Settling In

We've been back in Mississippi now for nearly two months and we continue to slowly get settled in. My biggest problem is that I have too many projects that I want to get underway at once. One of my first tasks was getting our water garden back up and working. With some serious elbow grease I was able to get everything cleaned out and working nicely. To our surprise there were nearly 20 fish hiding below all of the leaf debris in the bottom. Here you can see Jen and Kenzie enjoying the scenery. You can click on all the pictures for a better view. 

I repotted the water lilies and was rewarded with a beautiful bloom. They open up daily during peak sunlight and close at night.

A close up view...

We've also been spending some time in the front yard. There was a great foundation of landscaping but no real flower beds to work with. One of the things we missed most while in Boston was getting our hands in the dirt. Here's a couple of pictures of our progress.

 Tux enjoys all of these new flower beds...

Kenzie and Tux are getting to know each other....

but Tux isn't so sure about it yet!

Kenzie's enjoying all the green grass too!

We are also getting daily lessons in flower identification...can you say Zennia elegans?

After months of struggling, Jen finally convinced Kenzie that wearing sunglasses is fun-

 We've got some busy weeks ahead- I'll be starting the Master of Science in Healthcare Administration at UAB in September so when I'm not at work, working in the yard, or playing with Kenzie, I'll have my nose in a book. I've actually got my first homework assignment already. It's been a long, long, long time since I've had one of those! Here's one last picture of Kenzie to end this post.

Enjoy your week!
Ashley

A Long Overdue Post!

Let me open with apologies for taking so long to produce a new blog post. My only defense is that moving on top of my new job has kept me quite busy these last several weeks. As you can see I've not really been able to come up a blog name that fits just right so this will have to do for now-the web address will remain the same.

Considering all the intricate details that we had to coordinate, I feel that our move went extremely well. I wish you could have seen all of us..... me, Jen, Nana, Kenzie, and Roman all on the plane together. I was pretty nervous about flying with a 12 month old and a cat but neither of them made a peep throughout the entire flight. Roman doesn't event remember the flight thanks to a handy little sedative courtesy of a Boston veterinarian. Here we are in the terminal awaiting our flight...

The first couple of weeks were spent unpacking our many boxes. Here is Kenzie surrounded by bubble wrap-after all she is precious cargo!

Two days after moving we celebrated the 4th of July and a belated 1st birthday party for Kenzie. She got to meet her cousin Pax for the first time...

 All set up for the birthday girl

 She had her own personal cake to eat (destroy)

 Highland Circle hosts an annual neighborhood 4th of July parade that is a blast. Here you can see some of the crowd gathered.

 three Super Moms.... Ginger, Jennifer, and Katie!

 Here's Kenzie enjoying some of her gifts.....

Her swing (you can also see her new friend Zooze)

 Taking her new pool on a dry run...

 And taking a spin in her new ride.....

Roman has been adjusting well to his new home. Doesn't he look regal sitting in the study?

We've had lots of visitors during our first month in Tupelo. Here's Aunt Amber and Uncle Stephen with Kenzie and one big, fantastic birthday gift.

Here's Aunt Ashley, Alex (a friend of Larry's who happens to be a Rhodes scholar) and Aunt Maggie. They're working hard to get crabmeat ready for Nana's world famous Gulf Coast gumbo!

 One great thing about being back home.... babysitters!!! We couldn't wait to get out and visit one of our favorite local spots, Romie's. Yes that would be a wedge salad topped with bacon with fried mushrooms in the background. It was fantastic!

Last weekend we traveled to Water Valley (my hometown) for the annual Watermelon Carnival. There was a time many years ago that the Water Valley area was the largest production and shipping hub for watermelons in the world. Many years later we still celebrate the Watermelon Carnival every year. Here's a picture of some watermelons that were entered in the largest melon contest this year!

 Katie drove down from Memphis to spend the day with us. Here she is with Jen-

 and here is Kenzie and Kirksey... I think they'll be best buds one day

 We've been doing a lot of work in and around the house. I'll eventually take some pictures to share with everyone. Here's a couple of cute pictures of Kenzie-

Peeking over the baby gate....

It's good to be back!
Ashley