Another busy day!

Today we again took our time in the morning, did some snuggling.

The kids took a fun bath! Callie already wanted to take another tonight.

Then we headed out to Dollywood. We all had a blast! The kids loved the rides. Callie's favorite was the Scrambler and William liked the bumper cars.

We all went on our first Ferris Wheel ride together.

We were there all day up until the time we headed over to the Dixie Stampede to watch the "horses dancing" as the kids said. They loved this dinner show! William enjoyed cheering for the green team, the "North" and he liked the comedian character "Skeeter" and his dancing chicken. Callie liked everything...horses dancing, pigs, chickens, singin', dirt...the list goes on.

Thank you Dolly, we had a great day!!

Tomorrow, nature calls. Spending the day hiking at the park.

Gatlinburg, TN

I'm going to try blogging as we go here on this vacation.

Yesterday we packed up and drove to Hagerstown, MD where Callie and I attended Bible study while Jon brought William to a dr appointment (asthma) and then brought him back for his class and then ran some errands. After that we headed out for our 8 hour drive to Gatlinburg, TN.

We arrived in Pigeon Forge at night and the Christmas lights were everywhere. This town is quite lit up even without Christmas, but it's really bright now, complete with every one of the 12 days of Christmas items lining the street. William calls it the Christmas town.

Our condo is great. We thought the kids would go to sleep well last night after traveling. Not so, they were too excited to get to sleep together. Tonight, however, is a different story! They fell sound asleep in the car and woke only enough to take care of business before drifting back to sleep. This is our view.

kids sleeping arrangements.

Today we lounged around and did some researching and planning. We headed out for lunch atSonic. My first Sonic meal ever, quite possibly thanks to the influence of Mr Bill Glass. We wonder if we would have gotten a discount if we mentioned that we know the guy in the comercials. Probably not.

After lunch we went to the "Upside Down House" as the kids call it. Wonder Works. A museum of sorts of scientific fun things. Make sense? Things like optical illusions, how hearing works, earthquake exhibits, flight simulators, etc. The kids thought it looked funny, but when they heard the speakers outside the building making creeking and groaning sounds as if it was falling down, they wanted to leave. After a bit, once they forgot we were in an upside down building, they enjoyed themselves, but when we returned to the lobby and they remembered, they were ready to leave. Also funny, they both wondered why the potties weren't upside down too.

laying on a bed of nails

Dancing to make shapes on the screen.

Stepping on a picture on the floor to make it morph.....

but the funny thing is, with flash, it really looked like this...

We also all took a turn in the pitching simulator. Jon's fastest was 54 mph and mine was 38. To which my dear, gracious 90+mph pitcher brother said, "add a few mph to that since you were just warming up". That puts me in the 40s! Aren't I amazing?

Then a little shopping at the Smokey Mountain Knife Works. Interesting...possible Christmas gifts for a couple people. And then off to dinner at Mama's Farmhouse. Mmmmm! Delicious! Then groceries and back for bed. Busy day! But fun. Better sleep now, those kids will be up at the crack of 0630 again I'm sure.

I promised more Thomas

and here it is. It was such a fun day! Rainy, but super fun!

Not so fond of the freaky Sir Toppam Hat

And a quick stop by The Bass Pro Shop on the way home.

You know how you sometimes get mail for other people at your home, sometimes a neighbor, sometimes a former resident, sometimes a wrong name or misspelled name for you? Here is my latest. A refund from the dog's heart guard medicine. The bank almost wouldn't take it.............

Sunset from the window at work.

MInnesota everywhere, but no purple...

Lately I have been seeing and hearing about MN everywhere.

At work a co-worker found out I was from MN and began to tell me about his army buddy from MN and a class mate of his in college. Another co-worker sitting there asked if I had known Lisa (another co-worker) before I moved here. Lisa grew up near Rochester and graduated from Winona State about 7 years earlier than me.

The book I am reading is published in Minneapolis.

The documentary Jon has been watching on National Parks has talked about a man from MN who was instrumental in helping to get the Ntl Park system established.

A book the kids got from the library was written by a woman who now lives in Bloomington, it was also published in Mpls and in her thank you she thanked the Red Balloon Bookstore in St Paul.

HOWEVER. Today William's color of the day at school is purple. He has no purple clothing to speak of! Even Brett has a purple shirt! What is going on here??? We do have some hand-me-downs coming from Liam that are sure to have some item including purple???

Thankfully, we were able to find a hat. A hat he got as a tiny baby, it's even signed. It's still a bit big for him, but he'll grow into it, and we will have it for years to come for moments like this. (Thanks for the hat, Mom.)

You can never go down...

The video on this site has provided much comfort for William. : )

Does God exist?

Enjoyed this video. True story.

This breaks my heart.

Water For Christmas is gearing up!! Be prepared. $20 can give one person clean water for a lifetime!

William's dreams

Recently Wm has been remembering and telling us about his dreams.

The first was scary. He woke up yelling. Boulders were running after him and he was yelling at them to get out of his room.

And last night...."The man from Minnesota came and told me I should go fishing. Can we go fishing?" I'm wondering if this was really a dream or just him recalling some tid bit of wisdom passed on to him from some 'Man from MN'...though I don't seem to recall if I know many men from there who fish... : )

Maybe he'll have to try out some fishing when we're back in Dec.

Own it.

I think I may have changed most in the last year than in the 4 years prior to that. Or maybe just changed for the better, where as I feel like I was changing more for the worse just prior to that. PA has given me some experiences that I never expected. I'm glad for it though. I have become more confident, less insecure. More content, less jealous. This may be largely to do with the amazing group of ladies I meet with on Wednesday evenings. They are incredible! I think they are helping me to become Me just by being Them.

So, just the other night I was watching a show that summed it up for me. One of the main characters, the owner of a clothing store, was trying to encourage one of her employees, a girl who had dreamed of being a model, but just wasn't getting the break she needed. The Owner, we'll call her Kourtney, was trying to encourage this girl, Carrie, to continue to follow her dream. Carrie was complaining about some part of her looks, etc. Kourtney kept encouraging her and also arranged for Carrie to have a spot in a fashion show and told her, "You look amazing, You're you, Own it!"

What I got out of it is this, YOU'RE YOU, OWN IT!

I have recently been so less worried about what other people are thinking, less worried about others looking down on me or judging me. I've gotten better at shrugging off what people say that may have hurt me before. (Not completely there, but better.) I have become more myself lately. I've been discovering who that is. I've been being me and being happy with that. I realize I like Me. I'm not trying to be like them, dress like her, look like that, do what they do. I've been more like Me, dressed like Me, looked like Me, done what I do and have been happier with that than I ever was with all that trying.

I'm me, and I'm Owning It!

PS.....

Guess the show and you'll get 500 points (I've left hints)....Disclaimer....it is not a highly moral show, not one I'd recommend normally, but when you're up at 1 am sewing...there's not much on, and, hey, just shows you can learn a lesson from any show!)

Great day out with Thomas....more pics to come.

My 4 year old...

...has really been surprising me since he turned 5!

(I begged and begged him to stay 4 and he refused.)

He has never really drawn anything that looked much like anything. Just scribles. I've asked and he's done a few things, but won't even cooperate for much of a circle. So, when at his well child dr visit, the dr asked him to draw a man and he started drawing a big circle on the paper, I said, "Is that a man? Are you going to draw a man like he asked?".... and he continued to draw as we talked and he came up with this!!!!

The doc said he was "just looking for 6 identifyable items". I guess what the doctor wants the doctor gets. Oh, and the horizontal lines by the legs are not feet, those are there too at the bottom of the leg, but these lines are the man's "boo boos". We were at the doctor afterall.

And today he was being such a good helper. He helped empty the dish washer.

He put all the silverware away all by himself. And it looked like this!!!

Perfectly alligned. He's amazing! But where did he come from?

And here is his 5 year Birthday interview.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Truck driver with car carrier and a doctor and a car driver and a truck with packages and a loader loading up a truck... that’s it

Favorite food?

Peach and apple, cupcake, and pancake and blueberry and that’s it.

Favorite thing about our family?

Going to Hershey park, the circle ride with the cows that say cheese. (Chocolate World)

What makes you laugh? Silly faces

one thing you would like to get better at? swimming

What is your favorite part of the day? God

If you had to eat the same food for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week, what would it be? Blueberry pie

What bugs you most? (annoys you?) hitting

How tall do you think you will be one day? Like you

Whose job is harder, Mom’s or Dad’s? Dad’s job

Favorite game? Flying paper airplanes at my party

Favorite candy: chocolate milk and Hershey kisses and it’s M&Ms too

Favorite animal: tiger

Favorite color: black

Best vacation: the one that did not have the waves

Least favorite thing to do: hitting

Saver or spender? Spend my money

My friends are: the people at my party

People bug me that: bugs

What do you think about turning 5? good

William is getting interested in sign language

Today he asked how to sign "hungry" and then....want, dog, and food.

We also looked up the alphabet and practiced the first three letters.

He just told me "Mamma, I'm hungry (sign) for alphabet (sign) soup"

Amazing!! : )

Reading-singing baby baluga with goggles on.

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