Winter Wonderland

I was a little apprehensive about our trip to the mountains with a 3 month old baby. I can't get over how well he did. I think all the prayers were heard because he was a little trooper throughout the whole trip. Our goal for Thursday night was to make it to Chattanooga to spend the night. Andrew slept from the time we buckeled him in his seat to the time Ben was getting the key for our room. He opened his little eyes as if to say, "Okay, I can wake up now, we're here." He was the best baby. He let us do whatever we wanted to do. We even braved the very cold temps and went to Dollywood on Sunday night. He stayed bundled up in his Snugli inside Ben's jacket and was much warmer than we were. Ty loved the 4D Polar Express ride at Dollywood. Even Ben and I thought it was pretty cool. His favorite, the Dollywood Express was shut down. He was one upset little boy. That may have been a good thing though, with it being so cold.

We did get to play in the snow for just a little while. Ty kept saying, "I want to throw a snowball at you, Mama." Well, he did, and when he did, he started crying because his hands were getting so cold. We were glad that didn't last long.

We went to Cade's Cove and saw the biggest buck we will ever probably see in our lives. We couldn't keep count of the deer and turkeys that we saw. We enjoyed it so much, we went back the next morning. Another day of lots of animals, even a wolf on the second day. And yes, I finally got to see some black bears. We saw a mama and her two cubs and the next day we saw another black bear. That was pretty awesome, too!

We always have to go to Apple Barn. We love seeing all the apples and Ty had to bring lots of apples back with him. The Dixie Stampede has a wonderful Christmas show. They do a real live nativity scene. If anyone is there during the Christmas season, it's definitely worth seeing.

This was the second year in a row that we've been and are hoping it's going to be a tradition for our family. Here are some of the pictures from the trip.

Too cold for Andrew!

The Polar Express Show

Ty taking his ticket from the conductor for the Polar Express ride

My little Eskimo Baby

How Could I Forget......

this little man with such wild hair.



Last night was Crazy Hair night at AWANA. This is Ty's favorite hair-do. This is what he would leave our house looking like {all the time} if he had his wishes. The funny thing is, he thinks he's really looking good! You can tell by that look in the first pic. Just thought I would leave everyone with a good laugh!

Headed to the Mountains

Our family of four is getting everything together for our trip to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. I forgot just how much you have to pack for a baby!! We'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon when Ben gets home from work. I'm just hoping and praying that Little Andrew will travel well. I guess we'll see! We'll be getting back home next Tuesday & I'll be sure to post some of our pics. Maybe we'll see snow!! Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Little Indians

Today we went to Little Friends preschool to see lots of little Indian girls and boys all decked out in their Indian attire. They were so cute dressed in their tye-dyed shirts, necklaces, headdresses with feathers, and their faces were painted. They sang several Thanksgiving songs and Indian chants using their tom-toms that they made out of oatmeal boxes. Ty held his tooth just about the whole entire time. He finally decided to sing along at the very end of the program. His story was that he thought he had a splinter in his tooth. After they sang, they feasted on a fine meal of turkey and all the trimmings. Here are some of the pictures from the Pow Wow.

This was Ty's "look" through the whole program.

I guess he's trying to figure out what's going on with the tooth.



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Here's just a few pictures from this week

All bundled up for school

Such a big boy. Sunday morning before church with one of his shoeboxes

One tired little fella'

Andrew's Bathtime

Operation Christmas Child

It's that time of year when everyone is buying their items for the Operation Christmas Child shoebox project. I decided to do my shopping Monday while Ty was at school. I figured it might be a little easier without someone behind me picking up every toy and wanting to know what it was and what it's supposed to do. I love Christmas shopping and I always enjoy picking out items for the children that are much less fortunate than we are that will receive our boxes. Last year we decided to do two boxes for little boys that are Ty's age. So, again this year, we chose to buy for two little boys. I browsed every shelf trying to find all the age appropriate toys. I can't help but get excited just thinking about how these little boys will react when they receive their boxes.

Later that day when Ty saw all of our toys, he was so excited. He has examined and reexamined each toy about a bagillion times. He seems to keep getting into the boxes after I've arranged everything in them. He just can't stay out of them. I noticed a chunk out of the bar of soap and I could see teeth marks. When I asked him about it, he said, "Mommy, I think it just got that way." After we talked several minutes about it not being that way when I put it in the box, he admitted trying to taste it to see what it was. We got a good honesty lesson out of the shoeboxes project too.

Ty has had to show everyone that comes to our house everything we have bought. He's been so excited about everything in the boxes. Today, I told him that we could just tell Santa to bring him a shoebox full of goodies. He said, "That sounds like a good idea to me." I looked at Ben, Ben looked at me, and we both shared the same look on our face. Boy, wouldn't that make Christmas shopping a whole lot easier. Really and truly, we could spend alot less on our children and they would be just fine.



I think this is such a great missions project to share God's love with those that are less fortunate than we are, and it hopefully teaches our own children to be very appreciative of what they have. We hope & pray that God will use our little shoeboxes to reach others for Him!


On a side note: I can't say that I've ever done much shopping in the way of clothes at Dollar General. I can now! I found some really cute Christmas sleepers and onesies for Andrew that I just couldn't pass up. I'm all for a good buy, and for just $2.50 who could pass these cute little things up. I think they'll hold up just fine for no longer than we'll need to wear them.






Mr. Andrew getting a head start on spreading a little Christmas cheer in yet another DG outfit.


Just a cute little face.

Veteran's Day Parade

It was a beautiful day to honor our veterans at the parade and then at the Veteran's Memorial today. Ben and Ty rode on the float honoring Operation Iraqi Freedom vets. Since little Andrew has a cold, my mother kept him at home. We're hoping his congestion clears up SOON!

10 Weeks/Coterie Fun Run

Andrew was 10 weeks old Sunday! How do I even begin to describe my feelings for this sweet baby boy! When you have one child, you just wonder how in the world is it possible to love another baby as much as that first-born baby. Oh my goodness! This little bundle of joy will melt your heart in a hurry. Holding him in my arms is like therapy for my soul. And that little smile.....well, it's just so darn cute. I am certainly not looking forward to Dec. 1st. {The day I go back to school.} I know that too shall pass.

span >**I had to post some pictures of Andrew's curls to show Christy Watts. I couldn't get over how much Audrey and Andrew's hair was alike.

Andrew laughing at his crazy daddy

Andrew's new trick is sticking his tongue out at us.
Sheer joy!
Look at all those curls!

Mama, I've had enough of the picture-taking.

The Coterie 5K was Saturday. Ben decided to run and won 1st place in his category! Yeah!! I'm just afraid now he's gonna think he can do a triathalon. Anyway, Ty and I were at the finish line waiting for him to come through. He actually hurt something right at the last turn of the race. By the way he was running, I could tell something wasn't just right. He didn't look to be in the best of shape, as a matter of fact, he looked like he couldn't hardly go another step. In spite of his pulled muscle, he still won in his division and brought home the gold!!!!

Ty ran in the Tot Trot (the street in front of the courthouse). He was so cute running. Ben had told him not to get tripped up on his or anyone else's feet, so he looked down at his feet the whole time he ran. He didn't do bad. Didn't get first, but I was just glad he was out there. {By the way, they don't have winners in the Tot Trot, they just let them all get out there and run.) As a very competitive person, this mama is definitely going to have to learn control when it comes to sports activities involving my children. I was having a ball cheering Ty on during the Tot Trot even though there were no winners. I think I'm going to have a competitive little boy, too. As soon as he finished running, he asked, "Do I get my award now?" All the little kids did get a medal for racing, but I don't think he was satisfied with just a medal. He asked on the way home, "Mama, why didn't they call my name out?" I had to then explain that none of the little ones got their name called out. Anyway, it was a great day for a run. Maybe I can join them next year.

Here are a few pictures. My batteries went out on my camera right before Ty ran, so I'll post some of him later.

Right before the big race!