Gracie can read.

 Viola loves books but can only look at the pictures so imagine her excitement when one of her favorite people (Gracie) read a book to her.

 Admiration.

Chicken, Run!

 Hanging out at the Bailey Adams house and Viola and Addie had one goal: catch a chicken.

Chicken beware of little girls with strawberries.

 Run chicken, RUN!

 But with a lot of chasing and a bit of determination my little Lola caught a chicken.  I was so proud.

 She did share her good fortune with Addie and passed over the chicken.

 What's a cousin for if its not to hand you a chicken.

Family Gathering and Fire

 We gathered at the Jake Adams house for some good food (including chocolate beet cupcakes, yummmm!)and fire.

Gracie and Garner are all about some fire.  I would be lying if I said it didn't make me a bit nervous.

 Trey might have needed a bath at the end of the night.  You should have seen his socks!

We managed to get all of the cousins in one photo. 

Dance Party

 My failed attempt at a creative Christmas card picture for Cindy involved an all cousin dance contest.  The only problem was all of the cousins did not want to participate.  There were some tears, pouting and escapes, but there was also some pretty intense dancing on the part of the older kids.  Thanks for the participation guys.

 This is how Trey felt about being told to dance.

 Jake got involved and there was some definite sprinkler action.

 Funky Chicken, what what?

 This is Viola's happy place.  In a big cousin hug.

 Prater puff.

 Charlie got some Cindy love.

To Cindy's house we go.

I flew to Mississippi with the kids last week to hang out with my mom.  Viola has done quite a bit of flying in her short life but for some reason she has just recently become scared of the idea. Ginger ale is a huge treat for this little apprehensive flier.

click here to see the album

Has there been a little bunny sneeking into the garden to eat the kale? No, just Viola.

Viola has taken full advantage of Davis and Anna's offer of unlimited kale from the garden.

Egg Drop Soup

Its a chilly damp day so to avoid cabin fever we had lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant Tiger Lily.  When I told Viola we were going there she exclaimed "I want egg drop soup".  Fortunately it comes with the lunch special that we were sharing so she got to slurp some up with a funny spoon.  And two fortune cookies too, it was an exciting lunch.

Viola is teaching Charlie how to sit up.

 She also said that she would teach him how to walk then maybe how to drive.  This takes a lot of pressure off of me.

Hey Dude

 Friends of ours have a dude ranch not far from town and they invited us up for the afternoon.  Viola was beside herself with excitement.  She finally had a legitimate reason for her blue jeans and cowboy boots.

Allison showed Viola the ways of the cowgirl.

 They also had some flowers.

Lots of flowers.

We met some happy porkers.

We enjoyed some time on the porch, this nice lady held Charlie (in his cowboy shirt) and Viola entertained herself with an antler.

 Then the horses came in for their feed.

We discovered a good source for free manure to nourish the garden next year.

Viola likes to be up on the rocks to pet the horses.

Then we met this old fellow named Grandpa.

 We tried to feed him a carrot but the alfalfa on the ground was more appealing.

Then we found the little guys.

 A baby miniature horse.  Cute eh?

Charlie, strapped on as always.

She did get to ride a tire horse but hopes to return to ride a real one some time.

People say that I look like my Papa, You be the judge.

Matchy Matchy

 I accidentally dressed the boy to match me exactly.

Today's Outing

We discovered some new neighbors had moved into the blue house down the street.  They are all quite small and wear pointed hats.  I hope that no one makes away with them in the night.

We had a very early morning so this is how our walk ended.  She slept in this very awkward position for at least half an hour.

I left Charlie on his back and when I came back I found this.