Our Playroom is Finished!

Paint is Geyser from Olympic and wall decals are from Byrdie Graphics

The red couches were found with a sign that said "free" in our neighborhood.  They recline and have movie theater style cup-holders.

The book display was a craigslist find and the green rocker was $1.99 at Goodwill.

The play kitchen was bought at a church rummage sale along with two large boxes of vintage wooden blocks totaling $50.

I can showcase the vintage Fisher Price Little People on the shelves along with some other consignment and thrift store finds.  The television and unit of course were bought new.  =o)  

Natalie and Noelle Visit the Smokies

Our family just got back from our little vacation.  Grandma Diane and Grandpa Ted were kind enough to invite us to their timeshare in Gatlinburg, TN.  It is an entrance town to The Great Smoky National Park.  We had a blast visiting the Hawkins Family there as well.  Natalie and Noelle flip out in joy any time we can visit any cousins.

  We swam in the pool with them and the grandparents, as well as going on a hike in the Smokies.

  Aunt Cathy was kind enough to provide us with a rare date night.. we love you Cathy!!  Did I mention that Aunt Cathy also cooked most of our dinners?  Our family also made it over to Dollywood and after forking over a hefty admission price, we had a blast on their rides and loved walking through the whole place.  Natalie and Noelle loved the 1950's car ride the best.  Momma loved the looping roller coaster that she got to go on since Dada was sweet enough to watch the girls.  We also went on the steam train and all the little kiddie rides.  A storm hit mid day which cost us an extra $20 in tacky Dollywood windbreakers but luckily, it was only temporary and the rest of the day, the weather was great.

  The next day, our family went on a hike called Laurel Falls in the Smokies.  The craziest thing happened to us.  As we were walking up the narrow trail, I noticed people pointing their cameras at the sky.  I looked up and saw a gigantic snake wrapped around the branches of a very tall tree right above us.  I snapped some photos and was about to leave when a woman asked me if I would take photos with her camera.  As I was trying to find the snake with her camera, the snake suddenly dropped from the tree, fell like a rock to the ground and landed with a solid thud about 5 feet away from me.  Natalie screamed at the top of her lungs and Noelle stood frozen to the trail.  I grabbed them and we flew away from the snake.  The snake slithered off in the direction away from those noisy hikers.  Pretty crazy!  We made it to the waterfall and got some photos.  It was beautiful but a bit crowded.

All in all, we had a fantastic trip!  Gatlinburg is a bit like Vegas without the casinos.  It has all the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museums and fake haunted houses, yet still is beautiful.  We are now back from our trip and I have painted the playroom and the kitchen area in our house.  It feels great to be getting our house looking nice.  I am very excited to be starting my training at the PB&J Day School tomorrow.  It is such a great school and both a wonderful place to work and fantastic environment for the girls.  It is going to be a wonderful school year!

Noelle's 3rd Birthday Party (A Bit Late!)

Due to our move and my new summer job, we are just now getting to having Noelle's party for her birthday that was last month.  We had a wonderful day in our new backyard.  The weather cooperated and it was gorgeous and not too hot.  A gigantic bounce castle sat in back of our fence and I put out picnic blankets, chairs and tables.  The big draw was the "make-your-own-ice cream sundae bar."  We had all the toppings including Reese's Pieces, Nerds, marshmallows, Captain Crunch, crushed cookies, cherries, and blueberries.  The party favor was a bowl and spoon for each child to have their ice cream in.  We also had bubbles, swinging on the rope swings, and the wonderful chatting of good friends.  What a memorable day.

Catching Up

Wow, somehow several months have slipped by and I have written nothing about what we have been doing lately.  Since I last wrote, our family has moved to a new house in Williamson County, TN and I have a new job at a wonderful preschool working as lead teacher this summer.  The girls are now attending school (or camp) full time while I teach and it has been wonderful for all of us.  I am so happy to be back in the classroom planning lessons and engaging the youngsters and at the same time, love knowing about the  experiences that the girls are getting in their own classrooms.  Noelle is in with the three year olds since she had her third birthday last month.  Her verbal ability seems to be bounding forward this summer.  Natalie is in the "big kid" class with several much older children.  This is great for her because her room offers her intellectual challenges.  The school has themed weeks in the summertime and we have already enjoyed learning about camping out, Dr. Seuss, fairy tales, and construction.  This week is all about water. While the girls are tired at the end of the day, they love their new school and I have really noticed how much older they seem just in a short period of time.  It is wonderful to have them in a classroom setting since they both seem to embrace classroom learning.  In the fall, I plan to be an assistant teacher in the same classroom  where I can sharpen my skills by watching a truly experienced preschool teacher.  I will also be teaching a couple of enrichment classes which I am very excited about.
    Our new house has been a lot of work but a lot of fun.  It has a gorgeous backyard that faces a wooded area where we can watch birds, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and cats since one neighbor has five of them!  We are currently getting a fence built by our other neighbor.  We have been blessed with good neighbors!  The upstairs of our house is basically the kid's wing with a playroom plus the girls' rooms and their bathroom.  Our master is on the first floor along with a living room, bathroom, kitchen, dining room, and glassed in porch where we eat our breakfast while watching the animals in the backyard.   We now have three rope swings in the backyard which will be behind our fence.  The girls really love the swings, to the point where I question whether or not to get them a regular swing set.  This summer, the girls have spent the evenings swinging on their rope swings and catching fire flies in our backyard.  One of our neighbors has a little girl and it is great when she comes over and plays.  We love our new house!
    Other highlights of the summer have been visits from Mimi and Poppa as well as most of the Weis clan.  Also, we took the girls on our first overnight camping trip which was a success complete with a campfire and smores.  The girls also were in the parent child dedication at church which was very special and memorable.

    This last weekend we took a day trip to Chattanooga which we had never taken the girls to before.  We visited the Chattanooga Aquarium and had a blast petting the sting rays and chasing the butterflies.  We ended up getting the year pass so hopefully we will be back soon!  Fourth of July was also a great time.  We went to our town's festival and even ran into our cool church pastor.  We feel so blessed by everything right now!  Here are a few photos from the last few months.  I promise to try to write again soon.  It has been an amazing summer.

Our New Backyard

Visit from Mimi and Poppa

Natalie got hold of the magic markers..

My new sassy three year old

Chihuly Exhibit at Cheekwood

First Day of Camp

First Camping Trip at Henry Horton Campground

Natalie and Noelle Parent Child Dedication at Church

A Tennis Lesson by Brothers

Noelle's Birthday Dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory where she loves the "Mac-n-teez"

Photos from Independence Day 

Our Trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium