Gatlinburg Getaway

Jonathan, Abbie, Sophie and Hadleigh on Saturday morning in their P.J.s (except Sophie).

Look what came overnight-SNOW!!

Abbie and Jonathan went out with their dads and walked around in the snow. Abbie really enjoyed posing.

Hadleigh and Sophie stayed cozy inside with their mamas.

Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the kids (minus Hadleigh) had fun in the hot tub with their dads.  Matt and Eric made snow angels and then jumped in the hot tub.

Look at the view from our cabin!

Jonathan and Sophie at the aquarium.

Sophie with the tallest man who ever lived at the Guinness Book of World Records Museum.

In the background, you can see a monster and Harry Potter, one of Sophie's favorite book series.

us and the Brown's on the deck of our cabin.

Look at Sophie's hair with electricity in it!

Sophie and Abbie with their wild hair do's.

We posted these pictures a couple of days ago but I am just not getting around to writing about them.  Last weekend, we were invited by our friends, Eric and Jennifer Brown, to rent a cabin up in Gatlinburg with them.  We had never done anything like that and we had a great time!  The girls had Valentine's Day parties on that Friday, February 14.  As soon as the parties were ending, we finished loading up and headed to Gatlinburg.  It was a rainy night and somewhat warm as we travelled but we made it fine.  The next morning, we woke up to a blanket of snow.  Our cabin was up in the mountains where it was quite steep so we stayed in on Saturday and let the snow melt off.  Abbie and Jonathan enjoyed playing in the snow a little bit.  We also played a few games while we were snowed in.  The kids enjoyed trying to play pool at our cabin.

That afternoon, we went to the aquarium because the Brown's had never been to the one in Gatlinburg.  We also had Mellow Mushroom pizza for lunch.  Eric, Matt and the kids enjoyed using the hot tub on Saturday.  It was funny because we asked our kids if they would like to go to the aquarium because we had just visited it for the first time in May.  Abbie acted excited about going there with Jonathan.  Then, (after lots of traffic, difficulty parking, Abbie falling in the mud, etc) we got to the aquarium and Abbie goes, "oh, this place.  Oh, I hate fish!"  It was so funny because she acted like she wanted to go.  Saturday night, we had dinner at our cabin and tried to get the kids to bed earlier.  During the middle of the night, the girls woke us up because apparently Abbie had started slapping Sophie during her sleep.  It was awful!  It woke several of us up and we had to split the girls up, etc.  Our girls are not used to sharing a bed or even a room.  

Sunday morning, we had our own little church service and were going to try snow tubing but it was already sold out.  We had a delicious breakfast at our restaurant in Gatlinburg.  Then, we went to the Guinness Book of Records museum, shopped a little and then played putt putt golf.  It was Jonathan's first time to play putt putt.  That night, we were worn out.  Most of us, had some use of the hot tub and we just hung out.  

The next morning, we packed up and got ready to head home.  Our family decided to stop near Knoxville at the Science Museum.   Although the girls had seen the electricity demonstration before, we talked them into doing it.  =)   Monday was a nice day to travel overall until we reached Lebanon or so where it started raining.  We were able to have dinner with Nana and Paw-paw after we arrived back in town.  All in all, we had a great time with the Brown's in Gatlinburg.  I think the girls want to do it again often.

Build a Bear fun

The lady is stuffing Abbie's dog.

Abbie is brushing her dog, Olivia.

Here's Sophie brushing her "Thin Mint" from Girl Scouts bear.

Sophie loves her new bear, "Sweet Mint".

Here's Sophie and Abbie with their new stuffed animals.

For Abbie's birthday, she received a gift card for Build a Bear.  We had never taken the girls before so we thought that they would have fun doing it.  I also got a deal where you could buy a voucher for $30 for only $15 so I had that too.  Abbie picked out this dog and then they put a heart inside it, etc.  Your child gets to print out a birth certificate.  They were pretty busy when we got there because there was a birthday party going on.  When we realized that Abbie wasn't going to use all of our vouchers, Sophie decided that she would like a Girl Scout "Thin Mints bear.  Abbie picked out a really cute Girl Scout themed outfit for her dog and some sunglasses.  Every dog needs sunglasses, right?  Just kidding.  Anyway, they had a fun time.  We were also able to get out a couple of times and enjoy this beautiful and rare, warm weather.  What a lovely day-especially after the freezing cold weather that we've had!

100th Day of School

This past Tuesday, the kindergartners celebrated their 100th of school by dressing up as 100 year old people.  Don't you think that Abbie ages well?  She aged 94 years in just a week!!  You can't really tell from this picture but I put powder in Abbie's hair and put it in a bun.  She wore this hat which also served as Sophie's Mary Poppins hat when she was that age.  The cane that she is using was my great aunt Mary Tom's cane (she lived to be over 100 years old).

They did several special things at school for the 100th day but of course they were all educational! (insert eye roll here).  They had a little autograph book where they could collect autographs from other kindergartners at their school.  They were also supposed to try to write down 100 words in their classroom.  I think that Abbie had a fun day at school but someone at work told me I should have just sent her to school with an afghan around her because all of the little old people that we work with at the nursing home are always cold!!  =)