A Short Visit to Mamaw's House

We went up to Maryville to see Mom for a bit last weekend. It was just a short trip but it was fun and the drive was very nice. We hung out with Mom and 'that nice boy that eats peanuts' (Olivia could not remember Mr. Don's name) a bit Friday night until we could get everyone settled and into bed. Below is a shot of Dave cheezing in the back of Chris's car when we went to grab some lunch on Saturday. Chris and I took all the girls and Dave up to the park after lunch but I forgot the camera. I was too busy playing and chasing kids to take pictures anyways. You know, the usual.

Here's one of me helping Olivia hold baby Lydia and the Chlo-bug coming over to sit on my lap. I think she likes me ;-)

This was about the best shot I could get of Olivia and Emma. They spent most of their time running around and playing together. Emma spent the night with us Saturday at Mom's and all you could hear from Mom's room when she "took them to bed" was giggling and laughing. I finally had to come in around 10pm and suggest they play Quiet Mouse, Still Mouse. Which we all did and Mom was asleep in about 10 seconds with the girls following a few minutes later.

Nobody had a nap that day (except for Lydia while we were at the park) and Dave and Chloe both piled up on Mom right after dinner.

I saved the best for last, a shot of baby Lydia sleeping in her Mommy's arms. I was lucky enough to get to spend a bit of time on Saturday holding her myself. Not much sweeter than holding a sleeping itty bitty baby.

Like I said it was a short trip but filled with lots of family and some good laughs. Always a favorite way to spend time.

Halloween Party

Here's a few pictures from the Halloween party they had a day care last Friday for the kids. They all got to dress up in their costumes, have a parade around the parking lot then eat some goodies. Everyone is lined up and ready to go in Dave's room. He's in the middle cheezing for the camera.

These little guys crack me up, they're all so serious. A bit hard to tell here but Dave's wearing a Gorilla costume.

The head/hood flops down over his eyes - check out his remedy to that situation during the parade in the pictures below.

And here comes Snow White along with her good friend Barney :-)

Of course she will take the time to pose for me as all princesses do!

He held his hood up the whole time during the parade. Should be interesting to see what he does tonight while trick-or-treating.

I love the back of this costume - thanks Aunt Heather!!

Here's Snow White gobbling goodies, had to loose the hair, got in the way of more important things, like eating!

School Pictures

These are the pictures they did at school of Livey and Dave. Yes, I bought them all and will have them in the mail shortly. They clean up pretty nice don't they!

Camping

Last weekend Stacey and I took Olivia and Anna camping up at Monte Sano State Park, which is beginning to be a favorite of mine. We got up there around lunch time and set up camp and within about 10 minutes the girls had made sure there was no wild life to be found within a 13 mile radius by doing their best screaming, squealing, giggling, laughing and running around. Yes, they were doing what little girls do best and a darn good job of it too!

After we got everything set up we took off for the playground and to do a bit of hiking before dinner. There's a nice scenic overlook where all the picnic tables are and we took some pictures there after we had spent some time on the playground. Olivia was already a bit tired.

Olivia actually took this one of Stacey and Anna. They were dressed for a Vols victory that day but that was not to be. Fortunately for us there were plenty of Alabama fans on hand up there to tell us how badly ole UT was loosing. Thanks!!

Hiking with the girls was an adventure in itself. I think we managed to make it about 200 yards in 45 minutes with all the flower and leaf picking that had to be done.

Back at camp the girls had fun falling in and out of the tent while we got things ready for dinner. Hot dogs and Smores, what could be better than that!?!

Olivia, dramatic as always, wondering why I was taking so long to get dinner going. She did not laugh when I told her it was just to torture her and make her ask more questions.

A nice view of our camp. We had some fun later on telling stories and Olivia sang for us. A very nice ballad of girls sitting around a campfire and running from the monsters to the tent. I'm not sure at this point if she would have made a better Minstrel or Court Jester. Fine line there.

It was c-c-cold the next morning!

Couldn't get her to be serious for one last picture with Anna. Your right, Court Jester.

I think we all had a great time. As always I loved spending the night outside, listening to all the outdoor noises and falling asleep to the wind. Although the ground was a bit harder than the last time I remembered, I still could have stayed out for the rest of the week.

There's a Halloween party today at school and I do indeed promise to get the pictures out quicker this time. Hopefully :-)

A Party, A Party!

Anna (one of Stacey and Stephen's little girls) turned 5 last Saturday and Olivia and David were invited to the party. It was at Sci-Quest the science museum they turned us onto. It was one of the coolest birthday party's I had ever been to. They did a bug theme and started off with a half hour talk with the kids all about bugs. We all learned a little something about bugs, it was cool. They also gave the kids the hats and some little 'bug catchers'. Looks like a pair of scissors with a golf ball sized sphere on the end that is halved and has little air holes in it. When the scissors like handle is closed the sphere is whole and you can effectively catch a bug in it.

Here's a shot of most of the kids at a table. That's Olivia on the far end in the pink skirt. Anna is in the middle with the purple hat on.

Here is Sarah enjoying the show from her stroller.

Ok, during the talk they handed all the kids a little jar filled with formaldehyde and some kind of bug. Very cool. Dave was sitting on my lap inspecting his and kept going - 'ook mahi, ook - BUD!' Which translates to look mommy, look, BUG! Yes, my name has changed once again and it is pronounced just like the fish, Mahi Mahi, that's me.

Mmmm, Meal Worms. Everybody gets their own!

Dave and I check out his.

Yes, they are all stroking and petting them. My comments were limited to 'Wow, look how wiggly they are'. The lady doing the class told us all about how they were a dietary staple for some societies. Thanks lady. I was asked at least twice this past week if we could have those for dinner.

Stephen, Anna's dad, was a good sport and volunteered to eat one. He chose the spicy flavored meal worms. Nope, they don't taste like chicken! Give up - Doritos :-)

Dave needed a little distraction during the present opening part so I did what I could. Nope, didn't enjoy it one bit, totally doing my duty there, that's all! ;-)

It was a chore for him too as you can tell :-)

One of the cool things about Sci-Quest is that all the exhibits are interactive. I'm still not sure which one turns your face black but ALL of the kids manage to find it. She was killing me with the faces. Had to catch a couple of them.

Ooh, that's the bug catcher in her hands, she's covering up the sphere though.

A Little Bit of Dave

We hopped out of the car Friday afternoon and Dave found my bike helmet and riding gloves and started chanting - "I ride, I ride". He actually got them all on himself and then hopped on his manly pink and purple trike. Go Dave!


I told him it was time to go inside or move to the back yard so of course he takes off in the opposite direction.

One of my favorite things in the world is to watch toddlers walk so of course I never tire of catching a shot of Dave strutin' around.

We finally made it to the backyard where we had to show sister our new gear. She hung the moon and the stars. Now whenever I go to pick them up from school he immediately runs to her and gives her a big hug. I don't think there's much else that could make me happier than that.

Want to see me dance?

Willis was working hard this morning when I got in. I think it's some of the best dancing I've ever done. Of course I fade into the background next to the guys...


http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/1150202

Monte Sano State Park

There's a park about 20 minutes from our house on top of what people in Alabama call a mountain (looks more like a hill to me). Actually it's better than that and it is quite pretty up there. I wish we had 'discovered' it earlier in the summer it would have been nice to cool off up there. It's a really nice park though, lots of picnic tables, scenic overlooks, a whole playground and camping sites as well. Stacey and I are planning a trip to take Anna and Olivia camping one weekend and this looks like a good spot. They also have an Observatory up there so maybe we can do some star gazing at the same time. Anyway, we headed up there last Sunday and spent the better part of the day hanging out. Olivia was excited when we told her where we were going. I got her dressed and then she picked out the shoes :-) her little white play wedding high heels complete with lace and sparkly stones. Goes good with the Pirate shirt huh :-)

We get out of the car and it was only about 5 seconds into the hunt for a picnic table that they both decided we needed fire wood.

They had a great playground up there and the kids had never tried out a see saw before so we helped them out. Why yes, it was my idea, how'd you guess?

Turns out me and Livey are a bit heavier than John and Dave...don't worry, we let them down eventually.

They had swings and Olivia wanted to push David but he is now in the 'I do it' stage and wasn't having any of it.

I liked this one of him. I was having fun pushing both of them and John was snapping pictures.

Hey! How do you like my new bike!?!

We saw some people with walking sticks so we had to find one as well. My little hiker :-)

I think we all had a great time. I was like a pig in slop and could have stayed all day and all night. The weather was great, I like it a little cooler for hiking but it was perfect for just hanging out, looking around and playing on the playground. There seemed to be some kind of Mountain Bike event going on and there were quite a few people with dogs and they got to pet a few. I think I was telling Heather that it reminded me quite a bit of the days Mom and Dad would pack us up and we'd go up to Metcalf Bottoms with Mamaw. Hey Chris, remember the hike to the Seven Sister's Cabin and all of the other 'cabin sites' we saw? Those were really fun days. I miss you guys!