Thanksgiving II

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful, as usual.

Uncle Bob and Aunt Holly cooking our delicious meal.

The kid's table (can you tell - this is where everyone wanted to be)

The adult table

We took a walk after lunch with the kids. 

 Aunt Holly and Ruby joined us.

Taking a break

Caitlin kept finding treasures - pine cones, flowers, etc.

 

Catching a ride to the top of the hill.

On Friday we went out for breakfast with Jason.

That evening we went out for pizza with my siblings and then tried to get some pictures taken. Bethany had volunteered to take pictures for us. The kids were wiggly and hyper, so I'm really hoping some of them turned out. I'll be posting the results when I get the cd.
Update: Bethany lost the cd. =(

Zeb, Bethany and Leila

 

The sunset that night was gorgeous.

Thanksgiving I

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was very laid back and stress free.

The kids and I left on Tuesday and went down to Chattanooga for the rest of the week. Jon was joining us after he got off work on Wednesday.

I had several things on my list that I wanted to shop for in Chatt where there were more stores to choose from. So I met Kami and Bethany and we tortured our children with shopping. We rewarded them with Chik-fil-A at the end. =)

Caitlin and her juice.

Kami and Bethany

My grandparents were staying at Uncle Bob and Aunt Holly's house too.

I LOVE this picture of them with their great-grandchildren.

My mom and Leila

Kami

Kami and I with our awesome grandma. 

She's in her eighties and can still dance with my kids.

Kami and I with grandpa. 

He's amazing as well. He was chasing Dominic around and around in the house. I'm not sure who wore who out. =)

Lexi and Leila playing with Caitlin. They act like she's a giant doll. Caitlin puts up with it for a while and then retreats.

Zeb

What a lazy bunch!

Someone had brought some magnetic beads and Zeb and Barry were throwing them at each other.

More pictures coming!

Barn Party and other things

Tonight we went to a barn party. It was so much fun. I took the camera and got a few pictures before it turned dark. But I didn't want to blind people so quit taking them once it was dark. The kids had so much fun. There was a fire pit for the adults to sit around and a huge bonfire as well. Dominic had so much fun putting sticks on the fire with his friends. There was also a hayride, tons of great food and a play area that the kids really enjoyed. The slide was a bit big for Caitlin. But she didn't let this stop her. She would fly down the slide and land two feet away from the edge of the slide with an oomph! Then she'd run back to try again.

Right before we got on the hay ride Dominic decided to play with the teenagers. It resulted in a frisbee landing smack in the middle of his nose. It bled for a while and he has a very nice purple bruise now.

The sunset while on the hayride was gorgeous.

Caitlin and Jon were at the very back of the hayride.

Oh, the excitement of everything!

On another note -

My men and their sense of humor. 

This is Jon's Mr. Potato Head.

This is Dominic's.

Caitlin was waiting patiently for me at Sears while I got an estimate on some repairs to our freezer (courtesy of the moving company). When I walked over to her she pointed at the tv and said "want dat". 

"Um. Yeah. We'll see what Daddy says."

She got this big grin on her face and said "Okay."

Was I just suckered into something?

This is just the beginning of our children not wanting to be seen with us. He sat at a separate table at Taco Bell last time.

Caitlin's early birthday!

We had decided to have Caitlin's birthday party a little early for Jon's family.

We chose supper time and took her out to the Olive Garden. It's so nice when they can't talk yet and you get to chose for them. Dominic was sure she'd said Taco Bell. The rest of us were sure it was Olive Garden. =)

After we ate, we came back to the house for the cake. Now before you see the pictures I'll tell you that this is the ugliest cake I've EVER made. I didn't have a creative bone in my body that day. I hope she never compares it to Dominic's 3rd birthday. His wasn't a masterpiece, but it was creative and showed some thought. =)

I made the cake on Sunday morning and had so much help. I gave the cake a crumb coating and was trying to ice it when Caitlin started dumping pink and purple sprinkles on it. She had tons of fun and I guess that is what really counts.

Some cupcakes I made for the people who think that frosting is why you eat cake.

 The head lamp that Dominic is wearing was given to him by his Gramps. He wears it everywhere - restaurants, gymnastics, grocery store. It's humbling. =)

I don't think she had a clue what the occasion was. But she knew it was cake. And that's enough to get excited about.

Caitlin can't blow very well so she had a little help from Daddy.

 

One of her presents.

Eating cake!

 

Happy Early Birthday little girl!

Burgess Falls

On Saturday afternoon we headed to Burgess Falls. When we first moved here we went down there, but were not very well equipped for hiking. Somehow I had gotten the impression that you walked to an overlook and could see the falls. But there is an approx mile hike to the very bottom of the falls. So when we went the first time we were wearing flip flops and had forgotten water and bug spray. I kept slipping and so was Dominic. The trail goes straight down on the one side and would be a deadly fall to the river below. It made me pretty nervous to have Dominic jumping around on the trail filled with roots. He's not great at paying attention.

So I told him that I wanted him to hold my hand so I wouldn't slip and fall into the river. He held on tight. We walked to the first two sets of falls and then returned to the car with plans to come back later when better prepared.

When we started down the trail Dominic ran over and grabbed my hand. He said he didn't want me to fall in the river. He kept holding my hand the entire walk. He was very insistent that he keep me from falling even when the trail was flat on both sides. It was so precious.

At the beginning of the trail. 

My precious little man.

The first falls or small falls.

The old bridge for the flume.

Grammy and Dominic standing in front of the bridge.

Caitlin had a very easy hike. She was so excited to go on a hike and "talked" about it the whole way there.

The middle falls.

The observation deck for the high falls.

View from deck.

We hadn't intended to hike to the bottom, but the falls were so beautiful we couldn't help ourselves.

At the top of the falls. The sun had gone behind the some clouds a bit.

The walk down.

 

Dominic wanted to take a picture of me. I thought he did pretty well.

Navigating the rocks at the bottom.

 

 

The water created a beautiful rainbow.

 

Walking back on the road with Grammy and Gramps