Another Day at Dollywood!

On Friday we took our good friend Marilyn to Dollywood! We had a great day! It was also a wet day! Not because it rained, but because we rode several "wet" rides. Fortunately, I had Beckett and Helen prepared by dressing them in their swim suits, but Marilyn and I were a bit uncomfortable after the "River Rampage" totally soaked us! Thanks, Marilyn for going with us and for hanging out with Helen when she wasn't tall enough to ride some of the rides!

Helen looking cool in her shades as she rides the tram through the parking lot!
Beckett and Helen after he rode the new River Battle ride and got soaking wet! Helen and I got to shoot the boat with water from land while Beckett and Marilyn rode in the boat and shot water at us! What fun!
Playing in the kid's water area! The water randomly shoots up from the holes in the ground!

Drummin' on a Thursday.....

I thought that 2 and 3 year olds liked to get out their mom's pots and pans and bang around. I remember when Beckett started doing that. The only thing is....he never stopped! If I would let him, he would "drum" on pots and pans every day. Some days it is just too loud! But today, he got out all of my pots and pans and combined them with his toy drum (most used Christmas present ever) and his drum sticks and put on a little "Toby Mac" concert. Beckett decided to sing his own version of "Portable Sounds" by Toby Mac! Enjoy!

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend!

Sean, Julie and I left LC on Friday at noon and traveled to Maryland for Neil and Kathryn's wedding! We arrived at 10PM Friday night and stayed with our new friends, Victor and Pearl! They were such gracious hosts! The wedding was at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon and the ONLY picture I took was when Neil and Kathryn were leaving the dinner reception! I am so sorry that I didn't take any pictures of them in their wedding attire. Kathryn was a beautiful bride and Neil was so handsome! The ceremony, church reception and then dinner reception were so nice! We had a great time visiting with all of Neil's family as well as all of his new "Maryland family"! We got up on Sunday morning and went down to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and walked around for a while. Then we drove a short distance to Fort McHenry which is the 18th century fort where Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner." We left Baltimore around noon and headed home. We made it back to LC around 10PM! Needless to say, we had a great time with "Jujy"..... many laughs and funny quotes! Beckett and Helen stayed with Nana and Papa and they had a great weekend. We were happy to see them when we picked them up early this morning! I'm posting a few pictures from the weekend! Hope everyone enjoyed a nice Memorial Day!

Here are Kathryn and Neil as they left the dinner reception. Everyone was blowing bubbles as they made their way to the limousine!

Sean and I stayed in Pearl and Victor's camper in their backyard! "Yes indeedy" it was quite nice! I wasn't sure what to expect when Neil told us that we could stay with Kathryn's aunt and uncle and sleep in their RV, but it turned out to be very comfortable! We had heat and air, TV, a shower and Pearl had stocked the fridge for us!

It was great!

Here is a picture of the harbor in Baltimore. It was a beautiful day and the area was very nice!

Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light?
The "star spangled banner" inside Fort McHenry!

May 21st is a very special day!

Today was Beckett's last day of school so he is an official Kindergarten graduate! Our umbrella school, Christian Academy of Knoxville, gave us a skills check-list to turn in at the end of the year, so we spent the morning testing the many skills that Beckett must have in order to complete Kindergarten. He passed with flying colors! It is hard to believe that my first post on this blog was on Beckett's first day of school! (See blog archive to the right and click on August to see picture of first day of school!) This year has gone by so quickly! We have had a great year, but he is VERY excited to get a break this summer!

Beckett with his Kindergarten Diploma!

He also received a Certificate of Promotion to First Grade!
Way to go Beckett!

May 21st is also a special day because 14 years ago, Sean and I got married! We went out to dinner this evening and had a great time. We agreed tonight that each year just gets better and better! I am very blessed to have such an amazing and wonderful husband! He is a great support and encourager to me, he makes me laugh every day, he is an awesome father and he is my best friend. Most importantly, he is a strong spiritual leader for our family, and for that, I am very thankful!

Pictures from last Friday and Saturday.......

We had fun this past weekend and I thought I'd share a few pictures. On Friday morning we went to Lillie's school to hear a children's author speak. His name is David Sargent and he writes books about his best buddies....his pet dogs. He brought his four dogs and then he read some of his stories to the kids. Beckett and Helen had fun visiting Lillie and seeing the dogs! It was "dress as your favorite book character" day at Lillie's school, so that is why she is dressed as a princess!

On Saturday, Beckett played his last baseball game of the season. After the game, we met the team at the new Gatti's in Turkey Creek and had a team party. The next few pictures are of Beckett with his trophy, Beckett eating pizza with some of his team mates and the baseball cupcakes I made to share with the team! His trophy is pretty cool. It is a baseball glove and he can put his game ball in it!

After the pizza party we had a few things to pick up at the store. We didn't have anywhere else to be, so we killed a little time playing around! Here are Beckett and Sean playing with some Hulk boxing gloves. It got pretty ugly!

And here is Helen with her lovely Hannah Montana hair!

Pretty Pedicures!

A sweet friend blessed me by giving me a gift certificate to get a pedicure and I went this morning! Sean had to take the day off to install a new hot water heater, so he and Beckett stayed home and worked, while Helen and I went to Lenoir Nails! It was so relaxing and nice! Helen sat on my lap the whole time and was quite interested in everything that was going on, so when we got home, I gave her a pedicure. It was a fun day! Thanks to Sean and Beckett for all of their hard, dirty work while Helen and I got to be pampered!

Helen's First Pedicure!

Prince Caspian

The movie starts today!
I am reading C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian to Beckett and he is very excited about the movie! We were visiting the movie's official web site this afternoon and they had this widget that you could add to your personal blog. I thought it might be fun! (Like I really know what a widget is!) But now I have one on my blog! Ha! You can click all of the links and even watch the trailer on The Harper Hullabaloo! How cool is that?

We are enjoying the story and will see the movie soon!