Creeking!

We spent a little of time playing in a mountain stream in Gatlinburg.  It was perfectly clear and icy cold!  I stood in it up to my ankles for less than three minutes and I had to get out!

Roover Girl was pretty chilly as well, so she just stood on the rocks.

Carter and Doc were pretty brave.  They were both in the water past their knees.

Then Daddy found a crayfish to show to everyone.  And.....everyone was out of the water in three seconds flat.  I may not be able to ever get Carter in a stream again!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Our Superhero!

Thank you for all that you do.  Thank you for being the best husband and Daddy. Today is going to be a low-key day returning from our trip, but we will be sure to celebrate with pizza and ice cream.  We love you!

Gatlinburg - Sugarlands Visitor Center and Cataract Falls

We just wrapped up a fantastic week in Gatlinburg that we spent with family.  We went with Bo and Grandma, Uncle Jay, Aunt Tiff and cousin Andrew.  We had a fantastic time and nobody wanted to leave!  Poor Ava sobbed on and off for about 45 minutes once we got into the car to drive home.  But we made it home safe and sound and here are some pictures from our first day.  We visited the Sugarlands Visitor Center and hiked to Cataract Falls.

Investigating a tree stump

Ava had a ball hiking with her Bo.  He likes to hike quickly while Dawson has the three year old meander.  So Ava would take off with her Bo.  She nicknamed his Bo Bo and Bo-ey on this trip!

The Five of us at Cataract Falls

The kids had a ball climbing on the rocks and exploring the area.

Lots more pictures to come!!

Pictures from the Week

(Read in your best Oprah voice)

You're getting underwear and you're getting underwear and you're getting underwear!!!

You would think it was Christmas day!

But Dawson was very excited about his dusty underpants!

Pretty Roover, we had so much fun this afternoon making clover crowns and necklaces.  She also spent a lot of time practicing riding her bike without training wheels.  I really think this is going to be her summer to master it!

Carter and I played baseball, he is doing such a great job hitting the ball when I pitch it to him.  I'm having so much fun playing modified baseball games with the kids!  

Our first falling out of a tree injury.  Poor kid, I didn't see the fall but I heard the thud.  He did recover pretty quickly, but even with ice he has quite the egg on his head.  

Safety Village

This morning Carter had his graduation from Safety Village.  He had a blast this week and he loved telling me all about fire safety, bike safety and watercraft safety.

Carter, Ava and Dawson 

There was a cookout afterward with hot dogs, popsicles and cookies.

What a fun week!  

Nickajack Farm

This week we headed out to Nickajack Farm to experience all it had to offer!  Ava has been really interested in horses lately, so she was in seventh heaven to get a horse ride.

It is so fun to watch her ride the horse with a big grin on her face.

Dawson hopped right up on that horse like he did it every day.

Carter boy 

But there is so much to enjoy at the farm.  

Pretend Cow Milking

Picture taking!!

Wallowing in the corn pit

They spent at least an hour in the discovery barn.  It has a grocery store, corn pit, corn conveyor belt and they added a bunch of items for dramatic play:  bridles, cowboy outfits, horse baby bottles, and leg wraps for the horses.  Ava at one point had two "horses" and was riding them around the barn.

Our Little group on the pedal cars, another favorite.  We were there forever riding the carts.  This was the first time that all of my three kids could pedal the cart by themselves.  They had a ball!

With all this outside play, bedtime has been a breeze this last week!

Our Weekend

Despite the fact that I spent 1,342 hours this weekend painting the new bedroom, we did manage to spend some fun time together as a family.

Saturday morning we ran out to pick up some paint and realized that it was the build and grow workshop that morning.  We totally planned that, right?

Anyways, the kids (especially Carter) love these workshops.  This month the kids built lawnmowers.  Besides a little direction from Mike and I, Carter built most of it by himself!  Dawson needed plenty of help, but he enjoyed hammering the table with the screw driver.  Ava bashed her finger at one of these workshops, so now she dosen't like to help.  We will work on her though!

Orange, pink and blue Tractors

We also had our book club dinner this weekend.  We read Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  It was a repeat for Carter, but new for Dawson and Ava.  I had some art projects planned, but life got in the way so we never got to them.  We did enjoy our dinner and a little discussion about the story.  Violet has the gum with roast and potatoes, so that was going to be our dinner.  But Carter decided that we needed to have steak instead, a new obsession for him.  But desert was right on theme......  

Chocolate River fondue!!!

They had a blast dipping fruit, marshmallows and pretzels in chocolate.

One of the sweetest answers during dinner came from Ava; the question was how is your family similar and different from Charlie Bucket and his family?  Ava answered that we have good kids in our family just like Charlie Bucket.  Aww, I must agree!

Can you tell that Dockie enjoyed his chocolate fondue?