2009 in review: April - June

The next few months were busy ones. Ainsley turned one on April 4th. I think it was the fastest year of my life! It flew by! She was born on 4/4/08 at 7:42 am (at the peak of a thunderstorm!), weighing 7 lbs., 4 oz. and was 20 inches long. At her one year check-up, she was 19 lbs., 4 oz. and 30 1/2 inches. She is long and thin. Neither of our babies have been chunky, rolly-polly babies, but that's okay. On her birthday, we had a family birthday party. My brother and sister in law, Guy and Julie, came down for the weekend. We also did her baby dedication at church on Sunday, the 5th. We decorated with butterflies and gave her a butterfly mobile to go over the rocking chair in her room. She got a brush/comb set with her name on it, a picture frame that said "My first Birthday" and Julie made a dress with a big "A" on it. Very cute! Ainsley dug in to her cake, which we figured she would. The weather was nice, so we spent some time outside. At her dedication at church, she was pretty squirmy and wanted to grab the preacher's microphone, but we got through it. She wore her cute blue and red dress with her name on it.






Will had an Easter party at school, and both kids went to an Easter egg hunt hosted by several kids Will's age. On Saturday, 4/11, Ainsley took her first steps (and said "Daisy" - the name of our dog)! She was fully mobile shortly after that and things haven't been the same since. Two mobile kids is a lot different than one! Will took his first year of art "lessons" this year. Jorge and Maria Villegas teach a small group of kids at the Arts Center on Wednesday afternoons. He enjoyed it and they both loved Will.



In the spring, FBC Kindergarten does a special event called "Donuts with Dad". All the kids get to invite their dads, grandfathers, uncles, etc, to have donuts with them in the Fellowship Hall. Mitch and Gill ("Papaw") had donuts with Will; of course Will didn't eat anything, but he enjoyed having them there.

We also celebrated Papaw's birthday in April with dinner and cake.


May brought my birthday, Mother's Day, the Hope Landing Rodeo, filming for the Hope Landing video "Heros of Hope", the end of school for Will, and a trip to visit friends in Memphis. On May 1-2, Hope Landing (where Will gets some of his therapies and where I work from time to time) sponsored a professional rodeo that was held at the fairgrounds. Since HL incorporates hippotherapy (therapy utilizing a horse as a tool - "hippo" is the greek work for "horse") into many kids' therapy schedules, they sponsored this rodeo as a fundraiser. Will was supposed to demonstrate a hippotherapy session with Kristi Lowry, his OT and one of the founders of HL. He was all set up on Rio, the horse he rides each week, when a severe thunderstorm rolled in. The lightning spoked Rio, so Kristi called Will's demo off. We left as it started pouring, but we were disappointed not to have gotten to see Will and Rio. We had dinner on Sunday at my mom's for my 33rd birthday. She got this fantastic peanut butter and chocolate cake, my favorite!


Later in May, HL filmed a profession video called "Heroes of Hope" to be broadcast on national TV stations and YouTube as a fundraising effort. Will is featured participating in a Physical Therapy session, I am doing aquatic therapy in the pool with a child, and Gill is interviewed in this video. It turned out very well!
Will's preschool class had a party for their last day on the 22nd. There were some really cute, sweet kids in his class. For Memorial Day weekend, we went to Memphis for our annual "Lion Oil reunion" - a weekend where we get together with several other couples who used to live here and work with Mitch. Not everyone gets to come every year, but we have a good time with whoever is there. The Aikmans, Myricks and Burnses live in the Memphis area, so we met there this year. The Strattons came up from New Orleans. We went to the Memphis Zoo and to the Children's Museaum of Memphis with the Aikmans. The kids had a great time.




June brought Father's Day and Vivian's (Grammy) birthday. The kids played in the back yard, played in the pool and sprinklers, and Will took his first ride in Papaw's boat!