Eggs, Galore

Ryder made these for his grandparents.

About to leave for school, soooo excited about his egg hunt!

I helped hide eggs for Ryder's class.

Lined up and ready to go outside.

Who's going to get the most eggs?

Ryder was competing pretty hard.

Looking at his face he was probaby thinking, "Don't drop the egg!"

He's going to do whatever it takes not to lose these eggs.

 Alright, now let's compare baskets.

Mom, you can leave now.

More Easter adventures...

Saturday morning we went to John Michael's church where he grew up.

Ryder's Sunday best, headed to church.

Not so fast he said...

After church, we had our family lunch at Tripp and Marlee's house.  The kids got to swim and hunt eggs in their trunks.

Later that day we went to my dad and Becky's.  Ryder won't ever get tired of hunting eggs.

Papa found him the perfect gift, a bathtub book.  His two favorite things!  Very clever!

After all our Easter visits, we forgot to give Ryder his own Easter basket from us, so he got it Monday morning.  He went straight for the Dora DVD.

Holding it with pride.

Monday was Clinton Night at the Braves.  Ryder is beginning to like this place.

But our seats were at the very bottom (above the dugout).  Short stuff couldn't see anything.

He was all good once he figured out if he would just sit in our lap he could see better.  Someone on the field even threw him the first pitch ball.  Probably helped that he wore his Braves gear.

Play Ball

Dora, Dora, Dora the Exploraaaaaaaaah! 

Ryder said NO DOOOOWA, NO BUTTS (dora and boots)

After a few minutes of staring at her.

Hi Mom!

The Carousel - JM came very close to jumping off due to nausea symptoms.

"Wone ride da hawwseee"

Sooo serious

Then he wanted to ride the "Too Too"

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We survived our first MSU baseball game with Ryder, and really well actually.  He's not really the type to sit still through anything.  They played Ole Miss at the MS Braves stadium. 

At first he didn't really want to go.

Him so handsome

Grandaddy and Nanni came too!

House Divided

Cheering loud!  He's been saying "Pay Ball" since we left.

He said "Go Dawwwgs"

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Ryder hates the camera.  Especially when he has something "better" to do (watch tv).  I tried to snap a picture of him this morning to email to my mom since she's been in Greenville for a long time staying with my grandmother, and I know she is so ready to see him to cheer her up after seeing my grandmother sick.  I tried CC, but I was OBVIOUSLY, getting in the way of Dora.

First try

Second try



Third and fourth tries were just the same.  Better luck next time!

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Ryder is on this kick as soon as he wakes up.  It's the same line every morning.  He's standing up in his bed, holding his blanket to give to me, he'll say "naaaneeee" (blankie), then he'll point over to his sound machine and say "sheen off" (machine off).  We'll do that, and I'll pick him up and tell him I need to change his diaper.  "Nooo diapie, nooooooo.  Dooowa and butts, milk, mama daddy bed."  He's toooooo ROTTEN.  But he is the light of my life!

That Scary Tornado

If you haven't heard, a huge tornado hit Clinton on Friday morning.  It is nothing but a miracle that nobody was killed, or even severely hurt.  I am thanking GOD for wrapping His arms around our town that morning.  I was at work when it came, and I was on the phone with John Michael, who is 3 minutes down the road.  While I was talking to him he could see the tornado right across the street from his bank.  He works at BankPlus in Clinton, and just a few minutes later he got a call that the tornado had hit one of the other three bank branches in Clinton.  It was so bad, it took a couple cars out of the parking lot and carried them across the interstate, it blew the glass through the front doors and it tore the roof off the building.  And that's just at BankPlus.  There are stories from all over town.  We did not have any damage to our home or neighborhood, just loss of power for the night, which is obviously miniscule.  There are so many people in Clinton who have lost their homes, cars and valuables.  I truly feel blessed to be a part of this town.  We may not have ALL the bells and whistles as other towns, but we are such a close knit community and willing to do anything and everything for one another.  Here is a clip from WLBT showing some of the aftermath.  Yes, that is a house turned over on it's side :( which belonged to an 84 year old woman who was trapped underneath the rubble. 

I did not take any of these photos, I just found them on Facebook.

Entergy hard at work right after the storm.

Popeye's

Cars flipped on the interstate (nobody was in them).  I think these are the cars that belonged to employees of BankPlus which is right by the interstate.

BankPlus - Springridge Branch

Such a sight

A home in Trailwood (It's on Hollyberry, Kristen)

A home in Easthaven - one of our elementary schools is in this neighborhood.  It hit the school sign and the playground, but miraculously missed the actual school which held 800 children.

As you can see, this is devastating to the victims of this tornado, please continue to pray for our community and those involved.  Oh, and I was very happy to learn after all of this that Ryder's preschool, which was built a couple years ago, was built to stand the strongest tornado (F-whatever the number) - just wish I would've known this during the storm!