Outside fun with friends!

Today was a fantastic day! I am not much of an outdoorsy kind of girl, but I spent almost the whole day outside.

This morning I went to McWhorter park with Ruth Anne, Laura, and Chelsea. I hadn't ever been there before, but I really liked it. Lois Jackson is my favorite, but they don't have bathrooms.

Anyway, Benjamin, Isaac, and Ethan had fun riding their bikes and sliding Hot Wheels down the slide. Isaac was all Evil Knievel and flying down the hill. At one point Isaac slid down the metal pole from the top of one of the play things and declared, "I did it, but I almost died." We laughed a lot at this!! Luckily, all children managed to leave without breaking any body parts...or dying. I consider that a successful day out! Olivia and Benji (Ruth Anne's) did a lot of swinging and hangin' with the Mommies.

Olivia loves swinging!

Benji does too!

After the park we had lunch at Mazzio's. Livi was a wee bit tired.

She ended up laying on her tummy in the stroller with her rear end poking up. She slept through getting in the car, out of the car at the restaurant, into the stroller, and a good amount of time at the restaurant This is VERY unlike her! Trying, unsuccessfully, to eat wood chips all morning is tiring work!!

When we got home, I let Benjamin play with the the neighborhood kids and Olivia went down for her nap. I felt all excited so I decided to tackle the (small) flowerbed that I have been neglecting for about 2 years now. I weeded it, raked the leaves out and bagged them, dug up the Oleander and transplanted it elsewhere, turned the soil, planted a red bud tree in the center, flattened the soil back, and then planted Heather. I told the lady at Lowe's that I needed a plant that "wasn't going to go down without a fight." To say that I am bad with plants is being kind!

Here is Oleander in it's new location

The red bud tree has been living in a pot since my sister-in-law gave it to me 2.5 years ago. I have not watered it, or even looked at it, since. I have thought that it was dead several times now, but it miraculously comes back every year. However, now that I have touched it, it will most certainly die!!

And this is the finished flowerbed.

Stephanie showed up right before I put the heather in. Then Laura came...then Sherene. They all dropped right down and helped me put the plants in. It was greatly appreciated!! (thanks guys!!) Then Ted, Chad, and Steve came over too. It was a regular ole' reunion at my house. I love that sort of thing!! I always wanted to live in a neighborhood where your neighbors were also your friends instead of strangers you try to avoid.

I love when the neighbors feel free to come over whenever they want. That sort of thing has never bothered me. Sherene has shown up on her own twice in the past few weeks. Once to play in the rain, and then today. A few weeks after Laura moved in she walked over one afternoon and we spent about 2 hours just chitchatting. I felt very blessed that she felt comfortable enough to do that. Stephanie and I frequent each other's homes several times a week. Linda opens her home monthly for chai parties. Perhaps I'll invite her here for tea! Jan and Lew keep up with neighborhood safety issues. And all of the children play every afternoon at every house in the neighborhood!! The children here are kind, honest, intelligent, and fun!! This is huge to me!! So, if you're reading this and you live here, thanks for being a part of making this possible.

There have been people who think it is very frightening that we live "on the south side" and can't see what it is that keeps us here. Neighbors like these are what keep us here!! We trust God for our safety, and he has provided, and then we enjoy the rest.

And, heck, who wouldn't want to live in a place where your afternoon ends like this...
A man rode by on a horse.


I channelled my inner Stephanie and yelled to him, "May the children see your horse?" He rode right over into the yard, told me he didn't speak English, and motioned for Benjamin to come to him. He put Benjamin up on his horse and walked him around the front of the yard. Then he put Jasper up on there with Benjamin. They were two VERY happy boys. At this point, Stephanie and her family came over again. The man also gave rides to Lucy, Brandon (new kid in neighborhood), Amara, and Beth Rose.


The neighborhood together again!
The children tried to feed the horse some raw carrots, but clearly the horse feels the same way I do about raw carrots...YUCK!! So, the children all begged for carrots. Yes, you read that right!!

Benjamin really enjoyed his...as you can tell by his orange mouth!

And Olivia was not about to be left out!!!

Olivia enjoyed her outside time immensely!! Here's an outside picture just for fun!

Oh, and my plums are growing again this year. Last year, being the kind animal lover that I am (HA!!), I sacrificed all of my plums to the birds. I'm a giver! Here is what they look like now.
While in the backyard, I noticed two things: my dog runs three paths in the yard and the clover that we hand dug out of the yard a couple of years ago is all back. Clover is the one plant that I cannot kill!! Argh!

Well, that was my long, rambling post for today. It was such a great day. I enjoyed all of the wonderful weather....however, my skin is quite pink. So, tomorrow I may be singing a different tune!!! Either way, I love my outside day!!