June - October, 2010

It has been months since I have updated our family blog!! I'm including a few favorite pictures from this summer and early fall.
The girls are growing and learning new things daily! Today I took McKinney upstairs for a little alone time (something we all need at times!) and when I came downstairs Elizabeth started to climb up the stairs to their room. I could hear her up there giving toys to McKinney so I called to Elizabeth to come downstairs. Elizabeth walked to the stairs and, with strength in her voice, said, "No! McKinney sad". She was comforting her sister. I love how they look out for one another. It's precious!!!
This evening we drove to the square to pick up the Square Foot Gardening book (we are going to get our beds ready and our goal is to have a spring garden this year!) at Square Books (just wanted to say square again!) and as we passed Ajax and Elizabeth said, "Go eat at Ajax!".
Everytime we pass the bank I hear, "Pa-Pop! Bank!" (lollypop)


McKinney at our back door...she was looking at Daddy through the window.

Elizabeth on our porch swing.

Jonathan on the square. This pic was taken for his bedroom!

These next pictures were taken during a little trip over to Enid Lake.




Jonathan is enjoying his 2nd grade year at Regents. His class recited the first verses of Romans 12 in chapel a couple of weeks ago and it was a sweet reminder to me of how blessed we are to have this school for our children.
Last weekend we got a babysitter for the girls and took Jonathan to his first Ole Miss football game. We loved it!
We are settling into life here in Oxford and are thankful for the community here as our friendships deepen and things become more familiar.

Rochester, Minnesota

These are pictures of our last evening at home in Rochester, Minnesota. Jon built this playset over Memorial Day weekend, 2009. That was when we thought we would be in Minnesota for at least another 3 years...this past year has brought so much change. We have so many wonderful memories playing on the playset and it is fitting that we spent the last evening in our home playing in the backyard.

First Presbyterian Church...our temporary backyard.

While living in the condo we have spent many afternoons in the church yard at 1st Presbyterian Church. They have a playset, a fence, and lots of space to run...& it's lovely! Here are a few pictures for our recent visits to this place:

Inch by Inch

This morning Jonathan was in a patriotic play at Regents. He said his line, dressed as Christopher Columbus, very well. The girls sat quietly and listened to the play until a fly landed on Elizabeth. She was terrified of that fly and screamed and cried while we wheeled quickly out of the gym. Each time we have a special event at Regents I am reminded again how thankful we are for this little school
When we arrived home Elizabeth and McKinney went down for a nap (We had a babysitter last night so that Jon and I could have dinner out with the Peds group....and when we arrived home at 10pm all 3 kiddos were still not in bed. I've never had that happen.....

Can you move to Mississippi, Becca? Please?!?!?!).

The house was quiet and Jonathan started to read a book. A few minutes later he discovered an inchworm on his arm. Jonathan called him Bookworm & he's been a welcome visitor!!! Bookworm now has his own habitat and Jonathan's watching for his chrysalis.

I've finished designing my NEW website for Ceresa Caudill Photography!!!

ceresacaudill.com

Please stop by for a visit & become a fan on facebook!

Spring Break with Cousins

I drove with the kiddos to visit the Wenger family in Arkansas during Jonathan's spring break. The kiddos had a great time together!!!! Jonathan's favorite part was swimming. He took his 1st trip down the big water slide & loved it! McKinney & Elizabeth had lots of love and attention!



The Wenger Clan


The fort


Sisters


Brothers

Pictures of the daily....

Jon was heading out the door for work and I asked for a quick picture....



Jonathan has been horizontal on this couch for 3 days. Yesterday it was so good to see him sitting up and reading a book!!



Last night I put the girls in their highchairs so that I could cook supper (and know that they are safe!). I opened the drawers and let them play. It caused a mess but they were happy and safe....and supper was yummy!

The Regents Playground

On Saturday there was a 1/2 marathon in Oxford and so we drove
outside of town to Regents to play.

McKinney at Rowan Oak

Bow Wow Wow

Playing at the Park

We found a great park here in Oxford!

Notice in this picture that we are the only people at the park. It's chilly in Mississippi this week...


...and it even snowed today. A lady in the store asked Jonathan what he thought of the snow and he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm used to it". She looked puzzled....

I took these pictures out of the window while waiting in the carpool line at Regents. This is a view looking from the Elementary School looking over to the gym and Upper School. Can you see the snow?

I have such sweet memories of time with Jonathan when he was McKinney & Elizabeth's age. Jonathan loved to read and so we read spent lots of time snuggled on the couch reading!! I have loved having this same kind of time with the girls during the day. And, of course, all 3 of us are so happy to drive out to Regents to pick up Jonathan at 2:30!!! We enjoy the afternoon together and love hearing all about his day at school!

Jonathan's First Week at Regents

Jonathan has had a great 1st week at Regents in Mrs. Hinton's class! On Tuesday they had the science fair and on Wednesday they had a field trip. We are so thankful for this school here in Oxford!


Right across the road from Regents is College Hill Presbyterian Church. These pictures were taken on the grounds of this antebellum church.

Our Journey To Oxford, Mississippi

This journey was such an adventure and so this is a lengthy post with lots of details! :)


Our home in Rochester, Minnesota. The place of Jonathan learning how to ride his bike, bringing home Elizabeth and McKinney from the hospital, 5 and 6 year old Birthday Celebrations for Jonathan, Summer dinners out on the back deck, first steps, and many, many more wonderful memories for our family....



We drove East on I-90. Jon, Jonathan, and Yokie the cat were in the car ahead of me, McKinney, and Elizabeth. We thought we were leaving ice and snow....


Crossing the Mississippi river...



A short stop at Dave's Guitar Shop in Wisconsin for Daddy....
You can see Yokie, the cat,....he was an amazing travel buddy for Daddy and Jonathan.


I can't remember which state these windmills are in....WI or IL?






It was about this time that I talked with Uncle Bob and Aunt Rita and discovered that we were both in Madison, WI the night before...and we didn't know it! I was SO sorry to miss them!!!!!



The weather started to turn icky...after awhile it was really messy. We started to see cars off the side of the road. When we passed an 18 wheeler off the road I hopped on our walkie talkies and begged Jon to stop. We stopped for the night in Hayti, MO. Jonathan was so excited because he got to go swimming twice and eat the hotdogs that the hotel served for supper. We met lots of nice people who were in the same situation...



The next morning Jon gave me a big pep talk and we got back in our cars to try to drive the last 177.84 miles to Oxford. He promised that we would go slow....and we did!

There was a thick layer of ice covering the interstate.

Arkansas...just about 30 miles north of Memphis. There was a big wreck between 2 trucks and I-55 South was completely blocked. We sat at this spot for almost 3 hours during lunch time. We had 2 honeycrisp apples (thank you So much, Kathy), a few crackers, and diet coke for the kiddos. (The girls liked the diet coke!) We had mostly content children and they did exceptionally well, given the circumstance.





Memphis was such a welcome sight!!! We had lunch at Cracker Barrel.
This is an ice covered tree in the parking lot...



Tennessee just south of Memphis. Look at the clear roads!!! We were able to drive the speed limit!



At last....after traveling for 9 hours and covering only 177.84 miles...we arrived in Mississippi.


We were so very thankful for safety....thank you to all our friends and family who were praying for us! When we arrived in Oxford Doug Sanford and Molly Singletary came to help us unload our cars. Our fridge was stocked and supper was waiting for us....such blessings!!