Some of April And The Month of May

Update
- Juke Joint Festival!!
It was a blast! Our neighborhood had a "float" in the parade. Kids and adults alike had a big time. Matthew was worried at first about the petting zoo. Apparently he remembered how the goat bit his finger last year. However when he saw the goats this year all worry went away.

Here is the Clark Street Crew before we took off to the parade.


We are waiting for the parade to begin.


Margaret hung out in her bucket, in the stroller, which was on the trailer. We practically forgot about her because she was so good.


Matthew had his annual Juke Joint face painting. This year, it was balloons and football.



- Mate came to visit!!
We only had him for a few days, but it was fantastic hugging his neck. We all loved seeing him! Mate, please come back!

- Landscaping!!
The backyard looks so much better. Thanks very much to our friends for helping us get the mulch and plants in the flower beds. We couldn't have done it alone, and it now looks great!

- Providence Place of Senatobia Open!!
Our apartments in Senatobia are open and folks are moving in to them. Steve has worked so hard. We are so excited it is going well!

- Matthew's First Bike!!
Matthew has a spiderman bike! He has learned how to ride, but it cannot go through the puddles like his gator. The gator is still #1 in his book. Hopefully after he sees Pete riding his bike he will have a greater appreciation for his own.

Maxine et al, I assure you, this was the first and only time he has been on the bike without his helmet. :)



- Margaret has lots of tricks!!
She can roll over, sit up, pull up in her crib, and CRAWL! Oh yes, she is mobile.

Why No Blogging...

When I last posted, I told of how we were doing much better with Margaret's sleeping. She continues to sleep well!! There is a problem though - my computer is located in our bedroom, and Margaret's room is basically in our bedroom. Posting on the blog has not been possible since I want to be as quiet as possible when she is going to sleep. Excuse #2: Cannot work on computer when both children are awake. Excuse #3: We are not set up on a network, and I know you want to see pictures on the blog rather than just me rambling on about excuses. So, using Steve's computer is out. Excuse #4: I am doing other things during nap time like napping myself, eating lunch, or my devotional.

So, how am I blogging now??
1: Margaret just went to sleep, and I am typing oh so quietly.
2: Matthew is asleep.
3: I want to post pictures.
4: I should be napping, eating or doing my devotion, but want to update you! :)

Thank you for being faithful readers, sorry I haven't been a faithful blogger! Please stay tuned to Downing Days as I have lots to report!

Update - M&M

Margaret is sleeping well!! Last night we had a great night. She fussed then went back to sleep! Again, I will spare you the details, but all in all we were incredibly pleased. Today she took a fantastic 2 hour morning nap, then regressed a little and took cat naps this afternoon. We kept her up until 7:00PM. She went down without a fight. Hopefully tonight will be just as good as last night!

Matthew continues to have big, huge fun at the beach. Here is a quick story: When they arrived, Matthew walked in Claudia's room with the king size bed and proclaimed he liked that room. Precious explained to him it was Claudia's room. He replied, "She likes me. I'll stay here with her." One more story: They went to dinner last night, and as they were preparing to leave, Matthew kept asking Precious if he could go too. Poor little thing is so used to us leaving him with a babysitter so we can go to dinner! He couldn't believe he could actually go.

A Change of Plans

Matthew, Margaret, Precious, and I were scheduled to head to Orange Beach, AL with Mags, Pete, Sam and LaLa (my aunt, Claudia). Instead, Matthew and Presh went to the beach without Margaret and me. It was a tough decision, but I realized I needed to stay home, get rest, and get Margaret on a sleep schedule.

Last night we started to let her cry when we knew she was not hungry. The first time she woke up and we did not come to get her, she wailed. Poor little thing!!! I will spare you the details. All in all, Steve and I felt like it was a successful night. Her sleeping today was not so successful. Hopefully we will get her on track soon!

A little while ago, I spoke with Precious and Mags. Matthew is doing great and having a blast with his cousins!

Sorry it has taken me a while to post this. I certainly couldn't leave it off the blog...

Steve wanted to take Carol to see the hunting camp. When he said something like, "let's go try to find some wildlife." I got a little worried. (Refer to pictures in the previous post to see how much rain we had been getting.) I was concerned the ground would be too wet to "go try to find some wildlife" in our Ford Expedition, however my dear husband assured me all be fine. So Steve drove Grammy, Matthew, Margaret and me to the woods. The inevitable happened. We got stuck.

So we called our friend David Mullens to come pull us out. When he arrived he realized the green truck he brought wouldn't be able to pull us out. He needed his white truck that has tires with more traction. So we all loaded up in the green truck. We were almost to somewhat dry land when you guessed it. We got stuck. Yep, stuck again!

So David called his sweet wife, Amy, to come pull us out. Amy arrived in the white truck, and the white truck was able to pull the green truck out, then the Expedition. We were saved! It was quite an adventure!!

You may be wondering, did they see any wildlife??? Yes! We saw two deer, and thankfully we did not see a single snake. :)


Poor, stuck expedition.


Matthew leaning out of the poor, stuck expedition before David arrived.


David and Steve looking at the green truck to see if it could pull out the expedition.


Steve is moving Margaret from the expedition to the green truck. Steve was covered in mud. I threatened him with an inch of his life not to get mud on Margaret, and she remained mud-free!

Visit from Grammy!

Carol was here last weekend! Here are some pictures.


She and Matthew read books!


Grammy and Margaret played on the couch!


They went for a gator ride.


Matthew climbed the tree in front of the house.


Margaret swam in her new pink hat! :)

Grammy took these great pictures of Margaret! Thanks, Grammy!

We went for a look at the swollen Mississippi River.


That is the Isle of Capri Casino in the background. The actual river is supposed to stop behind the casino. You can see how it is out in front of the casino. Oh My!


This is a view from the Arkansas side of the river looking toward Mississippi.

Row Row Row Your Boat

Matthew, Steve and David Mullens went for a boat ride Saturday. They needed to check on a friend's cabin to make sure it was not under water. Thankfully it was not. The boys had a blast! Matthew was super fired up to wear his Spiderman life vest.

Spring Cleaning

This past weekend we did some spring cleaning around the house. Margaret sat in her exersaucer in the carport while Steve and I cleaned out the work room. She adores her daddy. He kept her in smiles while I snapped these pictures.

Feet Finding

Margaret found her feet this past week. She can now get them in her mouth. They are a great source of entertainment.

Cousin Patrick Is Married

My cousin, Patrick Bufkin, married Dinah Turner this past weekend in Jackson. Matthew, Steve, Rocky, and Matthew's black eye stayed home while Margaret and I headed to the big city for the festivities. Well, I went to the parties while Margaret hung out with my grandmother's housekeeper. The entire weekend was just lovely. It was a ton of fun hanging out with family whom I wish I saw more often. It meant so much to hear they are all big fans of this blog.

Black eye update: it is healing so well. It is only slightly swollen, the bruising is going away, and the cut is healing beautifully. We go back to Dr. Ram Thursday morning to have the stitches removed. He told me why he couldn't use dissolvable sutures, but honestly I cannot remember what he said. :) I am just glad he will be able to take a look at him again to make sure all is well.

Hugs and Kisses to the Johnson family I saw this past weekend. I loved being with you!!!!!!

First, The Eye Pictures

Poor Little Guy! He didn't want me to take any pictures. He was scared it would hurt.

Now, The Easter Pictures

He decided to look for eggs in the fort. To get down, he slid down the slide with his bucket, and as you can imagine, eggs flew everywhere!

Matthew wanted to find the golden egg, but obviously Pete beat him to it.


Mouthful of Marshmellows


Margaret and Papa had a wonderful time during the egg hunt!


Awe. We look so happy because we are! It was a great Easter!

A New First For Matthew

Matthew has 4 stitches on the upper portion of his left cheekbone. Yesterday morning he was trying to get a teddy bear off the top shelf of the bookcase in his room. As you can imagine, the bookcase fell on top of him. Steve immediately called Dr. Ram, and we went straight to the clinic. There Dr. Ram gave Matthew his first stitches. Of course there were lots of cries and tears, but Matthew held up like a champ. Dr. Ram said he did very well. Now it is time for it to heal.

His eye is practically swollen shut, but he can open it a little to see. It doesn't look infected. Dr. Ram called this morning, and said it sounds like everything is healing as it should. I will try to take some pictures this afternoon and get those posted on the blog asap.

I need to post Easter pictures too. We had a big time in Atlanta this past weekend.

"He did get up"

I saw one of my favorite Wal-Mart associates today. He is full of the Holy Spirit and reveals his joyous heart to all he comes in contact with at Wal-Mart. He calls me "Sister", and I call him "Brother". This morning when I saw him I told him that I hope he has a very happy Easter. He looked at me and said, "You know, he did get up."

So this weekend as we celebrate Christ's getting up, we hope y'all have a very happy Easter!

Easter Egg Painting

Matthew painted Easter eggs yesterday. For the first time, more paint was on the project than on Matthew!




This is what Margaret was doing while Matthew was painting. She ended up falling asleep in the Bjorn. Much to my dismay, she has done away with pacifiers in favor of fingers. When she gets tired she goes straight to sucking the fingers. Good thing is that she can find them herself!

Another Comment

Matthew just keeps cracking us up. Yesterday Steve took him to get his hair cut. After Joan finished cutting his hair she said, "Alright, we are finished." He replied, "Okay, now blow me away." Apparently he wanted his hair blown with the hair dryer. So funny!!

Pontius "Pilot"

Steve and Matthew were reading a Little Golden Book on the story of Jesus. When Steve read about Pontius Pilate Matthew asked, "Think he flies an airplane?"