dress their dog. My mom is coming down at the end of May and she, my sister and other family members are buying outfits for Miley. She's quickly becoming a very spoiled dog.

This weekend we ventured out to the strawberry patch. It was wonderful. The kids had so much fun picking (and eating) strawberries right off the plants. They were so big and beautiful. We picked a few buckets and got some other fresh produce from there. Oh, and some strawberry bread and homemade strawberry ice cream. Yummy! The next day I made some homemade strawberry jam, froze some strawberries and now eating the rest. They are oh so juicy. Here's a few pictures.

Last week Curtis got the idea to make a garden for the kids. We both grew up having huge gardens at home and always helping plant and take care of a garden. The kids were quite excited to plant their tomato plants and the seeds. We've planted peppers, cabbage, broccoli, carrots and peas. They've already started to sprout after only a few days. The kids are so excited to go out each evening to check on them and water the garden. Let hope we get some things to grow. It would be nice to eat straight out of the garden like we grew up doing.

A New Addition to The Family

So after months of taking care of Flash to show us how responsible she is, Arabella has earned the privilege of having her own pet. She has known all along that she wanted a female red dachshund. My mom has the same dog, only a male, and Arabella loves him to death. After months of looking we finally found one and took the kids to see her. They had no idea where we were going. So when we pulled up to a house in backwoods North Carolina with chickens, goats and sheep they looked a bit puzzled. Arabella was almost afraid to get out of the car and looked at me like what in the world are we doing here. Once we walked up onto the front porch the puppy and her brother came out and the look of awe on Arabella's face was priceless. So this is Miley Mae (named after Miley Cyrus and my mom, haha). She's all of about 3-4 lbs. But she is adorable. We'll see if I'm saying that after she wines tonight. Here she is:

Mommy let me read to you...

So the other day I'm putting Tate down for a nap and he's holding his little orange New Testament that the Gideons give out. Then he says"Mommy let me read da Bible to you." Okay Tate read the Bible to me. " Jesus lus Tate, Jesus lus Flash, Jesus lus Sissi, Jesus lus Bubber, Jesus lus Daddy and Jesus lus Mommy." You just gotta take in those moments sometimes.

God's Blessing of Military Friends

I know, once again it has been a LONG time since I've updated the blog. There's just always something to be done. Can't imagine why with 3 kids? So for Easter/Spring Break we traveled home to Ky to see our families and to Alabama to see our wonderful friends Katie and Bruce. There's a variety of pictures from our trip. They're not in order since my camera has decided that it won't upload them in the same order as I take them. And I just didn't take the time to sort through them before posting them. There are a ton of pictures though, I'll warn you now. They're from Easter egg hunting in Ky, seeing the train depot in Huntsville, going to the botanical gardens and hanging out at Katie and Bruce's house. Oh, and Curtis driving the kids in Bruce's hot rod. We are SO going to miss our dear friends. It has been so nice to have them in Huntsville. It's only a 4 hour drive from our home in Ky. And as most of you in the military know, that's only a short drive away. We have had so much fun the past few years being able to see them frequently and spend time with them. In the beginning of our marriage I didn't want anything to do with the military. It's still not my favorite thing. But God had plans other than my own, as he often does. And after 13 years in the army, I must say that one of the best parts is the incredible friends we have gained from all over the world. People who are like our family and hope one day to spend lots of our retired time visiting. Best of luck in Hawaii Katie and Bruce, we're going to miss you terribly. Just hurry back to Huntsville! We love you guys. Enjoy the pictures!