We sure enjoyed having Brian home last week! Analise has been missing him during the sday, but we’re managing. I don’t know exactly where the week has gone, but here it is almost Friday already. My grandma Vivian and her husband Charlie are coming for a visit tomorrow until Monday. I’ve got an unbelieveable meal planned for tomorrow… if it turns out as I hope, I’ll post the recipes next week.

I’m 30 weeks pregnant already, but the aching is getting worse. My back is so painful these days, I think I need to make a physical therapy appointment. Thank goodness for swim class tomorrow. Have I mentioned it’s hard to pick up a 25lb toddler with back pain? Not to mention the bending over to pick up food/toys/clothes/etc. I can’t believe how much more active I am this pregnancy than I was with Analise – just out of necessity because I’ve got her!

One of Brian’s fellow professors at Samford emailed him this funny link about the Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome. Very interesting and mind boggling research!

I had one or two others, but they’re slipping my mind at the moment. I’ll post them when I think of them. Oh, and for those checking in for Analise tidbits, her new phrase this week is, “Oh boy!” She’s parroting nearly every 2 syllable word we say. It’s sweet and amazing to see her changing so fast!

Click on any of the pictures in this blog to zoom in to see a larger picture.

 

We are enjoying Spring Break here in Alabama! Woo-hoo! We drove to Alabama’s highest point, Cheaha Mountain,
on Wednesday. It was a cool, clear, beautiful early Spring day. We drove some nice back roads to get there
following the same route that I took when I biked to
Samford’s new faculty retreat in January.

Analise decided to carry on an interesting conversation about ducks, cows, mommy, and daddy for almost
the entire two hour drive. She’s been amazingly observant in the car, keeping her eyes
constantly open for ducks and doggies. The conversation went something like this:
“Ducks? Wheah ducks? Moah (more)! Mommy, Daddy ducks! Doggie? (doggie sound) Ahh gone.
Moah? Moah! Ducks! Mmmmmmmmoo! (constipated cow sound).” I wish we could have taped it.
Very entertaining. She’s such a chatterbox lately! The other amazing thing was that she didn’
t nap – as we thought she would – on the entire 2 hour trip in the early afternoon.
Too much to talk about, I guess!

We parked at a lovely boardwalk trail that takes you to a beautiful overlook. (See the pictures at the top of this page).
Alongside the trail, though, is a rocky path that takes you to the overlook as well. We decided to take the path and let
Analise try hiking on her own for the first time. She loved it! She’s like a little mountain goat! My dad would be so
proud to see his little granddaughter climbing all over the rocks. She wanted to stand on top of all the rocks she found.
When she’d get past a rocky section, she’d take off running. A bit precarious, but we didn’t have any spills, amazingly.
At the overlook, we spent some time climbing the rocks, and from a distance away, Analise hard a dog, and she was
determined to get to it. We visited with the sweet Australian sheep dog, while Analise alternatingly lunged at him to
kiss him and leaned away as he nuzzled up to her. She loved it – going between squeals of laughter, cries of “Doggie!”
and her little doggie sounds. The dog loved her enthusiasm, I think:) We took the boardwalk trail back, and we had to
practically run to keep up with Analise.

After a short rest, we drove to the highest point on the mountain so we could check out the amazing view. We had to
climb up an old observation deck (built in the 1940’s) to get above the trees. Analise was amazing. She climbed up all
62 stairs (we counted on the way back down). The view was great, but we were ready to go hiking again. Off we went, and
we found a waterfall next to the road. We parked above the waterfall, and found that there was a cool pond behind it.
I told Analise that we might see some “fish” in the pond. Analise responded by saying, “Pish, Pish, Iwanpish, Iwanpish”.
We actually didn’t see any fish, but there were hundred of tadpoles swimming around.

All of our adventuring left us pretty hungry, so we decided to have dinner at the restaurant located on a cliff next to
the edge of the mountain. Analise was so good even though she had not had a nap all day, and she had hiked, climbed, and
walked all over the mountain, too. During dinner though, Analise pulled over a cup of ice water and it spilt all over her.
The shock of the cold water led to some crying, but we exchanged her wet onesie for a sweat jacket and all was good.
Then we watched a beautiful “God-painted” sunset together. A biker (motorcycle) told us that the sunset was God-painted,
and we agreed. Finally, we left to drive home, and Analise was asleep within five minutes of leaving and didn’t
wake up until the next morning. We drove home on part of the Cheaha Challenge bicycle route. Whew! Can’t wait to do that
ride in May.

Pictures, pictures, pictures! Click on any of the pictures in this blog to zoom in to see a larger picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Sorry we haven’t posted a blog this week! Brian’s on spring break, and we’ve really just been enjoying ourselves hanging out together, resting, getting things done, doing fun stuff. We’re in the middle of writing a lengthy blog with pictures from an adventure we took to Mount Cheaha this Wednesday. Today we visited Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve here in Birmingham and saw some fun animals.

Monday was exciting, as Brian’s parents arrived back from South Carolina with furniture for us! His grandmother has moved into a smaller apartment, so we inherited some nice furniture to fill our empty front, formal living room, along with some REAL dining room furniture. I’ll post a pic of that later too. I’ve been busy trying to put all the clutter away and get the house back in order. Kind of hard not to overdo it with all the back pain I’m having lately, but Brian’s been a huge help. Speaking of his help, he’s conquered the child-lock project that haunted him from 2 months ago. The magnetic Tot Lok’s are installed in the kitchen, and they work really well. Brian proudly showed it to everyone who came for our home church gathering last night. He’s even ready to get them installed in the 2 bathrooms. My domestic hero!

Analise has been sweet all week, and she’s loving having her daddy around. She’s a chatterbox, full of at least 20 new words that she’s using ALL THE TIME.

As I said in the title, Birmingham is in bloom. I have decided, I love Wisconsin in the fall because of the beautiful colors and the changing season. But I also love spring in the south. The cherry trees are full of poofy white blossoms, the redbud trees splash a bright pink in the midst of all the white, tulips and azaleas are in full color, the Bradford pear trees have turned a bright, spring-green color, and the occassional hardwood is budding in red or orange. Love it. It’s just beautiful to drive around and see all the color.

Ok, another exciting Friday evening at the Toones wraps up. Off to hopefully finish the blog and get some good rest. I’m still battling a cough, but thankfully, I’m much improved over last week. We’re having a picnic in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens tomorrow. Check back later!

Today is the first day of Spring, and I just found these great pictures that Kristine took last week of the beautiful Springtime in Alabama. Many of the smaller trees are blooming, and some of the larger ones are growing light green leaves that stand out on a hillside that still has a large number of “winter” trees. In the left picture above, you can see Analise running through our front yard with one of our red bud trees blooming behind her. In the right picture, you can see Analise holding onto the dogwood tree that we planted for her shortly after moving to Alabama. Kristine told me that Analise had been running circles around the tree.

Here is our neighbor’s beautiful “snow” tree. There are many trees like this in Alabama that bloom full of white blossoms that look like snow. You can also see the many pink blossoms on the bush growing next to our house.

Finally, I took this last picture of Analise as we were getting ready for church on Sunday. We started out by telling Analise she could take her baby and a book. The next thing we know, Analise has grabbed her toy grocery basket and was loading it up with as many things as she could possibly fit in it! Food, toys, books, and more!

I had a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday morning and came home to find Analise and my friend Lauren having a tea party in the guest bedroom. I snagged this picture later in the day – after her nap, which is why her hair is fuzzy – and the table was not so neatly set, but it was still an enjoyable tea time, just the same. If you come visit us, I’m sure Analise will serve you tea, as well!

I’ve been fighting a sinus infection all week, and maybe – fingers crossed – today’s the day I start feeling better. I’m more than ready… it’s exhausting to be sick and have to be mommy. Poor Brian hadn’t had anything decent for dinner since last Thursday, so he was excited that we had our home church over last night. Mmmm… good food – Paula Deen’s (from the Food Network) Barbecue Meatloaf. I have never really enjoyed meatloaf, but this was GOOD and very easy. I made dessert, something nearly identical to this recipe – Paula Deen’s Gooey Toffee Butter Cake. Instead of toffee bits, I used 1 cup of chocolate chips, melted with 1 cup of the cream cheese batter, poured on top and marbled. It was delicious!

Thank goodness today’s Friday. I’ve missed my swim class all week, and I can definitely feel that my body is missing stretching and moving in the water. But my regular babysitters – Grandma Beverly and Grandpa Tom – are in South Carolina for the week, and I’ve been coughing so much, I’d probably cough through the whole class. Besides being Friday, spring break starts today for Brian. Woohoo! We don’t have much planned except to hopefully get out and enjoy the beautiful spring blooms and catch up on a few household projects. Hope everyone’s doing well!