Guest Post from Ray:

Julie writes all these cute little things about what is going on in our life. She does a good job playing to the interests of her audience (ie: the girls who read this), but the Parrish Post is a respectable online periodical, and any such journalistic medium would be doing a disservice to the public in not reporting the whole story. While our life does involve caring for our plants and fun pictures of our son, Cole (Or as I call him, COLE-MAN) there is a gaping hole in her reporting. So I will now take this guest post to update all of you on what takes up a vast majority of our time, energy and conversation in the Parrish household.

NBA PLAYOFFS

Round 1 of the Playoffs just finished up and Round two began on Sunday. Round 1 was crazy, guys. The big story was obviously the 8^th seeded Memphis Grizzlies taking down the 1^st seeded San Antonio Spurs. While this was an upset based on most experts’ opinion, the Grizzlies dominated the Spurs. In some of the other series, the Celtics beat the Knicks 4 games to 0 and the Hawks upset the Magic.

Round 2 matches up the Bulls and the Hawks, the Celtics and the Heat, the Lakers and the Mavericks and the Thunder and the Grizzlies. The Parrish family pulls for the following teams for the following reasons. The Oklahoma City Thunder, because Kevin Durant is our favorite player. Julie is a big fan of Kevin Durant's manners. 

The Boston Celtics, because I have always liked Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and Julie remembers pulling for the Celtics in her childhood. 

The Atlanta Hawks, because they are kind of the local team for me. 

Round 2 is going to be great, especially the Celtics versus Heat series. This series will showcase the ultimate example of team basketball (Celtics) against the philosophy of having the best athletes on the floor (Heat). The Heat won the first game with an excellent shooting performance and tough defense. Also, the Grizzlies beat the Thunder in the first game, and, I am sorry to say, it looks like the Thunder will have a lot of trouble with the Grizzlies’ star Forward, Zach Randolph. 

Flowers

I love the spring when flowers start blooming in my yard. (especially when it happens without me doing too much!) 

 The Bearded Iris

We planted this flower bed last summer and I love the beautiful pink roses.  We will soon have daylilies and lantana blooming here too

This purple hydrangea should be next to bloom in my yard.

Easter

Christ is risen indeed!

We enjoyed our first Easter as a family of 3.  Cole didn't make it through church in his Easter outfit so I didn't get any pictures. But I did learn that next year we will have to get ready for church a littler earlier and take pictures before we leave.  :)

We did take some casual Easter pictures in the afternoon.  

 Cole hung out with Aunt Laura 

and with all the girls...

and with Mimi and Kate!

But the big event for the day was the annual Easter Egg Hunt my parents do for us, their grown kids.  We team up with our spouse and hunt for eggs around the house that have money in them.  This year my parents hid 60 eggs (while we all sat outside on the porch and waited.) 30 eggs had "calories" in them as my dad said (candy) and 30 had money in them. (most 1's, some 5's, some 10's, and one 20 dollar bill).  Each girl gets the basket and the boys can only pick up one egg at a time.  They have to get it to their spouse's basket before picking up another one.  This made for a lot of Ray yelling "Julie- living room now." or "julie - kitchen, hurry!"  

During all the comotion, Cole was snoozin', Kate was coloring, and Mimi was giving hints about where the eggs were hidden!

Well, we found all the eggs eventually.  Stephen and Cinelle found the most money: $64  

Ray and I got $31 total.  and Laura and Jason found the egg with the 20 dollar bill. 

Here is our loot!

Of course, we couldn't have an adult Easter egg hunt without having one for Kate... 

Next year Cole will be able to hunt eggs too!

Spring Break

I loved having another week off from work last week.  We had a fun, relaxing week.  

Marcus came over to play with us!

We also went to Greenville to visit Aunt Laura and Kate

It was back to work yesterday though.  :(  

Only 28 school days until summer... :)

Lately...

Ray's family from Washington came down to visit so we spent some time out at Lake Murray. 

 We went to a Carolina baseball game.  I was excited for Cole to wear his USC clothes.  Ray was very unhappy about it,  not just pretend unhappy about it. I think it's sort of funny how much he cares about it.  He really wants Cole to like Georgia and not Carolina and I'm sure he will eventually but for now Cole can be a fan of both.   Ray did get me back by dressing Cole in Georgia attire a few days later.

 Cole also has been more alert and loves to play on his play mat and look at himself in the mirror.  He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz at his 2 month appointment.  He started smiling last week but I still haven't been able to get a good picture of it.  And he rolled over for the first time this week.  I was so glad he did it while I was home with him. 

Friday

This is what happens when Dad has the day off and Mom has to go to work...

Back to Work

I've been back at work for 6 days now after 5 months of not working. Bed rest was no fun however I have to say I enjoyed my break from work this year.  Sometimes (lots of times) teaching can be overwhelming and stressful and that is how I felt from August - October.  I know it had to do with the new school, new coworkers, new curriculum, and new younger children. At the beginning of November I had felt like I had finally gotten into a grove when I unexpectedly had to stop working.  So of course now, after 5 months off, I am not in the grove at all.  The first 4 days were rough.  I was soooo tired and didn't have much patience. But, the last 2 days have been wonderful.  We have had really peaceful work times where I felt like a teacher again watching these sweet young children learn.  My first day back there was a large sign posted on my wall welcoming me.  It made my heart smile. 

  It was hard to leave Cole, of course.  And I cried and cried and cried on Wednesday night (the eve of my first day back).  The next morning I cried while eating my cereal before I left.  I hate to leave him every morning but I know he is being loved on by his grandma's, aunts, and all the sweet friends who are watching him while I'm working.  But every afternoon I come home to kiss this sweet face.