First Snow!!!

We woke up to neighborhood kids screaming and laughing this morning at 7:45 and knew that could only mean one thing... SNOW!!!!

We quickly put on our "snow" clothes and headed out to begin playing in the fluffy white stuff. Kevin and I were both surprised to have as much as we did and decided to try for a snowman. You never know in TN if this is the one and only snow of the year of if we could end up with blizzard conditions in March.

Here are a few pics of the boys making snowballs and building the first (of many we hope) snowman of the 2009 winter!

A day in the Smokies...

Today we decided that it was going to be too pretty to do the usual Sunday afternoon chores like grocery shopping and such. So instead we loaded up the van and headed into the mountains. We decided to hike the moderate 3 mile hike (1.5 straight up and 1.5 straight down) to Grotto Falls. It was a beautiful hike and a beautiful water fall. We even enjoyed the drive around Trillium Gap.
The boys did well for the most part. Davis got a little chilly (mom and dad didn't dress him for the 15-20 degrees cooler weather up near the falls). Andrew hiked like a champ on the way up and then got a little tired on the fast paced hike down. We stopped only once for a quick drink and snack and a few quick pictures, and yet it still took us just about an hour to get to the falls and then just under 30 minutes to get back down!

I LOVE Fall in East Tennessee!!!

Return trip to Chatta-town

We decided last Sunday, since it had finally stopped raining after about two weeks, to get out and enjoy the sunshine! What better way to do that than drive down to Chattanooga and finish our weekend getaway from a few weekends previous. We went to Rock City, the Incline Railroad, and at lunch outside at Mellow Mushroom. It was an absolutely beautiful early fall day with the family.

Balloon Festival

We have had rain, rain, and more rain the last week or so! We have tried to stay as dry as possible while also trying to get out of the house and not get cabin fever. So last night during a small break in the rain we ventured next door to Pellissippi State to the Balloon Festival and caught the balloon glow. Here are a few pics of the glow.

I also included a picture of the big bunny balloon that caused major traffic issues on Thursday as I drove home with the kids. Of course after seeing a gigantic pink bunny (that was taller than the statue of liberty) towering above the treetops, we had to keep going to see it up close. They had it all set up at the high school, testing it out and drumming up attention for the upcoming festivities!

Surprise weekend getaway!

We went to the first UT game, and lasted till almost half time!! Andrew was ready to go shortly after kick-off and it was right in the middle of Davis' nap time. So we stayed as long as we could and then loaded up the car and headed south. I figured out pretty quickly we were headed to Chattanooga, but still had no idea what we would be doing.I had told Kevin months ago that we had taken Andrew to both Rock City and Ruby Falls when he was younger and that we needed to go back and take Davis. Well he listened and surprised me by planning it all!

We arrived at the Chattanooga Choo-choo hotel, which is pretty nice and super fun for little boys who love trains! We went that late afternoon/evening to Ruby Falls since it was getting a little late and the weather was iffy. We had tons of fun, and the boys loved the cave!
We woke up with plans to ride the incline railroad and go to Rock City. However, the weather was really foggy and rainy and we figured we'd do good to see one state, much less seven. So we found out that the tickets never expire and plan to go back soon and do those two adventures. So we instead hit the children's discovery museum and the mall for a few hours.
Despite the weather we had a great little git away weekend with just the four of us!!! It really didn't matter if we had stayed in a building down the street, it's just nice to do something different and get out of your own house for a bit:) And since the tickets never expire, we get to have another get away down in Chatta-town again very soon!!

My baby turned four!!!!

Happy Fourth Birthday Andrew!!!!

Not sure where in the world the last four years have gone, but I sure can remember tons of fond memories as if it was just yesterday! As Kevin and I laid in bed last night discussing how crazy it was that we had a four year old, we thought back and remembered what we were doing at that exact time four years ago with a few hour old newborn!!! Those memories seem so vivid and marked one of the best life changing moments for us. The last four years have been exciting, stressful, wonderful, exhausting, and we both couldn't imagine life any different!!!

Here are a few pics of Andrew's party, our weekend in North Carolina seeing Thomas the train and the NOC Kayak shootout, as well as his birthday dinner at Chuck E. Cheese last night.

New camera...

Kevin finally got his new camera after selling tons of baby gear on craigslist. We both love it and have been thrilled with the great pics we've been able to get.

We had a very busy weekend with a wedding shower, two birthday parties, and a day at Dollywood. We are also on our second week of swim lessons and the new camera worked great today for capturing all the fun. We have way too many great pics to post, but I did pull out several of my favorites.

Davis with his big blue eyes...
Andrew playing in the water...Andrew and Davis at the birthday pony party...
The boys looking for all the other kids (there were several) at Shaun Duncan's party...Andrew riding the rides at Dollywood and Davis resting after a hard day...
Andrew at swim lessons...