We've made it through the storms...

There are times when violent, scary, nervewracking storms are going through the area, such as we've had recently, where we don't know what's going to happen, what kind of destruction there will be, if lives will be lost, facing the unknown and putting our trust in God's hands to carry us through. Then, we wake up the next day to a beautiful dawn and sunshine. This morning I woke up with this verse in my mind, "weeping may endure for a night, but joy [cometh] in the morning." Psalm 30:5b
We are making it through the storms.

Things that we love about Gavin...

Gavin's first Popsicle he ate all by himself!

• He is hilarious! He makes us laugh which can make a bad day turn around or make a good day even better.
• He loves to read. His new favorite thing to do, clothed or unclothed (LOL), is to lay in bed and read, then sliding off of the bed and get a new book, and then climbing back on the bed. Repeat about 100 times.
• He knows when it's bath and bedtime and doesn't fight it. In fact, after he is all clean and has his PJ's on, he will go to his crib and wait for us to put him in it.
• He is shy and coy, but also very outgoing and generous with hugs and kisses.
  
• He's friendly! Anytime a car goes by, he waves. When he meets someone new he gives them his scary jack-o-lantern grin.
• He is good at playing by himself. At this age, he can entertain himself for an hour while I do dishes or cook. What a difference from when he was little!!
• If we are listening to music, he starts dancing like crazy. If it's classical music or opera he waves his hands like a conductor (I have no idea where he got that!). If a song ends he starts clapping. We love how musical he is!
• He loves to be outside and help in the garden. And, he loves to smell the roses in the yard or any flower.
  
• He likes to pray. It's so cute to watch him bow his head and look up to see if everyone else is doing it.
• He's usually a good listener--but once in awhile he decides to be defiant, actually, those days are starting to happen more now that he's a toddler!
  
• He puts himself in timeout! If we tell him he's in trouble and to go sit in timeout, he does it. Then he comes back and tells us he's sorry with a hug and a kiss.
  
• He loves animals! Maybe a little too much...he gets so excited with Dash and Yoda, chasing them around the house that they get a little scared of him!
  

This is just a short list, but I felt the urge to write about him so I wanted to take advantage of it. I love being a mom. It's so fulfilling! There are days when it is difficult, but usually those days are because I am not taking care of myself.
Most nights Blake and I look at each other and wonder what we did to be so blessed to get Gavin. The truth is, we didn't do anything, we were given a gift.

Our Sons

We were finally teased with a sunny day last week, so we called upon the services of JD Andrade to shoot some new family pictures for Gavin's 18 month mark. Thanks JD.





Saturday night, we threw a graduation party for Gary and his friends. It has been a busy year for the Walton scholars so we were excited to have them over one more time. We are proud of Gary and all the Walton seniors for their accomplishments over the last four years. It was our intention to be a blessing to them...what we discovered is that they were a greater blessing to us. Gary, thank you. Our lives overlap with certain people for a purpose...sometimes for reasons which are revealed slowly over time.


It's a cold, rainy day in NWA. What happened to Spring? It sure would be nice to be under the Caribbean sun right about now.

-b.h.r.

Leave of Absence

I think I might be taking a little break from the blogging world. At least, that's how I have felt lately. Who knows, I might feel like blogging tomorrow...or next week, or next month...Blake is doing a great job contributing and he is such a good writer. I have really enjoyed his posts. We've been experiencing life as people who are putting one foot in front of the other. It's kind of hard to explain....other than, it's really hard to care about anything except for our friends and family, our values, our time together, and digging deep into the feelings & emotions we are experiencing right now.

Mind's Eye

Sometimes the best images are in our minds. The picture is perfect in our mind's eye. A 2D image does not do justice to the depth of our imagination. So imagine a toddler, a flyswatter, and galloping cats. That's what occurs in our home on a Saturday morning in April 2011. These days are of great value...remembered forever.

Fran is at the SS farmer's market this morning. Her first. Thirty-nine degrees, sunshine, and a heart of a determined entrepreneur. Cheers to you mrslocalgranolabaker.

Meanwhile, my plumbing skills and some assistance from my young apprentice have hopefully fixed a leak under our kitchen sink. The responsibility of a homeowner once made me shed tears. Now I just chuckle, grab some tools, crank the Ben Rector, grasp an opportunity to teach (myself and Gavin), and work on the money pit.

-b.h.r.

Timmmberrrrr!

Give dad a shot!
Yes it's the leader of the pack here. I thought it was about time to sneak in a post on the family blog. Actually, I wanted to use the new Thinkpad laptop which arrived earlier this week. Its officially springtime...time for all things new...new growth...new teeth for one member of the family...so why not have a new perspective on the family happenings?

While everything has begun to bloom, we had to say goodbye to a piece of our property. The 2009 ice storm damaged one of our oldest trees. It made a comeback attempt but couldn't quite make the cut...so we decided to make the cut.

The first week of Spring has been great. The weather has pulled us outdoors for walking, hiking, running, chasing a particular toddler, getting the garden ready, and even throwing a frisbee around the backyard. Its so nice to see everything green.

- b.h.r.

Catching Up...

Lake Pontchartrain

Driving Miss Marian

It was shorts weather!! I had to go buy him some because it was so warm.

Exploring G-ma's big yard!

Our lunch with some of G-ma's best friends.


On the way to the airport..they were all so cute in the backseat.


Gavin did so great on the trip. He's such a great flyer!! I wish he was like that in the car. The only (and kind of crazy) hiccup we had on our journey was puking in the boarding line from Houston to New Orleans. Yah...right as we are boarding..puke, everywhere. People rushing away as I hold Gavin almost upside down and let him puke all over the floor. *sigh* Thankfully our flight had a crew change at the last minute and it gave me time to clean us up. And, halfway through it I just had to start laughing because it was kinda funny and it was better than crying!
He is such a ham. He loves to entertain people. (He can also be very shy) Of course, no one wanted to sit next to us on the plane when they were boarding but by the time we de-planed everyone stopped to say how cute he was. He would look out at the people behind us and give them his huge, cheesy grin that he does. It's hilarious..I wish I could get a picture of him doing it.

We had a wonderful time visiting with G-ma and Lanier. I love spending time with the family and wish we lived closer. We had some delicious food (it was Mardi Gras while we were there so we had half of a king cake--so good, and I got the baby!), the weather was great except 2 days of rain and tornado watches, watched some old movies, good conversation and learned some interesting family history. Gavin and I went to the Crosby Arboretum and fed the turtles. He LOVED it. We fed them goldfish crackers, ha! We explored the arboretum and we were on the lookout for alligators. We shopped at Hudson's. Gavin, it turns out, is a huge fried catfish fiend!!! He couldn't get enough of the catfish. We didn't get to do everything we planned, but we got to do the things that were the most meaningful.

Since we got back I have been so busy with granola orders and getting the business up and running. I haven't even had time to completely unpack because it has been so busy. There is so much to do still to be ready for the Farmer's Market: order containers, labels, t-shirts, paper work, etc...

Gavin is getting so big. I just can't believe he is 16.5 months old!! Where has the time gone? He is 30 pounds and in 3T clothes. I have to roll up the bottom of his pant legs, but his waist is so thick it fits perfectly. He is around 32.5 inches tall and wears a size 6.5 shoe. This kid is eating me out of house and home already..what is it going to be like when he is a teenager???! ha!

He said "no nap" yesterday, which was so cute and funny...but he did not want to take a nap. (He eventually did--almost falling asleep eating.)