The Moody Press

(Lately I've been realizing how lucky I am these days to have daily duplo creations, construction sites, pretend parades, and fire trucks fighting fires at every turn throughout the house. I know one day I will totally miss these things. When I happened upon the scene below and went to take a picture, Jayce decided the newspaper should get a hold of this story just like they do for any real fire in the city. I told him my blog would have to do. Here is his word-for-word, first attempt at news reporting and a glimpse into the pretend play of 2 little boys:)

This barn caught on fire in California with rescue coming in five minutes. This barn caught on fire by strucked lightning at 5 o'clock in the morning. More than two trucks came. This barn fire didn't go out for a while. Two stations came-fire station #2 and fire station #1. Three ladder trucks came. It didn't go out for ten minutes. All the animals stayed alive except two-the pig and the horse. Half of the roof, the two gates and the whole piggies place was damaged.

story by Jayce Moody

photograph used by permission courtesy of Kristi Moody Photography

Yesterday was Ryan's first day on first shift! I have waited a long time for this. Sometimes more graciously and patiently than others. I am so thankful to God for getting me through the challenges of second shift (4pm-2am) and even helping me to enjoy the good aspects of it. And I am thankful to my husband who was willing to give up his preferred schedule with some great co-workers/friends for the sake of his family.

We already started enjoying the greatness of this new schedule by going to the church softball practice tonight. His schedule change came just in time for him to join the team and we will all enjoy hanging out with our friends throughout the summer at the games. Now I just have to figure out how to get my sweet little baby on this schedule because, even though she is the easiest baby ever, she sure is a night owl just like the rest of us have been.

Never too young...

...to start learning. Besides, we have a drummer and a guitar player around here, so a pianist is in order:)

Love your neighbor(s)...

...I sure do:) Last month we took our house off the market after almost a year of trying to sell. Besides the fact that we are confident and content that God has a specific plan and timing for when we should move, here are some of the reasons from just the month of May why I am not disappointed that our house didn't sell yet. Here's to Cameron Drive,where neighboring is not a lost art...

Miss Mary is like family to us. We took a walk up to the ice cream shop to celebrate her belated birthday.

Miss Sharon let the boys drive her tractor around the circle as she hauled some of our rocks to Miss Gayle's house for us.

Miss Connie, our neighbor from Korea, brought me 2 whole rolls of this amazing sushi so I could "try" it.

Mr. Rick took Jayce to the hill where he has taught other neighborhood kids how to ride their 2 wheelers and after 10-15 minutes of coaching him with Ry's help he had him riding solo. Several other neighbors were present to offer their moral support:)

The neighbors' grandkids have become great friends to Jayce and Ty. They have as much fun together as any boys ages 3,4,5, and 6 would!

I better watch it because if people only knew the kind of neighbors they would get, they'd be lining up to buy this house!

Rocky Road

This picture sort of sums up my day...it wasn't really bad just a little stickier and at times more frustrating than most. No particular reason really, I just never felt like I got into my groove-whatever that feels like.

Thats OK though. We had some positive moments. And we did manage to deliver the Rocky Road Cookie Pizzas (which is what called for the caramel in the first place) to our neighbors. And what called for the Rocky Road Cookie Pizzas is the fact that our kind neighbors came over on Saturday and offered their unsolicited help to finish yet another rock removal project we had been working on so some thanks was in order. We've been removing rock from our landscape ever since we moved in. I actually wrote about it in my first ever blog post. The process is lengthy. I, however, think it is a bit therapeutic to do the mindless yet time consuming task but Ry in no way agrees with me which is why the kindness of our neighbors was very appreciated. They were probably just happy to move the project along since the area will look much better once we get grass growing there. At one point we had 5 young boys, 3 men, and myself working out there. I wish I would have gotten better pictures...the boys and their friends kept showing us how much bigger their muscles were getting as they worked. And they also each enjoyed a wheelbarrow ride from Mr. Chuck as he returned from dumping the rock at his house where he is going to use them for a project of his own.

Just another reason I love Cameron Drive and the neighbors we have here.

Oh, and here is the finished product of the "test run" Rocky Road Cookie Pizza I made for Ry last night. A little more appealing than the first photo. And no, I didn't cut the neighbors' in the shape of a heart:)

Better than Folgers

I love starting my day with a run early in the morning, especially on the weekends when the sun is shining and everyone is seemingly still asleep except the birds and their song. I haven't been out of the house before the world wakes up in a very long time. Which is partly why I loved my morning. Oh how I loved this morning. Kaleah woke me up early but not too early. I talked to her and she cooed happily to me for a while. Then I thoroughly enjoyed a peaceful morning walk to Meijers and an exhilarating jog home. And this morning it was my great privilege to have this beautiful, sleepy, 3 month old along.

Yes Kaleah, being your mom is such a privilege. Happy 3 month birthday!

Today I took my boys on a bike ride. The bread store was our destination but we found the bookmobile so we ended up borrowing a bag of books. Then we added 2 bags filled with bread, buns, bagels and---donuts. Because, best of all, we decided to stop at the fire station on the way home to take them a treat. The boys' most beloved firefighter was on duty. I biked down the boulevard, past a few garage sales and then returned home-barely. Between the boys, the books, and the bread, the bike trailer had become rather bogged down. But,we didn't care because, by then, we were beaming at all the fun we had and I realized that, unlike years past, big and little brother never bickered once at being belted in.