Happy Ninth

The four square battle

More serious four square

The birthday boy with his cookie cake

Sam and his friend Lucas at lunch at Cheddar's

I can hardly believe it but Sam turned nine on Monday. Sunday we had John's sisters and their families over to celebrate. John fried fish that he and Sam caught (per Sam's request) and we played some competitive four square, Ella talked a lot of people into playing Cootie, we had cookie cake and opened presents. It was a nice day to celebrate an amazing kid!

On his birthday I took he and his best friend Lucas out to lunch. John and Ella had to stay home since Ella had the stomach bug. The plan was to then go to an arcade but it was closed. Instead they played Sam's new video games here at the house. I think he enjoyed himself and we are making plans to return to the arcade when it is open later this week.

Spring View

As we prepare to put our house on the market I am realizing this will be our last spring here in Springfield. Spring is my favorite time of year to sit on the back deck and enjoy our view. In the common area are Bradford Pears and Redbud trees that never fail to put on a beautiful display each spring. There is something about the trees blooming that makes my heart feel happy. It also makes me a little sad that I won't be here next year to see it.

We also had Bradford Pears in our backyard in Carolina. They are just such beautiful trees. Looks like I am already planning a project for this fall in the new house.

Beautiful Days

We have been outside enjoying the weather this whole last week! I can not believe that it is just the middle of March. With temperatures in the upper seventies and everything blooming you just want to spend all of your time outdoors.

The pictures are from last weekend in Columbia. We ate lunch and walked over to the columns for some pictures and then to Shelter Gardens. We were a little early in the season but since so many things have bloomed here this week I bet this weekend would have been the one to go. They have an old school house there that the kids loved and had fun taking turns being the teacher and the student.