Lanark Field Trip

In April, Chloe's class went on their last field trip to the Alabama Nature Center at Lanark.

According to its website, it's a "planned-use outdoor education facility".

We had a lot of fun while we were there learning about several creatures that inhabit Alabama. Doesn't Evan look interested?! Ha! I promise. He really was.

Our first guide showed us different kinds of snakes. He seemed fearless as he talked about how often he had been bitten by snakes. Yikes! I'm sure there was some educational stuff mixed in his speech, but that part really stuck with me.

Rat Snakes

He even gave the children a chance to touch the snake. I wasn't quick enough with my camera, and missed the shot of Chloe petting the snake. Evan, in true form, opted to watch from a safe distance.

'Baby' Alligator Snapping Turtle

Afterwards, he lead us on a hike to the pond. Before getting to the pond, he pointed out poison ivy to the children. Not too close, kids! " Leaves of three, let them be."

He gave a quick presentation before checking the traps in the pond.

Checking the traps...

Most of the traps had yellow-bellied sliders (turtles) in them.

We hiked back to the pavilion and met our second guide.

She brought us to the garden, where we had a scavenger hunt to find "frogs" hidden in the garden. Chloe getting a clue on where to find the next "frog". (It was taped to her teacher's back.)

Afterwards, she took us on a hike to the catfish pond. The children pretended to be different animals all the way there.

Evan eventually hitched a ride on Daddy's shoulders.

Feeding the catfish

And of course, we wouldn't miss our chance to take a class photo.

 

This was a great way to experience and learn about nature. And, this was such a sweet bunch of littles. I'm sad that we won't be going on any more excursions with them, but look forward to the sweet friends (and moms) that we'll be meeting in the future.

May Flowers

The April showers brought May flowers...and a whole heap allergy problems! Ha!

I'm up to date on most of our big events in May, but I thought that I'd share a few that really didn't have a spot in a specific post.

On May 4th, we picked up our sweet new boy in El Dorado, Arkansas! Truth be told, Chris could have made the road trip to Arkansas to pick up our new puppy, Luke, by himself, but I didn't want to deprive the littles of the experience and excitement of meeting the newest member of our family.

As a family, we had decided that we needed a new furry companion a few months earlier, but I'll be honest, it has been a major adjustment for me having a puppy in the house. As a mother of two, I finally felt like I had found my groove...cue in the puppy to completely turn my world on its head. I thought I was done being up all night with the baby. I thought I was done potty training. I thought I was done with that silence that means nothing good is happening. I thought that I was done with teething. I thought that I was done... Let's just say, every day is a new adventure with Luke;) 

On our way home, we passed through West Monroe, Louisiana, so we stopped by the Duck Commander. It was closed since it was Sunday, but we took a few photos outside of the factory. We asked another tourist to take this picture for us.

Luke got to stretch his legs.

We stopped to eat at a restaurant in West Monroe with outdoor seating since we had Luke with us and spotted Uncle Si driving past in his truck! He was just as I would have imagined him in his truck, windows rolled down with his arm resting on the door.

We stopped to take a picture as before driving across the state line to Luke's forever home!

I couldn't resist taking these photos of Luke crossing the threshold.

We celebrated my Mother's Day with a special brunch hosted by the church that we attend. A church member was sweet enough to offer his photographic talents and took pictures of each of the families on this morning.

(The Mother's Day family picture will be up soon. It is scanned, but on another computer.)

Afterwards, we headed to the country to spend Mother's Day with Nana.

My mother/Lola was working, so we didn't get to see her on this day, but we did leave a sweet surprise at her house to greet her when she got home.

On Evan's birthday, May 19th, Chloe and I planned a special breakfast for him! (Blog post of his birthday party can be seen here.) He loves pancakes, so we made him some party pancakes with colored sprinkles mixed in the batter and whipped cream topping with more sprinkles!

 
He captured my heart from the second I found out that I would be his mommy. He is such a sweet and shy boy with the best sense of humor. He is our little comedian and can have you rolling on the floor in laughter with his one-liners. He is always so thoughtful, forever bringing his momma flowers that he has picked from the yard...or the neighbor's yard:/ He is always cautious and takes a while to warm up to people and situations...but if he likes you, it's because you're special! He has a smile that lights up a room and never forgets a name. He's my boy, Evan!  

Okay, so I watching "Uncle Buck" earlier this week and Buck made a birthday pancake breakfast for his nephew, Miles, that seriously put mine to shame! Would you take a look at the size of those pancakes?!! Wowza!

Grandmama wasn't able to attend Evan's birthday party, but that didn't keep her from spoiling him on his birthday!

We attended a fun Frozen-themed birthday party! In case you didn't get the memo, "Frozen" is the new kiddie craze. We've attended 5 Frozen-themed birthday parties since April!

The littles with the pretty birthday girl, Elizabeth!

We wrapped up May with a fun Memorial Day weekend

We visited with family at Aunt Dana and Uncle Tommy's.

Since Aunt Dana and Uncle Tommy live outside of the city limits, Chris decided to bring along the littles' bb guns to get in a little practice.

The kids searched for lizards with Uncle Tommy and rode the Polaris with Aunt Dana.

I love this shot of the littles and Jack...something about kids and bubbles. It really doesn't get any sweeter.

We had a pretty low-key Memorial Day. We ran through the sprinkler. (I look like someone is killing me. Ha!)

 

And, we ate ice cream on the front porch.

Later that day, I attempted to take the kids to the city splash pad, but it was closed:(

Since we were at the Riverfront, I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures.

That sums up our May, a new puppy, Mother's Day, birthday celebrations, and Memorial Day fun!