Fun at the Fair!

The fair is in town!! The Tennessee Valley Fair is going on this week, so we thought we'd go and check it out. Greg and I have lived here in Knoxville for 8 years now and have never been to the fair! But now we have a good reason to go. And I think Luke really enjoyed himself!



Luke loved the petting zoo.... so many different animals to look at and touch!




Maybe he wasn't quite so fond of the goat...




But the ducks were his favorite.... he starts 'quacking' when he sees ducks! (so cute)!




Unfortunately, Luke was still too small to ride any of the rides, so all he could do was watch. Maybe next year...


But that's okay - there were still plenty of other things to do...


We saw the Sea Lion show...




My boys being silly...




I have no idea what I'm doing in this picture, but it's cute of Luke anyway...


It wouldn't be the Tennessee Valley Fair without a bunch of tractors...


We stopped under a tent to eat our lunch... I packed him a PB&J (his favorite).


All in all, it was a good day. The weather was perfect - it was overcast, so the sun wasn't beating down. It was still pretty hot, though. Luke was a trooper. I think it totally wore him out - we had no more pulled out of the parking lot before he was asleep in his car seat!!

It's Football Time in Tennessee

Yipee!! It's that fun time of year - the weather starts cooling off, the trees turn colors, and the Volunteers play some football!!! Here's Luke all decked out in his orange and white!
Go VOLS!!







This time a year ago.... Luke was only about 2-1/2 months old. My, how time flies!!

Fun in the Pool and at the Park...

Well, we've got a pool in our backyard now!! No, it's not a real one. I found this blow-up pool set at a yard sale for $5! And I am so proud of my purchase. Luke helped Greg blow it up - he was very anxious to play in it. It came with a blow-up giraffe, snake, 4 balls, and other fun stuff. The palm tree sprays water out the top of it (but Luke doesn't like that, by the way).

Click on the pictures to enlarge, and right-click to save them to your computer.










Here he is sharing the pool with his friends.... he doesn't look too thrilled about it.


That face (below) cracks me up... I have no idea what he's thinking. (You'll have to click on it to enlarge the pic to get the full effect.)


Then one night we let the guys have a "Guys Night Out" and so us girls watched the kids. There were 6 kids and only 3 of us. We were seriously outnumbered! Here are all the kids eating dinner. Luke's the one in the middle highchair.


Then we took the kids to the Park!






This is my favorite picture... Here are the triplets and Luke running to see the train going by.

In Trouble Again...

So I just wanted to update you with some new pictures. And then I realized that all the new pictures catch him in some sort of trouble...

(And it's probably just as funny or interesting to note that instead of scolding or saying 'no,' the first thing I do is run and get the camera... am I a bad mommy?)

Climbing on his table toy...


Getting into Mom's purse....


In the pantry....


Eating the Cheese Bits...


I was loading the dish washer and turned around for a second, next thing I know, he's climbed on top!


Playing with Mom's cell phone....


We dumped out his bucket of toys and here he is playing....


He's not in trouble here, just cute in his Buzz Lightyear pajamas... I think he was walking and talking at the same time (hence the funny look)


Tasting some of Daddy's drink.... YUM!


And now he wants more!!

First Day of "School"

Well, technically, it was the first day at the new day care location - Westlake Church. (No, I didn't change day cares - the day care changed locations).

(Here's a little history - back in March, Ebenezer UMC informed the parents that the day care would be closing it's doors on May 31st. Just like that. It had been open for more than 20 years, but they would close it in a matter of 2 months. There was a HUGE uproar among the parents, of course. No one wanted to see a good Christian-based child care facility shut down. Well, that is, except the chuch itself. Apparently there were members of the church who never liked the fact that there was a day care in the church. Many of the members complained of the children's drawings and decorations all over the Sunday School rooms. They didn't like the kid-sized furniture and the fact they had to move it every week just to hold Sunday School. So they decided to shut it down. Thankfully, God intervened and helped find a new location. As it turned out Westlake Church, which was just down the street from Ebenezer, had been praying about opening a preschool within its walls. The current day care/ preschool was literally picked up and moved. Same director, same teachers, same toys, just a new (and better) location. It took some time and effort to meet all the requirements and stuff for DHS, but it was completed over the summer. And the school was opened on August 14th!!! Yay!!)

So here's a picture of Westlake Church...


Here's what I saw as I drove up.... a ton of Canada Geese in the soccer field...


Here's Luke at the front door.... (but he wouldn't hold his backpack, which is Dr. Seuss, by the way)


This is Miss Michelle, one of his teachers...


Here he is playing in the new room.... It's twice as big as the old room!

Pictures of Luke with Family - Part II

Luke's Grampa Brian had a sister, Aunt Kathy, who lived in Mississippi. Sadly, she lost a long battle with breast cancer last fall. She left behind a wonderful husband, my Uncle Gene, and three great children, my cousins, Maggie, Dan and Emily Ann. Well, Maggie, her daughter Caroline, sister Emily and Uncle Gene all traveled up to Tennessee last weekend to visit. It was the first time I'd met Caroline in person. I think technically, Caroline and Luke would be 3rd cousins. (Maggie is my first cousin so she'd be Luke's 2nd cousin and therefore her daughter would be Luke's 3rd cousin? right? I have no idea). Anyway, Luke and Caroline were so funny together. Most of the time they didn't care that the other was even around. We thought it would make for cute pictures if they took a bath together. Well, neither of them would sit down in the bath - they both wanted to stand up the whole time.












So, here's a funny story about their visit (well, it's funny now).... So Maggie and Caroline had been sick a few days before their trip to Tennessee, but they were feeling better by Thursday so they went ahead and made the drive. They stopped in Chattanooga and stayed with Papa and Reeda Simpson (my dad's dad) on Thursday night. Then on Friday they were coming up to Knoxville to see us. Well apparently Uncle Gene wasn't feeling well so he stayed in Chattanooga on Friday. We didn't hear why he wasn't feeling well, we just knew that he was very tired and was napping when they left. We had originally planned to go to Cades Cove on Friday evening and then to the Knoxville Zoo on Saturday morning, but unfortunately it rained the entire time they were here, so we just went to dinner and hung out at the house. Well, then we find out that my grandfather got sick on Saturday - apparently had whatever Uncle Gene had. THEN, I woke up on Monday morning and was very ill. Daddy went home from work sick on Monday. We quickly realized that this was a stomach bug that was making its rounds. I stayed out of work on Monday, but went back on Tuesday. Then Greg got sick on Wednesday. Then we got some friends sick over the weekend (even after we thought the bug was long gone). I also talked to some of the other moms at Luke's day care and it turns out the other toddlers had had the bug as well. THEN, I was in the car with my boss all day driving to Columbia, SC and back in one day (this was a full week after I had been sick) and two days later, while he was on vacation in California, he woke up sick with the stomach bug. And he infected some of his friends in CA. It's been widespread desctruction!!
And now, if anyone has a little upset stomach, they are blaming me for their problems.... I don't know guys.... that was two weeks ago. I shouldn't be contagious anymore... or at least I don't think I am... who knows!!!????!!!!

We have a Walker!!

Yes, he's walking! He took his first steps on July 13th, and for the last 3-4 weeks, he looks like Frankenstein taking about 3 or 4 steps at a time. Sometimes he would fall after a couple of steps, but most of the time he would realize that he could get wherever he was going faster if he crawled, so he'd just drop to the ground. Other times, he'd get so excited and his upper body would be going faster than his legs. But now, he's easily making it across the room. And he's so proud of himself.
These pictures don't really do it justice, but here he is walking. (He was doing laps around the island in the kitchen tonight just squealing - he was so excited. And I mean high-pitched, bloody murder screaming, only it was the happy kind!)







You can tell he's really concentrating in this one... he's sticking his tongue out.


And my personal favorite.... (check out that cheesy smile)!!