Last Day of Preschool..... 'till Next Fall!

Today was Rachel's last day of preschool until next fall. They had planned a 'Beach Day' for the last day, but the weather wasn't agreable, so the kids got to jump in a big bounce house, blow bubbles, play chalk and sand. She said it was almost as good as 'Beach Day'. She loves school so much and she was sad that it was ending. I let her know she'll get to go back next fall and she'll see her friends and make new ones too!

Mother's Day 2010

I had a wonderful Mother's day this year - Might be one of the best ever! It actually started early in the weekend when Noah and Rachel both came home with Mother's Day gifts for me from school. Rachel brought me a cute little pack of seeds (flowers) from school with a sweet note attached to the envelope. Noah surprised me with a beautiful hand painted flower pot and a card he made at school. He couldn't wait to give it to me. I loved it! Plus, I had a pretty pot to plant my seeds that Rachel had given me in! ;) Sunday started with Doug taking me, the kids and Mom out for a yummy pancake breakfast (my favorite!). It was pretty special that I got to share the morning with my mom. It was wonderful to be able to share Mother's Day with Mom after so many years of living away from her. After breakfast we went over to Mom's for a little bit and she offered to take care of Kate for us while the rest of us went up to spend the day at Dollywood. We had such a great day riding on the rides, seeing the sights and sharing the inevitable funnel cake - YUM! I love seeing the kids faces as they enjoy the park. I remember so many vivid details about my childhood trips to Dollywood and Silver Dollar City before that. It is so cool to see how much they enjoy it now too! I got to ride the coasters (my favorites!!!) that I love... I told Doug as I looked at the pictures after the rides that they take of you, my face was just plastered with joy. I'm like a big kid when it comes to roller coasters. Rachel went on her very first roller coaster - the Blazing Fury, which was also the first coaster I ever went on as well! She was pretty freaked out. When we asked if she wanted to go again, we got a very definite "No!". Maybe next time. Noah is still as brave as ever going on all of them, saying he loved them, and having the "OH CRAP!" look on his face in all the pictures. So funny. I had such a great day. Every part of it was really nice. I adore my family. They do so much for me and show me how much they love me every single day of the year and that is the most awesome thing. I hope all you moms out there had a wonderful day yesterday filled with the people you love!

Green Beans, Cherry Tomatoes, and 'some kind of flower'

Noah brought me a beautiful hand painted flower pot home for Mother's Day this year and Rachel brought me some seeds - "Some kind of flower, Mommy". I figured the little pot Noah painted for me was the perfect place to plant my Mother's Day seeds from Rachel. I let Rachel plant the seeds in the pot and Noah also had brought home some cherry tomatoes he had planted at school, so he got to re-pot those into a pot for our deck. So far we have the green bean plant that Rachel brought home that she planted at her school and Noah's cherry tomato plant that he started at his school. It was cute to watch them planting - they love to help with any and all gardening that I might try around here. I don't have the greenest thumb, so I'm hoping they do!

Rachel's First Trip To The Dentist

Rachel had a her first trip to the dentist this morning. She was very nervous, but she did great! She sat patiently waiting until they called her back and then climbed up in the big chair. She was good while they looked at her teeth, cleaned them, x-rayed them and then the doctor checked them. The only thing that was questioned was where her front baby tooth had been knocked when she first started walking. They will be sending that x-ray to a pediatric pedidontist for checking. They didn't think there was any serious problems, but wanted to be sure. Hopefully that will all come back with the okay. She was happy to have sparkly teeth and a case with a new Ariel toothbrush, Ariel flosser, toothpaste and floss. She also got to make a trip to the treasure box and picked out a sparkly pink ball.

Soccer Saturday

Saturday Noah had another soccer game after having a bye week last week. Grammy and Papa surprised us and came to watch Noah's game. His team got crushed this week, but it was fun to watch the kids play anyway. Noah tried out a couple of different postitions this week and decided that defender was a hard spot to play. He prefers playing as the attacker. It was interesting watching the kids try out the different positions. Rachel always enjoys the soccer games - she either picks all the flowers (clover) off of the field or spends her time turning cartwheels. Poor Kate wasn't feeling well - she has been running a fever this weekend and we aren't sure if it is teething related or not, but those top four teeth that have been 'right there' for about a month now have finally decided to cut through. Poor pumpkin.

T-Rex

First of all, I have to share with you that I was taken through the process of making this awesome dinosaur every step of the way. Noah came home from school a couple of weeks ago telling me about how he made a Tyranasaurus Rex dinosaur out of clay in art class that day. He told me how most of the kids had made Brontosauruses, but he had wanted to make a T-Rex. He was very proud of this little guy, although, the way he told me about it, I thought it had to have been about two feet tall. So cute. The next week (they only go to art one day a week) he came home telling me about how the teacher had fired it in the kiln and that very day they had painted them with special paint (glaze) and that soon they would get to bring them home. We talked about the kiln and the glaze and how it works and I was looking forward to seeing his work of art. Today it came home. He pulled a giant ball of newspaper out of his bag and excitedly showed it to Doug and I. This wonderful green monster - his T-Rex. Awesome! =)

Happy Birthday Chris! =)

Wishing Christina a Happy Birthday today as she celebrates 34 years! We enjoyed hanging out last night and helping you celebrate a little bit early. =) Hope you have a wonderful day!

In and Out, Repeat

Since the weather has been so nice we have been spending a lot more time outdoors and Kate loves being outside. It is her most favorite thing to do. We sometimes leave the back door open to let fresh air in and also so Phoebe can go out and lay in the sunshine on the deck. After Kate woke up she was delighted to find the door open and she would crawl in and out, in and out, in and out just over the door step. It was funny - she must have done that for half an hour or more. I'm not sure what was so pleasing about it, but it sure made her happy and kept her busy. Rachel was happy to play along for a little while too.

Easy Bake Oven

These pictures are from a few weeks back, but I love them. Rachel got an Easy Bake Oven for her birthday and she loves making little cookies, cakes, brownies and pretzals in it. What ever we can find in the packets really is good enough for her. She loves that it is her oven and she gets to mix, make and then eat the results! After putting her cookies in the oven she ran down and changed into her jammies, then came back up to enjoy her little batch of sugar cookies.

Cades Cove Picnic

We loaded up the kids and headed to Cades Cove on Sunday evening for a picnic -- The weather could not have been more gorgeous and the kids always love a picnic. The food was simple -- hotdogs, chips, fruit and yogurt (okay, the yogurt was mostly for Kate -- She ate FOUR cups of it!). Oh, and roasted marshmallows, of course. Doug was telling me before we left Rachel turned to him and said "Daddy, I know we have the most important thing -- Because I checked - Marshmallows!" She is so funny these days with the things she says. After we ate the kids enjoyed playing in the river -- wading in and playing with cups. Noah enjoyed making the yuckiest mud milkshakes possible and then offering us a 'drink'. Rachel of course took a dive and fell over getting herself soaked. Note to self: Still love that I make Noah wear undershirts -- it saves the day for a very wet and cold younger sister! I guess I still need to keep an extra outfit for each of them in the car. All in all it was a great trip - very relaxing and fun. I hope there will be many more of them!