A Fun, Fun Weekend!

We went to the Elfreich's (Stanton & Shirley's) house on Saturday to go swimming. We had such a good time that we went again on Sunday. Kyle is doing much better in the pool. Of course, he wears so many flotation devices that I don't see how he could be scared now. He wears his vest and his floaties. He did take off the floaties for a few minutes today. However, he's still just a little bit short and the vest didn't keep his head totally above water. He was proud of himself because he could stand on his tippy toes and the water was just above his mouth. In his eyes he was under water. When he has his vest and floaties on, though, he is all over the pool. It was fun to watch him today. He kept saying, "Mom, watch my new Olympic sport." He would then spin in circles. As always, Hannah just LOVES the water. Madi & Kyle having fun in the pool
Another picture of Madi & Kyle - Madi was draggin Kyle through the pool with her leg
Hannah taking a ride in her turtle
Hannah and her baby trying to get warm
Shirley keeps popsicles stocked in the freezer for the kids. After all of that swimming a popsicle break was a refreshing treat.

Thank you, Shirley!

Interview with Kyle

I got this idea from another blog and decided I would also give it a try. I interviewed Kyle. Here are the questions I asked and his first responses.

1. What is something Daddy always says to you? "No"
2. What is something Mommy always says to you? "Do me a favor"
3. What makes Daddy happy? "Tickling him"
4. What makes Mommy happy? "Working on the computer"
5. How old is Daddy? "forty" (That should make Ben happy)
6. How old is Mommy? "One" (What????)
7. What is Daddy's favorite thing to do? "go outside and work"
8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do? "stay inside and clean stuff" (what???)
9. Where does Daddy work? "Target"
10. Where does Mommy work? "at school"
11. What does Daddy do at work? "see how much stuff is"
12. What does Mommy do at work? "teach her kids how to learn"
13. What is Daddy's favorite food? "onions" (have no idea where he came up with this)
14. What is Mommy's favorite food? "stuff that doesn't have sugar in it" (how funny!)
15. How are you & Daddy the same? "God made us" (I'm so proud!)

Our latest addition.....Pokey

Well, we have a new addition to our home.....meet Pokey the Beta fish. Kyle has been begging me to get him a fish for over a week now. So, today we made a trip after school to the pet store. We got a blue Beta and Kyle named him Pokey. I don't know how he came up with the name but I asked him when we got out to the car what his name was. He said, "Cat a Lilly, no how about Pokey." So, Pokey it is. He sits in our kitchen where we can keep a close eye on him. Hannah just loved him too. Every so often she'd yell, "Fish" and go in to see if he was still there. Let's hope I can keep him alive. My record is not too good with fish.

Happy Birthday, Nathan!

On Monday evening we had another birthday party to go to. This time it was off to Chuck E. Cheese for Nathan Baird's 4th birthday. Nathan is in Kyle's preschool class and they are big buddies. Kyle, Blake & Nathan posing for a picture. These 3 little guys just have the best time together. It is so much fun to watch them play together.

Kyle & Nathan taking a ride with Blake.

Blake, Kyle, Nathan & Miles taking a ride on the motorcycle. Do you know how difficult it is to get four 4-year old boys to all look at the camera at the same time? I thought this one wasn't too bad.

Happy Birthday Madelyn & Allyson!

On Sunday we went to Madelyn & Allyson's birthday party. It was at Mr. Gatti's. We all had a great time. Allyson, Hannah, Madelyn & Kyle all checking out the prizes at the prize counter.
Kyle & Madelyn - I think I took atleast 10 pictures of these two. I couldn't get a picture with both of them looking at me and smiling for anything.
Hannah & Allyson, however, were a different story. They loved having their picture taken. This is Hannah saying her famous, "Cheeeeeeeese".
I thought this was such a cute picture of the two of them. I love the way Hannah is just admiring Allyson. I know they are going to be great friends just like their Mommies have been since Kindergarten.
Hannah & Allyson embracing in a hug before saying goodbye.
Kyle, Madelyn & Hannah all picked whistles as their prizes. Just picture three toddlers with whistles. I'm sure you can only imagine what that sounds like.

Aunt Benecia & Uncle Adam's House

After visiting the bead shop we went to Adam & Benecia's house for supper. Kyle & Hannah had such a fun time hanging out with Uncle Adam & Aunt Benecia. Aunt Benecia reading Kyle and Hannah a book about what else....Frogs!
Benecia was throwing her shoes up in the air to show us how the bats would fly after them. So, Hannah then took off her shoes and began throwing them in the air.
Hannah launching her shoe into the air.
We had fun playing ball with Buddy. He is such a good and playful dog. Kyle & Hannah were a little scared of him but still enjoyed throwing the ball for him to catch.
Ben taking a swing. I wish we had a tree where we could have a swing just like this one. This swing is the best.

Ben with his brother, Adam. Can you tell they are brothers???

Visiting Beading Paradise

We had such a fun Saturday this past weekend. We made a trip to Terre Haute to visit Adam & Benecia. Our first stop was Beading Paradise. This is the bead & jewelry shop that Adam & Benecia own. They are closing the shop's doors at the end of this month. So, we had to make one more last trip before they closed the doors. Hannah loves her Aunt Benecia and Aunt Benecia LOVES spoiling Hannah!
Aunt Benecia decided Hannah needed to make a bracelet while she was there. This is Hannah picking out what beads she wanted to make her bracelet with.
Hannah was a natural at jewelry making. She knew just what to do when it came time to lining up the beads on the tray.
Hannah putting the red beads between the white beads. Hannah got her beads all ready for Aunt Benecia to string.

Hannah showing off her new bracelet. Her jewelry box is full thanks to Aunt Benecia's jewelry making talent.
Kyle put on sunglasses so he could watch them making beads. He had to put on the glasses because they use a blow torch. He thought it was very cool to watch.

Blogging & Scrapbooking....How Cool!!

I found this really cool website that lets me combine two of my hobbies - blogging and scrapbooking. Here's a look at the first page I attempted. This is just more pics from our Gatlinburg summer vacation.

Priceless Moments

Usually, I am the one reading the bedtime stories. The last two nights, however, Hannah has been quite content with her bubby reading her bedtime story. Kyle will follow along in the book making up the story as he goes. Hannah just listens and cracks up laughing at him. He tends to add lots of humor to his stories in the sounds of funny noises and animated gestures. For me, it is one of those priceless moments....one of those moments I could just sit outside the door and listen to for hours.....

Kyle & Mommy's First Day Back to School

Kyle's first day of his second year of preschool was today. He'll be going to 5 day a week preschool this year. So, it will be a big adjustment for him. He had a great day. He talked about it all the way home. I believe his favorite part of the day was snack time. It wasn't for the obvious reasons either. He told me all about it in the car. When Daddy got home he said, "Daddy, you are gonna love this, at snack time we got to get our own snacks, plates, napkins and pour our own milk - ALL BY OURSELVES." He felt like such a big boy. I guess in the 3 year old class everything was passed out to them.

Getting ready to head off to school

Kyle with his teacher, Mrs. Woods

Kyle wasted no time when I dropped him off. He ran over to his buddies and began playing right away.

We both had such a good first day of school that I promised Kyle we'd go to the icecream shop after school. So, we went and got Mamaw and Hannah and we all enjoyed wild cherry sherbert cones. What a perfect ending to a great day.

A picnic & visit to the mill

Hannah enjoying our picnic (she's saying cheeeeeese)
Kyle walking along the rocks and stream with Papa
Kyle & Hannah feeling the cold water rushing downstream for the mill

Enjoying our evening in Gatlinburg

Ben and I enjoyed an evening together, just the two of us. We went to the Applewood Farm Restaurant for dinner. It wasn't fancy, but it was good 'ol southern home cooking. It was delicious....way too much food for one meal! Us posing for a picture before leaving for our date.
The Applewood Family Restaurant - There is the restaurant, cider mill, winery and gift shops all located on the property. If you ever get to Gatlinburg, it is a must stop.
The Apple Barn Winery - By the time we ate dinner the winery was already closed but we made a stop back in before we left.
This is another winery we visited. We found out Mountain Valley is owned by the same family that owns the Apple Barn Winery. Mountain Valley handles all of the grape based products and Apple Barn handles all apple based products. We brought home wine from both wineries.

WOW!!

To all of my scrapbooking buddies........here was one of the major highlights of the trip! I went to two HUGE scrapbooking stores with one of them being a clearance outlet. WOW! I went twice and spent hours each time. I could've easily spent an entire day just scrapbook shopping. I got some really cool things and can't wait to put them to use. So, when is our next scrapbooking night???

Meeting a real Indian....

So, it is taking me forever to post our vacation pics. I have been exhausting myself trying to get ready for the new school year. I was hoping that I would be able to have this last weekend to relax & enjoy. However, I feel so far behind that I will probably be spending it at school.

We went into Cherokee, North Carolina to see the Indians. As you can see from the picture Hannah DID NOT like the Indian. So, I had to hold her just to get a picture. Kyle was especially excited to sit next to the Indian after Mamaw bought him some Indian feathers to wear. Kyle was so proud. The smile on his face shows that.

More to come later........

An interruption in my vacation posts...

Well, I am interrupting my vacation post of pictures to share our day today. We decided that today was really the last day of summer vacation that we would be able to enjoy before Kyle & I head back to school. Ben was off this weekend and I will be spending my next week working in my classroom, attending meetings and a teacher training on Tuesday. So, we headed to the Evansville Children's Museum. (yes, sad to say - but we had not been yet) We realized how much it was meant to be for us to go when as we were purchasing our tickets in walked Andy, Krista, Trenton & Kayla Seitz right behind us. We couldn't believe it! So, we all had a fun time. Here are some pictures from our day.
Kyle loved the dinosaur statue.
Hannah got so excited when she saw this doll house!
Kyle & Hannah's first theatrical performance. It was Little Red Riding Hood. This was Kyle's favorite part of the museum. He wants his Daddy to build him a stage just like this one.
Trenton & Kyle playing in the Quack Factory. In this picture they are launching balls across the room. We all had a lot of fun in this room.
Hannah playing with the air & balls.
Kyle thinking about how else he can take apart this telephone. I hope he doesn't get any ideas at home from this experience.

Hannah playing in the rice table. This was a big hit will all four of the kids. When we had walked through the entire museum it was back to the rice table for some more digging & dumping. Hannah & Trenton piling bricks to add walls to the house.
Our little monkey - she's climbing out the window of the house instead of using the door.
Trenton, Kyle & Hannah sitting in the digger. It determines the weight of whoever is inside. I didn't check out the total for the 3 of them together. They thought it was pretty cool, though.
Kyle with his best buddy, Trenton. I thought it was cute when I went to snap this picture and Kyle leaned over and put his head on Trenton's shoulder. As you can tell, Kyle thinks Trenton is a pretty cool guy!