My Blog Is Taking A Vacation

A vacation from what? Blogging. To be frank, my blog needs a rest (the "blogger" also). Tired of reporting happenings and uploading photos. Tired of worrying about not posting every event and trying to figure out if the picture posted best captures the moment trying to be described.

I am not sure what exotic location my blog will pretend to be at while taking a rest, but I assure you it will be back shortly and will blog all about it.

Have a great summer!

Fun With Cousins

Dawson and Sophia came to our house for Tyler's birthday party and were mine glad to see them! They played, laughed and had the best time together!!!

River Raft Birthday Continued...

River Rafting Birthday!

Tyler turned 5 yesterday and we celebrated last Friday by having a river rafting birthday party! His cousins came from Tennessee and he invited some friends to join in on the adventure. The group took 2 big rafts down the Tuskaseegee River about a mile and then were shuttled back for pizza and raft cupcakes.

I made the cupcakes with chocolate covered pretzels as the floats- not Martha Stewart, but they were fine.

The group all suited up and ready to sail. Everyone loaded up in the rafts with the birthday boy getting an ore.

Tyler had a wonderful time- thank you to all family and friends for making his birthday so special!

July Oak Ridge Trip

While Tommy has been in Utah for work this week, the kids and I went to Tennessee to see family for a few days. It was a very fast and interesting weekend. Of course we enjoyed getting to spend time with family, but unfortunately I became debilitating ill once I arrived at my mom's house (I am all better now) and it made for a very long few days for everyone.

Ella is going through a very clingy phase in which she only wants to be held by me- which added to the challenge. These are a few pictures I did manage to get of my grandmother holding her without her pitching a fit.

Carson on the other hand very much bonded and had some quality time with my her- his favorite thing was to ride up the stairs in her lap on the electric chair.

A special thank you to all of my family who helped entertain/hold/feed my kids while I recovered. This was an interesting blog post wasn't it?

Bath Time With The Babies

Tyler's Day at Splash Country

Tyler and I headed to Dollywood Splash Country to celebrate his upcoming 5th birthday. It was wonderful getting to spend the day with him, just the two of us. Below is a slideshow of a few shots from our trip. Tyler very well may have had the best day of is 1822 days.



What you cannot see here is Tyler swimming. Yes, the child that would rarely duck his head underwater and certainly would not jump from the diving board a week ago all the sudden started swimming and diving from the side of the pool. Below is the best shot I got from the disposable waterproof camera I had.

July Wedding

We had a wonderful time tonight at our friends house celebrating the Fourth of July grilling out and just laughing. Tyler had a wonderful time seeing his friends and playing dress up. Little did he know what he was getting dressed up for- a mock wedding! Nothing too fancy, Ellie just wanted to show him what she had learned from being a flower girl in a wedding this summer. With Tyler being the only boy, he got the honor of being the groom while Lily stood in as the brides maid. Tommy played the role of wedding photographer.

They just all stood together on the porch for a while while Tyler tried on hats and
then proceeded to the front yard to enjoy their first dance.

And last, they hopped on the bicycle to leave the ceremony. Yep, that is all there is to it!

Fireworks

Tonight our county put on fireworks and we did not even have to leave our own back yard to enjoy them. With the location of our house, the firework show takes place literally on the other side of the mountain from where we live. It almost feels like we are getting a private showing. We went to a downtown festival for about an hour tonight and then rushed home to get a bath and in pajamas before the show started. The boys waited anxiously for it to begin. Carson sat still as a mouse and watched in awe- both loved it.

Tyler and Carson sitting in their Artic Cat waiting on the first firework.

The pictures do not do it justice, my camera had trouble focusing in on the lights at night- but it was beautiful!

Preparing for the 4th...

Inspired last night by someone telling us at an outdoor concert how to make the perfectly weighted home made hula hoop, we headed to Lowe's this morning. Tyler proved last night that he has magically learned to hula hoop like a pro (embarrassingly enough to admit, we think he learned how on the wii fit). Tommy and I were busy at work making several hoops for the members of our family and special visiting guests while the kids took a nap.

Also in preparation for tomorrow, we all went berry picking this morning- our subdivision has tons of blackberry bushes. We have been checking on them daily for weeks now waiting for them to ripen. We were determined to beat the birds. I will try to remember to take a photo of what they look like in my blackberry cobbler tomorrow before it is all eaten.

And everyone knows one cannot devour cobbler without homemade ice cream! So our 4th is to include (but not limited to) going over to a friends house to grill out, blackberry cobbler and ice cream...and we will be taking our hoops with us.