Alabama advertisement.

It's hard to be a girl.

Sleeping cuties.

Gotta love the T-Woz.

Princess time.

Funny faces.

'swimmin' bathtub boy.
I am experimenting with the lighting and flash on my new camera, so Madeline was kind enough to 'pose' for me while playing swords with Hobbes outside.

Pentecost Fish Fry!

Hello, all!! I am still working without a memory card (I am remedying that today!) so I just got a few pictures, but we had our 1st annual Pentecost Fish Fry yesterday! Although the weather was extremely hot, the kiddos had a great time, and the fish was delicious! In fact, I didn't even see Hobbes and Madeline most of the time, due to them playing with older kids! It's so nice to have older friends that can watch out for them!


climbing.
Madeline's new best friend, Megan Lang. She is such a sweet girl, and yesterday they were playing 'princess and her fairy godmother.' Madeline is her new little shadow.
a whole pile of cousins! We ate lunch with Sarah and Emily, who are Bray's cousins. Between the 2 families, we already have 8 2nd cousins!
Aunt Charity stopping to taste some 'princess cake.'
Uncle Matt led the games/activities for the kids, and Madeline stayed right by his side the whole time! Matt and Megan took Hobbes and Madeline to their house on Friday afternoon for movies/games, so they ADORE them now!:)

Back in pictures!

My wonderful parents and amazing sister, Kathryn, took it upon themselves to find me a new camera!! It's a Nikon XL20 and I have already been testing out it's very fun features. I need to get a memory card for it, so I just have a sampling...but I will be posting more asap! Thanks, Mom, Pop and Kathryn! We love you!!
One of Hobbes' new favorite pastimes: driving cars in the dirt, making piles. Oz and Hobbes are the most alike of the cousins. This meant that at first, they fought all the time, but are now good buds. Every time Oz comes over, Hobbes says: "There's my Oz. He's a sweet boy."

All the boys watching Where the Wild Things Are.
Happy Madeline.
Getting tickled by Uncle Caleb!!

Madeline's Monroe birthday.

All the boys playing catch outside before the party.
Madeline's princess cake from Gege!!
So happy.

Blowing out her candles.
Archer helping her open her fairy costume.
Opening up her Polly Pockets.
The Ariel-fairy-princess.
The next morning, this is what she wanted to wear.:)

We are here-and camera-less.

As you may have guessed by now, we made it safely to Monroe, Louisiana. It was the longest drive I've ever done and hopefully ever will do, bu I learned to appreciate the beauty of the rock formations in Wyoming, and the everlasting flat green fields of Iowa and Missouri. The kids did AMAZING-seriously, better than us, and we even got to have a waterslide at our first hotel-and both kids were brave enough to go down it with me several times!
We are settling into life here in the South,enjoying all the good food, family and friends, and trying to adjust to the 80-90 degree weather! Hobbes shadows his cousin Archer's (age 6) every move, and is already far more adventurous than I might like.:) We are starting a vocal/piano studio and have had a good amount of interest in that, and Bray will be competing in a vocal competition in Birmingham in about a week and a half. Unfortunately, my camera decided to die the day after we got here, so besides the last few pics I managed to take the 1st day, you will have to use your imagination until we can get a new one!
Thanks for all the prayer, and we miss you all!!

On the road.

It seemed that every time I got off to get gas, I was in the boonies, and had to drive an extra mile to find the next little podunk town. This town was closed, but is apparently a 'Western tourist attraction!' and has authentic costumes and everything.


The county courthouse in Carthage, MO. It was in a square with 1 restaurant and about 36 antique shops.
Talking to Hobbes on the phone (Hobbes rode in the truck with Bray). They talked for about 15 mins., and here are a few snippets of conversation:
M: Hobbes, you're TOO loud!
Hobbes, the sky is dirty. We need to clean it.
Why you playing with toys in the truck, Hobbes? You need to go faster!
H: We're going to Gege & Bop's. Where's my baby Asa? It's not your baby Asa, you have baby Mara.
Yeah, the sky is gray.
Look, Madeline, look at the COWS!!! Daddy needs to drive faster-I'm going to win!
One of the highest slides I've ever seen-and it was outside a Sonic!
This picture is dedicated to my sister-in-law, Naphtali Garfield, who grew up about 45 minutes from this lovely town.

More Madeline's Bday.

We were able to spend 2 days in Moscow before we headed out for our big drive, and we celebrated Madeline's 3rd birthday while we were there. I would like to give a big shout-out to Naphtali and Kathryn for all their help with the darling party, and to Mike, Carolyn, Seth and my parents for all their help with our move! Love you all!