Abbie's 12th Birthday

Abbie is into Hello Kitty, so we found a cake that matched her likings.



Abbie decided to go to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga Tennessee for her special birthday event. Here she is in front of the river otter exhibit.



She also got to feed a sting ray. She had a raw shrimp in her fingers, and the ray just swam on top of her hand, and picked the shrimp out of her fingers. It was really cool!



Abbie and her Dad fooling around at the Mellow Mushroom (they make awesome organic,wholesome pizza) yummy!!



This has nothing to do with her birthday, but just last week, we had 3 days of snow. It was cold, wet, and beautiful. The kids loved watching it fall!!

Christmas 2008

Taylor takes his ususal position during craft time. He can supervise from here!



Abbie and Andrew worked very hard to create the gingerbread tree and house. I think they ate a lot of candy
as well!



Abbie has become a natural with a frosting bag.




Abbie and Andrew all dressed up for the Nutcracker. Taylor and Walter decided not to go this year. I think the ballet
gives them the willies.




Just a picture of some of our Christmas decor. We love all the twinkle and glitter that goes with the season!

B-17 Adventures

I took the kids to see the living museum for the B-17. It was at the Knoxville airport, and only there for 2 days. Andrew decided his favorite part was the radio room. Imagine that, his favorite part was the room for talking and pushing buttons! Abbie thought it was neat to touch a real part of history.




Taylor was such an expert on the plane, he gave Andrew a personal tour. The people running the exhibit tole Taylor they should hire him to give tours.



Abbie and Taylor, waiting for Taylor's flight.



This is a picture of Taylor on his B-17 flight. He thought it was one of the best experiences of his life. Only a few get to fly in this plane. Unfortunately, soon it will be gone.



Finally, a little fall display. We had fun with this, because everyone in Tennessee does this.

crafty fun and EPCOT

Andrew decided that he wanted to learn how to sew. We started him out with sewing by hand. I'm not sure my nerves can take him on an sewing machine!




Abbie is putting the finishing touches on her halloween quilt. She is doing yarn knots to speed up the quilting process.




Taylor and Andrew goofing around on a recent trip to EPCOT. It's not often that he loosens up and has fun.




Andrew thought it would be funny to imitate the Beatles' Abbey road cover. They couldn't quite get it together. It was still funny.




We finished out our week at St. Augustine. The kids love coming here because of the history. They seem quite excited about the tourist brochures!

fun stuff

Turkey anyone? We caught these turkeys wandering through the backyard. I think we found the thieves who are eating our tomatoes!



Abbie decided to crochet herself a headband. She's always looking for quick easy projects to pass the time.




Someone forgot to tell this butterfly that fall was here!

Andrew's 9th Birthday

Another year older, and Andrew keeps plugging away. This is the yummy Pirates of the Caribbean cake that he picked out this year. I must say I've never eaten a cake with a kraken on it.



Andrew picked, as his present, a trip to his favorite vacation spot Tradewinds resort in St. Pete Beach. They have a 30 foot water slide right on the beach. The kids go on it all day. This is Abbie taking a slide.



Taylor actually loves this place too. He normally plays moody teenager, but not here. He could slide all day, every day.



Finally, there's the birthday boy. This slide was the only reason we drove 11 hours one way to see. He thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.



We also had fun digging our toes in the sand at low tide searching for sand dollars. They look a lot different when they are alive. These had little baby crabs on them when we found them. Of course, we released them. They are too sweet to hurt, but neat to study.

Craft time!

This is a centerpiece on the coffee table that the kids designed. I let them go crazy in the store to see what they could come up with.



We all miss the beach so much, that we decided to bring the beach inside. This was made with candles, and sand with lots of seashells.



We had a string of incredibly hot days, so Abbie decided that she wanted to break out the sewing machine. She loves to keep busy, and had a blast sewing.



This is the finished product. She made a patio dress. You can't see the back, but she criss-crossed the straps to keep them from falling off her shoulders. She loves her creation.



Finally, an activity selected by Andrew, he decided to make fruit kabobs. It was sweet, sticky fun, and the kabobs were yummy.