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.

Cupcake Crayons

One thing that's really been great lately, is that Ethan has been helping Luke with school. They love doing school together and it's really good for them to work together.

Last week we made "cupcake crayons". We found all of our old broken crayons and took the paper off of them. Then we put them in these silicon cupcake holders and melted them in the oven. The boys thought this was really cool. Thanks Nana for the idea! :o)

Jr. Rangerland

We headed up to Cades Cove on Wednesday for the first time since it was re-opened. We had a good time driving around. We went to the visitor center to get our Jr. Ranger workbooks and a schedule of the programs. We're excited about doing that again this summer. While there, we found Jr. Rangerland....a spinoff of candyland. We took it up to the picinic area and played it while eating lunch. It's great for teaching them about wildlife in the park. The boys also played pirates on "their island".

Funny

Tonight I was a little stressed out and just ready for the boys to go to bed. I hate when I wish away time with them like that. They are growing up so fast and sometimes I feel like I miss precious moments with them because of my selfishness. I'm just thankful for God's grace and pray everyday for His wisdom as a mother.

I'm so thankful for these little guys. They bring so much laughter to our lives. Just a couple examples from today. When Ethan was asked if he thought aunt Jess was having a boy or a girl, he said, "I think she's having fourthlets".

Every night I take Luke to the bathroom before I go to bed and Chad gets him up before he leaves for work. Well, tonight, I got him up and sat him on the toilet and he starts to sing bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow to the tune of jingle bells in his sleep. I don't know what it is about that song, but, ever since Christmas he sings it EVERY DAY! The only thing is that he never sings the words, except if it's Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, etc. He sings it every where we go and he gets louder and louder as he sings it.

I know those are just silly little things....but, my days are filled with joy and goodness from God that I constantly take for granted. I pray that I will be more aware of His gifts to us in the silly little things.

God is so good and I'm so unworthy.

Friends

We had some great time with our wonderful friends yesterday. The boys had fun pretending to be indians and starting fires with sticks and rocks.

Treasures

I was blessed with a wonderful, godly grandmother. She is a huge part of the reason that I am who I am today. Her and my grandfather took me to church from the time I was a baby and invested a lot into my life. As I am raising my own kids now, I'm more aware of what huge blessing that spiritual heritage is. "Gramma" is actually my step-grandmother. But, the bond we have is much stronger than blood. She's such a special person and she IS my gramma and my boys' great gramma Lorna. We got to go to Florida in February to visit them. She is known to save EVERYTHING....literally. :o) I hope that one day we will have another child...maybe a girl...either biologically or through adoption....or both (if it were up to me :o)) So, I asked her if she had any old pillowcases that I could have so I could one day, if I ever had a girl, I could make her a dress out of it. I was in awe as she pulled out pillowcases that her mother used to make for missionaries. There were also a couple that she had embroidered when she was a young girl. I was so excited! So, my niece turns 7 this week and I have made her a dress out of one of them. My sewing skills are desperately lacking, but, how many girls have a dress from their great great gramma's pillowcase?

My great gramma, Anna, crocheted the border on these....

Loving Spring!

My boys absolutely love being outside rain or shine! They have these awesome rain suits from mamaw for when it rains. :o)

Today was our first day of playing in the water. They had blast!

After finishing up all of our other school stuff today, we had art outside. They each painted on a canvas that I'd like to put in their room.

One of our favorite things about this new house is the screened in porch! The boys play, do school and eat out there whenever possible.

Today we did legos.....

and played with play-do.

Sweet Pea enjoys it too...she sits on her chair and watches the boys or the cars and squirrels. :o)