Little Dancer

Today was a big day in our house!  Paul and I had a parent/ teacher meeting with Luke's teacher.  She is so sweet and we are excited Luke is going to have her.  Luke stayed with Ms. Wanda and Mr. Jimmy while we met with the teacher.  He had a good time! It was so nice that he was able to stay with them.  We don't have many options for kid-sitting these days.

Luke and I spent the rest of the afternoon together doing whatever he wanted to.  It was our last Mommy and Luke day before he starts school!  He is a little nervous about tomorrow, but I am sure he will do fine.

Tonight was Katherine's first ballet class!  She was so excited to put on her leotard and "slippers".  There were a lot of little girls in her class, too many, actually.  The teacher offered some other class options.  I think I will wait until next week to see if the class size goes down some.  Katherine seemed to have a good time.  Will see if she wants to go back next week!

Pop's Pool Party

The kids helped Pop blow his candles out

Yesterday was Bill's birthday.  Some of his friends had a little get together for him last night so we celebrated as a family today.  We all went to Jon and Kristen's to swim.  After the rain cleared out it was a beautiful day!  The kids loved playing in the pool and did not want to get out when it was time to eat.  Jon grilled kabobs which were great and something different than the typical burger.  Kristen made a homemade cherry pie that was wonderful!  Bill really seemed to enjoy himself.  It was hard celebrating a birthday without Paula there and we all miss her everyday.  We know she is watching us though!

Movies!

We celebrated Luke's last day of Preschool by going to the movies together.  It is embarrassing to admit how long it has been since Paul and I have been to the movies -- about 5 years and I am not joking!  It is funny how having kids changes your lifestyle.  We used to love to go to the movies and went very regularly. Luke is so particular about movies we haven't been in a big rush to pay a lot of money only to have to get up and leave 20 minutes in to it.  He doesn't like anything remotely scary.  He has been talking about seeing the Planes movie.  Since it is by the same people that made Cars and he loves that movie we thought this would be a safe bet.

We decided to do it up right and got a huge bowl of popcorn and shared it between the four of us.  It was yummy!  The movie was pretty cute.  It was pretty much exactly like Cars except the characters were planes.

Sinking In

After going to the Bash at school tonight it is really sinking in that Luke is starting Kindergarten!  His teacher is super nice and I think she will be great for him!  We met a couple of children that will be in his class.  He got to look around at how the room is set up and see where he will be sitting everyday.  Due to the rainy weather the "bash" part was held in the gym.  There were bounce houses everywhere.  He had a blast running around.  We saw several families that we know which was nice.  Tomorrow is his last day at Little Lambs.  It hasn't quite sunk in with Katherine that Luke is going to be at a different school. This could be hard on all of us!

Last Week

It's this fella's last week of Preschool!  Can't believe this time is coming to an end, but we know he is ready.  He is having a hard time adjusting to the idea he will be going to school somewhere different next week.  We are going to meet his teacher at the Back to School Bash later this week.  I am hoping that helps some!

Lazy Saturday

Getting his paint on!

Visit with Kitty

Kitty is always happy to see the kids!

For the first time in months we found ourselves with a Saturday with absolutely nothing planned!  We started the day at Home Depot for their kids' craft.  The project was making a Home Depot delivery truck.  It was an easy project and the kids enjoyed it.  We also scored some clearance bushes -- Azaleas for $3.50.  Paul accidentally "killed" all the azaleas at our mailbox a couple of years ago and we never got around to replacing them so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  After the Depot we went to Gallatin to see Kitty.  She was actually getting her hair done which the kids thought was funny.  She is about the same -- asking the same questions repeatedly and her hearing is very poor.  She loves seeing the kids though!

We stopped and picked up lunch and went to visit Bill.  The kids had fun.  It was too humid to play outside much but they entertained themselves with all kinds of toys and books.  Neither kid took a nap today which is very unusual.  We stopped at Mom's on the way home to check on her smoke detectors.  They have been beeping so Paul fixed those pretty quick.

Paul surprised the kids after supper by suggesting we go to the pool.  It was a perfect night for the pool and it wasn't crowded at all.  Luke is getting more confident around the water which is good.

Family Night

Bill and Paula went to Carrabbas at least once a week since the restaurant has been in Hendersonville. Before that they frequented the Green Hills location.  They were definitely "regulars" and had come to be friends with the managers and wait staff.  Some of the staff even came to Paula's visitation.  The manager had told Bill he wanted the family to come in for a meal "on the house".  It worked out that everyone was free tonight so we all met.  It was emotional for all of us, especially Bill.  The staff bent over backwards to ensure we had everything we could possibly want.  They even brought out a piece of cake at the end for Bill's birthday which isn't until next week. It was just a great night of fun and fellowship for all of us.  We actually have not all been together since the funeral.  The three boys have been rotating going to see Bill and it makes more sense for us to split our time up.

The kids were so well behaved.  Luke sat at the opposite end of the table from us.  He entertained Claudia and Lauren the entire meal.  He looked so grown up to us.  Katherine loved on her Papa most of the time.

Three Year Check Up

Today was Katherine's three year well visit.  It is hard to believe that she has not had to go to the doctor or walk in clinic since her well visit last year!  That is a record for the Troutt kids!  She got a glowing review from Dr. Patterson. Her height and weight are still below the 50th percentile.  Her vocabulary is more than adequate for her age and she seems to be doing great!  She was a little shy around Dr. P, but that is too be expected since she hasn't seen her in so long.  She kept calling her Mr. Piston!  She got a kick out of that!

Stats:
Ht: 36 1/4"
Wt: 30#

Luke was 38" and 33# at his three year mark.

Three Years!

Morning playground fun!

Enthralled by the giraffes

Today is Katherine's special day!  Cannot believe our baby girl is three!  It is cliche  but time is flying past us.  I took the day off to spend with the kids.  We started the day by letting Katherine pick where we ate breakfast.  She chose Chik fil a.  Paul was able to come, too.  The kids were so excited when they got the playground all to themselves. There aren't a lot of kids in there on a Monday morning.  After that we ran home for a bit to get some things together to go to the zoo!  Both kids have been asking to go for a while now.  We haven't had a family membership in a couple of years so we haven't been going.  The weather is still absolutely gorgeous and unseasonably cool for this time of the year.  We spent almost three hours there and we didn't see half of everything there was to see.  We focused on the giraffes and elephants.  We also rode the carousel, did the farm tour and played on the playground.  It wore us all out!

Paul was able to meet us for lunch at Jason's Deli.  It is one of the kids favorites and ours as well.  We came home for naps after that and then enjoyed a low key night at home.  We had leftovers from the party the night before including the cake!  Love our sweet girl and can't believe how much joy she brings to our lives!

Pirate and Princess Birthday!

Katherine and Gigi

So proud of her cake!

So excited to have the Boyd kids with us!

She needed a little help with the candle

Sweet face!

She loved her Cinderella doll.

Laura and me with our kiddos

JonJon and Lukey

Family Pic

Our pirate and little princess!

Katherine has been talking about her birthday party for months now.  She had always said she wanted a Hello Kitty or a Minnie Mouse party.  When I took her to pick out invitations wouldn't you know it...she picked out princess invites! I asked her numerous times if that is what she wanted.  She had been so set on Hello Kitty.  She insisted on Princess which was fine by me.  Easy breezy for sure.

As it got closer and we found out the Boys would still be in town and able to come we decided to let the boys dress as pirates and the girls as princesses.  We just had family and a few close friends.  I kept the decor simple, reusing the lanterns and banner from her 1st birthday party.  Paul grilled burgers and we had corn on the cob, salad and mac and cheese.  Katherine requested homemade orange sherbet and picked out a Cinderella cake for dessert.

The weather remains absolutely beautiful.  The high today was 82 and the low tonight is supposed to be 59!  this is unheard of in Tennessee in July.  We took advantage of it and had everything outside.  The kids had a blast playing with each other.  The rode bikes, played basketball and played on the jungle gym.

Jim, Claudia and Lauren weren't able to make it but everyone enjoyed getting together and loved being outside.  We had a great time celebrating our baby girl's birthday!!!

Eight Years and Little Sisters

Katherine and Lillian cheering on their brothers!

Today Paul and I celebrated eight years of marriage. The past two years have definitely  been our most trying with Paula's illness.  The last few days have been a blur.  The second visitation literally blew us away with the amount of people that came.  The service on Monday was a beautiful celebration of Paula's life and the impact she made on so many.  The sheer outpouring of people in the church was a true testament to what a wonderful friend, sister, daughter, mother and wife she was.  The ceremony helped me more than anything else.  It was so uplifting and everything about it was her.  We felt her shining on us.  We could not have made it through the last few days without the love and support of our family and friends.  From phone calls, texts, cards, keeping us fed and just dropping by to visit.  It has all meant so much to us.

We are going to slowly regain a sense of normalcy around here.  Paul returned to work today and I am off until Thursday.  Luke had practice tonight.  It was good for us to all do something normal.  We tried to keep the kids in as much of their normal routine as possible.  The kids and I both spent the night with Mom on Saturday night while Paul stayed in Gallatin with his dad.  They went to breakfast at Waffle House for Father's Day.  Don't think Bill would have had it any other way.  The whole family went up on Sunday night and we grilled a burger.  There was a steady stream of friends in and out as well. It was nice for us to have a down day before the service.

Reflection

This is a panoramic shot that Paul took of the farm today.  There have been several ways we know God is in the details.  We had time with Paula that we did not think we were going to have.  We got to enjoy so many good times as a family over the past few months.  One night Paula told us the one good thing out of all this is we were getting in some good family time.  And we did, we saw her as much as possible and most times she was able to talk and share with us and us with her.  What a precious life she led.

It just so happens that Andrew and Mandi are in town this weekend for his best friend's wedding.  What a God send.  They are helping Mom with the kids in between wedding activities. There was a visitation tonight and we were overwhelmed with the love and support our family was shown.  We picked the kids up from Mom's in time for us to all go home and be together at bedtime.  The next few days are going to be emotionally and physically exhausting but we will make it through as that is  what Paula would want.

At Peace...

Paula is home today.  She is no longer in pain or sick or battling cancer.  She is rejoicing in heaven with our Father!  Although we have known this day has been coming for some time it does not make it any easier or less sad.  She passed into heaven peacefully this morning.  Paul and I arrived a few minutes after.  She was alone with Bill as it should have been.  The next days, weeks and months are going to be difficult.  The kids know Nene is in heaven and we know this will probably be hardest on them.  Praying for strength for all of us in the coming days.  

I had to include some happy pictures.  The first is the last we have of Nene and the kids shortly after she came home from the hospital in April.  The other is Katherine doing her "exercises" this morning before we left.  

He's Getting Big

Paul and I went to Gallatin this morning. Paula is not good now.  We stayed for a couple of hours and she seemed to stabilize and was resting well so we left.  I did some errands and Paul went on to work.  Paul went back to Gallatin tonight.  I cooked supper for the kids and me as usual.  Luke decided he did not want to eat what I made.  So, I told him I was not cooking anything else so if he wanted something else he would have to make it himself.  Well, he did...he made a PBJ.  I had to take a picture of him.  He is so independent now.  Paul got home well after the kids were in bed.  He planned to stay the night but Bill told him to come home.  Praying for peace right now...

First T-Ball Practice!

The first, of probably many, nights at the ballpark.

We signed Luke up for a co-ed t-ball team.  It is just an introduction to the game and has a short season which I liked. Six practices and six games.  Tonight was the first practice. He was pretty excited about it! I was surprised how many kids are on the team.  There are about 14.  Luke's two coaches are teachers at his school and there are actually 4 kids from his class on the team.  So, this should be interesting.  Katherine was excited to go to the ballpark because she will have three friends to play with.

Fishing Rodeo?

Someone in our Sunday School class mentioned that the City of Hendersonville was hosting a Fishing Rodeo today.  I had never heard of such a thing. Apparently they bring in all kinds of fish and let the kids fish free. There were clowns, booths and tents.  We tried our hand at the fishing for a little bit, but neither one of our kids have the patience for it.  Well, to be honest the parents don't have the patience either.  So, we left empty handed.  The kids wanted to hit the playground before we left.  I actually had not been since it has been completely renovated.  It is very cool.  Apparently Taylor Swift paid for the reno.  The kids loved it!

Next we went to Gallatin to see Nene and Pop.  We stopped and picked up Chik fil a on the way.  Paula slept most of the time but did wake up some and talk to the kids and us.  She ate some lunch and seemed so glad to see us.  We stayed for a few hours.  This afternoon we laid low and watched the Vanderbilt baseball game.  They are in the Super Regionals against Louisville but unfortunately they lost.  Luke really got in to and wanted to know all about baseball.  That is encouraging considering he has his first T-ball practice next week!

Fun on a Friday Night

We weren't really sure what to do tonight so we let the kids decide.  Luke picked Jet's Pizza for supper.  Since it is close to Verizon we went over afterwards and I finally got a new phone!  It didn't take much looking.  I was pretty sure I was going to stick with a droid and since I got a Samsung Tablet for my birthday this year I thought it made since to get a Samsung phone.  They are pretty much the same thing and it will be easy to learn and navigate.   The process of picking out the phone didn't take long but I had to get in line to actually purchase the phone and get it all set up so that took a while.

After that Katherine wanted ice cream so we went to Sonic.  I honestly don't know the last time we have gotten a treat there.  It was ok -- not my favorite.  By this time it was past the kiddos bedtime so we headed home.

Wired!

Katherine's bedtime story pick tonight -- thanks Gigi!

I spent the morning in Gallatin with Paula so Bill could do some errands and go to an appointment.  She slept most of the time I was there, but woke up a couple of times and talked with me.  I did a couple of things before heading home to do my typical Wednesday chores.  If I don't do at least some laundry on Wednesdays it is crazy by the time the weekend rolls around.

I also try to get a long walk in when I have the house to myself.  We recently signed up for a free NetFlix trial.  It is really cool you can stream movies, TV series (new and old) on any device.  That is my new motivation on the treadmill.  I am currently in the middle of watching the Wonder Years.  I can get a good long walk in by watching two episodes.  Man, I love that show!  It has something like 114 episodes so it will take me a bit to get through all of them, but I already have some other old series in mind when I finish these.

The kids both had good days again.  They played in a little blow up pool at our house last night.  Of course, we didn't realize it until bath time that the mosquitoes had a field day with them.  Poor things are both vulnerable to them.  Luke has a big welt on his back and Katherine has about 6 bites two of which are on her face.  When I picked K up her teacher told me she had not been herself today and had a very low grade temp (99.5) and had one "diarrhea" around nap time.  She has been fine all night -- running around and acting all kinds of crazy.  I think she is fine but time will tell.

The past two nights she has been wired when it is bedtime.  It is taking us forever to get her down and both she and Luke are exhausted.  Paul was in Gallatin again tonight so we laid low.  I wasn't about to let them outside again to get more bug bites so we played inside and actually watched an old Charlie Brown movie.  Paul got home about bedtime so that got them all riled up and it was 9 before they got in bed.  We have got to do better about getting them in the bed earlier.

Monday, Monday

Katherine made me a pancake

It's Monday again!  The weekends go by in a flash.  The kids both had good days at school.  Katherine has transitioned to the 3-year old room without much fuss.  She loves one of the teachers so that helps a lot.  She is getting used to the different rules in her new room and is having some difficulty keeping her "listening ears" on all the time.  She is progressing well though and already seems to be learning a lot of different things.  She makes her own cot at nap time and is becoming more and more independent.  Most mornings she gets herself dressed with just a little help from one of us.

Paul went to Gallatin tonight so the kids and I enjoyed some time together.  They helped me cook a good supper and then played together while I got everything cleaned up.  Luke wanted to play Candy Land so we did.  Katherine wanted to play with play dough.  I had just swept and scrubbed the kitchen so I wasn't too thrilled with the idea.  But, I remembered a vinyl tablecloth that I had.  We spread that on the floor and I let her go at it.  She cooked up all kinds of concoctions!

We are learning that Luke is pretty competitive.  He is fierce at Candy Land.  We played two games and each won one.  I forget what I fun, easy game that is.  They were both ready for bed by the time Paul got home!

Busy Saturday

Hard at work on his lawnmower pencil holder

Loving to paint

This girl never lets a sweet go untouched!

The view when we left the farm tonight --

We are having a great weekend so far.  Last night the kids and I went to Chik-fil-a for supper while Paul went to Gallatin.  Luke has been counting down to the first Saturday of June so we could go to Home Depot for their Kid's project.  They each made a lawnmower pencil holder for Father's Day.  It went pretty quickly so we had plenty of time to browse the store.  We picked out a new kickplate and hardware for the front door. Everything in our house is brass/gold which is outdated now.  After talking with the paint department we are going to hold off on painting the door.  It really needs be done on a low humidity day which are hard to come by in the Tennessee summer.  It also hit us that Paul gets a discount at Porter Paint so we will probably go by there next weekend and get the paint in case we do luck out and have a nice day to do it.

The kids were invited to a birthday party today at the jumpy place in Hendersonville.  They love those things!    After over an hour of jumping followed by pizza and cake they were exhausted and both fell asleep on the way home.  Katherine and I crawled in our bed and took a long nap while Luke and Paul napped on the couch upstairs.

After naps we headed out to pick up steaks to grill at the farm.  Paula was on the couch when we got there and was in a great, talkative mood.  Paul grilled the steaks while I baked some sweet potatoes and made a quick salad with lettuce from Pop's garden.  We all agreed the steak was great.  Paula even ate some.  Her favorite part was the fresh baked cookies and ice cream we had for dessert!

It has rained/stormed here off and on all day.  When we were leaving we stopped in the driveway to notice how beautiful the clouds and sky were.  The clouds were so low they looked like mountain tops!  The wheat is getting close to being harvested.  Luke hopes he is able to be up there when it happens. He loves seeing all the big equipment.