One

It's hard to believe that our baby is 1! We are so blessed to have "Baby Wuke" (what Nathan calls him) in our family. He is so special to each one of us. The kids were so excited to celebrate his 1st birthday.

Una semana MAS!

We have had so much fun with Mami Elia here and now she is going to get to stay for 1 more week! This weekend we went to Townsend and to Cades Cove. We saw so many bears, deer, turkeys, birds....just so many wildlife. Mami Elia was laughing because we were going crazy excited at how much she got to see. These pictures aren't so great because they were taken with my point and shoot. Man, was I spoiled with our nice camera. I CAN"T WAIT until we buy the D90 until then my little camera will have to do!

Snuggling with Mami Elia.

The water was ice cold so Luke just stuck his feet in the water.

Nathan wore his new swim trunks with the cool shark floatie shirt.

Mami Elia- just hanging!

Eating some Mayfield ice-cream. That's how we got them to leave the river!

We saw a bear cross Cades Cove Loop. Some crazy, no stupid people were right up on it! Not us!
The field where we saw 4 bears!

This deer was munching on some greens and then this ignorant lady feeds it some people food! Hello?! Read the signs about feeding the wildlife lady!

In front of one of the Cades Cove buildings- church.

Old school backyard pool party!

We're going to have to buy another pool if we want to do this again since this
little pool sprouted a hole!

Mami Elia reading her daily devotion.

Luke had his own little pool.

Hey there!

Yum! Sandia!

Beautiful girl

Two peas in a pod!


What will we do next week?

Disfrutando de Mami Elia

Luke falls asleep every night in Mami Elia's arms.

Loydy and Any sent presents!



Mami Elia rode some rides at Dollywood.

This is what Mami Elia heard on this ride: "Go Mami Elia, Go Mami Elia!"

Waiting for the DollyWood train ride.



Eating Mami Elia's delicious pupusas!

Dollywood

Wet rides, funnel cakes,
corn dogs, tater twirls,
kettle corn,
swinging in the air rides,
good friends, great times.

It may not be Disney World, but it sure is fun.

Mami Elia did not get to come this weekend, but we went ahead with our plans anyway. Maybe she'll get to come this weekend. Third times a charm, right?

Don't Blink

Today is Olivia's last full day of kindergarten. Although I'm excited to have her home all summer, I am a little melancholic. She had a good year. She made some good friends, brought home art projects, shared silly jokes she and her friends cracked at lunch, earned prizes and awards through A.R., sang in her 1st concert, and made great academic gains. It is hard to believe she is now 1st grade bound!


If only we could capture some moments in time forever.

My Little Artists

Nathan and Olivia love to create. So yesterday Nathan made this canvas picture. He used big boy acrylic paints.

He had a good time. Olivia worked on a surprise gift for Mommy Margie's birthday. Today Olivia made this picture for us. I'm going to have to buy the canvas in bulk because they had so much fun painting and have already said they want to make more.
Luke is going to make one tomorrow. He let me trace his hand so part of the project is already under way.

Random Thoughts

No pictures today. Our camera is broken. :( Due to an unfortunate accident involving water and fun our D50 camera is fried. Seriously, it is. It started to smoke when I tried to get it to work last. I'll have to charge my camera for pictures for now. It's a pretty good point and shoot, just has a delay.
Mami Elia is here! Well, not here, but in N.Y. She'll be here soon. Can't wait to have some Mami Elia time. Maybe she can teach the kids some spanish since I haven't.
I think I'm going to make some flashcards for Olivia to practice with when she comes home from school.
Just 9 days and Olivia is out for summer! Kindergarten has been conquered! Kind of sad.
Was gonna clean the living room while Luke slept in this morning, but Nathan kept on saying" a'mon mom, mom". A'mon is come on and mom, mom is Mommy. So after a few a'mons followed by his trying to pick me up and pull my shirt I gave in and played Thomas for 30 minutes with him. Peer pressure. :)
Luke is crawling pretty good and likes to be stood up so he can play with the stand up toy.
Still haven't lost more than 2.5 pounds. Kind of frustrating since I've given up sweet teas, eating after 8, joined W.W., and work out 4-5 days a week. Oh, well. Gotta be patient.
Want an iphone. I know, I don't need one. The commercials are SO good.
Dreaming of the day when our house stays clean and the boys go to the bathroom on their own.
Wishing I had some frozen yogurt, a cool bike with a kid cart in the back, and a trip to the beach in the works.
Gotta go A'mon is calling me....