Relaxing, Visiting, Playing

Abby came home! She had a great time in Europe (of course!) and is excited to be home and tell us fun stories of her adventures. She didn't stop talking for the first week! Not much of a change...lol!


Relaxing...Let's see, how do we relax? I sit in my beautiful swing with my cappuccino and a look at the mountains. The kids stay in their pjs most of the day and daddy naps. What more could we want?! I attended a flower basket making class with Maryann, Connie, and Patricia. I am pretty proud of my basket and already put a plant in it.


Visiting: We like to have dinner with family and friends. Lots of laughter and silly stories! The kids' cousin Mitch came and we went to Rock Park and the kids planted a peach pit. Will we have a peach tree?!  Nightly walks turn into visits occasionally with fun neighbors. Sunday mornings we have Belgian waffles and then go to dinner at Monte Alban (Mexican) with Dad and Patricia. We like that tradition!


Play: Horseback riding lessons on Mondays, swim lessons for Joseph on Tuesdays and Thursdays then we all swim for a couple of hours. The kids enjoy playing on their on iPods. We had a great party on July 4 at Dad and Pat's. Jesse helped smoke a 60 pound pig with Dad. They had about 45 people at their house. It was lots of fun eating and visiting! We don't have TCBY, but we have Yogurt Mountain , a smaller version.


Life is Good!

Happinest is doing well!

We have had a lot of fun the past couple of weeks, a visit from friends, and relaxing times. Jesse came to town the first weekend we were here (!) and he got to play golf with Dad and his buddies several times. Some good games, some, well, not so good. Apparently, that is the life of a golfer! I went shopping with Patricia and a couple of other ladies and had lunch and shopped. What more could a girl want! 


Dad got sick the second week we were here and ended up in the ER with a virus. Pretty scary, but I was glad to be here to visit him. All is well now.  We had Dad and Patricia over for salmon and sourdough bread. Yum! Joseph and I went swimming a couple of times and I signed him up for swim lessons :-)


On Monday, June 11, Jesse, Joseph and I drove to Chattanooga to meet Missy and her boys, Matthew and Ryan. We spent a couple of hours at the aquarium, had lunch, and then came here. Jesse grilled chicken for dinner and left for Jackson, MS the next morning for two weeks :-( While Missy was here, we visited Moose Hollow, went to the rock park and got to visit. It had been TOO long! The boys had a good time playing together and Joseph (and me!) was sad that they were gone.


On Father's Day, we had waffles with Dad and Pat, a boat ride, and then dinner and gifts at our house. Fun times! Joseph has also started horseback riding lessons once a week as well as swimming lessons twice a week. He is doing great with both. That's my boy!


Life is Good!

We're baaaccck!

Hi!

Well, some of us are back! Joseph, the dogs, and I are here. Jesse is in Jackson, MS on business, and Abby is in London! Yes, you read that correctly, she is in London, England with her grandparents (Jesse's dad, Dave, his wife Connie, and her granddaughter, Maddie). More about her on her page. We got here yesterday and are excited about seeing Dad and Patricia and all of our neighbors. 

We finally named our home, another thing you must do when you have a cabin in the mountains. We have our theme, obviously birds and butterflies. Now our name....Happinest! Why Happinest? A couple of years ago when we came for the 4th of July (before we bought the cabin), we entered the gates of the neighborhood. Abby said, "We are entering the Gates of Happiness." We love that! Well, we are happy when we are here, so we kept the first part. Then I came  up with the "nest" part because birds have nests. See, it all ties in nice and tidy!

Our plans for the summer...Jesse will be here for a week and then Jackson and then here, and then Jackson, you get the idea. Abby will be home June 24. Joseph will have swimming lessons, horseback riding lessons, and fun riding his bike and scooter. We will enjoy spending time with family and friends as always!

The last summer post :-(

Well, it is the last day of our mountain vacation. We are almost packed, laundry and dishes are almost done, and the house is almost closed down. The time here flew by as always. We have had lots of fun with family and friends. Abby's friend, Morgan is here and the girls have had a blast this week. We are loving our new family addition, Daisy. She is very smart and quite cute. She is growing daily and learning quickly.
  We do look forward to coming home and seeing our friends. We have VBS at our church starting tomorrow and the kids are very excited. 
    I am happy that I will be at Oak full time doing the same thing that I did last year, Compass Math Coordinator. Jesse will be traveling to St. Louis every week for a while. Joseph will be in first grade and Abby will be in 5th. Ready, set, here we go!
Life is good.

Family, family, and more family

     Hello! We have been busy hanging out with the family. We visited a goat farm with Patricia, went on dad's boat, and had Jesse's dad, Dave, his wife, Connie and her grandchildren, Maddie (8) and Taylor (5) visit. Oh, and the kids had horseback riding lessons. Patricia's grandson, Mitch, is in town for the week also. Lots of good times!
      The goat farm was a lot of fun. The "goat lady" as she is called, has 37 goats on her farm. She loves her goats as if they were her own children. She bottle-feeds them as needed and has named all of her goats. The kids got to feed the goats from their hands. Joseph was a little concerned at first, and the next thing you know, he was feeding them out of both hands!
    On Father's day, we had Belgian waffles with dad and Patricia. Then we went on a boat ride and they came over for dinner. A great day!
     On Monday, June 21, Jesse and the kids drove to Atlanta to pick up his dad and family, who flew in from Texas. We went to the pool, had pizza downtown, and dinner at Dad and Pat's on Wednesday. We all went to the Biltmore in Asheville (2 hour drive) and toured the house and winery. On Saturday, we went to Bryson City (1 hr drive) and took a train ride. That was a lot of fun! Jess had rented the caboose for us (Dad, Patricia, and Mitch came too) so we had a lot of room to walk around. Also there was a crow's nest, which is seating upstairs on both sides of the train, enough for 4-5 kids. They really enjoyed that. The views were amazing.
      This week, we have gone to the pool with Mitch, took him to the rock park (he really liked that!), and to Fun World. Abby got to go white water rafting with Jesse, my dad, and Mitch. She had a blast. We have a fun weekend coming up! Happy 4th of July!

Abby's Birthday and more

    Abby turned 10 on Friday, June 10! I can't believe it. Wow, time sure has flown. She had a birthday party with her friends at the skating rink in Memphis before we left. On her birthday, she opened tons of presents and had a lazy day. Check out her blog.        
     We needed a dresser and to update the bed. When we were here during Spring Break, Jesse went to the flea market and saw some woodwork that was amazing. He asked the guys to custom make a bed and dresser.  Jesse picked them up and I was speechless! (I know, amazing, right?!) The work is phenomenal. The guys also made nightstands to match and we went and bought the next day. The prices were shockingly cheap for the amount of wood and labor. Score! Click on the pics of inside page.
     Shadow needed a fence so he could lay outside in the sun or just hang out.  Jesse and the kids built one this weekend and the pictures are on the pics of outside page.

     Life is good!

Rock Park

   We went to the Rock Park yesterday!  Our house is 30 minutes from the state line and the park is another 15 minutes. It is at the top of the Ocoee River where they let the water out. They had not let the water out yet this week, so the water level was a little low. It is a huge area that has a little store and restaurant, trails that go on forever, and the views are amazing.  The kids love to walk on the rocks (and I have mini-heart attacks!) and then wade in the shallow water. I walk on the trails and enjoy the view. We looked for the best spots to play in and the laughter filled the air. It was not crowded at all since school is still in session here. When the water is let out for the weekend white water rafting, the crowds will be in full swing.  The weather was perfect, sunny, but not too hot. We stayed for 3 hours and then had a picnic lunch.
     Dad and Patricia came back from her brother's surgery. Everything went better than planned and he was released the next day. Amazing!
    I have added several pages to our blog, one each for the kids and one for pictures. Check them out!
Life is good!