Hey guys! I am going to jump right in and get this party started. We have had an exciting three months + with so much happening. I cannot express in accurate detail how happy we are to be outside a TON and enjoying all of our warmth, the beautiful bright green trees, grass, flowers and bushes and taking advantage of all that Mother Nature has gifted us.
We have had three months full of all of the things. Oh, and, the butterflies, you guys! We have sooooooooo many this year. They're everywhere and so pretty. I'll try to grab some photos of them. We are keeping it real with new pets, 1st time home buying, birthday partying, very special visitors, ranching at it's finest, zoo trips, aquarium trips, sight-seeing, an amazing concert, new pets, gardening, Easter celebrations, swimming, joining TWO new extracurricular activities, food prep, doctor appointments, homeschool, state testing, mowing, bugs, new bikes, saying goodbye and soooooooo much more...
Here goes...
New Pets-
Nico has begun to visit our creek again and brought a salamander back with him. He wanted to keep it as a pet so I did a little research on them and decided it felt like a lot of stress for me. So, Eric and I talked and we decided to let him have a small aquarium with a few fish. I had tossed around the idea of letting him get fish for a bit and even started buying some of the supplies with each grocery order I placed. So, we had a few items on hand. Nico and I drove over to Oak Ridge and bought an aquarium, some decor and some fish. We came home and set up the tank. We had purchased four "fancy" goldfish, one plecostomus and one catfish. The black goldfish died the next day (we suspect he was already on his way out) and one died a few days ago from over-feeding. Nico is learning a valuable lesson on their care. The plecostomus is MIA. I have decided to let him get one more goldfish and a snail to help clean the tank and that's it for now. Especially now that he is caring for them a little better and is more aware. We put the tank right outside of the classroom since someone is always nearby to check on them and there's plenty of light.
Gardening-
Meanwhile, today is storming and 70 degrees and I am loving it so I decided to just chill and take some time on my computer. I have missed this so much and each time I write a post, I remember how much I love it!
Ok... So, that last sentence was from almost two weeks ago. We have had terrible internet issues and it took me that long to load all the photos and videos. It's finally done. Best of luck and thank you ALL for being patient with us and sticking with us.
Grab your favorite beverage, sit back and take some time going through all of this. It will take a bit if you have the patience to go through it all.
Here goes AGAIN:
Eric took the older kids to the Chattanooga Aquarium- TN Aquarium and Tristan got this video for me since sea turtles are a favorite of mine.
Nico drives the tractor on his own from time to time. He loves it and is getting good at maneuvering.
This is Nico's birthday video. He wanted his celebration on Easter so that's what we did after egg-hunting.
Nolan likes to mow the lawn with the push mower. He's such a brute. Keeping him in check and not running over everything is the challenge.
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| Emery got to pick her last-day-of-school supper and dessert. She picked Alfredo pasta for supper and banana splits for dessert since she had never tried them before. |
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I had collected a ton of rocks from my trip to Santa Barbara last August and brought them back for the kids to paint. Lily and Emery spent a few hours painting them for each of our houses.
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| BIG NEWS!!!! Sierra closed escrow on their new home in Kingston and have lived there for almost three weeks! This is moving day. They had stored most of their things in our enclosed trailer so all Eric had to do was hook up, drive over and help unload. |
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| Since my car is so big, Sierra borrowed it for moving day. |
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| Our very first apple! |
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| Apple #2 |
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| Carl hanging in the garden. |
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| Some broccoli flowers from last year. |
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| Springtime brings out the beautiful trees! |
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| Some of our roses. |
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| More roses. |
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| The pool was gorgeous when we uncovered it for the season. |
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| Roses and impatients. |
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| Baking. I am always baking extra to have some to pull from the freezer. |
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| Banana muffins and coffee, chocolate chip muffins. |
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| Food prep. I scrambled 8 dozen eggs to freeze. |
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| Guest room makeover. |
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| Nolan and Daddy lounging. Yes, those are crocs you see 😳 |
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| Buttercup loves to graze the back yard before we mow. She can fit under the trampoline. |
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| This is a catfish that some lady gave to the kids when Gramps took them fishing. It is kind of wasteful though because no one should eat fish from our local lake as it is below the nuclear power plant. |
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| Some love and torture for sissy. |
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| new paint for the guest room. |
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| The twins working on books that they got from Aunt Leslie and Uncle Brian for their 4th birthday. |
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| Nolan and his new big-boy scooter. |
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| Harlan and his new big-boy scooter. |
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| Working after swim practice. |
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| The three older kids joined the local swim team: Kingston Clippers. So far it has been awesome. Practice is each morning from 8-10am. Lily has been bumped up to the older kid practice. Their first swim meet is Thursday evening. |
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| This was on the way to the Zoo on the twins' 4th birthday. |
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| This is one of the lion cubs at Zoo Knoxville. |
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| This is the 2nd lion cub at Zoo Knoxville. |
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| Born December 21st. The mom is not maternal because her four cubs were born via emergency c-section. Two of the cubs did not survive and these two are being raised by zoo staff. |
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| Harlan loving the splash pad at the zoo... He had a great birthday day. Their birthday is June 1st. |
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| Nolan loving the splash pad at the zoo. This is what they wanted for their 4th birthday and it was a great day with hardly any crowds. They share their special day with Uncle Jeremy, my brother. |
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| The Flannery Family sent the twins these huge Dino eggs for their birthday. They worked on them for two days and loved it! |
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| Nolan was nearly done with his after about 45 minutes. |
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| I planted a bunch of wildflower seeds around the perimeter of the chicken coop where we piled a bunch of dirt on top of the hardware cloth as predator prevention. Some seeds managed to survive Eric mowing, the chickens scratching them and the heavy rains. |
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| This is actually cilantro that grew next to the coop. I had forgotten that I had mixed herbs with the wildflowers. |
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| I haven't seen many poppies since moving here so I was excited to have this in the mix. |
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| Purple Coneflower. |
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| Harlan was all tuckered out. |
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| Nolan's 4th birthday cake. |
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| Harlan's 4th birthday cake. |
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| Pool fun with Mr. Ivann on the twins' birthday party. |
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| Eric and Gramps enjoying the heat. |
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| Callie loves to burrow into the hay in the barn. It's a mess but I love how playful she gets. |
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| Preschool for the twins. |
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| Ivann and Andrea remembered our anniversary! I was so shocked and thought it was so sweet. We do not expect people to remember our day. |
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| Both older boys joined Brazilian Ju Jitsu about two months ago and are LOVING it. We really owe the Flannery Family a big 'thank you' because it was at their urging that we decided to sign the boys up and we could not be more thrilled that we did. Anyway, they are doing so well and were offered to test for their first belt promotion. This place does NOT just hand out belts either, they have to earn them. We are super proud of them and excited for all they're learning. |
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| 4th Birthday Party Fun! |
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| Nolan loves the birthday song. |
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| We have been sick again so we took the easy route and bought Sam's Club cakes and decorated them with toys that the twins asked for. |
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| All the toddlers and Gramps too... |
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| Nico loves a party. |
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| The new Casner Casa. It's adorable and perfect for them. |
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| Some shutters for the guest room wall. It's a project I am working on. |
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| We found another rad park in our county. This is the giant rope swing that the kids called the dragon. |
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| One of our spectacular sunsets. |
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| Sierra and I went for a mom's date and got our toes and nails done. We also had a delicious lunch out. Happy belated Mothers Day to the mama's out there. Keep hanging in and doing your best. |
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| Eric made me theses gorgeous planters for Mothers Day. I love them so much. |
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| I planted a ton of plants in my (many) pots this year. I loved this combo and even added some seeds to the center. |
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| Harlan passed out from the fun in the sun! |
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| This is an Elk the kids and I saw in North Carolina. We went for a day trip and boy was it eventful! We saw a black bear mama and three cubs that same day, got stuck in a wicked storm and almost got crushed by several trees. Not even joking. |
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| Zoo and Aquarium pictures. |
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| One menu... Our current one is blank and has been for over a month. We are winging it and it is not easy. But our days are weird right now and we've been sick. |
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| We had very special visitors for about a month. These boys are Flat Cavan and Flat Walker. Both are first graders at Sutters Mill and came to us on a special trip all based on the Flat Stanley series. We really tried to show them a good time. Basically, you take them on any adventures OR just involve them in your everyday life, take pictures, write about it then send it all back in about a month. We tried to do as many cool things as time and life could allow. They both did all of the following things (and more): Farm chores, took a drone flight above our property at 1,600 feet, went to Chattanooga to the aquarium, went to the Smoky Mountain National Park, went to North Carolina, braved a major storm, swam in the pool, homeschool, errands and rode a horse and the tractor several times. |
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| a weather forecast... |
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| Opening Easter gifts and cards from Aunt Leslie, Uncle Brian and Grandma Webb. |
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| Mowing the orchard. Eric is already mowing weekly again. |
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| Blossoms! |
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| Easter egg dying. I swear, Tristan is so caught between being a big kid and still wanting to participate in little kid stuff. He did decide to dye eggs this year but was a little reluctant. |
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| Harlan's finished product. |
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| Nolan's finished product. |
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| Nico's finished product. Somehow his all ended up green. Lol. |
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| Lily's finished product. |
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| Emery's finished product. |
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| Tristan's finished product. |
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| Pool time early in the season. |
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| It's freezing but Nolan refuses to give in. |
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| Tristan is not a fan of cold water. |
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| Using the driveway to warm up. |
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| Sprinkler hat. |
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| Harlan ended up deciding to back down the ladder. It was so cold and back in April. |
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| Gramps made Nico a birthday pie. Look how he spelled it. "Berthday". Lol. |
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| Eric and I were gifted a date night to a concert in Knoxville! Scott and Sierra bought us tickets to see one of my favorite country bands of all time; Alabama! It was so much fun! They were so good especially considering they're in their 70's. Exile was their opener and they were just as good. I LOVED them both. |
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| Nico's 9th birthday cake. He asked for a construction cake so I made it homemade. |
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| Easter egg hunting! |
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| This is the only picture I managed to snap of Cherokee, North Carolina. It is such a beautiful drive and a really neat town. |
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| Maybelle got moved to the big pasture. She is LOVING it. |
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| The three calves; Jack, Violet and Patty. |
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| Petunia also got to move into the big pasture. She also loves it. |
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| Sage. |
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| Nolan is a hambone. |
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| Food prep. Banana muffins. |
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| Banana chocolate chip muffins. |
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| Nolan took this picture. Harlan is looking for hawks. |
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| Nolan took this picture too. |
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| Another one Nolan snapped. He's a budding photog. |
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| He crashed hard after swimming in the cold water of the pool. |
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| Sleeping in the driveway. |
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| I moved him to the back yard to one of the raised dog beds. |
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| Fire pit on eclipse night. It also happened to be the first day of open burning here. |
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| Moon shadow before the eclipse. |
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| Here comes the super moon. It's too bad that photographing the moon is so difficult. |
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This is the best shot I could get of the eclipse. I managed to stay awake until midnight so I didn't see the un-eclipse.
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| Turtle eggs at the aquarium. We bought season passes because, once again, it was the same price for us getting in for just the day. |
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| Lakes in TN. |
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| Harlan got just a little bit of water on his shirt very early on petting sturgeon so he elected to go shirtless for the majority of the day. I say elected but he literally threw the biggest fit we have ever witnessed. So, in order to keep the peace on that very busy aquarium day and not disturb the crowds of people, we gave in. |
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| This is in the butterfly garden inside the aquarium. It was so beyond gorgeous and reminded me of my grandma because of the plants and flowers. Emery loved it so much. |
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| Nico got a special birthday treat. His 9th birthday was April 19th. |
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| We let the cows out around the barn for about a week to eat down the grass and weeds. We did that every day for about a week before turning them out into the big pasture and they did such a great job eating it all down. |
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| I made this wreath for Sierra for their new home. They closed escrow on their projected date and moved in three days later. |
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| More weather... |
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| Harlan snacking in the sunshine. |
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| Ivy and Nolan had so much fun playing in shaving cream. They lasted for almost an hour! |
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| Harlan joined in on the messy fun. |
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| Lunchtime outside. |
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| Eric and Scott painted the shop. |
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| We were very grateful to Scott for helping as it really cut Erics work time down. |
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| We are getting there. It's nearly done. |
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| Scrambled egg muffins. I made about 10 dozen scrambled egg muffins for breakfast. Now the kids heat them up really quickly before swim practice. |
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| More scrambled egg muffins. |
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| Nolan was up waaaaayyy too early one morning and nothing could go his way. After a pretty epic fit, he fell asleep in the garage on the floor. He slept there for about an hour. |
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| After garage-floor-nap popsicle. |
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| Early spring plants coming back. |
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| Early spring trees greening up! |
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| Buttercups in bloom all over the property. |
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| These rose bushes were bursting with buds. Of course, it's hard to see here. They ended up being covered in yellow roses. |
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| Pulling weeds. Now everything is full and even more green. |
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| The view from our front yard toward our gate and the front of our property. |
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| Nico's 9th birthday cake again. |
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| Birthday gift opening! |
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| New clothes are always my favorite! |
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| Money!!! |
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| All of the adults in the house (Sierra and Scott included while they were here) are trying to cut back our sugar intake so Sierra has spoiled us with sugar-free chocolate mousse with dark chocolate baking chips. She even sprinkled a few pretzel pieces on them. |
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| She made cheesecake flavor with confetti chips for Lily since she couldn't have chocolate and Nico wanted chocolate cake. |
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| Deviled eggs are always requested for any event or just any day. Emery calls them doubled eggs. |
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| Nico's nacho bar. |
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| Ivy was making her daddy pretty with lipgloss. |
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| Me and Ivy. |
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| Nolan can blow balloons up all by himself! |
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| This wasp/hornet was found downstairs in the playroom by a very frantic, terrified Nico. It was at least two inches long. |
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| Orchard trees. |
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| We are thrilled with the trees in the orchard. Each one survived the winter and is thriving. We had a late frost so many blooms died off but the trees are doing very well. |
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| Early morning painting! |
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| I always have a ton of little craft items on hand and I have collected these little wooden shapes for the kids. I pulled them out and the three toddlers went crazy! |
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| These are some flower beds at a local park. |
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| Roane county Master Gardners care for these gardens and they do such a great job. |
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| It's hard to see but there is a HUGE fish about 1/2 way up this photo. This is the Clinch River and it parallels the park. |
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| More iris beds. |
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| At that same park, there is a Veterans memorial specifically dedicated to Roane County war heroes. It was amazing. Nolan was so attracted to this statue of a medic caring for a wounded soldier. |
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| Breakfast prep. Sierra and I made 48 breakfast burritos and froze them so she could grab something before work each morning. These are for Eric and the kids. |
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| This fountain is also at that same park. |
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| More war statues. |
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| Veterans Memorial. |
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| This is at that same park and is a law enforcement tribute. I love this place. |
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| The playground part of the park. |
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Callie, Bear and Stitch.
By the way, I haven't shared but I will now-- Stitch and Lola went back to Georgia to their original family. The McKaskle family was able to put a large dog-run in and take them back so it worked out really well. We are happy for all of them. |
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| Easter egg hunting! |
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| We missed Kaden and McKenna this year A LOT but we did get a picture with this crew. Nolan is only wearing undies and a shirt and his undies are backward, by the way. |
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| She LOVES hard-boiled eggs. |
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| Emery's favorite egg. |
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| Lily's favorite egg. |
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| Tristan's favorite egg. |
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| Ivy's favorite egg. |
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| Harlan's favorite egg. |
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| Nolan's favorite egg. |
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| Nico's favorite egg. |
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| Birthday gifts! This is from the Casner family and was an instant hit. |
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| Tristan bought Nico a gift with his own money. |
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| It was very thoughtful and was Pokemon cards. I can't even pretend to know what Pokemon is all about nor do I care. |
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| This is a sensory bin from the Flannery Family. Nico plays in it almost daily. |
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| Nolan had to have his eyes dilated at the eye doctor and we had to wait in the car for 30 minutes. He got to sit in the passenger seat and thought he was practically an adult. Also, his appointment went great and he is improving enough that it is looking like he will NOT need surgery. We don't have to go back for six months! |
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| Corn dogs and swimming. |
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| Sunset. |
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| I love our evenings. |
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| Alabama! By the way, there wasn't a bad seat in the place. It was a great show. |
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| Flat Cavan on the drone ride. |
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| Flat Walker on the drone ride. |
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| It's really hard to see here but this is in Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains and this is a mama black bear and three cubs! We could see them very well and very clearly but snapping a picture was a different story so I did the best I could. |
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| Ferdinand. He is with both heifers and all three calves again and is so much happier. |
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| Nolan and his dog, Missy. |
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| TN Aquarium. Penguin rock. |
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| Harlan is still fit-throwing here. I think he gets overwhelmed in crowds and in the dark because his personality changed drastically (for the worse) once we got inside. |
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| Shark Tank, Ahhhhhhhh!! |
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| Sea Turtle sculpture. |
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| This little aquarium viewing area was so neat. They could see so much. |
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| We also took a ride on the one-mile train that goes to the top of the mountains in Chattanooga. You can see the whole city and into Georgia. It was scarier going up than coming down. This is at the top. |
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| On the way down from the top of the mountain. It's very steep. |
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| Nico in his Gi. He never wants to take it off. |
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| Tristan is all business when it comes to BJJ. He loves it. |
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| Lily and Emery on Easter. |
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| Sierra and Ivy on Easter. |
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| Callie will try to fit just about anywhere. |
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| The crew got suckers! |
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| Patio clean-up and prepping the outdoor furniture in early spring. |
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| This has since been moved around and the back patio is rearranged. |
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| I love my fountain. |
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| Citrus trees. I mentioned I'd update on which survived winter and we lost 1/2 of them. I am less than pleased and can't wait for our green house. I am not buying any replacements until it's up. |
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| Ivy the rock star. |
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| Stitch is like "um???" |
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| Nico got a new bike for his birthday from Eric and me. |
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| First back-yard mowing of the season. We had the boys push-mow it for the initial but now Eric mows it with the big mower. |
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| Lily had money from Grandma Webb and some her own money and wanted a new bike so she bought one on her own. |
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| Andrea and Ivann gifted us this beautiful photo of their wedding. We loved being a part of it. |
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Homeschool with Ivy.
We did elect to have Tristan and Lily participate in state testing at their local elementary and middle schools. That's actually how we found out about the swim team- they had a banner up outside of the schools. They went for one week and both seemed to like it quite a bit but Tristan claims he never wants to go back to public school and it made Lily want to go back even more. We haven't gotten test results as of now. Nico wasn't due for any testing just yet. |
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| Sierra and her girls. |
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| We cannot even pull the pressure washer out anymore without Nolan taking it over. He washed his bike after I did mine. |
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| Harlan got in on the action. |
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| Tiger sculpture at the zoo. We have had several zoo trips. |
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| Tristan refused to pretend to get hit by this Jeep so of course Lily volunteered. |
This Komodo dragon video was too long to post so I had to cut it down. It is a little gruesome and shows him eating several mice.
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| Okay, this is the big guest room reveal. Lol. I painted the room and filled in some scratches in the wall that the twins had made from a dog crate (the day we moved in). I also cleaned it very well, made a wreath and re-arranged a little. I love this room; it's my favorite in the house. |
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| Come visit, it's ready! |
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| The shutters are going on either side of this decal I made for the wall. |
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| This is a BEFORE pic of the guest room. Not horrible but so much darker. I LOVE the new room. |
That about sums up the past three months. Thanks for checking in on us and sending us all the loves and updates of yours! Keep it all coming.
Stay in touch, take care and stay safe.
I have plans for the next post and I'm not going to lie, I am definitely keeping it real. I will be telling you all about what we have been going through with some of the kids and how dis-regulated they became with long-term house guests, other behaviors we are experiencing and life with five kiddos and a farm. It's been a really wild year for us so far. We are constantly trying to improve and be better people than yesterday but sometimes we fail. Also, we have some animal stuff currently going on that has us a little on-edge and plans for our property and farm. We also did a few home improvement projects I'll talk a little about. And, of course, so much more. I also have some song recommendations and a couple of recipes...
We are soooooo looking forward to the 4th of July. We have guests coming and can't wait to see them again. The kids can't wait to see cousins!
Eric is currently in Georgia at the McKaskle retreat enjoying a Divers Recall. Basically, it's a reunion for several of their diving buddies and Eric was really looking forward to seeing some of his friends he hasn't seen in MANY years. He took Tristan as there were supposed to be other kids his age there but they ended up not going. So, Jake (who is a little older than Tristan) was kind of stuck entertaining him for the weekend. Thankfully, Jake and Tristan are very similar in their interests so they get along very well. They are on their way home now.
Happiest of Birthdays to all of our March, April, May and June family and friends. I know it's a blanket wish so it really feels less sincere. We mean it though and want you to know we are thinking of you all.
Until next time, take care!
