Sibling love

Carter and Laurel are trying to adjust to sleeping with one another in the same room. My parents have a trundle bed for them so Laurel is in the top bed and Carter is on the trundle in the "kid room". It has been somewhat difficult so when I checked on them before bed last night and saw this I just had to share.


I have no idea how he managed to sleep like that but he was out cold. Laurel told me this morning he was scared so she told him he could sleep with her. I am sure there is more to this story.


Today was a little school time and a trip to the movies to see Wall E. The older two liked it, the younger two were far more amused by the movie snacks than the movie and were ready to go far before it was over. A little too much plot for my preschool set I think. Tomorrow we are planning a trip to the "spray park" in West Knoxville.

Regensburg, Germany

Guten Tag, this is a guest post from Tim from Regensburg, Germany. All is well and I am furiously typing on a German keyboard to finish before my .10 Euro expires. I love yuou!

Lets hope things go more smoothly!

Tim is on his way and the children are all alive. I am counting my blessings as I ponder our crazy day.

All went well this morning. Tim got his stuff together while I got the children ready early. We planned a leisurely trip to the airport with a quick stop at Target to get a battery operated alarm clock for him to take. He was going through his files one last time giving me things I might need and handed me his itinerary. He told me his flight left at 2:10, when I looked at his paperwork I saw that 2:10 was his arrival time in Atlanta. He was to fly out at 1:05. It was 11:44 and my parents live 30 minutes from the airport. We made record time, the children moved amazingly quickly as their parents flew around in a panic grabbing bags and loading up. He was checked in by 12:20, said a quick goodbye to us and made a mad dash to security. He made it to the plane. So far the only thing we know he forgot was his neck pillow which he can live without. Now as for his luggage-with a 45 minute prior check-in...we'll see.

As I was driving back to my parents Katey choked on a hair clip. We were driving down the interstate when I hear gaging sounds. I look back and see it come up into her mouth from her throat. Then she screamed and as a result sucked it back down! The gaging began again and I rush to get us to the side of the road. I jumped out and opened her door just as she coughed it up again. I shoved her quickly forward and gave her a "pat" on her back and it to fell out of her mouth. She was scared but a drink of water and some love from Mom calmed her down somewhat. She needed more attention, but the side of the road was not the place to be.

There was a trip to Walmart and one to Target the full details of which I will spare you. Here is a brief summary: It is hard for a kid to spend $6 on toys for his birthday when there is really nothing cool there, Katey now only has one Dora shoe, Carter thinks walking through the racks instead of around them is fun, and I may have to go back to the store again tomorrow for things I forgot.

I am reminded to stick to my motto: kid friendly or no go!! Tomorrow is library in the morning and church at night. Hopefully a quiet afternoon reading books will help us recover.

Fun so far...

We are back at my parents following a couple of days in Gatlinburg and Dollywood. The kids had a great time at Dollywood. We arrived at 9 am and left at 6 pm. It was a long day and the children wanted more, but the adults were exhausted. We tried to encourage them by saying you will have something to look forward to the next time we visit, they were unimpressed by our logic. Here are a few pics from the park.

Later Tim and I had a night out in Gatlinburg. We left the hotel at 9pm. It seemed strange to go out so late- how things change! I had looked forward to Calhouns BBQ potato skins all evening (a favorite from my Knoxville days). We walked up the strip to Calhouns and arrived a few minutes after 10. They closed at 10. BUMMER! They suggested we go up to the brewery which was open later, but without my potato skins Calhouns just isn't the same. We went back to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. It was near our hotel and we had never eaten there. We have a history of quoting from the movie among ourselves, so it seemed like something we should try. Tim found the marketing of a restaurant based on a fictious company in a movie was interesting. My food was okay, the portion a little small, price a little high. Tim's food arrived cold. He told the server and they replaced his fries, he ate his Shrimp Po Boy as it was (we were starving by this point). The service was excellent, and in a way that would make Tina proud we asked that the server tell the manager about Tim's food and she took it off our check.

This morning we swam and took the kids to a nearby park. They enjoyed wading/swimming in the river and as we were leaving Matthew spotted a raccoon. He is so good at spotting wildlife when we are out and about! Here are some pics:

Jesus on the backsplash

I mentioned to Tim as we were finishing up packing up and preparing to go to bed that I stained the stainless steel backsplash last night while cooking dinner. I searched the web to no avail today and was unable to clean it. Those who know the saga of the backsplash- feel my pain and dread at having to tell Tim. He walked in the kitchen to see it and started laughing. I found no humor in the situation and was curious until he called to me saying "we have the face of Jesus on our backsplash". I thought he was joking, trying to make me feel better until I joined him in the kitchen and he pointed out the mouth, moustache, beard, nose, and eyes. Should I sell it on ebay??

Maybe I can start a home based business. We'll schedule tours when we return. Make plans for your pilgrimage.

Off on our adventure!

We leave in the morning for our trip. We'll spend a couple of days in the Smokies, have a birthday party for the boys with my Mom and Dad, and then Tim will go to Germany for 20 days. During that time the kids and I will be in Knoxville and Detroit. Stay tuned for pics and possible panic as we are away for 25 days! Call us on my cell if you need to reach us. Also, since my parents are now "wired" and Tim hopes to visit some internet cafes in Germany you can reach us by email while we are away.

The black hole

Somewhere in our house there exists a black hole. It sucks up things that are never to be seen again. Actually we have had it for a while, you see it moved with us as well. The software for my camcorder, a magnet for the magna doodle, and various other items- all lost never to be seen again despite massive searches. The last victim: Katey's khaki shorts. I am trying to finish up packing for our trip and I cannot find them. I have been looking for them the last few days, confident they would turn up as I washed, picked up, and packed up. The child only has two pairs of shorts, you'd think I could keep up with them. I guess I will pick her up another pair along the way. Luckily she has two pairs of capris and a skort to get her through.