Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw are in town

Ted's parents came in for a visit on June 29th and are staying until July 3rd. We have had a great time with them. While they were here we have hung out outside quite a bit. They bought the kids new bikes so they have been riding out in the drive way. It has rained a few of the evenings while they have been here. Aidan and Paw-paw watched the rain (it was coming down hard). They enjoyed doing that together.
We ate some gumbo last night. We also put up the water slide so that Ted's parents could see the kids in action. We have had a great time.
The kids are enjoying having their grandparents around.

Splash Country? . . . no, OUR BACK YARD!

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Yes, this slide is on our back yard. Ted's mom and dad gave this to the kids. . . it is incredible. We just spent a few hours outside playing on it. It will provide hours of fun this summer! (and a good tan as well - haha).

The kids were so excited...
THANK YOU MAW-MAW AND PAW-PAW!

Buddies

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Aidan and Addie are buddies this week! Avery is at Vacation Bible School... this gives Addie and Aidan some time together... just the two of them. If I am not breaking up a fight, they are getting a long just great! Here are a few pictures of good moments that they have had this morning :-) They are sweet kids... just learning to share! I am having plenty of parenting opportunities lately. haha

READ READ READ....

We went to a book festival today put on by the public library out at World's Fair Park. It was such a great time (Thanks Greenes for letting us know about it). The kids had a great time (we did too). They had summer reading book clubs to sign up for. They also had the book sign up that Dolly Parton does for kids under the age of 5. We were able to sign Addie and Aidan up and they will get one free book in the mail each month until they are 5 years old (THANK YOU DOLLY!). The kids got to do all kinds of crafts. Avery made a book mark, a necklace, a puppet, she got her face painted (by me, the line was TOO long) and she got to paint a picture. Hannah Greene and her could not get enough craft time in. I wish I would have taken a picture of Aidan, Addie and Jacob Greene... they were going through the water sprinkler things out there... it was so much fun. We have to go back out there in our bathing suits. They have a great little water park out there. We had a great day! We ended our reading festival with a trip to Mellow Mushroom. We ate some pizza and salad. It was a fun Saturday. I think we got a little too much sun though... OUCH!

Dressing up!

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The Blockers were over last night and Rebekah was loving the dress up clothes that Addie and Avery have. The girls dressed up and had a ball! It was so cute I had to take a picture!
Addison was dressing up like Avery's doll, Belle. Rebekah was just thrilled to dress up... she had on fairy wings at one point, red glitter shoes, a princess crown... she saw it, she put it on. It was adorable.
I had to put Addie in the sun glasses on the blog too. SO CUTE!

Our trip to Texas

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We had a great trip to Dallas. We left at 4am on Wednesday May 24th. It only took us 15 hours to get there :-) It was a LONG day. The kids did great in the car (we adults did too). Charlotte came with us on this trip. She had never been to Texas before so we thought we'd give her the opportunity to experience the big "D" (Dallas). We started our stay at the Wellborns in Coppell. We had dinner when we got there and then we watched AMERICAN IDOL (of course). CONGRATS TAYLOR. On Thursday we ate at Jason's Deli (my favorite). We went to Irving Bible Church, where Ted use to work. We let the kids play in the tubes up at the church and we visited with old friends. Then while the kids were napping we took the girls to SAM MOON. It is a huge purse, jewelry store in the Dallas area. Then that night we had pizza out at a park in Coppell. Friday I left at 10am and didn't get home until 10pm that night. I had lots of wedding activities to attend. On Saturday we headed to the Burks' house. We were able to go to Ryan's birthday party. That was lots of fun. We just hung out there at Deanna's with her family until we had to be at the rehearsal dinner that night. On Sunday we did Wedding activities. After the wedding we went to church and then had dinner at Jason's Deli (yes, again) with friends (the Burks, the Ouellettes and the Stevens). On Monday morning Deanna and Eric made an amazing breakfast and the Smiths came over. We got to see Moses (their son they adopted from Africa). Then around lunch time Alex and Amy came to visit us. That was fun. Then that evening the Burks once again made an amazing meal and the Wellborns came over to celebrate Memorial Day. We went to bed on Monday night and woke up at 4am the next morning and headed back to Knoxville. It was a great drive. Once again the kids did so good! The mountains driving back into Knoxville from Nashville were amazing. We got home around 8:30pm. It was a GREAT (busy) TRIP!

DANIEL AND DOROTHY KENT!

We went to Texas to be in and at Dorothy Carpenter's wedding. We were thrilled to be there. I was a bride's maid and Avery was the flower girl. The wedding was on Sunday, May 28th. It was held in the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth. The wedding was a 1pm that day. There were clouds in the sky (praise God). It was warm but it could have been much warmer.
Avery looked absolutely beautiful. Ted and I were so proud of her. She was not nervous at all. She did her job so well. She dropped those rose petals like a pro. She loved being in the wedding. It was a great wedding.
We had lots of festivities while we were there... I went to a bride's maids luncheon, got pedicures with all of the bride's maids. We went to a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I went to a lingerie shower for Dorothy. We did the wedding and reception... it was a busy few days. We had a great trip though.

CONGRATS DOROTHY AND DANIEL KENT!

MAY BIRTHDAYS!

Just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all of you who celebrate your birthday in MAY. Happy Birthday to Kyle, Buddy Jr, Buddy Sr, Billy Joel, Annie Beth, Kade, and Ryan... if I forgot your birthday, forgive me. Let me know and I'll add it to the list.

This is a picture of Annie Beth at her birthday party.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

We went to Texas on May 24th and during our trip we were able to attend Ryan's FIREFIGHTER birthday party. He just turned 5 years old. My friend Deanna went ALL OUT. It was a great party! They even had a fire truck from Flower Mound, TX come and visit the party. All of the kids got to sit in the fire truck and have their picture taken. The picture with the fire fighters is RYAN (just in case you thought it was Aidan).

FUN AT THE ZOO

We went to the Knoxville Zoo on May 19th. This is our 3rd time to go this season. It is a lot of fun. We met several other moms from our church out there and took the kids around to see all the animals. Aidan, Avery and Addie fed the camels. That is Aidan's hand in the picture. It was lots of fun. We usually just go over to the park in the zoo (it's a great area for kids) but this time we walked and saw ALL the animals. We packed a picnic and all had lunch at the picnic area... it was a good time!

Elliot, you'll be missed!!!

I am an Elliot Yamin fan... I just thought he has the sweetest heart! I am sad to see him go. I did not think he would win American Idol but I would have rather seen him at the finale over Katherine. Just my opinion... Anyway... I'll miss you Elliot (LOL)

My Prediciton - TAYLOR WILL WIN

Look what came in the mail!

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UPS came to the door and look what he left....
It was really a bubble machine from QVC (compliments of Ted's mom!) THANKS MAW-MAW!

Birthday Dinner

My sweet friends took me to dinner for my birthday. It was also Betsy's birthday celebration as well. We went to Chilis on May 8th. We had a great time. Just wanted to share the picture.

Picture L to R - Becky Mazon, Me, Christy Randall, Amanda Blocker, Betsy Swoboda

Nanny Beck came to town!

Ted's sister, Becky came for a visit last weekend, May 4th - 7th. We had such a GREAT time visiting with her. She came on a spontaneous visit to see us. She bought her ticket the same day she came. Avery absolutely loved having her Nanny Beck here (Aidan and Addie did too). Becky was so great to sit and play with her. She took her to get crafts at Wal-mart - which was a HUGE hit to Avery. They came back with gifts for all. A flashlight for Ted, a candle and socks for me, a blanket for Aidan and a blanket for Addie. They got coloring books and all kinds of fun things. They even got some fun funky lamps for their room. They had so much fun together. Avery cried for an hour when Nanny Beck left. We were all sad to see her go. She has written two letters to Avery already. Avery is so excited to have a pen pal.

Picture Time!

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Here are some pictures from our trip to the Smoky Mountains while the Burks were in town. Read the Post below to hear about our time with them.
I will also put the rest of the pictures in the Photo Album (to your right). ENJOY!

The BURKS came to town!

Eric, Deanna, Ryan, Holly and Maddie Grace Burks came for a visit last week. They were here from Friday, April 21st through Tuesday April, 25th. We had a great time. They got here on Friday about 2pm. We had a nice dinner that night and just caught up on life! Saturday we headed to the zoo. The sun had just come out after it rained on Friday and it was a beautiful day. The perfect weather. We ate at Moe's just before the zoo. On Saturday night we had Charlotte and Kristen baby sit (Aunt Charlie) and we got to go out on a date just the 4 of us. That was a great time. We ate at Stir Fry Cafe and then went to the new Panera Bread and sat on the patio. Then we came home and Charlotte and Kristen stayed and we all had some laughs in our living room. On Sunday morning the Burks came to church with us. We were in the new facility... it was so fun for them to see the big change our church is going through. The Peforming Arts Center is now where we meet and it was neat for us for them to be there. We ate some BBQ after church. Then on Sunday afternoon we had a cook out for some friends here in town to get to visit and meet the Burks. It again was the perfect weather. All the kids played outside while Ted grilled... it was BYOM (bring your own meat). We played baseball and the kids did great. It was such a fun night. Ted took the day off on Monday and we headed to the Mountains. It was again NICE weather. We sat up at the chimney tops for 2 1/2 hours on Monday just soaking it all in. The kids had a blast and threw rocks the entire time. It was a lot of fun. Then on Tuesday (after we mourned that that was their last day) we hung around the house and went and met Ted for lunch. We went to Chic Fil A at Turkey Creek and Becky Mazon met us there. We had a nice lunch and then Deanna and I went out to get here a TN shirt. After dinner at our house they loaded up and headed home... which is a 15 hour drive. (Pictures above are of... 1st picture at the cook out, the second is of our kids and ryan along with tori (who lives here in Knoxville) at the cook out, and last was the big kids sleeping arrangement while they were here... which went well).