What a Wonderful World

What a Wonderful World was the theme for the Family Festival at Ford's school this past Friday. All I can say is the chairperson and committee did an excellent job. It was obvious that they all worked very hard. Now that I know what it is, I'm hoping to volunteer next year!

They make T-shirts every year for the festival and they turned out so cute. The school/gym was decorated to go with the theme...globes and flags from every country. They asked families to wear ethnic clothing if they had it. There were even some Irish step dancers who performed. There was a silent auction and San Antonio Taco Company provided the food. YUM!

There were tons of games for the kids in the gym...a bouncy house, a tunnel made from cardboard boxes, a make-a-flag station, tatoo station, musical chairs and more. Outside, there was a rock climbing tower and pony rides. It was all so much fun!

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

We've been busy since my last post. Ford had a double ear infection which made us take our first sick visit to the pediatrician in a long time. The reason I knew he had an ear infection is because he told me! "Ear hurts, Mommy." It was so nice that he was able to communicate that to me!

That was on Wednesday right after supper. I gave him some Motrin and when Scott was reading him books before bed, he asked Ford how his ears were feeling. Ford said, "Ears feel better, Daddy. Mommy fix it." Is that not the sweetest thing you've ever heard? Other than waking up several times for a few nights and the meltdown of all meltdowns at the doctor's office, it all went pretty well. He finished taking his antibiotic on Saturday and is feeling much better.
Ford's cousin, Audrey Claire, had her fourth birthday this past Saturday. Her birthday party was in Bowling Green and we made a game time decision not to go as to not get Ford off his sleep schedule (Ford went two weeks and only took one nap...not good). Anyway, we love her very much and were sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate. Ford did call and sing Happy Birthday. Here is a recent picture of the cool birthday girl!Also, this past weekend, my dear friend Abby came to Nashville. She and our other dear friend, Jones, ran the half marathon. Mary Ann and I went to meet them at the finish line. Congratulations, girls!After leaving the race, we all went to lunch and met our other dear friend, Nichols, and her husband Shawn and their sweet, sweet baby girl, Scarlett.Saturday night, we went to Mary Ann's house. It was just the girls! All the Dads were taking care of the kids. It's so good for my soul to get to be around these girls!
We had a wonderfully busy weekend (I'll do another post about Ford's school festival this past Friday night). I'll end this one with a few recent pictures of Ford.

Happy Birthday, Gus!

Yesterday was the birthday of another one of Ford's buddies, Gus. Gus turned two also. It's so amazing that two of my very best friends in the world have baby boys and all of our boys are only three months and four days apart. Ford turned two on January 15th, Will on April 13th and Gus on April 19th. The even more amazing part is that Gus was born in Guatemala. Guses Mama, Abby, didn't even know she would be adopting Gus (and his big sister) when Ford was born.

Gus lives in Tampa, so we didn't get to celebrate with him. But Ford called and sang Happy Birthday on Abby's voicemail and we hope that Gus had a very special day! Here is a recent picture of Gus celebrating his Abuelo Loup's (Grandpa Lou) birthday.Some other very important Abby and Louie news is that they found out Catalina and Gus had a birth sibling this past August. Baby Max was born on August 28th and Abby and Louie were notified two days later that he was being put up for adoption. The adoption agency asked if they would be interested in adopting Cati and Guses birth sibling and they said, "YES!" Abby was able to go to Guatemala to meet Baby Max for the first time last weekend. He is beautiful and precious and we can't wait to meet him!

Happy Birthday, Will!

This past Saturday we went to a birthday party in honor of Ford's buddy, Will. Will turned two on April 13th (the day after his party). He had a Mickey Mouse cake and lots of ears for all of the kids to wear! Will's (great)Granny even had ears on! So cute!


Happy Birthday, Will!

Go Dog Go

I was just putting Ford down for his nap and he wanted to read Go, Dog. Go!. On one of the pages, there are three dogs down in the water. Two of the dogs are standing up in the water. The third dog is diving in the water and you can only see his feet. Ford pointed to the dog that was underwater and said (with a lisp, of course), "Dat dog is usside down." Then he pointed to one of the dogs that is standing in the water and said, "Dat dog is usside UP." Too cute!

Eastside

We had another nice weekend this past weekend. It was BEAUTIFUL on Sunday, so Scott and I packed up Ford and the wagon and went to hang out in our hood, the Eastside.

They have an art show/fair once a month in the parking lot of a local lounge. Cousin Julia and her friend Christy were selling their mosaic art, so we went to visit with them and look at all the other talented artison's ware (I forgot that I brought the camera, so I don't have any pictures from the art fair).

Then we walked up to the local ice cream shop, Pied Piper Creamery, and got some yummy ice cream. The ice cream shop is locally owned, as are most of the businesses in East Nashville, and they make all of the ice cream in house (the shop is literally in an old house).

Here is the view on the walk to the ice cream shop...walking up Woodland Street toward Five Points:

If you click on this picture, I think you can read the sign on this house that we passed. If not, it says, "Hippies use side door."

We passed the local "Weenery" on the way there called "I Dream of Weenie." It's housed in an old VW bus:

And one of my favorite puns of all time...this art and invention gallery is in an old mechanics garage, so it's called the Garage Mahal.
Ford licking ALL of the ice cream off of his spoon:

Some day I'll create an entire post about our neighborhood and all the things I love about it. East Nashville is full of interesting people and historic architecture...two things that I truly love!

Taxman

Scott had a deadline of March 31 to get all of our tax information to the accountant to ensure our taxes would be filed on time. Scott's mom was kind enough to come and take care of Ford last week so that I could help Scott.

Ford had so much fun with her here. They played in the dirt, basketball, rode in the wagon, ran around the yard and watched the train.



Grana cooked dinner for us and took care of Ford and we were able to get everything prepared and to the accountant! Thank you so much, Granna. We truly appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts!