Our Saturday in Tennessee

A few Saturdays ago we set sail (or car) for a whirlwind 24 super fun time in Tennessee (on our way to our Sunday destination, KY)

First, we stopped in Pulaski, TN. Home of the Old Graveyard Memorial Park.  It's a place Husband and I found by accident on a day we were adventuring.  While there, we found Daughter's name ... even though we didn't even know she was a daughter yet.  It was a week before our gender ultrasound/anatomy scan.  Sigh, poor girl.  She came pretty close to being name Voltaire.  ;-)

We stopped for lunch in downtown Nashville, Puckett's Grocery and Restaurant.  It was fantastic.  We all enjoyed it.  Great turkey burger and sweet potato fries.

Next we stopped by Adventure Science Center in Nashville. Thanks to our McWane membership we enjoyed free admissions.  The kids played and played for about two hours. We were really impressed.  It was fantastic.

Our final stop was our hotel.  We stayed at the Opryland Hotel.  Swimming, Dinner, an indoor boat ride, we did it all before crashing in our room.

Daughter's name

Posing by her name.  I love how Son's head is randomly in my elbow crook!

The park was also a great place for the kids to get out and run off some energy.

This is the first of MANY turkey statues we stopped to take pictures with. Pulaski = the wild turkey capital of the world.

lunch buddies

lunch buddies

the view from the top of the play area at the Adventure Science Center

seriously, he needs longer shorts.

"being a hero and saving the peoples."  

climbing the spine

kiddie pools are favorite pools.

Son and Husband in the indoor pool

Daughter made friends with the 

lifeguard

the indoor pool, the outdoor pool, the kiddie pool.  We went back and forth for two hours. Fun was had by all.

Son was shocked and angered when he learned he had to share his queen sized bed.  He was able to sneak in a little rest before we headed back out for dinner.

I love that this kid loves having her picture made with statues.

boarding our boat ride in the Delta. She told the tour guide she was looking for land.

fantastic view of the delta

One of Daughter's favorite things to do is ride escalators up and down. again and again.  We obliged.  Son and Husband took a sit down break after about the 17th trip. 

We stopped to watch the fountain show on our way back to our room.

It was a super fun day. Made even better by the kids' amazement of all the fun they were getting to have ... next stop, KENTUCKY.

Sleepy Heads

This is what happens at our house when you skip your nap and decide you want to build block towers instead. You fall asleep on the couch about an hour before your bedtime.

Halloween Part 4: actual Halloween

Remember when Halloween was just 1 day?  on, ya know, October 31?  Well, after a Saturday and a Sunday of Halloween fun, I was Halloweened out by October 31.   I negotiated with Husband that I would make chili and stay home and hand out candy, if he took the kids around the neighborhood trick-or-treating.  

Husband almost got to stay home.  Daughter decided she'd rather help make pizza and watch Charlie Brown all night.  But then at the 11th hour, she said, "I would like to go trick-or-treating one last time as Peppa Pig." Great.  I got them dressed and was glad I could stay at home in shorts and a tank top.

This is what Husband tried to wear.   I have no idea what he wanted to be, but that's the $13 ebay wedding dress I wore our first Halloween when I was a dead bride and his Bill Clinton mask.

The back.  Insane-o man was excited about going backless ...  I couldn't really zip him up very much.

Luckily, the kids are both terrified of the mask so he changed in to more normal clothes for trick-or-treating.

Peppa in more sensible shoes for walking the neighborhood.
My last attempt for a group shot was unsuccessful.  The friendly tiger was a blubbering mess of snot and tears who was pretty mad he got woken up from his nap early.  

Daughter showing off her glow stick and Son with his crazy flashlight from Nanny.

Husband had big plans of walking up this street, down that street, around this corner, to this house, and that house.  I was pretty shocked when 20 minutes later the doorbell rang and it was my family.  Apparently, after 4 houses Daughter decided it was getting too dark and it was time to go home and eat pizza.

showing off her treats

excited about his blue dumdum

I might have been burned out after 3 days of Halloween, but the kids loved it.  Lots of fun memories.

Halloween Part 3: McWane and Whole Foods

Sunday McWane had a trick-or-treating day.  Come in a costume, make some crafts, touch some "eyeballs," pet a snake, get some candy.  It was a fun time.  A lot like the pirate day except, well, Halloween-y instead of pirate-y.  The kids had a fantastic time and Son actually wore his costume the whole time.  I figured he'd get tired of the hood and it'd be off and he'd turn into a half boy half tiger thing.

doing regular McWane activities as a tiger

making a shark hat.

Both kids love the moray eel tank. 

making a bat hat.  She discarded the nose and ears for awhile

Next we went to Whole Foods. How did we know we could trick-or-treat at Whole Foods on Sunday?  Easy.  Friday night Husband and I went on a hot date and decided on truffles from their bakery for dessert.  And there was a sign.  You go to all the department counters, yell, "TRICK-OR-TREAT" and got a prize.  The kids loved it and I liked that they got stickers and fruit snacks and other less bad for them treats. BUT, BUT, oh my the best treat of all, was FLOWERS.  We were in the checkout line and behind us was a florist who just got off work and she complimented the kids on their costumes and told us to make sure we went to the florist before we left because they were giving out flowers.  We did and the kids were in HEAVEN. Son got a little bouquet of yellow teacup roses and Daughter got a little bouquet of pale pink gerber daisies.  That was seriously the highlight of their day.

Daughter standing in front of Whole Foods with a $50 SUPER pumpkin on the way in (it was on sale. originally $79!!!)

Son standing by the pumpkin with his flowers on the way out

Sharing a nap? Sure. Sharing a room? not so much

Husband has this grand idea that our children would love to share a room and have bunk beds and love and kisses and puppies and butterflies and all that mushy stuff.   As someone who shared a room with her younger sister for about a decade, I'll tell you, I'm glad my kids have rooms of their own.  Personal spaces.  

Recently at nap time, Daughter asked if Son could stay in her room and sleep in her bed for nap time. Tight squeeze, but ok by me.  Just stay the bed.  If anyone gets out of the bed, it's over and Son goes back to his room.

Twenty minutes later they were both still awake.  Which is highly unusual.  But they were both still in the bed and just talking so I left them alone.  Soon after, Daughter came to tell me that she was ready for Son to go back to his room because she "needed some sleep."  Apparently, Son is a kicker.

OK.  The only problem was Son REALLY wanted to stay.  So, I asked Daughter if I brought Son's bed in, could he stay. 

Sure. That was acceptable.

He actually stayed in her bed.  I really appreciated how I told him not to get up and he didn't.  I wish he listened that well ALL the time.

tucked in and ready to sleep.  I should mention that Son usually sleeps with 4 pillows.  seriously.  He complained a little about his lack of pillows but did well.

An hour after nap time started they were FINALLY both asleep. Movers, the both of them.

After nap time, I asked Daughter if she wanted Son's bed to stay in her room so they could have a sleep over at bedtime.  Her answer? A resounding, "No, Thank You."

My July 5K (and some slime)

Saturday was my 5K for July.  It was fun because it's one that a sweet friend I've had since middle school organized (this is the 2nd annual) to benefit her church's missionary efforts in Haiti.  But when you don't really run on any kind of consistent basis in the 3 weeks before the race, you really can't expect to have a great run. And I was overheating and a lot of other excuses.  At the water stations I took a cup of water for my throat and a cup to pour down my back.   hot, hot, hot. Luckily, it was a pretty flat and easy course.

Anyway, kind of like the way Mandy and I hope to one day beat the mayor of HYT in a race, I hoped to beat one of Husband's law professors that was running.  But alas.  I stuck to him pretty close for most of the race but then I opted to walk from the mile 2 marker until the mile 3 marker.  He got ahead and beat me by about a minute.  And won 2 place in his age division: 65+  seriously.

a family picture right before the race started.  stretched and ready to go.

the kids LOVED the bouncy house during and after the race 

Looks like I'm really booking it, huh?  That's because I walked for A MILE and I had  some energy left at the end to hurry up and finish!  (I also got a little sunburn on my shoulders.  must remember sunscreen)

Son asked for something that I did not understand and neither did the face painter.  So I suggested a basketball.  He was pretty giddy about it.

with no prompting, Daughter asked for a pig.  She is currently in love with all things Peppa Pig.

After the race, we went to Mcwane for Slimy Slippery Saturday.  The kids were excited.  And then we got there and they saw how crowded it was and how hot it was outside and suddenly they wanted to go in and play with the bubbles!  I prompted them to do everything once and we'd go in.  

Son, going down the slide into the slime.  Daughter opted not to go up the slide because she said the rubber was too hot to touch.

Walking in the slime.  They thought that was cool.

Then they were ready to go in and do all their normal McWane things.  It was a fun and exhausting day. 

Now Everyone has a Quilt

Since I've started sewing, I've made a quilt for each kid and Husband and I. So, who's left? Well, if you're a diligent blog stalker, you've noticed my sidebar of WIPs and have seen blankets for Blue Bear and Baby appear and disappear fairly quickly.

When it comes to fabric and well, most anything, if I think I can use it later, I keep it. My leftover fabric stacks were piling up. No, not really. It's not like I have a great storehouse of fabric. But I keep my fabric and all my sewing accessories on a shelf in a bookcase in my room and that space WAS filling up.

So, I decided to sit down and get rid of as much of the scraps as I could. I made Blue Bear a blanket out of the left overs of Son and Daughter's quilts. And I made Baby's out of the left overs of the coasters and mug rugs (and used some of Nanny's fabric for the binding). It took nap time of one day to design, cut and sew the front and back of Blue Bear's. And nap time on a second day to do the same for Baby's. Then on the third day, I quilted and bound them.

There's something so satisfying about completely 2 projects in about 6 hours.

The fronts. The both ended up being in the neighborhood of 18x23 (Blue Bear's is a little smaller)

Daughter loved all the pink on Blue Bear's blanket

And Son just loved Baby's. He didn't care what colors I used.

the backs.

this is the first time I haven't done a solid back and it was simply because I didn't have enough of any one fabric to complete a full back. I like it. This will definitely make it easier for me to make the decision to piece backs on future yet to be determined quilt projects.

Daughter, Blue Bear and his new blanket

Son, Baby and her new blanket.

Wordless Wednesday: Bed of Nails