Global Warming

Hi fam!

I just watched Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" dealing with global warming. Maybe you've all seen it already. I was thinking about the Woodard family down southest...the Ben Woodard family. He showed slides of what would happen if part of Greenland melted and it showed a dramatic change in the coast of Florida...like most of the land would be under water. Yikes! Have you guys heard about that? Of course...Greenland ISN'T melting (yet) but...

So just thought I'd send that encouraging & inspiring thought your way... Joel is at a LAN party today/tonight, so there's no one home to give me a reality check. ; ) I've joined the band-wagon!!

Hope everyone's doing well!

Happy Birthday Noah!!

I know you had a great party Saturday - loved your cake! This will be an exciting year for you - potty training, learning more German and English words, playing with Bree and mommy and daddy, visiting Tennessee, hiking, playing in the garden, eatting berries from the yard and so much more! It was fun seeing you on the web cam this last weekend - you are such a big boy! Hope you have a very special day! (this was the only picture on my work computer - but it is cute!)

Love you,
Grandma and Grandpa

Birthday festivities

Noah's birthday isn't officially until the 22nd but we celebrated it this weekend with a pool party. Next weekend isn't an option because my mom is graduating with her masters in counseling after 6 long years of work. It's going to be quite the celebration next weekend. Here he is getting ready with daddy for the big day.

Jon and I made a dump truck cake. I think it ended up looking pretty cool! We had a bunch of friends meet us at the aquatic center, we ate, played with balloons and playdough and the kids (4 of them) tried to open the piñata. It took the 7-yr old a while to finally get it open. Then everyone went swimming! Noah is such a fish. He is trying to pick things off the bottom of the pool. We're working on keeping his mouth closed! We only got pictures up to the point that he blew out his candles. The batteries went dead AGAIN. That happened at his last birthday too. My parents have pictures on their camera but we don't have them yet. Lots of video though.

Yesterday we went to some friend's house (that 7 yr old that broke the piñata) and started work on a garden. They've wanted one for a while now but the deer eat everything they plant. They said that if we helped put the fence up we could share the space. It all went up much easier than expected. We're hoping to get it all ready in time to plant at the beginning of May. Noah and Emelia played and by the time we got home he was a mess. There was even dirt IN his diaper. I hope he sleeps well tonight. We're having 3 days of summer before the spring returns so he's using lots of energy by running around outside. I love it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM!!!

Isn't he cute?

Hope you've had a great birthday Will! We are so thankful that you are part of our family. You will always be our best and favorite son-in-law! (I probably say that every year, but it is true.) I know this will be a great year for you - this time next year you will be with in a couple weeks of graduation! Way to go - it's been a long haul but will be worth it in the end!

Love,

Mark and Cindy

Easter Egg Hunt

This was the first Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. We opted out of coloring them ourselves and bought some pre-cooked, pre-colored ones from the store. Abigail caught on right away and found all of them, I think mostly because she was hungry! We decided to do it before breakfast and then eat the eggs afterward. Elijah found the one egg, mostly because I showed it to him for him to "catch on" but it didn't "catch". He had fun walking around though!

Abigail was like a whirlwind, she was moving so fast it was actually hard to get any pictures of her! Well...good ones. : )There looks like some negotiating goin' on here...Maybe he was a little bit hungry too...It looks like Eli is sizing up the score....Abigail - 7, Eli - 1

Our newest friend!

Our "lake" now boasts an alligator. Dad thought he saw one earlier, but the girls were able to track him down while they were visiting this week. He is quite bold and seems to be very comfortable in his home. I was looking out the window a little bit ago and saw his nose sticking up out of the water close to our bank. He's probably about 5' long. It will be interesting to see how long he stays before animal control finds a new home for him.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter.

Love,
Mom

We're pregnant!

Hey everyone, that's right number 3 is on his/her way. We went to the Dr.'s this week and saw the little heartbeat and small small baby. Amy is due November 19 or around then, so we'll have the baby in Charleston. It's gonna be a busy transition! Love you guys!