A Trip to the Aquarium

Late Saturday morning, Andy and I decided to take the kiddos to a local aquarium for some good old family fun.

It took us a little longer than usual to get there because we had an incident that involved the reappearance of Logan's lunch. After getting that cleaned up and finding a place to buy a clean shirt, we made it.

Anyhow, once we actually made it inside and let the kids go, the aquarium was quite the hit. It wasn't just the fish, though. Logan, Emma, AND Chloe were completely fascinated by the glidepath (moving sidewalk) through the shark lagoon. They sat on it for most of its 340-feet length. I didn't take any photos with my camera, just snapped a few like the above with my phone, because keeping track of all three took all our energies.

The Past Few Weeks

So I was all gung-ho to keep our blog updated in our last entry, but life had different plans. The very same day I posted that entry Papaw, Andy's father, had a cardiac arrest and, despite everybody's prayers and hard work, he left us the next day.

Three weeks later, last Friday night, we lost Andy's grandfather.

It's not been the best of times around here.

One thing that made us all smile was waking up to snow last Saturday. We had close to two inches and it was beautiful, but in true East Tennessee fashion, it was gone before they day was done. I did manage to snap a few photos of our house covered in snow. Here's one:

I ordered Christmas cards at our photo shoot yesterday, so I'm hoping to get those addressed today. Emma and Chloe's birthday party invitations went out yesterday, so I also need to start planning that menu. December is a very busy time around here!

Here we are!!

We have been so busy that I have a very bad family blogger over the past month. I do try to post to our Twitter account at least once a day, though. Most days it is much easier to post one line updates from my phone than to actually sit down at a computer keyboard long enough to write a coherent multi-paragraph blog entry.

Thus is the life of a momma with three little ones three and under.

It’s also known as PADD: parental attention deficit disorder.

You have to be patient with me.

Since my last post we have celebrated Aunt Laura’s, Andy’s (Daddy’s), and Mamaw’s birthdays. The kids and I have been to Massachusetts and New York. We’ve trick-or-treated and had a visit from our friends Beth, Sarah, Staci, and Ryan. We also took a field trip to Atlanta to do a little shopping at IKEA.

I know the kids have been working on entries, so I’ll leave the details to them.

In between, I’ve been trying to catch up on photo editing and decorating/organizing the playroom. I’ve also been going over the kids’ wishlists with Emma and Chloe’s 2nd birthday and Christmas coming up in the next month or so.

I have added a new feature to the sidebar: a slideshow of our latest family album. Feel free to watch it on our blog or click on one of the photos to see all of them one by one. Of course, the links to all of our latest albums are still on the sidebar as well, just under the slideshow.

Logan's Portrait of Gramma

Take a look at my little man's drawing of his Gramma:

Notice the fingers and toes! This is the first drawing, other than a smiley face, that Logan has ever done that actually looks like what he intended.

Adventures in the Pumpkin Patch!

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day so Andy and I loaded up the kiddos for a trip to the pumpkin patch.

Andy found a great place about forty minutes away, and after buying our tickets, we headed straight for the corn mazes. We tried to keep Emma and Chloe in their stroller, but were quickly curtailed by the fact that this corn maze was located in East Tennessee and not southern Minnesota (i.e. hills). Luckily we weren’t that far in, so we unloaded the girls and Andy found a parking spot for the stroller.

Andy took the lead and Logan and Chloe stayed close behind him most of the time. I ended up carrying Emma at first, but she eventually wanted to walk too. You would have never have known, though, based on the various grunts and whines escaping for her mouth. Every once in a while I would ask her if she wanted me to hold her hand or carry her and she would tell me “uh uh.”

We finally made it back out of the corn maze with the same number of children we went in with, and I ran to the car to put something away while Andy took the Logan, Emma, and Chloe over to a play area the farm had set up. On my way back, Andy was waving me to hurry up and I just assumed that it was almost time for our hay ride, but when I got back Andy informed me that the police had just chased to people into the corn maze and that we should probably go.

Cue one broken-hearted three-year-old who was geared up for a hay ride to the pumpkin patch and a daddy that ended up with a wet shoulder.

We drove around for a bit pondering what to do and, after producing three lollipops that calmed the broken-hearted down a bit, we decided to get some lunch and then head back to see if corn maze thugs had been caught so we could continue our fall festivities.

An hour later we returned and were glad to see the police cars were gone. We parked right in front of the big red hay ride towing tractor and headed back to the barn to find out if all was well. After confirming the bad guys (or guy and girl in this instance) had been caught, we headed to the “back barn” where there was a huge slide and a very small petting zoo.

Andy took Logan up to the second level of the barn so he could go down the slide. Assuming Emma and Chloe would be terrified to slide down the two story tall black tube that ended with a manmade berm, the girls and I stayed at the bottom to make sure Logan didn’t fly out and over the gravel hill. After one more trip down the slide, we headed into the barn to see the animals.

Chloe was drawn immediately to a “puppy” that looked a lot like a baby goat.

Logan started making slop with some hay and a bucket of water he’d found like he’d been living on a farm all his three years.

Emma enjoyed everything from a distance.

Before we left, Logan finally got his hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Emma and Chloe loved climbing the hay bales until the tractor started. (With the first rumble of the engine, Chloe scrambled onto my lap and Emma headed straight for Andy’s.) A short ride across the field later, we had a chance to pick out our pumpkins and, after our return trip, a very happy Logan told the tractor driver that “that was so much fun!”

If you would like to see some photos from our pumpkin patch adventures, make sure you check them out here.

Family Photo (Thanks Gramma!)

Logan sings his ABCs!

I took this audio clip with my iPhone Sunday night, but couldn't figure out how to post just the audio. So I picked a photo (from our apartment in Minnesota!) and turned the audio clip into a video.

I love that Logan loves to sing!

Photo Updates!!!

I've posted new albums for the Logan, Emma, and Chloe! You can use the links on the sidebar to view each album or you can go to our Smug Mug site to check out the featured albums.

There IS an Arizona.

Andy and I are home after a week in Arizona without the kiddos, our third trip to the state, but our first trip by ourselves since Logan was born.

Let me tell you right now, seven days away from your kids is waaaaaaaay too long.

We left early Thursday morning and, thanks to Arizona’s hatred of Daylight Savings Time, arrived late morning in Phoenix. Since I can’t seem to sleep on planes, I had to relearn how to read more than a few paragraphs at a time in my newly purchased book.

And other than eating at a great Mexican place recommended by a friend, that’s all I can remember about Thursday.

Friday was a day to relax and unwind on my end while Andy attended his conference. I had a hot stone massage. (I’m a fan.) Then, after a long lunch, I got my hair cut for the first time in something like eight or nine months.

It was lovely.

Saturday and Sunday, I hit the road with a friend from Florida whose wife was also attending the conference with Andy. Saturday we saw Montezuma’s Castle (AKA a cliff dwelling), Montezuma’s Well, and the red rocks of Sedona, where I happened to not get struck by lightening. Sunday, we traveled the Apache Trail which included not only gorgeous must-sit-down-to-enjoy vistas, but also places such as the Elvis Memorial Chapel, complete with horror movie posters on the walls, and a bee invested cliff dwelling where we could hear the buzzing from a good fifty feet away.

Monday was another relaxation day. I drank coffee. I read. I sat by the pool.

Tuesday Andy and I headed north to the Grand Canyon. It was a little surreal to leave the desert of Phoenix, drive through the forests of pine trees in Flagstaff, and end up at a place that you can’t fully take in with your eyes, let alone through your camera lens. I was truly at a loss.

It was worth the nearly eight hours round-trip it took. Andy, as a matter of fact, already has our next trip to the canyon planned, including a hike down to the river.

I, of course, took hundreds of photos of all of the above but I may not get to them until our next trip. I’ll post a link here when I do, though.

Wednesday we got up at about three in the morning to catch an early flight home. It was, thankfully, an uneventful trip back. I have to say I was quite excited to find a Caribou Coffee at the Denver airport, though, especially since I had been up for about six hours without a drop of caffeine. We got home in time to get everybody up from their naps. And, honestly, I think the kids were more shocked to see us than anything. It didn’t take long for things to get back to normal, though, and I am completely happy to be home and back with the kiddos.

(Check back with me in about three years.)

Shop till you drop... (video clip)

We went to IKEA today and one certain little girl (Emma) did NOT want to miss a thing. Check it out: