The Great Smoky Mountain National Park

                                                              the girls are ready to go

                                                Paula, Sophie and Abbie at the grist mill

                                                                   Sophie

                                                                    Abbie

On the Thursday before Memorial Day we headed to Gatlinburg, TN. The girls were so excited about our trip and ready to go. Our hotel in Gatlinburg for Thursday night was fine but Abbie decided to wake up at about 4:30 central time. This is not our chosen time to get up! She would not go back to sleep so we ended up all being awake shortly after and we were eating breakfast by 6:30 eastern at our hotel (unheard of for us). Once we were all awake I had told Matt that we might as well just get up and do something. Friday morning started off a little rainy but it cleared off into a pleasant day. After we ate breakfast, we drove around the Smoky Mountain National Park some. We were able to spot several deer, a bunch of wild turkeys and a BEAR! We saw a whole bunch of cars pulled off the main drive through the park and there were 2 park rangers. We thought it looked like a bear over in the field but since we were just sort of driving through, Matt asked and it was! The girls got a kick out of it at our hotel because on the elevator sign for the capacity, it said 10 people and then someone had written in "plus one bear). =)

It was a beautiful drive through the park but it made me kind of sleepy since we had woken up so early. One bad thing was that Abbie needed frequent bathroom stops on our trip. She can usually wait for a few minutes. As we were driving through the National Park though, we weren't really seeing any bathrooms for a long time. I told her that when I was growing up sometimes you would just have to pull off the side of the road (on the interstate) and find a tree or something to go behind. That was going to be my last resort for Abbie though. Well, Matt finally found a little visitors station that had a bathroom. As we pulled up, Matt and I were relieved but Abbie said with gusto, "I wanted to pee pee behind a tree." We just laughed. Abbie is such a character and she constantly keeps you on your toes.

The drive was not very exciting for the girls but they enjoyed seeing the animals. We also took them to a working grist mill in Cades Cove as we were driving around. The girls were able to feel the corn meal because they were demonstrating how the grist mill works, etc. They seemed to really enjoy this part of the tour.

After this, we drove over to Sevierville and checked into the Wilderness Lodge. Matt had decided to pay a little extra for an early check-in. Matt's parents and Leia were meeting us there but they didn't arrive until a little later.

End of Kindergarten Festivities

Sophie's dressed up for cowgirl day.

Sophie & Emerson (our neighbor) after their program

our family minus Nana who came to the kindergarten celebration

Dylan, Olivia, Samantha, Sophie & Kenly with Mrs. Rogers

During the last full week of school, the kids had different dress-up themes for each day where they could dress up if they wanted to such as pirate day, cowboy/cowgirl day, flip flop and bubbles day, and luau day. On that Friday, they had their kindergarten celebration where the kids performed several songs that they had learned in music class. Uncle Phil, Paw-paw and Nana were all able to come in addition to our immediate family. Sophie has had an amazing kindergarten year! We are so thankful that she had such an awesome kindergarten teacher in Mrs. Rogers! This will be her one and only year at Trinity because next year Sophie will be going to a new school. Sophie had told us that she was going to visit Mrs. Rogers every day next year though she would be in a different grade. Mrs. Rogers decided just recently however to join her daughter at their neighborhood school instead of going to the new school. Hope everyone has a great summer!

Career Day

our little M.D.'s ready to go

Sophie and Daniel waiting for the bus

Recently, they had Career Day at school. Sophie's wanted to be a doctor when she grows up for a few years now. I decided to head for Toys 'R' us since I knew that they had doctor's outfits. I didn't think we had any lab coats that would be small enough. Sophie loved all of the tools that came with it as well. It was really supposed to be a surgeon's outfit but I thought it would do just fine.

The second picture is that one that Matt took as Sophie and Daniel, one of our neighbors, were waiting for the bus. I don't remember who he was supposed to be but someone with a very technical kind of job I think.

This week is their last full week of school. Each day they have different themes so that they can dress up each day if they would like such as ...Pirate day, Cowboy/cowgirl day, Luau day, Flip flop and bubbles day, etc. Fun stuff! I can't believe that her kindergarten year is coming to a close. It seems like just yesterday that we were beginning this kindergarten journey with all of the half days, the nervousness everyone feels, new friends to make, etc. It's been a great year though!

Sophie's Birthday

Here's a picture of the girls on the obstacle course at Stone Mountain. There was a zipline at the end of the course which both of them loved!!

Here's Sophie on Monday at school. I brought some chocolate chip cheesecake squares for her class to enjoy. She loved being the star for the day!

Stone Mountain

Matt & the girls

Paula & Sophie (the birthday girl)

Abbie & Sophie at the well

Before we headed home, we stopped to visit Stone Mountain Park. I remembered going there some growing up to watch the laser show. One of our friends told us that it was an awesome place to visit. Sunday, May 1st was Sophie's actual birthday (the day we visited). We bought a pass that included almost everything in the park but we didn't have time for all of it. We'll have to go back and do the laser show and some of the other things. We were able to ride the train (kind of boring we thought), we rode the big skyride up to the top of the mountain, the girls played in the big indoor barn (a huge 4-story playground, and we tried out the ropes obstacle course area. The girls loved this though it was a little bit challenging. We had lunch at the park too and Sophie decided on a funnel cake for her birthday (she wanted ice cream at first until I told her about the funnel cakes-Yum!).

Cookout at the Trainer's

Sophie with her birthday cupcakes!

Kenzie, Shawna and Dylan Trainer with Abbie singing to Sophie

Another one of Matt's friends from Harding, Mark Trainer, lives in the Atlanta area. They invited us over for dinner on Saturday night. It was my first time meeting Mark and his family. He and his wife, Shawna, have 3 children. Last year, they lost their 4th child, Hailey, to cancer. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was a year old. She and Abbie were born only 4 days apart. I was reminded once again to be grateful for my girls and their health. We had a wonderful visit with the Trainer family! They were wonderful hosts. Since Sophie's birthday was the next day, we picked up some cupcakes so that we could celebrate. Our kids had so much fun playing with their kids. They have a trampoline and swingset in their backyard which were a big hit-especially the trampoline for Abbie. Kenzie, Sophie & Abbie were drawing pictures and playing dolls. Dylan and Jason, their younger boy, were quite entertaining at times. =)

More Zoo Fun

baby panda

Brodie and Sophie

Brodie and Sophie really enjoyed watching the gorillas. The gorillas were wrestling part of the time just like little children do. It was fun watching them.

The Atlanta Zoo

Sophie, Abbie, Brodie, and Bradley with the pandas behind

all the kids posing by the gorilla statues

our only good family shot on the trip-Thanks Kathy!

Abbie liked the turtles a lot-she was reaching in and petting them. I guess she wore the perfect shirt that day!

On Saturday, we got up bright and early, stopped to pick up some breakfast and headed to the zoo. We met up with Kathy and Trent Burnett and their boys there. Matt and Kathy attended Harding together. It was the first time that we had seen them in years!  We had only seen each other's kids in pictures so it was wonderful to meet their boys in person.  They are really cute!  Our kids got along well.  Sophie and Abbie were both fascinated with the gorillas and Abbie liked the monkeys too.  We enjoyed being able to see the baby panda as well.   That afternoon, Abbie and Paula both took naps! 

American Girl Madness

Sophie in front of the American girl store

Sophie with her new doll, Molly, (L) and her other doll on right.

Sophie after dinner with Molly.

On Friday night, Matt had made reservations for us to eat at the American Girl bistro. Sophie was really excited! Neither one of our girls took a nap that day though we tried. The previous night had been a late one as we drove into Atlanta and then we had visited the aquarium the next morning. Anyway, we were all looking forward to special evening. We got there in plenty of time. Paula and Sophie looked around the store while Matt tried to keep up with Abbie who love the Bitty babies there and the strollers. Sophie immediately wanted us to grab a huge box containing one of the Molly dolls so that we could lug it through the store but I held her off for a little bit. We looked at the doll clothes, etc. She could barely contain herself but I knew they wouldn't be selling out of the doll anytime soon. Anyway, as it got closer to the time of our reservation, we made our selections and purchased Sophie's doll, alongwith a couple of outfits for her. Then, in the meantime, we tried to get the girls to go to the bathroom. Anyway, we could tell that Abbie needed to go but she refused to go with either of us.

We sit down to dinner and start ordering, etc. By the way, it is so cute, because they bring little chairs that your dolls can sit in at the table. All of a sudden, Abbie says that she needs to go to the potty and I can tell that she really has to go. I go around the table to get her and when I pick her up, she immediately starts wetting on the floor. She starts saying very loudly, "I already went pee pee." or something. I get out of there as soon as I can because I'm horrified but I know I have clothes that she can change into. I take her into the bathroom and she refuses to try to go. We go back into the restaurant and she spills Matt's water everywhere. Okay, this is getting more and more embarrassing. They have to keep coming and cleaning up our messes. We get our food and I'm thinking, "Okay, what else could possibly go wrong. We've embarrassed ourselves enough." A couple of minutes go by and then Abbie jumps up and says, "I need to go pee pee." I said, "you do?" She gets upset and says something about she already went. Now I am horrified. I check and sure enough, she's already wet through her 2nd outfit. Matt and I had to figure out a plan quickly because all I had left was a clean pull-up. I tell Matt that one of us is going to have to buy Abbie the cheapest little girl's outfit from the American Girl store that she can wear home. I go in the bathroom and come out to find Sophie waiting with a girl's pajama set that Matt had bought. By this point, I am feeling embarrassed but I'm just determined to try to get through this meal for Sophie and leave. Oh, my goodness! It was awful! A bunch of people had their daughters dressed up so cute for dinner with 2-3 dolls per child. I didn't really want to draw attention to the fact that Abbie is now wearing satiny pajama shorts and a tank top that her Daddy bought her but then they came out with a cookie for Sophie and start singing, "Happy Birthday". After that, I take Abbie to the car and have Matt get the check. I guess all that we can say is that we survived. I think it's good that it will probably be a few years before we step foot in that store again.

More of the Aquarium

Sophie loved this dolphin statue outside the aquarium.

Our girls would not stand together for a regular picture outside the aquarium. They kept moving and getting into strange poses. Here's one outtake.

Georgia Aquarium

big hug

I sense an orange theme going on here!

me and Sophie with some beautiful tropical fish

Sophie & Matt

This year, we decided to do something different for Sophie's birthday. We headed to Atlanta on Thursday afternoon for a long weekend. One of the main reasons we headed to Atlanta was to visit the American Girl doll store and let Sophie pick out her own doll for her birthday. They also have a bistro there where you can eat with your doll. However, on Friday, we were able to visit the Georgia Aquarium during the morning. It was very crowded though! Abbie was very fascinated when she saw someone in a scuba suit cleaning the glass in one of the tanks. Sophie loved one particular type of shark. They also have dolphins now so we were excited about seeing them.

Easter photos

Sophie and Abbie with their matching dolls

I love this one of Abbie!

our family

We had a wonderful Easter weekend this year but it was busy. The weather was pretty nice. As I mentioned before, we celebrated with most of Paula's family on Saturday night, as well as celebrating Sophie & Nana's birthdays. On Sunday morning, we ended up going to church with Nana and Paw-paw. The girls were so excited to have their dolls dress up to match them! After church, we had lunch at Mitzi and Beth Riley's home, Uncle Matt's mom and sister. Paw-paw, Nana, Aunt Martha, and Uncle Matt were there as well. The weather looked a little ominous at times but the possible storms moved on to other areas. We had a delicious homemade lunch followed by an Easter egg hunt that afternoon. Everyone enjoyed hanging out for a bit.

Nana's birthday

Paw-paw and Nana by our front door the night of our family party

Aunt Martha had found some great decorations for a 60th birthday including this sign, some confetti and plates/napkins. My mom didn't want a big deal made out of her 60th birthday. Oh, well! We didn't make too big of a deal of it but my feeling is you've gotta celebrate birthdays, especially the big ones. It should be a fun time to get together with those you love and it's a great excuse for a party so why not celebrate when you have a birthday?!

Early Birthday Celebrations

Sophie's Toy Story cake

Sophie with her new diary

the Waggoner side of the family (minus Skyler who had just left)

us with my mom's side of the family

Over Easter weekend, we had a big family party for Nana and Sophie to celebrate an early 60th birthday for my mom and Sophie's 6th birthday. We invited both my mom and dad's families who live in town. There were about 20 of us total. I put a lot of time into getting ready for this big event-cleaning and cooking, etc. Thankfully though, I asked family members to help bring food so it didn't all fall on my shoulders. The weather turned out to be great, the food was wonderful and we all had a good time. Everyone was sweet to remember both Nana and Sophie's birthdays. We celebrated early this year because we knew that we would be out of town on the actual weekend of their birthdays. We had 2 birthday cakes because Sophie really wanted a Toy Story cake. I wanted my mom to have a nice cake that didn't have a childish theme. I wish that I had taken more pictures that night but there was a lot going on!