HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Avery and Aidan had their birthday party today. Avery will be 6 this coming Friday (Nov 3) and Aidan will be 4 on the 7th of November. We did their party together this year and it was a GREAT TIME. We have a costume party every year and we do a Fall Festival theme... with games and hot dogs. The kids had a great time. Avery said it was the best day of her life (how cute). Avery was Ariel and Aidan was a Power Ranger. They had such a cute cake! Charlotte (Granny) gets their cake every year (Which was are so thankful for). It's always a half-and-half cake. Half of it is Avery's theme and half is Aidan's theme. We had games like beanbag toss, hopscotch, guess the number of candy in the jar... we had face painting, the jumpy house up. It was a fun party.

TRIP TO THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS

We went to the mountains on Saturday for the day. It was such a pretty day. We got a lot of rain at the end of this summer so we have had an INCREDIBLE FALL. The colors were amazing. It seriously looked like a magazine cover.
While we were there we saw a cub HIGH up in a tree. I am not sure how he got up there but he was high up. Ted and I got out of the car to take a picture of him. I started thinking... if baby cub is up in the tree... momma bear is probably close by. We never saw momma bear (THANK GOD!) but it was so cool to see this bear up in the tree. There was horrible traffic because of the picture takers on the side of road. (oh wait... we were one of those).
We left early yesterday to head to the mountains. We went up to Chimney Tops in the Smoky Mountain National Park. We usually let the kids climb on the rocks and throw small rocks in the water. The water was so high because it rained a lot on Friday - all day long - so the kids didn't get to go exploring like they normally do. It was still so beautiful... The kids enjoyed it... we did too.

WELCOME BURKS

Deanna, Eric, Ryan, Holly and Maddie Grace came to visit this past weekend. They got here on Thursday around lunch time and they left tonight. We had a great visit. We got to go out on a date on Thursday night - just the 4 of us. We sat at Borders book store and visited. It was a great time. Ted and Eric got some time together on Friday and Deanna and I did too on Friday afternoon. We spent Saturday in the Moutains. It was BEAUTIFUL!! The colors right now are INCREDIBLE. Today we spent the day getting ready for Avery and Aidan's birthday party. We went to church, grabbed lunch, and prepared for the party. They got to stay for the party but then headed out afterwards. They have a 14 hour drive. I am so glad they came for a visit. It was good to be with them.

FALL IS IN THE AIR

It is pretty chilli at night right now. We had our first fire the other night. I had my Bible study girls over and we had a fire while we sat in the living room and caught up. I enjoy a fire and a COLD night.

That is Kristin in the picture with Addie and Avery.

Meet TRUMAN

I finally got to meet Truman... such a sweet baby! He is son to my friends Ty and Carri... they live in Coppel, TX. Truman came into the world on Sept 8. SUCH A SWEET BABY BOY! I planned a quick trip down to Dallas (I went alone and went by plane). It was a great trip. I stayed two nights with Ty and Carri and two nights with Deanna and Eric. It was a sweet visit.

We'll be back in the Dallas area in April. Ted was asked to marry Hersson and Amy... we are so excited about it! ROAD TRIP!!!

Princess Beauty Salon

We had the Randalls over for lunch one day last week and I asked Avery and her friends if they wanted me to do their hair. We had a little princess beauty salon and then they put on their costumes. I straightened Avery's hair and curled Tori and Audrey's. Addie wouldn't sit still long enough for me to do her hair but she had her costume on. She'd never miss an opportunity to dress up. She lives in a costume.

LOTS TO BLOG ABOUT!!

I have so many things to blog about but I'll start with this cute picture of Addie... she fell asleep one day while sitting on the couch. I forgot about putting her down for a nap because she had been playing so well with her brother and sister. She just sat on the couch and fell asleep! SO CUTE! She is starting to potty train and I hope I will be blogging soon that she is fully potty trained. We are gonna try again tomorrow.

CHEESE FARM... HERE WE COME!

We took the kids on another field trip. This time we went to the cheese farm in Sweet Water, TN. It was an incredible day!!! The weather was beautiful!!! We went with several other families and learned how they make cheese. I HAD NO IDEA... I really still don't know because I had to take care of Addie the whole time and really couldn't hear what the lady was saying. I know that it has something to do with milk and that cheese sits sometimes for MONTHS before it is packaged and sold. Sharp sits longer than mild... I did hear that. We got to sample cheese and the kids thought that was great! I did too. We had a picnic lunch afterward with our friends and then headed back to Knoxville. It was only about a 30 minute drive. I must say the cows were kind of cute but they STUNK! :-) It was funny to see all the kids holding their noses. The lady said they get 8 gallons of milk out of each of their milking cows a day.... THAT IS A LOT OF MILK!