Summer, summer, summertiiime!

For future reference for my children (who I am sure are going to love and cherish this blog for many years), the title of this blog post is an especially awesome Will Smith song from the 90s. Look it up and I'm sure you'll love it too! I'm sorry the music of your generation is not as good as the 90s! 

We are getting in to the groove of summertime and loving it. Summer has always been my favorite season. As I have gotten older, I have also found a love for the Fall but the kid in me still loves Summer. I am sure that love will only get bigger once my kids start school.  We are getting closer to starting on the construction of our house and otherwise, have just been keeping busy.  I think this summer is going to be full of lots of work for everyone but I hope we are able to cram some fun stuff in there too!

These pictures aren't related to each other but some from the last couple of weeks that I just like.

I needed to run an errand at Hobby Lobby a couple of weekends ago and felt brave enough to take Drew & Anna Kate with me.  They really were well behaved. Anna Kate found a couple of things she thought she needed. For some reason she was cracking me up. For the record, we did not buy any of the things she has in her hands as it was all too old for her. But please don't think I got out of there without having to buy them something! I'm not that good!

Do you see a theme?! I have a fear that Anna Kate is going to grow up to be a hoarder.  This is the exact opposite from her mother who will throw away anything that sits still long enough. These were the items she felt she needed to take with her to DotDot's house one morning. You know, to get through the day. Every bucket was full of random items. She loves to gather things. She will gather up all kinds of toys, stuffed animals, even hair bows to take with her when she leaves, to take to bed, etc.... Just this morning it took her three trips to get her treasure trove from her bed to mine for our morning cuddles before we get up for the day.

My sweet Drew found a love for Nascar racing a couple of weeks ago. Last night he decided he needed a car to take to bed with him. I grabbed one and handed it to him when he quickly informed me that it was not a race car because it did not have numbers on the side. My mistake!

Someone has recruited her brother for dress up.

Um.... look how big this kid is! Where is my baby?! The look on his face is not one of pain but rather straining to see the truck pulling the digger that was in front of us. Its the little things that are so exciting!

Tractor Twins

Anna Kate & Drew are kinda famous! The tractor show was this weekend and Drew and Anna Kate's Grandaddy has been working very hard on restoring twin 1952 Ford tractors, one for each of them. They always need to see their tractor whenever they are at Grandaddy's office.  Even though it was kind of rainy and gross, we braved the weather to see the finished, restored product. The Daily Times put the picture of them on their tractors in the paper the following Wednesday. Grandaddy was so proud!

Hanging out in the rain!

DotDot even ordered special shirts for Drew and Anna Kate with a picture of a tractor and their name on it.  By the way, I love this crazy girl's face!

The picture that was in the paper.

On a ride with Grandaddy.  He is going to make farmers out of Drew and Anna Kate. They love to help him with his garden (planting, watering, picking) and he recently got them chickens! They love to help collect the eggs and count how many they got for the day. I love that they love it so much!

Adventures with Mamaw & Papaw

Anna Kate and Drew started early this year and have already conned Mamaw & Papaw into taking them on a "benture" (adventure) this year.  Last Friday they managed to talk their way to Pigeon Forge to ride rides and then on to pony rides!
Anna Kate has been talking about riding a horse for quite some time now and she finally got to go. She was SO excited. She loved it and from what I hear, Drew did too. Anna Kate wanted to do it all on her own and asked Papaw not to walk beside her. Drew apparently asked the owner 101 questions.  He said most 3 year olds just take it all in but not my boy. His mind is so inquisitive and he wants to know about everything!  They decided the ponies needed to go to Grandaddy's birthday party (you know, the one he didn't have!) and that they would also like for them to come to their birthday party.  I'm glad they may at least agree on a theme!

 Riding the swings! A year makes a huge difference! Anna Kate wouldn't even entertain getting on them last year.

 Riding her pony Peanut. She is still talking about him a week later!

Big boy! His pony's name was Cody.

Birthday season again

Birthdays seem to come in waves around our house. We have a big wave in late October through early December and again in April & May.  We have spent the last couple of weeks celebrating Aunt Ashley, Grandaddy, & Cousin Nathan.  You know there are few things Drew and Anna Kate love more than a birthday party and birthday cake!
Saturday was Grandaddy's birthday be weren't going to have our family get-together until Sunday. Drew and Anna Kate started talking about going to Grandaddy's birthday party early in the day on Saturday. I reassured them he was not going to be having a party.  Apparently they didn't believe me because when they woke up from their naps, they insisted we go to the party.  We ended up crashing dinner at DotDot and Grandaddy's house just so I could prove to them that there was not a birthday party going on that they were missing. They whole way over, they kept asking who was coming to Grandaddy's party, what kind of birthday cake Grandaddy was having, etc.... It didn't seem to matter to them that I kept confirming their was no party.

 Drew and Anna Kate always want us to build them a tent using the couch and blankets. This is no easy task so when I found this tent, I knew they had to have it.  They somehow convinced Grandaddy to get in it with them during his non-birthday party!

 On Sunday we went to the real birthday party! Cousin Nathan's party was at one of the bounce house places and Drew and Anna Kate had a blast. This huge slide was their favorite and they even made me go down it with them several times. It was hard to get any good pictures because they would fly down!

Um... excuse me Mr. Daredevil. I'm not sure you're supposed to go down HEAD first! This resulted in tears (he did bounce back quickly and tried to do it again, might I add!).

 Going down together. I wish I could have gotten their faces because they were horse laughing the whole time.

 After Nathan's party, we went to Grandaddy's real birthday party at his house. Aunt Ashley was there and uncle Norma came by for a few.  Drew and Anna Kate planted strawberries earlier this spring and they have started producing berries! There are too tart for Drew still but Anna Kate loved them.  Between their chickens and all of their gardening, they are going to be expert farmers before this summer is over!

 Drew took a rest on the swing while I grilled steaks for dinner.

Helping Grandaddy open his gifts. Drew wanted to know where his presents were.  We're going to have to work on the giving is better than receiving concept with them!