The Flood

The flooding in Nashville definitely left it's mark upon our house, but wow, it could have been a LOT worse! The following videos show how deep the water was around our house. Front yard first, then back yard. Both videos were taken prior to us figuring out how to prevent the water from getting into the house.

As it was, the neighbor whose wood fence you can see in the backyard video ended up tearing down part of his fence due to the pooling it was causing in his yard. Once the fence was down no more water came into our house. We ended up with about an inch or so all along the wall we share with the neighbor - the entire length of the house (in one of the bathrooms and both bedrooms). I'll post pictures when we get them off of the camera.

I won't lie, it was scary because we felt so helpless. The water just kept coming and it kept raining. We received 13 (some areas got 19!) inches of rain in 2 days. Thankfully we live on a hill, so we only had to deal with the water as it flowed down to the lower spots, but the pooling in the backyards due to privacy fences is what got us.

Springtime fun!

Lots to see in the following pictures for you to enjoy. Here is the Sunday after Easter - The kids were hamming it up outside of the church building. I love their smiles and we have a great time together.

Below, see Ironman. He came to visit one day after Daddy made very technologically advanced armor. Notice the duct tape. This armor had a one-time use. The adorable girl to Ironman's left just wanted in on the photo-taking.

He really does walk around saying, "I am Ironman!" and then you hear him vocalizing the guitar riffs from a Black Sabbath song.

Does this make us bad parents?

Here they are making a fort under Daddy's desk. Notice the plethora of stuffed animals. They all decided to come along on the adventure of hanging out in the fort. Oh, did I mention it is a mobile fort? Notice the box in front - there is actually an invisible steering wheel attached to it and they drive wherever they want.

Our first popsicle worthy day! The backyard is still a mess since it hasn't been warm on a weekend yet to mow it, but it was a beautiful evening and the kids loved their treat.

Notice the bruised lip? He bumped himself while he was jumping around the living room. He is definitely all boy.

I love this picture of K's back. She is diligently working on that popsicle.

And finally - the yard. I'm glad it's finally Spring!

Easter Egg Hunt in the TN Wildlands!

...aka, our backyard!

Welcome to Spring in Tennessee. This means the grass isn't completely grown in yet because we haven't yet had enough rain, so please excuse the patchy grass. The yard hasn't been mowed yet either, because up until very recently it's been too darn cold and the grass hasn't actually grown! And now you have an understanding of our lack of landscaping, so let's get to the good stuff.

We had an Easter Egg Hunt!

We took leftover candy...let me interrupt myself to say we're not big on eating Candy in our house, so don't be surprised if some of it is leftover from Halloween. Yes, it's been in Ziplocs in the pantry and despite an occasional stale piece, it tastes just fine. I know, I was the taste-tester...and filled the Easter Eggs with a peice of candy per egg. Miguel hid them all over the over-grown yard and the kids had a wonderful time.

Easter Party at Church

Since I'm in the Primary Presidency at church I had the priviledge to plan our quarterly activity with an Easter theme this year. I was a little worried before-hand we may have bit off more than we could chew, but I think it turned out quite nicely.

First we prepared a set of one dozen Spiritual Easter Eggs for each child (Info can be found here). We then prepared the refreshments of Resurrection Rolls (Recipe here) and milk. Then the cartons of eggs were hidden througout the church building and outside as a scavenger hunt by age group.

It was a good time for all of the kids (we even included the nursery), and here are pics of of my kids at the event:As you can see - Katie crashed afterwards. We spent the afternoon at a friend's house and she didn't make it very long.

Building a Fort - kid-style!

This was all Josh and Katie (well, mostly Josh):

Katie just wanted to show off her latest Princess crown and Josh's hair is getting really long. This is just after a bath, hair standing with only water holding it up.

Little Engineers

Last Summer when she and Ranie visited, Grandma Sam brought engineer overalls and engineer hats for both kids. They were pretty big at the time, but the kids seem to be loving them now. Katie asks to wear her "Granpa pants" and loves her pink hat. Josh just likes to go along with her and they have a great time dressed up like Grandpa.

Also - Daddy wanted to play with Josh's Birthday present. Yep, Josh chose it himself...he wanted to be...well, you'll see.

A 4th Birthday

Yep - a boy around here turned the big #4!!!! No party, cause we're recluses like that, but we skyped with Abuela y Abuelo and ate cupcakes. The kids had a blast and we even wore party hats.

More White Stuff

We got more snow! I think this is the most we've seen since we moved here and it stuck around awhile. All of the snow you see here appeared in about 24 hours. The last 2 or 3 pictures are the next day after it had snowed all night. Yep, life in Nashville shut down.

I didn't want to just make a long list of pictures, so I fiddled and created a slideshow. No music, so if you feel a need for a soundtrack, click Play on the music player to your right. Enjoy!

The Outfit Grandma Bought

Here is a post dedicated to Grandma Sam, who bought Katie and outfit "just because" and sent it cause it was cute. Here are the pictures we promised:

First, please note the sparkly, blue shoes. No, this isn't a great shot, but it's the best I can do (I promise they are very glittery). Also, notice the jealous boy with a mohawk trying to edge his way into the center-of-attention. He was wearing half-pajamas, half normal clothes and old, battered, orange crocks. The height of fashion.

Next, let's check out the awesome embroidery on the legs of these pants. Very chic.

Notice the Frankenstein-esque pose of the model.

Again - some boy who wanted in the photos and caused this photo-shoot to turn into some sort of monster-mash. Oh yes, he's put a shirt on over his pajama-shirt.

And finally, the adorable cuteness that are my kids. Yay.

Snow! ...well, a sprinkling

The kids played in our first snow of the year! They loved it, and Katie ran around until she got cold. Josh played with Sarge (see video) and enjoyed every minute of it.

oh yeah, blame Miguel for Katie's dirty face.

Abuelita's Visit

Okay, so there won't be any actual pictures of Grandma...There will be pictures of kids doing silly things FOR Grandma and cuting up for Grandma. Also pictures of kids in pajamas purchased by Grandma. Yay for Grandmas!!!!

New Year's Eve

Just like last year, we had our own little party. I busted out the hats and noisemakers and we seriously considered using the fireworks we purchased last July (and never used due to RAIN). We decided against it, but had cute kids in cute pictures anyway.

Then the noisemakers were used as weapons.

We've already used the fireplace a number of times this year. We had a nice fire and the kids stayed up until 11 pm. Low key and nice. I hope this is how the year will be.