Spring is here!

What a beautiful week it has been! Such great weather! Tuesday we went to the St. Patrick's Day parade with Kaylen & Andrew. The kids had fun and got to see a green dog! They walked their little legs off to get to the parade and then we went to the park and saw the ducks afterwards. While we were still at the park, the Harlem Globetrotters bus pulled in across the street at the Holiday Inn, so we ran over & got our picture taken with some of the extremely tall players! (The picture is still on my phone). Anyway, here is a shot of the awesome tulips in our yard! We have hundreds of them, ranging from pink to red! Stewart planted them...he knows tulips are my favorite! They make for great spring pictures. This is Rylie's favorite baby, who we named Theo originally, but she has since started calling him "Leo" and insists that he wear dresses.....we now refer to the baby as "she" and we will say Leo is short for Leona!

Wow.....what a toddler can get into in the time it takes you to call the dentist! I got off the phone & she had crawled back into her bed (a dead giveaway that something was up). She turned to look at me & her face was covered in lipstick! She is quick, & had returned the evidence to my make-up bag in the bathroom!

This is Stewart & Rylie re-enacting the previous night's sleep! He told me he literally woke up the night before like this, with his little "backpack" on... I laughed so hard I cried! WE have a king sized bed!!!

Here are the girls painting outside yesterday at the Wilson's house. Andrew was there too, but he took a fall & skinned his nose up. He was o.k.....back to playing soon after! He is a tough little boy:)

A shot of the flowers & ladybugs on my mom & my grandfather's birthday cake....they share a birthday. Rylie helped me make the ladybugs.

my mother & "Pop"

Rylie & her grandaddy during an intense fishing lesson......she learned how to reel'em in! A Mexican family walked up behind us on the pier & she said "What are they talking like???" really loud! I told her they were talking like Dora, and she said "oh".

I love this picture of my sweetie!

She caught one! She did not want to touch it though.

Snow in Alabama.....my snow bunny doesn't look too happy in this pic! She perked up when we made a snowman & gave him m&m eyes and an almond nose!

Stinkin' Cute

Let us begin our blog today with a short story: You all recall the quaint childhood story of Peter Pan and his beloved Tinkerbell....Rylie is really in to the Disney classics these days & I love to watch & reminisce with her. I guess that may be the inspiration for her lovely spreading of pixie dust in Daddy's office....only it is not pixie dust. (Imagine a screeching sound as the story comes to an abrupt halt). Instead of pixie dust, there is a substance of green, red & yellow color & smells a bit like shrimp & squid liver meal (whatever that is), because it is not, in fact, pixie dust, but FISH FLAKES!!!! The office has been christened by a fairy who could only be thinking of Nemo's wish come true....yikes! I am still not sure who did this random act of vandalism, because I was babysitting John Gavin also & the two of them cannot be left alone for a second...(case in point!) Now, on to our pictures.....

These are cookies that Rylie & I made for Valentines day....

You make them with heart cookie cutters. Rylie helped with the eyes & noses!

Rylie enjoying a cookie!

Here are Jonah, Kaylen & Rylie playing on the bunks at our Gatlinburg cabin. (Yay, the camera is working again & we salvaged some photos!)

Rylie & Jonah before hitting the tubes!

Rylie, Kaylen & Jonah playing in the snow!

Rylie , Katherine & Jonah

The three musketeers!

The Fox family in Gatlinburg. (Stewart HATES my sunglasses in this pic! HAHAHA!) I do look a bit fly-like:)

A pictureless blog...(sigh)

O.k.....so we just got back from a lovely romantic getaway in the Smoky Mountains for Valentines Day. We went with Keith & Holie Carlisle & their kids & Dawn & Allen Wilson & their little girl. The kids all had a blast playing together. We stayed in a beautiful log cabin overlooking the Smokies, and you could see the slopes from our balconies. The cabin had 3 floors & was equipped with an air hockey table, pool table, hot tub & loads of movies! It had a great fireplace & 2 balconies with rocking chairs. So relaxing! Anyway, we had a great time tubing in the snow & the guys went skiing one day. We all visited the aquarium & went to the Dixie Stampede on Valentines Day. We put all the kiddies in the Jacuzzi tub one afternoon & I got the cutest pics of them dumping water on each other....but this is where our story takes a turn south. Alas, my camera was resting on the vanity & I went to get my brush & the camera fell into the bathtub with the kids! It was like slo-mo....Dawn & I both watched in horror as it bounced twice & landed right in the depths of the tub! So sad! I hope I will be able to salvage the pictures from the card, but I fear that my camera has suffered a worse fate! Oh , well...material things can be replaced. Other than that, we had a wonderful trip (with the exception of Rylie's bout with carsickness upon leaving our cabin the last day...poor child.) So with that being said, I may or may not have pictures to post at a later date! I will have to scrounge some up from Hollie & Dawn!

Last Disney Post....Part 3!

Finding Nemo....we had to fight off the other kids to get inside the shark!

Epcot.....can you guess the country?? We tried to get pictures in every one.....

France....note Stewart's expressions as we move through the countries! Priceless!

Where's Waldo, I mean Emily & Rylie???? This is Morocco, by the way!

When we got to Germany, she spotted Dopey & was so excited! Perfect photo op!

Ahh, Italy!

Any Karate Kid fans out there? Yes, it is Japan. (The real crane is in the background)

Please, I beg of you, double click this one to get the close up!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!

La Cuccaracha.....

LOVE the expression! This was in Asia, at the animal kingdom after a tasty lunch of Kung Pao beef & Shrimp Lo Mein! Yum!

" I miss the rain down in Africa.....dum, dum, dum, da dum dum dum....."

This was on our safari. I have many, many pictures of animals much more interesting than this, but I didn't want to get all Geographic Explorer on you & bore you any more than I already have. I thought you might especially appreciate this one because this Wildebeest was practically IN the jeep with us! At least it wasn't a rhino this close, and the lions were sleeping.....a-weem-o-way...a-weem-o-way....

This was at our fabulous hotel...the Animal Kingdom Lodge. There were animals all around hotel...so cool! We loved it! It was rich with African culture...from artifacts & tribal music in the lobby, to the food & fire pits inside & out that simulated the Savannahs of Africa & the animals that you would see there. They had parades through the lobby that African women, dressed in their native colorful headdresses & wraps would lead & you could listen to an African native talk about their country & where to go when you visit or go on safari. They also had a very talented African artist doing demos of his artwork & selling his art. Lots of cool things to see & do...we especially liked the night vision glasses you could use to spot the animals at night...really a neat experience!

Our Cinderella playing dress up at home

Princess Rylie

Disney Part 2

Playing at the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!" playground....I love this, because I have a picture of me, my sister & my cousin sitting on this ant when we were younger!

Lightning McQueen! Rylie was sooo sleepy here!

This is a random shot of us in Norway. We took goofy pictures in most of the countries at Epcot. Rylie refused to be a viking!

By the end of the trip, this was her adopted pose when meeting the characters!

Every time she would leave one of them, she would blow them kisses! Too cute! (This pic is for you, BB! We know you love Donald:)

Squeezing the life out of a seahorse at Nemo's Living Seas Adventure!

Posing in front of Cinderella's Castle right before the amazing fireworks show!

Stewart LOVES it when I tell him to pose for pictures...can't you just feel the enthusiasm?

Ariel, the lovely little Mermaid! This is the only "real" person character she would indulge us in having her picture with!

I wish you could have seen how excited this little girl was to see these two! She ran up & she and Minnie held hands looking at each other for a minute before giving each other hugs. Then she hugged Mickey & turned for her pose & then blew kisses! Probably my favorite moment from the trip!

Mickey's garden

Its a small world after all......(I know you are singing this to yourself right about now)

Watching the parade at the Magic Kingdom...can you see the excitement on her face! She loved it!

The lovely Cinderella & Prince Charming...

Sleeping Beauty was her favorite of the princesses we saw....

Belle was less fortunate. This is Rylie telling her she wanted to go!

Rylie & Stewart getting ready to ride the Barnstormer (a kiddie roller coaster that she was just tall enough to ride!) It was pretty fun, but she didn't really want to do it again!