Hike at Laurel Falls

Dollywood with Elizabeth

We got to take the kids' friend Elizabeth (and her mommy Lora) with us to Dollywood today. The kids had a great time and got to ride all of their favorite rides before the rain hit. Our last activity of the day was to ride the train, but the sky opened up about half an hour before it was scheduled to run. We got to spend a not so fun 45 minutes at the depot while we waited for the rain to slow down. I was happy to be in a dry spot, but the kids were worn out at that point. We are having a lot of fun this summer going to Dollywood, and we are definitely getting a lot of wear on our season passes!

Photo opportunity while we were waiting on the kiddie part of Dollywood to open

Evie, Andrew, and Elizabeth on the pigs

Way Back Whensday

This one is for you Allie! Evie just turned 2 and Andrew was almost 9 months. We went on lots of walks that summer just to get out of the house!

May 2006

Memorial Day Weekend

Friday~Picnic in the backyard after getting her kindergarten shots

Saturday~If a ceiling fan doesn't sell in the yard sale & Goodwill won't accept it, what else can an engineer do but take it apart to see how it works...

Sunday~Attempted to get a cute picture of the kids all dressed up...not what I had in mind, but cute anyway!

Monday~Not the plan at all, but mommy and daddy got to go out for lunch and see the new Star Trek movie. The kids were playing with talking figurines from BK on Sunday night, so I had to snap a picture. Uhura says, "Captain, we are being hailed." Evie ran around saying, "Captain, we are being inhaled." Good stuff!

Preschool graduation

Evie graduated from preschool this afternoon. I put Andrew in an extra day of preschool so I could spend some special time with her this morning. We went to Build a Bear to stuff a bear and dress her up for graduation too. I enjoyed the time with just the two of us. Evie told me as we were going into the church that it was fun to have time alone, so I am going to have to make a bigger effort to spend more one on one time with her. After making her bear we had a gourmet lunch at Burger King. While we were eating she was telling me about her cap and gown. She was so serious as she said that her head was too small for the hat, so her teachers were going to fix it. I had to tell her that her head was just right and her teachers were going to fix her hat, not her head. It was too funny! The kids were all so cute at graduation, and I almost made it through without any tears. The teachers made a slide show with all the kids baby pictures and pictures from the year. While Evie's pictures were being shown, Steven Curtis Chapman's Cinderella was playing and I got a little teary eyed thinking about how quickly she has grown up. She literally told everyone we saw today that she was graduating preschool so she could go to kindergarten. She is definitely ready to take that big step in August!

Such a sweetheart!Evie and her bear
Mrs.Gray~Evie~Mrs.Lemons

Mommy~Evie~Daddy

Dollywood with Kate

Our friends Janet and Kate went to Dollywood with us today. Andrew was the most excited when he found out Kate was going with us, but it was the girls who seemed to enjoy each others company the most. It was definitely fun to go with friends!

On the carousel
The best picture I got of all 3 of them

Evie and I got to sneak off and ride the swings since she is tall enough

Blurry picture, but she was so proud of herself driving in the car alone

Happy Anniversary!

Phil and I are celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary today. In the past couple of years I have posted the more formal pictures, so I thought it would be fun to post the pictures of our "decorated" car. We had a lovely wedding, but this is the one aspect that we talk about the most. We can laugh now, but if you can see the look on my face I was horrified at the time. There was saran wrap, shaving cream, toilet paper, string, vaseline, and who knows what else on the outside. On the inside was paper confetti. Everywhere. When my car was broken into in Charlotte a year later, they took the stereo and left a little confetti trail through the parking lot.

Phil cutting his way into the passenger door

The inside was a mess too!

Last Game of the Season

Go Pink Panthers!
Scoring a goal

Cheese :)

Joy!

Way Back Whensday

Four years ago this week we found out a little BOY was going to be added to our family!

Holding his foot with both hands at 24 weeks
Our little guy at 20 weeks...this was the best face shot we got of him because he kept his feet and hands in his face during all of our ultrasounds

Happy Mother's Day

A card from Evie
Cute flower pot

Andrew's gifts to Mommy

Llama Llama

Mad at Mama
Red Pajama

If are completely lost, check out these books: Llama, Llama Red Pajama and Llama, Llama Mad at Mama. The Dollywood theater has a travelling show in the Knox County library system right now based on two of our very favorite books. The kids got to go with their friends this afternoon to see it. It was really crowded, but they loved seeing the stories acted out.

First trip to Dollywood

For Christmas this past year Phil and I bought season passes for our family to Dollywood. We used them for the first time today! The kids have been excited about this all week, but we woke up to rain. After looking at the radar map we decided to pack up and go anyway. It was a great decision because the rain cleared up about 15 minutes after the park opened and it was not crowded at all. We had a great time!

Evie on the carousel
Andrew riding the bear on the carousel

Evie in the cup on the lemon twist ride

Daddy and Andrew on the elephants (notice all 3 are wearing Andrew's favorite color)
The family in front of the train