BABY BROOKS

on Sofia's birthday she decided she wanted to visit her new baby cousin brooks. My sister had her second baby on Friday, March 12 and he was ready for us to come hold him! we were not able to visit him at the hospital because they have new rules about children visiting at the hospital and i had pink eye, so we stayed clear for a while! the kids were SO excited to see their new cousin. he is such a sweet boy and loves being held. i love my new nephew and the kids are so happy to have a new cousin! welcome to the family baby brooks!!! we love you.

BIRTHDAY GIRL

where does the time go? i cannot believe that my sweet baby girl is FIVE years old. we have watched her this past year blossom from an adorable little toddler to a sweet little girl. it is amazing the transformation they make between 4 and 5. she is her own little person and always has been. She keeps us laughing with her funny little faces and her silly jokes. She is such a sweet heart and is definitely daddy's little girl. Her Nanny and Poppy call her trixie and i have to say the name fits PERFECTLY. she loves to play tricks on you and knows exactly what she is doing. she is very sneaky, but not to be naughty, just because she can be. she is so fun to have around and brings so much life to our family! she is my SWEET SOFITA PITA!! happy birthday big girl!

** the picture of the little girl with Sofia is her friend Genevieve from church. she came with me to Sofia's school to surprise her and wish her a happy birthday!

THE HAIRCUT

Rob has been begging me forever to get sofia's haircut into her cute little bob, but being a girl, i thought she deserved the right to wear her hair how she wanted it. She has been asking for a year or so if she could grow her hair out and of course i let her. the only problem is that her face is so tiny and the girl has TONS of hair!! it is SOOOOOO thick. so this past saturday Rob and I talked her into getting her hair cut short and she enthusiastically agreed! she looks so cute and aside from thinking she looks like a boy, i think she likes it too.

Spending the day at the temple with the young women on friday, i didn't get a chance to spend much time with my family, so i tried to make up for that on saturday. after i took nico to saturday school (for math tutoring) i took the other four kids with me to visit Rancho Allegro farms which is a local farmers market that sells only local products and offers some fun things for the kids to do. we had a good time, but with the weather being a little over cast and colder, there were not that many vendors set up. the kids had fun riding the pony and playing for a little while on the play ground. i loved watching them interact and play together and i think they liked having me all to themselves.

TEMPLE TRIP

With the Atlanta Temple being closed, we have had to make an extra effort to attend other local temples and we are so lucky to have S.C. and Birmingham within a couple of hours in each direction. I have recently been called to be the 1st Counselor in Young Women's. Lucky for me it was just in time to attend the temple with them. when i got the word that I would be able to go, I got to work on getting my family names ready! It was such a sweet moment for me to take the names of my grandmother and great grandmother to the temple. i am so grateful for this opportunity, i love my new calling, i love the girls i get to work with each week. we had such a great time on our road trip and had a little bit of a scare with some car problems on our way home, but prayer is a powerful thing and we got home safely!!

OLLIE AND MOMMY DATE

We have finally had some fabulous, warm weather around here after our very unusually cold GA winter. Ollie and I decided to take advantage of the warmth by spending the day OUTSIDE!! we started by taking a brisk walk around our neighborhood. while we were walking i found a grave site from a local family in the area. it was very interesting how it had been preserved by a brick gate with houses built around it. We later ventured out to our local game ranch where Ollie got to hand feed all the animals and pet the deer and goat. he tried catching a bunny, but they weren't too friendly. it was sad to see the damage that had been done to the game ranch due to the flooding that we had back in the fall. the game ranch sits right on the Yellow River and the floods washed away anything that sat next to it. luckily none of the animals were harmed and the staff was able to save the animals that were in danger.

While we were there, the peacock decided to show off a little. it was BEAUTIFUL!!

On our way home, Ollie insisted that we visit a local tractor store. so being the good mom that i am, i took him in to see the big tractors. HE LOVES TRACTORS!!! i have never had a child have a fascination with anything this much. the men who worked a the tractor place let Ollie sit on them and he thought that was the greatest thing EVER! he was not the least bit scared and all the men were impressed at his lack of fear for these big monsters. all in all, we had a great day! i love my little guy and i cannot believe that my time with him at home is almost over!

MORE FIELD TRIAL FUN

Rob loves his field trials and when possible and if the weather is good, we like to go along and play also! this particular field trial my in-laws came along and we stayed at a beautiful resort! it is called Barnsley Gardens and i HIGHLY recommend it for a nice retreat/ getaway. the kids had so much fun roaming around on the resort property and exploring the "haunted" house that is preserved from 1850 from the original family who owned the land. the house is AMAZING with lots of history. the museum was incredible..... it featured the old stove and other old utility machines. the kids LOVED it, especially the civil war room where nico got to see all the cool weapons! it was a wonderful family trip and we got to watch rob run the dogs! we had a blast and the weather was GREAT!!