Fun Firsts

First canoe ride! We had so much fun, and Magnus enjoyed trying to paddle "all by himself".

This tree frog jumped on our canoe and stayed with us (in spite of our efforts to ditch him!) until we got home - he even rode in the canoe on top of the car! I thought he was cool until he jumped on my arm with those sticky pads of his. Joe thought it was funny to actually hear me squeal like a girl! Magnus thought the best part was when the frog pooed on the canoe, and he still talks about that, as if it were the highlight of his trip!

Magnus entertained himself by trailing his hand in the water as Daddy paddled us around.

First painting (acrylics)! I gave him a couple of my paint colors to experiment with, and when he got the hang of it, he started asking for specific colors to add to it! ("Please, red!", "I need the blue!" or "Need more white!") He was very careful to stay on the paper (as I told him to be!) and I think it turned out to be one of the most beautiful paintings ever!

He accidentally touched his brush to his face... =) Here he is still deep in concentration.

First kite! Joe introduced Magnus to another great flying phenomenon.

Magnus was so proud of his kite!

Surprise!! It's a shower for... me??

Tamela's decorations were the cutest ever!! (Note the fruit bouquet in the cowboy hat!)

So yummy! Tamela made all the food, and chocolates too. =)

Nasia, Laura and Katie Hinton. Thanks, Katie, for taking all the pics!

Angie, Tamela, Lisa (left) and Krissy and Hannah Hinton (middle).

I'm blessed with friends with good taste, and received the cutest gifts!

Seemed like an ordinary girl's "hang-out" night invitation to me, when Tamela invited me to come keep her company one Friday evening while Melvin was at a meeting somewhere. Then I was under the impression that plans had changed and the guys' quartet from church would be meeting Joe at our house to practice, and I thought, "Oh good, I'll go hang out with Tamela while the fellas "rock" my house with melody and very loud soundtracks!" Joe offered to keep Magnus and I was all for that too! He and Tamela were so smooth about the whole thing. No details, no set time to be at her house, nothing! Joe asked, "So what time were you going to go to Tamela's? and I said, "Oh, I don't know - I'll text her and see..." Tamela's reply: "How about in 1/2 hour?" So I dawdled around, never checked the clock (Joe suggested the sooner I get going, the sooner I could get back - lol!) and left - pulled into Tamela's drive and noticed a couple cars from church and thought, "Oh no! The guys' quartet must be meeting HERE! And we thought they were supposed to meet at our house! I better call Joe and tell him to get over here, but first I'll run in and explain to Tamela why I didn't bring the boys." I got in the house, quickly started explaining to Tamela and then realized that in the other room, I saw girls, not guys... and balloons! And decorations... What was going on?? Then... "Surprise!!" The girls from church had driven near and far to throw me a wonderful baby shower and I had no idea! Some drove 1 1/2 hrs just to be there. We had so much fun, and I went away feeling all special and like somebody important. =) I guess I thought since I already had one boy (and kept all his things) that a baby shower for the 2nd little tyke would be a non-essential, but thankfully, my girlfriends disagreed!

It's hay making season again!

Mt. Dew keeps Joe going - or so he says...

Yes, I helped rake too... for about 5 hrs the first day.

Day 2 - Magnus helped by making sure Jack didn't get cold.

Magnus enjoyed covering Jack up until....

you could barely see him!

Day 2 - help arrives! We must have REALLY good friends!!

Tamela, Magnus and Jack

Well, folks, if you thought we were crazy for hand raking our hay last year, you would've thought we were insane this year! We let the grass grow even taller, and we raked the ENTIRE pasture (5 or 6 acres?). We got about 120 bales' worth of hay this time (quite a lot more than last year) which should be enough to feed the horses all winter! =) They really like this "special" hand-raked/stacked hay too for some reason, and will leave their precious grain to start digging into it. Joe worked hour after hour, raking, loading in the trailer and unloading in the barn. He spent two whole days furiously working on it before the rains came. I was good help for about 1/2 day, with pregnancy as my excuse to pardon myself. Then Melvin, Tamela and Melvin's brother Ben came for an evening and helped us finish. What a blessing they were! I can't believe what good friends we have - they have the blisters to prove it! =)

Memorial Day Feast With Friends

Joe and Magnus holding "Spring", the Boardmans' sweet little Italian Greyhound

The trampoline!

Backyard cookout and playtime.

The food - and oh, was it yummy! Chicken, burgers and shrimp on the 'barbie!

We went to the Boardmans' house for a Memorial Day BBQ with friends. The guys grilled some yummy meat, the kids played non-stop and Jennifer, Lisa and I talked pretty much non-stop too, when I wasn't too busy stuffing my face. =) We had more food than we could hope to eat, but we certainly gave it a valiant effort!! I thought I wouldn't want to eat again for a week, but today, not even 24 hours later, I'm thinking of that grilled shrimp and roasted corn on the cob... Ahh, what a wonderful way to celebrate and remember what our veterans and troops have done and are doing for our country. I definitely think we should do it more often!

You know spring is here when...

Little boys get dressed up for Easter Sunday at church.

The grass needs mowed - frequently!

The Goldfinches are back in town and hungry from their long journey.

One horse sheds this much fur in just one brushing! (Jake was the donor for this lovely pile.)

Slate River Ranch - April 2009

Magnus helping Daddy fly the Learjet 45

Petting one of the pretty strawberry roans at the ranch.

One of the many cute babies!

At the Fort Worth zoo.

Checking out a display at the zoo.

The lions kindly posed for me, per my request. =)

Magnus finally got to see a real live giraffe! His books were as close as he'd ever come.

Daddy and Magnus with some of the pretty SLR cutting horses.

Magnus helped me make friends with the two year old's.

One of Magnus' favorite things on the ranch! The golf cart. He was good at steering it too!

Daddy took Magnus for a trot on one of the ranch's "using horses".

The newborn foals were such sleepy-heads!

We found this poor fellow along the road (beer and all!).
♪ He put the bottle to his head and pulled the trigger. ♫

Checking out the daily cattle drive in cow-town.

Dining on BBQ in Stockyards Station.

At the Stockyards Rodeo - Magnus loved it!

I love this picture of my boys on the ranch pony! Magnus really enjoyed this ride.

Normally Magnus and I don't get to go on trips with Joe, but the owner of the Learjet (also the owner of Slate River Ranch!) generously allowed us to go on a week-long trip to his ranch at Weatherford, TX! They put us up in the large house there, so we had the "comforts of home", plus a golf cart to ride around on. =) We got to enjoy the ranch at the perfect time, since now is when they do their breeding/foaling. We didn't catch any foals being born, but the activities at the breeding barn were interesting to watch! Discovery channel material, to be sure, but really neat. They use "surrogate" broodmares for a lot of the foals so they can save their cutting mares for competition, and they do all the implantation, etc. right there on the farm. We took video for all of our friends to see, so just come on over and be enlightened! We took Magnus to the Fort Worth Zoo one day, as he'd never had the pleasure of such entertainment, and we enjoyed other local events like the cutting horse competition, Stockyard Station (a bit touristy, but hey... that's what we were!), the rodeo and of course some shopping at the western stores! Joe and I both agreed that the "cowboy culture" out there sure leaves Virginia with much to be desired! The people were great and all drove trucks... with horse trailers following close behind. It was a very relaxing visit, lots of fun, and by the time our week was up we were ready to come home to our own little farm. Check out the ranch website sometime: www.slateriverranch.com. It's truly a beautiful place!

Children's Easter Festival

Magnus loved petting the sheep, and they didn't seem to mind either. =)


He even got to ride the most adorable donkey!

The firetruck was definitely a huge highlight!



Ahh... sitting on the super-cool red machine!


Picking up "Easter eggs"!

On the prowl for those egg-shaped candies!

Magnus certainly enjoyed his trip to the Children's Festival where he go to experience his very first Easter egg hunt! It was a great way to pass the time while Joe was away (he's been gone forever, it seems!) and the only downside to the happy occasion was having to come home! The Easter egg hunt was fun for him, but I think he enjoyed the festival part even more! (I was just disappointed that they weren't real plastic Easter eggs! I am new at this Easter egg hunt myself though, so I didn't know they just throw out sugary egg-shaped candies!) Magnus loved going around to all the little vendors and having everyone give him candy! A guy could get used to that, for sure! His favorite thing was the firetruck though, and I think he could've just sat on it and soaked it in all day. He was very brave for his donkey ride too, and he wanted to pet all the lambs (and the baby goat, which wouldn't cooperate - it was sleeping safely in the MIDDLE of the pen!). We got to ride a little "train" and we even took advantage of the swings at the playground since it was held at the middle school right down the road from us. He had the time of his life, and the only things that would've made it better would've been Daddy, and getting to stay a lot longer!