What does a cow say?

Well I guess the answer to that question depends on whether the cow is on a farm or at... Chick-Fil-A! Oh, it was the good ol' Cow Appreciation Day at our dear restaurant. My fabulous husband is one heck of a sport and humored me by fully participating in the dress-up, eat-free event. This year, I went further by purchasing cow fabric and making foam visors for us. Next year I may actually sew the ends of the fabric! It may take a few years for the chicken meals to pay for the supplies, but that's all useless information, right? We had so much fun, and our new friends down the road joined us! The participation level in Texas far exceeded that of the California mall restaurant we visited last year for Cow Appreciation Day, so it was super exciting to see the creative C-F-A enthusiasts. Mmm mmm, what a tasty day it was!

Of course, the cow was visiting our location. Don't you know there's only one of these in the whole world? Ha!


Here's my fabulous husband humoring me with his full costume. My heart! And precious little Bateman is donning his cow shirt and cowboy pants, which Grammie gave him in anticipation of our big day! Are we nuts or what?


Since Mr. B loves to sing E-I-E-I-O, his sign must have said...

Our little neighbor borrowed Bateman's hat for a little while! How cute!



A bovine family photo!


And next year, we'll have another calf. Oh, the excitement!

A la playa (At the beach)

Bateman and I celebrated the Fourth of July in Destin, Florida with my family. Richard Carey went on his annual baseball stadium trip with his friend, Sprinkles, so he did not come to the beach. It was Bateman's first trip to the sand, and we weren't sure how he would take it. Believe me, he loved it. After I put him in the sand for the first time, he decided to lie down in it. The texture didn't seem to bother him for a second. He actually got a few handfuls in his mouth over the course of a few days. It was so great to get some sun and sand into our systems! Here are the pics!

What is all this white stuff??

Here's my cousin, Chelsey, who was so very helpful with Bateman!

Granna gets to love up on B! Thanks Granna for a fun trip!

He loves feeling that wet sand between his toes!

He loved those waves!!


Chelsey dug a hole for him.


Not always sure what he's putting in his mouth, but he sure looks cute doing it!


My sister, Hannah, joined us, too! Here are us girls with Mr. B.

We were getting ready to leave for our flight, but Bateman doesn't look too excited about it! That's because it was a beautiful, wonderful first trip to the beach!

Our New Place

I regret to begin this post with an apology, but I am sorry to report there are no actual house pictures. Maybe it's to lure you in for a visit! :) When we get it all prettied up, I'll take some shots. For now, trust me that we remain in move-in mode, although we've made lots of progress. We've had so many helpers to unpack, clean, refinish furniture, or play with Bateman so we could successfully do any of the above. Here's a picture of my grandfather, Paw, with Bateman after lunch one day. Paw worked hard on refinishing our dresser. We purchased a bedroom set on Craigslist and changed it from a worn oak finish to a dazzling antique white. Pics to come.

Hmmm.... what's coming out of that box?

Just appendages from my favorites.

God has answered our prayers so quickly by providing our dear friends down the street! Jake and Leah are from Houma, Louisiana and have a 14 month old son, Pressley who is Bateman's new playmate for sure! At this particular encounter, Bateman showed Pressley his affection with a nice bite on the bottom of his foot. The famous friendliness of Texas may not have soaked in yet.

A jewel of our neighborhood: The Splashpad.

Really, what else would we do between dinner and bedtime?

And a video of Bateman's take on Move-In day!!