I'm wondering...

where the last THREE years have gone?

Happy Birthday, pretty girl! You bring such joy and laughter to our lives everyday. What a gift you are! We love you!

Mommy, Daddy, and Abigail

The Dixie Stampede

One Friday afternoon before school started, we went down to Pigeon Forge to see The Dixie Stampede. We had heard great things about the dinner show from so many people, and Abigail has been wanting to see it for awhile. (She's noticed the billboard in Sevierville and Myrtle Beach). We thought this would be one fun last little outing for us before school started.

Don't they look thrilled to be having their picture made with the Dolly Parton Library Book? Ha! :)

The tickets are a little expensive, but it does include the cost of your meal. And children three and under are free. The meal was excellent, but you eat it with your hands, as in you have no utensils. It is all fairly easy to eat with your hands, but it gets a little "old" after awhile and I was wishing we had just a few more napkins. The show was fabulous and the girls were mesmerized by the horses and riders. They are already asking to go back someday. Yee-haw! :)

Fun-Festing with the cousins

Jonathan took a random week off during the summer in late July. He asked for the week off during April or early May. We had no idea that the timing of the week would coincide with FunFest or would be right before I would start all of my meetings and inservices for my new job. So, in other words, perfect timing!

FunFest is a week-long, summer festival here in Kingsport that has been around for 31 years. In the evenings, it offers Taste of the Tri-Cities and various concerts at J.Fred Johnson Stadium. During the day, most of the activities are centered around children and take place at Abigail's former school, Andrew Johnson. It is called KidsCentral. They have bounce houses, FunShops featuring everything from gymnastics to crafts supplied by Michael's to ballet workshops. These things are all free, but you do have to pre-register for them. I remember participating in these Funshops when I was a little girl and I love letting Abigail and Anna-Claire have the experience now. The key is getting there early to preregister so you can get in the funshop you want.

On the first day of KidsCentral, Ross, our cousin from North Carolina, was in town. We met he and Gigi at KidsCentral for the morning. I think we beat the crowds that day, but also some of the vendors to the activities. We had had a lot of rain the night before, so I think some of the vendors hadn't made it to set-up their areas yet. I think they still had a fun time though. After a few hours at KidsCentral and in the Funshops, we treated the kids to McDonalds. Gigi bought them all hot fudge sundaes before it was time to head home. As I was taking the pictures, I had NO idea that the pictures of the kids in the bounce houses were not turning out because of the mesh screens. They looked like they were just fine as I was taking them. Live and learn! Ugh! I was so mad. Anyway, we went to the weather experiments funshop-if you know anything about my hubby, you know this was right up his alley. The girls, as you can see, were front row participants. Even Anna-Claire was captivated. They must have their Dad's love for meteorology. :)

We went back to KidsCentral a few days later with Riley and Rebekah. They had not been to FunFest before either, so we had a lot of fun showing them around. They signed up for a Funshop-this was a huge deal for them, deciding which Funshop to participate in-they were so cute deciding-the Michael's craft Funshop won out in the end. They made bookmarks out of beads and Popsicle sticks. Very cute. The ladies from Michael's were so helpful and sweet with the girls. Afterwards, we dined at Pizza Hut before heading home to play for awhile.

Abigail says she can't wait to take her cousins back to FunFest next year. I hope they are as anxious to go back as she is!

Kate's Cow Birthday Party at Chick-fil-A

Thought it was about time this poor, old, neglected blog got a little love and attention. Starting a new job has really gotten in the way of my social networking. ha! Plus all two of my readers were demanding a new post! What better activity for Labor Day night than to "labor" on my blog and procrastinate classroom work-you can nominate for teacher of the year anytime. ;)

Lets see...catching up. Going all the way back to the 2nd weekend in July, we traveled down ATL for niece Kate's 2nd birthday bash. She had a cow theme (precious-as you will soon see!) and what better place to host the event- her favorite restaurant (and her Mommy's) Chick-Fil-A! The CFA's in ATL actually have birthday party packages for parents to choose from when planning a party. This isn't the case with our CFA's here in the TRI. You can take a birthday cake in to a CFA here, but they kind of frown upon it. So, in other words, they do not host bday parties at every CFA. But, if you are fortunate enough to live near a CFA that hosts bday parties, I highly recommend. Back to the packages, the package that Karen and Tanna chose had an ice cream sundae bar and a visit from the CFA cow. Sundae Bar-huge hit. Cow-huge tears. ;) Just kidding. Lots of the kiddos loved the cow, but a few were a little terrified of the giant bovine. And you know in a room full of toddlers, it only takes one child who is crying to set off the whole group. Kind of like a domino effect. The children each got a kids meal and a plastic cup with plush cow. Karen and Tanna bought the adults a nugget tray! Yummy! Thanks, guys! Karen also provided the party guests with treat bags, in addition to what was provided by CFA. They were filled with "cow-themed" goodies, like cow tales candy, an adorable wooden cow, and play-doh.

Kate's udderly adorable cake came from Publix. It was as delicious as it was pretty. And I was just loving the pink/white/black color scheme of the party.

Enough of my chatter- here are a few of our pictures of the fun evening!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Kate! We love you! :) Thanks for a mooooving, grooving time!

While the cat's away, the mice will PLAY ;)

Ifound the pictures the other day on my laptop, while I was looking for something else. Anyway, I got so cracked up because I knew that Jonathan and Anna-Claire had been playing with the camera on the laptop. Here they are taking pictures of themselves making funny faces. ;) Don't they look just alike? Anyway, Jonathan works late one night a week so he can stay home with Anna-Claire during the day one day and give her a day at home. He'll do a few things around the house while he is home but his main goal on that day is to focus on Anna-Claire. And she loves it. And guess what? He loves it, too.

First Day of School

Fast forward from about one month from my last post (4th of July) and that brings us to the FIRST day of school! August 3rd, to be exact. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Abigail and I are fortunate enough to be at the same school this year (she is in 1st grade, I am in kindergarten) and so far, it has been wonderful to be at the same place. Abigail has a great teacher-we are so pleased-and a sweet class. She is already making new friends and is very happy. She comes in my room with a big smile on her face at the end of the day, ready to tell me all about the daily events. We are so thankful she has made this transition so smoothly.

I had small groups of my K kids each on a different day this week (it is called staggered enrollment) and then, everyone came on Friday. This past week, K students only stayed at school until noon. They would come back to school in the afternoons for their K assessments. Tomorrow we start with a bang. Um, maybe that is a poor choice of words. ;) Tomorrow, we start with great enthusiasm. I like that better. The entire group, all 17, and they stay until 3:00. Just like the big kids. ;) I have a sweet, sweet group of boys and girls and I think we are going to have a lot of fun learning together.

Enjoy some of the pictures of our first day! :)

*Thank you for continuing to pray for Jonathan's Mom, Clara. She completed her week of radiation treatments this past Friday. She will have a follow-up appt in early Sept with her oncologist. We are so appreciative of your prayers and support for her. *

Fourth of July Fun

Great Day for a Parade...Abigail participated in the Kingsport Fourth of July Parade with her dance studio, Holloway Dance. She was so excited about riding the float, a little nervous, but excited. Jonathan told me when he put her on the float that morning, she told her teachers she wanted to sit by "an adult". ;) I wasn't able to get a great picture of her, but she is wearing a red sun visor, if you can pick her out of the group of girls. Anna -Claire enjoyed cheering her on and watching all the floats ride by and waving her flag.

After the parade, we picked Abigail up at the dance studio and took her to lunch at 5 Guys. Yum! Then, we came home and made some homemade ice cream. Later on, after we grilled out that evening, Jonathan and Abigail went to Johnson City to meet up with Riley, Rebekah, Robin, and Steven to watch the fireworks. It was the first time Abigail had been to the fireworks. She thought she was big stuff staying up so late and going out with her Daddy. They had a good time. She was really excited.