everybody plays at the playground

More fun at the playground...today with a couple of sheriff deputies who are assigned to the community policing unit in a rougher part of town.

Posted with LifeCast

characters at the playground

A little bit of a theme here...as the weather gets nicer I end up spending a lot of time scoping out playgrounds to see which ones could use some TLC by volunteers.  This playground is just around the corner from my house and while it needs some work, it has one resident who seems pretty happy with the way things are now, although he might be happier with some fish nearby.




Posted with LifeCast

a playground is a sad place with no kids

Had to scope out some playgrounds for work today...and in doing that I got a little sad as playgrounds are just not the same without kids around.




Posted with LifeCast

A Crazy Fridge

This is what my fridge has looked like for the past couple of days...but today it's empty again, as I took all the leftover food for the volunteers at the Bunny Hop to the soup kitchen this morning.  Thanks to the company that asks up to "eat more chikin" for providing the volunteers with free breakfast and lunch!




Posted with LifeCast

Need to do this more often...

Which does include hot chocolate and beignets at Cafe du Monde...but also getting down to New Orleans, seeing good friends, tipping well, inviting strangers to sit with us, and sharing what's on our hearts!




Posted with LifeCast

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

Today we had an all parish (county) event called the Bunny Hop! Part of the fun of the Bunny Hop is the super duper Easter egg "hunts" which you can see here in this picture.  I like to call the event Easter on steroids.  It started out a bit brisk in the morning, but turned into a wonderful day!




Posted with LifeCast

Not my typical friday night

Went to a fundraiser tonight and they had these golden saxophones as the centerpieces!  I thought it was some interesting table decor.  And what was more interesting was the adults who were absconding with them at the end of the night!




Posted with LifeCast

spring is here!

baseball on a sunday afternoon is a sure sign that spring is here!

going up?

an impromptu walking tour of nassau found us walking up and down some beautiful stairs! i love shots of stairs, all the lines...so pretty!

lighthouse on the point

boats

Lunch in Paradise

a yummy lunch shared with a friend on St. John, one of the US Virgin Islands!




Posted with LifeCast

Around Austin

Love this!




Posted with LifeCast

ways to say thanks!

I am currently in the throws of planning the volunteer appreciation event for work...so I thought these pics might be appropriate!

superman

as boys will be boys, caleb was showing off his muscles!

and his superman pose!

so loved

this baby boy is "so loved" and proud to tell the world--claiming the promise of John 3:16!

he's getting so big

i got to take picture of "baby new year" again this weekend! my how he has grown! and his personality is coming out, too! what a privilege to be able to capture some of his growth. hope it wasn't too painful for you, buddy. you will appreciate having the pics someday, i promise!

grandpa's rose

i have gotten off track with posting as life has gotten a little hectic lately. this weekend was the first that i have gotten out to take some pics in a while. but i got some and will be sharing them with you over the next couple days.  until then here is an older one.

i took this pic last fall on my trip to nh to visit my grandma. it's a pic of one of my grandpa's roses. he loved spending time with his roses and even up until the day he died. i always feel close to him when i see his roses as they were a fruit of his labor.

the plantation

i took the interns over to the plantation to check out a photo shoot that was going on there a couple weeks back.  it was a perfect day and a much needed break from the office!




Posted with LifeCast

to love is to serve

in honor of today's day of service here are some pics of some of my favorite (they are all my favorite!) volunteers from the two years i spend working in the relief and recovery effort after the hurricane season of 2005.

Canyon Creek Youth Group

a Son Servants group

youth from Baton Rouge, Mandeville, and New Orleans, LA

another Son Servants group

fyi...not sure if i took any of these pictures!

saturday night date

last night i went to the movies with my favorite little red headed boys in town!  we went to see Hotel for Dogs and then popped into b&n for a little while.  as they became so enthralled in the books, i took out my camera to document their excitement.  how fun to see these youngins so excited about reading!  i hope they never loose that excitement for such an important life skill!!

pearl

i call pearl my pretend kitty because she thinks i live in her house.  she is my neighbors cat, but she will sit on my doorstep and meow until i come out and sit with her.  she will often greet me at i am walking to my car in the morning and also when i am coming home from work.  a true feline, though, as she waits until i get settled into petting her and then she walks away.

not sure she enjoyed this photo shoot!

a walk on the beach with my fav girls

so, maybe it was more of a run!

indulge me again, while i share another couple favs from the fall.

ansley, brynn, and i took a "walk" on the beach during our last hours on vacation--had to get in all the fun we could!  the others were waiting for our food at the restaurant.  i love this photo, because they just took off running, and i could feel the freedom they felt as they ran down the beach.

we saw some birds playing in the surf...hopping on one leg.

so we joined in the fun, too!!

i hope they remember these times as fondly as i do.  good thing i have the pics to remind them. :)

low tide

another from my trip out to nh this fall.

"rest a wee by the beautiful sea"

working in parks and recreation, i have seen my fair share of benches.  i have to say i do find it fascinating when i think about how many people must have used one particular bench, especially when it is in such a beautiful space.  this bench is one of my favorites of all time!  it can be found along the coast in new hampshire at odiorne point state park. 

and it even has it's own invitation for you to pop a squat.  below is the plaque found on the back.

falling...in love

with a tree!  i did just that this fall during a trip to new hampshire to visit my grandmother.  it just happened to be one of the peak weekends for the fall colors.  all weekend we kept driving past this tree and i was so taken.

it's so beautiful!!!

playing with the big kids

yesterday, one of our youth basketball teams got to be center stage at half time of the LSU women's basketball game.  the court at LSU is reserved for some of the best basketball players in the country and kids in Baton Rouge grow up dreaming of playing on the court.  how cool that for these two teams their dream came true sooner than they expected!!

they are dwarfed by the size of the stadium, but all eyes are on them!

it was so much fun to watch them and take their pic.  even i will remember it for years to come!

take a closer look

i was looking through my photos of the fun run and found a couple things that i just thought were beautiful enough to share.

a couple at the beginning of the race holding hands.

an young runner giving it his all at the finish line.

if i had never zoomed in on these photos, I would have never seen these things--what a shame that would have been!

exciting day at work

we "opened" a park that had been renovated today.

and then we had a run to celebrate.