Taylor's 10th Birthday

This past weekend we surprised Taylor by taking her away for her birthday. 10 is a big deal...it is double digits, never again would my baby be in the single digits! We had told her all week long that we had a surprise for her birthday but we would give her any clues...about drove her crazy! Oh, the joys of being a parent :)

We packed everyone's bags and loaded them in the car while everyone was at school. When the kids got off the bus we picked them up and told them we were going to "run some errands", we are so sneaky! All 3 kids fell asleep 15 minutes into the hour ride. When they woke up we were at a Walmart near our destination. We tried convincing her that was the surprise...she wasn't too excited. After picking up a few things we got back in the car and drove another 10 minutes. When we pulled into check-in Taylor's mouth dropped open and she was so excited to be staying there for the weekend.

Our friends, the Tomlinson's, were joining us but hadn't arrived yet so we didn't tell her they were coming. When they walked in the door an hour later Taylor was shocked again! We enjoyed just eating dinner, watching some tv and talking before going to bed early b/c we had another surprise the next day.

We woke up and got everyone dressed but wouldn't say where we were going. We drove about 10 minutes and pulled up to Dollywood and all 3 kids were so excited. We always have season passes but this was the first time we had been this season. We got there right as they were opening and since there was a chance of rain it wasn't crowded. We got to walk right up to the rides with no waiting :) We knew the rain was coming so we ducked into a Festival of Nations show and when we came out it was raining so we decided to go back to the resort and just swim before dinner and cake.

We had a great weekend celebrating our sweet girl's birthday. She is really becoming a young lady who has such a caring heart and deep love of the Lord already.

The cars are one of our favorite rides


Shooting star is also a favorite


Taylor and her daddy on the Ferris Wheel


Then they moved on to the swings!


Taylor's cake this year....she loves chocolate with butter creme frosting


Taylor blowing out her candles (and Caleb pouting in the back)

Small Sample

This past weekend we had a photo shoot with local photographer Megan Parker that we had received from Strasburg. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed her shooting their pictures! We also got a surprise while there....they asked us to model the new family line that includes coordinating outfits for mom. I wasn't really excited b/c I wasn't looking my best. I had taken a shower and had on a little makeup but was planning to go to the new house with a load of stuff so hadn't fixed myself up. We haven't seen the pictures yet but they tell me that they turned out good (I am sure Megan touched them up, well at least she touched me up). The really neat thing is that these are the 1st photos of these outfits so they are going to be sent to Strasburg stores around the country. Taylor has done some work for them before through a Leon Loard, a painter in AL but this is a first for the other! They were all excited. Megan sent me a small sample of what she did. I think they turned out great and we will be using her again. She also gave us some great ideas to try at home when we take our own pictures! You will have to paste the link in b/c I am not computer savy and don't know how to make it a link you can click on :)


http://meganparkerphoto.com/photoblog/taylor-caleb-and-madison-knoxville-photographer/

I can't wait to see all of the pictures!

Barracuda

Last week Taylor had to make a project from things around the house. It had to be a 3D object and had to include a sphere, triangle pyramid, cube, rectangle, cylinder and a cone. She brought a list home with examples but we decided to do something not on the list. Here is what she came up with



She came up with a Barracuda! I think it turned out really good and was something that nobody else came up with. We are pretty proud of her!

Let the fun begin!

It is all official now, we closed on our house this past Monday and have started doing work on it. Matt has gone over and worked for hours on the house each day this week. I spent my day off helping him by painting all the wood trim. All that is done and tomorrow we get to start the fun painting. We are going to start with the upstairs master bedroom. We are painting it Mochatina....looks like coffee with lots of cream. Our new bedroom furniture will be delivered next Monday so we wanted to get that room done 1st. Our next room to tackle is Taylor's. We hope to work on her's over the weekend. Our baby will turn 10 in 8 days and her birthday present is a room makeover. We would love to have it done as a surprise! The backyard is on our project list too. When we saw the house for the 1st time a month ago everything was still brown...now it is very green and needs some taming before the kids can get out there and play. Our real estate agent is also a general contractor and his crew is going to come in and fix the backyard over the next few weeks. Can't wait to see how it looks after! Here are some pictures from the Monday when the kids got to see the house on the inside for the 1st time.

Caleb checking out the fort, the trees need to be trimmed and the fort needs a little work but is soundly built!


A view of the backyard from the deck. A lot of those trees are going to be cleared out so it is going to look very different.

The kids getting ready to go in for the 1st time!


The homeowners left this truck on the wall...it is a shelf to hold cars, Caleb loved it!


Taylor in her room. We are painting it a beautiful pale purple called "whipped plum"


The kitchen, one of my favorite places in the house!


Our living room....I am in love with the stone fireplace!


These next 2 are views of the downstairs rec room which is going to be my parent's living room.

Week at the Farm!

We spent our spring break at my Grandparent's farm. Well technically it isn't their farm anymore as they have sold most of land but still live in the house. The kids love going there b/c there are no neighbors so the kids can just roam freely w/o me having to worry. There is a beautiful creek which we didn't get to visit this time. We ended up having a whirlwind week. We arrived on Monday night and we supposed to stay through Saturday. Neither of my grandparents drive so they had a couple of dr appointments as well as some grocery shopping to get done. On Tuesday morning my Grandmother had an "episode" and we almost lost here. She was taken to the ER in town. My mom went with her so I became the caregiver for my Grandfather who can do nothing on his own....we got very personal that week but luckily could laugh about it which made it more comfortable for him....for me it was just like being back in rotation though geriatrics wasn't my favorite place to be. My parents had gone down with me so my mom went to the hospital with my Grandmother. My Grandmother ended up going to Memphis to see her heart dr and is going to be fine. She has a blockage in her carotid artery but it isn't bad enough to do surgery yet. Plus she is 88 which makes any surgery risky. My parents decided to stay for a few more days so Matt drove down Saturday in their car and then rode back with me and the kids on Sunday. This was the first time we haven't been to church on Easter Sunday :( The Easter Bunny had to do a quick run to the local Walmart where the pickings were quite slim. I didn't have time to take many pictures during the week but Matt took care of that once he was there :)

Grandmother and Caleb made a homemade banana pudding!


Taylor was such a help all week....she made stuffed peppers for dinner one night


Daffodils and buttercups line the driveway and the border of their property and always make for great photos.

Madison with the flowers

Easter Goodies


The kids with Grandmother...I am so thankful that they have been able to know her

Laurel Easter Egg Hunt

A few weeks ago we had our Easter Egg Hunt at church and I am just now getting around to blogging about it. We always have so much fun at the Easter Lunch and Egg Hunt and this year was no exception! After a wonderful meal the real fun began....hunting for candy filled eggs! The kids hunt in different age groups which is great b/c then the parents get to see each child hunting!

Madison letting us know which way she was going to be heading when the hunting began


Found one!


Which way do I go next?


Caleb getting ready


Caleb checking out his loot!


Finally, Taylor's turn!


My big girl!