Gatlinburg, TN

On a whim, we decided to go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee this weekend. Bear had been wanting to go there for quite some time, so we figured we should go while we were still over in this part of the country. It's a little over a 5 hour drive (if all goes well), but of course, ours was longer. After leaving the house for the second time (we had to turn around and go back home to get Bear's meds) we were finally on our way there about 1730-ish. The trip seemed to be going very well...almost too well. Then, somewhere in Tennessee, Bear ran a red light trying to figure out where we were supposed to go, and of course, a cop was right there. He turned the corner to follow us, but never turned his lights on. He followed us for quite some time, but eventually had to pass us because we got behind a very slow driver, thank goodness. He never did pull us over! Then a little further down the road and around 10PM, I told Bear to turn and follow Hwy 441. He turned and it was this crazy twisting and hairpin winding road. Caitlyn, who had been sleeping for quite some time, woke up, and because of all the winding roads, proceeded to get sick all over herself. Poor kiddo! Only after we made it to some straighter roads did we realize that we had been following Hwy 411 instead of 441 (I hate it when I turn dyslexic!). So we had to go back through that nasty windy road to get back to where we should have been nearly an hour ago. We eventually made it to our hotel and got everyone in and ready for sleep. The first thing Caitlyn asked when we got to the hotel was "Do they have food here?". She was already feeling better. When we got up and around the next morning, it was time to go have some fun in Gatlinburg! The first thing we saw after breakfast was the Herbie car which Caitlyn loves, so she had to have her picture taken with him!



Next, we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. Some of the things in there were a little gruesome, but overall we had a lot of fun! Love the pic of Bear and Allison in the goofy mirror!

This chair is so huge that Allison couldn't get out of it by herself even with the steps there.

Both girls tried to climb in this humongous tire!
Then we went to the Ripley's Mirror Maze. That was certainly one of the highlights of the weekend! Before you go in, they make everyone put on plastic gloves so that there aren't finger prints all over the mirrors. Once you walk through the curtains, good luck to ya! There are no lights except for the strips of red lights on the floor, and there are mirrors all around you. Caitlyn did so well getting through there, so we let Allison have a turn at leading us. That was the funniest thing ever! She would take off running, and smack into a mirror, fall down and do it all over again. She eventually learned to keep her hands in front of herself. Instead of finger prints all over, there are little Allison face prints on their mirrors! We laughed so hard, and Allison was laughing too!The Ripley's Aquarium was by far the best one we have been to! There is a moving sidewalk that takes you in tubes underneath the aquarium, so you get an awesome view. Plus, you don't have to worry about people pushing their way through the crowds since the sidewalk moves you! And of course, you can get off if you want to gawk at something for an extended period of time.

One part of the aquarium is barely lit, which proved to be a little spooky, but cool too.
Here's me and the girls inside one of the little tanks where the seahorses were (my favorite critter of course!)
Caitlyn and Allison got to experience what it is like to be inside a fish bowl.
Caitlyn is staring at their enormous tank asking which fish we are going to get.
Lauren even enjoyed herself! She loves to look at our little fish tank at home, so this was really fun for her with all the different colors all over.
Allison would put her hand in the water, but wouldn't actually pet the horseshoe crabs...too scary for her!
And it was only natural that after we spent most of the day looking at fish, we went out and had fish for dinner! I ate shark which was a little scary at first, but very good! Bear had scallops for the first time and really enjoyed them. What I am going to miss the most about this area is the bluegrass bands which pop out and play just about anywhere. One was playing right below us while we were eating dinner!I had everyone get dressed up for an old western photo since the last one we did was 3 years ago and our family has changed just a little bit since then. I love Allison's face in this pic!

It was a very long, but fun-filled weekend! Best of all...we didn't get lost on the way home and no one got sick!!!

A call from the school

This morning a little before 10, the phone rang and it was Caitlyn's school. Instantly I was worried that something bad happened. The nurse was on the phone and said that Caitlyn was in her office complaining that her belly hurt. She said she would let me talk to Caitlyn and then decide what we were going to do. When Caitlyn got on the phone, she immediately started crying. I asked her what was wrong. She said her belly hurt. I asked her if she needed to go potty to which she whimpered no. I then asked if she felt like she was going to throw up, and again, she said no. I asked her once more what was making her belly hurt. She blubbered out "my belly hurts because it's hungry". I couldn't help but burst out laughing, even though my heart still went out to the poor little turkey. I told her that lunch was just a little over an hour away, and asked her if she could make it til then, and she said yes she could. The nurse got back on the phone and was concerned because of how much Caitlyn was crying. I told her that Caitlyn was fine, but was just hungry. So, the nurse took Caitlyn to get a snack, and then headed back to class. How can you not love this kid?!?!

Birthday party at Blazers

The girls were invited to go to a neighbor girl's birthday party at Blazers, which has a bunch of huge blow up jumping things for the kids to play on. They absolutely had a blast! Allison was a little timid at first, but as soon as Bear threw her in one (literally), she took off and had lots of fun. Trouble with her is that because she is so little, she was getting stuck on some of the obstacles and would get lost through the mazes. Thankfully she had lots of help getting around. She wanted to go down the big slide, but wouldn't go unless I went with her, so off we went. She giggled the whole way down and wanted to go again, and again, and again...

As soon as we came in the door, Caitlyn's shoes flew off and she was gone! We saw her for a little bit while everyone ate pizza and cake and opened presents, but then she was gone again. Every now and then we would hear her giggle and see a flash of her running to another obstacle.
I don't think we will get the chance to go back again, but the girls had a lot of fun celebrating Brooklyn's birthday. And the best part...they both crashed out as soon as we got home!

Kentucky State Fair

This weekend we decided to go to the Kentucky State Fair. Apparently we weren't thinking when we decided to do this, as this was the first weekend of the fair, so everyone and their brother was at the fair. Kentucky fairs aren't our favorite to go to...too many snobby people accompany their unreasonably priced horses that aren't good for much but expensive lawn ornaments, and they all think rules don't apply to them because they drive a Mercedes or a Lexus...ooh, I'm impressed! Anywho, once we made it through all the crowds and of course a couple stops at the bathrooms, it was time to go look at animals. We went to look at the chickens which proved later to be the highlight of our trip! Caitlyn went to look at the roosters, and said that this one was her favorite...this scrawny lookin' like it's inches from death rooster is her favorite. I laughed so hard and said she had to take a picture with him. Gotta love this kid.

So of course, Allison had to have a picture with her favorite chicken as well. She's so goofy.
When they were done posing with their chickens, we walked down the other aisles of chickens/roosters. The girls discovered that if they crowed at some of the roosters, they would crow back. Yeah, you know where this one is going. The rest of the time we were in there, all they did was crow at the roosters to see if they would do it back. Several of them did, which made the girls giggle hysterically. Allison was probably the funniest about it because initially she didn't want to crow, but rather growl. She's lucky she didn't get pooped on! And of course we had to go watch the border collies herd up some ducks (one of my favorite things to see). We missed out on all the horse stuff because it didn't start til the day after we went. We usually like to watch the draft horse pulls. It was a very long and exhausting day...my knees felt like they were on fire (guess it's time for a new pair of boots!), but it was a good family day none-the-less!

She finally did it!!!

Caitlyn finally realized that she can ride a 2-wheeler! She just needed a little confidence that she could really do it. A neighborhood kid came over with a tiny 2-wheeler, so Caitlyn got on, and Bear gave her a little push, and off she went riding all by herself without training wheels! Then she tried out another friend's bike that was a little bigger, and she could ride that one too! Her bike is the biggest one, so it took a little more work, but soon, she was off and riding like a mad-woman! She was so excited and only crashed a couple times, but I know she'll get better the more she does it. Soon she'll be riding all over the place...look mommy, no hands!

Allison of course wanted the training wheels off her bike right away, but Bear left them on for now. It wouldn't surprise me if she could do it though the way she rides her bike already! Gotta love her posing for a pic after we came back from our walk...she's too stinkin cute (just ask her!)! She has been doing wonderful with the potty training progress as well. I usually don't need to have her sit down anymore...she just goes on her own or asks if she needs help! I'm so proud of you Allison!!!
Lauren got a new chair that she seems to really enjoy! It can be either a stationary seat that lays back pretty far, or it can be converted into a rocking chair. She has been playing with the little elephants hanging down like crazy and talks to them a lot.
Gotta love my turkeys!!!

8 years ago...

Eight years ago, I met some more of Bear's family for the first time when they drove up to Oshkosh the day before our wedding. I had only been back home for 4 months from my AIT and had to quickly make arrangements for our wedding and my conversion to active duty. Bear was still in AIT out in Ft. Lewis and was flying in with the other guys standing up in our wedding the night before the festivities. His mom and dad went down to pick up the guys from the airport, and on their way back to Oshkosh, totaled their van, but by the grace of God, no one got hurt. And thank goodness that some of his family drove up in a big truck and another van, because the wrecked van had to be towed back to Kansas somehow, and the rest of his family needed somewhere else to ride! The morning before our wedding was absolutely crazy!!! We had to first get our marriage license (thankfully my dad worked for the county and hooked us up with a special meeting with the lady to get our license the same day as the wedding!!!), then we had our wedding rehearsal, the guys had to pick up their tuxes, the girls went to get our hair done, and after my mom's car died and she got a ride to the church, we were finally able to get married!



It has been a wonderful 8 years and I can't wait til we make it to our 50th! And to think that lots of people were questioning us and telling us that we were too young (19 & 20) and didn't know what we were doing, and that we wouldn't make it. We still love each other and have a very strong relationship..."Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate" Mark 10:9
Bear and I were able to go out to dinner with just us (and of course Lauren since she is still dependent on mom) while our neighbor watch Caitlyn and Allison. He even took me to get my toes done before dinner! I have heard our song "When you say nothing at all" by Alison Krauss several times over the past few days...that song still makes me melt! Anywho, enough mushy stuff for now. Bear, I love you more than you will ever know and couldn't have found a better husband if I searched all the earth! Like your ring says, forever yours in 3! I love you!!!

Our babies are getting big!

Lauren is now 3 months old and I'm guesstimating her to be around 15 pounds or so...the girl is a good eater!!! She just recently had her first bottle. Surprisingly enough, she took it better from me than her daddy. I had to give her some Karo syrup and water to get her bowels back on track, so it was 2 new things to take in at once, but she did very well. I'm confident that she'll get better with the bottle the more she is exposed to it, but so far she is doing good! No rice cereal yet...she is doing more than fine with just mommy's milk still! She is now in 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers, woohoo! She stays awake quite a bit and has some very ticklish arm pits! She still puts herself to sleep and doesn't want much to do with a pacifier of any kind (we have tried 3 different kinds, and she doesn't like any of them...doesn't bother me if she doesn't get attached to one!).


Scout on the other hand, seems to like Lauren's pacifier! He had a hard day of playing outside and crashed out by Bear on the couch. Since he was out so hard, Bear decided to have some fun with him. The goofy dog never woke up!

First day of Kindergarten

Where did the summer go?!?! For the kids that live on post, school started on 04 Aug (seems early, doesn't it?). Caitlyn was so excited for school to start. She has become very eager to start reading as of late and of course, couldn't wait to see all her friends from preschool. She is in a rather big class, 25 students! The last night before school started, which means early bedtimes, Bear set up the sprinkler for the girls in the backyard for them to burn off some energy and be able to get a good night sleep before the first day of school. They are such water worms...they loved it!
Caitlyn did an excellent job getting up in the morning and getting ready for school pretty quickly. Since we missed the open house night at her school due to being in Kansas, we wanted to get there extra early to meet her teacher and see the classroom and such. Before the bell rings for school to begin, all the kids have to gather in the cafeteria and sit at their assigned tables. Caitlyn was sitting down, but looked to be on the verge of tears. She came over by me and said she scratched her finger on something. I kissed it and said she would be fine. Then she asked how long I was going to stay there. I told her that I would stay until the bell rang, and then she would go to her class. She asked if I would come with her, which almost had me in tears, but I told her no, that her teacher would go with her. Then a bunch of her little friends showed up and she spent the rest of the time talking and giggling with them! When the bell rang, she got in line and went to her class. She looked a little nervous, but did great. And, I was very proud that neither of us cried! I had to take a couple pictures from her first day of school though!
Here is my Caitlyn, all ready to go!
Waiting in line to go to class at the start of the day.
Even though she is just in kindergarten, her teacher said that she will have homework almost every day! Nothing big...just coloring, counting, working on site words and the like. I'm so proud of you Caitlyn!!!

Continuing a barbaric tradition

Caitlyn and Allison both got their ears pierced when they were little bitty, so we thought we would do the same with Lauren (hence the barbaric tradition, he he!). She cried a little bit, but her daddy cuddled her up and made everything better! So, here is Lauren with her new fancy earrings showing everyone the new trick that her Mamaw taught her...to stick out her tongue!


Gotta love those chunky cheeks!!!

Mini garden gone wild!

Since we live on the military base, we are not supposed to have a garden. Oops! This is our second year having a garden and it is doing very well for no bigger than it is. Our biggest producer is the tomato plants. There are 4 celebrity (red tomatoes), 4 lemon boy (yellow tomatoes) and one grape tomato plant. This picture doesn't do them justice as each of them are over 6 feet tall! When we got back from Kansas, Bear picked 4 gallon buckets worth of veggies and had enough to give 3 other families some and still have a ton left over! Each day since we got home, another 10 or so have been picked. Our cucumber plant has been vining up the fence so the cucs have been growing in between the slats, making for some unusually shaped ones. The girls love to pick the ripe veggies and eat them right away. It is such a great learning experience that every kid should have!!!

An exhausting 2 weeks!!!

First of all I need to say a huge thanks to Bear's dad and brothers for all the help they gave us while we were working on our future home! And of course another huge thanks to Bear's mom for keeping watch over Caitlyn and Allison so we could get the work done without little ones getting into everything...we couldn't have gotten anything done without your help!!! We had a very busy and exhausting 2 weeks while in Kansas recently. Bear's time left in the Army is dwindling down quickly, so we were anxious to get some work done on the house to get it ready for us to move in and to be better prepared for winter. We put in new windows throughout the whole upstairs which were very badly needed! The first room upstairs that is going to be remodeled is the room that Caitlyn picked for her own, so we got busy taking the drop ceiling down and removing all the plaster (a very VERY dirty job that I know my parents are elated to be finished with in their own home!) that had been damaged from heat from the old chimney. We removed all the carpet from the house except for the room where we took the plaster out, but it will be coming out shortly as well. Under the kitchen carpet was some old vinyl flooring that needed to come out so we could put down some new tile. That proved to be an exhausting job, but it turned out well! After several applications of adhesive remover, all the goo left behind the vinyl was finally gone and Bear got busy laying down a new sub-flooring. While he was doing that, I laid new tile on the back porch! Once Bear got his portion of the floor done and the skim coat applied, it was time for me to start laying tiles down! This is a rather large kitchen, so it took a few days to get done, but we finished it just in time for our appliances to arrive at the house! The downstairs will get carpeted in the very near future, and we can't wait to see how that will look! We still have some more wallpaper to remove so we can start painting, but we made a lot of progress in just 2 short weeks!

The front of the house with new windows!

Back of the house after windows installed
Lauren getting her first tractor ride with her daddy

The kitchen with appliances and tile laid down
Love the new floor!!!
Bear getting dirty taking plaster down


The living room minus wallpaper and carpet


The dumpster, nearly full to the brim at the end of our 2 weeks.

The entire 2 weeks wasn't devoted to work...we did play a little. We made it out to a couple county fair parades. The girls got so much candy it was crazy, but they were fun to watch. Most of the time, Allison wouldn't even run out to get candy...the people would drop handfuls in her lap!!! When Caitlyn saw Ty riding her horse in the Jackson county parade, she said she would like to do that some day...who knows! I learned how to operate our riding mower...pathetic, I know, but it was exciting for me as growing up we only had push mowers. Sorry no pics! Our calves are getting big and have been weaned off the bottle. And Maggie has been getting in trouble again, this time killing 2 chickens! Allison shocked us all by making the whole trip there and back home without any accidents!!! Just writing about all this makes me tired again!

Scout

We would like to introduce the newest member of our family! He is about 11 weeks old with pretty hazel eyes. His name is Scout, and he is a chocolate and tan miniature dachshund (& Maggie's hopeful boyfriend). He does pretty well with kennel training, but still whines quite a bit when he doesn't get to come out and play when he wants to. Allison is very excited about this little puppy because she can carry him everywhere (that is if Caitlyn puts him down). Hopefully he won't develop allergies like Roscoe has. Gotta love these pics!!!