We had a great Easter weekend visiting with Ben's family in LaGrange, GA. With his parents most recently living in WI and Lauren and her boyfriend Matt in Chapel Hill, it was a rare time for everyone to meet in LaGrange for a warm, beautiful Easter weekend. Luke managed to take in two egg hunts, one on Saturday complete with air castles for jumping and sliding and another at Nonna and Grandpa's home on Sunday before church. He had fun picking up the eggs and even found a special prize egg at Saturday's hunt. My parents, my sister Michele and my Mamaw had all sent Easter baskets for Luke since they missed him for Easter, so he certainly had a grand display from the "Easter Bunny" on Sunday morning. As you'll see from these photos, he had a big time and one happy, hoppy Easter.
Hello to all our friends and family from our new home in West Knoxville! We've finally moved into a rental home and can at least get our things out of storage and delivered from Italy, Norfolk, and any other locations where they've in limbo waiting on us to get settled down. The house will be very comfortable and a great base for us to explore more of Knoxville and East Tennessee. I think we'll enjoy our new home and the Knoxville area in general. And since there's a swingset already in the backyard, Luke seems to like it pretty well, too. It will be a tough transition not having all his relatives so nearby as we did in Murphy, but a few hours drive to the grandparents in the car sure beats a trans-Atlantic flight any day!
We've not given up on finding a home to buy, but we're taking our time to find the right place and area of Knoxville for us. Knoxville is a lot more spread out than either Ben or I imagined, so we have more areas to visit and hopefully more homes will come on the market in spring. We're settling in for now, though, and looking forward to getting into a regular family routine again. Come by for a visit if you're coming through East Tennessee!
Luke got his first job! He says he's a 'shop boy' for Papa in his race car shop. He wears his shop rag tucked in his pants or pocket and takes a break from helping Papa move blocks and build engines to work on his 'motorcycle.' On this particular Saturday afternoon, the weather was beautiful, showing the first signs of a warm and sunny spring season ahead. He took time to play in the grass and with the dogs, but headed dutifully back to 'work in'a shop.' He loves all things mechanical and works on his toys with a play tool set of hammers, screwdivers, and a drill. Looks like he's taking after his daddy and Papa with his love of tools and 'fix-it' projects.
