Welcome Baby Lucy!

Our friends Will and Meagan are the proud parents of a new baby girl, Lucy Brooke. She had to spend some time in the NICU at the hospital, but I'm glad to say that she is home and doing well. She is beautiful and has a head full of hair :) Congrats Will and Meagan!

Young Couples Retreat

Every year our Young Families class goes on a weekend trip to Gatlinburg, TN. It's a nice way to relax and spend time with the young couples from church without the kiddos :) We stay in a huge chalet with lots of room for games and two TVs to please the football fanatics. This was our 5th time going and I was really excited. Every year except for the first trip, I've been with a baby, pregnant or breast feeding. Can I say breast on here? I hope they don't kick out my blog for being explicit...haha. Anyway, we left on Friday for the drive up. We stop for lunch and make a trip to Wal-Mart for groceries for the weekend. Our wonderful leader Kay always makes out a breakfast, lunch and snack menu, divides it up and each couple is sent in to buy their "list" of items. This sure does break down the craziness of shopping for everyone. This year we only had 6 couples go. The smallest group ever. The biggest group was last year and we had 20 couples go. Some of us had to share bedrooms with other couples and some even slept out in the living area on air mattresses. It was nice this year for everyone to have their own bedrooms. We usually spend the first night staying up late talking or playing games. Saturday is the same every year. Football. Football. And more football. The guys will sit and watch football all day until they need a potty break or something to eat. And then it's back to the same position. This gets really old for the ladies. I can't stand to sit around a watch sports all day. One game is enough. The chalet has two TVs. A huge big screen and a smaller one that sits on top. Both TVs are turned on different games. By 1:00 I was begging Derek and Curtis to let me watch some E!. No luck. Around 3:30 Andrew and Stephen came up with the idea to go ride Go-Carts. Much better than watching more football. We drove into Gatlinburg and found a place for the guys to ride. I thought it was a stupid way to spend $10. Go round and round a slick track for what? And it was raining. They enjoyed it though. Then it was time to hit the outlet malls. The guys least favorite part of the day. Lots of good finds!! That night we went to Calhoun's BBQ for dinner. It was SO good. They were out of their famous ribs, so most of us got their signature steak dinner. We even got free dessert for that reason. We stayed up late that night talking about our move to Chase Park. Going to be sad when we leave Parkway. Lisa brought a new game called 'Imagine If'. You have to go around the room and Imagine If someone was something or placed in a situation. We played with everyone even if they were asleep or didn't want to play. I think our favorite character was Curtis. He thought our game was dumb and he just made it all the more fun. We always stay up so late, but make so many memories with our friends from church. It's the trip I look forward to the most every year. Sunday we got up and had church (Andrew preached on our move and did a great job), packed and made our way back home. It was nice to be home with our babies and I'm already looking forward to the next retreat.

Oktoberfest

I had a big long blog started about this and....well life with two little ones wouldn't let me finish it :) I'm just going to give you the short version.

We took JaneClaire to Oktoberfest last weekend. This is her 3rd time and it gets better every year. I always remember my mom saying she enjoyed the fair because we enjoyed it. Mom, you couldn't be more right. I always had a blast when I was a kid, but once you are a Mom and have your own kids events like this make the best memories. I love watching her squeal and laugh on the rides. Kendra, Charity and Chandler went with us and she loved having her Aunt and Uncle there to ride the rides with her. I tried riding a few rides and got really nauseous and had to stop. You know you are old when your 3 year old can out-ride you :)

JaneClaire and Chandler. Poor Chan didn't want to ride, but he was such a good sport even when his legs were up near his chin.

JaneClaire and Charity. This frog jumper was their favorite. It's like a free fall ride for kids.

Andrew went into the fun house with the kids. He said it was cheesy. I had to remind him that this is for kids and not adults :)

Me and JC on the Ferris Wheel.

JC and Kenny coming down the big slide. This is the only ride Kendra rode after taking on "The Orbiter". Poor Kenny was so sick!

Chandler, Charity and JaneClaire.

Daddy and JC riding the carousel.

I had to put this one on here. The kids are waiting in line for a ride. Look how tall JC is compared to Charity. She's the same height as her 11 year old Aunt :)

My pretty girl with ketchup on her face :)

The kids all had a great time. We walked away with 3 fish, a gigantic purple ball, an ugly stuffed butterfly, cotton candy and what I wait every year for....a caramel apple with nuts! Yum!

Here we are!

I've been wanting to start a blog for some time now. I did have one before my kids were born, back when I was engaged and had all kinds of neat wedding stuff to write about. Of course since then I've gotten busy doing mommy and wife duties and haven't had the time. But, I can now say I've been inspired by two of my good friends who have their own blogs, Sara and Natasha. I'll post their links at the end so you can all enjoy them too :)

I'm sitting here thinking what in the world should my first blog be about? I could tell you all about the chores I've done around my house today, or that Silas can now say the word "yes". "Silas, do you have poopy pants?" "Yes". "Can you change your own diaper?" "Yes"
Or that JaneClaire is obsessed with what the word 'Stealing' means. Yep, those are just some of the wonderful things I hear while being a stay-at-home mom. I can tell this post won't be very long. I already have two children clawing at me for attention :) Good thing we have a busy and eventful weekend ahead of us and I know I will have much to write about next week. Let's keep our fingers crossed that I'll stick with the blog and not bore everyone to death :)



Sara http://sara-thekillerbs.blogspot.com/
Natasha http://the-chronicles-of-nat.blogspot.com/

These girls keep me entertained and I'm sure you will agree!