Lake Time

We headed down to the lake with our friends, Mandi and Ryan for a little get away.  It was wonderful because they have Wyatt, who is Emerson's best bud, and Jacob, who is Hayden's buddy.  The kids had a blast playing with each other swimming, kayaking, tubing and just playing together.  Mandi is an amazing cook and mixoligist, so we ate good and drank good.  It was a wonderful weekend spending time with friends and catching a little more sun before summer officially comes to an end.

Griffin 7 and 8 month

These past two month have kind of been a blur.  There has not been too much of a change, you sleep so much better.  Some nights you sleep all the way through to around 6:30 am, but mostly you seem to love the 5:00 am hour.  That's not fun for me because it is still just a little too early to be up.  You have started clapping your hands together, waving and saying "momma".  You have mastered the art of crawling and love cruising on your own and being independent.  You have been drooling a lot, so I suspect your have more teeth coming in.  You are my cuddly baby,  I pick you up and you bury your head into my shoulder.  You are solid and a little chunky, just perfect for squeezing tight.  I swear we are so lucky to have such a sweet, happy baby.  You just go with the flow, you never get to nap because we are on the go, and it does not phase you one bit...you just smile.  And that little smile melts my heart.

My little Magician

Hayden has had quite the interest in magic the past few years.  He has a closet full of tricks and even a video he got from a magic show he attended at the library.  Well, he got his first real gig a few weeks ago.  His sweet friend Gabbie called and asked him to perform at her birthday party.  Of course, Hayden was super excited and even asked his buddy, Andrew to be his side kick.  I have to say, he was absolutely the cutest magician I have ever seen and I was totally impressed as was his audience.  He even was asked to sign some autographs.  

Dollywood...Dollywood

What did we do this weekend...we took a impromptu trip to a little gem, Dollywood.  We passed Griffin off to Bob and Nana, David left work early, and we high tailed it to Pigeon Forge as soon as Hayden jumped of the bus.  I read somewhere that the park was open until 10pm, so we figured when we got there around 6pm we would have a few hours of fun.  Well, when I had checked there website, it was before there summer schedule changed to reflect them closing at 7pm.  We didn't let it stop us, we had an hour and basically the park to ourselves.  Hayden rode a few BIG roller coasters and then was told he was not big enough to ride another big one so David insisted we leave and go buy a different pair of shoes to give him a little lift.  We left Dollywood, grabbed dinner, bought new shoes, and headed back to the hotel for swimming.  The next day we were there at 10am when the park opened and we went all day long.  We had a handful of tears as Hayden didn't want to ride some of the bigger rides (after we bought the new shoes so he could ride them), but for the most part we had an amazing day.  We rode rides, ate way overpriced food, rode a train, watched Hayden participate in a magic show, braved a torrential rain storm, and closed the park down.  We picked up pizza that night, swam and then crashed hard.  The next morning we drove up to Gatlinburg, just to say we did it and then went to Wonderworks, a children's museum. They both had a blast.  Hayden did this awesome indoor, ropes course and Emerson was happy blowing bubbles.  It wasn't until David and Hayden laid on the "bed of nails" that Emerson freaked out.  She was pretty much traumatized to the point we had to leave.  We then drove through UT campus to show the kids, they were less than impressed so we headed home so I could kiss those sweet Griffin cheeks.  It was a awesome trip and the kids are still talking and even singing about Dollywood....Dollywood.

First Day of 1st Grade

The summer has come and gone and it is time for Hayden to start 1st grade.  He has a wonderful teacher Mrs. Fazenbaker, has a great class full of friends and so excited about getting back to school.  He jumped on that bus and never looked back, if fact, was counting down the minutes until it pulled up.  I am so proud of this kid.  He amazes me every, single day.  I can only imagine how much he will learn and grow this next year.  I hope he has the best school year yet!!

The night before school

Sweet note from teacher

His buddy Cole

Big boy desk

Mrs. Fazenbaker