Oklahoma!

Not long after Julee's visit we left for Oklahoma. We, being Nat and the kids. And yes, I did feel a little guilty going off to have fun with Colin's family while he stayed behind and worked...

The day after we arrived we had a cookout at Patsy and Wingo's. Ben was quite taken with both Shadow and Josie. This one is Shadow, I believe.

Izzie liked the dogs too.

And the porch swing.


Even if she has to share it with Grandpa and Ben.

After dinner we went for a ride in the jeeps though the back pasture to see the cows. A few pesky horseflies kept getting in and we realized Izzie knew how to say bug! Here's Grandma Ann, halfway through the ride indicating that we should be using the radio to communicate. Duh...

On the way back up to the house we saw some people stopped on the side of the road and went to investigate. It turns out there was a turtle stuck in the tar on the road and they were trying to get it out. It took considerable effort but Wingo managed to finally free it. Then I convinced Izzie and Ben to go into the field of flowers (it was so pretty!) so I could take a picture - even though they were hot and tired.


So this is what I got...


Then Ben perked up for about a minute. And both he and Izzie slept well that night!

Word Game

What good is a blog if we can't show off how brilliant our children are, right?

Covered Bridge Festival Part Two

After the funnel cakes were devoured it was time for the ice cream social! One of the local grocery stores provided free ice cream in little plastic cups.

Then we took in some gospel music and danced in the street. Maybe Julee will post a video of Ben and Sam dancing... hint, hint.

It must have been during Julee's visit that Izzie's stroller obsession began.

The kids had fun in a ball pit, but the hit of the day was this little obstacle course. I'm not sure if they were supposed to go through it multiple times. The guy running it didn't specify and since there weren't any other kids waiting in line we just kept sending them through!


Ben had so much fun I took the kids back by myself after Julee and family left and when Colin was working.

I think Jonathan had just as much fun getting rides and kisses from his daddy!

2009 Covered Bridge Festival Part One

The week Julee and Chris were here also happened to be the week of the Covered Bridge Festival. We had to wait for our funnel cakes - not because there was a line, but because we were so early the food vendors were just setting up. We must have had the first funnel cakes of the festival - with extra powdered sugar!





Finger-licking good!

Jonathan making do with what he had available.

At this point the funnel cake is gone - Ben is eating the leftover powdered sugar.

This was taken two seconds after Chris asked why we didn't just lick the plate...

Hands-On-Museum with Julee!

While Julee was visiting we all went to the Hands-On-Museum. We used our membership (the Christmas present that keeps on giving), Sam and Jonathan were free, and for some reason they didn't ask Chris & Julee to pay so we had a great outing at no cost! That membership has filled a lot of hours for us.
Here's Izzie managing the busy phone lines at the bank.

And checking to see if she's forgotten anything on her list...

Another favorite was the slide from the main level to the lower level. Once the kids got into it there was no stopping them! I waited at the top, Julee waited at the bottom and Chris ran them up the stairs. After we got kicked out of the museum (closing time) we decided in the interest of self-preservation to stop for some Chick-Fil-A. We said we were just buying for the children, and they certainly ate their fair share, but as Chris pointed out there are times when you have to put on your own oxygen mask before you can help anyone else. And boy, that was a tasty oxygen mask!

Izzie and the Potty

For a while Izzie has liked to sit on the potty, but usually for all of 5 seconds. Recently, though, she peed in it for the first time, and it doesn't look like there will be any turning back! (I hope... please...)

She is very excited any time she goes on it - and the rest of us are suitably excited too. One time when she started peeing we began cheering her on... and the next thing we knew she was standing up cheering, clapping and bouncing with excitement... before she had actually finished going!

Today when I was standing at the stove cooking lunch I turned around and there she stood holding the (full) potty liner. She had taken her diaper off by herself, sat down and peed and then managed to get it out to the kitchen without spilling anything! (And without me noticing. I'm obviously not a very attentive mother.)

Izzie is also very taken with the idea of wearing underwear. She likes the layered look - a pair of underwear casually worn over a pair of pajamas - in fact why limit yourself to one pair? Sometimes she will demand that I help her put on some underwear, then a few minutes later she'll take it off and be back with a different pair. All of this underwear belongs to Ben of course, and he's been a very good sport. If her interest in things potty keeps up we might even buy her some for herself.
And here's the little monkey wearing a smile behind her thumb.

Sneaky Sweets

One day while Izzie and Daddy were napping Ben and I snuck out to the store and enjoyed a treat on a blanket under our tree.

Morley Post-op: the indignity of it all

As part of our adoption contract we took Morley to the vet to have him neutered. They didn't think they had a kennel big enough to keep him overnight so we brought him home that same evening, drugged and woozy.
He gets to wear this stylish cone for a week! It's called an Elizabethan collar, or E-collar. See picture here .

He doesn't have any peripheral vision, so he keeps bumping into things and whacking us with his cone when he turns his head. He seems to be doing well, though, and should soon be back to normal.

Steele Creek Park

One of the things we did while Chris and Julee were here was go to Steele Creek Park.

Here's Sam hanging upside down in the parking lot...

and Jonathan enjoying the excursion from the luxury of his stroller.

Sam and Ben checking out the fish and ducks.

Sam and Ben didn't want to smile until Julee suggested they shout, "Kablooey!"

I forget why it was that we split up, but Colin said we couldn't miss the train... but we proved him wrong. You can tell what the weather was like by how hot and sweaty Ben is.

After a bathroom break, a cross-country hike and a phone call to Colin we heard the train whistle and were re-united at our destination. Here's Ben, proud ticket holder.

It was a very small operation - the guy who sold the tickets also drove the train and ran the concession stand, so we figured he'd remember selling us the tickets if the boys lost them.

Blast these pocket flaps!

And on the train, finally.

Water Balloons

On one of the hot days during my sister's visit we got out some water balloons to throw around. Ben loved it. Sam and Izzie... not so much.

Ben was pretty good at the throwing part.

As for the catching...

Well, what's the fun of catching a water balloon anyway?

So Far Behind...

I'm so far behind in my blogging but wanted to get something up from when my sister and her family were here.Here are the three older kids at Watauga Dam... I think Izzie is being held against her will.

Geese

There is a linear path that runs through a park in Elizabethton and then continues most of the way to Walmart. If I want to get out in the evenings with the children we often take the bike trailer here.

This time of year baby geese and ducks are everywhere. (It took me a while to get these pictures up so the geese are actually much bigger now!)

Ben wanted to get closer but of course as we approached, the geese backed up and then went into the water. I liked how they were so careful to have one goose at the front and one at the back.


Just a couple of funny faces from Ben...


I asked Ben and Izzie to sit on the wall.

In the process Izzie got some debris on her hand and had to get rid of it before she could settle for a picture.