So, we had to venture out into the world today to enjoy the beautiful weather and we decided to venture down to Birmingham to go to the Zoo. It was very crowded because it was such a nice day, but the girls enjoyed it. Arwen loved being escorted around in her luxurious ride! Anya just loved being outside. She really wanted to ride the camel again today but the line was a bit long, so we will attempt that again next time. Enjoy the photos…

So, Travis and I have a plan of working outside today. The weather is cooperating for the most part and we hope to get our new black shutters up and dig up the front walkway garden area and start getting it ready for some new plants. I really like hostas, so we are going to get some of those and I’m not sure yet if I’ll add flowers or a few bushes. I’d love to have some azaleas or rose bushes in front of the other bedroom windows, but that’s not the priority now. Right now we want to work on the walkway and get our new shutters and sconces up. Then we will have to paint the front door. Travis did get a new lawn mower and he really likes it. Its a self propelled push mower but as he says he thinks its better for our yard because our yard gets saturated so easily every time it rains. Poor Anya is really wanting to get on her swingset but its still too muddy to get out there just yet. Hopefully, May will bring some drier weather around here.
In other news, Arwen is really trying to scoot around. She’s rolling over all the time now and has figured out how to get her knees under her but not push up with her arms just yet. She’s really trying to catch up to her sister. Travis told Anya last night that pretty soon Arwen was going to be able to take a bath with her and Travis asked her if she liked that idea. And Anya got a big ole grin on her face and said “Yeah Daddy, I like that!” These two are going to be good sisters I think. Of course, when they hit teenage years we might start hearing fights over outfits but right now they really love each other. Maybe I should video them more now and then when they argue later on as teenagers I make them sit down and watch the videos everytime they argue! I wonder if that would be a good punishment?
I got my business license this week for Almand Photography…now I just need the business! I am starting to do more photos for the animal shelter and Travis is working on my website. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the month.
Chance is doing good too. He loves his little girls. Everytime we come home and I open the garage door from the house he runs out to the car and checks both sides for Arwen and Anya to make sure they are there and they are okay. And the other day little Arwen got mad on her playmat because she rolled over and couldn’t get her hands turned the right way. Chance always lays right beside her when she’s on the floor and when she started getting frustrated, Chance came running to the back bedroom where I was brushing my hair and looked at me like “Don’t you hear the baby…come help the baby…” He really does seem to love these girls. And I can’t tell you how much I love this dog.
In the adventures of our squirrels Starbuck and Sawyer, they have discovered they love cheerios. Anya likes to throw them in the backyard for them and Sawyer is quite brave. I set the yellow bowl the cheerios are in on the back porch one day this week and he was about a foot away from coming up to it when Anya comes running out saying “Hi Sawyer!” We can actually tell the difference between them now. Sawyer is all gray, and Starbuck has a brown bushier tail. I really like my squirrels and Anya got excited this past week because she saw her first Blue Jay. And that’s what she named him…”Blue Jay.”

So, we have a new car…okay, a new used car. My grandmother is no longer able to drive so we were given her 2001 Buick Regal car. We really needed a second vehicle, but we were making do with just one. Now, we have two vehicles and one is paid for! We plan on selling the Regal though eventually because Travis really wants a truck, so if anyone is interested just contact me. Its in great shape. Its a champagne color with 2 new tires on the front. It only has 70k miles on it and it has a CD player, power driver seat, power windows, power steering, etc. My Dad brought it up to us yesterday so that was good as we didn’t have to go all the way to Auburn to pick it up. Plus, my Dad got to play with his “grandgirls”.
Congratulations to my cousin Candace and her husband Brad. She will be having a baby girl in September! This is really exciting to everyone in our family, but also really cool to me as I told her she was going to have a girl! Girls are so much fun! I hope one day to have a boy, but I’d be happy with another girl too. Plus, the gray hair Travis is getting on his temples (because of his daughters, so he says) is very cute to me!
Took some great photos of Arwen yesterday…here they are….she’s teething so she’s drooling a lot, which you can tell in the shot below on her tummy and finally a couple of shots of the gray haired Daddy!

So, this past weekend we went down to visit our family. We went down on Saturday and took Anya to an Easter Egg Hunt at the Montgomery Humane Society. It was so much fun. Anya participated in an egg hunt, an egg toss with Travis, an egg race, and a cake walk. She didn’t win but she did find 13 eggs by herself in the egg hunt and she had fun, which was the most important thing. It was a quick weekend though. We went there, came back to visit with my Aunt and Uncle who came up to meet Arwen, had dinner and Travis and I and Arwen went shopping that night for a while. Easter morning we got up and headed to Travis’ Mom’s house for Easter lunch, which was also yummy. Then, Travis fixed something for my Dad on his computer and we headed home. Felt like a whirlwind weekend, and I think we are all feeling the effects of it today. Arwen slept from 12 til 3 today. Of course, there was another storm last night and we were without power this morning until about 10am and without phones until about 1pm and without cable until 2pm. At least its working now though.
Anya and Arwen had a good Easter though.
Speaking of Easter, we were visiting my friend Mirya’s blog and she had a post about Easter and a clip from “The Passion of the Christ” movie on her blog. I was watching the video and Anya became very curious about it. I have to give kudos to Mel Gibson for this movie. Now, granted what we were watching was just a trailer/clip of the movie, but it was perfect to explain to Anya about Jesus and Easter. We have talked to her before about Jesus and God and Heaven, but I don’t think she fully understood until she saw the clip. It totally clicked for her! What a great way to explain it to a 4 year old, the clips showed what happened historically! One thing Travis and I have never wanted to do was to sugar coat the story, we wanted her to know all about Jesus and his history, but how do you explain that? Well, I was able to do that today with the help of you tube and Mel Gibson and Mirya!
New photos will be up later this week. Hope everyone had a Hoppy Easter!

Yesterday, Travis and I and the girls went down to Birmingham. Travis took Anya to see the Monsters Vs Aliens movie while Arwen and I went shopping. Arwen was very good while we were shopping. She slept in the stroller for about 45 minutes and enjoyed being outside. We went to the Summit shopping area and after walking the length of it twice I have to say that place is much larger than you think it is. I went to Belk, Old Navy, The Children’s Place, Gap Kids, and Barnes and Noble. I found two really cute jumpers at Belk for Arwen and a sweet little pink and orange sundress for Anya at Belk as well. I really wanted to get them two matching outfits, and Belk had some but not in the right sizes. I may try the Belk here in Cullman to see if I can find the right sizes. They were really cute though, pink and green outfits with watermelons on them. I didn’t want to buy one though and risk not finding the right size in the other somewhere else. Anya really enjoyed seeing the movie with her Daddy though and she said it was good. Then, we went to TGI Fridays for a late lunch. I had the Jack Daniels Burger and it was yummy. Anya had spaghetti and Travis had chicken and shrimp. Arwen had just Mommy milk, but it must have been good too because she didn’t complain!
We came home and opened all the windows in the house because it was a really nice evening. We got home about 530pm and we all watched “Marley and Me”, which Travis bought for me. Still a very good movie, I highly recommend it, but have some tissues handy.
Today I have been fighting my allergies, but Travis and Anya got outside for a while. Tonight we made steaks on the grill and I’m making some homemade Italian bread. Below is the recipe…

3 cups bread flour
2 tsp. fast acting yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
Garlic powder and basil seasonings to your liking
1/2 tsp salt

Add 1 and a half cups flour to rest of the ingredients and mix until just wet. Allow to rise for 30 minutes. Add remaining flour and knead. Let rest another 30 minutes and knead again. Form into a bread loaf shape and bake at 375 for 40 minutes.