Our Spring in 51 Pictures

This has been an emotional spring in so many ways.  Some really exciting things have transpired - we are moving back to Huntingdon where Jerry will resume his previous job!  But most of the spring has been overshadowed by Napoleon's battle with congestive heart failure which led to the heart wrenching decision to end his suffering on May 5th.  I'm sure I'll be able to post more later but I'll capture the basics for now.

 

A Grandma Margie kiss!!
I know Kristen, Tyler, Emily, and Jacob can appreciate this one!

Linsday, her mom, and her aunt stopped by on their way home from
vacation in Florida!  This photo was before Will and Natalee
scared themselves on the four wheeler!

It was Brady's birthday so we had a surprise cake.  : )

I found this ball stuck away in a drawer.  Poley was excited but couldn't play for long.

 

I lost my most willing photography subject - he would always pose for a picture.

Playing in the water on an unusually warm spring day.

 



We hiked to Bottom Creek Gorge, which forms the headwaters of the Roanoke
River and is the second highest waterfall in Virginia at 200 feet.  It wasn't the most fun hike ever.
It was hot, not very scenic, Will was tired, and I cried most of the way because Poley needed
carried and I knew it would be his last hike with us.

The only part Will liked was playing in the small creek.
Note: this was NOT the creek above the 200-foot waterfall.  ; ) 

Will and Brady had fun with popping balloons in Jerry's office, which
was looking very festive upon his return!

Poley guarded a treat Lindsay gave him but he wouldn't eat anything because
of the abdominal fluid he was retaining.

After 6 weeks of waiting for our driveway repairs to be completed,
we finally got our house on the market.



Will's Mother's Day school project.  Don't I look good for my age?

Mother and Son Date Knight at Chick-fil-a.  It was a great way to spend a
Tuesday evening while Jerry was in PA!

The evening was complete with carriage rides, face painting, jousting,
and ice cream.  : )

Will decided he wanted to plant a garden this year.  He grew these
seedlings and mom marked off a section of her garden for him.

 

Anxiously awaiting daddy's arrival

A much needed break!



Last Friday we went fishing at Poor Farm with granddad, Andrea, and Richard.

I can't believe granddad can still wade the river and fish! 



Will caught two fish by himself.  Mom and Tom had taken him fishing a few
weeks ago and he wasn't ready to leave even after hours of fishing with no luck.
I was glad he caught something this time - even though I had to take them off the hook!!
Now THAT'S love!!



Richard showed him how to clean the fish.  I told him there would be a quiz
afterward to make sure he learned something since we skipped school to go fishing!



Here's my proud mother picture!  : )
Will is doing great with reading even though he hates it.



 

Marrying Down

To give a bit of context to the following story, you should know that one day Will asked Jerry "What is a job that makes a lot of money?"  Jerry told him stock brokers make a lot of money on Wall Street buying and selling stocks. 

So the other day Will asked me how much money van drivers make (like the guys who drive the vans that take kids to day care after school).  I told him I didn't really know for sure but probably not a whole lot.  He was quiet for a bit then said, "Well I want to be a van driver one day so I guess I'll just get my wife to do that buy/sell thing so she can make money for stuff like paying the water bill since I won't make a lot of money."

That night at dinner I told Jerry what Will's career plans were.  Jerry told Will that driving a van probably would be fun, and that sometimes wives do choose to work too, but that it's usually a man's job to provide for their family.  (I got a really good laugh a few days later, however, when I saw the headline on the news from the LA Times:  Record number of educated women are "marrying down"  I guess maybe there's hope for Will's career plans after all!)

Obviously though, Jerry's comment made Will think because the next day he came up with a new idea.  He asked how much those vans cost to buy.  I told him (again) I didn't really know for sure but I didn't think they cost very much more than a car or truck.  (Having a kid is a great way to bring to light all the things you didn't even know you didn't know!)  So then he said since they weren't too expensive he decided he would get a job doing that "buy/sell thing" so he could make lots of money then he would buy a van and drive it when he wasn't working, like on the weekends.  He said he would use it "to drive old people around - like if they needed to go to the store or to church or anything."