Tyler Steffey Field Dedication

We had a really special event at our church today, the dedication of a new baseball field for Tyler Steffey.  Tyler died tragically in a car accident in December of 2007 at the age of 16.  Our church came together with the community to build a baseball field at our church grounds in memory of Tyler.  Tyler's favorite color was orange, so you will see many orange balloons in the pictures which were released at the end of the dedication.  The 1st pitch was thrown by Al Kaline a Tiger's Hall of Fame recipient who is probably in his mid 70's now.  In the pictures above you will see Emily playing at the event on the play structures (with her cousin Claire), the dedication ceremony, Al Kaline throwing the first pitch, Al with the Steffey family and the balloon launch.  We were blessed that the rain held off for the dedication today, you can see there were many dark clouds over head.

More Animal Fun

We had a nice barbeque with our friends the Cabble's last night.  After dinner we headed to the Wolfgang's to see their animals.  It's nice because they have a couple steers, 4 lambs, 6 pigs, 4 goats and of course a couple of barn cats which we see from a distance.  The animals are pretty tame and come up to you, and some of the goats actually nibble on your clothes or shoes.  Blake and Emily had a great time playing with the animals, we feel so blessed to have so many opportunities for the kids to enjoy farm animals up close.

Our Neighbor Came to Visit

I bet your neighbors live close enough that they walk over, not ours, they ride their horse.  :)  We live on 10 acres and each of neighbors have between 10 and 30 acres so it would make sense to ride their horse over, right?  Our next door neighbor Annette was out riding her horse last night and stopped in for a quick visit.  Emily used to love petting their horses (they have 4), but last night she wasn't so sure and basically sucked her thumb and took everything in.  She sucks her thumb to cope, it's her best friend.  

Grandma's Jewerly

My parents live close, which I love, and they visit often.  Last night we had a quick visit with my mom, and she brought a few new pieces of jewelry to show us.  Of course Emily loved it, Emily is into all of the girlie stuff, and yesterday even carried her purse into the grocery store.  I don't think I'll wait until 13 to get her ears pierced (I had to wait until I was 13), but we are still going to wait for a while.  I am not so sure about the people who pierce their babies ears, I would rather put a bow in Emily's hair or a fancy hat on to show she is a girl.  :)  

Chelsea Treehouse

It's amazing how kids change so much.  We hadn't been to the Chelsea Treehouse in a long time, maybe a couple of months.  We went yesterday and Emily can climb up to the top with no assistance which is great, but now she doesn't want to go down the slide alone anymore.  Go figure, she used to go down the slide alone.  So she would climb up to the top, but they sit at the end of the slide fussing and asking for me to go up there.  Good thing there weren't many kids there and they would use the other slides as I tried to coax her down, but in the end I had to go up there and go down the slide with her.   Once I got her to hold hands with Sidney and go down the slide by herself.  I think she was a little scared so she didn't do that again.  We had a great time, meeting up with two of my friends from HS - Anne White & Jennifer Myers.  We bought a pass that is good for 5 months for $30, it's a great deal, now every rainy day or day it's too hot out this summer, we will be at the Treehouse.  :)

Our Garden

Yeah!  We planted our first seeds in our garden last night, we'll actually Jim did it.  Emily and I stood outside and watched Jim plant the seeds.  We decided Emily may not be a big help in the garden just yet.  

Emily and I kept busy trying to find the Pheasant that kept making noises not far from the garden.  Emily kept saying she was going to say boo when she saw it, I think she thought we were playing hide and seek.  I told her the Pheasant must be hiding, and she calls hide and seek boo because we yell boo when we find the other person.  It was so cute how she would get excited when the Pheasant would make noises like it was calling to us.  

Great Grandma Weidmayer

This morning before headed to story time at the Library we went to visit my grandma Weidmayer.  Emily always enjoys visiting great grandma, the first things she says when we get there is cow.  Great Grandma lives on a farm and there are steers there that Emily gets to see from a distance, they are not tame like the fair animals and won't come up close to the gate for Emily to pet them.  We enjoy talking to grandma, Emily takes her toys, and the time always goes by so fast.  It's nice having her close and being able to go visit her spur of the moment.