A Blog-worthy Week

Have you read the top of our blog? It clearly states that we are slackers when it comes to new posts. However, this week was such a great week that I thought it warranted a new post. Saturday night we dropped Nora of at her Grandmother's (Nonna's) house for a sleepover.  She loves going to Nonna's house and it gave us a chance to go out and celebrate an exciting work change for Chris.  (More on that in a minute.) Friday was his last day at Balfour Beatty.  He loved that job, but we ultimately decided that we were not willing to relocate and that Jacksonville was where our family should be.  So here we are.

The sleepover also gave us a chance to get our house in order and prepped for a quail roast with friends and family.  Chris, Aaron, and Frost took their guns out into the privately owned wilderness of Baker County to hunt quail last year, and while we did fry up a few birds that night that he brought them home, the majority of the carcasses remained in my freezer for the better part of the year.  So when the men went out this year, with the addition of Aaron's oldest son, they nominated us to cook up their killings.   We had a southern feast complete with corn nuggets, cheese grits, and homemade strawberry limeade.  Linde and Rosie helped bring some nutrition to the meal with salad and fruit.  Chris marinated the birds in milk and then fried them up like a pro.  Aaron was the lucky winner, finding the only birds with buckshot still hidden inside. It was beautiful weather for a quail roast and now my freezer is a little less "gamey".  Now to find an occasion to serve all this jalapeno venison summer sausage... 

Monday morning Chris started his new job at Weaver Realty Group. We took this handsome picture of the new Director of Operations in our back hallway and it was used in a letter to existing clients announcing him as their newest employee. He isn't wearing pants.

That same morning, Nora started her infant survival swim lessons.  I was instructed not to give her any milk, fruit, eggs, yogurt, etc., before her lesson.  Only carbs, to soak up the pool water I assume.  Well, right after Chris left for work, the neighborhood transformer blew and I knew I wouldn't be heating any waffles up so we jumped in the car and went to a little place my dad refers to as The Village Inn.  We shared pancakes served by a waitress who only referred to me as "My Lady".  We filled our tummies and hurried home to begin the short walk to swim lessons, one street away.   

Nora is thrilled to be undergoing daily swimming lessons. Honestly, she is really liking it. She just needs to work on her happy face. She likes putting her face in the water. She likes getting a stamp on her hand after class. So far that's all she likes. We go four days a week and then she crashes big time in the afternoon.  Worth every penny, if you ask me.

Later in the week, she sat on her potty for the first time.  We are not potty training yet but I was curious to see if she was big enough to not fall in.  She felt right at home on that potty, and while she didn't actually use it, we did get this shameless naked potty pic to show at her wedding one day.  

After a hard week of swimming, we hit up the zoo on Friday.  It's her favorite place to go.  We met some friends at the splash park,  She fed the giraffes, brushed the goats, and rode the train. I think I enjoyed it as much, if not more, than she did.

After lunch Dawson, Avery, and Nora were all getting heavy lids.  We managed to get them all to say cheese before loading them up.  Then she went straight to my Goddaughter's house to play for the afternoon so I could go to my Dr.'s appointment without an overly tired toddler.  Much thanks to our sweet friends for helping us with that!

All in all a great spring week with friends, family, and new beginnings. Many of you know that Chris and I have dreamed about moving out west.  After much prayer and consideration we have come to the conclusion that God wants us in Jacksonville.  We don't know the plans He has for us but trust that they are better than any that we could make.