Vacation in Gatlinburg

We have been wanting to take the kids to Wilderness at the Smokies for some time now.  However, every time we have the time, we don't have the money, and vice versa.  We finally decided to just do it!  So, I called and made the reservations.  We ended up getting a BOGO free rate and spent a little less than we thought we would on the room, which was good.  We decided to use that extra money and go to Wonderworks, which is a very cool, very fun science/art oriented museum.  The day before we left for vacation, I found out that it was home school week at Wonderworks.  We got in for about half the regular admission!  That was a blessing.  We were able to take the family out to dinner with the money we saved there.  Jacob wanted to see the Titanic, so we walked around it, but did not go in.  All in all, it was a great trip.  The kids behaved very well and had a ton of fun! 

3 of the kids in front of Wonderworks

Josiah in a capsule

Josiah in a flight simulator

Bubbles!

Lexi & Madi on the anti-gravity bikes

Lexi & Jake on the rock climbing wall

Jake suiting up for the space walk

John & Jake on space walk

Jake on rock climbing wall

Lexi at the top!

Siah on the pulley chairs

Lexi & Madi by the anchor of the Titanic

Kids in front of Titanic

Sweet kids! 

The boys inside the "iceberg"

The girls inside the "iceberg"

Titanic

Boys by the anchor

The Kids

Daddy & Siah riding waves

Jake in the hot tub

John & 3 of them in the wave pool

Siah

My girls

My beautiful family!

My sweet boys!

My babies

Time to go home!

Breakfast Smoothie

1/2 Cup Orange Juice

 1/2 Cup Any Yogurt

One Banana

 Handful of Spinach (I promise, you won't taste it!)

 1 Cup Frozen Fruit

 Blend together.  If too thick, add water.

 All Done!

Enjoy!! 

My Girls' Vacations

On Thursday, my sister-in-law, Brenda & her children came over for a visit.  We had already made plans that she would take Madi home with her so she could spend a week with several of her cousins.  I took off to McMinnville to get a much needed massage, so didn't get to give Madi that "one last hug"!  She was off to East TN to have a vacation with family.  I am happy for her, as children need breaks from time to time just like we parents. 
Today, Lexi's vacation plans were carried out.  She has been anticipating for weeks now her trip to Mt. Juliet with her best friend, Juliet, and her grandparents.  We went to church this morning and then I took her to lunch in Cookeville.  Afterward, we met "Grandma T", and Lexi was off on her adventure. 
Who knows what this week will hold with myself and my boys?  I am going to try to make it a fun time.

Pictures of the Damage! :(

The Unauthorized Haircut

Well, today has been quite eventful so far! The boys were left unsupervised for a little bit while I was working in the office. They were in the shed and when I went to check on them, Josiah had a big blob of candle wax stuck in his blonde locks! So, I'm thinking, guess I'll have to cut it out! (Gasp!) You all know how I feel about his hair!! Well, I got it combed out a bit and washed it real good in the bath, but it was still a little sticky! I went back to work and left the boys playing in Jake's room. You know that's not the end of the story, right?

...I went in to check on my boys and to my astonishment, I found locks of beautiful blonde hair on Lexi's bed. I guess you shouldn't leave a 5 year old in charge of his little brother! Needless to say, I was very upset and Jake got the paddle! So, now Josiah kind of has a mullet...Welcome to Tennessee, right? lol Just kidding, we love it here!

More to come (I'm sure!) ...

As many of you know, I started a cooking business a few weeks ago. Last Thursday we had a nice thunderstorm here and the power went out briefly. I had already made my desserts for a catering event, thank goodness, because after the power outage, my oven went on the fritz! It decided not to heat up all the way! My clients for the evening had to finish cooking their food at home! Terrible right? That's not the end! I used my oven again and it seemed fine, so I thought, well maybe it was just something to do with a breaker.

Today was a really good day - up until about 2:00. I made some yummy chicken salad and started preparing my meals for this evening. "Mema" was up visiting. I was ready to put my entree in the oven and what do you think happened? That's right!! Oven pooped out!! Luckily, I have the best Mother-in-law in the world because she took my food to her house and cooked it for me! I ended up taking everything over there to finish it off for my clients! The food was delivered and it was piping hot!

It seems when things go bad, you can always see a blessing coming out of it. We are getting a second oven to help out in the business. Kathy has one she is giving to us to use! She is a blessing to me, not just because she helps me, but because she has given me a friend! We have a lot of fun together, talking and joking, and just being ourselves!

Life Blog - New Idea

Ok, so I went to see Julie and Julia last night with Kathy (my Mother-in-law) and we had a great time. This morning, she suggested I start a blog on something. We decided it would be a fun thing to look back on over the months. The subject? Our life! So many silly things happen to us every day! Some might be just ordinary stressful situations, or really funny things. Here goes...

Last night, during the movie, she wanted to eat a piece of candy ( we had smuggled in ). She was trying to conceal it with her purse while opening. She proceeds to dig in with her thumbnail and I hear her mutter, "What in the world?!?". She thought she was getting a Starburst when she was actually beheading a Snickers bar. She is smelling her finger and biting chocolate out of her thumbnail. For some reason (this might not be as funny to you, but as they say, you had to be there!) this sent us into a fit of laughter! We laughed so hard I thought we were going to have to make a trip to the bathroom!! This went on for a few minutes. She practically cried and we could not breathe!

Her shoes felt very uncomfortable and she expressed to me that she thought she might have two different shoe sizes on. So, I am holding them up, comparing them, and sure enough, they were different! I guess you never know what you are going to get on the clearance rack! She put them on and rested her feet on the bar in front of us. One side was obviously bigger than the other one! Did we laugh again? You bet, another fit of laughter that left her crying and me almost wetting myself. All of this before the previews even began!