Swimming lessons

Taryn has been taking swimming lessons from one of my girls who was in my young womens. Lauren Meek is the best swim instructor.  She is so patient with Taryn and so good at 

showing and having kids participate. I am so glad she does this. It has been good for Missy Moo.

Last Hurrah With Friends.

Taryn and Ava Butte have become such cute friends. Ava is like a big sister to Taryn and always includes her. 

Tyson and Max are good buddies.  They have become such good friends in a short time. The sad part about it all is the Butte family is moving next week. 

We decided to have one great, big, last play date. We headed to McFee park with a big lunch picnic, roller skates, and all other manner of fun items for a massive afternoon of fun!!

Max and Tyson were all about roller derby with their skates and the remote controlled car. 

They raced cars, shot bows and water guns. And chased the dog who loved every minute of it. 

Cute friends. They had to play store one last time. 

It was such an awesome day had by all. It will be sad to see them leave. (Sniff Sniff)

Princesses and Pirates

Tonight I took the princess to an amazing show at the Knoxville Collusium. We watched Disney's Princess and Pirate Adventure.  It was the girls' turn at a night out and we had so fun! I kept this a secret from her for a long time.  I told her an hour before we needed to leave that I needed to get her dressed up in her princess dress and do her hair all pretty.  She kept asking, "Why mom?"  I wouldn't tell her until we were ready to leave.  Once I told her where we were going, she screamed and couldn't wait to get in the car.

Here we are ready to go to the show.

I got us amazing seats.  We were on the floor, seventh row. We could see it all.  As a preshow, Doc McStuffins came out and wowed the kids.  Taryn was all smiles.

This was taken right after Doc had finished her performance.  Taryn was so excited to see the princesses.

The princess show starred Sophia the First, whom Taryn loves.  It was like watching a cartoon episode but in real life.  Their costumes were amazing and great acting too.  Taryn sang all the songs and even jumped up and danced.

They had a 20 minute intermission, which was a needed bathroom break and then it was off to the novelty stands to find a trinket.  Funny thing was, most of the items they were selling we already had at home.  Taryn spotted the Sophia cup with a snow cone inside it and decided that was what she wanted.  I was okay with the price and the trinket. It would be used a lot at home for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Soon after making our purchase, Jake and the Neverland Pirates put on their show.  It was just as entertaining as the princess one, but in this show the characters flew across the stage using wires.  Taryn picked up on the wires pretty quickly, but she still thought it was neat.  

The show was amazing and Taryn was happy.  It was a great night for the two of us.  Now it is home, bed and off to Nashville tomorrow for some more fun!

Nashville Parthenon

The last Saturday of Spring Break, we look the kids and headed across to Nashville, TN, to see the Parthenon. I had heard about this Greek replica being in a park in Nashville, but we had never gone.  So on a sper-of-the-moment idea, we got up early, packed a picnic lunch and headed there.

The outside of the Parthenon was cool but the inside was so much better.  They had a painting gallery on the bottom level and on the top level was this ginormous statue of Athena.  The kids thought it was so neat. (They had also seen this place in the Percy Jackson movie The Lightening Thief) 

Athena is holding the God Nike.  I can't remember what he is significant for, but he was cool to see.

These griffin statues were all over and the kids wanted a picture of it.

In another room they had replicas of the top part of the Parthenon.  It had a plaque telling us all about who each statue was and what they were significant for at that time in history.

These tall bronze doors were at each end of the place.  We had to get a photo by one.

I love columns.

This is Athena's shield.  She has the head of Medusa to turn her foes to stone.  It was huge and gold, and so cool.

This is a shot of the bronze doors closed.

My little Greek soldiers.  They loved the Parthenon.  They thought all the cool things inside were interesting.  We stayed inside for about 2+ hours.

We had lunch in the park next to the Parthenon. It was fun to have a little picnic in the park as a family.

We needed some ice cream to finish off the day.  It was pricy, but it was yummy.  What a way to end Spring Break.  

Hardin Valley Bball

It is church ball time time here in Knoxville, TN.  Laura, myself and Kandice were the designated cheerleaders for our Hardin Valley YW.  I felt like we were back in high school again cheering on the team.

My amazing girls. Sarah, Elizabeth, Baryn, Morgan, Kate, Kimmy, Becca.  These girls went from being so scared of the ball that they would run from it, to being shooters, scrappers and ballers.  I am so proud of them.  We made it to the second round of the tournament and then was beat out, but despite that loss, my girls were amazing.  I couldn't be more proud of them.  They won in my book!

First Attempt at Deco Mesh

I have always wanted to make a deco mesh wreath.  So I watched a ton of You Tube videos on how to make one, bought the stuff, and went to work.  

Here is my finished product.  Not to bad if I do say so myself.  Now that I know what I am doing, I am going to try and make a Tennessee one for my door during football season.  I love trying to do new things.

January In One Post

Hang on to your hats ladies and gentlemen, cause here we go...

January at a Glance...

The first part of January, we spent hanging out at home since it was still part of the kids' school vacation. It was nice to sleep in and enjoy them.  

A week after Tyson went back to school, (because Taryn's school would not start till mid February), I was getting ready for the Jack and Jules sale.  Let's just say I put in a lot of stuff and sold it all but 10 items.  I made over 200.00 and was delighted.  I made enough that each of the kids will get 100.00 for their summer clothes and shoes.  Which is the whole reason why I do the sales.  It is a lot of work, but well worth it.

MONSTER JAM

Vaughn and I have wanted to do something special for both kids.  Tyson's surprise came in January with a trip to the Monster Jam.  We didn't tell him where he was going, just that he was going for a ride with dad.  When they got to the Monster Jam, he was so excited.  See the picture above.

He loved it!  Vaughn said it was so fun to watch Tyson's face light up as the trucks revved up their engines.  It was fun to do something like that for Tyson.

                                                            SNOW DAYS

Then came the snow days.  And yes I said days.  On Tuesday of this particular week, Vaughn and I went to Nashville to take care of a few things and left the kids with one of my Young Women, who has graduated high school. It was a quick go down, and come back.  Becca only had to watch Taryn for the day and then Tyson for a little while when he got home from school.  Piece of cake.  Yeah, right!  While we were in Nashville it started to snow, and it came down so fast that they let school out early.  I let Becca know that Tyson would be home early and left it at that.  Long story short...Tyson's bus got stuck in the parking lot for an hour and then it took another hour to get him home.  By this time I was freaking out, and so was my babysitter.  I couldn't get the school to pick up their phones and so I had no idea where my kid was.  I was in Nashville and couldn't do anything about it.  I felt so helpless.  When Becca called, after what seemed like an eternity, and told me Tyson had made it home, I was so relieved.  Vaughn and I finished up our business and headed home, only to hit bad roads an hour out of Knoxville.  It was kind if fun to drive in real snow again.  Loved it.  And all this made for a snow day for the kids the next day.

We took the kids sledding.  We found this killer hill just up the street.  It was quite steep and we all got our exercise going up and down the hill, but it was so much fun.

Here goes Tyson.

He made it down and Bear chased him the whole way.

Here comes Vaughn.  Needless to say this was the only run he made.  He hurt his bottom at the end.

Bear was in heaven.  We took him off his leash, since there was no one around, and let him run.  He loved it!

Back up the hill...

There she goes, down the hill as fast as she can with Bear chasing her.

Taryn loved sledding.  

We played for hours, until our legs gave out from going up and down the hill.  It was to the truck to make some donuts in the parking lot and home for hot chocolate and warm blankets.  

BEAR'S GROWTH

This is Bear's favorite place to be.  He loves to wrap himself up in the bottom of our bedspread.  He has grown twice his size since we got him.

CHEESECAKE FACTORY

All I can say is yummy!  This was so good.  I had a lunch date with some of the ladies, and we all had different cheesecakes and tried each one.  They were all delicious.  

And this picture sums up January. Bear sleeps like this most nights.  We go to sleep laughing. January was crazy and fun and a great start to 2014.