The Brown Brick Road

Chicks, bunnies and ducks

April 10, 2013

After a morning of pancakes and fishing, we drove into town to check out the marina and grab some lunch at Catherine’s Market. When we pulled up there was a lady with all kinds of Easter animals in an area where the kids could pet and hold them.

bunnies

chicks

duck

Maxwell was really interested…and a little trepidatious! He wanted me to go in with him and kept a tight hold on my finger most of the time!

chicks

He did get brave and pet the chicks though. He REALLY wanted to hold a bunny like some of the other kids were doing…

bunny

He would get down there, but he just couldn’t bring himself to actually pick it up.

bunnies

I was no help to him at first. If you know me, you know I am no animal lover and the idea of picking up a bunny or a chick just…blech. I can barely even think about it without getting the shivers. Yea, I’d be no good on a farm. BUT, if my baby wanted to hold a bunny then, by god, I was going to suck it up and help him hold a bunny! So, when a little 4 year old girl handed me one of the bunnies, I swallowed my fears, bravely grabbed that little creature and held it out for Maxwell to take! AND HE NEVER TOOK IT. He wanted to SO bad but he just wouldn’t put his hands around it. I almost had him in his hands but then the bunny jumped and was back on the ground and that was that. Oh well! I’m sticking to chocolate bunnies next Easter! 🙂

The Lake day 2

April 9, 2013

I finished my last post saying “There’s always tomorrow!” for fishing and that’s exactly what Robert was thinking bright and early Saturday morning. He and Maxwell had the fishing pole in the water before the pancakes were even made!

fishing

Maxwell was again interested for about 2 minutes and then wandered back up the house…

the lake

He wanted the pancakes! 🙂 It was this recipe, and they were good!

pancakes

Spencey didn’t get to have any pancakes but he was still as happy as could be, just like always!

spencey

After bellies were full, the boys gave fishing another go. Robert was nothing if not persistent!

fishing

and Maxwell was still nothing but mildly interested! So Robert kept trying to catch the big one…or any one…

fishing

and I played photoshoot with Maxwell – which basically consisted of me trying to get him to stay in one spot for more than 10 seconds so I could try to get the settings on my camera right and take his picture!

maxwell

maxwell lake

lake

He definitely wasn’t into staying still but I still love some of the shots I got!

lake

Before long, Maxwell was back at his new favorite activity…throwing pine cones into the lake!

lake

He then entertained Spencer for a bit…

lake

Spencer wasn’t exactly amused!

lake

All the while, Robert kept fishing…and not catching anything. Such is life! But, hey, there’s always tomorrow, right?! 🙂

The Lake

April 8, 2013

As I mentioned last week, we went to Lake Martin for the Easter weekend. We usually go to Montgomery but all of Robert’s family was going out of town so we decided to rent a lake house and have some fun. We really enjoyed it and ended up getting really lucky with the weather! yay! If we go back, we definitely need to rent a boat and get out on that pretty water!

A little caveat here – you’re about to get bombarded with pictures this week because I took a ton. A ton, like 789. It was a combination of a beautiful setting, 3 cute boys, and a photography class I’m taking! 🙂 I needed to get in lots of practice shooting in manual and was so thankful to have such great things to take pictures of. I definitely got LOTS of practice and am proud to say all of these shots were taken in manual. go me! 🙂 If you’re looking for fantastic photography classes online, check out Define. I just finished “Auto to Manual” and am already signed up for “Light + Life” which starts today. Can’t wait!

Ok, on with the zillions of pictures…

The one thing Robert really wanted to do during our time at the lake was catch a fish with Maxwell! But, you gotta learn how to fish first…

fishing lesson

Lesson over and out they went!

fishing

Fishing held Maxwell’s attention for about 2 minutes! After that, he just wanted to check things out…

exploring at the lake

lake

fishing

Spencer just enjoyed being out in the fresh air!

lake

Robert kept fishing and caught all sorts of things – driftwood, a chair, the dock… 🙂

fishing

Maxwell kept exploring and soon discovered his new favorite thing…

lake

throwing pine cones into the lake!

lake

By the time we left on Sunday, the yard was almost cleared out of pine cones thanks to Maxwell! These sweet boys had a great time just seeing what they could see!

lake

We spent the rest of that afternoon and evening just hanging out and enjoying the change of scenery.

the boys

boys

Pretty nice!

lake

That night, Robert and Maxwell gave the fish one last chance to bite before dinner but, no luck.

fishing

Oh well, there’s always tomorrow!

Sweetness

April 5, 2013

This week has just been crazy busy and I haven’t even begun to go through all of the lake/Easter photos. Next week I promise!

Today, another Instagram goodie to end your week…

bed

I could just die at the sweetness.

Sometimes Maxwell is a little cranky when he wakes up from his nap so I had taken Spencer in there with me when he woke up and put him in Maxwell’s bed. Maxwell loved it. Having Spencer in his bed with him is one of his favorite things – right next to getting into Spencer’s bed! He does love his ya-ya!

Happy weekend!

Best buds

April 4, 2013

Maxwell loves going to school and I love his little class this year. There’s 6 of them – Maxwell, William, Law, James, Lila and Mary Hamner.

Here’s the crew, minus James, at their little school Easter egg hunt…

school class

Law (the redhead) was tops around here for a while but William has now edged him out for best bud status. We talk about “Will-wam” a lot. “Will-wam funny.” “I want to sit next to Will-wam at lunch.” Ms. Jen says Maxwell, William and Law are just the cutest little trio and are always playing together. When I picked Maxwell up from school yesterday he was playing with William so I had to snap some pics…

maxwell and william