Joyce

Coming Soon

I had the privilege of taking some maternity pictures of Michelle and Phil on Tuesday. They are eagerly looking forward to meeting their first little one in the next couple of weeks. I am glad that the baby waited so we could get some pictures.

Even though it was very chilly out, Phil and Michelle were good sports and had most of their pictures taken outside. We took mini breaks of hot tea or warm banana bread while we enjoyed chatting.

Between school and other responsibilities, I am working on editing their pictures. Hopefully, I can get the pictures to Michelle before she meets her little one!

Congratulations Phil and Michelle! We are praying for you and baby 🙂

On the Boardwalk

On Monday, Mark, Megan and I enjoyed exploring Oxbow. It was raining lightly, so we chose to walk in the woods.Â We were hoping to find some animals or neat flowers to add to our photo collections.

Mark took us off our normal trail and Megan enjoyed following.Â When she got cold, she persuaded Mark to pick her up. After zipping Megan inside his coat, he walked on ahead, talking to Megan the whole way about some ideas that he wanted to try or singing some of Megan’s favorite songs.

Dare You!

I should have learned by now, but never, ever dare your children! Yesterday we were talking to our friend, Miss Krista, about hunting for salamanders. She said that right now is the perfect time to go looking for them. Miss Krista told us a little about how to find them and then mentioned that there were some salamanders at the gate house.

Adrian’s eyes lit up and he really wanted to go see them and maybe hold them. So, Miss Krista arranged for a mini field trip for us. We got to meet a few salamanders and a hissing cockroach.

Then the kids dared me to hold them all. The cockroach really did not bother me much.The salamanders were cold and funny feeling but, they were not to bad. I would rather hold a salamander than a snake!

Don’t tell the kids, but salamanders are sort of cute too 🙂

Now we hope to go out some evening and hunt for some salamanders. The Tiger Salamander and the Blue Spotted Salamander are both native to the area, so we might be able to find some.

Snowdrops

I discovered these flowers at the park today.Â I was told that they are called Snowdrops.

Spring is Coming!

Spring is very near. Daddy’s Pussy Willow Tree is budding!

Bowling

On Tuesday, we were invited out by our pastor and his wife.Â They treated us to bowling, black light golf and go carting plus pizza and pop.

Megan had never gone bowling before, so we tried to get some pictures of her in her first pair of bowling shoes and her first game (she and I were a team).Â I was so disappointed to get home and discover that my small, travel camera malfunctioned and all the pictures were blurry. I cleaned up one or two, but the special ones I really wanted–like with Pastor and Miss Kay–did not work at all.

But our evening was extremely fun.Â Watching Adrian cover his head after throwing the ball, seeing the wild and crazy throws of Audrey, seeing Mark figure out how the ball should be thrown and improving immensely, watching Megan’s excitement to see the ball roll down the ramp, screeching and giggling with Andrea as we learned how to drive a go cart, listening to the yells and laughter as we got to know our pastor and Miss Kay even better–are all special memories.