A day in the mountains

Wednesday we headed up to the Cades Cove Picinic area with some of our best friends. We got there at 10:30 and didn't leave until 5. It was a wonderful way to spend the day. The kids call this "their island". Miss Emily grilled some awesome hotdogs. We brought Sweet Pea...against my better judgement...and she ended up spending most of the time in the car. :( Other than that...everyone had a blast playing in the water and exploring.

Luke and Clara had fun making silly faces.

The Big Day!

Well...tonight Ethan graduated from Kindergarten! He was so excited about it. He couldn't wait to "finally be in first grade". They had a really cute ceremony. The kids sang "A you're adorable....". Ethan was "U"....the second go around he was in his own little world and was wee bit late. :o) It was nice to have all of our family there to take part in it. Luke was excited for him. He loved seeing "BoBo's" pictures up on the slideshow. I'm really proud of Ethan...he is a smart little guy that loves to learn.

Bee Keeper Field Trip

Friday we took a field trip to the O'Dells honey house. Colie and Judy are great and you can tell that they love sharing information about beekeeping. They kids got to observe the bees outside and then go into the honey house. They learned about why bees are so important. They also learned about exactly what bee keepers do. One of their favorite parts was the observation hive. It's made with glass sides so you can actually see right into it. They saw the machinery used for extracting and filtering the honey. Judy showed the kids how she makes candles out of the beeswax.Each child got a sample jar of honey and a little goodie bag. Before we were even back in our car, Ethan said, "Mom, we need to do this again soon! ".

It was our official last day of school and a great way to end the school year. I'm looking forward to the summer break!

Working on Wardrobe Choices

The boys decided to pick out their own clothes this morning. Ethan has always loved getting into costume...Luke was never interested....until, he got this cowboy hat for his birthday party. He loves wearing it. Ethan always chooses camo if it's available...and as much as possible. lol. He's so funny. I don't know why, but, Luke was saying he was a karate kid and Ethan was Indiana Jones. They have such amazing imaginations! I love listening to them get into their own little worlds...fighting wild beasts and rescuing each other from crocodiles. Who needs t.v.?

Spring Festival ~ Townsend, TN

We went up to Townsend for Old Timer's Day with Papa and Nana. It was a lot of fun. Lots of good BBQ and bluegrass music. The boys got to paint, make pottery, and Ethan got to widdle. At one booth was a man with a banjammer (cross between a banjo and dulcimer). There was crowd gathered around listening...he asked the boys what they wanted to hear...they said "jingle bells"! So...he played it. It was pretty funny...but they thought it was pretty awesome that he could play the whole song....they don't care that it's May. :o)

Riley

I took Riley out for some pics in the dress I made for her birthday. She's so pretty! I can't believe how old she looks in some of these. She's also a big goof ball! She had us laughing so hard. :o)

Fun For Sweet Pea

Our neighbor at our new house, told us that at the end of this road there was a big creek and a field. It's close enough for us to walk and the boys to ride their bikes. We've been taking Sweet Pea down there and she LOVES it! She swims and just runs wild. She loves to play fetch and fetch sticks in the water. It's great exercise for her and us. Here are a few pics.

Oh yeah...Luke found a bunch of walnuts and Ethan found some scat and they were checking that out for awhile. :o)

Trip to the Zoo

This year we decided to become zoo members for the first time. We've already been twice and are probably going again this week. The boys love it and they've started having "education stations". Volunteers bring out hands on stuff for the kids and answer questions, tell stories, share different facts, etc. We let the boys take a camel ride this time. They've never done that before and thought it was pretty fun. Ethan's favorite thing this trip was the otters. They were being really playful. I loved that we got to see the beavers being fed. Even though I really enjoy the zoo...part of me is always sad when I leave. There's just something not right about a black bear being confined to an enclosure. I would much rather see them in their natural habitat....I'm sure they'd prefer it too.