Simple Wooden Toys

October 23-26, 2008
Gatlinburg 3 of 3
Do you want me to explain?? or is it more fun to make up your own story?? Well, as you can see we purchased some simple wooden guns while in Gatlinburg on Saturday evening. After Max and I ate too much Karamelcorn and candy from the parade we got a little hyper. (Jay would probably disagree with the words "a little") We played a game of shoo shoo bang bang got you as Max called it. I chased him all over our little bitty 1 room cozy cabin. We went up over the bed, under the covers, in the corners, and well that is bout all we could go . . . but it was big time fun. The top picture is Max in his new work boots getting me with the guns. Then I wrestled both the guns away and chased him for a while. My photo opt there is playing hide and seek and I peeked out to shoo shoo Max while he jumped on the bed. I am so thankful for my little Max. He has blessed my life so much in just his 2 yrs. I can't wait to see what God has in store for my life as Max's Mom.

Pigeon Forge Fun

October 23-26, 2008
Gatlinburg 2 of 3

On Saturday we spent most of the day playing since we couldn't on Friday due to the rain. I think we all three had a ton of fun. Max got to ride go carts for the first time. The required height was 36 inches and he is exactly 36 inches. As you can see he looked tiny ("NO, me big mommy!") in the passenger seat. He squealed and grinned from cheek to cheek the entire ride. He rode first with Jay and then with me.

After go carts we went shopping for a little while and then back to the cozy cabin for a nap. Feeling all refreshed we went back to the rides. Jay and I got to take turns on the kiddie rides because kidos had to be 5 to ride alone. I choose to ride my favorite the spinning hot air balloon. They are similar to the teacups but they are suspended and tilt. I have to admit that I think that I like them more than Max.Jay was thrilled to ride the purple dinosaur with Max. It went round and round while Max pulled the lever to go up and down. They also rode the teacups together. Jay spun them so fast that they both got really dizzy.Max rode the swings all alone like a big boy! I don't think he was too excited about them. He didn't choose to ride them again with his last few tickets. After riding the kiddie rides we decided to go back to Gatlinburg for dinner. During the weekend we rode the trolley car many times. So, we went to ride the trolley car to Gatlinburg one last time on Saturday evening. We went to eat dinner, visit the candy store, and Karamelcorn store for Bid Daddy. With big full bellies we rode the trolley back and went to our "new little house" as Max called it. We had a tremendous time all weekend. It is great to be able to spend fun frivolous time with my guys. We had no where to be, no plans, and nothing that had to be done. Simply it was relaxing and recharging family time.

God's Fall Beauty

October 23-26, 2008
Gatlinburg 1 of 3

Wow! Whoa! Look! Yippee! Those are only mild words to describe our family trip to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge this weekend. We got to be present and watch God's power as he turned the season to fall. As we traveled and arrived in East Tennessee the trees and colors were still mostly green, but by the time we traveled again on Sunday things were much different. God had reached down with his mighty brushstrokes and turned the colors to beautiful hues. We witnessed the deepest reds, brightest yellows, calming greens, and volunteer-est oranges I have seen in many falls. I don't have pictures of them because you can't capture that brilliance on .jpg. No matter how many different angles I try, settings I change, or brightness adjustments I make you can't capture the magnitude of God's "natural" beauty. I have tried at the Grand Canyon, Lake Tahoe Mountains, Caribbean, and everywhere in between. I think God meant for these experiences to only be for the naked eye and true soul of a person. You have to be there in the moment, taking in the gasp and awe to see the true picture. It was done for me by him. Whoa! Big concept for my small mind. With the leaves beginning to fall we continued our journey of falling in love with the "works of his hands" and each other. Thursday, when we arrived we found our "new little house" as Max called it. It was a cozy little cabin of 1 room. It worked great for us with its one bed, tv, fridge, and bathroom. As little time as we were in the cabin, it more than met our needs.

We took an adventure up the mountain to Ober Gatlinburg to let Max experience the Alpine Slide. It was lots of fun and Jay won both times. Max said "Go faster, go faster!" Max did good on the chair lift between us. Maybe it is getting close to time to attempt it with skis. I don't know though, it would still be quite a jump up onto the seat and off the seat as he exited. We'll see, he is getting there.

Happy Birthday JAY!

October 18, 2008

Many of you are questioning, "Happy Birthday JAY?" Now you are saying, "Jay's birthday isn't until the 22nd." Well, yes, you are right . . . technically . . . but not when a 2 year old lives in the house and there are presents wrapped on the kitchen table. Once Max saw the presents on Saturday morning, waiting until the 22nd was not going to be an option. Max just knew for sure it was Daddy's Birthday Party Day. While Jay and Max went to the local high school football game on Friday night, I pulled out all my birthday decorations. I come from a family where we believe that our birthday lasts for like a month. So trying to be fair and make Jay feel as special as he is to us . . . . I decided to decorate for him so he could have . . . like . . . a week. After Max noticed the presents he saw all the balloons and banners around the house. We then listened for about 2 hrs while he questioned when we going to have "Daddy's Happy Birthday presents." While I cooked our big Saturday breakfast, we quickly gave in and Jay got to open all his gifts from us. Well . . . Jay didn't quite open them . . . Max opened them . . . all.

We finished up the day with a dinner party at Cock-of-the-Walk downtown with Jay's family. It was good fried pickles, fried onion rings, fried hush puppies, fried french fries, and fried catfish. Did I say that is was ALL fried . . . but yummy to the last bite. We topped all that healthy food off with a giant 16 " birthday cookie from The Cookie Store. Jay's "birthday" was great!

Falling Leaves

October 16, 2008

Last Thursday while I worked, Jay and Max enjoyed the leaves. Max and some of the local culdesac kid-os piled the leaves sky high. Max learned to work the rake so that he could jump over and over. Before long, Jay out thought the kid-os and powered up his blower. Then they were all excited. Everyone could jump, jump, jump while Jay continued blowing the leaves back to the pile. The leaves are changing colors fast and soon they will all be gone. I am very glad that everyone got to enjoy their beauty along with some fun.

Hope you are having a wonderful FALL!

Ashton & Trace's Birthday Party

October 12, 2008

Our nephews (Lee's sons) celebrated their birthdays this weekend. Ashton turned 5 on Saturday and Trace turned 7 on Sunday. Wow!! I cannot believe they are that old! We partied on Sunday afternoon at Grandma and Pawpaw's house with a gigantic slide. Everyone had a wonderful time. Here are some of our pictures from the day.

Max has lots of fun!! He even flipped down the slide!

No, Kayla is not a bunny or a dog as I was corrected. She is a Poodle!

This is our family dork, Ty, (Just kidding, Ty, I wuvs you!) he is

waxing the slide with Pledge to keep it slick and fast.

Tristan is super fast!! Watch out he has a double personality as a Lion.

Pumpkin Patch

October 11, 2008

Today was Max's first trip to the pumpkin patch. He was so excited about something that he had really had no idea of where he was going. We planned the trip with our neighbors who have 2 boys and a girl. Max has fallen in love with their four year old daughter who he calls "sister". She rode with us on the trip through the woods to find a road that existed only in GPS land. The woman on the GPS along with Max and Sister in the back seat kept telling us to "Turn Left," but the problem was that there was only a field to our left . . . no road. It was frustrating, but hilarious as everyone in the car was chiming in on "Make a U turn," "Turn left," "Recalculating." Go ahead and laugh . . . you know you have all been there. Well, finally we got to the patch, check it out at http://www.honeysucklehillfarm.com/.

It was a great day! When we first arrived we went through a corn maze filled with eco-go green questions aimed at the kids. Then maze lead you into the play areas. Next up was a "corn box", yeah, exactly a huge box filled with corn for them to play. Max opted to throw the corn around. The TN Twister was next. If you have ever been to a haunted house you have been in one. It is the bridge type thingy with the huge revolving walls that makes you feel like leaning to stand up. We all liked this room. The kids (and adults) got to feed the animals at the petting zoo. Max grabbed a handful of grass and just shoved his arm at the donkey through the fence. Next thing I know the donkey is eating handful after handful of grass from my giggling 2 year old. He will now tell you that "that horse bite my finger." Not really, just a nibble followed by his giggle.

They played on all kinds of homemade yard equipment with huge slides. These slides worked as megaphones while the kids stood at the top deciding who was going first and with whom. We loved seeing them work together and the older boys talking care of the two little ones. While playing we noticed that they were getting ready to start the pig races. We got to see several rounds of famous pigs such as Paris Squealton, Tim McHog, and Miss Piggy run the race for an Oreo treat.

After the races we noticed the hayride on a huge trailer, so we went and loaded on to it. Unbeknown to us the hayride took its riders back to the Johnny Cash 5 acre Corn Maze. So of course when the tractor stopped we all hopped off the conquer the maze. The boys helped us figure out our plan before entering the maze. All was going great until at the far end of the maze Max announces that (yes) "I needa poop." So off Jay and Max go into the stalks of corn to find and "private" location to poop. It was a success and off we went finishing the maze. Don't you love potty training? Finally after we rode the hayride back to camp, we all picked out "baby pumpkins" and headed off stinky, sweaty, and hungry looking for somewhere to eat dinner. It was a fabulous day and I can't wait to do it again next fall.