April

April is nearly gone!  I can’t believe how fast life goes..it’s sad and beautiful all at the same time.  Tye and I are good, the kids are good and there is a couple chances of rain this week.  I really couldn’t ask for more in this life.  So thankful for the blessings I have.

We celebrated Easter, twice!  I love Easter.  It was always my grandad, Papaw’s, favorite holiday and Tye says that it was his great-grandmother, Willie’s favorite too.  Both sides of our families have always come together this day.  I love this time of year because we get to remember WHY Jesus is different.  He rose!  He’s alive.  He is our Savior and that is something worth remembering and talking about.  Yes, we dye eggs and yes, we have bunny decorations but YES, we talk about Jesus rising from the grave.  It’s an incredible story and one I could listen to over and over.

The kids with Mim and Grandaddy, their great-grandparents.  My kids love Mim and Grandaddy and get to see and spend the night with them often.  I couldn’t be more thankful for their relationship and all the memories they are making together. 

Ayden and Ryan are in 4H and have started Shotgun.  They love it.  Ray Mason is their coach and he is so good with the kids.  I love watching them grow, get stronger and better at something they really want to do.  

B and Shell with their grandkids.  We love them so much!

Daddy and the boys

Momma and the girls

At night, we give the kids about 30 minutes to read.  The “big” kids, Ayden and Ryan, always read longer and I don’t mind because up to this point at least they will put their books down and go to sleep when they are tired.  Until they abuse this privilege, we’ll let it continue.  

Anyway, they alway start out in each other’s bed.  Ayden reads to Sydney a chapter book and Ryan reads to Myles.  Then, they get in their own beds and read their own books.  These two brothers are so special to me.  I love how much they love each other.

Dying Easter eggs at our house.

One of my favorite things at night is to peek in on them.  They are so precious and I’m so thankful for my girls.

Ryan got to go to the driving range with Pops and BB this month.  Ryan had a great day!

Ayden and her Shotgun!  She’s the only girl on the team and I am so proud of her!

Massey Easter picture.  Right after this picture everyone had a confetti egg fight!  So much fun!

Full buckets and big smiles!

Dying eggs at B and Shell’s house.

Mim and Sydney

Our barn cat brought a baby bunny into the backyard the other day.  It was so sad and a bit traumatizing for the kids.  They rescued it and got it all fixed up.  We looked and looked for it’s hole but never found where it came from.  We all did what we could and eventually found a perfect spot for it.  The next morning it was gone so we all just know it’s momma came to get it.  That’s the story we’d all like to believe anyway.  It was just so stinkin’ cute!

We finally got to see Poppa and Honey after nearly three weeks!  We usually see them once a week so we were all missing each other.  So thankful they can come over for supper and we could spend some time together. 

We got to go to Hords Creek for the weekend.  It was a blast.  I’ve been going to that campground my entire life and it’s neat that I get to take my kids there too.  We took the boat and went fishing twice.  Rusty LOVES going on the boat.  He’s a water dog!  I can’t wait until we get to go to the lake this summer and he can jump in the water.

Poppa taught Ryan how to run the trolling on his boat motor.  Poppa and Honey take their boat and we take ours and each take two kids.  The kids usually switch out after a few hours.  

When it was Ryan’s turn on our boat Tye let him run the trolling motor on our boat.  Tye was so happy that he could kick back and just fish!  

Ryan caught a fish with Poppa and Honey.  He was so excited and they were so excited for him.  He told me earlier in the day “Momma, all I want to do today is catch a fish.  That’s all I want to do.”

We went to Great Wolf Lodge for a couple days earlier in the month.  We had a blast!  Sydney is an incredible swimmer and her favorite thing was the wave pool.  She swam her little heart out and then fell asleep in my arms.  Best moment of the weekend. 

Ryan caught a fuzzy caterpillar!  They were everywhere at Hords Creek.

Daddy and Syd in the Lazy River.  The kids wouldn’t listen when we told them they were suppose to be LAZY in the Lazy River.  Tye and I ran circles around that thing.

Sydney finally learned how to blow a bubble!  It’s a great childhood when that’s what you work on for days and then when you finally get it, your family screams and cheers!

S’mores in Poppa and Honey’s backyard.

Rusty needed to go to the bathroom so we had to find a shore while we were fishing.  

Ayden takin’ care of her little buddy.

Tye and Ryan trying to fix the trolling motor.  We’ve just got an old boat.  We bought it right after we got married and use to go fishing all the time.  Having four kids have kind of put a damper on our fishing, but that’s okay.  I know someday they’ll all be gone and I’ll be out fishing, wishing I could go back.

Ayden, Ryan and Myles rode all the slides about 500 times.  Great Wolf Lodge wasn’t busy so they were able to ride down, wait maybe a minute and then ride again.  I rode their favorite slide the “Twisted Tornado” and it was terrifying and I hated it but I rode it at least 5 times.  The things we do to make our children smile...no seriously my life flashed before my eyes a couple times on that thing.

Doesn’t every girl wear a Davy Crockett hat to go camping.  It makes total sense to me!

“It was, just an old plywood boat

A ‘75 Johnson with electric choke

A young boy two hands on the wheel

I can’t replace the way it made me feel

And I would turn her sharp

And I would make it whine

He’d say, You can’t beat the way an old wood boat rides

Just a little lake across the Alabama line

But I was king of the ocean

When daddy let me DRIVE”

As I was watching Tye let Ryan drive our boat this Alan Jackson song came to my mind and I couldn’t quit singing it all weekend.  These are the moments folks.  The moments that he’ll never forget and I’ll never want to.

One of our camping traditions is as soon as we get to where we are going the kids pick me wildflowers and it’s our table centerpiece the rest of the trip.  I love them and I love this tradition.  Once again, I know it’s one that I’ll miss terribly when they are grown and gone.

Sydney: I got Rusty all ready for bed and even covered him up!

I’m not sure Rusty realizes how lucky he is to live here.

Shell informed us that it was National Unicorn Day.  Since Sydney is a unicorn’s biggest fan she decided to make herself a horn.  She’s the cutest unicorn I ever did see!

My sweet little farming boy.  He had planting seeds in the garden like his Daddy.

A little sweet and a little spicy...our little Sydney Marr.

Ryan has grown so much he didn’t even have to have a height bracelet at Great Wolf Lodge.  He was taller than the measuring stick!

Myles is our boat entertainment.  You’ll never get bored hanging out with him!

April was fun, April was busy but April was wonderful.  I will never take for granted these moments with my family.  I don’t deserve them or this life I’ve been given, but I thank God for it every single day.