June & July

June & July were pretty laid back!  We spent a lot of time at the lake and the pool. I lost a lot of pictures that were on my phone when my SD card pooped out on me! It was so very sad.

Our summer months definitely had a water theme! Drew and Anna Kate really love to swim and have no fear of the water. We worked with them on trying to swim but they both sink like their pockets are full of rocks! Hopefully we'll make more progress next summer.

Swimming at Helen's house.  They both love jumping off the diving board. The picture of Drew cracks me up! He's ready to take off!

Drew and Anna Kate really enjoyed spending time at Aunt Teresa's lake house this summer.  They love going for boat rides, swimming at the pool, swimming in the lake, and fishing off the dock.

 Going for a swim! I saw a snake in the water right after I took this picture. Aunt Teresa practically walked across the water to get back to the dock!

 Aunt Ashley came with us to the lake one weekend and went tubing with Drew & Anna Kate!  I had some fun videos but those were lost when my pictures were...

Drew and Anna Kate went to their first Vacation Bible School in June. They went to the First United Methodist Church Bible School where cousin Hayes was in Drew's class and Whitney was his teacher! this was the first time they had ever been split up in an environment like that and they both did wonderfully. Drew had a level of comfort having Hayes and Whitney with him and I was especially proud of Anna Kate who was in a class by herself.  I think she really enjoyed herself and was told by her teachers that she "had a lot to say". Ha!  

Over the 4th of July weekend we went to visit the Davis' at their temporary mountain home. Cousins Price and Hayes (sadly) moved for Virginia over the summer and stayed at the Davis family cabin in Townsend between the time their sold their house and the new one was ready. There were lots of fun things to do there. We went for a golf cart ride, swimming in the pool, and threw rocks in the river.

Hanging in the baby pool. After many attempts, this is the best I could get for everyone looking at the camera.

 Crazy cousins! Even though they are being so very uncooperative, I do love this picture!

We had scheduled a special, nighttime safari at the zoo with Price and Hayes and the Whitehead boys.  Of course, the evening we were supposed to go it came a terrible thunderstorm and we were not able to go. Since we were all together we decided we would go to Market Square for frozen yogurt.

All of the tiny umbrellas are just too cute!

 

The rain stopped so we went to explore.  I love how Anna Kate is "frolicking". She was so excited!

The boys simply could not resist the temptation and had to get in the fountains. Good thing I brought a change of clothes!

Anna Kate got to have her first solo sleepover with Aunt Ashley. It was very impromptu. We were at DotDot & Grandaddy's house one Sunday and she somehow convinced Aunt Ashley to take her home with her. She was so excited until she got in the car and then she got a little nervous. Bless her sweet heart she was trying so hard not to cry! Aunt Ashley said she quiet for the first half of the trip home but ended up doing just fine. She had so much fun and talks about going back for another sleepover quite often. I was worried Drew would feel left out but he didn't really seem to notice. I think they both enjoy getting one on one attention from time to time!

 Tea party breakfast. She made Aunt Ashley get out her fine china!

All dressed up in Aunt Ashley's jewels! Tea party and jewelry? No wonder she had so much fun!

Of course we spent our Sundays (or at least one day out of the weekend) at DotDot and Granddaddy's house for family time! Drew and Anna Kate always look forward to going over there to see Aunt Ashley.

 DotDot and Grandaddy's neighbor Julie has all kids of fun animals at her house. One of her newest additions is this precious, miniature donkey named Cody.  One of our weekend routines is to go for a golf cart ride to Julie's house to see the animals and take them treats.

Catch up!

I am a little ashamed of how I have let the blog go for pretty much the entire Summer and half of the Fall! I have all of these "We've been super busy" excuses but I'll spare you!  I am going to do a few by month updates and hopefully finish out 2014 on a better note!

A cute picture to leave you with.......

Memorial Day Fun!

We had such a fun Memorial Day weekend! Somehow we managed to pack in all kinds of exciting things into 3 days. What a great way to kick off summer!

Friday evening we were invited to go to the Smokies game by one of our vendors at work.  We got to sit in their box which was great for the kids because they were able to get up and move around without disturbing others.  Drew and Anna Kate did not watch much of the game but they did get a hotdog, got to play with some new friends (a couple of my co-workers have young children), went to the bathroom 478 times, conned Aunt Ashley into buying them some wooden bats and baseballs, AND last but not least got to meet Smoky Dog (I think his name is actually Homer Hound) TWICE!  

Watching the game. The moment it took me to take this picture was about the extent of time they sat still and actually watched the game.

Homer the Hound! The first time he came to our box, Anna Kate was gone with Ashley so Drew was the only one that got to meet him.  He was really nervous and the picture was hilarious (even better than the one below).  The little stinker kept wanting to look at it and somehow managed to erase it!

Saturday morning Drew and Anna had their end of year performance at school. I always love to go see their performances. I hear them sing the songs they learn all the time.

They're back there! I told Aunt Ashley Anna Kate won the biggest bow award!

This was the best I could get out of them for a posed picture together.

That's more like it. The pictures are blurry but this is what I deal with! To the adult Drew and Anna Kate.... when you are wondering why your mother is so senile and out of her mind, THIS is why!

Saturday afternoon we went to Aunt Teresa's lake house to enjoy the sunshine and the pool! This was their first time swimming this year and I have to say they did great! They both jumped right in like it was nothing. Anna Kate quickly ditched her water wings and swam around the pool (with someone close by, of course!) just with a noodle like she learned in the one swim class she actually participated in.

Playing a little baseball in the backyard. I love the way he struts around!

Aunt Teresa is a better pitcher than Mom! I hear she had a pretty good record with some t-ball teams back in the day.  Also please note that Anna Kate is just supervising to ensure they are doing everything properly.

On a boat ride! Drew was mesmerized bu the wake of the boat.

She was having more fun that it looked!

Helping Aunt Teresa with navigation.

Sweet riders. They remembered that there is a train bridge that goes over the lake near Aunt Teresa's house. They also remembered that last year, a train actually passed right before we went under it. They were a little disappointed that didn't happen again.

Sunday was the annual Lake's Up Party at some of the Garland's family friends house.  Daddy's band has played there for the last several years and Drew and Anna Kate went last year also.  It is a fun time and the hosts have lots of kids in their family so Drew and Anna Kate always find fun things to do.

Sassafras picked out her own outfit. She is so stylish!

All he needs in life. He parked himself here and didn't move.

Saying hello to Daddy and checking out his drums.

Monkey see......

Monkey do......

She spotted her Papaw Tim!

Monday we laid low and recovered from our busy weekend!

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!