turkey business

My husband hardly ever gets to participate in his hunting passion...and though I know this is life right now due to busy schedules and two needy kids and an equally needy wife (because of said two needy kids)...but I do wish for him that he had more time to "play." This year he finally had some time and hunted with his cousin Rick and his little boy Jackson in Hickman. The boys were a little sad they couldn't go...but someday they will! They were super excited, though, about their daddy's kill!

Josh took this picture from where he was positioned...those are the decoys on the right. You may know that already...but I had to be told.

Don't ask me any questions about the above pictures. I am not a hunter. I don't have a clue what I am looking at. :) But I do know that Josh is really proud and had a great time, so while I don't clean the birds or eat the birds I do support him in his passion. Now, he does clean and eat them. Thankfully! He was so excited to have me take the pictures below. I was just going to include these in the blog but he had the above pictures on his phone...they kind of tell "the story" better so they are included.

Now he's talking to my uncle in California about his next hunt...in the mountains...for bears.

The Children's Tree

When I was pregnant with Keagan -oh, so long ago- I went to a local nursery and fell in love with this little tree with baby-pink, soft double-blooms. So I bought it. (It is a Japanese cherry blossom tree) I was so excited when I came home one day and it had been planted!! When I fell in love with the tree my plan was for it to be "Keagan's tree" I guess I thought this baby would be my only, as he was so difficult for us to achieve. Honestly, having more babies wasn't anywhere on my mind. That is until I held him in my arms; even when he was in the NICU, I couldn't imagine not having anymore kids. I will never forget my mom looking at me while I struggled to learn to nurse my one-week old preemie in the NICU, and she essentially prayed out loud that what I was currently going through wasn't going to scar me so badly that I didn't want to have more babies. I think I responded that we would definitely have more kids, but that was the first time I had really ever thought about it. And certainly the first time I said it out loud. But it didn't take long to be blessed with Finley. And so this special tree has become "the children's tree." And I have forced them to take pictures by it annually (though I am missing two years worth), and I enjoy watching the kids and the tree grow.

Freshly planted tree and a freshly born Keagan. 2010

For some reason 2011 and 2012 pictures are MIA. I honestly don't know if I just didn't take them or I cannot find them. I have searched high and low but cannot find them. Oh well..

Here is Keagan in 2013. Not sure why Finn isn't in the picture...probably because he is "off camera" screaming. :)

Keagan and Finn 2014. Love my sweet brothers.

2015...wow my boys are getting big. And so is that tree. How does this happen so quickly!?!

Zoo Day!

Our family loves to go to the zoo and New Orleans has a really nice zoo, so when we made the decision to go down we knew the zoo was a high priority on our list. I think this is what I love so much about New Orleans: it has something for everyone! Josh and I have always experienced this cultural city as "young marrieds," either without kids or traveling without them. But it was super cool to watch our kids fall in love with this city...

Starting our day off with...what else?!...Beignets at Cafe Du Monde!

Audubon Zoo has a great assortment of animals, and they are very well cared for. It isn't a huge zoo, but it is a gorgeous one. Something really funny is how Finn argued with us about what kind of animal is pictured below. In fact, he continues to argue with us. Obviously it is a white tiger. But to a 2-year old a tiger is orange with black stripes. Finn got so mad about this because he demanded that this was a zebra. He still demands that this is a zebra, and he gets fighting mad if you say otherwise. I guess to a 2-year old, because it has the markings of a zebra it must be a zebra!

 

I think the boys were confused by this Gila monster statue and the stoic live monster behind the glass!

Check out this crazy two-headed snake!!! I hate snakes, but I guess my old college days of working out snake genetics in a lab with 30+ snakes has impressed something onto me..

This peacock was cracking me up...it was trying to impress a handful of guinea hens...but the hens were running around trying to get away from him! Wrong species, dude.

Oh how I love a giraffe!! They are such amazing and strange looking creatures!

Keagan surrounded by lots and lots of baby alligators!

The zoo had TWO rare white alligators. They are really neat looking!

 
 Not only does this family love a good zoo but we love a good carousel! Of course, the picking of the animal is always a bit of a stressful experience. You know, because the animal makes the ride.

This picture is very representative of how the majority of the pictures of my boys are...constant motion. This playground at the zoo was so cool and I just wanted to get some pictures of them on it. But alas, this is the best I could get!

Keagan was super serious about showing me how a flamingo stands (he calls it a flamAngo...he also calls the fruit -mango- the same thing...flamAngo. kind of funny)

The morning we left to head home, guess what we did!?!!! Stood in line and listened to some street musicians while we waited to get into Cafe Du Monde for beignets! Of course!!!!!!  (if you are judging us then you clearly have never been/eaten these)

For several days after we returned home the boys asked if we could have beignets for breakfast...and, yes, they do know the difference between a beignet and a doughnut. :)