This & That...we went to Chattanooga

Chattanooga
Mark was gone on business and Young Men stuff this week, so I decided to take the kids up to Chattanooga to visit Jen and kids. It was fun, I lounged around at Jen's house while her kids entertained mine! We did also venture out one day...
Tennessee Aquarium










Fountains at Coolidge Park:



Watch out, there is some serious playing at the creek going on here.





Birthday Boy
Mark's birthday is today...Happy Birthday! He was also in Chattanooga, rafting a river. We'll celebrate tomorrow.

These Two...I love them
What are they going to do without each other when school starts? What's mom going to do?

Grace fell flat on her nose and it's all scraped and bruised. She's turning 16 months tomorrow and climbs on everything. Grant has been enjoying the summer and some play dates. We toured through his new school and it's pretty nice! He's excited to find out who his teacher is and start first grade. As mentioned before and seen in above pic, he likes his shirts buttoned all the way up! Here is a latest fave of him lately:

And a latest fave of her:


Family Vacation
I'm so excited! My sister Jessi is coming to town and we're going to FL to go to Disney! We are all looking forward to this vacation!

Addresses
For those of you out of state: If you did not recieve my email about loosing all my contact's addresses...please email me yours. That is, if you've received our family holiday card in the past and would like to continue to (or haven't been on the list in the past, but would like to)!

This & That...mid week

I went to find a field...
I've had my eye on for months now...and it was mowed




Have to hold tight to Little Miss Run Away...


One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.


Grant at Play

Yes, the below jacket is like a size 2t and Grant still wears it.


Our Garden..or lack thereof

For whatever reason our garden has not done so great. I have tried to come up with many explanations on why...my latest being maybe the soil needs to be mended more. But, we've tried and hopefully next year it will be better. Our sorry looking tomato plants have produced about six tomatoes and one evening while Grace and I were out inspecting she leaned right over and took a bite of one right off the vine!





Grant's Finds
I happened upon this the other day...Grant has been collecting things it looks like.


Saying Goodbye
The Palmers leave tomorrow. We got together one last time today. Oh how we'll miss you guys!!

These two.






These two...again.


These two. My favorite:


Peace

We acquire the strength we have overcome. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This & That..been busy!

The Kids

I love the little boy above. Grant is curious and likes cars. He is a good helper outside. Grant has improved immensely in his swimming this summer and would like to go every day. He has decided his button polos need to be buttoned all the way to the top and won't have it any other way.


And the above, Grace Ann...a busy little girl, loves books and laughing out loud. She is 15+ months and getting bigger by the day, her hair is slowly growing. She likes to be a part of everything and follows her big brother around. She makes me smile and I love kissing her cheeks.

This is how Gracie gives kisses, it's really a smoosh of the nose:

That's not all Gracie has been doing...she has starting biting Grant when she gets mad! Grant kind of thinks it's funny...

Fountains
I have decided taking the kids to the fountains is much more managable than the pool. We still go to the pool, but it's more relaxing (for Mom at least) at the fountains, both kids love it!







More of the Fourth
The Merediths came to town for the fourth and for the goodbye open house we hosted for the Palmers. It was so fun having them stay at the house, Grant enjoyed every second with big kids around to play with! I have been trying to ignore the fact that Natalie and family will be moving in less than a week but yet feeling so blessed to have such good friends, even if they have to move away.









Visitors & Instant Babysitter
Grace had all the attention she needed form Kierstyn. She is the best little babysitter! Thanks for all your help K!




Grant and His Bike
Oh, the freedom Grant is feeling with his bike. Just the other night he scurried from the dinner table to join the neighborhood kids in their evening of bike riding!


Grace and Books
Gracie looooves books! She will just about sit on anyone's lap to look at a book. She particularly likes the ones with animals and likes to say their noises. This pretty much could keep her occupied all day...





Birds
I found a nest in one of my empty pots by the garden and a white speckle egg in it, similar to this one we found on the ground just the other day. I don't know what kind of bird it is, but there's just something about bird nests that intrigue me.

Another thing that doesn't intrigue me anymore, but ANNOYS me is....yes, the cardinal. It's STILL going at the window! Our latest deterent is a one eyed owl (got him for only $3 since he was missing an eye), has helped a little on the window he is perched. We need another for the other side. I'm just about ready to brick our windows up!


Flowers
Mark's calling at church can be pretty time consuming and I tend to complain about it. So knowing this month would have two occasions of him being away three days in a row I have been whining quite a bit. But I have a very wonderful husband who knows that I don't enjoy him being away so much....I was surprised to get these one of the days following a phone call from a friend saying Mark had set up a babysitter so we could go and have a girls night another day!

The other man in my life also surprised me. He chose a Marigold plant that is his and has been watching it grow. I keep a little vase in my bathroom and have been putting a fresh Gardenia when they are in bloom. Grant had picked one of his flowers for me and put it there.

Have I mentioned how much I love both my boys!?

Back to School
Well, not quite yet, but we did buy all Grant's school supplies the other day.

Ice Cream Sandwiches
I love them and have been eating way to many of them.

I love summer!