A Day with Friends

The boys down in "the hole"

Katherine checking it all out

Hunter and Luke loved navigating with the map

An attempt at a group shot...

All smiles on the train!

Today was Day 2 of my days off with the kids.  This is Luke's Spring Break.  He went to Extended Care Monday and Tuesday.  He loves going and is usually mad at me when I get there to pick him up. Yesterday we had a Luke and Mommy Day while Katherine went to school.  I let Luke pick whatever he wanted to do.  We went to see the Lego Movie and ate at Johnny Rocket's.  He loves that place.  They movie was so good.!  Luke loved it and he is pretty particular about movies.  After that we went to pick up Katherine and got a special treat at Dairy Queen.  Luke had baseball practice tonight so we rushed home so we could get to the field at 5:30.  It is still chilly at night so Katherine and I freeze while he practices.

Today we met Laura, Sara and their kids at the zoo.  Mr. Morris passed away this past Friday after a very long battle with Alzheimer's.  His funeral was Sunday and was a great tribute to his life.  Laura is home for two weeks so we took the opportunity to get together.  It was a gorgeous day, but a bit chilly.  We spent most of the afternoon looking at giraffes, zebras, flamingos and all sorts of other animals.  The highlight for the kids was probably riding the little over priced choo choo train!  I went ahead and got a family membership.  It just makes sense. If we go two more times in the next year it will pay for itself.  I definitely see us going more often now that Katherine is a little older and can enjoy it better.

Hopefully we will get together again with the Boyd's before they leave for Florida.  We had to get home again this afternoon for another baseball practice.  Tonight was 6-7:30.  It is crazy to me how intense this Little League is.  So far Luke is eenjoying it.  We want to encourage him to continue as long as he likes it.

Come On Spring!

This has seemed like the longest winter in a long time.  It has been so cold and we have had a lot of winter weather "events".  When the forecast called for warmer temps and sunny skies we decided to make the most of it!  We started the day  by eating at the Pfunky Griddle in Nashville.  It was fun!  Each table has its own griddle and you cook the food yourself. We had pancakes and french toast.  It was fun to cook it ourselves and the kids had a blast with it.  We went to Home Depot after that.  It was packed.  We weren't the only ones who had Spring Fever!  We went to a park on West End after that to let the kids run around.  It was packed!

We were home early afternoon and did a lot around the house before Luke had baseball practice tonight. Baseball sure has changed a lot in the years since Andrew played.  Luke is in the 5/6 division and it is intense.  They practice 2-3 nights per week for a minimum of 1 hour, most of the time an 1 1/2.  So far Luke is really enjoying it.  We need to work with him on his throwing - he puts way too much thought into it and hesitates throwing it.  I am anxious for the games to start so hopefully the practices will decrease.

One of the highlights of my day was getting my first Made South shipment!  A high school friend of mine has started a business where he highlights 3-4 southern made products a quarter.  You receive one of their products as well as their personal story and discounts on future purchases.  I am proud to say I am an inaugural member!

Take Our Picture, Mommy!

Katherine rarely wants her picture taken.  So, today after church, when she came running in yelling for me to "take our picture" I jumped right to it!  She had some of her babies all lined up in her room and then she plopped down in her chair.  Too cute!  She goes in and out with her baby dolls.  Sometimes she will go a few weeks and not touch them and then turn around and insist on taking them everywhere!

A Great Experience!

Pregame prayer and huddle

Old friends!

Luke has been asking to play basketball for a while.  We decided to try the Upward program at our church. It was a fantastic experience!  The season started in January and wrapped up today.  He had practice every Thursday night and games on Saturdays.  I loved the consistency of the schedule and the laid back approach. He had a great coach who really taught them a lot and showed a lot of patience. Although Luke never scored a goal he showed great improvement during the season.  So far he says it is his favorite sport compared to soccer and tee ball.  We will definitely do it again next year!

Funny story, Katherine thought she was a part of the team.  Every week after the game the team would hold a huddle to hand out stars for various things - best effort, best offense, good sportsmanship.  She would sit right there with the boys and wait for her star (and snack)!

Dr. Seuss Week

Luke's class celebrated Dr. Seuss birthday this week by holding special dress up days.  School was out Monday and Tuesday due to ice/snow so they crammed most everything in toward the end of the week. Today was dress as your favorite Dr. Seuss character.  He chose Cat in the Hat!  I thought he looked great and he seemed to enjoy doing it.  Sometimes he is not much into dressing up and most often chooses not to participate.  Instead of his normal reading homework packet the weekly reading assignment was to read as many Dr. Seuss books as you could.  We had fun doing that, too!  He is really excelling at reading.  He is in the accelerated reading group and on his last assessment he was reading at "almost" a 2nd grade level!  We are very proud of him!

Green Eggs and Ham

This is pretty blurry but that is the best I got today before the kids went to school.  Luke had silly hat day and wear green day all rolled into one today.  Katherine wanted in on the action, too, so she wore all purple! Luke was dressed in green from head to toe!  He had a fun day at school!

Snow Day

Middle Tennessee got hit with another winter weather event overnight.  It was enough to close all public schools and the daycare.  Thankfully, Davidson offers Snow Care.  Since I had to stay home with Katherine I tried to get Luke to stay home with us, but he wouldn't. He loves Snow Care. When Paul dropped him off this morning he was the only child there!  I felt awful so I went to pick him up before lunch.  He was mad at me!  It ended up just being him and one other little boy.  I told him that we would go eat at Chik fil a, but he had already eaten.  I was going to treat Katherine and I anyway, but it was closed!  The roads were pretty icy.  We had to settle for McDonald's which is never my first choice at any meal!  I took some pics of Katherine.  It was fun spending the morning with just her. We played babies, house and dress up.  She wanted to wear one of her princess dresses to pick Luke up. I thought it was cute she accessorized with her new snow boots Nonna got her!  I was glad Nonna went ahead and gave the kids their boots.  She bought them big with the hopes they could wear them next year, but they have gotten some wear out of them already which is great!

I am hoping and praying things are back to normal tomorrow.  I am tired of all these snow days1

Tease

Today's weather was a complete tease. It was sunny and warm!  I was off today and met Paul for an appointment. We had enough time to grab lunch before I picked Luke up at 2:30.  I usually let him decide if he wants to pick Katherine up, go home or do errands.  Today he wanted to go get Katherine.  When we got home they played outside enjoying the nice weather!

Atlanta, Day 2

Painting on the walls

Lunch at the Varisty

We decided to cook breakfast at the house today.  We leisurely got up and got ready.  The kids have been begging to go back to the Children's Museum since we went last year.  We did that this morning and then went to the Varsity for lunch.  IKEA was next on the agenda. Mom had never been and neither had Andrew and Mandi. I always like to look - it is massive!  I thin Mom was a little overwhelmed!

We headed back to the house and Mandi cooked supper.  It was nice to have a house to go back to.  We just chilled and watched the Olympics the rest of the night.

Field Trip with Luke!

Making a craft

The finished product

"Fun" class picture!

I was so glad I was able to go with Luke's class to Traveler's Rest today.  It was a beautiful fall day which was perfect for being outdoors.  The kids did great.  I actually learned a lot.  I went to Traveler's Rest when I was in school but, of course, I had forgotten the story behind it.  The kids got to learn a dance from the 1800's, make a doll like the children would have had back then and got to eat some food popular in the 1800's. We all packed a sack lunch that we ate before heading out.  Luke got to leave with me instead of going back to school.  It was a fun day!

Ballerina in the Making?

Katherine is still hit or miss with ballet class on Mondays.  The parents aren't allowed to watch them practice because it is too distracting.  As the recital gets closer her teacher said they will start letting the parents in so the girls get  used to performing in front of a crowd.  

Silly Girl

We have had some cool days around here lately.  Katherine got out he owl hat and mittens.  She is pretty stubborn when it comes to putting on her cold weather gear.  I am hoping she will get so excited about all her different hats and mittens that she won't fight putting them on every morning!

Southern Living Dream Home

The house was gorgeous!

Loved this decoration!

The Southern Living Dream Home is in Nashviile this year at the Fontanel which is the former home of Barbara Mandrell.  I have been wanting to go since it opened and was afraid I would miss it.  Kristen and I planned for about a month and finally found a day that worked for both of us.  We had lunch at the restaurant on the grounds and then leisurely strolled through the main house and the numerous guest cottages. I really thought I took more pictures, but apparently I didn't.  We both loved the style.  We both like the farmhouse/ cottage look.  We got lots of ideas but mainly just enjoyed hanging out doing something fun!

Tourist Trap

Moving the world...

Luke got a kick out of shooting the gun with Andrew.

We went into Gatlinburg this afternoon.  It really is a tourist trap but is very entertaining.  It is a great place to people watch for sure! We hit a couple of moonshine places.  That is the big thing up there now; they are going up everywhere.  We ate lunch and walked around to see all the sites. We went back to the cabin for the night and played games and some got in the hot tub.  No one is really ready to leave in the morning.

To Get a Perfect Picture...

We rarely have our picture made together

We spent most of the morning trying to get the perfect picture for everyone's Christmas card.  The kids did really well with all the different poses. I am hoping to do a different shot for our card if I can get it worked out.  If not, these will be a great back-up.  After we spent the morning doing that we got changed and went to Gatlinburg for the rest of the afternoon.

Knoxville!

House Divided!

Luke and Uncle Andrew

That is the back of Johnny Majors!

We were six rows from the top!

Trying to get to our seats

It was freezing!!!

We headed to the mountains for a 3-day weekend.  This is Andrew and Mandi's year to spend Thanksgiving in Florida so we decided to get together before that. We rented a cabin in Gatlinburg and met up there last night. We decided to let Luke experience his first college football game at Neyland Stadium.  The game was an early kick-off so we had to leave the mountains early to get to campus. It was so cold!!! We probably weren't dressed warm enough.  Even though it was early, there were plenty of people out tailgating.  We were able to visit with some friends before the game started.  Jon and Kristen were there with some friends. Paul sat with them in the UT section while Luke, Andrew, Mandi and I sat in the Auburn section.  Truth be told Luke is a pretty die hard UT fan at this point in his life.  He wore a UT shirt and one of Andrew's Auburn visors.  The game was pretty much a blow out.  Auburn is pretty good this year which has been a bit of a surprise. Despite the blow out it was a good experience.

About the time the game was over the sun decided to come out and warm things up a bit.  Katherine stayed at the cabin with Mom.  They had a good time cooking, playing, watching movies and taking a nap. They had a yummy lasagna supper about ready when we got back.  We spent the rest of the night hanging out and watching more football!!!