Katlyn's New Sandbox

Matt and I decided Katlyn needed a sandbox to play in on the back deck. Matt set it up for Katlyn and she was ready to play! She refuses to get in it, but will play around it! I guess she doesn't want to get sandy and I am not complaining because I have a feeling it would be a sandy mess in the house if she did!!!

Here it is!

 

Daddy showing Katlyn what's inside!

 

Who's having the most fun??

 
Daddy and Katlyn enjoying their new toy!

 

Katlyn's 1st Trip to the Cove

Every July my family gets together in Cades Cove. Some of my favorite memories as a little girl are in Cades Cove. We used to play in the creek and go around and around the loop looking for bears, deer, and learning about our families history. Now that I have Katlyn to show this beautiful place I look even more forward to our trips there. Katlyn was so precious looking out over the fields and towards the beautiful mountains! I loved our first trip and will always remember it by all the photos we took and the great memories made once again in the place I believe to be one of the most gorgeous places ever! We made our trip around the loop and saw some specks of black moving in the trees that was bears, but why stop if you can't really tell what you are looking at other than moving specks in the trees???? We got up close with a deer that still had fuzz on his antlers. Katlyn probably didn't love us getting in and out of the car, but I just wanted to have photos of her everywhere we went! She did LOVE walking in to the huge fields and I think she was amazed! Matt and I loved watching her and I know my Mom and Grandmaw enjoyed having her with us and watching her check everything out, too! We had our annual cook out and Katlyn enjoyed playing with Brooks, Braden, Ray, Katelyn, and Timmy. She also got to get in the creek for the first time and really enjoyed that. so much she didn't want us to take her out! It was cold, but felt great as hot as it was outside. It's always great to get together with great family and friends and enjoy the outdoors and all it's beauty! I hope Katlyn will always cherish God's beautiful places and see His beauty in every day!

My most favorite photo of all!
I think the perfect caption is: "Wow, Look what God painted!"

 

Looking out the church window.

 

Great Grandmaw Bon, Lu-Lu, Mommy, and Katlyn going to visit the Dan Lawson house. We are the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th generations of Dan Lawson. This is also the house my sister was engaged in. What a special place!

 

Special delivery in the mail window!

 

Daddy helping Katlyn in the creek! She loved it!

 

Mommy and Katlyn enjoying the cool, well cold, water!

 

Katlyn's 1st time in the creek at the cove!

 

Mommy, Katlyn, and Aunt Seester...Katlyn wouldn't let us pick her up out of the water!

 

Ice cream with Granddad!

A couple of weeks ago, Granddad was visiting and Katlyn heard the ice cream truck coming down the road, so....you guessed it.....Granddad got Katlyn (and Mommy) ice cream from the ice cream truck. We laugh because the ice cream trucks that come down our road all play such random music, like Christmas music and the Happy Birthday song. There are several different ice cream trucks that frequent our road and all of them play some random mix of music. Entertaining, but expensive, too! I can't believe an ice cream can cost $2.50 or more! What in the world happened to a couple of quarters buying you the coolest ice cream treat you found on the side of the truck??? Oh, well, it was a fun experience for Katlyn and she really liked her red fruit punch popsicle Granddad bought her. It was dripping down her belly by the time she got 1/4 licked! I liked the photos (and my SpongeBob icecream, too!)! Thanks, Granddad!

Off to chose which kind to buy!

 

"Look what we got, Mommy!"

 

Katlyn and Granddad enjoying their cool treat!

 

Katlyn and her VERY RED popsicle!

 

Imagine It! Children's Museum

Lauren and I took the kids to the Children's museum in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time and will definitely have to do it again sometime! I love being able to take Katlyn places, especially when it's free for her age, and even more when she actually ends up enjoying it! We headed out early that morning and stayed a few hours wandering around and discovering all the fun activities they had to do! We started out in the farm where Katlyn attempted milking a cow, riding a tractor, and picking some food. Then we enjoyed the shipping process on the truck (where Miles had the most fun!) and playing with boxes, then to the grocery store where Katlyn like pulling everything OFF the shelves and did a little putting it back! She liked the little house where she and Lily sat at the table with all the food and Lily served her a "snack"! Next we headed over to the simple machines area, which was totally over our kids heads, but they liked running around with the balls and watching the other kids work the machines. Miles and Katlyn liked the little train and car area which was a really big train table with hills and roads and everything. They also had a garden with velcroed vegetables to pick and Katlyn did that for a quick minute! They got to play in the moonsand and on the stage. Katlyn danced with some big girls and loved looking in the mirrors! The three kids all painted for a minute together, which was super cute, with their little smocks on. I loved the idea because after they were finished the lady just hosed off the "artwork" and squigeed it for the next artist! I want Matt to make one for our backyard! Katlyn and I would LOVE it! The last stop was in the water area where the kids could wear little rain jackets that were bugs, firefighters, etc. and play in a huge water table with tons of toys. Katlyn liked it, but was a little too short and tumbled off the step so we decided to play in the baby area for awhile. She enjoyed crawling through the tunnels and "logs" and walking over the bridge about 30 times. She liked pushing the fish through the wall maze, too. It was a great day! Lauren and I celebrated our successful outting with the kiddos in Atlanta by having a drive in lunch at the Varsity! Fun day!

On the run to discover more!

 

Katlyn and Miles grocery shopping!

 

Katlyn loved the big mirror and found two big girls who were dancing. Since she loves to dance so much she joined right in and they were sweet enough to let her!

 

Our little artists; Lily, Miles, and Katlyn painting their masterpieces! Katlyn had a brush, but decided to use her hands instead! She and Miles both left with blue hair!

 

Ready for a drink and a nap! Can you tell they had a great time and were worn out!

 

THE Quilt!

During a visit with my Mamaw McCall she showed me how to piece a quilt. She got me started with the center square of four and then told me to take it home and finish it and she would quilt it for me....WELL, about 3 years later NOW, I still have not finished that quilt and so I decided I was going to finish up the color I was on and leave it the size of a throw and have her quilt it for me. I just can't imagine when I am ever going to have time to sit and piece this thing! I know she has made many quilts in her life and is faster than the speed of lightning compared to my, what seems like 5 minutes per square!! So, I did...I finished up the turquoise squares in the car about 5 miles before we arrived at Mamaw's for our latest visit to Tennessee! I worked so hard on that quilt and am very proud of the work I did! Deep in my heart I wish I thought I could finish it, but more important to me than finishing it myself is that she have a part in this quilt! So, I walked into Mamaw's house and after a few minutes of catching up I said, "Well, Mamaw, I brought you my quilt." She said, "You did! Did you finish it, let's see it!" so I showed it to her and she said, "Well, you're not finished...it looks good, but you aren't hardly finished!" I told her I just didn't think it was going to be possible until Katlyn goes to college for me to find time to work on it and that I hoped she wasn't disappointed, but I just wanted her to go ahead and quilt it! Now, of course I had thought through this because I knew she was going to tell me it wasn't finished! I said, "I did bring up the rest of the fabric if YOU want to work on it?!?!" and she just smiled and laughed and said, "I bet you did! I'll work on it, but I can't promise you when I'll finish it!". I told her I didn't care when I just wanted it to be a special quilt that I could say she and I worked on. I think it will be a beautiful quilt when she finishes it and something that we will cherish forever! Here is a picture of me working on the quilt and Katlyn supervising! I can't wait to see it when Mamaw finishes it!