Smokey Mountain Trip with the Tomlinson's

Two weekends ago we had the pleasure of taking a mini vacation with our wonderful friends Aaron, Amy and their 2 girls Clara and Coy and also Amy's niece Kaleigh. We have vacationed with them before except normally it is a parents only trip, well except Coy who has accompanied us due to either being in the womb or nursing both of which make it hard to leave her at home :) Taylor was so excited to learn that Kaleigh was coming as that gave her a play mate. I have to give credit where it is due as we were able to take this "vacation" thanks to Matt's parents timeshare. They booked 5 days at the resort but were only able to use 2 of them b/c they were keeping 1 of the grandsons for a week and therefore had to go home.

We had the most relaxing weekend of movie watching, talking, swimming and eating. We normally have eaten out once on previous trips but with 6 kids under the age of 9 we opted to eat all our meals in since we had a huge kitchen.

Madison being silly


Kaleigh and Taylor enjoying the indoor pool right after we got there


Aaron and Coy enjoying the pool...or at least Aaron was, Coy warmed up to it later.


My little fish going all over the pool :)


Me and my little boy...the only proof I was there was this picture!


The Tomlinson family (I think this should be their Christmas card photo)


Sweet baby Coy loved the little pool


Aaron being goofy :)


Caleb, Kaleigh and Taylor enjoying the hot tub


Matt and Caleb doing a little male bonding in the hot tub :)


We had the baby pool all to ourselves most of the time


Matt and Madison playing in the pool


Aaron giving Clara and Madison a "ride" around the baby pool


Clara playing in Coy's float...Madison and Clara loved sitting in this baby float :)

Dollywood

Last week we were thrilled to be able to spend a day with some long time friends who were up here vacationing from Memphis. We met up with them at Dollywood on Tuesday and enjoyed spending the whole day with them. Our kids had a wonderful time together and acted like they had been best friends for ever when in fact they have only meet each other a few times and never have spent more than a few hours total together :) That is kids for you though. I have known Jennifer and John all my life, we grew up going to school and church together. Kaitlyn and Taylor are 6 months apart as are Kyle and Caleb. If she only had one that was Madison's age it would be perfect but Madison enjoyed playing with Susan and Shane's little girl Jade who is almost 3 (we last saw Jade when she was only a few weeks old and they came up here for a UT football game). Anyway here are a few pictures from our day together, I wish I had more but our camera acted up on us and froze up....luckily Matt got it working once we were home but we missed out on some cute shots. They will just have to come back so we can re-enact the day, hint hint Jennifer :)

Taylor shooting people with water guns on the River Battle ride


Caleb, Kyle and John having a blast shooting people


Madison was trying to do what the bigger kids but wasn't quite big enough :)


Trying to get a photo of all the kids....it didn't work to well :)


The Little Loggers area is one of the kids favorite places to cool off by playing in the water.







Enjoying cooling off in Dolly's Imagination Forest

Madison's Last Day of Preschool

Madison has been done with preschool for a few weeks but I am so behind in blogging that I am just now getting around to it.

I dreaded her going to preschool b/c she has always been very attached to me. She used to go to her grandparent's house for the day and even spend the night but sometime around 2 that all changed. She didn't even want me to go to the store without her. I thought school would be good for her so we signed her up. I thought that there would be many tears (there were with Caleb) but boy was I wrong! She loved it from the very 1st day. She couldn't wait to go to school each day and was sad when she realized she couldn't go every day.

She had the most wonderful teachers (all the teachers are good at her preschool, we can't say enough good things about the school she is in). They always bragged on how sweet she was to the other children and about how she followed directions (what...is this the same kid!).

Her last day they had a pizza party and sang some of the songs they had learned through the year. Madison loves to sing so this was right up her alley! Her favorite song was "Peanut Butter". She would smile so big and get so tickled while singing it....we get to hear it daily now that she is home for the summer :)

Enjoying some pizza


Her wonderful teachers Mrs Ashe and Mrs Dunaway


Madison's silly face


Singing and dancing to her favorite song "Peanut Butter"










I was sad to see this year end as it means she only has 1 more year of preschool and then it is off to Kindergarten :( I enjoyed seeing how much she matured over the school year and how much joy she got from school. I can't wait to see what the next school year has in store for her!

Dogwood Arts Festival

Last month we attended the Dogwood Arts Festival downtown. We had never been before and really enjoyed it. Taylor got sick that weekend and I never got around to blogging about it. Then life got busy and I blogged about other things and totally forgot about it. This past weekend Taylor and I went to the Farmer's Market downtown and I remembered that I hadn't blogged yet so here are some pictures from our day. They had food vendors, crafts, and these sidewalk drawings. This was the first year for the sidewalk drawings and you were able to vote for your favorite one. The winner got a monetary prize.

Madison checking out the water


Caleb hopped up on this rock and said "Dad, take my picture" :)


Some of the sidewalk chalk drawings








This was our favorite and the one we voted for.


Alligator anyone?


Chocolate covered cheesecake and strawberries...yummy!


Me and Madison enjoying a funnel cake :)


Caleb and Matt


Madison, Caleb and Nana


I got a henna tattoo


Caleb making ink art using hand carved rubber stamps


Madison making hers...it was pink of course


Showing off the finished products :)

Caleb's Field Day

Caleb's field day was moved inside due to all the rain we have had lately. It was different having a field day inside the gym. Because there are so many kindergartens they had to do field day in 2 separate groups. Caleb's class was in the second group. He was so happy to see that Matt, Madison and I had all shown up to enjoy the day with him. We even ended up staying and having lunch with him. He was grinning from ear to ear. I love it when my kids are happy :)

Realizing we were there :)


Getting ready to be tagged in the race


And he is off!


Here is the school's mascot...his name is Finley (he is a dolphin)


They were chanting "Finley, Finley"


Caleb participating in the sack hop...I love the look on his face :)


and down he goes


and back up again


and down again. He was laughing so hard he couldn't do this very well


Getting ready for the "2 headed monster race"


It was so much fun watching him participate in his very 1st Field Day and we look forward to many more :)