Honeysuckle Farm

How cute is this picture? They are all getting a good look at the pigs. There were three pig houses in the back of the pen (you can see two of them in the picture) - straw, sticks and brick!

Beau and Lola holding hands and trying to decide where to go next...so much to see...

Abby, Beau and I after lunch. Beau is still working on a chicken nugget. Behind us where the flags are is where they had the pig races. They were really funny to watch run around. I'm not sure the kids knew quite what to think.

Niki, Austin and Lola in front of the pig pen. Lola was so good about keeping her hat on. Beau just yanks his off and throws it on the ground.

They have a couple of milking cows set up for the kids to "milk the cows" - its pretty realistic and the kids loved doing that.

Lola at the swings. That big thing set up behind her with the tires is a huge sand box. We managed to keep our kids out of that, though...thank goodness!

Beau trying to carry his pumpkin. A fall shortly followed this picture. He and Lola just couldn't quite keep their balance and walk with the pumpkins. It was pretty funny.

Niki's cousin that worked at the farm helped Abby find a great pumpkin!

Our motley crew - of course Beau is the only one not looking at the camera!


Well, today Niki and I packed up our four kids, strollers, snacks, lunch, drinks, jackets, hats, cameras, purses, etc. etc. and headed out to Honeysuckle Farm in Joelton. We try and go every year in the fall, and sometimes in the spring for Easter. The kids love it, and it is fun to look at pictures from the past and compare them to now to see how much they have changed (and how many we have added)! Honeysuckle Farm is a great place - they have tons of different animals for the kids to pet and learn about, as well as a lot of fun activities - corn maze, hay ride, playground, etc. The kids had a great time and got to pick out their own pumpkins before we left to go home. I'm going to have to drive quite a long distance next year to keep up the tradition! Thanks for going with us again Niki, Austin and Lola! Happy Fall everyone!

My Man

My Man
1. Who is your man? Toby
2. How long have you been together? including dating, about 8
3. How long dated? 1 1/2 years
4. How old is your man? 32
5. Who eats more? Toby most of the time, but I have to admit I have eaten more than him on occasion
6. Who said "I love you" first? Toby (actually he said, "I think I am falling in love with you" - he will be so embarrassed if he reads this...)
7. Who is taller? Toby
8. Who sings better? oooh, neither of us are very good
9. Who is smarter? Toby by leaps and bounds
10. Whose temper is worse? Toby's is worse when he finally looses it (we're talking throwing things at the TV because the Vols are loosing), but I nag and complain more as well as have a very quick tongue (I am trying to work on that, though)
11. Who does the laundry? all me
12. Who takes out the garbage? Toby, unless he forgets. Then its me.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me
14. Who pays the bills? Toby
15. Who is better with the computer? Toby by leaps and bounds
16. Who mows the lawn? Toby He has a VERY green thumb like his daddy, and he is very picky about the yard.
17. Who cooks dinner? Me about 95% of the time (unless grilling)
18. Who drives when you are together? about 50/50
19. Who pays when you go out? His money is my money and mine is his, so it doesn't really matter who pays when we go out. It comes from the same place...
20. Who is most stubborn? probably me, but we're both pretty stubborn
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? usually Toby unless I just know I am dead wrong
22. Whose parents do you see the most? my mom
23. Who kissed who first? Toby kissed me, although we argue about that one. Our memories seem to differ on that one...
24. Who asked who out? Toby - he drove all the way in from Johnson City his first year of medical school on a weekend to take me TGI Fridays and back to his friend's apartment to watch There's Something About Mary
25. Who proposed? Toby - we were meeting for a weekend at my Aunt Ramona's house in Knoxville. I beat him there. When I got there the house was empty (no aunt, no nieces and nephews like there usually were). There was a bottle of wine chilling on the counter. I wondered, but thought it was something for my aunt later? I plopped down on the couch and watched TV until I heard Toby pull in. He opened the door and before I even turned to see him a little yorkie ran by the couch. I thought he had let a neighbor's dog in, but he proceeded to tell me he had bought me a dog! I was (very) surprised, but happy about this. The dog, however, had different feelings. It was terrified to be there (as it had just been give shots, groomed, and ridden for 2 hours in a truck with Toby). It ran and hid and had diarrhea on the floor in my aunt's piano room! After we cleaned that up we were sitting on the cough and I was holding and petting the dog. Toby kept asking me what I was going to name it. I kept saying I didn't know and suggesting different names. Toby (finally) suggested I check the tag he was wearing - maybe that had a name on it? The tag around his neck was a red heart that said "I love you. Will you marry me?" I was like, "Oh! Oh! Oh my gosh! Oh! I get it!" He got on his knee then and said, "I brought you something else,too." Then he pulled the ring out of his pocket. Of course, I said yes and the rest is history. Poor Toby, we laugh about it until this day. The plan was for the dog to run in and jump in my lap and me read the tag. He had to spell it out for his air headed wife to be, though. Such a romantic guy, though. I am a luck girl!
26. Who is more sensitive? definitely me-I cry at anything, commercials, movies, anything...
27. Who has more friends? I think we both have a good amount of great friends
28.Who has more siblings? 2 older brothers. Toby has one little sister
29. Who wears the pants in the family? I think we both have one leg in

Whew - I tag Amber, Courtney, Christine, Heather Mc, and Pamela

Pigeon Forge 2007

Michael and Courtney in Neyland Stadium after the game. That is the Tennessee River behind them with the "Vol Navy" on the water.

Toby, Abby and I after the game. Nice and sweaty...but the Vols won so it was all worth it!

Much to her mother's dismay Abby is dead set on being a cheerleader in both the near and far futures. Her daddy was nice enough to walk her down to where they were cheering in the 4th quarter and let her see them up close. He said 3 or 4 of them ran up and have her high fives and they all waved to her and made a big to-do over her. She loved that, of course. She told Toby that they had to stay down there until the game was all the way over.

She can not get enough of the cheerleaders... Waiting, waiting, waiting for the game to begin...

Enjoying a candy necklace in the shade before the game. Some nice (drunken) Vol offered to take our picture and then couldn't figure out if she had pressed the camera button or not. It was pretty funny...

Pregame back at the condo. A few more years and Beau will be going right along with us, I'm sure!

Beau taking a swim in the tub. I'm not sure why his lips look purple in this picture...

The 3 cousins playing together. Aren't they cute. Abby helped take care of Will and entertain him all weekend. She will be quite the babysitter some day if I do say so myself! I think her favorite part of the trip was getting to see her cousin. Beau like Will, too. He continues to try and hug him by laying on top of him. Will is never quite sure what to do. Beau doesn't quite know what to do when Will screams at him while he eats (because he wants a bite of whatever it is Beau happens to be eating at the moment). These three are hilarious together. I'm sure it will get even funnier as time goes on...

Papaw (Toby's dad) playing with Will on the porch of the condo. Will liked his mustache a lot!

Uncle Michael hanging with Will and Abby. They had just gotten there and Abby was soooo excited to see them!

Abby putting Beau's hat on on Aunt Jody. Abby thinks it is hilarious and proceeded to tell her how big her head was.

This weekend we had a great time in Pigeon Forge compliments of Papaw Smith. This is either the 3rd or 4th year in a row we have done this one weekend in October. It is so much fun to get together with family and enjoy a weekend filled with food, family and a great UT game! Thursday night we arrived fairly late. The condo is always so nice and roomy, and this year was no exception. Thank-you, Papaw! Jody and I went to Walmart after Grey's Anatomy and stocked up on groceries for the weekend. Friday we went to the Apple Barn for brunch and then we enjoyed a fun filled day of great shopping while the guys stayed at the condo with the kiddies. The intent was to get a lot of Christmas shopping done. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I bought ONE Christmas gift. How sad is that? I have got to get on the ball! Anyways, Saturday morning Toby's friend Jammey came up and took our pictures (essentialmomentsphotography.com) for us - thank-you Jammey!! Then it was off to the UT game. We had a great time catching up with old friends and watching UT beat Georgia! It was Abby's first official UT game. I think she had a lot of fun although it was very hot and tiring! As seen above, her favorite part of the game was the cheerleaders. Thanks for the great tickets, Aunt Ramona! The biggest shout out goes to Aunt Jody who stayed back at the condo in Pigeon Forge watching the two boys. THANKS AUNT JODY! You are the best!! It was another great weekend in Pigeon Forge, and I can't wait until next year when we go again! (Although it will be a much longer drive...I'll worry about that next year...)

Busted Lips

Last week both of my children fell and busted their lips within hours of one another. Beau went down the slide backwards and on his stomach on the playground and his face hit the bottom of the slide as he landed. In typical Beau fashion he got up and kept on playing. Abby was actually jumping and singing "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" (really, I'm not lying...) as she fell off of the bed and busted hers! She, of course, cried and cried and went and looked in the mirror and cried some more...

Night Night

Aunt Ramona sent Abby a bunch of Erica's old Barbies. Abby has toted them all around at once and thinks it is the neatest thing that they once belonged to Erica. She thinks Erica hung the moon...

Daddy reading Beau and Abby a Dora book before bed.

Always brush your teeth before bed!

Bath Buddies and More

Hello everybody!! We have had a pretty good week around here. Above are a few pictures of the kids. The first one is Beau reading his bedtime story to himself. I mean, who has time to read to 2 kids? He'll just have to keep fending for himself (haha). The second one is Abby giving us a sampling of some of her beautiful jewelry. The last 2 pictures are of Beau and his buddy Lola taking a bath one night at our house. I love putting kids in the bathtub together. They are so cute and have a good time playing in the tub together. In the one picture there is a toy flying through the air that Niki (Lola's mommy) was throwing back into the tub. I happened to catch a picture with it in mid air. I promise we don't usually throw things at the kids. Only for fun every once in a while...

I hope everyone is doing well. We are gearing up for our busy October - which starts tomorrow! We are so excited to be going to Gatlinburg this weekend for our annual trip with Papaw and Jody. This will be the first time (and probably only) to watch UT play live this year. Aunt Jody and I always try to kick off our Christmas shopping this week together. I think we have Toby's friend Jammey talked into taking some more family pictures for us this year, too. He is the BEST photographer. I am so sad he wasn't doing it when we got married! Check out his sight if you know anyone needing pictures for a wedding or any other event - http://www.essentialmomentsphotography.com/ - he really is awesome! Anyways, I'll try to post pictures from the trip when we get home!

Back to School

Last Wednesday (September 5th) was Abby's first day back to school ("playcare"). Mommy and Daddy were soooooo excited!! She was pretty excited, too. She got to see all of her old friends and meet some new ones! In the picture she is holding her lovee - I thought that attachment would decrease as she got older. However, it seems to have done the opposite. She is a female Linus with that thing these days. Anyways...Abby is now in the Red Room and has 2 new teachers that we really like. The only part of school Abby complains about these days is her nap. She went right in on her first day and got to playing dress up with her pals. It almost made me kind of sad as she has always been my clingy, dependent child. The only drawback to school starting last Wednesday is that Friday I was called at work to come and get her that morning as she did not feel well. I took her back to work where we learned that she had strep throat! Great! We are still taking her 10 day round of antibiotics, and Mommy just finished hers. Yep, that's right - Mommy started with her fever last Saturday and was sick all last weekend. We had a much better weekend this weekend, thought. We went to the zoo, Maggie Moos, etc.

On other news since I have not blogged in a while. Toby went to our future hometown this weekend in search of a new abode. He toured about 16 houses without out very much luck! Well, I have decided not to worry too much about it and just put it in God's hands. He is most capable and He will provide for us I'm sure. We would appreciate any extra prayers on the this matter from everyone, though! It has been a real challenge trying to take care of really important matters 10 hours away and with 2 kids. Maybe on the next trip down Toby and I can both go, hopefully. We'll see... The good news is Toby went and visited a few schools, and he said the school we went ahead and applied to for Abby is, in his words, "awesome" which makes me feels tons better. It is a little Baptist school that starts in K3 and goes through 8th grade, so she can stay at the same place the whole time we are down there. Now, where to take the little guy...somewhere with wide open spaces for lots of energy...

We are excited about lots of fun things to do over the next month and more. It seems all of our days are filling up quickly with fun plans. Next weekend is a trip east for Amber's little guy's first birthday and a visit with some of Toby's family. The first weekend in October is our annual trip to Gatlinburg for shopping and a UT game with Toby's family. The third weekend in October is Toby (and Michael's) 5 year medical school reunion. The last weekend is my nephew's first birthday party (which they are having at a pumpkin patch here, yay!). Busy, busy...

Forgive me if I fail to post much over the next few weeks, but I will try to do better!