Dad's Farm Birthday, Again

Happy Birthday, Dad! We did our annual farm trip for my dad's birthday a couple of weeks ago. John wasn't able to come, which meant I had to take the four kids by myself to the farm-hard, hard work I tell you. I don't mind taking them places by myself, but the farm is totally different. They want to do all the things all the time and they need all my help to do them. Burl can usually start to wonder off by himself, but the other three take some time to adjust and often keep coming back to me for help and assurance. Plus, there are the diapers, the potty training, and the putting the miniature straw in the caprisuns for the 4,000th time.

I made sure my brother was going too for some help. He brought two other buddies, and I wasn't sure how the vibe was going to go with three rowdy men to help me. They were awesome and such a help! My kids loved having their fun uncle and his fun friends there. 

They took the kids fishing for me (such a relief after last time), and Ridge caught his first fish! I could hear them celebrating for him all the way from the pond to my dad's cabin. I grabbed my camera and ran down there-one of the guys even took pictures on his phone in case I didn't make it. I made it down there and took the only pictures I took that day. 

Ridge was so excited! At bedtime he told me that he really wanted to cut it up, cook it, and eat it. What a good day to show his namesake, Ridge Thomas....He gets excited over victories, and wants to cook his own food. Happy Birthday, Dad. It was a fun day. 

Six Chairs Full

Lark has broken all the baby rules. His birthweight was a foreshadow for his life. Breaking the average 10 pound family average, he blew us all away at 12 pounds. He will not be little, no way! It has continued on since then.

His new thing is eating in a chair. He started this thing where he cried SO HARD at dinner. Being the baby, I had no problem pulling him out of the high chair and eating dinner with him in my lap. Something that I NEVER did with the older three. That's called 4th child perk. Anyways, we finally realized that he was crying because he didn't want to be in the highchair. 

The highchair is no more! His first meal in a chair caused quit the excitement. I remember it was one of our favorite meals of greens, pintos, and pickled okra. He sat there with his chin at table level and inhaled his food. 

The first few days of this were very rowdy. He thought he was big stuff and free as a bird. We thought he was hilarious and precious. Things have calmed down and this has become our new norm. 

Here we are! Finally filling all the chairs around the table. It's another normal thing that I want to celebrate and remember. We're a full family of six, filling the chairs, and filling the table. Dinnertime is such a rowdy good time!

Summer Break Blues

The Summer Break Blues is spreading through the whole house right now. We are all missing those slow, long, lazy days. We've been in school for two weeks, and I have to say that the hustle is a HUSTLE. We're back in our groove, but we all miss alarm-less mornings and getting ready whenever we want. Duh. 



I would like to make note of one sweet thing that has happened in our new routine. Burl has become quite the eager helper. Right now Ridge and Burl are sharing the upstairs bedroom, and they aren't allowed to come downstairs until the alarm goes off. Since Ridge is usually up the earliest, Burl plays with him/dresses him/takes him to the bathroom/and keeps him upstairs until it's time to come down. Burl even helps with breakfast. Just this morning he heated up leftover pancakes, and got the babies' plates ready first. He even cuts them into pieces! We tell him that we don't know any other eight year old boy that helps with babies so much!

Now, back to the Summer Break Blues. Friends have asked me how my Summer went. To be honest, I don't know. It was average. It was simple and special and exactly how I wanted (well I would have liked more time). These pictures are from the last two weeks of our break. We lingered in the yard after dinner, made fun drinks and let the kids help, and finally started aggressively attacking our master bathroom remodel. 

We each had our special time outside which is typical of how we like to spend our time. John and Burl threw the frisbee, Ridge played trucks in a small pile of dirt that he found, Fern rode her scooter, Lark pushed the mower, and I was even able to read a little between picture taking! Nights like that one take a lot of work to protect. We're constantly pushing against over-scheduling so we have enough margin to linger in the same place together. It's a good week if we get family yard time every day. 

And here we are. Trying to catch our breath and be ourselves in the midst of our changing schedule. I will say that one perk of school is having the babies all to myself. I'm available for much more snuggles, book reading, and kisses. More on that later!

Have a great living in changing seasons!

My Birthday Trip To Cataloochee

Recently a couple asked John and me what was the surprisingly best thing about having children. What a great question, one that I'm still thinking about. One thing that came to mind (and that John and I talk about) is that our kids woke up this adventurous side in us. Side by side comparison, our life before kids probably looked more adventurous than after kids, but the motivation and drive is different now. Before children, we enjoyed our married life by having fun with friends. We hosted tons of meals, we went on group trips, we travelled to see people, etc. It was a fun time and that's how we lived. Now, we have this desire to explore and show the kids new and cool things in simple ways.

On our quest for new and inexpensive camping trips, we were recommended Cataloochee. It's a remote campground on the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where they've reintroduced elk. 

The temperatures up there were drastically cooler and crisper and required an extra layer in the morning and evenings, something unheard of in the south this time of year!

The campground is small and is nestled between a rushing creek and babbling brook, our slice of heaven. Past the campground and following the creek is a gravel out-n-back road where we could see elk and other wildlife. We saw so many animals! Elk, turkey, owls, snails, and butterflies. One trip we even saw a mama elk nursing her baby!

I purposefully scheduled the trip over my birthday weekend. On the morning of the14th, I drove through the fields and took some pictures. My only companions were coffee, Lark, and the peacefulness of the forrest morning. 

Happy Birthday to me! What a treat!

Before lunch, we did a little hike through the woods to an old homestead. 

It also followed the creek with several bridges that the kids said reminded them of Bridge to Terabithia. One of these bridges is where we had our first accident. Ridge slipped and fell about four feet off the bridge into the creek, landing flat on his back on a flat rock. Burl ran over to him faster than anyone, which was amazing to see. He was like superman! I got to Ridge and picked him up and gave him the look over. He cried and asked if he was bleeding. We couldn't find a scratch on him-and John and I were shocked and thankful. It could have been much worse! 

We found the house which was open to exploration. The surrounding fields were covered with clusters of butterflies. When we walked to the second level, we were amazed to find a huge butterfly zipping from room to room over our heads. Then, being the not girl scout that I am, I realized that it was actually a bat and I screamed, grabbing Ridge and running down the stairs. Ridge was scarred by this (before the creek incident) and was hysterical! He never mentioned the huge fall he had, but he tells everyone about those bats! He wants to go back and see them. 

When we got back to the campground and started making lunch, our guests of honor showed up. Daniel and Tahoma came and met us and stayed the night! Let the wild rumpus begin! During Lark's nap, Daniel and John took the big three to try trout fishing while I stayed back for a birthday nap. They didn't catch anything, and lost one of John's sandals! 

Once Lark woke up, we tried another spot for fishing. We were really hoping to catch, gut, clean, and cook our own dinner. Unfortunately, we came up empty again. However, Daniel and I started catching crawfish. We used to do that with our dad on Sunday afternoons in a creek near my grandparents' house. 

We took the few that we caught and cooked those as part of our dinner. 

My birthday dinner was fried tilapia (backup fish that I brought), kale salad, grilled corn, roasted potatoes, crawfish, and brownies. That was one of the best meals that I had and eating in the woods made it spectacular!

After dinner, we took another ride through the cove. Riding without seat belts in the back of the van was definitely more exciting for the kids than seeing elk. John and I enjoyed hearing their shrills of delight from the front seat. 

On my birthday evening, a lady walked by and stopped to talk to us. I need to write this to help me remember: she told us something similar to the last camping trip. It went something like this, "I've been watching yall and I think it's awesome that you bring four small children to camp in a tent! You're awesome to do this!" My brother laughed and said, "and today is her birthday" to which I replied, "thank you, you just gave me my best present." I'll take "you're awesome" from strangers any day.

Before Daniel and Tahoma left, we took our normal group picture. The kids and I have been looking through old pictures lately and we are really loving the memories. "Take lots of pictures!" my pediatrician told me at our last visit before he retired. The effort it takes to coordinate this can make my back sweat, but I've let go of "look at the camera and smile." The bunny ears and tongue sticks tell an important story too!

Before we left, we stopped to explore the school house. This was perfect for the kids because it helped them see what it was like for some of the characters in a few books that we've been reading from that time period (including John's grandmother who just passed away-she wrote about her sweet childhood!)

As a family, we had a great time exploring and trying new things together. Even though we failed in fishing for trout, we had a great time experiencing it all as a family. From elk to open door car rides, from bridge falls to lost shoes, from butterflies to bats, from trout to crawfish, these kids have gifted our family with childlike exploration that doesn't cost a lot of money or require too much show. Maybe one day we will take grand trips that will be amazing too, but we are loving these small trips with our small children too. 

That Six Flags Line

My brothers play an awesome role in my kids' lives. Without kids of their own, my brothers funnel so much energy on my kids and it is amazing. Uncle Joseph was the one who started marking the kids heights on the door frame with a pencil with strict instructions to take care of it. A few years ago, he drew a line labeled "Six Flags." It was the height that the kids needed to be to ride all the rides at Six Flags.

Well, grows-like-a-weed Burl hit that line with excitement this summer and uncle Joseph treated him to a day at Six Flags. Last minute, John joined in the fun too. I got a few text updates throughout the day, but I got the full report from John when they got home. Backstory: Before this, Burl had never been on a roller coaster. In brief, Burl did some of the big ones, but mainly liked rides for his age (hello Thunder River-eight times in a row). Joseph got the fast passes, which John said was a game changer-the best part was cutting in line in front of so many people! To hear John describe Burl, I can totally picture his eight year old self laughing uncontrollably with joy for the whole day. 

Early on in his role as an uncle, Joseph read a great article about how to be an awesome uncle and he checks just about all the boxes. He shows up with gum and candy, does magic tricks, wrestles them, and takes them on incredible days of fun! My kids are lucky to have him (and Daniel)! The Six Flags trip was definitely a huge gift into Burl's memory bank and he's going to remember that day for his whole life. 

7.4.18

I always love to hear other people's celebrations and traditions for the Fourth of July! I'm not an all-out fanatic, but I do get excited about the nationwide holiday. I feel like it's the one holiday we can mostly celebrate without offending other people and just about everyone gets the day off of work! 

For me, it's the only time that I enjoy dressing up the family. We aim for the traditional colors-red, white, & blue...and camo. 

I spent the morning at the walk in clinic with Burl (swimmer's ear), we had lunch at our big neighborhood celebration, took naps and made a flag cake, then headed up to John's parents for cousin time, sparklers, and fireworks. 

The best part was seeing my kids enjoy their cousins. My kids are the babies of the bunch, so they have to work hard to keep up with the big kids! They do pretty well.

I hope your fourth was a spark of fun in the middle of your summer too! 

Red Clay

When I think of Red Clay, I remember frequent field trips with my little Baptist elementary school. I also remember my love and interest for Native American history. During the Red Clay tour, they told us about the afterlives of their ancestors that went down into the blue waters in their spring. That wasn't something that I personally believed (or was attracted to), but I was fascinated by their day-to-day lives. 

For years, all my school projects would be on a different tribe or a different story or place. My mom would drive me around to different parks and we would learn about it together. It was with eagerness that we returned to Red Clay with the kids. 

We squeezed it in one morning before a doctor's appointment for Burl and did some preliminary exploring. We watched the video, saw some structures, learned the history, put our feet in the cool spring fed creek, met the grumpiest front desk clerk of all time, then had a quick picnic. 

If there's one thing that my mom can do, it's pack a picnic. She dominated the picnic scenes on my field trips as a child, and when it comes to grandchildren, the options become limitless. She's slicing tomatoes, and Lark is stepping on everything. (Note to self: bring highchair to restrain the big, cute chip crusher.)

I look forward to going another time when we can stay longer and we can hike to the fort in the woods! Ah, what fun to revisit so many memories!