Farm Fest 2009

Even though Double Decker was big, I have to say that our biggest event of the weekend was what I'm calling Farm Fest 2009. We had this party Sunday afternoon on my parents' farm. Though it took a whole lot of work by a several people to prepare for it, I definitely feel like it was worth the effort. It mostly consisted of family along with a few friends, and it was full of fishing, wiffle ball and good food. I really hope we can make it an annual event.

Not long before Kaitlyn caught her first fish (above), one of her cousins came over to say hello and asked for a hug. Kaitlyn responded, "Hold on a minute. I'm fishing right now." Fishing is serious business you know.

Evan does a great job of making the rounds and working the crowd at the party. The top photo is with his Aunt Sharon and cousin Hayley. In the bottom photo he is thinking Papa needs some help with the steering wheel while on a little tour with his Great Aunt Sherry.

Double Decker

Saturday kicked off a big weekend for the whole family. Evan got to participate in the 14th annual and his first Double Decker Arts Festival. Kaitlyn also was big enough this year to enjoy the food and entertainment more than she has been able to thus far. Their new Radio Flyer wagon worked great, and I thought we were going to have to defend it from a hostile crowd that was coveting the shade the canopy provided on what turned out to be a sunny 85 degree day. Well, maybe they weren't a hostile crowd, but they were definitely jealous. We called it a day after lunch on the courthouse lawn with Uncle Tim, who came for a weekend visit from Dallas, and Nana.

Silly Car

Evan went for a follow up appointment to the pulmonologist in Memphis last week, which went well, and weighed 21 lbs 12 oz. He is talking (ya ya ya) a lot more in the past week, and his new trick is biting down on the spoon while he is eating because he is so proud of his new teeth. He can actually bite down and grin at you at the same time. He had four teeth come in along the top at almost the same time and they are just now out enough that he can get a little use out of them.

Amanda also brought Evan and Kaitlyn out to the farm this past Saturday while I was burning a brush pile and they all had a blast riding around in the Gator with Papa. The bed of the Gator turned out to be a great sandbox of sorts for him too. Unfortunately we didn't have a camera out there for that.

In other news, while Kaitlyn and I were out driving the other day, she said, unprovoked, "Daddy, look at that man in that silly car." It turns out she was looking at a Porche 911 Carrera convertible. That's my girl.

Easter

Easter was a big event this year for a lot of reasons. First, Evan was baptized during the Easter Vigil at St. Peter's Saturday night. Despite the fact that the service didn't even start until Evan's bedtime at 7:30 and lasted an hour and 45 minutes, both Evan and Kaitlyn behaved better than we could have hoped for. After communion, the priest came out to deliver communion to an elderly man. Kaitlyn, who had never been in "big church" before, asked what they gave him. When her mama told her it was a wafer, she announced that she wanted a wafer too. Telling her she had to be bigger wasn't effective (because as we all know, she is a big girl) but Amanda was able to end the discussion by saying, "Well, taller." After Evan was baptized, Bo and Candace walked him down the aisle to present him to the congregation. Kaitlyn was not prepared for this and in obvious distress asked (the entire congregation) "Where are they taking my Evan!?"

As for the rest of the weekend, we had a cookout Friday night for Papa's birthday. Kaitlyn also got to dye eggs with her Gamma, who came up for the weekend, on Saturday and go on numerous Easter egg hunts. She also found the golden egg on one of those that had $5 inside... or so I was told as I have yet to see that money. But we all know how women are.

Eating Machine

Evan definitely has the mechanics down.
Sweet potatoes didn't have a chance. Just a few
more teeth and he'll be ready for a steak.

Pink Loves Me

Kaitlyn loves sunglasses. She has pairs of them all over – including at least two she keeps in my truck because you never know what the occasion might call for. The other day she handed me back her orange pair and asked for the pink pair. Though orange is currently her favorite color, I made a comment about her really liking pink. Her response, "Pink loves me."

Yesterday she was telling me she had a headache while we were on the way home from daycare. I asked her why her head was hurting. She said, "Cause I was bonking it on the wall in the shower."

After getting out of the shower last night she tells us that when it gets warmer this spring, she was "gonna go bear hunt." That one really caught me off guard. I asked why she wanted to hunt bears... and that one might get her, and much to our relief she said that she didn't mean bear hunt, but barefoot. Later she was pretending to be a bear and chasing me. When I told her I just tickled bears and started chasing her, she quickly let me know that she was not a bear, she was a kid. That, by the way, is the first time I've ever heard her refer to herself as a kid.