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!

Louisville Point

We headed out to Louisville Point on our weekend about a week ago to let the kids play and enjoy the sunshine. It is soooo beautiful out there!

Well Check-Ups

We had Kate's 1 year check up today with Dr. Bean. She weighed in at 16 pounds and 11 ounces with her socks and diaper on. I'm not sure why they didn't strip her down to weigh her today. She's in the 3rd percentile for weight. Her length was at 28 1/2 inches and put her in the 25th percentile. Her head was in the 55th percentile. She looks perfectly healthy and is developing as she should, so everything is fine. It's a little frustrating that her percentiles keep moving down when she eats like a little piggy. Kate got 4 shots today, but is doing well with a dose of Tylenol so far. Poor pumpkin.
Rachel had her 4 year (well, 4 1/2 year) well check up -- She weighed in (fully dressed/no shoes) at 40 pounds, in the 75th percentile and was 43 inches tall, in the 90th percentile for height. She is perfectly healthy and developing normally as well. =) She got 3 of her 6 Kindergarten shots today and will recieve the other 3 at next years well check. She was tough and hardly cried. I had let her know they might give her some shots and promised that if she did well we would get her a chocolate shake (no cherry) at Chickfila. She was a trooper and was enjoying her shake not too long after the appointment was over.
Noah has his 7 year check up next week -- It will be interesting to see what his stats are.

Celebrating Easter

We spent the day celebrating Easter surrounded by family. After the kids tore their baskets apart and had breakfast they hurried outside to hunt for the eggs that the Easter Bunny had left in our yard here around the condo. When they were finished hunting and then opening up every egg, we packed up and headed over to Mom's house. Doug had to work from 6 - 2, so we spent the better part of the morning and afternoon over there with Mom, Uncle Brian and Christina's family. The kids played on the swing set and chased frisbees and balls while the adults enjoyed each other's company and watched the kids. After a delicious lunch we followed the kids outside to watch them hunt for eggs. Later in the evening we joined Doug's Mom and Dad for a cookout. We had a nice time eating good food and enjoying their company. The kids scored more Easter candy - big chocolate bunnies from Grammy and Papa! It was a really nice day over all. So very glad we are here and can share our days and holidays with our family.