Tiny Helpers

I have two little cuties that are very interested in helping with tasks these days.  Especially the blonde one! This past weekend I was doing their laundry and she really wanted to help. So as I finished folding something I would give it to her to put away. I was really surprised at how well she did! She put everything where it belonged and was careful about placing it. Drew also really enjoys getting to help, especially when it is fixing things (sinks, lawn mowers, etc...). Mamaw Katherine said yesterday while they were at her house, she yelled for Drew to come watch Calliou with Anna Kate and he came to tell her he was "busy and couldn't watch TV because he was fixing the sink with Papaw". :) Apparently, he was up under the sink and right in the middle of the action. Anna Kate also helped with the dishes last night (not the first time she has done this). She will be a professional dishwasher loader in no time!

I think I underestimate their abilities sometimes. I hope I will be able to maintain the patience to let them help me right now while they are eager. Sure, it makes a task take longer but it is teaching them to be self sufficient and responsible. I have to fight my inner perfectionist with them (and honestly with John Clay too) to let go of the way I think things should be done and let them help out and do it their way. In the end, it will make my life easier and make for more well rounded kids. As Drew and Anna Kate are getting older and starting to understand and take note of the world around them, I think the "heavier" part of parenting is setting in. This is the time we will be teaching them morals, values, and responsibility and hopefully, we will be able to produce two adults that are able to make a positive impact and contribution to society.  Wow, talk about some weight on your shoulders! :) 

 They enjoy "helping" me get ready in the mornings. They really aren't helping at all and usually just drag things out they aren't supposed to have. Like my heels. They are getting pretty good, however, at walking in them. A trait I'm sure Drew's Daddy will be glad he possesses!

 Helping Daddy & Papaw change the oil in my car last night. Greasy tasks with tools are right up Drew's alley but Anna Kate decided she wanted in on the action too. Taking a break from oil changing to check the mower out.

 They decided the mower needed some work too. Anna Kate worked on the blades.

Drew saw some issues with Papaw's boat so he went ahead and took care of that too.  I hope Drew takes a cue from his Papaw like John Clay has been doing. Hubert can fix anything. John Clay has learned so much from him (over the last couple of years especially) and I see a pattern starting with Drew as well!

Weekend fun times!

This weekend was pretty low key but we had lots of fun.  Friday evening, we had a showing at our house so Drew and Anna Kate stayed late with their Mamaw and Papaw and got to go out to dinner with them! The same person that was looking at our house Friday night came back on Saturday so Drew and Anna Kate got to go on a fun outing with their Daddy while I stayed home to show the house. They went to Dick's and apparently Mamaw & Papaw met them there which always works out well for my spoiled little stinkers! Anna Kate came home with a new ball and wearing a pretty new pair of pink shoes with sparkly flowers. Drew came home with a new bat and ball.  Like we needed another ball! After they got up from their naps, John Clay and I decided to take them to Knoxville for a little early birthday fun. We ate dinner and then went to Build-A-Bear. They both had so much fun! After we were done there, they requested ice cream but we were able to talk them into popsicles at home. Sunday was our typical afternoon at DotDot's  house visiting with Aunt Ashley.

 I washed Anna Kate's loveys Friday night and did not stay awake long enough to put them in the dryer. Needless to say, she wasn't very happen when she woke up without them Saturday morning. She parked herself in front of dryer and waited for them to get done.

 Drew napped hard Saturday afternoon (I think his little booty in the air is adorable!). Anna Kate has been getting up extra early. I think it is because she has to potty. She always wants to wake Drew up if she is up and that made for a very whiny little boy on Saturday. 

 Getting started at Build-A-Bear.  They were both pretty quick to pick out which animal they wanted. Anna Kate was more opinionated than Drew (surprise!) and made up her mind quickly. Drew needed a little help but decided on the dog after checking all of the options out.

 Stuffing her bear. See her new shoes? She had to wear them. She also requested that we turn the light on in the car on the way home so she "could see her shoes better" since it was starting to get dark. Haha!

 Drew taking his turn stuffing his dog.

 Making a wish before putting the hearts in. 

 Giving their new friends a bath.

 Done and ready to hit the road! Anna Kate chose a sparkly tutu for her bear and some pink flip-flops. She named her Alli with the help of the girl that worked there. Drew got a UT t-shirt for his dog and a baseball, glove, and bat. He named his dog Jake. 

After we got home we went to the front porch to eat the popsicles that we used as a distraction from ice cream. While we were out there we noticed a spider that was trying to take over our porch. It had built this huge web from one side to the other, all the way across our door. We didn't last too long before Anna Kate decided she was scared of it so we went back in. After baths, they stood with John Clay and watched it spin its web and wait for some poor, unsuspecting moth. It was great entertainment.

Shenanigans! Sunday before we left for DotDots I was on the phone and turned my back and this happened. Can you see the pink headband in Drew's hair? That just tops it off!

The little girl on the right.....

.... is not so little any more. Upon her insistence, she wore big girl panties to school today! I am interested to see how she does. She has been doing great at home but we remind her. A lot. Now, we just need to work on the big little boy.

Aren't they sweet?!

All things summer

This weekend was a perfect blend of all things summer.  There wasn't any rain over the weekend for the first time in weeks so we made the most out of it!

Friday afternoon we met up at Helen's house for some swimming. Friday was unusually "cool" (that term is used loosely.. It was in the lower 80s) for July and there was a nice breeze. Perfect for getting outside, maybe not so perfect for swimming. Especially since Helen's pool has a lot of shade. We got in for a little while and Drew and Anna Kate showed off their new swimming skills to Mamaw & Helen (they were impressed!) before their lips turned blue so we got out.  This week has been consistently hot and dry so maybe we'll try their pool again this weekend.

Ready to get in. I think Anna Kate needed a little help with her water wings.

Laying in the sun trying to warm up. We couldn't find Drew's sunglasses and the sun was in his eyes. As you can tell, he wasn't too happy about this.

Looking at the picture Helen took of him. After almost 3 years, I think they are starting to get the hang of the picture thing. Anytime I get my phone out, Drew will say, "Cheese!". And he always want to see the picture after I take it.

She loved Helen's spinny flower. So much, she tried to negotiate taking it home.

Saturday morning we had breakfast and then went on a bank run. We were going to stop by DotDot house to drop off some things and just to kill some time. We ended up having an impromptu weekly family dinner. After we got there we talked to Aunt Ashley and figured out it worked best for everyone to have it on Saturday so we ended up staying. It was a good day! We helped Grandaddy pick blackberries, played outside, swam in the pool for a bit, and after they got up from their naps went to Target to pick up things for their birthday party. It is mind blowing that we will be having their 3rd birthday party in just a few weeks. Time is flying by so quickly and my babies are getting to be big kids in a hurry!

Helping Grandaddy pick the blackberries. Drew and Anna Kate have also been enjoying helping with DotDot and Grandaddy's garden. The vegetables are just starting to come in and they are loving it. They even have their own tomato plant reserved especially for them. Country living at it's finest!

Anna Kate loves blackberries. She was eating them faster than we could pick them. We finally had to cut her off because I was afraid she wouldn't eat lunch.

Helping fill up the pool. He caught me in a moment of not looking and decided to go ahead and get in. Clothes, tennis shoes, and all!

Sleeping beauties.

We stopped in at the grocery store after Target and they got to ride in the double buggy! They made out like little bandits on our trip. They got new bouncy balls, balloons, and the manager at Kroger even gave them a beach ball that I think they had been using for display. 

Stylin'

I don't know if it is a 2-almost 3 year old- thing or if it is just my kids but they are very into "dressing" up these days. I'm not talking about dressing up as a princess or pirate because that makes a lot of sense to me. They like to get into their closet and get out socks, shoes, hairbows, and glasses to dress up. I guess they are more into the accessories. They both, especially Drew, love to wear shoes. Drew's favorite in particular is his tennis shoes. Typically he pairs them with long socks which isn't working out so well with shorts in the summer time. He has also started referring to his tennis shoes as "skates". (They must get this from their Dad because I would be happy barefoot all the time.) They immediately want shoes as soon as they get up in the morning, when they get out of the bath, right up until bed time. It used to be  struggle to get them to take them off to go to bed but I think I have finally won that battle. At least once every day, they will go into their room and things will get very quiet (usually a cause for concern) and pull out all of the socks, shoes, and hairbows and come out with some pretty interesting outfits. Anna Kate usually will have multiple head bands in her hair and have it knotted up in a rat's nest mess, they both like to wear socks on their hands, and it isn't uncommon for them to have three or more pairs of socks on their feet. I think it is safe to say we have a ways to go before they are able to dress themselves for public outings. Enjoy a montage of some of their "best" choices below.

 This picture was from this morning. They got up while I was still trying to get dressed and they left for a bit and came back like this. Please note Drew's pink princess sunglasses!

 Drew was feeling low key yesterday morning. He did get the low cut socks (win!) but he felt he needed the longer sock on his hands and of course, this tennis shoes/skates.

 After they woke up from their nap Saturday they opted to play in their room for awhile. I took advantage of the extra time to get some things done. This is what they were doing. This picture doesn't do her hair justice!

 Drew also likes wearing mine and John Clay's shoes. He's getting pretty good at walking in them!

 This outfit may be the award winner! Anna Kate's is pretty tame but Drew takes the cake. I guess he just could not decide on his shoes so he went with both.

 Changing it up a little for the bucket look. He loves to wear hats, helmets, buckets. If it has a chin strap (like his helmet) he insists it goes over his mouth like this. I haven't really figured out what that is all about.

 I got her dressed for an outing and I guess she didn't like the shoes and hairbow I picked out for her. She somewhat re-dressed herself with what she thought looked better.

Oh, you know, this is the typical outfit for going to DotDot's house.

Anna Kate is such a girl and loves to look pretty. This is one of her favorite outfits. What more could a girl want than head-to-toe pink with ballerina pjs, a tutu, and a pink headband (which I have hidden by the way. We were having too many fights over getting out the door without it!).

Rain, 4th of July, rain, a birthday party and more rain!

The summer has been quite different from the last few. It has rained more days than not and it hasn't been nearly as hot as it has been the last few summers.  The rain moved in just in time for the 4th of July and most people started rearranging their 4th of July plans. The weekend following the 4th wasn't any better as far as the weather went so the majority of our long holiday weekend was spent inside watching it rain!
We started off our 4th with some breakfast with Daddy.  The rain quit so we went over to the park to feed the ducks. Drew and Anna Kate are regulars feeding the ducks and are quite familiar with them. They pointed out the "crippled" duck that only has one leg and the big duck that doesn't quack. Haha! After feeding the ducks we made a quick stop by DotDot and Grandaddy's house and then home for naps. The rain had started again so it made for optimal napping conditions. After naps we went to Mamaw & Papaw's house for dinner and then came home to watch the fireworks on TV. They watched them a little but I guess its not the same as being there in person because they didn't get super excited.

 The ducks are well fed thanks to Anna Kate and Drew. I am pretty sure they go weekly with their Mamaw & Papaw and the ducks always get an entire loaf of bread!

 Because of the rain, we got to spend lots of time with Daddy!

 Papaw's friend, Don, brought a real life digger to his house with the intention of using it to take down some trees. You can imagine Drew's excitement when we pulled in and he saw it. He had to immediately go check it out!

On Friday, Drew and Anna Kate had breakfast at home and then went to Mamaw & Papaw's house for the afternoon. I was off work Friday so I ran a few errands then went to get them. John Clay's band played Friday night so Drew, Anna Kate, and I went to DotDot and Grandaddy's house. We had dinner and managed to get in a golf cart ride before it started raining.... again!  

 Drew managed to talk his Papaw into letting him get in the big digger Friday before we left. We talked Anna Kate into getting in too but only for a few minutes. She isn't big on the heavy machinery like her brother is.

 He kicked everyone out! He was in heaven. He even wanted us to close the door and then tried to lock it! Silly boy. Don said he would let Drew ride with him while he did the work on the trees. We're hoping we can work out the scheduling because I think Drew would be beside himself with excitement if he not only got to sit in the big digger but actually got to dig with it!

Saturday morning we headed to cousin Raylan's birthday party after breakfast. It was originally schedule for Thursday but with 100% chance of rain, they decided to move it to Saturday. It wasn't particularly hot but it was horribly humid. It sprinkled on us a few times but the rain did hold off for the party. They had rented a bounce house but Drew and Anna Kate wanted nothing to do with it. We got their bounce house out earlier in the summer and John Clay forgot to tie off the back air outlet. When John Clay got it in, it started to deflate a little from his weight and completely freaked them out. I think they thought it was going to eat him up. Ever since then, they want nothing to do with a bounce house and don't want anyone they love to even get near it. Hopefully, we will get some time to work on this fear so they can enjoy the big, fun bounce house we paid all of that money for last summer!

 Taking Raylan's tractor for a spin.

 As you can tell, the tractor was a hit. Drew has a problem with watching where he is going and wasn't' any better when he got behind the wheel. He ran over the garbage can, about hit the house, and nearly ran over a couple of different people!

 Sweaty little cuties!

 Cake time!

John Clay had to play again with the band on Saturday night so it was just me and the babies. We had dinner, watched TV, colored, played with stickers, Play-Doh, and had a tea party.

 Their first experience with Play-Doh! They really enjoyed it and the mess wasn't too bad although I could see it getting out of hand quickly! Their imaginations are starting to bloom and Anna Kate made flowers and kitties, and bunnies. Drew said his was blue boogies. Oh, the difference between boys and girls!

Sunday was our typical day at DotDot and Grandaddy's house. Except for again, the rain kept us inside so there wasn't any swinging, bicycle riding, or golf carting. Despite being stuck inside for so many days, they were really well behaved and didn't make too much of a stink about not getting to go outside. Hopefully, the weather will be better this weekend and we can find something fun to do. One thing the rain was good for this weekend was good naps and sleeping in late! We may be in trouble this week because they are definitely well rested!

Watching Calliou last night before bed. They sat so well next to each other and didn't even pick at each other like they do a lot these days.

Fireworks & a day trip

We changed up our schedule a bit this past weekend to get in a little Fourth of July celebrating. The fireworks at the Alcoa Duck Pond came back this year after several years off and I thought it would be fun to take Drew and Anna Kate to see fireworks for the first time! John Clay's band played Saturday night so we headed to DotDot and Grandaddy's house for dinner and play time with Aunt Ashley before going to see the show.  "Uncle Norma" & "Uncle Papaw" just got home from several weeks in Florida so they came over for a visit after dinner. We took a ride on the golf cart, checked out the garden, swang and played in the sand box, and then got to decorate cupcakes! Drew and Anna Kate did a great job although they were more interested in eating the cupcakes than decorating. We managed to get two decorated for them and some pictures before Drew got to work on eating his. Like I have said before, cake is serious business to him.

Smiling with their finished product.

Anna Kate helped Aunt Ashley decorate cupcakes for the rest of us.

Drew was too busy eating his to decorate any more.

After cupcakes we took a bath and put on our pajamas before heading out to see fireworks! They weren't supposed to start until 9:40 and since I knew that was pretty late for them, I decided we should get in pajamas just in case they fell asleep on the way home. For the record, the did fall asleep but woke up when I got them out of the car to go inside. Drew went back to sleep pretty quickly but my little party animal Anna Kate was up until almost midnight when I finally made her go to bed!

Watching the fireworks. DotDot and Aunt Ashley went with us and we also met up with Aunt Ashley's friend  Leslie and her mom, Linda. We decided we didn't really want to get in the crowds for the fireworks so we found a great spot in Leslie and Linda's neighborhood that was directly across the highway from the Duck Pond. It was perfect and we didn't get in any traffic on the way home! (About the picture of Anna Kate.... some of the first fireworks looked like butterflies. She had her head cocked to the side and was saying "Aw!"). 

The fireworks were fun but they lost interest pretty quickly (so thankful we didn't try to get out with the crowd). About half-way through the show they got back in the car and completely tore it apart while we finished watching. 

John Clay's band was scheduled to play at festival in Cumberland Gap on Sunday. He thought it was somewhere that the babies and I would enjoy too so we decided to go along. It was about an hour and half drive so we scheduled our leave time for around nap time with hopes they would take a nap while we drove. Anna Kate played perfectly into our plan. Drew was wired up and ready to go! We spent the majority of the trip trying to get him to be quiet so he didn't wake her up. About 15 minutes before we got there he started to calm down and look like he was going to go to sleep. At that point it was too late so I broke out the snacks to keep him awake. Anna Kate, being the snack lover that she is, woke right up and pronounced, "I awake!" and got in on the snack action too!  We did some walking, found some good food and homemade ice cream, and ran across a train! We of course, had to take a ride. 

 All aboard!

Drew and Anna Kate discovered the creek around the time the band started to play so as you can guess, they didn't really sit down and listen to the band but instead stood dangerously close to the creek and tried to give me and their Papaw ulcers from trying to keep them from falling in. There were a couple of bigger kids that were throwing rocks into the creek so that is what they decided they needed to do also.  

 I finally got them away from the creek to listen to the band. They did a little dancing.

 And more dancing.

And then it got dark and hundreds of lightening bugs came out. We caught (and in most cases killed. We are still working on not squeezing them) dozens of them.

I wiped them down as best as I could and we packed up to go home around 9:00. They had done so much running they were both asleep less than 10 miles down the road. I'm glad we decided to go. I think its safe to say they had a good time!