Picnics and Concerts

Jack & I drove to Nashville Friday afternoon to help Kelly's school, High Hopes, celebrate it's 25th birthday. They had a fun picnic in the park complete with games and musical entertainment. They had lots of guest, including the woman who started the school. It was a fun night even though we got rained on a little bit. Saturday was a little bit of a "Murphy's Law" day for me. We all got ready and headed out to Opry Mills but first we started our day with a coffee from Ryan's coffee shop. As we were leaving, I took Jack to the bathroom. We didn't get everything angled just right and rather than a stream in the toilet, I got a stream on my pants! I tried to clean it with a wet paper towel, but that didn't really help much. It was raining and as we left, I slipped on the steps (I'm OK!) and had to sit down to catch my balance and not fall farther down the steps so now I had a wet leg and a wet bottom! We went on to Opry Mills and figured we'd stop at Old Navy first. I thought I could find a cheap pair of pants there. We entered the mall through the Apple Barn store and walked right into a display of John Deere toys. Jack was so excited and found a small combine tractor. I decided to get one for him and Abbott, figuring it would help keep them occupied while we shopped a little. I went to pay and didn't have my wallet! I had put it in my camera bag to pay for food at the picnic and forgot to put it back in my purse. Kelly had to pay for the tractors, my pants, and lunch... which took way longer than it should have since we had a lazy waiter! Nap time was pretty smooth and we packed up another picnic for Ryan's concert in the park Saturday night. His band and 3 others were playing and it was a beautiful night. After they played, the next act got up there and sang about 3 songs and it started to pour down rain!! We packed everything up quickly and headed to the car when it stopped, of course. Unfortunately by that time, everything was too wet to get back out. Hey, at least we got to hear Ryan's band! About 1 am (which is technically Sunday, but still), Kelly gets a call from Ryan that his car has been towed from the park parking lot and she needs to come get them. GEEZ! Fortunately when we woke up this morning, there was no rain and the weather was cool so we headed down to Tim and Janet's (Ryan's parents) for a visit. Jack and I came home this afternoon and just took it easy the rest of the night. We had a fun weekend and fortunately for us, we can laugh at Saturday's event and realize it all could have been a lot worse! Here are a few pictures. from our weekend.

Abbott is checking to see if his daddy can get that big burger in his mouth.

Abbott got his face painted with a star and they both won cool necklaces from the bean bag toss.

Jack got a star on his face, too.

They really enjoyed the bean bag toss.

Jack & Janet.

Kelly had a cool guitar and Jack can really rock it!

Cheering for Ryan's band.

Here they are, Art Four Sale.

Me & Abbott, eatin' chips.

Jack & Kelly, bein' silly.

3 boys in a tent.

We bought a pumpkin for the boys to decorate. Kelly started them out by putting a face on it.

Abbott & Jack then took over with the markers.

And it ended up like this. Pretty spooky.

They helped Tim clear walnuts out of his yard and threw them in the creek.

See, looks like a fun weekend!

Future Superstar!

Combine Jack's singing and piano playing abilities with Abbott's singing and guitar playing abilities and we are going to be RICH!

Rocky Top

You gotta raise 'em right. We're teaching Jack the proper college fight song.

Video Post

I unloaded the camera and thought I'd share a few cute videos of Jack & Abbott when Kelly & Abbott were here.

Here, Abbott is dancing to the music on tv. We tried to get Jack to dance, too but he preferred to roll around instead. With these two, it's monkey see, monkey do so Abbott was soon rolling around, too.

Popo flips Jack and Abbott has to try it, too. I think this is his first time flipping and he loves it!

Funny Jack Stories

Thought I'd share a few funny stories about Jack, you know so I can blackmail him with them later...

A week or so ago, Jack was eating breakfast and he said, "I love you, Mommy. You're a good Mommy." It was so sweet it kind of made me giggle which made him laugh. Over the course of the next few days, he'd say it every once in awhile and I'd respond with, "I love you, too Jack. Thanks!" Well, one time he said, "Mommy, sometimes you're a good mommy and sometimes you're not." I kind of laughed and said, "Well when am I not a good mommy?" Not fully getting the question he said, "Because you are." Any time he would say this I'd ask him why he thought that and I couldn't get a good answer out of him. A few days ago in the car, I got onto him for something and he said it again, "Mommy sometimes you're a good mommy and sometimes you're not." I said, "Well what do I do that's not a good mommy?" He said, "You say, 'get your fingers out of your mouth or get your toys out of your mouth.' That's not good is it?" I said, "Are you supposed to have those things in your mouth?" He shook his head No. I said, "Then I am being a good mommy because toys don't go in your mouth and you could choke on them. I don't want you to choke. So that's being a good mommy." He said, "It is?" I said yes and he kinda grinned.

I debated on telling this one but Mom and Kelly insisted I should and it really is good blackmail material.

The other day Jack and I were outside on the porch swing, waiting for Jarred to come home. All of a sudden, Jack started pulling his pants away from his body and kind of looking around and he said, "Mommy, what's.... hang on I have to show you." He gets off the swing, pulls his pants and underwear down and points right to his little boy parts and says, "Mommy, this. Do you know what this is?" I said, "Well, Jack. That's your penis." "My penis?" he said. I said, "Yes." He said, "Ok", pulled his pants up and got back on the swing. We started swinging again and he starts to sing, "The wind's blowing on my penis! The wind's blowing on my penis!" I laughed so hard, which made him laugh and do it more. We ended up having the "that word is private" talk and he said, "Ok." It was so funny!

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone has had as fun of a weekend as we have. Kelly & Abbott came over and we spent time in the pool, in the Smokies and watching fireworks. Today we are just taking it easy and enjoying being together. Here's the weekend in pictures.

Jack getting crafty with a generous amount of Mod Podge.

Labor Day weekend wouldn't be right without a dip in the pool. It doesn't matter if it's 75 degrees outside.

The water was a little cold, but they still managed to have a good time.

Jack even did a little "playing in the pool" song.

I mean, the water even looks cold.

Abbott laughs at every little thing Jack does.

What a big boy!

Getting a little help from George in the bubble bath.

He decided to taste the bubbles.

Getting a good bedtime story from Popo.

Sunday morning we got up and went into the Smokies for a rainy hike. We hiked 2.6 miles total to the top of Laurel Falls. It was absolutely beautiful.

What do they see?

Momma bear and 2 cubs. They were close enough to touch. We didn't. :)

These trees had been burned in a fire. Some sides were black and some were still normal tree looking.

If you look closely through the trees you can see the "Smoky" mountains.

I thought this was a cool looking tree.

Come on Abbott, you can do it! He rode most of the way in a sling or on Popo's shoulders but he had to hike some, too.

Laurel Falls.

Kelly & Abbott by the falls.

Me & Jack by the falls.

I could take a million pictures of the mountains and not get tired of it. They are so pretty.

Isn't he a cute hiker?

Before we went to the fireworks Sunday night we had a good dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs. Abbott has discovered ketchup and he loves it with everything. It also tastes better if it's all over your hands and face.

Jack enjoys a good hot dog, too.

Jack & Popo waiting for the fireworks to start.

The 2 cutest boys at Boomsday.

Popo & Moma Jo waiting. We had to wait about 2 hours from the time we got there, so we had some time to kill.

Sharing a frozen lemonade.

Hippy Popo.

Hippy Abbott.

And Hippy Jack.

These will not do the fireworks justice. They are the best I've ever seen.

The shoot them over a bridge over the Tennessee River so they have fireworks coming up from the water and off the bridge. It is really cool.

They do a waterfall of fireworks over the bridge.

Hope you had a good Labor Day Weekend!