Cousin Love

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of spending Sunday afternoon at my Grandparent's farm in Greenback with my cousins.  I was 10 when they moved from there but I can vividly remember all the trouble we got in to fun we would have there.  That is why I am so happy for Drew and Anna Kate that they have several cousins (most that are very close to their age) that they get to grow up with. We have gotten to see each of them over the last couple of weeks which is pretty special since that is something that happens far too seldom!  Drew and Anna Kate have really loved getting to play with them all!

 We got to see "baby Rylee" for breakfast a few weeks ago. Anna Kate loves babies so she especially loves getting to see her.  Rylee is the only girl first cousin Anna Kate has so that makes her even more special!

 We also got to go to Raylan's house a couple of weeks ago for a birthday party for Uncle Billy.  Drew and Anna Kate really enjoyed playing with him (and tearing his house apart).

 We went to see Price play football on Sunday afternoon.  The weather was wonderful and the company was even better. Drew and Hayes especially liked playing their own game of football during half time.

 Cousins! Drew and Hayes have always had fun together but can be known to get into "tussles" usually over belongings. They played wonderfully together at the ballgame.

 We went to dinner afterward and the kids all got to sit at a table by themselves! Price was in charge. He is a great big cousin!

 We went to Price's house for his birthday party last weekend. Drew and Anna Kate's second (or maybe it is thrid?) cousins, Caroline and Andrew, were there too.  We really don't get to see them often so that was a special treat.  Anna Kate really enjoyed some girl time.  And I commented while we were taking this picture that we have finally reached the age that everyone will at least sit down for a group picture. This.is.huge! It may still be a little much to ask to have everyone looking and smiling but we'll take it!

Helping Price open his gifts. Like I said, Price is a great big cousin and is usually very patient and kind to the "little" kids. I would say that is a tough position to be in sometimes and he does great!

Fun with DotDot & Uncle Norma

DotDot has been doing her fair share to keep Drew and Anna Kate busy the last couple of weeks. She has planned some pretty fun things for my two little cuties.  And lucky for all of them, "Uncle Norma" has been willing to come along!
Their first outing a couple of weeks ago was some what impromptu.  I arrived one morning to drop Drew and Anna Kate off and DotDot announced that she was going to take them to Townsend to the Train Museum.  They were able to convince Uncle Norma to along to so after breakfast they took off.  Sadly, the Train Museum was closed but they were still able to find something fun to do. They stopped at some stables and visited the horses and went for a buggy ride.

 Feeding the horses

 Sweet girl. (They were totally unprepared for an outing on this day. I think I even forgot to leave their sunglasses!)

 Drew and the buggy driver. I think they figured out he knew Grandaddy!

 Crazy kid!

Next up was a trip to the Friendly Farm to get up close and personal with some farm animals. This was quite the adventure because Price, Hayes, and Whitney got to come along too!  I found a really good deal on tickets so I bought several.

 Price checking out the bunnies.

 Anna Kate and Drew playing with the bunnies and feeding them.

 They got to ride on a horse too!  Sweet Cousin Whitney took one for the team and rode with them.

DotDot picked up a couple of extra babysitting days last week while Mamaw and Papaw were on vacation and was looking for some different things to do.  I found some small pumpkins at the grocery store and bought them for a project for my little artists.  

 Deep concentration

 They like the mixed color look!

Thursday morning they went to story time at the library.  They have been there once before but I think it was just to look around.  From what I hear, they did good and really enjoyed themselves.  They even got to check out some books!

 Reading his train book with Uncle Norma.

Anna Kate has always been my reader.  She picked out a book about butterflies!

I am so happy for Anna Kate and Drew that they get to spend so much time with their grandparents (and great-grandparents)! Mamaw Katherine and Papaw Hubert have started some special traditions with them too like going to breakfast on Thursday and Friday mornings, going to feed the ducks (an entire loaf of bread!), going to the park, and going "shopping".  It a new adventure every day.  All of these fun things are memories they will have forever!

Maple Lane Farms

The "All Things Fall" 2013 tour continues!  We went to Maple Lane Farms last weekend to see Daddy's band play and also have some fun! Drew and Anna Kate were really excited about going and I used that as bargaining power for the entire week. We are in the days of threatening that bad behavior will remove fun things from our schedule. Some days it works, so days it does not! They managed to keep themselves under wraps so we headed out after a short afternoon nap.  We ended up not seeing the band much because there was just too many other things to do but I think it is safe to say they had a wonderful afternoon!

 There were some bunnies right at the entrance that we had to stop and visit first. Anna Kate took a particular liking to the big white one.

 What a cute little nut he is!

 My sweet flower child! She talked her Papaw into getting her some flowers first thing.

 We went on a hayride with Mamaw & Papaw.

 Cute little farmers!

 This gigantic slide was where we spent a lot of our time. It was even bigger than it looks! I had to go with them because it was so steep climbing up to the top, they needed my help going down. Drew was in front and the first time we got up to the top he got to the top and went straight down without waiting for me. The kid has no fear! Anna Kate opted to go down with me which was probably a good thing because she is so light, she may just have flown right off when she hit the bottom!

I love that they have each other as an every day playmate. I am sure there will be times in their live that they get tired of having to share everything (including time and attention) but I hope that more than anything, they are best friends!

The Fall Festival

This year was Drew and Anna Kate's 4th Foothills Fall Festival.  The weekend is so much fun and something I look forward to every year. We had wonderful weather and Drew and Anna Kate got to go all 3 days! They went for a short time on Friday to play in the kid's area with their Mamaw & Papaw. On Saturday, John Clay and I took them back to the play area after their nap. We had tickets to go to the concert Saturday night so after they bounced in a few inflatables, we met Mamaw & Papaw and Tami for the concert.  Aunt Ashley laughed because besides going to watch their Daddy play with his band, Drew and Anna Kate are going to be able to tell everyone that their first concert was Lynard Skynyrd! They had a blast! They got to eat yummy, fair-type food, had their first taste of funnel cake, and dance to the band! On our way out of the concert, Drew spotted one of his very favorite things right now.... a school bus! He got more excited about all of the school buses shuttling people than he did about the inflatables and rides in the kiddie land.  They were all lined up waiting to people to come out of the concert.  I asked one of the drivers if could get on his bus since Drew loves them so much but has never been on one. To say he was excited might be an understatement. He was really shy while we were on it but once he got off he started jumping and yelling to John Clay and Anna Kate that he got on a school bus (by the way, Anna Kate wanted nothing to do with getting on that bus)!! And if the night couldn't have gotten any better, we saw a police man blocking the street and he turned his blue lights on. What a great night! On Sunday after we went to Gabby's birthday party, we headed back to the Festival with Aunt Ashley and DotDot. This time we went to crafts and vendor area and went to see Grandaddy and his tractor and corn shelling display.  The original plan was for Drew and Anna Kate to go home with DotDot to spend the night and John Clay and I were going to the concert to see Rascal Flatts play.  Sunday morning, when I told Drew and Anna Kate we would be going back to the Fall Festival that afternoon, Anna Kate asked me if she was going to get to dance and sing again.  They had such a good time, we decided to take them back with us. As an added bonus we managed to find a ticket for Aunt Ashley so she went with us.  They had a wonderful time again and Anna Kate especially really got in to the music. She danced and clapped her hands.  Since we birthday partied during nap time, they didn't last very long before they were tired and ready to leave but we still had a great time!

 Corndogs, a sweet tea bigger than your head and a funnel cake (their first) were on the dinner menu for Saturday night!

 Drew and "his" tractor

Drew, Anna Kate, and Grandaddy on the tractor. I have one of these for every year since they were just a couple of months old. I love to see the difference a year makes and how much they have changed! It does not even seem like a year ago that they were there as newborns.

 Helping Grandaddy shell corn.

Apparently the Fall Festival is synonymous with junk food! But it is all SO good!

The art of manipulation....

Drew is quite an intelligent little boy.  He knows shapes, colors, letters, he can count, etc.... but Anna Kate sure has figured out how to outsmart him. She can play him like a fiddle. Here is a little story for you...

Typically on week day mornings, they will wake up before I am finished getting ready for work. They will usually sit on my bed and watch Mickey Mouse (if they aren't doing this, they are tearing the house down).  For some reason, they have determined that the only location in which you can see our TV from is the bottom right corner of our bed. And they fight over who gets to sit in "The Spot" like cats and dogs.  Most mornings, we don't make it out of the house without this big argument over who gets to sit there, crying, yelling, someone falling off the bed and hitting their head, and me losing a little more of mind... all before 8:30am.  Anna Kate decided yesterday morning that she would really like to go get her puppy dog but she had already managed to snag "The Spot".  She was torn. I watched her as she thought through how she could make this work.  Well, we have a box in our room right now that is sitting in front of our dresser right next to the TV.  For the last week or so, whoever doesn't make it in "The Spot" will stand on this box to annoy the other one.  So, my little puppeteer gets down off of the bed and says, "Drew, this would be a good place for you to stand. Why don't you come stand here".  Well, my poor, sweet boy played right into her hand. He just knows that this is something that usually pushes her buttons so he hoped right up and climbed proudly on that box like he was doing something great.  Anna Kate ran to the living room, grabbed her dog, and ran back to see that her plan had worked flawlessly.  BUT... her brother almost foiled her. She got a bit cocky and ran back for something else. While she was gone the second time, he got down from the box and took command of "The Spot". When she came back in, I braced myself for a complete meltdown and the usual fight but she kept her composure, walked back over to the box, patted it and said "Drew, don't you think you want to stand up on here".  Again, the poor boy fell for it. It was almost sad. I saw the next 15 years (at least) of their lives playing out before me.  If Drew can manage to survive that sister of his, he will be able to deal with anything a woman can think to throw his way.  As for Anna Kate, she is wise beyond her years and it scares me! Well played little girl, well played!

Photographic evidence of the assault on the unsuspecting. It is blurry but you get drift!

Too much fun!

I haven't been good at blogging the last couple of weeks. That is because we have been busy having too much fun.  I have always really liked summer time but Fall is quickly becoming my favorite. The weather has been as good as it gets with sunny, blue skies and temps in the 70s and 80s!
So... here is what we have been up to (if I can remember it all!)! And if all of this wasn't fun enough, we have more exciting events to look forward to in the coming weeks!

Last Friday our neighbor invited us to go with her and her kids to see Disney on Ice.  We had talked about going but thought the kids were probably still a bit young.  When we were offered FREE tickets, I couldn't pass it up.  So... we put on our princess dress (and pulled out a fun Thomas shirt for Drew so he didn't feel left out) and headed toward Knoxville.  I think Drew and Anna Kate would have been just as excited about our outing if we had drove in circles around town. They thought it was so special that Gabby and her baby brother Mason were in our car with us!  We were right that they are still a bit young but they had a great time!  They did get excited when Micky, Minnie, Donald, & Goofy came out between the different acts and managed to con me into $30 worth of cheap souvenirs.

Excited little cuties!

 Gabby moved in next door a couple of months ago and Drew and Anna Kate have really enjoyed having a playmate next door.  It is nice to be able to just walk back and forth to each others houses and enjoy hanging out with them!

 Sweet friends.

The next morning we went to breakfast with the Garner side of the family to celebrate Uncle Doug's birthday. We don't get to see them as often as we would like so it is always nice to spend some time with them.

 Anna Kate got to sit by her cousin Rylee and you know she thought that was the best! She really likes getting to see Rylee and even has named most of her baby dolls "baby Rowee".

Daddy was working so after breakfast we went to the mall to waste some time (and money!)

 We had to ride all of the rides and drive the model train.

Sunday we went to dinner at Tami's house.  She made some yummy Mexican and Drew and Anna Kate enjoyed visiting with everyone there.

 Doing a little work on the computer before we left.

Drew and Anna Kate love to talk about Tyler, Tami's son.  They make note when we drive by about whether or not he is home and sometimes they will tell me their name is Tyler.  This is odd because when they actually see him, they won't talk to him.  Well, Tyler is a firefighter and earned some major cool points while we were at dinner by letting Drew and Anna Kate try on his helmet.  Drew's face is blurry because the helmet is so heavy, he couldn't hold his head still!