Life with the Tanners

Where did 2010 go??

2010-11-16T15:20:00.021-05:00

I apologize for slacking on the Blog. So much has happened in 2010. Here's a quick recap: I found out I was pregnant on January 5th. On April 2nd, I ended up in the emergency room with complications. On May 29th, Lucy was born at 24 weeks. We spent 4-1/2 months in the NICU. Luke started kindergarten in August. After Lucy's surgery on Oct 1, she was able to come home on Oct 14th. Now here we are one month later, and it's a week before Thanksgiving. And so I ask you - where has the year gone??

When I look back now, I wonder how it went by so quickly. Of course, at the time, 4-1/2 months of driving back and forth to the hospital felt like an eternity. It's certainly been the hardest year of my life! The difficult pregnancy and subsequent premature baby came all too quickly on the heels of my dad's death. Yes, I've been through a lot in the last year! But I honestly believe it's made me a stronger person because of it!

Since I am so far behind on the Blog, I wanted to catch you up on what's been going on this year.

January, 2010

It snowed!! Luke absolutely loves the snow!

For a class project, he made some haystacks!

And after buying new red couches, we repainted the den.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

March, 2010

We took Luke to Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg! I love that place. The shark tunnel is my favorite!

I must have been about 14 weeks pregnant here.

Love the sharks!

Easter basket! We had just seen "How To Train Your Dragon" at the movies.

Looking for eggs at the park!

School recital. The last one at Westlake. :(

Luke and his best friend, Alexander.

April, 2010

Starting last Fall, Luke took Music lessons through Let's Play Music. Ms Becca is such a fun teacher.

Here he is singing his songs.

Second year, we learn how to play the piano!!

Luke and Ms Becca

Just chillin'

Hugging Aunt Joy's dog, Amber.

May, 2010

Helping Daddy and Grampa work on Grampa's old BMW.

In May, we took a trip to Cades Cove, one of our favorite places!

This particular trip, we saw 5 bears!!!

There were 2 back in this brush.

And 3 up in this tree!!!

Love it!

Having a picnic.

And after we visit the Cove, we always have to stop at the Master Burger for ice cream!!

In May, Luke took swimming lessons at Adventure Swim.

There he is jumping in for Mr. Ed.

The beginner lessons went really well. It's just too bad that we never got a chance to go to the pool all summer to test out those lessons! Oh well. There's always next year.

Preschool Graduation. I can't believe my baby boy graduated from preschool and started Kindergarten this year!

Look at him in his cap and gown! Isn't that adorable!

There he is on stage getting his "diploma."

So proud.

And that's our most favorite teacher ever - Ms Polly! She was the best!

With May comes the Market Square Farmer's Market. We headed down there on Saturday mornings. Here he is with some art in Krutch Park.

If you're on Market Square, you can't pass up a stop at Rita's Italian Ice!!! YUM!

The weekend before Lucy was born, we went to the Fruit and Berry Patch in Halls to pick strawberries! I suspect my water actually broke this day, though I don't know for sure.

So fun!

Look at that bucket full!

Luke talking to the goats.

And then on May 29th, Lucy Grace Tanner was born weighing only 1 pound 9 ounces. She was 12.9 inches long.

And that concludes the first 5 months of the year. Stay tuned for the next 5. I will continue to update the Blog on a more regular basis. Thanks for reading!

Thanksgiving, 2009

2009-12-19T10:16:00.011-05:00

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving, 2009. I figure it's about time to post them since it's been a whole year now.

Charley...

Luke and Charley

My cousin, Whitney (Charley's Mommy)

At the cabin in NC with the Tanners ...

Our cabin...

Love this picture ...

Our Scrabble game...

Luke trying to play the guitar...

Joy's dog, Amber

Playing Wii...

The Tanners...

The Perfect Day to "Do the Zoo"

2009-11-08T07:51:00.008-05:00

This weekend's weather is just glorious! With Greg hunting, Luke and I were on our own to find something fun to do. So we put our Zoo membership to good use!

The bears are Luke's favorite...

I had to take advantage of all picture ops.

This kid is such a monkey - he had to climb on EVERYthing!

Normally, when we go to the Zoo, all of the big cats are sleeping. But not today. This is Kali, the White Tiger.

She was beautiful.

This is a White-Handed Gibbon. He was hilarious - swinging through the trees and then

landing on his stump in front of the window to look at all the kids.

Luke was teasing him with Woofie. It's a good thing the glass was there because otherwise, Woofie would have been snatched from Luke's hands. I wish I had gotten a video of this hilarous interaction between two monkeys! ;-)

This was the Gibbons' cage mate, but he didn't do much. He just hung there like this...

The gorilla.

And this is the new baby chimp, George. Isn't he sweet. He was also putting on quite a little show for us.

We were sad that the Bird show is closed for the season. And so were the Butterflies. But it was still a great day to get out. We didn't even make it around to the reptiles, so I guess next time we will start there.

It's Fall, Y'all

2009-11-07T17:39:00.012-05:00

It's Fall ... we all know what that means ... pumpkins!!

Our first pumpkin we got at the little place on Middlebrook that always has seasonal fruit/vegetables...

Then, a couple weeks later we went to Maple Lane Farms for a hayride and corn maze. We got more pumpkins there!

What a cool dude...

Of course Luke insisted on getting in the large farm equipment.

Beautiful....

...Scenery

Can't .... carry.... so ... heavy ...

Luke with Gramma and Grampa

Everyone's proud of their pumpkin....

The Maple Lane Farms barn ...

And now for my favorite picture of the day ....

On a Safari

2009-09-12T09:41:00.011-04:00

The original plan was to take my Dad to the Safari at the Briarwood Ranch for his 60th birthday, which was at the end of July. But it got postponed first because Greg was sick, then Luke got the flu, then weather, and finally Daddy didn't feel well either. So we never got to take him. After the exhausting week we had, we decided to go to the Safari on Labor Day, in memory of my Dad.

It's really a shame that he didn't get to go - he would have LOVED it!!

So you just drive your car around this loop where the animals roam free. You're not allowed to get out of the car. But we were in the 4Runner where Luke and I could sit in the back with the window down.

There are animals EVERYWHERE!! I was almost afraid we were going to hit one or run over its toes...

The big birds were so funny! They would just stick their heads right in the car looking for feed.

First an emu-

Then an ostrich...

This is my favorite picture....

Since we were only going about 2 miles per hour, Greg let Luke think he was driving...

This thing was HUGE - as big as the 4Runner...

That's me feeding an 'I don't know what' out the back of the 4Runner.

All of the animals would just walk right up to the car, expecting you to feed them. You should have seen the mess they made! There was schmuck all over the outside of the 4Runner and there was feed all over the inside! But it was totally worth it! So much fun!!!!

And then there was a Petting Zoo on the property as well...

Talking to the goats...

Luke didn't like the way it smelled at the Petting Zoo. But he had a BLAST!!! I highly recommend you check it out! It's only about an hour away from Knoxville. Very cool.

In Memory of Brian Eugene Simpson

2009-09-10T19:58:00.007-04:00

For those of you who may not have heard, my dad passed away last week. It's been a rough week for us. My parents were divorced and I was an only child, so it has been up to me to make arrangements, plan the service, and commence probate on the estate. None of these were decisions that I was ready to make, nor wanted to make.

Below is the obituary, in case you missed it in one of the 3 different papers it ran in. I've also included below the eulogy that I wrote, which my Uncle Andy read at the service, in case you missed that as well.

SIMPSON, BRIAN EUGENE - age 60, of Knoxville, formerly of Cleveland, passed away Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009 at his home. Brian was a Eagle Scout. He was a graduate of Tennessee Tech and received two Master's degrees from the University of Tennessee. He was a member of First Baptist Church Concord. He was a retired chemical engineer and a former long time employee of Arch Chemicals in Charleston, TN. Brian loved to fly and was working toward his pilot's license. He was preceded in death by his mother, Dorothy Seibel Simpson and his sister, Kathy Simpson Parker. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Katie and Greg Tanner of Knoxville; grandson, Luke Tanner; father, Eugene Simpson of Chattanooga; former wife, Libby Simpson of Knoxville; sister-in-law and brothers-in-law, Nancy and Andy Andrews of Chattanooga, Gene Parker of McComb, MS and several nieces and nephews. The family will receive friends from 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday with a Celebration of Life to follow at 2 p.m. in the sanctuary of Cokesbury United Methodist Church, 9908 Kingston Pike, Knoxville with Rev. Stephen DeFur and Rev. Joseph Tanner officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Susan G. Komen for the Cure , Attn: Donor Services, PO Box 650309, Dallas, TX 75265-0309, to honor Brian's sister who fought a courageous battle with breast cancer. Click Funeral Home Farragut Chapel, 11915 Kingston Pike is serving the Simpson family.

EULOGY:

First of all, I just want to thank everyone for coming today to support me and my family during this difficult time. Many of you probably knew my Dad in one capacity or another – either as a friend, a coworker, or a relative. Even if you didn’t know him, I want to introduce to you the man I knew as “Daddy” for 33 years.

It’s so hard to find the right words to describe a person’s whole life; to sum up who they were in just a few short paragraphs. Daddy was a friend, a son, a brother, a husband, a father, and most recently, a grandfather, for which he was very proud. He cared deeply for his family. He was our rock, the head of our household, and he led us as a family. He set examples for me, by which to live my life, making me the person I am today.

He was the true definition of an engineer: detailed, organized, analytical… and always right. Ever the conservative republican, he had his political opinions and didn’t mind sharing them. He loved Star Trek and Sudoku; Monty Python and Dilbert. He even loved ‘The Simpsons’, but he didn’t think it was funny when people would call him Homer. He was a huge fan of the St Louis Cardinals. And he enjoyed a good practical joke, especially when it was on someone else. He drank his coffee black; but his blood ran orange. Football season was his favorite time of year! He would be so sorry he missed yesterday’s game!

He had a passion for airplanes and had been working towards his pilot’s license. He loved to travel, visiting many countries over the years. Most recently he visited Ireland, but he held a special place in his heart for South Africa and had talked about going back again soon. He enjoyed just hanging out with friends, especially going out to eat, and trying out new restaurants. He loved watching movies of all kinds – sci-fi, historical, war movies, and especially comedies.

Our favorite movie to watch together was “Ferris Beuhler’s Day Off”. We must have seen it a million times – we could both recite the lines throughout the whole movie, like “You have nothing to worry about – I’m a professional”. To which Cameron replies “Professional what?” I remember every time they cussed on the movie, no matter what my age was at the time, he would always say “Such language.” His favorite part was when they took the Ferrari out of the garage with the song “Oh Yeah” by Yello playing in the background.

He loved useless, but interesting facts. He also loved maps. In fact, we couldn’t have a conversation where some place in the world was mentioned that he wouldn’t bring out a map and show me where it was. If I asked a question, like “how far away is Nashville?”, he would get the map out and show me, even if all I wanted was a simple answer, like “3 hours.”

I inherited many of my traits from him – both the good ones (like my sense of humor) and the bad ones (like my stubbornness). He was also quite the perfectionist.
I remember one time when I was about 13 or 14, I walked into his garage and saw the shelves looking a bit disorganized. I thought it would be nice to surprise him- so I moved everything around and cleaned it all up. Unfortunately, he wasn’t too happy about the surprise. I can just remember him coming home and being so upset because even though it looked like chaos to me, he knew where everything was. I can laugh about that now because I totally understand. I know what organized chaos is! (If you’ve ever seen my work desk, you know too)!

His attention to detail was also present in his lawn care. He was always so proud of his grass and his flowers and trees. The lawn would always be mowed at an angle as to create that nice criss-cross pattern. The only job he was allowed to do inside the house was vacuuming. But he could vacuum like no one I’ve ever seen – in such a direction to make nice clean lines in the carpet.

One of the most important things he taught me – was how to drive. (which really explains so much)! The first car he bought me was a 1980 Mazda RX-7. It was a 12-year old car with rust on the door. But he was so excited because he bought it from a friend for $1000 and fixed it up just for me. I loved that car! Rex was its name. It sat in the driveway for about a year before I turned 16. One time when he wasn’t home, I was just so anxious to start driving that I just wanted to simply start the car. Unfortunately, it was in gear and shot forward. He wasn’t too happy to come home and find a rather large dent in his garage door.

Another time, I spilled a whole glass of coke on his keyboard, which of course shorted out. He wasn’t happy about having to buy a new keyboard. Shortly after that, I was sitting in his favorite chair with a glass of milk and a cookie, when along comes a kitty cat who knocks the remote control at just the right angle that it falls into the glass of milk. Again, not real happy about buying a new remote control. Even though he might have been a little mad at the time, those are the stories we laugh about now.

I knew he was proud of me no matter what. He said I could be anything I wanted to be… except for a lawyer. But then he even supported me when I applied to law school. He was proud that I went to Lee University, even though it wasn’t his first choice for me. Even after I had moved away, he would continually give me updates on how the campus had grown and if he’d driven by and seen soap suds in the fountain again.

He loved our kitties, and allowed them to share a house with us even though he was allergic! When I was very young, we had only a dog. But I wanted a cat so bad. I begged and begged for them to get me a kitten. Finally, in 4th grade, Daddy made a deal with me – if I could make straight A’s in every class, then I could have a kitten at the end of the year. He thought he was off the hook – he apparently didn’t think I could do it. So I proved him wrong, and I got my first cat, Gretchen. Despite not being a cat person, he loved her and would worry about her if she didn’t come home at night. And she wasn’t the last – I think there were 5 or 6 more cats over the years and he loved them all. In fact, we never had another dog! We turned him into a cat person!

Another passion of his was music. He always had the radio on in the garage or in the car. His favorite was classic rock. And he had quite the CD collection – everything from Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top to Pink Floyd and the Beatles. I remember not being real crazy about his music when I was little, but then about high school, I started “borrowing” his CDs. If he was looking for a particular one, he knew to come and get it out of my room. I probably even still have a few of those that I “borrowed.” But he didn’t mind at all – he was happy to share his music collection with me.

He was usually willing to do whatever was asked of him. I can’t remember how many times Mom would be cooking something and not have all the ingredients on hand. He would quickly offer to run out to the grocery store to find it, many times ending up going to 3 different groceries stores looking for it, not wanting to come home empty-handed.
He was caring and generous. He was proud to be a Blood Donor, and as of 2008, he had donated 13 gallons of blood throughout the years! He was very diligent about visiting the medic every 56 days to give! I don’t even think he did it for the free t-shirts.

Of all the things he taught me, the one thing I am most grateful for is my Faith. He always made church a priority in our lives. We almost never missed a Sunday or a Wednesday night service. I watched him tithe and serve the church, setting an example for me by which to live my life.

I found this quote today, which really sums up all my feelings right now. And if you leave here with nothing else today, I hope you take away this:

“The death of someone we know always reminds us that we are still alive - perhaps for some purpose which we ought to re-examine.”
~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960~

I can’t dwell on why it happened, but rather remember all the happy memories we had. And it’s times like these that you realize how precious life really is. So hug your family tight. Tell them that you love them, because you don’t know when it will be the last time.
I love you, Daddy.

Updates...

2009-08-23T08:49:00.012-04:00

The flu bug made its way through our house the past couple of weeks. Took Greg out first, though at the time he was sick with a fever, chills and aches, we didn't realize it was the flu. It wasn't until I got a call from Luke's school that he had 103.4 temperature, and rushed him to the doctor. The doc tested for strep throat first, then for the flu. After the flu test came back as positive, we realized then that Greg must have had it too!

*Note: we have no way of knowing if it was the H1N1 virus, as they do not test for the type of flu at the doctor's office. He said that would only happen if his condition worsened and then was admitted to the hospital. But the fact is, it's not typical flu season, so yes, it's very possible that it was swine flu.

Poor thing - fell asleep on the couch. This is how I knew he didn't feel good... so I just left him there.

Later, we had a fudge bar to make us feel better ...

but he made a royal mess of it.

Earlier in the week, before he got sick, we went to a really cool birthday party at the Events at Sherlake!

After you climb up the rope wall, you slide down the awesome slide...

SO FUN!!!

That's Jack and his Spiderman birthday cake.

Isn't he precious?!?!

The Pool

2009-08-03T20:05:00.005-04:00

So ... funny story. It's August and we have yet to go to the neighborhood pool this summer! I know - that's weird. Well, we have had a busy summer, and there's been quite a bit of rain at the beginning of the season. But most of all, Mommy didn't really feel like getting in a bathing suit so that's why we haven't been. But lately, Luke's been begging to go to the pool. So Saturday, if he took a good nap, I promised him we could go down there for a little while. So we got our suits on, packed the bag, sprayed the sunscreen, etc. And we walked down there. (It's only about a 1/2 mile, so might as well walk, right?) As we got closer to the pool, I saw that there was no one there! I got excited that we would have the whole pool to ourselves! Well, that turned out to be not such a good thing since my key wouldn't work. I tried and wiggled - I know it was the right key because it slid right in. I didn't think they changed the locks this year, but I guess I'll have to call the HOA on Monday.

So instead, we came back here and filled up the kiddie pool; and had just as much fun!!

Splashing!

These last 2 pictures, I was having fun with a setting on the camera ... I think they look pretty cool...

Collages

2009-08-01T17:07:00.006-04:00

I was playing around with Picasa this afternoon and made a few collages. If you remember, I did this last summer too. You can check those out here.

Funny Stories

2009-07-28T18:45:00.005-04:00

Why is it that words like "poopy" are hilarious to a four-year-old?

So yesterday morning we were in the car on the way to school. Normally, I have the iPod hooked up playing whatever song Luke is obsessed with that week. However, this particular morning, the radio was tuned to my favorite morning show - Marc, Kim & Frank on Star 102.1. I don't even remember what they were talking about now, but I hear a gasp in the backseat, and then "Mommy, he said 'butt'!" Well, I had been listening and I knew he didn't 'butt', rather 'but'. How do you explain conjunctions to a 4-year-old?? So I explained that he used the other spelling of the word, such as "I'd like to stay home, BUT I have to go to work." He sat and pondered this for a few minutes and then quickly started repeating 'but, but, but, but, but'. I scoldingly said "Buddy, I told you before not to say that word so please don't say it." He innocently replies, "But Mommy, I'm saying the other one!" Oh good grief!

And just when you think they aren't listening... We got home from school on a rainy evening and he wanted to watch 'The Incredibles'. So he's in the den watching a DVD while Greg and I are in the kitchen making dinner and telling each other about our days. Greg said the word 'crap' and immediately we hear a voice yell from the other room, "Daddy, we don't say 'crap'!" And then again, even louder, "We don't say 'crap'!" And there, he got to say it twice!

This morning, he wanted a piece of banana bread for breakfast, like Mommy had. Only, he didn't eat it. Rather, he shredded it into a million tiny crumbs on the counter. So I'm cleaning up his mess all the while questioning him why he has to make a mess of EVERYthing he eats. He replies, "because you make a mess." Um, No! I don't drop food ALL over the floor at EVERY meal. So I tell him that I am very careful when I eat and therefore, I don't leave a big mess behind. Ok, fast forward about 30 minutes and I'm pouring myself another cup of coffee. I grab the liquid creamer from the fridge and give it a quick shake. Well, the lid wasn't on securely and now there are several splats on the floor. Luke exclaims, "See Mommy, you do make a mess!!"

Weekend at Joy's

2009-07-27T20:04:00.014-04:00

We spent the last weekend in Bakersville, NC visiting Greg's sister Joy.

This is her dog, Amber.

We hadn't been there 5 minutes and Luke had already found the water hose!

Before we left Knoxville, we stopped at the Fruit and Berry Patch on the way out of town and picked some blueberries and blackberries - only $2 per pound.

P.S. If you want to find a farm near you, go to www.pickyourown.org

We made a blueberry buckle with most of the blueberries.

This is a pretty little goldfinch outside Joy's window.

If you hadn't figured it out already, Joy is a potter. Here is a nice display she has outside.

This little butterfly liked Luke...

He was so excited that it landed on his hand!

On Saturday, we took a hike up on top of Roan Mountain

Isn't that an amazing view?!?!?!

The Cloudland Hotel site...

All that is left of the ruins on Roan Mtn

That's Joy's cat, Ziggy.

Back at the water hose again ...

A cool swinging bridge near Joy's house...

Throwing rocks ... boys will be boys!

We had a blast. We ate some amazing dinners, saw some awesome views, played some Scrabble, and took a ton of pictures! We'll have to go back again real soon!

Zoo Trip and Drive In Movie

2009-07-27T19:44:00.007-04:00

I promised him a Zoo trip for his birthday, but then the day we were going to go, it rained. So we postponed it til July. I told him when we got in the car that Mommy was going to want to take some pictures of him today so just to let me do it.

When he saw this bench, he said "Mommy, take my picture." I don't think he's ever said that to me. He usually runs and hides when he sees the camera come out.

His favorite place at the Zoo is the Black Bear Falls. Although, most of the times we go, the bears are hiding. But not today!!!

That was sacked out on the log.

And this one was asleep right by the window ... you can see Luke's head in the bottom left corner of the pic.

He's standing on the elephant's foot prints.

Another picture set up ... I didn't even have to ask him to do it!

Gorilla...

And our new favorite exhibit... Bloomin' Butterfly Gardens!

We saw our friends Kylie and Will at the Zoo too!

Then one night we headed over to the Parkway Drive-In in Maryville for a Movie!! They were playing Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

(Though, I thought it was the ice age that made the dinosaurs extinct in the first place, but whatever, still cute).

We had the chairs set up outside the car and his sleeping bad inside the car. That was in case he fell asleep - yeah, no chance of that!

The movie didn't start til dusk, which ended up being 9:30pm. By the time it was over and we drove home, it was almost midnight!!!

Camping at The Cove

2009-06-28T16:56:00.020-04:00

One of my favorite places is Cades Cove. Only an hour from home, it's an easy weekend or week-day getaway!

These are some ugly animals .. but boy, they taste good!!

Ok so I've been to Cades Cove a million times and have never seen a bear! But this weekend was a first! We were in the 4Runner a ways back and saw the Rangers stopped up ahead. We knew there had to be some bear activity.

I was so excited. I was hanging out the back of the 4Runner trying to get the camera set up.

And then it started running towards the car, while I'm yelling 'Holy Crap' over and over (or so I am told). I couldn't get the camera to snap the pictures fast enough. I got just past the car - you can see it over the bicycle seat here ...

This deer was in the campsite across from ours.

Our campfire - even if it's the middle of the summer and 90 degrees outside, you still have to have a fire!!

Greg cooking Brats for our appetizer.

Greg and Joy tending to the seasoned deer meat on the grill. It was yummy.

Nancy, Luke and Joy

A pileated woodpecker at our campsite!

Proof that Joe biked the entire 11-mile loop with me.

We saw a bear on our bike ride.

Two more pileated woodpeckers on a post, while we were biking.

There was so much venison left over that we had venison sandwiches the next day!!

Mr. Hot Stuff in the back of the 4Runner

My little monkey climing a fence.

More deer!

I talked Joy into hiking Abrams Falls with me. Roundtrip is 5 miles and it's really not all that strenuous. It also says 3-4 hours, but we did it in 1 hour 50 minutes!

Abrams Falls

Luke and Grampa Joe playing catch.

A grasshopper.

That was a fun trip!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Luke!!

2009-06-22T20:34:00.013-04:00

Well, it's official - I have a 4-year old now! My baby quickly turned into a toddler, who then turned into a preschooler. I can't believe he will be going to Kindergarten in one year! So sad :(

I asked him what kind of birthday he wanted to have. The answer was undoubtedly Star Wars! He chose the theme and also the guest list. Seven of his closest friends came over for a water party at the house. With the temps in the 90's, a backyard water park was definitely the way to go!! We set up a Slip N' Slide, a kiddie pool and cool 12-foot long wiggly sprinkler. The kids had a blast. The only issue was that we didn't get a chance to mow the grass til the morning of, so the kids had grass all over them, but they certainly didn't care!!!

This was the nice clean house before the party ...

The cake. Once again, we choose a theme to which a cake does not exist. (This happened 2 years ago with the Backyardigans theme). So, I asked them to make it black and gray with stars, and I would add my own decorations. I think it turned out rather nicely. Luke especially liked the Darth Vader candle holder!

He woke up from nap right before the party to find a new Star Wars shirt outside his room.

All his friends eating cake!

And opening presents...

Oh boy! A light saber. Or as Luke says, a light "saver". Don't try to correct him, though, he's sure he's right.

Then we headed outside for some water fun!!

That was Saturday.

On Sunday, we had a family cookout for his birthday.

Cousin Gregg and Mimi

Grampa Brian and Aunt Martha

Awww... sweet!

That's a little creepy!

Cousin Gregg and Darth Vader ... hee hee!

Time for an Update!!

2009-06-18T13:28:00.019-04:00

Wow! It's been 3 months since I posted on the Blog. My apologies. I guess all my "extra" time has been going towards Facebook lately. So I'm going to try to catch you up on the last couple of months. And this weekend I will post pictures of Luke's 4th birthday party! He's going to turn 4 on Monday, the 22nd. My, how times flies!!!

In April, Luke got a new bed!! I wanted to wait til his birthday, but we found it on Craigslist 2 months ago and couldn't wait. Greg painted it white and blue with a red door! And Luke loves it. I thought it was pretty cool til I had to change the sheets out - that's not fun.

This is what I found when I went in to wake him up for school. How sweet is that?!?!

Sometimes you just have to let a kid be a kid ....

He just wanted to play in the rain!

But if he wanted to splash in the puddles, he had to roll his pants up....

So fun!

A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to go hiking so we drove to Panther Creek State Park in Morristown. This was Luke's farthest hike to date - 1.4miles total. Downhill and back up. He did awesome!! He was obsessed, though, with finding spiders and bugs.

This at the trailhead after we hiked down 0.7 and then back up 0.7! He did awesome!! Didn't complain at all!!! We're going to have to start working our way up to longer hikes!

Also at the trailhead, a heart-shaped grassy area.

A nice view of the lake ...

That's when you wish you had a boat:

The best part for Luke, the Park had a playground!

One of our favorite summer evening activities is chalking up the driveway! I always ask Luke what he wants me to draw ... usually he says 'a shark'. But lately he says "Draw whatever you want to draw, Mommy." So it's something different every night. One night, I drew the whole solar system ... it was quite elaborate, but the rain washed it away before I thought of photographing it. I believe it will need to be recreated soon!!

What's better than an ice cream cone on a hot summer day???

That is, until it starts melting ...

Time for a bath!!

The Zoo

2009-03-13T10:55:00.008-04:00

I couldn't wait to take Luke to the Zoo as soon as it got warm!! So last weekend we went.
He practically packed the bag for me - here he is waiting by the door...

We met Cindy and the boys there. They had so much fun together!!
(Notice how her boys will smile nicely for the camera while mine won't even turn and look at me....)

Ugly rhino...

This was my very favorite ... the red panda. Is he not just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!?!

As we walked past the giraffe and then the Zebra, we were remembering the names of the characters in Madagascar. So in this picture, they are yelling at the Zebra, "Marty!"

We caught the elephant during Zoo talk. This particular elephant weighs 15,000 pounds! And I believe he was 45 or 49 years old.

I love the big cats ...

The tiger was asleep on his back with his belly in the air...

Playing on the safari truck - one of their favorite things to do...

Then, while eating lunch, we just happened to run into Luke's best friend from school.

They are like 2 peas in a pod!

Then we rode the carousel ... Luke wanted to ride the crocodile!

The prairie dog - isn't he cute!?

And then finally, the bears were actually awake this time. I think I've only ever seen them sleeping! And I don't think this one was too thrilled that I was taking his picture ....

If you ask Luke, he will tell you his favorite animal at the Zoo was the bear.

It was an enjoyable day - but walking all over the Zoo wore us both out!!!

Luke Loves His Kitties

2009-02-21T10:39:00.007-05:00

First of all, I wanted to share these pics of the cats ... I was so excited that they actually sat still for me to photograph them ...

Pumpkin and Comet

Comet and Pogo

All 3 lined up on the stairs.

And this one I love ....

Pumpkin and Woofie -- Luke's 2 favorite animals ....

I walked in and Pumpkin had actually been sleeping on top of Woofie. By the time I grabbed the camera to snap a pic, she sat up. But I still got a good shot!

Luke loves his Pumpkin...

So much, in fact, now he wants to hold her and carry her around ...

I can't believe she lets him pick her up like this. But she is SOOO sweet. She just sits and takes it. I've told him many times that cats have teeth and they will bite you if you continue to pester them. And if it gets to the point where she bites him, I'm going to have to say he probably deserved it!

He made himself a little pallet in the floor and then brought Pumpkin under there with him ...

What a good kitty to sit there and take it...

Then he decides to put her in this mesh bag ... poor kitty.

She still sat there and let him. It was at this point that I made him release her. She needed a break!

Too Cute!

2009-02-21T10:17:00.007-05:00

A few funny stories I need to share:

1) This little guy is constantly cracking me up. I believe I have a budding comedian here. Lately, he's all about telling jokes. He'll say to me, "Do you know ducks wear pants?" (Or some other nonsensical statement)... Then crack himself up and say "That's a joke." I'm pretty sure he's forgotten part of the joke. But to watch him laugh at his own joke, now that's pretty funny!

2) The other day, we were sitting at a red light behind a truck. I am patiently waiting for the light to turn green when I hear my little backseat driver yell "Come ON! Let's GO!!" I don't know where on earth he learned that! :)

3) Just this week I had to travel to North Carolina for a business trip. On Thursday morning, I was preparing him for the fact that I wouldn't be at home that night. He asked me where I was going, so I told him. Then he asked 'why' (that famous toddler question) ... I told him that I had meetings to do. He pondered this for a second and then asked "Is it Show and Tell?" ... Well, yeah, Buddy, it really kinda is.

4) This same Thursday morning, I drop him off at school. And told him to give me a big hug because I wouldn't see him til Friday night. So he did. And then as I was walking away, he squeezed his arms and said, "I saved a hug for later." How sweet is that!!

The Snow Is Gone ..

2009-02-05T21:42:00.009-05:00

As quickly as it came, it was gone again. And all that was left was part of the snowman that Greg tried to make. (see previous post)

It snowed on Tuesday and by Saturday, it was gorgeous weather - the temp was in the 60s.

We enjoyed playing outside.

He found this leaf and then carried it around everywhere!

Then he found a yellow piece of paper in the yard ...

I hope there are more days like that to come ... I can get used to this!!!

Snow Day!!

2009-02-03T12:15:00.011-05:00

Within a few hours of the first snowflakes, there was a good accumulation on the ground. With the temperature below freezing, there was the danger of ice on the road, so schools closed early on Monday, Feb 2nd.
(That can't be a good sign for Spring -- snow on Groundhog Day)! :(

This is what our yard looked like when we got home at 12:30 on Monday...

Luke immediately jumped out of the car so he could throw a snowball...

One cool dude!

Trying to eat the snow ....

The deck ... as you can see, there's a good 2 inches there...

School was closed on Tuesday and again on Wednesday ...

Greg trying to build a snowman ... However, Luke had no interest in helping ....

His only interest was in eating the snow....

After we all froze our patooties off, we came in and got hot cocoa with marshmallows!

Yummy.

And this is the sunset on Tuesday evening... It was prettier in person with all the pinks and purples in the sky.

Catch-Up Time

2009-02-02T10:48:00.015-05:00

It's been a while since I posted, and for that I apologize. I'd meant to post about my New Years Resolutions, one of which was to stop procrastinating! However, it took me a month to make that statement. Ugh. I wish I could do better about getting posts and pictures on here for you. But it's hard. When I spend the majority of my days in front of a computer at work, the last thing I want to do is come home and sit on the computer. (And Luke doesn't really like it when I do that either).

I know I've told you before how much Luke loves Pumpkin. He is so sweet and just wants to love on her. And she is sweet to let him.

This is Comet's new place to sleep .... directly over the vent. You think he'd get hot... I mean, he already has a fur coat on!!

Luke and his friends on New Years Eve.

(I wish I'd taken more pictures but the adults were too busy having fun)!! :)

A few weeks ago a very dear friend of ours celebrated his 40th birthday! Happy Birthday, Ben.

Robert, Greg and Brandon

Let them eat cake...

These pictures are from the first real snow we've had here in a long time. It started the afternoon of MLK Day, but stopped before dark. It was a real surprise when we woke up on Tuesday morning to a winter wonderland! Luke was so excited.

This picture was taken Monday afternoon when I went to pick Luke up from school... I just love the Canada Geese that hang around Luke's school.

They probably took off because some crazy lady kept snapping pictures of them....

This is Tuesday morning ...

All bundled up and ready to play...

This is the print his snow boots made ... he thought it was so cool...

A Batman Christmas

2009-01-03T09:50:00.011-05:00

Luke told Santa that all he wanted for Christmas was Batman to come to his house so he could give him a hug. How cute is that?!? But unrealistic. So what he got instead was a bunch of Batman stuff ... a Batman book, a Batman toy, a Batman belt, Batman shoes, Batman jammies, etc etc. Mimi got him the Imaginext Batcave. Yes, the kid is obsessed with Batman!

Whoa! A 'Cars' Lego set! Cool. That's from Grampa Brian. Oh, and it's not pictured here, but he got him this super cool pen that reads to you. It's by Leap Frog - you run the pen over the words of the book and it reads the book to you. Yeah, Luke's going to be reading soon ... (we hope)!!

The Tanners got him a sleeping bag for camping ... here he is trying it out.

Then, of course, he had to go get his pillow and his Batman book ....

He loves to play the Tanner's piano .... I asked him if he wanted to learn how to play and he said yes.

But the big hit with our family were the Nerf guns ... SO MUCH FUN!!!!

Awww... if I hadn't taken this picture on Christmas Day, it would have been in all the Christmas cards instead ...

....'Cause most of the time, he's just being silly....

Merry Christmas to All

2008-12-27T19:39:00.004-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

It was a Batman Christmas at the Tanners house!

A nasty virus

2008-12-10T19:58:00.004-05:00

I hope that 'bug' had fun wreaking havoc on the family. Days after we were all together for Thanksgiving, everyone in the Tanner family came down with varying degrees of a cold virus. For me, it started out with a major sore throat, of which I have had for a total of 12 days now!! It's like a thousand tiny razor blades every time I swallow. (I know what you're thinking - it's probably strep... nope! The strep test was negative).

Of all the lovely symptoms I had, (congestion, coughing, headaches, fatigue, etc), the absolute worst was the fact that I completely lost my voice for an entire week!! Do you know how annoying and frustrating it is trying to communicate when you don't have a voice?!?! Especially when you are the mom to a 3-year old! (It's really hard to yell when nothing comes out!)

So, even though the strep test was negative, the doc still wrote me a script for an antibiotic. But after seven days, I still wasn't getting any better, which only proves that it was, in fact, a virus.

But there is good news - I think I am finally on the mend. My voice is starting to come back, thankfully. Greg has been congested and coughing as well. Being sick sucks... and now I'm so far behind ... Christmas is only 2 weeks away! Aaaahhhhhhh!!!!!

Thanksgiving Pics - Part 2

2008-12-10T19:29:00.007-05:00

After Chattanooga, we headed to North Carolina. We were staying in a cabin a few miles from Joy's house in Bakersville. I'll spare you the gory details of our travels there, but it involves dark, windy roads and a carsick 3-year old. Not fun.

The cabin was gorgeous...

But it was SUPER cold! There was still snow on the mountains...

Luke has seen snow before, but never enough to throw snowballs...

...learning some bad things from Grampa....

... probably shouldn't throw snowballs at Gramma...

now that's a cheeseball ...

But check out that view!!!

Too bad we didn't bring our chainsaw to take a Christmas tree home with us...

Now that's what I call frame-worthy...

Enjoying apple crumble with Aunt Joy...

He loves Joy's dog, Amber, whom he used to call "Hamber" and also "Amburger".

Thanksgiving Pics - Part 1

2008-12-10T18:55:00.009-05:00

Over the course of the Thanksgiving weekend, I took 200+ pictures. Not all were blog-worthy, (lucky for you), so I will post just my favorites here:

First, we went to Chattanooga to have lunch with my family.

That baby is Charley, my cousin Whitney and Jeff's baby. So I guess that would make Luke and Charley 2nd cousins ... ?? I don't really know how all that works. But he loved Charley!!

That's Aunt Martha holding Charley...

And Cousin Gregg holding Charley...

And Mimi holding Charley .... (I sense a theme here...)

There's Whitney and Jeff ... (Charley's Mommy and Daddy)...

Where's Luke?

He's chilling out with Aunt Nancy on the couch...

And now let me introduce Bella ... (a Great Dane)

This is Luke running from Bella...

Luke pretended like he was scared of Bella ... but he liked her so much he even shared Woofie with her...

This is Bella's Mommy and Daddy ... (my cousin Drew and Dianna)...

Group Photo...

And the whole 'fandamly'! :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T17:05:00.007-05:00

First, please let me apologize because it's been almost 2 months since I last posted. I just got out of the habit of blogging. I still took pictures, but never got around to posting them. So I will try to catch you up on everything ....

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was very busy - lots of driving - down to Chattanooga and back; then over to North Carolina and back. I took over 200 pictures in 3 days. I promise to post those this week.

It was very cold in North Carolina - we even played in the snow! But unfortunately, now I think we are paying the price for it. Luke has a cough and a very snotty nose. For me, it's my throat - a thousand tiny razor blades and an all-over body ache. Not good. I don't have time to be sick.

Luke's School Program

2008-11-30T16:46:00.003-05:00

They did a little Thanksgiving program at school. All the classes had a different song to sing.

Just ask him to sing either of his songs for you ... he knows them very well.

(Sung to The Farmer in the Dell)...

"Thanksgiving time is here.

Thanksgiving time is here.

Gather 'round and share the feast.

Thanksgiving time is here."

(Sung to Row, Row, Row Your Boat)...

"Snowflakes are falling down,

Falling on the ground.

Hurling, tumbling, (something he can't say or I can't understand)...

Falling on the ground."

But what I find hilarious... as you'll see all the kids have pilgrim hats on but Luke refused to take his toboggan off. So he's the only kid dressed for winter. Everyone else is dressed for Thanksgiving.

Halloween

2008-11-30T16:22:00.005-05:00

Last year after Halloween, I bought a pirate costume at Old Navy for 75% off! I was so proud of myself. I stuck it in the closet ... and then nearly forgot about it this year. As Halloween was approaching, Luke was getting the usual question, "What are you going to be for Halloween?" I tried preparing him, telling him that he was going to be a pirate. But he would always answer the question differently, sometimes saying he was going to be a scary monster. Whatever.

On Halloween morning, we were getting ready for school, and we'd had the pirate costume on for a total of 60 seconds before he wanted it off. (Good thing I only paid about $4 for it)!! He says he wants to wear his Woody costume. Rewind a couple of weeks, we were at a children's clothing sale and I saw 2 costumes - Woody and Buzz - for $2 each. I thought that would be fun to dress up in and wear around the house. I never dreamed he would want to wear it for Halloween. If I'd known that, I would have gotten him the accessories to go with it - a cowboy hat, maybe a horse on a stick, etc. So anyways, he wore Woody to school and then over to my office to trick or treat there. By the time we got home, he wanted to be Buzz. So we put the Buzz costume on to walk around the neighborhood in. (I never got a picture of him in the pirate costume or the Woody costume - oh well).

So in one day, the kid wore 3 different Halloween costumes. I resisted the urge to buy a Halloween costume on sale after Halloween this year since who knows what he will want next year! Instead the day after Halloween, we were at WalMart and I found these Batman pajamas, a mask and gloves, all for less than $12! He wouldn't take them off for the rest of the weekend.

"I'm Batman!"

Pumpkin Time!

2008-10-28T07:08:00.004-04:00

It was time to find a pumpkin, so we went to this little house down off Middlebrook Pike...

Below, it looks like Luke is pointing at the scarecrow ... but what he's really pointing at are his "glubs". The kid LOVES gloves!

Too cute!

He was a little scared of this HUGE ghost....

WHOA! That pumpkin is as big as he is!!!

And here's the simple little jack-o-lantern we made - nothing fancy...

... but Luke had fun helping. We also roasted the pumpkin seeds and ate them later!

Veggie Tales - LIVE!

2008-10-03T15:42:00.006-04:00

The sign for Veggie Tales LIVE went up about 4 weeks ago. We had to pass the sign every day on the way home. Luke would see the sign and ask to go to Veggie Tales every day! I had to keep telling him that the show wasn't til October 3rd. Of course, a 3-year old doesn't understand time. So every day I promised I would take him but he had to wait.

Well, being the procrastinator that I am, I wait til the day before to call and get tickets. The 6:30pm show was SOLD OUT! Yep - I was gonna be in trouble! Oh, but the 1pm show was still available. Now, mind you, we are talking about a Friday. I hadn't planned on taking off from work to go see the Veggie Tales, but it looked like I was going to have to. So on Friday, I take Luke to school, I go to work, and then at 12:30 I pick him up from school and head over to the Knoxville Christian Center.

That's Bob (the tomato) and Larry (the cucumber)

He LOVED it!

At times though, he was more interested in the other kids around him. Here he is playing with the 10-month old sitting behind us.

Yes, we actually paid money to go see people dressed in vegetable costumes dance and sing on stage. (In my opinion, this was worse than the night we saw The Backyardigans Live).

Isn't that cute? They all laid on the floor together during one part of the show. I think Luke even started it.

This was cool. They sang and danced to the old '70s song 'Car Wash' and blew bubbles out in the crowd.

I guess it's no secret that I would have rather seen The Wiggles. At least they are real people. I just can't get over the big funny costumes. But Luke loved it - costumes and all. And that alone was worth going. I knew there was no way I could tell him 'sorry, it's sold out.'

Next time, though, I will just avoid the sign. That way, he won't even know about it in the first place!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

2008-09-27T13:09:00.002-04:00

We made Luke's teacher, Ms. Jamie, some cookies for her birthday. Luke really wanted to help but I had to keep stopping him from putting his hands in the dough.

Too cute.

So he kept me company by singing to me.

I told him he could have ONE cookie but that was it.

YUM! Happy Birthday, Ms. Jamie!!

Weekend at Cades Cove

2008-09-22T13:51:00.010-04:00

I (Katie) wanted to spend my birthday in the mountains, so we loaded up the car and drove over Cades Cove on Friday. The drive to Townsend is less than 45 minutes from our house.

We stopped at Sonic in Maryville and got Luke a chocolate milkshake!

We saw turkeys in the field.

He was having so much fun just running around everywhere!

He loved the sunroof. (And by the way, that's the rental car, otherwise he would not be allowed to drive his cars on the roof of Mommy's BMW!!)

He loves the horses ... from far away. He would NOT pet one. They were so friendly, though, and starved for attention.

This is "On Your Mark. Get Set. Go!" He loves to run, just like Mommy.

We found this mama deer with 4 fawns. They didn't stick around for pics so I had to get what I could.

"They went that way"

Family pic... A certain little person wouldn't stand still for very long to get a nice group shot.

We found a butterfly on the ground.

This is the coyote that walked up on us while we were having our picnic. He's probably only 20 yards away from our blanket.

We didn't hike all the way to Abrams Falls, though I really wanted to. Maybe next time. As we hiked down the Elijah Oliver Trail, we passed a lady who said she had just seen a bear! She was trekking it out of there. Me, I would really really like to see a bear! In all my years of going to Cades Cove, that is the one thing I have never seen. I've had plenty of near misses though. And this was another miss. If we had been three minutes further down the trail, I would have seen a bear. Oh well. Maybe next time.

You can see more 'artsy' pictures on my other Blog here.

Random Pics

2008-09-14T22:17:00.003-04:00

Here are some cute random pictures...

It's Football Time in Tennessee

2008-09-14T21:57:00.004-04:00

Luke was so excited to watch the football game!!! Go Vols!!

But he insisted on wearing his cowboy boots with his jersey...

Then he insisted on wearing the boots to church this morning too. It was cute, though. And he even got several compliments on them!
I found them at a children's clothing sale for $4! I think I got my money's worth - he loves them!!!

What a MESS!!

2008-09-13T16:55:00.005-04:00

When I picked him up from school the other day, he didn't want to leave. He was having fun playing with Lincoln Logs. I told him that there was a big bucket of legos in his closet that we could play with when we got home. Well, then we made a few stops on the way, we ate dinner, took a bath, got ready for bed and forgot about the legos. So the next morning, he woke up an hour early asking about the legos. He didn't forget!!

So we got them out and played with them while Mommy was getting ready for work.

There were 2 rules about the legos - 1) you don't dump them out and 2) you don't put them in your mouth ... (there are some really small pieces)

So this is what his room looked like a little later....

And this is his toy room, which we call 'Lukeville' ... he has more toys than 10 kids should have!
I really don't know why I bother cleaning it up -- I will pick all the toys up and next thing I know, Tropical Storm Luke comes through and leaves a path of destruction.

Having fun with Picasa...

2008-09-06T20:39:00.015-04:00

I just downloaded Picasa3 and I am loving it!!! It's way easier than scrapbooking, and I feel almost as creative.

Here's a little recap from our summer... some pics you've seen and some you haven't ...

Space Chimps

2008-09-06T14:07:00.008-04:00

I took Luke to see 'Space Chimps' at the dollar theatre. (Well, it's not the dollar theatre anymore, it's $4, but that includes unlimited popcorn and drink with the ticket price - not a bad deal).

Anyway, he was glued! He loved it!! And I actually laughed out loud more than once. I highly recommend.

Hello, McFly!

2008-08-28T09:00:00.005-04:00

One of my favorite movies of all time is Back to the Future (I, II and III). I was in the mood to watch it the other day, and since the movie is rated PG, I thought it would be an okay movie for Luke to watch. Sure, there are a few cuss words but I was hoping he wouldn't pick up on those. Plus, most of the time we put one of his movies in, he loses interest and starts playing with his cars (and Greg and I are left to watch his movie, 'cause God forbid we turn it off). But not this time - he was glued from beginning to end! And he has asked to watch it almost every day since then. He is so obsessed with it, in fact, that his new favorite song is Huey Lewis and the News "Power of Love". He asks to hear it every time we are in the car. I've also downloaded "Back in Time" and "Johnny B. Goode" for him. I think his favorite part of the movie is at the very end when Marty is playing the guitar at the dance. When Luke saw that, he had to run and get his Wiggles guitar and play it the same way Marty was - behind his head, on the floor, etc.

But that's not the funny story. I told you all of that so I could prepare you for this...

So, yesterday I pick him up from school. I ask him all of the usual questions - "how was your day?" "what did you do?" etc. And he tells me that he went up to Jack (another little boy in his class) and he says, (while knocking on his head), "Hello, McFly, Anybody home? Think Butthead." My mouth dropped open. While trying to hold back from laughing, I ask him where he heard that. He said "on Back to the Future - Marty said that." Um no, actually, buddy, Biff is the one who said that to Marty, but that's beside the point.

Guess I'm gonna have to start censoring his movies a little better. Which probably means that another one of my favorite movies, 'Dumb and Dumber' is out of the question! :)

Busy Weekend

2008-08-25T08:54:00.006-04:00

We had a jam-packed weekend. Friday night we kept the triplets while our friends Ben and Cindy went out to dinner to celebrate their anniversary. I'll tell you a little secret - I think we had more fun than they did!! However, watching 4 kids is a bit tedious so I didn't get to take many pictures. In fact, I didn't take any. Greg took some of us on the trampoline...

Then on Saturday evening, we had a pool party with our Sunday School class. And I completely forgot to take the camera with me! (Can you believe that?? I know - this from the girl who takes 300 pictures in a single weekend)!! And it is especially disappointing, if for no other reason than to have caught Tim Cline on the bouncy squirrel.

New Class

2008-08-21T09:44:00.009-04:00

Luke moved up to a new class this week - "the young 3's". He was so sad to leave Ms. Kelli's class, though. He's been having a rough time with it. And it didn't help that we left Woofie at school last night either.

And he got a 'big boy' haircut too. Can you tell?

We got the big Thomas track out again and set it up in the dining room. So that's what we've been doing all week.

Helping Grampa

2008-08-17T17:05:00.006-04:00

Grampa Joe bought a new Rover! Greg found it for him here in Knoxville. And they had it parked in the driveway as they were moving things over. Luke was helping!

The old Rover is on the left - new Rover on the right.

Luke thought he was big stuff!

Fun at Aunt Joy's House

2008-08-11T10:14:00.018-04:00

We spent the weekend with Greg's sister, Joy, at her home in NC. It was such a peaceful, relaxing weekend. (Well, as peaceful and relaxing as it gets with a 3-year old). The weather was perfect. It was so much cooler up in the mountains - a welcome change from the 90's we've experienced here in East Tennessee.

We left town on Friday at 3pm. We picked Luke up after school nap, which in hindsight was not the smart thing to do. The kid was well rested and did not want to sit in a car seat for 2-1/2 hours. And boy, did we hear about it! He whined and whined - "are we there yet?" Then about 90 minutes into the car ride, he says "I don't want to go to Aunt Joy's house. I want to go home." Oh good grief. I was working on a major headache. So we stopped and got kid some animal crackers and me a Starbucks Double Shot (yum)!

Finally! We are there! Luke was giving us the tour ... even though he's never been there before.

We made some really yummy dinners... and then enjoyed them outside under the tree...

Joy made a homemade Blueberry Buckle, which went perfectly with vanilla bean ice cream! So here's Luke eating his ice cream at 9:30pm ... also, in hindsight, not the best idea ... he was wired!

Luke slept on Aunt Joy's couch, which was the perfect size for him.

Luke playing with Joy's dog, Amber ...

On Saturday, we went for a hike up Roan Mtn.

He insisted on climbing every rock he saw. He is definitely all boy!!

When we took a walk up Joy's dead end street, we found the horses in the field.

Here's Luke caught in mid-run. He had so much energy. He was running circles around the rest of us. In fact, he ran so much that those crocs gave him a big blister on his foot!!

He loved chasing Amber...

He did not want his picture made here... oh well - I took it anyway!!

Aunt Joy gave us a lesson on how to throw pottery!

Then she let us each try our hand at the wheel...

Here are our creations...

Luke loved playing with the clay...

We each had our favorite parts of the weekend. Greg's favorite part was hiking Roan Mtn. (With a close second being the yummy dinners we fixed). My favorite part was throwing pottery with Joy. And when we asked Luke what his favorite part was, he said "Joy's dog." Good grief. Are we gonna have to get the kid a dog??

I took many more pictures this weekend. They weren't all of Luke. If you want to see the 'artsy' pics, visit my other blog here.

"That's 'cause why!"

2008-08-03T20:59:00.007-04:00

Don't ask what it means. It's just the new favorite saying. He'll ramble on for 4 or 5 sentences and then follow it up with "that's 'cause why." Whatever. I'm sure it makes sense in Luke's world.

Here are just some random pictures from the weekend...

We were drawing on the driveway. And what does Luke want me to draw? A shark, of course.

Then Luke and I went to the pool on Saturday and ate our lunch down there.

There was another family there and they had this HUGE beach ball. Well, it bounced out of the pool so Luke went to hit it back to her. But then she hit it back to him. And they went back and forth like that for a while. He was having a blast!!!

And I couldn't resist the photo opp here... It was late in the afternoon and the hot sun was coming through the window. All three cats were laid out in the sun.

This is Pogo.

Pumpkin ... isn't she gorgeous?

And I like this shot - I was playing with a setting on the camera.

Luke loves Pumpkin. And she does really well to put up with him most of the time.

Tennessee Smokies

2008-07-30T07:02:00.008-04:00

No, I'm not talking about the mountains. I'm talking about our baseball team! We went to see a minor league game last Saturday night with some friends of ours.

Luke was getting restless so they took a walk around the park.

Tim and Jennifer...

Dusty, Andrea, Charlotte, Greg and Clay...

Luke loves Mr. Tim...

Luke and Clay sharing a seat...

My Future Marine Biologist

2008-07-29T07:01:00.008-04:00

It's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel!

Last night, I was just flipping channels and didn't even notice it when I passed by, but I hear Luke say "Mommy - go back - I saw a shark!"

We sat and watched an hour-long show about sharks (specifically the Great Whites off the coast of South Africa). He loved it! It really was fascinating. And there's more every night this week! You should check it out!

"It's a Shark! Oh My Gosh!

2008-07-20T09:30:00.012-04:00

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. We had nothing planned for Saturday and I wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. And since Luke has been obsessed with sharks lately, we headed up to Gatlinburg to go to the Aquarium. The traffic was pretty bad getting up there. Where it would usually take less than an hour, it took us a little over an hour and a half. But once we were there, we were happy we came.

I couldn't pass up the photo opp in front of the pretty flowers.

Another photo opp...

That catfish was bigger than Luke...

You know, it was kind of an expensive little trip -

Tickets to the Aquarium - $50

Gas there and back - $25

Souvenirs and food - $20

Hearing your 3-year old yell "It's a shark - OH MY GOSH!!" - Priceless!!

What I love about Ripley's Aquarium is the tunnel - where the sharks can swim right over your head. Greg tried to lift him up so he could see it better, but he didn't like that too much.

I kept humming the Jaws theme every time one went over our heads ...

Check out the teeth on that shark!!! Vewy Scawy!

Luke liked the sting rays. And so, of course, we talk about Nemo's teacher Mr. Ray ...

(We made many many references to 'Finding Nemo' throughout the day.)

These sting rays crack me up ... looks like Casper the friendly ghost...

Check out that huge Spider Crab... said they can live up to 100 years!

That's an eel ... isn't he scary looking??

The picture really doesn't do this turtle justice ... he was HUGE!!!

"Ooohhh.... Barracuda" Couldn't help singing the Pat Benatar song when I saw them ....

And since they make you leave via the gift shop, he had to have a shark!

Oohh... A ferrari! (Yeah, It's not real).

I have no idea what this little pose is...

Just like a kid in the candy store ... ha!

Of course I had to let him get some gummy sharks, fish and turtles... and he had to get them out himself.

And here we are on the main strip. You can't tell from this picture but it was crazy busy. Tons of people and cars. Oh, and it was 95 degrees outside!! You can probably tell the little guy is hot - his face is really red.

He did awesome. He didn't get crabby til the very end and it was understandable - we had been walking all afternoon. I knew he was tired and hungry. But overall, he had a great day!!!

And we've had our fill of Gatlinburg for another year. Maybe next summer we'll ride the sky lift.

Rainy Day Activities...

2008-07-16T06:56:00.008-04:00

We had to get creative on a rainy day. So we parked my car in the driveway so that Luke could play in the garage.

He saw Daddy with his tools and he wanted to "fix" his trike...

All fixed!

Then we thought it would be fun to make homemade pretzels...

This is a picture of them before they went in the oven ... I didn't take a picture of 'after' because well, we ate them all as soon as they came out of the oven. They were yummy!!!

Now, let's take a trip on memory lane for a minute ... remember this picture?

(almost doesn't even look like him)

Well, I had Luke pose with the very same duck to see how big he's gotten in 3 years!

Wow - these 3 years have just flown by!!

The Turtle Needs a Name...

2008-07-11T18:04:00.004-04:00

(just kidding ... we're not keeping the turtle)..

Look what was in the driveway when we got home yesterday....

A box turtle.

Luke was very excited. But I told him that he couldn't touch it - he could only look at it.

We put him in a box til Greg got home.

And then they released him back into "the wild" (aka - the woods behind our house). I wasn't about to have a turtle as a pet. Plus, as we told Luke, his mommy and daddy were probably looking for him! :)

All-American Weekend

2008-07-06T20:27:00.008-04:00

The boys got home from their Braves game on Saturday morning. After Luke took a 4-hour nap (!), we had a little cookout on the deck. (I think he was a little worn out!)

What could be better than a watermelon on a hot summer day??

Luke wanted the whole thing to himself...

Too cute...

This is his new 'mad' face ... all scrunched up.

Then, we grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs, and sat out on the deck til the sun went down.

Luke doesn't eat a hot dog like a normal person ...

Check out that face ... he has ketchup everywhere...

Then, on Sunday after nap, we got milkshakes and went to the pool! Luke wanted chocolate, of course, while Greg and I got strawberry.
(We tried the new Wendy's Frosty Shakes ... I wasn't too crazy about them).

And then we had corn on the cob for dinner! YUM!! (my favorite)!!

So it was a real 'American' weekend, complete with a baseball game, a cookout with watermelon, swimming at the pool, and eating corn on the cob!! The only thing missing was the apple pie. But that's ok - I baked oatmeal cookies instead. :)

A 'Brave' 4th...

2008-07-06T09:00:00.011-04:00

To celebrate the 4th, Greg and his dad took Luke to Atlanta to see a Braves game! It was a great game - the Braves won 6-2 over the Houston Astros.

There's Luke and Grampa Joe.

Getting the baseball autographed ...

He wouldn't let go of that baseball ... he loved it!!

My boys...

They had great seats!

There's Chipper Jones... That's how far away they were ... Greg didn't have to zoom at all.

Then, he goes to zoom the camera to get a better pic and darn if some lady didn't stick her phone up in the picture ... ha!

Check out that HUGE American flag on the field...

Luke loved it when the fighter jets flew over...

One of the reasons to see a Braves game on the 4th of July is for the awesome fireworks show after the game...

Check out these cool pics...

According to Luke, the fireworks were "really loud and scary." Greg said he climbed on his lap and held on tight til the show was over.

A Trip to the Grocery Store

2008-07-01T08:57:00.007-04:00

This kid had me crying in the aisles, I was laughing so hard!! A trip to the grocery store turned into a riot. One of my least favorite places to go is the grocery store, but it's not that bad if I take Luke with me. He makes it fun.

He always wants to get the grocery cart that is shaped like a car and has a steering wheel. But I am always secretly wishing those aren't available. And I get lucky about half the time. No such luck last night. We got the 'big yellow car'. I hate those things - they are so hard to maneuver around the store.

Well, he was in a great mood. He was waving at everyone we passed. Most people would wave back or say 'hi'. One nice man who works at Kroger asked if he could give him a cookie out of the bakery. Sure. Can I really say no? So Luke was in heaven - riding in a big yellow car, eating a cookie while he gets pushed around the grocery store, pointing at things he wants.

So we went down one aisle and he waves at this man coming towards us. The man smiles and says 'hi'. That thrilled Luke, who then loudly asks "What's his name, Mommy?" I said, "I don't know, buddy, do you want to ask him what his name is?" Since the man was still standing there and heard Luke say that, I asked him for his name. He walks over to Luke, says "My name is Greg" and shakes his hand. Well, Luke got a really confused look on his face. If you'll remember from yesterday's posts, he just learned that his Daddy's name is Greg. I guess he doesn't realize that sometimes people have the same name.

Anyways, he was talking non-stop through the store. "Look, Mommy - crackers. I like crackers. Can we get some crackers?" Next was, "Look Mommy - cookies. I like cookies. Can we get some cookies. I like the chocolate ones." Then "Look Mommy - peanut butter. I like peanut butter. We have peanut butter at home. You make me a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. It was yummy." And on and on and on. Thankfully we haven't hit the "why" stage yet, but I'm sure that is coming very soon.

Then we passed a rack of Matchbox cars. "Look Mommy - cars!" So I let him pick one out. He chose the Ferrari. His dad and Grampa Joe would be pleased. He was such a good boy! (And by good, I mean - no screaming, no crying, no fits - which is still common with a 3-year old who has his own little opinions)!

3-year Check-up

2008-06-30T09:27:00.008-04:00

This morning, Luke had his 3-year check-up. He weighs 33lbs (75th percentile), and he is 37 inches tall (50th percentile). He did so awesome at the doctor! I was very proud of him.

But he was absolutely cracking me up all morning. He knew we were going to the doctor. I'd already told him about 10 times, especially since we had to rush out the door earlier than normal. When we pulled into the parking lot, he says "Where are we Mommy?" I politely responded, "We're at the doctor, buddy." He said, "But I don't want to go to the doctor. I want to go to the dentist!" ha.

So then we go back with the nurse who weighs him and take his measurements. She is so sweet, asking him questions and talking to him. And he gets all shy on her, won't answer her back. But then when she leaves the room and it's just us, he won't shut up. I feel like the man who had the dancing/ singing frog but when he tried to show other people what the frog could do, the frog would just sit there.

("Hello my baby, hello my darlin" --Michigan J. Frog)

Anyways, there were no shots today, thankfully, but he did have to get his finger pricked. I was sure there would be tears, but there weren't. He surprised me. He was fascinated by her squeezing the blood out of his finger. When she was done, she put a band-aid on it. He kept showing me the band-aid and telling me he had a boo-boo. I think he was proud of it.

One thing that cracked me up is while we were waiting on the doctor to come in, we were chatting. I asked him if he knew what I put in his lunchbox today. He responded, "I don't know, Mommy, what did you put in my lunchbox?" (serious full sentence - very cute)! So I told him there was a circle sandwich. He gasped and very excitedly said, "A circle sandwich? Oh my gosh!!" Which, coming from a three-year old was hysterical.

(In case you were wondering, a 'circle sandwich' is a Smucker's Uncrustables, which is wonderful for rushed mornings when you don't have time to prepare a real lunch. He loves them!!)

I forgot to bring the camera with me this morning. But I did take this one picture from my cell phone (which is why it's not that great of a pic). He's in the Jungle Room. All of their rooms are painted with a different theme.

Here's a funny story from last night:

It was bedtime and we had just finished reading several books, said our prayers and now it was time to lay his head down. But he wasn't ready to sleep yet. He wanted to chat. I don't know how we got on the subject of his full name, but I made him say his full name a couple of times. Then he asked me, "What's your name, Mommy?" I told him and then he asked what Daddy's name was, I told him. So he gets up and says, "I want to go give Greg a hug." I laughed, of course. Then he comes back and he says, "I want to give you a hug, Katie." I said, "Darlin, you need to call me Mommy." This perplexed him. He replied, "But your name is Katie." Yes, you're right. "But you call me Mommy." I couldn't believe I'd just had that conversation with my 3-year old. Too funny!!!

And, last story for today:

I'm sure you notice in my stories, I usually call him 'Buddy' or 'Darlin' or some other term of endearment. Well, if he's in a crabby mood and I call him 'Darlin', he says, "Don't call me Darlin". (which I'm certain is the title to a country song, right?) And sometimes I do it just to irritate him. So I asked him what he wants me to call him. He said, "Call me Lukie Bear." He came up with that one on his own. Too cute!

WALL-E

2008-06-28T16:58:00.006-04:00

When we took Luke to see Kung Fu Panda, we saw a trailer for the movie, WALL-E, by Pixar. Luke belly-laughed! In fact, all the kids in the theatre did. And then every time we would see a commercial for it or we saw it in the Disney store, he would just crack up and say, "That's funny!" Well, okay. We figured, it's by Pixar - how can it be bad?!?!

Well, hmmm, it wasn't good. It was a story about a little robot who falls in love with another robot. There was hardly any dialogue. Luke got very restless and was actually playing in the aisle, which I let him do because there was only like 10 other people in the theatre with us.

So my review is a big Thumbs Down. That's one Pixar movie we won't be buying. (And I think we own most of the rest - 'The Incredibles', 'Toy Story 1&2', 'Monsters Inc', 'Cars', 'Finding Nemo'.)

Those first two pictures were taken before the movie when he wouldn't stand still. After the movie, we walked out and saw the big cardboard cut-out of WALL-E ... he runs over to it and says "Mommy, take my picture!"

More good pool shots...

2008-06-27T19:36:00.005-04:00

Luke got a very cool kick board for his birthday, which helps greatly in keeping him upright. It doesn't require quite as much hands-on attention from our end. So now I can relax just a little bit while we're at the pool...

My goodness - he is certainly not a baby anymore!! Where did the time go? He is such a big boy!!

Here's a funny story for you: This morning, we were on our way to school and I decided to go a different way than usual, which took us over some railroad tracks. We go this way occassionally but we've never seen a train, well, that is, til today!! He was so excited. He said, "Mommy, where's the train going?" I said, "I don't know buddy, maybe it's going to Nashville." He said, "We've been to Nashville!" I replied, "Yes, we have! And, mommy has run a Half Marathon there too!!" He thought for a second and said, "I can't go that far." How does he know how far a Half Marathon is? Or that it's far at all?!?! I said, "Well, maybe one day you can run with Mommy and you will run a full marathon too!!" That will be fun when we start running races together!

Big Birthday Weekend - Part 4

2008-06-24T10:55:00.005-04:00

Another exciting thing that happened this weekend was we converted Luke's crib into a big boy bed. I know that many people do this long before the 3rd birthday. But Luke has never tried to climb out of his bed, and we figured that as long as he was happy, then we were happy with him being contained all night.

Such a poser!!

But he got so excited about having a 'big boy' bed. It's really the same bed, just one side has been removed.

If you'll notice his 'pillow'... he claimed my Boppy as his pillow. He loves it. I've tried changing it out for a real pillow but he won't have it.

This is a picture of him the first morning in his new bed. Yes, he has some pretty crazy hair in the morning!

Big Birthday Weekend - Part 3

2008-06-23T18:21:00.012-04:00

Sunday, June 22nd - the BIG day!! We had a cookout at our house for all the family.

Theme for the party was Little Einsteins, Luke's new favorite show.

Luke and Grampa Joe...

Va, Pa and Grampa Brian...

Mimi and Cousin Gregg...

Luke, Mommy and Aunt Joy...

A 'party' shot...

He's posing again as Greg is lighting the grill...

Of course he has to show everyone what he can do on the swing set...

He wouldn't eat the potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans or jello fruit salad. But he sure ate his hot dog.

Here he is posing with all his gifts...

Oh boy - a dinosaur!!

He loved tearing open the gifts to see what was inside...

Mimi helping him open his presents...

Check out that cool remote controlled CAT loader. Luke is demonstrating how the construction workers wear their pants...

Eating cake and ice cream... I made a homemade Hawaiian Cake.

His new trike - from Mimi.

This is a 4-generations picture - me and Luke with my dad and his dad...

Another 4-generations ... me and Luke with my mom and her dad...

Luke with Aunt Martha and Cousin Gregg...

Luke with Pa and Va...

The Tanner Clan... 3 generations...

Big Birthday Weekend - Part 2

2008-06-23T16:37:00.007-04:00

On Saturday night, we took Luke to Chuck E. Cheese's for his birthday. Our friends, the Stooksburys, joined us with their 2 children - Kylie and Will. It was our first experience at the C.E.C. and let me just tell you -- it was CrAzY!! The kids had fun, but I think I've had my fill for a very long time. We won't be going back any time soon. Too many kids, too many germs, and the pizza was not even good - overpriced cardboard if you ask me.

This is "The Show"...

Luke got so excited when he saw the big mouse... We were all 'cheesin'

He attempted to play games, but unfortunately didn't know what to do on most of them.

Luke liked the car rides the best.

Whew. We were only there for less than 2 hours, but it completely wore me out!

Big Birthday Weekend - Part 1

2008-06-22T22:01:00.011-04:00

Well, Luke turned the big '3' today!!!! I can't believe I have a 3-year old. So we had a BIG birthday weekend. It was full of surprises. Starting with Friday night - we took him to Build-A-Bear to get a new best friend.

'Woofie' is looking really rough these days and we need someone new to hold on to.

So, we let him choose...

Here he is picking the elephant... (wouldn't have been my choice, but he didn't ask me for my opinion)...

First, she stuffs the elephant...

Here he is squeezing the heart and making a wish...

Then you give your new friend a bath....

And here's the final product - 'Ellie' the Elephant in Spiderman pajamas!!

That was Friday night - still have 2 more days of birthday fun. More to come!

Funny Stories

2008-06-17T09:10:00.009-04:00

Luke is constantly cracking us up. I try to remember half the things he says, but can't. Here are just a few examples of some laughs we've had over the last couple of days...

1) This morning we were heading out the door, running a little behind as usual. We got in the car, backed out the driveway and Luke says, "Mommy, where's my lunchbox?" Good question. It was still sitting on the kitchen counter. Good thing he remembered it because I sure didn't!

2) Last week we were in the car, just about to turn into school and Luke says, "Mommy, where are my shoes?" Good question!! I told him to put his shoes on and get in the car. Well, he did one of the two. Thankfully, we got to school and another kid had an extra pair that fit him. Because I really didn't want to have to drive all the way back home to get them!!

3) Lately, Luke's been a typical 3-year old -- not listening, testing his limits, etc. So he's been getting in trouble quite a bit. The other night he had to sit in time out a couple of times. When we were having the discussion about why he was sitting there (for not listening), I made him tell me he was 'sorry.' Well, in that same sweet voice he says, "you're pretty, Mommy." Awww!!! How sweet. But you're still in trouble.

We love playing outside!! Here are some fun pictures....

Isn't he a cool dude in those glasses??

This was a new bubble gun we got - it has a fan and blows out the bubbles for you. Very cool!!

He loves taking the Big Red Car up the driveway, turning around and whizzing back down.

Wheeeee..... Must have done it 30 times in a row that day ....

Fun at the Pool

2008-06-13T16:16:00.005-04:00

Luke's new favorite thing is to go to the pool. He asks to go just about every day. It doesn't help that the pool is the first thing you see when you turn into the neighborhood.

He's a regular fish. But it completely wears me out! I can't relax at all. He loves to jump off the side into pool. And he loves to kick but he doesn't really like me to hold onto him.

What a cool dude. I don't know if you can tell, but he's got Lightning McQueen and 'Mater on his swim trunks!

I love that last picture.

Kung Fu Panda!

2008-06-07T17:57:00.008-04:00

We took Luke to see Kung Fu Panda today. It was a really cute movie!!! How can you go wrong with Jack Black?!?!

We had just eaten lunch at home before we came, so no popcorn. But I did let Luke get a handful of M&M's out of the little machine. He was so sweet to share with Mommy and Daddy...

So serious... Althought he spent most of the movie on either Mommy or Daddy's lap.

I told him if he was good, there was a surprise waiting in the car for him. And he was very good. So he got his surprises... (which we picked up at Kohl's a couple of nights ago)! It was a stuffed version of Po, the Panda and Master Shifu, and a book.

So after the movies, we went to get ice cream ... (of course)! at a place called Maggie Moo's. The boys got a banana split and shared it. It was huge!!

I just got the fat-free raspberry sorbet, of course. It was quite delicious.

What a fun day!!!

Luke's First VBS!

2008-06-03T21:25:00.006-04:00

This was Luke's first Vacation Bible School! It was held at Westlake Church, which is also where he goes to school. He was lucky to get in. They were supposed to have already turned 3 before VBS. But since Luke's b-day is in 3 weeks, they let him in.

The theme was 'Science Project.' And Luke was a 'dewd.'

(As a side note, I'll tell you that he's not old enough to go to VBS at his own church - supposed to be 4 by September, so that's not til next year)!!

GH3 and Clean Teeth

2008-06-02T16:56:00.009-04:00

The new favorite game in our house is Guitar Hero 3 on PlayStation2. So fun - and addicting too. Luke likes to pretend like he's playing with us ... on his Wiggles guitar!!

As you can see from my face, I take it very seriously! :) I have actually progressed to 'Medium', after getting 100% on several 'Easy' songs. Greg is much better than I am. It's funny, but I have to stand while I'm playing - I can't play sitting down. Luke likes to stand too - tells me he needs a strap for his guitar like Mommy!

I think Luke is going to be a lefty. He does a lot with his left hand. And I think he is very musically inclined (not sure where he gets that from). He loves to play the keyboard and sing. It's so cute!!

Also, more exciting news!! Luke went to see the dentist for the first time this morning!! And we are very happy to report that his teeth look great!! (which is a relief because he's really not that good at brushing - he pitches a big fit if you try to help him)!!

He did awesome!! He held his mouth open (like an alligator) so she could clean his teeth. He chose the grape toothpaste. And he got a ton of stickers for being such a good boy!!!

Summer is Here!!

2008-05-31T13:25:00.008-04:00

And you know what that means .... ICE CREAM!!!! Yum!! My favorite summer treat... well, it doesn't have to be summer for me to enjoy some ice cream. I usually enjoy it on days that end in 'y'. :)

This is from Brusters. He wanted strawberry ice cream with sprinkles. The nice lady even put two eye balls on there for him.

Greg got Coffee ice cream in a waffle cone.

Summer also means playing outside!!

He loves pushing The Big Red Car up and down the driveway.

Oh, and I have some BIG news that I've been meaning to report! We are fully potty trained!!! And we have been for about 6 weeks now. It just happened overnight, really. He just started saying that he wanted to go pee pee in the potty. And now he is so good that he just goes on his own, doesn't even ask first. He flushes when he's done, but we're going to have to have a talk about leaving the seat up!!

(He's going to hate me for this pic later, but every kid needs a pic like this in their baby book, right?)!!

The Backyardigans LIVE

2008-05-20T11:20:00.007-04:00

The Backyardigans came to the Tennessee Theatre for a LIVE performance on May 14th. Nanya and I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the show. And it was - they LOVED it!!

Me and Luke and Nanya and Will

We took the kids to the Downtown Grill and Brewery for dinner, since it was just a few blocks away.

The kids were racing around like wild indians! They were having a blast, but not so much listening to their mommies when we were telling them to sit still and be quiet.

Will and Luke eating popcorn.

We totally lucked out with some awesome seats. We originally bought the cheapest seats (which were still $18.50 each). But when we got there, we handed our tickets to the lady at the door. She looked at us and asked if it was just the 4 of us. We said yes. So she pulls 4 tickets out of her back pocket and hands them to us. She said "Here - take these - they are much better seats - front and center." We couldn't believe it!!

The whole experience was a little weird for me. I couldn't get past the fact that these were animated characters on TV, but here, 20 feet away from me, they were real people in very well-made costumes. And I could see their real faces. Perhaps we would have been better off with the crappy seats in the back. :)

Oak Ridge Children's Museum

2008-05-09T12:24:00.007-04:00

The Pectol Triplets had their 4-year birthday party at the Children's Museum in Oak Ridge.

The theme was The Incredibles (which Luke loves)! And of course there was cake and ice cream!

He loved all the trains. There is an outdoor track with a couple of electric trains that run all around.

I love how he is standing with his hands behind his back. We told him not to touch it.

Run, run.

This was a neat little section of the museum - it was a kid-sized doll house.

Here's Luke in the kitchen.

He had a blast!!

Helping Daddy Wash Mommy's Car

2008-04-28T11:25:00.014-04:00

Luke wanted to help Daddy wash Mommy's car!

Of course, he had to be shown how to hold the sprayer...

Oh what fun ... the potential was there that everyone was getting wet!!

Stand back ... he LOVES that sprayer!!

Just check out that face ...

A Tiger Woods in the making...

2008-04-24T14:53:00.005-04:00

I've been taking Golf lessons at Dead Horse Lake Golf Course from Mike Malarkey!
So I got Luke his own little golf set so he could go to the driving range with me ...

Here we are practicing ...

Need to work on that grip a little ...

And we need to work on the follow through...

But I'd say he'll be ready for The Masters in a couple of years...

And this is me ...

Dinner at the Park

2008-04-24T14:47:00.005-04:00

It was such a nice evening that we packed up a picnic dinner and went to the park...

Silly Boy

2008-04-16T13:36:00.006-04:00

This little boy likes to tumble! He's really good at doing somersaults!!

This particular evening he pulled all the cushions off the couch and was doing flips on them!

The whole time, he was yelling "OH MY GOODNESS" which was then followed by a fake "ouch."

In air...

The video was much funnier. And if I knew how to post video, I would post it for you here.

But all you hear on the video is "Oh my goodness ouch" and me laughing!!

Firetrucks

2008-04-05T11:41:00.005-04:00

We came home from dinner one night and there were firetrucks across the street!! How exciting! Luke loved it!! He had to go see the firetrucks. As you can see, there was one yellow truck and one red truck. He told us he liked the red one much better! The nice firemen even offered to let him go inside the truck, but Luke didn't want to. I think he thought it was scary!

Spring has Sprung!!!

2008-03-26T15:29:00.008-04:00

I am so glad it is finally Spring!!! We went to Cades Cove to celebrate...

There was deer EVERYwhere!!!

Luke had a blast!!

I had fun with the camera, taking cool shots like this one!
(I think I'll blow that one up and frame it!!)

I loved this horse - and he was totally posing for the camera!

How gorgeous is that?!?!

I love this pic!!!

Luke liked the horses!

And we must have completely wore him out - he was asleep the minute we turned the car on!!

The Circus Came to Town...

2008-03-11T09:57:00.005-04:00

Luke was really excited about going to see the circus. When I asked him what he thought he would see at the circus, he said "a bicycle" and his friend, Alexander. (Apparently he heard they were going too).

These 2 guys polished off that whole bucket of popcorn!!!

The elephants...

The tigers...

The finale ....

It was a really long show -2 hours total, and a 1-hour pre-show. We got there at 5:45, the show started at 7pm, and didn't end til 9pm. For the most part, Luke was really good. He got restless towards the end. When there was about 15 minutes left, he said "Mommy, I'm ready to go home." I have to admit, I was too!! It was no Wiggles show, but it was still fun. (Now I can say I've been to the circus - not something I need to go back to again, whereas, I could go see the Wiggles every weekend)!!! :)

My apologies!!

2008-03-11T09:44:00.006-04:00

I realize I have been a major slacker when it comes to the Blog!! I promise to do better. Unfortunately we really haven't taken many pictures lately. Luke still doesn't like for me to get the camera out - I don't know why.

But thankfully the weather is getting warmer and we'll get outside more! I am itching to go to the Zoo and to Cades Cove and the park... we've been cooped up inside for too long.

Here he is all stretched out on the couch .... (notice how Woof and Woody have pillows too).

They're watching football!!

And here is a picture from the first snow of the season ... Feb 27th. He was so excited to see the snow in the morning. It started accumulating on the driveway. He wanted to play in it, but we were on our way out the door! Well, when I went to pick him up at school, the snow was all gone. But all the way home, he kept saying "There's snow at my house." I tried to tell him that it melted. When we got home, he pitched the biggest screaming fit when he realized there was no snow at his house. I think he thought Greg and I had done something with it. He was so mad!!

Is it really February already??

2008-02-04T14:04:00.003-05:00

Wow - where did the time go??? I was sick for the entire month of January so I feel like I've lost a month of my life! And of course no pictures were taken during that time. I tried taking some pictures on Saturday while we were outside playing but anytime I get the camera out, he says "No pictures Mommy." So I kinda have to sneak a pic here and there. Not easy! I don't know why he's so opposed to it - he loves looking at all the pictures after they are taken.

This is him saying "Don't take pictures."

Anyways, I have a couple of funny stories to share with you:

1) We had a little get-together for the Super Bowl. Luke was enjoying the fun, being the life of the party. But then he went to bed before the game was over, so he said good night to everyone. Normally, when we wakes up in the morning, he yells "Mommy" or "Daddy" until one of us goes in there to get him. The morning after the Super Bowl party, I was downstairs getting his lunch ready. I could hear him yelling, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. As I got to the top of the stairs, I realized he was screaming for "Tim and Jennifer".

2) The other night we were sitting at the dinner table and he pooted. I told him to say "Excuse Me." He said "I burped." No, darling, that's not a burp. He said "Uh-huh. I burped in my diaper." I couldn't help but laugh!

Christmas pics Continued...

2008-02-04T13:45:00.000-05:00

This was the scene when he woke up Christmas morning... Santa brought him a Wiggles dance mat, a Wiggles guitar, and a Wiggles blanket (which Pumpkin approves of).

The guitar was a huge hit! He kept showing me how you are supposed to hold it. "Like this, Mommy"

He LOVES Mickey Mouse!!

Luke and Mimi - he's sitting on his new potty chair.

"Hurry up Daddy"

Luke and Grampa Brian

After missing nap 4 days in a row, this guy was tuckered out!! He fell asleep on the couch before dinner. He was exhausted!

Christmas is Over Already??

2008-01-07T09:14:00.000-05:00

Wow - where did December go??? I just realized it's been a month since I posted any pictures. And boy, do I have some pictures to post!! I guess they will have to come in installments over the next couple of days. December was a blur - way too much going on!! I was so excited about Christmas with Luke this year. Even though he didn't care much for Santa in person, he was still very excited about the magic of it all. We watched 'Shrek the Halls' many times, 'The Grinch' many times, we even saw Frosty the Snowman and other great classics. He loved the Christmas tree. He was pretty good about not touching the ornaments - he was better than the cats, I'll tell you that! His favorite was the Christmas lights. If we were in the car, he was constantly pointing out the Christmas lights. One night I made the mistake of just driving around our neighborhood to look at lights. In the very back of our neighborhood was this lighted train in someone's yard. Well, then every night after that we'd pull into the entrance of the neighborhood and he'd ask to go see the "green train." How do you say no to a precious 2-1/2 year old??

Here are some of the pictures from Christmas (Part I):

Ahh... the anticipation of it all...

This is in Cleveland ... we decided to get out and walk off our dinner.

So we went to the park.

Silly boys!

Opening presents at the Tanners

What a stocking ... it's almost as tall as he is!!

If you can't tell what he's saying, it's "CAN-DEEEEE"

Trying to take Aunt Joy's stocking too!

This is the cute kangaroo that Aunt Joy gave him!

Sidewalk chalk! You can never have enough!!

This was one of his favorite parts ... playing the piano with Aunt Joy! He loved it so much that I've actually considered getting him a piano. Or at least starting lessons as soon as possible! I can tell this kid has some musical talent ... just not sure where he got it from!! :)

A Picture with Santa...

2007-12-03T12:21:00.000-05:00

We have been talking about Santa Claus all week. He was so excited to go see Santa. So Saturday after nap, I put his adorable Christmas outfit on him, and we headed down to the mall. He looked so handsome. We had to stand in line for about 20 minutes.

The whole time we were in line, he kept looking at Santa and saying with big eyes and kid-like wonder "There's Santa."

So finally, it's our turn, we walk up to Santa, and ... he screams. He latched onto me and wouldn't let go. There was no way a picture was going to happen. He didn't think Santa was scary from 10 feet away, but up close and personal, that's a different story!

So, I am sorry to disappoint you, but there will not be a Santa picture this year.

Instead we walked around and found a different vantage point for a picture....

He wasn't too keen on sitting still for a picture, so this is the best I could do...

Oh well. Maybe next year!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ...

2007-11-30T09:40:00.000-05:00

We got all the Christmas decorations out and Luke immediately found the Santa hat and some stockings. I don't think he realizes that the stockings are supposed to hang from the fireplace because he put his feet in them - thought they were boots.

We've been listening to Christmas music and enjoying the fire!

Even the kitties love the tree!

A Tanner Thanksgiving....

2007-11-26T11:37:00.001-05:00

Then on Friday, we headed to Cleveland to have Thanksgiving with the Tanners.

I love this picture... no, he didn't climb this tree - Greg is holding him up there!

Playing in the leaves!!

He loves that deer...

We decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood to walk off our dinner... so we bundled up... Gramma found a hat and some gloves for him. He loved the gloves even though they were about 4 sizes too big. He called them "glubs"

Grampa Joe read him some stories.

This is him saying "I like pumpkin pie"

I was pretty excited about getting a few bird shots while I was down there...

Going on a hike...

Gathering sticks with Yvonne and Heidi the dog...

"I got a 'weaf', I got a 'weaf'"

Hug for Aunt Joy...

"What's that?" "It's a scarecrow." "Oh."

He loved the porch swing...

This is almost good enough to be our Christmas card picture...

After all the excitement, we were worn out when we got home....