My little buddy

Connor likes to play school. A lot. His room is an ongoing classroom with different areas set up. He really likes to set things out on a "desk". I may find random items such as a pencil, books, some mail, all set up at the island where he was eating a snack. He likes to pretend he's the teacher and likes to set things up around him that a teacher might have. One thing that he always has on his desk is a drink. Sometimes this can bother me, especially when he's left his mess and moved on, or he has a drink in his room, which he knows is against the rules. Lately, however I have enjoyed his need to "set things up". A few times he has found me reading somewhere he will get a big smile and he tells me he'll be right back. I know exactly what he's going to do. Go get a book, 2 drinks and a snack for us. When he gets back he puts everything in it's place, settles in with a big sigh and starts to read next to me. Every once and a while he may make a comment like "isn't this nice mom?". Yes, Connor it is.

My birthday

I feel a need to write down my appreciation for my family. Birthdays are magical. Especially when you're a child. I remember getting to a point where I thought, "birthdays have lost their magic." Then I got married and had kids. Even though getting older is not so fun or magical, my family makes it so. Their complete love, attention, devotion and affection is so much better than birthdays. Thanks for always making me feel like the luckiest, most spoiled mom and wife in the world!

Laurel Falls

After looking into several hikes in the Smokies we decided to fall back on the trusty Laurel Falls trail. 3 miles round trip, paved gentle incline, the reward of seeing the falls when you reach the top....... it had been good to us in the past. And it did not disappoint this time either.

Our faithful scouts lead the way, on the look out for indians.

David, the ever cautious outdoorsman, points to the sign that validates what he has been trying to tell us all these years: people can die if you're not careful

Smokies aquarium

During spring break we took the kids to Gatlinburg for an overnight trip. The first day we visited the aquarium. We knew they were excited, especially Connor b/c of his fascinaiton with sharks (he currently doesn't like pizza because it reminds him of a humans blood during a shark attack), but we had no idea the amount of enthusiasm they would show while we were there. Here are some comments heard as we were walking around:

- "I wish we could live here!!"

- "This would be a great place to have a sleep over!"

- " This is the best day of my life....I'm not kidding!"

These kids loved it! The biggest hits: The shark tunnel and giant spider crabs.

Trey + peanut butter = happy. Trey + peanut butter + nilla wafers = HAPPY x 2!

For many years peanut butter and nilla wafers have been Trey's favorite snack. (David's too) For this reason I try to keep the shelves stocked with these items. Somehow I seem to always have peanut butter on hand but can't quite keep up with the consumption of nilla wafers. So sometimes graham crackers are substituted in. I found Trey making this layered snack the other day. Got milk?