Last Week

Ummm, I'm way behind on my blogging--Sorry! Here's my favorite picture of Mackenzie and Josiah with David's parents. We totally enjoyed having them here last week. The kids had literally put together a list of all the things they wanted Granna and Z-pa to help them with while they were here! Both grandparents and kiddos survived the long list of activities and even had fun doing them. We enjoyed a day at Dollywood that ended up in a down pour of rain, as well as crafty activities at home and a day at the mall, too! Granna even helped Mackenzie make friendship bracelets. And I got the baby books all caught up, AND I got to sleep in more than once!!! Thanks to both Granna and Z-Pa for their time spent with the kids.

Aquarium, Wedding, Butterflies

Whew, I've gotten behind with my blogging, so here's a quick update with a ton of pictures. :) Mackenzie, Josiah, and I all headed up to Gatlinburg for a day at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies last Friday. We love that place! Here's the kids checking out the sea horses.
Josiah pointing at the sea horse with Mackenzie standing nearby.

On Saturday night all four of us went to Bryan and Holly's wedding. (David and Bryan work together.) We had a blast! The wedding was at a place called "The Stables." I pictured an old fashioned barn, but it was quite decorated and nothing like I imagined! Above is a picture of the bride and groom leading the train off the dance floor out into the crowd. :)

Here's one view of the inside of the barn. They served a full buffet dinner to all the guests! What a nice surprise.

Here's the dance floor, with the bride and groom's names lit up above and the wedding cake was in the gazebo on the left.

Our kids really enjoyed exploring outside.

Mackenzie near the waterfall area where the bride and groom got married.

Josiah near the same waterfall.

Josiah doing his "holy cow" dance. :) It's a classic at our house.

Random gazebo up the hill from the barn area. Kinda reminds me of The Sound of Music. ;)

Looking down at the barn from the random gazebo. (The chairs have all been picked up, but the area between the barn and the waterfall is where the wedding took place.) Josiah actually slept in my arms through the entire wedding, including the fireworks at the end. He was tired!

Sweet little girl.

Mackenzie found a flower and was putting it in her hair.

Josiah was playing with his shoes.

On our way home, Mackenzie asked if she could get married someday. We said, sure, if she finds the right fellow. She did not miss a beat in saying, "I already have found the right fella." We asked who that was that she found. She said, "Josiah's the one I'm going to marry!" Pretty precious. We explained that she should marry someone that she's not related to...then she replied, "Well, if I can't marry Josiah, then I guess I'll marry Grant Miller, and Laura Miller can marry Josiah! Then we can all live close together." We assured her that we thought that was a great plan. :)

David ordered caterpillars, four of them, a few weeks ago. We enjoyed watching them as they went through the phases to become butterflies! Of the four, three became beautiful butterflies. After watching them for the better part of a week, I was tired of feeding them and their wings kept getting stuck in the liquid (sugar water) that caused them some issues. He, he. Long story short, I was ready for them to go free! We released them last night.

Butterfly on Mackenzie's hand.

Mackenzie loved holding the butterfly.

We took lots of pictures, just before the butterfly flew away!

Josiah waiting patiently for the butterfly to climb on his finger.

Josiah loved holding the butterfly, too.

Poor butterfly. You can see the wing issue. Two of the three butterflies were able to fly away...one was not able to fly. At least we released it into the grass.

Josiah loved those butterflies. Both kids did. They wondered if any of the butterflies would fly to "Awkensaw" to see our family. I do love those cute phrases.

On a side note, just before we headed out to church yesterday afternoon, I headed out to pick the garden. To my dismay, as I reached down to pick the squash I almost picked a snake! Yikes. I pulled back, left the squash there and went to get David. By the time we got back, the snake was gone. Tonight I knew the garden needed picking. I put on hiking boots and gathered my gumption. I'm pleased to announce that the garden got picked and I did not see a snake tonight! Well, the garden got mostly picked....I just couldn't make myself reach the entire garden. :0

Fly Swapping

We've been spending a lot of time swapping flies in our diamond room.
(Translation: We've been spending a lot of time swatting flies in our dining room.)

Oh, the cute things kids say...

I love the way both kids have been calling the dining room, diamond room, and the way they both say, "Where's the fly swapper, Mom," instead of fly swatter. Too funny. I'm afraid I'll forget those cute words if I don't record them.

Cardboard Cars

What have we been doing this morning? Making cars and trains from two cardboard boxes! Josiah made a car; Mackenzie made a train. Both kids decorated their own with markers and everything. I don't have a pic of Mackenzie's yet...she did not want one taken! But, here's a picture of the two kids together in Josiah's car, and then one of just Josiah in his car. Enjoy!

I love how Josiah even found the wheels and handle bars for his! (FYI, the boxes are from a riding toy that arrived yesterday and is not yet put together. The riding toy is actually a replacement from a friend who borrowed ours and it accidentally got run over at their house. That explains the boxes as well as the parts you see!)

Mackenzie's Discovery

Josiah fell asleep in the floor this afternoon after a full day at the zoo with his daddy and sister. (I enjoyed some undivided time to complete Mackenzie's first year photo book; Yeah, I know, she'll be five in a month and a half...so it's high time I finish that book!) So, Josiah was sleeping all curled up in a little ball. Mackenzie walked over to him and sat down. She then began to gently scratch his back for him.

All of a sudden she exclaimed, "Mom! Josiah has sugar snap peas inside his back!" I laughed and then began explaining to her that it's really not sugar snap peas, but it's his spinal column...you know, vertebrae, spinal cord, etc. :) Pretty funny, the things those kids discover!

Dollywood, One Week Ago!

Cindy has already done a great post with cute pictures from our day at Dollywood. I am just finally doing a post about our trip from a week ago! I uploaded the pictures tonight...so here is my post from our day at Dollywood with our friends Cindy, Lauren, Allison, and Cindy's brother and parents. We had a delightful time together! I just love the pictures of the four kids! Mackenzie and Lauren are in the closest pig; Josiah and Allison are in the pig right behind them.
Above is a close up of Josiah and Allison. Aren't they sweet?!

Here's Mackenzie, Lauren, Allison, and Josiah all riding together in the duck!

Mackenzie, Lauren, Josiah, and Allison flying together in the Bumble Bee. Sweet kids. Fun times!

Josiah's Chocolate Milk

While watching fireworks out the upstairs windows of our house last night, the kids were enjoying a bowl full of pear slices. Mackenzie and Josiah decided to move from one room of the house to another room. Mackenzie lead the way. Josiah picked up the bowl of pears using two hands and being so careful, and he turned to head out of the room and follow Mackenzie to the next room. However, he stopped halfway out of the room, looked over his shoulder at his precious sippy cup of chocolate milk still sitting in the window sill, looked at me, looked back at the sippy cup, and said so seriously, "Mom, watch over my chocolate milk for me." Then he turned and left the room. Too funny! He does treasure his chocolate milk, but his sincerity just cracked me up.