Mother/Son Date Knight

Chick fil A in Knoxville hosted Mother/Son Date Knight last week.  As if I didn't love CFA enough already, this made me love them even more.  Andrew and I had a great time together!  

 Andrew loved the cow they gave his and was so thrilled to win the drawing for his very own Magic Tree House book, The Knight at Dawn.

 Hanging out with the Knight Cow

2nd Grade Program

Evie got to show off some songs and facts she has been learning about this great state we live in tonight at school.  The Amherst 2nd graders have been working very hard over the past few weeks preparing, and I am so proud of them!  They covered Elvis in Memphis, country music in Nashville, the Cherokee living in the mountains, and of course good ole Rocky Top.  

Decked out in her orange and white

A little bit of Amazing Grace in Cherokee

Celebrate!

Menchies after church

 Finally got the Duffy bear she fell in love with at Disney World

 Party at Nothing But Bounce

 "Carrot" cake at Wasabi

 Brand new bike!

Two soccer games!  She played her heart out in games Friday night and Saturday morning.

Evie is...

Eight

Happy Birthday!

Field Trips

The kids got to go on field trips over the past couple of weeks.  The 2nd graders went to the Mayfield Dairy in Athens. 

Easy to know which way to go...just follow the Mayfield trucks

Post tour ice cream

Mayfield Fashion

The Kindergarten classes went to The Little Ponderosa Zoo in Clinton.

 The kids got to touch snakes and reptiles

 Feeding deer

 Feeding leaves to the kangaroo

Pony ride

Spring Break in pictures

St.Patrick's Day with the Ice Bears

 NIT tournament 

Gorgeous weather to play outside

Visit to the Sunsphere

Looking at UT from the Sunsphere

 1982...that was a million years ago!

Visit to the candy factory for some chocolate

Pizza and Monkey Ice in the park after a successful trip to the dentist

1st day of Spring at Rita's

Monster trucks and an act of kindness

I got tickets for the boys to see Monster Jam at Christmas and Andrew has been counting down the days until February 17th.  He has been so excited!  We got to go see Bounty Hunter and his driver the day before at Advanced Auto Parts.  Andrew knows a lot about monster trucks, but he managed to learn one more thing.  He asked the driver how you get into the truck since there are no doors.  The very simple answer is you climb in from underneath.  

While the guys went to watch trucks I let Evie choose what she wanted to do for a date night with mommy.  She picked Wasabi for dinner and a trip to McKay's to buy some new (used) books.  We had a great time and another family helped make our night even more special.  The couple that was sitting at our table along with their six children all went egg-free for the meal so Evie could eat from the grill.  She was so excited!  She loved being able to catch the rice that they toss into your mouth.  This is my least favorite part of the meal, but she was excited to try it.  Our cook made sure she caught it by making her close her eyes when she opened her mouth so he could get really close before tossing the rice.  Evie and I were both so appreciative of the family for eating egg-free with us.  She couldn't believe they were doing that just for her.  Years from now they will probably not remember us or their kind gesture, but I really don't think I will ever forget it.  It served as a reminder that a small act of kindness that isn't a big deal to me might make a big impact in someone else's life.  I've challenged myself to start looking for opportunities to do something nice for someone else, and I challenge you to do the same!   

Eating fried rice at Wasabi

Monster Jam!

Bounty Hunter

Happy Valentine's Day

I know this is very late, but it was cute and sweet so I want to remember it.  Evie has been talking about having a candlelight dinner for the past few weeks, so I decided Valentine's Day would be the perfect time to do it.  I got the table all set and called everyone in to eat.  Of course she was excited, but not for the reason I thought.  She said, "It's pretty and think how much energy we are saving by using candles."  I couldn't help but laugh at that point.  We wrapped up dinner with Corinthians 13:4-7.  While flowers and candy are wonderful, I want our kids to know what love is really about.  It's not easy to love the way the Bible tells us to, but it is definitely something to strive for.

Romantic Energy Efficient candle light dinner

Good as new!

Andrew got his cast taken off on Monday and got the great news that his xrays looked normal!  Other than having to sit out at recess and gym this wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be.  He made it 6 years before his first ER trip.  Maybe we can make it 6 more years before his next one!  Not holding my breath on that though.

Cast #1 survived for 2 weeks.  Apparently little boys are hard on casts and this was not surprising to KOC when I called to ask about a replacement.

 Cast #2

Completely healed!

 "No more cast" cookies!  

Allergy Free Mouse

As you know, we love Disney.  One of the many things we love about Disney is their willingness to work with special diets.  I recently had the chance to contribute a review to a website I used in planning our most recent trip to Disney World, Allergy Free Mouse.  If you have food allergies, are an allergy parent, or have friends with allergy kids I highly recommend this site as a planning tool for Disney World.  I submitted a post about our experience going on a Disney Cruise because there just isn't a ton of information out there about allergies onboard a cruise ship.  You can read it by clicking here.  It is part of a contest, so if you like it you can click the thumbs up button or the Facebook like button.  My kids would love to have $100 to spend at the Disney Store :)  Even if I don't win, I am thrilled to have been able to contribute something that may help another parent as they deal with food allergies.  I hope anyone who reads this site or my review will be encouraged.  Food allergies can be scary and exhausting, but thanks to modern medicine and special places like Disney they don't have to stop you from living a very full life!