Weekend Fun

We decided to continue Audrey's birthday celebration and make a quick trip over to TN for the weekend. We purchased season passes to Dollywood last Thanksgiving when we were there and wanted to see if it was possible to drive over and back in one weekend, without being too exhausted. We drove to TN Friday after Chip got off work and got to our hotel about 11pm. It's funny to me that now I think a 6 hours drive is so short. One quick stop for dinner and gas and then we were there. After years of taking those 13 hour trips to FL, 6 hours is GREAT! The kids do great in the car. Between eating, watching movies, and listening to their favorite CDs, they do fine. The only problem with the drive was that we didn't get to sleep until about midnight. Which is about 2 hours late for Audrey, who didn't nap in the car. Andrew slept for a couple of hours after dinner. I laid down in the bed with her and she just had the giggles. Here we all four are in one room trying to fall asleep without any white noise (oops, I forgot the travel fan!) and she couldn't stop laughing. It would get really quite and then she would just scream out some random sound and crack up. Of course, Andrew found this quite amusing. I finally had to sit with her on the couch until she calmed down and fell asleep. We spent most of Saturday at Dollywood. We really like it there. They have a lot of rides for the little kids and they have great shows for them too. It wasn't too crowded but it was hot. I'm thinking I couldn't do it any later in the summer. After an early bedtime Saturday night, we decided to go back to Dollywood Sunday morning to ride a few more things that we didn't have a chance to on Saturday. After that we picked up lunch and drove back. It wasn't too bad. I think Chip and I were more exhausted last night than the kids.

The first ride of the day. It doesn't go up too high and only drops them a little at a time, so the little kids can ride it. Audrey liked it but it scared her at first, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

They saw several characters in the park.

Ready for fun!

Riding the scrambler...this was his favorite ride! It was fun, but didn't compare to the old snowman at Miracle Strip...in my opinion!

One of her favorite rides...driving the cars.

Watching a magic show.

Ready for the train ride.

We sat up close to the engine this trip and the whistle was really loud. Every time it blew it would scare Audrey and she held on to Andrew's leg.

We were up for a walk at the seminary the other day and I took a few pictures of the kids. Andrew is showing off his muscles in his new sleeveless shirt he picked out recently. The first one of Audrey is what she did when I asked her to sit on a bench for a picture. Can we say "attitude". When we got to the gazebo she climbed up on the seat and said "time for pictures".

Birthday girl!

Yesterday was Audrey's 3rd birthday! I'm still in denial. How can she be 3??? Oh, it was a little bittersweet. I'm glad that she getting so big and learning so much, but I'm sad to see our baby turning 3! That seems so old! I really forget how big she is until I look back at her past birthdays. Here are a few pictures from her birthdays and from yesterday. They had their end of the year party at school and she wore her birthday dress. Elmo Live was what we did for her birthday, so we just had a little party here for her last night. She had a good time and enjoyed opening her presents. She kept saying "no ma'am" as she tore the paper and looking at me for approval. I kept having to remind her that it was okay to tear that paper. I guess that's a little confusing when she always told not to tear up paper. We had pizza, cupcakes, and watched a movie. Tonight, she had a cupcake for dessert and said "happy birthday, okay" after I gave it to her. She wanted us to sing, again. So of course we did!
Happy 3rd Birthday Audrey! We love you!

Birthday 2006!

Birthday 2007!

Birthday 2008!

Birthday 2009~I'm 3!!

Trying to get those 3 fingers out!


I tried to get some pics outside after school. This is what she did for most of the time. Try and get me to chase her!

So excited after we sang happy birthday!
Andrew trying to get in a picture.

Enjoying her cupcake.

Andrew reading her the card he picked out

It took everything Andrew had to not rip all the gifts open. Audrey went "too slow" for him.

After all the fun...movie night. Watching her new Word World video.

Season of Change

Yes, things are changing around here. Summer is officially here and school is out (shh...don't tell Audrey, she still has 3 weeks left). Andrew graduated from preschool on May 20th! It was a great day. He was really excited about the ceremony and special reception afterwards. He also finished up the Awana year at church. He really has enjoy Cubbies this year and learn a lot from it. We finished up our gymnastics classes and started soccer. Our caterpillars ate all they could and crawled to the top of the cup, hung upside down and formed their cocoons. It really was amazing to watch the whole process. We ended up with 4 butterflies. After watching them for a few days we let 3 of them go. One of the butterflies had some "special needs" so we kept him. His wings were bent to one side and he never could open them much and couldn't fly. We also were able to go to see Elmo Live as an early birthday present for Audrey. The show was great and the kids both loved it. Below are pictures of all the fun. Enjoy!

Getting ready to release the butterflies.

They flew away!

10 seconds later...so upset they were gone!


Soccer practice!


Audrey practicing her letters!

Ready for the Elmo show.

Audrey watching the show. She didn't blink for over an hour!

Our new favorite thing...water painting on the sidewalk.

Enjoying the summertime.

Her first black eye. She tripped outside and did a forward roll on the sidewalk.

I think her face hit first.

Finished with Cubbies.

The graduate!

Right after we drove away from school...tears! So sad to leave Richland Creek.

He has loved it there this year.