Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to you all! The Easter bunny made a brief stop here with some small baskets.
After a Farmer's Breakfast casserole we headed to church. It was a wonderful service with full orchestra, choir and organ that ended with the Alleluia Chorus. Great sermon also. Nicely done! We headed home and frosted the cake for dinner and checked out the garden.

The birthday boy was still celebrating by hanging out!

Gretchen divided the iris she took out for the Jasmine

Pretty anenome...
Lilac :-)

After a nice afternoon we headed to some friends of Gretchen's for dinner. Had great ham, spinach madeline, potato casserole, green salad, and carrot cake! Great company and great food...very fun Easter. Thanks Matt and Sarah! And thanks Gretchen for a great visit! We headed home Monday to finish packing and get to bed early....long day on Tuesday!!!

The beginning of another adventure!

We drove to Gretchen's yesterday afternoon after Dad finished his Friday volunteer activities. It was a beautiful day for a drive! Got to Christiansburg and were greeted by Mason and Gretchen! We came to mulch and celebrate Easter! She had already gotten the bulk of the mulching done and the gardens looked great! Her candy tuft is spectacular as is a lilac. She had a nice surprise for Dad after dinner.

Happy Birthday to You!

Up this morning and ready to mulch, but turns out it's not going to happen this weekend...too bad. So we decided to head to the Virginia Tech campus and visit the horticulture gardens there.
Spring is just arriving here and the bulbs are glorious. Lots of tulips, daffodils and flowering trees.

Let the photographers begin!

Spice Bush

Bleeding Heart
There was a beautiful water element with falls...

that ran down to this wonderful pond complete with ducks.

A beautiful arbor with wisteria...

Mason, the ultimately patient photo partner.

After a wonderful couple of hours wandering around we headed back home to leave Mason and then Jean headed for her favorite Goodwill Bookstore (it's a freestanding building and wonderful!). Gretchen and John headed for Lowe's and Walmart to buy some needed items for our trip and then some new plants for Gretchen's yard.

Planting the new Carolina Jasmine...

and Gretchen in her favorite tree--a wonderful weeping
willow that is now big enough to really weep!

Halloween Fun with the Bairds

We headed out early to Va. Beach on Sunday. It was one cold morning--crystal clear, but heavy frost...

Ryan really likes his new quilt that his Aunt Gretchen made for him. His buddies do too. Wolfster is his new Pillow pet that he got when he learned all his letters! Great Job Ryan!

He's growing so fast!

Happy guy!

Colin and Grandpa started a model project of the NPP that had just taken off the previous morning. You can get the plans at http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/D1978_NPP_Paper_Model_Letter_OPTIMIZED.pdf

Break time with the tickle bug.

Mom, Dad and Ryan got busy in the kitchen making Pumpkin Soup (yum!) and beef and butternut squash Soup. Ryan's a whiz at the apple peeler.

Creamy soup!
Chop, chop, chop.
Want to go to the park?
Then off to the park for a little batting and catching.
Ryan's fingers were just long enough to fit in the glove.

Nice hit Colin!

Little stretch time...
A little stretching and quad work for Mom.
More...

Meanwhile, Dave and Grandpa cleaned the pool cover.
The guys are coming tomorrow to close the pool.

and then a little homework for tomorrow.

Quality control check before dinner.

During dinner we got BOOED....so Mom got some
BOO stuff together and they headed down the block
VERY QUIET...SUCCESS!!

HALLOWEEN DAY

Ryan's favorite spot with his buddies..
Ready to head to school..(actually Ryan had
Pajama day so changed into PJ's).
Party time for Ryan's Class..parents and grandparents invited :-)

Class decoration...cute.

Cupcakes for Colin's class party...Mom got to go.

It was time for Little Gym for Ryan before we knew it!

Then home and a little PT demo for Grandma.

Colin got home and went to work on the final touches on the model.

Final product! Great job you guys!

Colin will take it in to show his class tomorrow.

A little piano practice for Colin before dinner.

And after dinner our Astronaut, Fireman and Hiker were off to Trick or Treat! They came home and sorted their candy and began to think about what they would give to the troops. Then off to bed. Fun night!

The next morning we hung around for awhile after Colin went to school. Ryan had a leisurely bath before school.

Then Jill and Grandma took Ryan to school and came back and we all talked for awhile and then we headed out the door for the drive home. Bone Marrow Dinner tomorrow so need to get shopping and a little baking done for that today.

Thanks for another great visit BAIRDS! Love you guys!