I'll Keep Future Visits a Surprise!

At the Memphis Zoo entrance

My parents came to visit us for the weekend.  I think my mom was tired of hearing about all our zoo adventures and she wanted to see it for herself. :) Let me tell you what I was tired of--Hannah counting down the days for a week straight!! Every single morning the first thing she said, "Only (x) more days until Grendy and Papaw get here!" Oh my gosh! I started to think that I should keep their visit a surprise, but before I could tell Ryan my idea he had already told Hannah they were coming. Oh, well.  We spent Saturday morning at the zoo, lunch at Chick Fila, took a nap, and then they took the kids to their hotel for the night!  Ryan and I took advantage and had a date! We had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and saw the new Harry Potter (wonderful! I actually thought it was worth paying to see it in the theater!).  Sunday was church and then lunch at IHOP.  I actually ordered something light...kinda proud of myself. :) A great weekend and now the countdown to the Atlanta Zoo will begin!  Ten days!

Fun pics from the weekend:

post-zoo lunch at Chick Fila!

Autumn and Papaw at IHOP

cooling off at a misting station at the zoo...those things are amazing!

hanging out at the herpatarium

Grendy and Hannah at IHOP

Hannah and this super huge python..wow

Julie and Splish get a drink :)

lounging at the pool at Grendy and Papaw's hotel

Grendy comforting Autumn on the carousel...oy

rattlesnake!

Ryan is amazed by the steampot at Joe's!

sea lion show! so cute!

sweet sisters

A Great and Fun Visit!

Miss me? Yeah, I figured. ;) For four days I was in Clarksville visiting family. I went there for a friend's birthday party, the 4th, and my dad's birthday--just me and the kids.  Yep yep. But praise the Lord both trips to and from went very smooth. :)

After two years my parents were finally able to get a new liner on the pool and fill it up again! Both Autumn and Emma were in utero last time the pool was up and running. Nice they were able to actually see it in person this time. :)

We also had a birthday party to go to for my mom's friend's daughter.  Parker is only 10 months older than Hannah.  The party was at Chuck E Cheese, and I wasn't sure what to think about that. LOL But it was really fun and the kids of course loved it. Things were so crazy there we didn't even get a chance to get a pic with the birthday girl! :-/

We actually celebrated the 4th on the 3rd since there was a chance of storms, so we grilled out and shot off fireworks. The kids weren't too keen on the noise (or even the sparklers really), so after they were off at Grammie's spending the night we were able to enjoy it without anyone freaking out.

No, she did not set her foot on fire.

Emma the Brave

Looks like my mom's hair is on fire...or maybe it was!

Oooooooo.....aaaaaaah

Richard was also brave for holding a sparkler :)

The 5th was my dad's birthday and we just had cake and ice cream.  The girls made their papaw cards and I got him a Clint Eastwood movie.  There is no telling what movies my parents have and don't have since they raid the $5 bin at Wal-Mart somewhat often. :)

A proud papaw and his "grandbeauties" :)

Like I said before, the trip to and from went very smooth and uneventful.  It wasn't until I was actually in Clarksville, at my parents' house before I turned totally stupid.  I broke the driver side mirror of my truck. It was originally dangling from the wire and my dad put it back on with black tape (definitely better than duct tape you usually see on cars :-p).  It was dark at the time so I couldn't find the mirror itself but my dad found it the next day. Yeeeeaaaaah. Good going, B.J.  What is so pathetic about the whole thing is I have been up and down that driveway at least 8 million times and never did such a stupid thing. Fortunately, Ryan found a used mirror on Ebay for $50 and it should be here any day now.  Ugh.  Guess it could be a lot worse.

Our next big trip is next month. The girl and I are going back to Clarksville and then a bunch of us are going to the Atlanta Zoo to meet our friend, Po the Panda! :) Should be great fun!

Christmas and officially moved out!

I suppose I should do a mandatory Christmas post. :) We were out the door at 4 AM to make the drive to Clarksville.  When we got there, the younger two (Autumn and Emma) were excited to play with the new Power Wheels Beetles from Grendy and Papaw! Hannah really enjoyed it, too, so I have a somewhat not so great feeling she might get one for her birthday. :-p I suppose it's better than the two of them fighting over the thing. Every year we open presents starting with the youngest first...we don't rush to the tree like a bunch of psycho maniacs.  I like having Christmas morning be civilized. :)  Our Christmas meal was awesome as well which we grazed on throughout the weekend. Gotta love pumpkin pie for dinner!

Two days after Christmas we finally had our move out inspection for our house in Clarksville and I am just thrilled to have it done and over with. We're getting a good chunk of our deposit aside from what they automatically take out for carpet cleaning.  After going down to Clarksville the last three weekends, it certainly will be nice to just stick around here this week.

I took these pics from my brother's Facebook.  Surprisingly I took very little of my own pics.  These are in no particular order.



Water bottles are awesome!




Save some room for lunch, Autumn!



Yum!

A bit excited over macaroni and cheese (it was homemade after all)



Pow-pow-power wheels!



I do not have a clue what I was doing or talking about!

This is Janie, my aunt's foster daughter.  She and Hannah
have become fast friends! :)



Bumblebee pillow pet!




Monkey pillow pet!




Unicorn and panda pillow pets!!



Don't let the sweet face fool you!

White Christmas...what a concept

Week in Review #9



painting pumpkins--less messy than
carving :)

 This is our first week without Ryan and things have gone surprisingly well! I know I should have had more confidence in myself, but I didn't. Sue me. :-p Ryan is now home for the weekend and we are so thrilled!



playing musical hats

Monday - Fall festival with the homeschool group.  Hannah had a blast and Autumn just kind of stood around taking it all in. Afterward we visited my grandma and had lunch with her.  After we got home Hannah got a bit whiny while we were doing Geography so I told her that the new is that if she gets whiny it means she's tired.  I sent her back to bed where she slept for about an hour. During the day while Autumn is up I will have Hannah do school work she can easily do on her own with very little direction(addition problems, handwriting).  After Autumn goes to bed I can focus on the subjects that require more of my attention like reading and geography.  Around 4:30 my mom came over to stay with the girls while I went to the gym.  She's going to come over a couple times a week while Ryan is gone so I can go to the gym. Such a godsend!

Tuesday -  After nap/quiet time, I called my dad and he came over so I could go to the gym yet again. :-D The girls had a great time, especially since their beloved Papaw brought pizza rolls and chocolate milk! Once again, we did school work after Autumn went to bed and all went wonderfully! We started a new reading lesson (#6 out of 20) and Hannah did great! We're reading the different 'e' sounds like, "need" "meat" and "bee".  Also the sounds for 'l' and 'p' but those are easy. ;)



Hannah and Kracker Bear,
who is practically our 3rd child ;)

 Wednesday - A more lazy day today. No gym for me so I pulled the girls around in the wagon for my exercise, loving the cool fall weather! Fall is way to short if you ask me.  Autumn took a late nap so Hannah and I were able to get some school work done.  We did a lot of math since for right now it's tapered off and is just review for the time being. The kids kept picking at each other, so I was most looking forward to taking them to their respective classes at church and bidding them farewell for an hour. :)

Thursday - I was not really in the mood to do school, but we got three subjects done before I knew it. My mom came over to watch the kids while I went to the gym, and Hannah was most excited to read to her. The latest reader is about a crab who grabbed a ham...something to that effect. :-p


how I felt a good portion of the week--
reckon it just comes with motherhood :p


Friday - Today was particular stressful for me. I think after Ryan being away for almost a week I was feeling burnt out.  My fuse was a bit short, praise the Lord we made it through the day.  Hannah was amazing, because she started picking up the living room without me even telling her. "I"m picking up the toys fast!" she said.  She even stops what ever she's doing and asks to pray for me. What have I done to deserve such a child?