Another First...Wyatt's in Preschool!

Wyatt started Mother's Day Out yesterday at First Baptist Hendersonville. He absolutely loved it!! He has been talking about it nonstop for weeks and was so excited to go for his first day. He got to pick out a backpack and new tennis shoes and he loves to show them off. For the backpack he picked Toy Story and for the shoes he wanted "light up sketchers...no actually z-strap sketchers". I really think this was only because Will has those, but I'm in trouble if the brand-name pickiness is already starting at 2 years old! We settled for some Walmart z-strap sketchers...same thing to him but much cheaper for mommy! Anyway, he had a great first day, no tears at all! We dropped Will off at school and Wyatt said, "okay, now lets go to my school!" He ran right into his classroom and when I picked him up, he was smiling and he said, "mommy, guess what? I just slept at school!" He met new friends and played outside and ate lunch from his lunchbox (another thing he was WAY excited about) and slept on a cot. Whew! I'm glad he had such a fun day!

Wyatt loves to show off the backpack!

With the boys starting school and especially Will starting real, big boy Kindergarten with lunch lines and gym class and hall monitors and 5th graders ...I could go on and on but you get the picture, this letter seems to sum up all the emotions Trent and I are feeling right now. Betsy sent it to us, and it was given to her when Trent started Kindergarten. It's so hard to watch your little man venture out into the real world with real problems and not be there to brush him off or wipe his tears. If I'm so worried about Kindergarten and elementary school, I can't imagine what college is going to be like. I'll have 12 more years to prepare I guess!

Thank you Betsy! Such a sweet letter and I really hope the world treats our boys gently.

Hello World

Hello world! I am 3 months old today and this is my attitude most of the time - smiley. I am very happy and LOVE to laugh. I laugh at anything and everything, which is good because my 2 brothers and my Daddy are very silly! I weigh 14lbs and wear size 3/6 mos clothes. I have a "trick" that I like to do with Mommy. She makes these crazy motor sounds to me and I'll repeat it, but only with her. Daddy tries but I just stare at him...hehe...it makes him mad :) This past month I have learned to talk...well, not like the rest of you do, but I developed my own language. It consists of squealing, cooing, grunting, laughing, pretty much any noise you can think of. I look at grown-ups, move my mouth and make these noises, they think it's so cute! Another thing I have learned this month is how to blow bubbles. When I'm sitting around bored because no one is paying attention to me, I start making lots and lots of bubbles come out of my mouth. Yeah... I know...it's a talent.
I have found these odd things at the end of my arms...hands I guess? I stare at them and watch them move. I have even learned that I can use them to reach for toys. I don't really understand why they have the long pointy things called fingers, but my fists are good for hitting the toys I reach.
Well, I better get back to Mommy while my brothers are asleep. It's the only time I get to play with her by myself. She wants me to take a nap too, but NO WAY I would miss out on my alone time :) I'll check back in next month! - Weston

Our Big Kindergartner!

It's official....Will is now an actual Kindergartner! Yesterday was his first day at Union Elementary School and he LOVED it! Monday will start the full days 8:00 - 1:30 but yesterday was a half day. He was very excited to go and had been talking about it for weeks. He would say, "umph, I just want to go to school right now". When I dropped him off in his classroom, he barely noticed that I was leaving. He went right to a table and started coloring, turned around with a wave and said, "bye mom". He was ready!

They read The Gingerbread Man book and took a tour of the school looking for the gingerbread man. He left them clues all around the school and when they returned to the classroom, he left them a surprise....gingerbread man cookies! Will thought that was so fun! He said they got to color and glue and cut and he learned where the bathrooms are. Sounds like a pretty full day to me! He wanted to take his lunch in his new Toy Story lunch box but he said the teachers let him follow a friend in the lunch line so he would know what to do for buying his lunch. When I picked him up at 11:30, he was full of energy and so excited to tell me all about his first day! His teacher Mrs. Crane said he was "one smart cookie". She said they were talking about the cow in the Gingerbread Man book and she asked if anyone knew what cud was. No one said anything but Will raised his hand and explained all about it, even the 2 stomachs and everything. He told them his daddy taught him that. She said, "I can already tell, it's going to be a fun year!"

When we got home, it was naptime but since he was in Kindergarten now, I told him he didn't have to nap if he didn't want to. He was SOOO EXCITED about not napping! He kept telling Wyatt, "now, I don't have take a nap today because I'm in kindergarten, but you do. But maybe when you go to kindergarten you won't have to take a nap either". Wyatt didn't mind. He loves his sleep! During naptime, Will said several times, "maybe I'll just lay down for a little nap...", but he never actually did. By 7:00pm he was exhausted!! This new schedule will take some adjusting!

The only things Will has had any questions or concerns about so far are bathroom and friends.

He would say (in a truly concerned voice), "what if I have to go to the bathroom". I tell him they have bathrooms and you'll go together as a class. Then he says, "what if I have to go other times". No worries now because he knows where they are! The other concern he has mentioned is, "What if I'm shy"........okay.... to this question I always laugh a little but collect my composure and say, "Will, you are DEFINITELY not shy. You'll meet all kinds of new friends". He starts smiling and says, "oh, okay".

I know Will will do great in school and I'm so happy that he loves to learn so much! I hope he stays excited about school and learning and making new friends!

Our Smoky Mountain Vacation

We went with Memur, Pepaw, Daddy Jack and Uncle Drew to Gatlinburg for a week for vacation this year. It was so much fun! The cabin we stayed in was on TOP of a mountain and had gorgeous views from the deck and living room. The drive was a little scary to get there, but it was worth it!

The cabin was very nice! It had plenty of room for all of us to lounge around and plenty of room for the kids to play. The boys even had 2 sets of bunk beds in their room, which was very exciting for Wyatt! This meant they both got to sleep on the top bunk! The deck was HUGE and there was a patio on the first floor as well. Both views were awesome!

We did so much in the week and I took so many pictures....I actually managed to sort through most of them and narrow this post down to only 31 pictures :)

On Monday we visited Cades Cove and on the drive up, we stopped at a creek beside the road to let the kids play.

They loved playing in the water and wanted to go all in instead of just wading. Mommy should have planned better and brought clothes for that. Sorry guys!

While at Cades Cove, we saw a mommy bear and her cub. The cub was making its way to the road (where we were!) and the mommy would stand up to find him. It was the neatest thing!!

The baby bear actually came right in front of our van, crossed the road and here he is in the ditch on the other side of the road as we drove by. So cool!!

On our way out of the main loop, Trent saw another mommy bear and 3 cubs. There was a traffic jam so we couldn't see them, and it was too dark for the pictures to turn out, but he said it was neat!

On Tuesday, we played in the pool and visited Dollywood that night. The cabin had a neighborhood pool and the boys loved it! It was 2 levels with a waterfall in between. There were rock formations all around and even under the water. Will and Wyatt loved jumping off the rocks even though Will was quick to tell you that the sign said "no jumping or climbing on rocks".

The boys clearly obeyed the rules :)

Even Weston got to try out swimming. He didn't like it too much! The water was FREEZING!

Wednesday, we spent the ENTIRE day at Dollywood. We stayed open to close and the boys were EXHAUSTED....well, the adults were probably more tired than the boys, but we all had a great time!

There were so many great rides there! Will rode several big ones but the biggest roller coasters, he was an inch too short to ride. The adult favorite, Mystery Mine. VERY COOL! They also had a great "country fair" section for the kids. Wyatt enjoyed the rides in this section. He even liked the Farris wheel!

We all got to ride an actual coal burning train which was pretty neat. Kind of messy with the coal ash, but neat to ride a real train on a real track!

Thursday was kind of recovery from the past 2 days! The grown-up boys went golfing (Trent's first time ever!) and me, Memur, Daddy Jack and the 3 little boys went shopping. Not such a great idea with 100 degree heat in an overly crowded outlet mall with 3 little kiddos. We spent most of the time in traffic! The boys enjoyed golfing together and they all said Trent played surprisingly well for his first time!

Friday was our hiking adventure by day and then to the aquarium at night.
Memur and Daddy Jack weren't too interested in hiking 4 miles up a mountain, so they enjoyed the air conditioned cabin on this day! The rest of us suckers sweatted our patooties off!

I really tried to get Trent to carry Wyatt in the backpack carrier, but he said, "oh, we won't need that...he's too big for it...". Wrong! We (well, actually Drew and Trent), carried Wyatt most of the time!

We hiked Henwallow Falls trail. It was 4.4 miles round trip and fairly easy, but not so much when you add 3 kids to the mix. We took our time and enjoyed the very pretty scenery.

The trail followed a creek a good portion of the way and crossed it a couple of times. This provided some "cool off" time.

Weston did great! He just hung around the whole time in the sunggly. I actually fed him when we got to the waterfall. Tip: if you ever want to clear people out of a crowded waterfall area, start breastfeeding the baby. It works like a charm! (sorry for the TMI Uncle Mike...but I was covered up!)

This was kind of weird. Drew went off the trail in the woods to find some old home sites that were supposed to be there. He didn't find any home sites, but he did find this. The only gravestone out in the middle of the woods....not in a cemetery area...weird huh!?!

The boys would run up ahead and play on the rocks, etc. This is just too cute!

We finally made it to the top and they were so excited...or relieved?!

The waterfall was gorgeous!! Very tall. I couldn't get the whole thing in a picture! This portion was probably between 1/4 and 1/2 of the falls.

Aren't they cute little adventurers!

I keep telling Trent to wear something besides his blue rag and ratty old flame shirt to go hiking. It seems like every hiking picture I have of him looks like this!

These 2 muscle men decided to climb up some rocks beside the falls to find a cave.

They made it but the boys were so sad that they couldn't go along. :( (see the sad faces at the bottom of the picture)

Then Will talks Trent into letting him climb it.....yes....my sweet little 5 year old climbed this scary rock. I have no pictures of him getting down because I couldn't watch. I could barely watch him going up!

After we returned safely from our mountain adventure, we went into Gatlinburg to see the aquarium. It was great! We got to see everything from seahorses to sharks!

They have a tunnel that you walk under and the sharks swim above you. Pretty cool! This was an odd looking shark. It had a saw nose!

dudun...dudun...dudun....

The boys liked to play in the "pop through" tanks. They got to "pop through" into the penguin tank as well!

It was a long but fun day! whew!

Of course we ate very well too! We had a couple of great grill out meals at the cabin with stakes and Terry's pork chops (Trent and Pepaw got up close and personal with a couple of copperhead snakes!) and we ate at the Log Cabin Pancake House, Bubba Gump's Shrimp and Old Mill Cafe.....mmmmm I love Gatlinburg food!

Great trip, great food and great times!!