Alley & Kyle’s Adventures in . . .

Kyle and I have seen this fellow a few times around the neighborhood, and we have heard him several times at night.  I finally got close enough to take some pictures of our new friend.

Our community was developed to preserve as much nature as possible.  We have trees and wildlife all around us.  There are beautiful white cranes that hang out at the creek near our house.  There are wild pigs that lurk in the trees behind our house.  From what I have seen of the wild pigs and from what others have told me, there is a Mama and about 5 or 6 little piglets.  The "piglets" that I have seen are bigger than Rocky and Slate!  And, I have been told that they are very mean.  So for now, I’ll just enjoy seeing them from our upstairs window looking down to the wooded area behind our house. 

We’re not exactly in the country.  However, Kyle and I enjoy the fact that on the weekends, we can forget that we live in a city with 4 million other people.  And a little hoot from our new friend will remind us of that occasionally.

Here is my newest niece, Abby.

And here is the proud Big Sister, Katelynn.

My sister-in-law Erin was scheduled to have a c-section with their second baby girl on Wednesday April 15.  My new baby niece thought she would like to be here in time for Easter instead.

Sarah Abigail Long was born on April 11, 2009, at 8:38 pm, 7 lbs, 19 inches. We will call her "Abby."

Erin started to go into labor yesterday evening, so they called the doctor and were told to get to the hospital.  Everyone is doing well.  Erin was feeling sick after the c-section due to all of the medications that they had her on, but she was feeling better when I spoke with my brother after midnight. 

I am going to Florida to visit the first weekend in May, so I will have plenty of pictures to post then.  If I get sent any before then, I will post those as well!

Welcome to the World, Abby!  I can’t wait to meet you!

This week, we had one of our trees in the backyard removed.  All of the other trees in and around our yard have bloomed, and this one hasn’t done anything yet.  We watched it for a while, and we decided that it was either dead or very sick.  Either way, we knew that we needed to have it removed seeing as we now live in a city that can be (and has been) hit by hurricanes.  We just wanted to get it taken care of before hurricane season starts.  So, here are some pictures of one of our trees coming down.  It was a sad day…

Now, does anyone have any ideas as to what we should do with that spot?  One option is to leave the stump and do nothing.  Another is to remove the stump and plant another tree.  And yet another is remove the stump and plant some grass.  Any other ideas?  Keep in mind that the dogs rule the yard and that they would destroy almost anything else there (like a garden).