Fun with Cousins this Fall

We had such a special time with Natalie, Addie and Doak! They came for a visit, and we were thrilled to have them in TN for a whole week! It was so fun to watch the kids playing together. It was also wonderful to spend time with Natalie. We grownups enjoyed our evenings of chai and chocolate ice cream, good movies and tv, and just chatting about all sorts of things! I feel so blessed to have such an amazing sister-in-law! I love every chance she and I get to hang out, and we got lots of good time in this week!

Our week was filled with activities and adventures!



So great to meet this sweet family at the airport! The kids were so excited! They gave such sweet hugs, then they got a little crazy and ran all around downstairs after we got the luggage and waited on Jeff to get the car.


Addie and Doak immediately became friends with Rocky! They were so sweet with him all week, and all the kids took turns feeding him and petting him. Rocky loved all of the attention!




Uncle Jeff takes Addie (and all the kids) for bear rides!



The kids ran all around out front and really used their imaginations going from playing princess and knight one minute to the Scooby Doo Gang the next.









I don't know what it is about this cabinet that is so irresistible, but there must be something really cool about it!



We made yummy Halloween cookies, and all of the kids helped!




Here we are, the whole Scooby Doo Gang! Our kiddos absolutely love Scooby Doo shows. Kiran has been saying for 2 months that he wanted to be Fred. Ellery decided to be Daphne. Jeff and I had talked about being part of the gang, as lots of grownups around here dress up for Halloween, but we were never totally committed. Apparently, we were committed in Kiran's mind, and at the last minute (literally), we were throwing costumes together. (Well, I couldn't find a Velma maternity shirt, but I guess Velma wasn't ever really too focused on style anyway! :)) It was totally worth the crazy time getting dressed because Kiran LOVED us all being in costume! Thanks to Erin and York for allowing Babar to come along with us on Halloween! He was such a sweety! All four kids did great on Halloween! It started raining hard after we went to our town's Halloween gathering, so we didn't get any trick-or-treating in, but we had a really fun night!


What an adorable butterfly and giraffe with Mommy!


The four cousins in costume!



We had a really nice picnic lunch and time seeing animals at a local museum on Sunday.

















Time at the State Park




Fun with riding toys behind our house!




A fun Monday morning at a gymnastics place!













Posing with our cute letter shirts from Cookie and Papa! Of course, we had to have a crazy Daddy with Daphne hair dancing to crazy music to get smiles from all!









More outside fun! We had a beautiful week outdoors with lots of sunshine! We got a wonderful walk in one day, but didn't take the cameras along. The kids picked up lots of leaves, berries and twigs, and they made beautiful craft projects with them when they got home!



Whoa, Addie, you have no fear!



More time with our big kitty!





More than a fair share of Scooby Doo watching this week!



On Wednesday, we went to the Knoxville Zoo!



The kids loved imitating the bird sounds, and here are Addie and Kiran flapping their wings, too!



Okay, so I thought this would be the highlight of the zoo trip until we got to the chimpanzees. The kids LOVED this old truck, and they imagined all kinds of trips in this vehicle - the "trip" that I remember is when Kiran explained they were going on a "safari to California!"





I thought the cheetahs were super cool! We had never seen them out before, and there they were just sunbathing right by the fence! (One of them did have a little tummy troubles while we observed, so that was interesting ;)





So, I think THIS was actually the winner for zoo highlight! The kids really enjoyed seeing the chimps, but when the baby, George started doing tricks for us, swinging right up to the window, we all had a blast!


Fun in the indoor play area at the zoo!

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All of our little mechanics!



Another picnic lunch!








After the zoo, Ellery and Doak slept while we drove to meet Jeff after work for ice cream. First, we played at a park, then went to our favorite ice cream shop! Yum!



Sweet Doak couldn't get enough of his chocolate treat, and he thought it was pretty funny that he got so messy! He was being careful holding his little fingers as far away as he could from the drips, but the treat was just too delicious to stop eating!





A fun last evening together in the leaves! Daddy came home early and made a huge leaf pile! What fun!



Saying goodbye is always hard to do.


Our own little black bears!


So long, sweet family! We already miss you so much! (Rocky misses you, too!) So much laughter and joy! The kids played really well together all week long! Keri, we can't wait to see you next time!

Addie, you have grown so much since this summer! It was fun to see you in action as a princess, little climber and athlete, as a graceful dancer and as a fabulous leaf collector and artist! Doak, our halls have been so quiet the past few days without trucks moving all around! It was fun to see how you have grown and to see you and Kiran bonding this trip with silly faces and songs! You are talking so well, and I love your sweet giggles! We love you all!

Fun Fall Photos

It's a . . .

Last Thursday, we had an ultrasound. We found out that our baby is very healthy! With Kiran and Ellery, we chose to wait and find out "boy or girl" at delivery. This time, we decided to do something different and learn a little more about who this baby is ahead of time. We are so excited to say that we have a baby GIRL on the way!

When we shared this with our kiddos, they had the sweetest reactions ever! Kiran immediately got a huge smile on his face and asked, "We're really going to have a sister?" "Yea!" Then while grabbing Ellery and hugging her really tightly, he said excitedly, "Yea! We're going to have a sister. Ellery, you're going to be a big sister, and I'm going to be another brother!" They were both shouting and being crazy! It was too cute!

We are way excited, and now it is just fun to think about holding this sweet baby girl in a few months!

New Tools, Backpacks, and the Superman Launch

Wow! We have had some fun and active days around our house lately. Let's see . . . what to talk about first?

To start, here are our VERY BIG KIDS in their first week of school. They are both attending a Parent's Day Out program at a local church. Kiran is in the Pre-K class with Ms. Jan and Ms. Gail, and attending 2 days a week. Ellery is in class one day a week with Ms. Susie and Ms. Melinda. This is a new school for Kiran, and it is Ellery's first time in a class setting. Both kids LOVED school this week and adjusted very well and they loved their backpacks and lunchboxes!

Here is Kiran on Tuesday! Notice the Superman lunchbox! He was very excited about that! I am amazed at the difference three months can make even with coloring. Kiran is so excited to show us his school work each day, and he is doing great work along with having fun. After his first day, I had to say, "Now please don't tell me about your teachers, please don't tell me about your new friends, stories, playtime, etc." just to get a little info out of my stinker who was being quiet with a little smirk. He finally gave me a little insight into his fun day. Then, he said, "Mom, since I was so brave, can we go get a treat?" So of course we went to our favorite place to get drinks and he got a tasty slush and being such a sweet brother, shared with Ellery. Here he is on his first day.



This is how I found him when I arrived at school. He had found a new book that he loved and wanted to tell me all about it.



This is a picture of Ellery on Kiran's first day and our first "Girls' Day" together!




And, here is a picture of Ellery on her first day, today! Every time when Kiran was asked about going to school by a friend or stranger, Ellery would pipe up and say, "I'm going to school on Tuesday!" She meant Thurs., but it was super cute! She got a fun report card today that said she played well with friends, ate most of her lunch, that she rested and that she had a great day overall!







The kids love posing for pictures together! I try and take advantage of it, knowing that one day, I might not get so lucky taking brother/sister shots.








Okay, here is a fun little surprise! I got to see our sweet new baby again today! I will be having more ultrasounds than ususal due to complications I seem to have during labor/delivery. I will be having an early, planned c-section this time which should take care of the problem, but my doctor is being extra cautious just to take all preventive measures. I have a wonderful doctor and am so grateful for her! In addition to being incredibly knowledgeable and skilled, she is also kind, down-to-earth, and something we have in common this time around is that she is pregnant, too!

Our baby is so adorable already! Jeff and I cannot believe how much the baby has changed in 4 weeks and looks like a real baby now! :) The best part for me was seeing the crazy moves Baby B. #3 is doing in there! Baby must have learned a lot during Kiran and Ellery's swim lessons because he/she has mastered the Superman Launch (pushing hard off the bottom of my uterus, moving fast to the top, floating back down and then doing the whole thing over and over again)! It was sooo cool - apparently, babies move around so much more at this time because they have the room to do so, but I wasn't envisioning all-out acrobatics! I also got to see Baby taking drinks - who knew? I guess I've read about what they are doing, but to see it makes it much more real somehow! So, here is this little guy or gal!







The kids are so sweet about the baby! Ellery is always asking, "Mommy, where's your baby?" Then says, "I'll kiss the baby!" Or, "Mommy, baby's in your belly!? It's coming to see me!" Of course, the whole 9 months thing is really getting long! Kiran is so sweet too, loves kissing my belly and talking about have more people in our family - he loves this idea and actually counted to 20 kids when asked if he would like having a brother or sister. To clarify, we will not be having 20 kids!



Here I am at 12 1/2 weeks! My goodness, time flies! I definitely have a pooch - I guess what they say is true about getting bigger earlier with later babies.


Blogs have certainly been few and far between! I have so many summer photos to share one of these days, but we have been a little busy with selling our house (YES, WE ARE MOVING - not far, just a couple streets over!), buying a new one, thinking about packing and all of the other details of moving. I found out that I was pregnant while the kids and I were in TX - talk about keeping a secret! I didn't feel too much different then, though looking back I was pretty tired the 2nd week there. When I got home, though, I definitely started having more symptoms including all-day nausea (eating constantly helped) and crazy fatigue! I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat - it was actually pretty hilarious! The kids certainly got an extra dose of tv during those 3-4 weeks. I am happy to say I've been nausea-free for about 2 weeks and have had almost normal energy all day for 3 days! I had forgotten how it felt!


A random moment from today: Here are the kids digging, actually "digging to get the people out of the mine!" Not sure where that came from but so fun to hear their little imaginations running!





Thankfully, we (mostly Jeff and Bud) haven't had to do tons of work to have our house ready for the buyers. But, we've had a few projects here and there: putting a bead board ceiling in the bathroom, putting a new light fixture in the bathroom, laying flooring in the 2 bedrooms and installing trim, and just some general clean-up around the property. In the photo, you'll see a tool we've aquired in the last year, but we do have a couple of New Tools: an air compressor and (according to Jeff) a 16-gauge finishing nailer, 18-gauge brad nailer, and a narrow crown staple gun! I don't totally get it, but apparently air-powered ejection of metal is a male rite of passage! :)

Seriously, though, we have made huge progress toward finishing our to-do list on the house thanks to much help from our friend, Bud. He is so skilled with all things carpentry, and he is always willing to lend a hand. We are very grateful to him.



We are also incredibly grateful to Cookie for her help in getting our house ready to sell. She was here for a week and did so much work - she cleaned all of the windows, did a crazy good cleaning in our bathroom, and worked on several other projects. She also took care of the kids so that we could work. (Later, Jeff reminded me that Cookie came so he could work and I could sleep. Hey, I did work really hard at least one day! :) We had such a fun time with her and got a lot done, too! (More on this later!) Thank you, Debby, for everything!

From the front lines of parenthood

Serving kids Cantaloupe and Peaches:

Daddy: Kiran, how's your peach?

Kiran: Daddy, this is cantaloupe

Daddy: This part you're eating is a peach

Kiran: This is not a peach

Daddy: I'm quite sure it's a peach

Kiran: It's not a peach, it's cantaloupe

Daddy: Kiran, scientists agree that what you are eating is called a peach

Kiran (Loud and definitively): Well I'm NOT a scientist and this is NOT a peach!

Exciting News (or Underwater Superman)

Exciting News (or Underwater Superman)
Originally uploaded by amiandjeff

Happy Fourth of July!

At our town's 4th Celebration!

























At the pre-fireworks party at Craig and Laura's! Thanks for the beautiful dress, Ma! And for the very pretty and fun bow, Aunt Nat!