New Things

Isaac and Olivia have taken up frisbee.  One of them is a natural.

 They did a whole load of laundry for me the other day.  They loaded it, started it, watched it slosh, put it in the dryer, and started that.  All I had to do was keep stacking the wet laundry up so they could reach it.  Oh, plus I had to fold it.  We'll work on that next!

This is Olivia's trick-of-the-night in the tub.

  Kids are taking swim lessons 2 days a week.  Olivia is excited because she goes in the water w/o mom or dad.  They both really like going.

 This is her new feat for this year.  She says she's going to "go all the way under 1,000 times" each swim lesson.  And she does. 

 Isaac will not do anything while the teacher is watching him, but doesn't stop when she turns her back.  His favorite thing is to jump off the side.  He wants me or J to back "far far away" so he can jump to us.  No problem. He's in mid-flight.

So Long, Farewell

What's left of the garden....a few tomatoes for the birds.  It will now become digging ground for the kids, plus a great place to hide their bugs.  Olivia already asked to go in it next time it rains.

Hiking Trip

Family hike trip last weekend at Big South Fork National Park.  The visitor's center we stopped at said there was an air show also going on closeby, so we stopped there first.  Kids really liked seeing all the planes so up close.

 It's like she got run over by a plane or something.  She's been doing this in various places lately....not sure why. 

 Random bench we found in the woods.  Thought it was awful fancy for being so woodsy.

 We threw sticks in the water on one side, ran to the other, and watched them come out.  I was a little nervous with the ease of jumping in and the fast moving water, but the kids did great. Everyone stayed dry....and safe.

 Throwing lots of rocks in and seeing the different sized splashes they made.

 Walked on a boardwalk trail by the river. There were a few sandy spots like this one to play in.

 We ate evening snack in the van and watched the cricket Justin had caught jump around in the bug house.

What's In A Name???

A buddy of mine from Missouri sent me a list of possible names for our son, to born around Dec.6, who still doesn't have a name.  I thought this was a nice start.  (Thanks Peterson!)

Umberto- because your kids initials would be IOU.
Caleb- because your kids initials would be O I C.
Trey- because hello... baby 3
Elliott- because all of your kids names would begin with vowels... although that applies to Umberto also.
Justami- get your ghetto on and just smash your names together.
Tamin- because I just got my ghetto on and threw up another lazy suggestion.
Yoshi- because he's the best driver in all of Mario cart.
Crusader- in homage to your alma matter.
Kentron- ghettoing the names of your dads... plus is sounds cool and futuristic.
If you end up having a girl instead you MUST name her Sharita!  Same logic as above but delightfully the most ghetto of them all!
Heathcliff- after Bill Cosby from the tv show.
Frank- because his name would be Frank Ford (say it fast).  'Botta' or 'Drova' might be a cool middle name to go with Frank.
Chevy- isn't it the obvious choice.  I know you live in Tennessee... but please not Peyton!
Luke- because... you are his father. (Mechanical breathing sound)
Jacob- guess it just goes with isaac.
Arizona- because then you'd be raising Arizona.
Cain- same logic as above.
Heck- ditto.
Ruckus- I think this logic is a gold mine.
Sam- if he grows up to be a musician you can say 'Samsung a song.'

Well that last one was a little lame.  So what ever name you saddle him with, just remember it has to be better than apple or rain or some other hippie/movie star kids name.

Anyone have any other ideas???? Hahaha!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!!!

Justin found $10 Braves tickets we couldn't pass up.  We decided to make it an over-nighter for his 33rd birthday.  Here we are excited for the get away.

We ate lunch at Piedmont Park. 

We saw the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.  This was his birthhouse.

This is where he is buried with his wife.  On his side it says "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty I'm free at last." On Coretta's side it says "And now abide Faith, Hope, Love, These Three; but the greatest of these is Love." I didn't realize he was buried on water.

We also stopped at Stone Mountain, world's largest piece of exposed granite. The carving is of Jackson, Lee, and Davis of the Confederate States of America.  We did not stay for the laser light show. We went out to dinner instead.  It was a good choice!

We walked around Cenntenial Olympic Park, built for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Pretty.

We went to a Historic Oakland Cemetery and ended up finding Bobby Jones (real famous golfer for those of you who are like me...).  There was some interesting history in the cemetery.

At our Atlanta Braves vs Dogers Game.  Braves came back and won in the bottom of the 9th.  Super exciting!

Our seats.  They seemed closer than what this picture shows.  

I must say I was impressed with the availability of bathrooms around Atlanta!  One I found even did everything for me (almost) and talked throughout the whole event!

We celebrated with Isaac and Olivia the day after we got home. They wanted to make Daddy blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

Watching them cook...and being silly all at the same time.

 Later, we had the neighbor's over for heath ice cream cake.  Justin wanted to know at what age he gets to stop blowing out candles.  humm...NEVER!  I love birthdays!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN! I LOVE YOU!

Just pictures.

These are my no-theme pictures.

This is Isaac getting ready to take a walk with the fam.  He calls this thing his "Gideon Stick" or his "Shooter", often yelling "For Gideon and the Lord!" through it.  He made it at church one Sunday and it has now become a favorite toy and sleep companion.

 Guitar lessons after dinner one night.

 Olivia's 'princess friend'. 

 I thought this was sweet.  Can't wait to add a third!

 O & I decided to go hiking up a 'very cold mountain' one day and insisted they have the right attire on for it.

 One night while cooking dinner, I turn around and see that Isaac has built this tower from the pantry.  Olivia ran up just for the picture.

 This is one of my prego pic updates.  I'm 25 weeks in this pic.

 This is showcasing Justin's ladder he built for the kids to climb so they can get in/out of the trampoline by themselves.  Very useful for Justin and I!

 I found Luci here.  Sleeping?  or just trying to look out the window?  Either way, not too normal for a weimaraner I wouldn't think.

Aunt Tara, Uncle Will, and Logan Visit

Watch out.  This could be a long one.  My sister, and son Logan, came to the States for a long visit...close to 2 months.  Husband Will was only here about 1 1/2 weeks.  A few highlights:

We played in the rain.  (Also took a walk and saw a rainbow)



 We played at a splash pad.

 This is a special pic because my friend Katie is in it with her kids (too bad mine decided they didn't want to take a picture).  Tara, Katie, Susan (Katie's sister), and I grew up together.  We missed you Susan!

 We played chalk.

 We played with bugs.

 We played in more water.

 And we played in bigger water.

 And played at the art museum....which is much more fun for little kids than one would think!

 We played at the park.

 We played trains at the bookstore.

 We played at G&G's house.

 We went to the Gatlinburg Aquarium.

 We saw cool sharks, giant crabs, and a huge sea turtle, but all I got was this picture.  Batteries ran out and had to steal these pics from my sister's blog!

Olivia LOVED having Logan around.  She made sure he was safe everywhere we went!

We played on the trampoline.  This one doesn't show it, but Logan also really liked running through the sprinkler spray when we put the sprinkler under the trampoline and let it shoot through.

 It was super fun to have Tara here.  We are showing off our prego bellies.  She is also having a boy and due at the end of December.

 We are SO glad you guys got to come for such a long time and have so much fun!  We can't wait for you to visit again and have little Connor to hold!