Quick Trip

We returned last night from a quick unexpected trip to N Georgia after a death in Hubby's family. We stopped in Chattanooga at the TN Aaquarium on the way home yesterday to make the trip a little more fun for the kiddos. They LOVED the aquarium. There are now 2 separate aquariums, one houses ocean animals and the other has the river animals. The ocean animals were by far our favorites. Hubby and C pet sharks and stingrays. I touched a shark, but then i screamed and scared everyone around me so I quit participating. They also pet sturgeons. AP and i enjoyed the penguins the most. They were so entertaining. They woould swim by super fast then jump up and do a flip before they zoomed back by. AP squealed the whole time out of excitement. I didn't have my digital camera with me, but I bought a disposable and don't have any of the pics back to post. I don't even know if there are any good pics on there, aren't we spoiled with digital cameras these days? For now, I'll leave you with a pic of AP and her igloo purse that she got at the Aquarium. There is a little penguin that lives inside. She is such a little girly girl, she turns everything into a purse, bracelet, or necklace.

My Old Stomping Ground

Thursday night was the UT Alumni All Sports Picnic at Lipscomb. This was our 4th year to attend, but the first with two kiddos in tow. Hubby really enjoys the event b/c the coaches for the UT Sports teams are there and they lay out their plans for the upcoming season. I like listening to Pat Summit. Hubby, of course, is in a trance when Phil Fulmer speaks. If you don't know him, his blood runs orange and in the fall, our household revolves around the UT football season. He had never missed a single game on TV until we travelled to Russia to pick up C. This year will be our first year to have our own season tickets and hubby is already walking on Cloud 9. The kiddos don't necessarily share the enthuiasm for UT and they only lasted about 45 minutes before I decided to take them outside and let them walk around the Lipscomb campus. It was kinda weird b/c I always feel like I'm back in school (I graduated from Lipscomb) when I walk around the campus, but then there are my little ones scampering around. I got several cute pics of them around the campus. (notice we are all decked out in orange :)

The Bison

My dorm

just a cute little bottom

For Boompa

Lovin' Us Some Summer Nights

It's a girl...and a tooth!

So Wednesday morning was the big ultrasound appt and as the title of this post suggests, it's a girl! I am soooo excited, especially since she will be my namesake. I got to go into the ultrasound with my sister. It was really cool, and being that my children came to our family by adoption I had never seen an ultrasound before. They looked at every single organ, it was amazing. They measured all the chambers of her heart, and her kidneys, stomach, and bladder. Everything looks in good working order. Of course, they waited until the very end to check the sex. I think the father-to-be is in shock. Afterwards, we went shopping to celebrate. This pic is of AP getting tired of waiting at the doctor's office. (I don't know why this paragraph is underlined)

Here is the father-to-be trying out the Snugli. That night we headed to where my sis is getting married next year, Chateau Pomije. It is about an hour away and it was pouring down rain. When we got there, they said that they had decided to close early b/c it was a slow night. Needless to say, we were all upset. At least I got to see the winery. It will be a beautiful wedding setting. (I also may have gotten to sample their wine :) Here are a few pics from the winery.

The kiddos and I headed home yesterday afternoon. A torrential downpour followed us the entire way. It took us 7 hours to get home, when it had only taken 4 to get there. To make matters worse, my cell phone died about 2 hours from home, so I know we had a lot of people worried about us. We made it home at about 11pm. The kids were great car riders, especially under those conditions.

On to the tooth, she has one! I would never have known, except for that I felt it when she bit me yesterday. I fought with her until she let me see in that mouth and you can barely see the top of a pearly white. It is about time! We were beginning to wonder if there was anything under those gums. She will not let you look, though, so there is no way I can get a picture.

Tonight we decided to go play at the park after dinner. It is a beautiful cool night. C took his remote control Jeep and his bat and ball. Hubby and I took each other on in a game of HORSE (I won). We ended up meeting two other couples that we are friends with there. They both have kids that are C's friends, so we enjoyed the impromptu play date. Nobody checked their watches until I looked down and realized it was past 9 and well past bedtime for kiddos. It was a great summer night.

Our community center should be jealous

Today we went with Nanna and my sis to the community center in Nanna's neighborhood so the kiddos could swim. It was so nice, it was like a water park. The kiddos loved it. AP has not been a big pool fan b/c she can not just swim on her own...our little miss independent. But, this pool was huge and never got over 1ft. AP could crawl through the entire thing. She went down the big slide over and over(always with an adult, of course). C had a blast as well. He really liked the slides. He even started swimming...like on his own without swimmies underwater swimming. He was so excited. Here are a few pics from today.

C swimming on his own...

C heading down the slide...AP and my sis taking their turn...Tonight Nanna's boyfriend grilled up some tasty ribeyes. I'm stuffed, but ready to try Edy's "American Idol" flavor ice cream.

They grow up so fast

Last night we went to a little swim and shrimp boil get together with some old friends. Actually, it was the family that I nannied for in college, but over time we became good friends. I started keeping E when she was just 3 months old. She was a fixture in my college dorm room before she could even walk. I travelled with their family on many vacations, even once to Europe. E was the flower girl in our wedding when she was 5 years old. Now E is 12 years old! I can't believe how grown up she is. She is on the swim team at the country club she lives in. She is such a polite, well-rounded kiddo. Their family moved to B'ham several years back so we very rarely see them. This is E now...and this is E's little sister, G...
She just turned 3. She is a little doll. Hubby and I are godparents to both the girls and really wish we saw them more often. C and G had fun playing together. C was a super swimmer. He is getting really brave. He was jumping in and going under, touching the bottom, and trying to do flips underneath the water. He has come such a long way since the beginning of the summer. The kiddos had fun making some bubbles after their swim.

Here is AP showing off her walking legs to her peeps in her Sunday School class this morning.

The kiddos and I are headed to Ohio tomorrow after dentist appts. My lil sis has her 20 week ultrasound next week so we want to be there to hear the big news in person. We are praying for a girl so we can hand down all of AP's fashion collection ( and maybe I want a girl b/c she is going to name it after her big sis :)

Lazy on the Lake

Yesterday the kiddos and I spent the afternoon being lazy on the lake with Boompa and BaBa. They bought and "island" to put behind their houseboat. It is like a big float with a swimming pool in the center that has a net bottom so not much water gets in (and no fish get in either). The kids had a great time in it. C was really nervous about it at first and tried to put the brakes on. However, after I convinced him to get in with me, he LOVED it. He was a scuba diver, a turtle, and a crazy jumper. AP enjoyed lounging and even took a little snooze.

Tonight we are headed to a cookout at one of hubby's fellow fraternity brother's houses. It should be...interesting.

Happy 4th of July!

Guess what our girl is doing independently on Independence Day?????

She Finally Figured It Out

We had been waiting for the day that AP figured out how to get into the Tupperware cabinet. That used to be one of C's favorite pastimes. He would literally sit and play there for hours. Today I walked into the kitchen to find this...

We also had a visit today from G and G. Baby G has grown a lot since we saw her last. Seeing her next to AP makes our girl look like a giant! Aren't their matching dresses adorable?