What's better than playing with a stick? Playing with a stick while you're jumping, that's what!

Emy enjoys the great outdoors just as much as her big brother.

Little boy in the big woods

One of the reasons we decided to look at moving to this area was the abundance of parks and outdoor recreation. There seems to be a park around every corner and we've visited several of them. Kenton is absolutely loving it, and is also quite fond of our backyard. He loves going out there in the evenings and taking his shoes off so he can run in the grass "nudie-footed" as he calls it.

This place started feeling a lot more like home once we got the cats unpacked.

Greetings from the frozen north! Okay, okay...so a high of 60 degrees isn't really freezing, but it kinda feels like it when you've been used to temps up around 90!!! We're living in a house stuffed with boxes (I'm still not convinced all of this stuff is really ours), but overall things are going well. I've been taking some pictures and will upload them as soon as I can find the USB cord for the camera. I'm sure it's in one of the 3,000 boxes sitting around here...

Good bye to all our Thomasville friends. It's been a wonderful three years. We'll miss you!!!

All that our poor children have left to play with is boxes. I think Kenton was making a real fashion statement tonight with his giraffe pj shirt, Thomas swimming trunks, and black knee socks. The pink paci was just icing on the cake.

The packing is making us all a little crazy!

Today was the end of the year program at Kenton's preschool. We got there ten minutes before it started, but still had to stand in the back so my pictures aren't very good. I like my camera, but I wish it had greater zoom. The program lasted almost an hour and Kenton was pretty well-behaved. We were proud. It was a little sad to think that this was the last time he'll get to see most of his school friends. We've talked with him about it, but we're just not sure how much he understands.

Sitting in the swing, as only Emery can do it. She thinks she needs to be able to grab her feet and chew on them at all times.

I'm getting a little sentimental about leaving Thomasville. I really believe the move is going to be great for our family, but this is where both of our children were born so we've made a lot of memories here. When we go to the playground up the street, this is the view we have while we're pushing Kenton on the swings. There are lots of great parks in and around Xenia , but I'm going to miss this gorgeous old school building and the live oaks draped with Spanish moss.

Kenton had a playdate with his buddy Parker this morning. We talked beforehand about the fact that this is probably the last time he'll see Parker because we're moving. He didn't seem to be too upset by it, although he did act a little strange when we first got to the park, not wanting to go over to Parker and play where he was. He got over that and they had a great time, playing for a couple of hours. I think emotionally it was harder on Edward and me than on Kenton, because we were so concerned about how he might respond. He's definitely a little stressed by the upcoming move, but I think he's going to deal with it pretty well.

The temperatures were up in the 90s again today, so we decided to let Kenton experience the joy of playing in the sprinkler.

We should know by now to never, ever leave a toddler alone with anything that can be dumped out. Apparently mixed nuts are almost as much fun to play with as rocks. Given a few more minutes, he probably would have gone to get his dump trucks.

Kenton would probably have a hard time picking his favorite thing about going to Nana & Papaw's house. I think it would be a tie between playing in the basement and going to the creek. He got to do plenty of both on this visit.

We got to be in town for Uncle Ken's 30th birthday. As you can see from the picture, he celebrated the occasion by partying like a rock star. Or maybe he just stood out on the carport in the rain and blew bubbles with his nephew.

We had a good, but exhausting, trip to see Nana & Papaw and to find a place to live in Xenia. The kids really enjoyed the time with their grandparents. Edward and I really enjoy knowing that we will have a place to live to once we leave here. Here's Emy being spoiled by Papaw.