Needing a Bath...

ASAP!
We were playing out back near the creek and abby fell on a stick that had been burned in the fire a few days prior so it had soot on it. She didn't get hurt... just very dirty.

Time to get cleaned up.

I Did It Mom!

The current job we are working on with Will is putting his pants on after he goes potty. He is doing SO well with making it to the bathroom but then runs out with a bare bottom. We are trying to show him how to put his shorts back on. Do you think he has the hang of it yet??

Our First and Last ...

family bike ride.
We drove about 45 minutes to the PA Grand Canyon bike trail. It is beautiful...
We put Will and Abby in the pull behind bike trailor and Abby lasted
about 10 minutes. Our trip in total was almost an hour, but Abby cried just about all
of that. So much fun!!! We won't be doing that again for a while. She
is a little too small for that bike trailor - she kept falling onto Will. Will was a
trooper though. He kept saying "this is fun!"

We stopped for an early lunch.

Will found a centipede that he loved.

We watched the horse and buggy go by.

Will kept wanting us to watch him hop on one foot... great entertainment.

And daddy played with the camera.
It was fun for me because I didn't have the kids on the back :).

Too Cute For Words!

Sittin' By the Fire

Last night we had Will's cousins over for a bit. After dinner we headed out to the creek in the backyard and made smores.

Getting the sticks together

Starting things up

Our little firepit! Don't worry, right after
this picture we moved the toys far away.
Especially since we put Abby in that car one
behind so that she couldn't crawl near the fire.

Here is a picture of the clearing.... now that all the weeds and brush
are gone, its nice soft dirt for the kids to play in.

Aiden eating his smore.

Yum

Annie. Nice marshmallow goo on the lips - thats the way to eat it!

This was Will's first smore... he loved it of course.
(since he doesn't get chocolate very often)

The marshmallow roaster, we couldn't let the kids try and
roast any because we only had mini-marshmallows
on hand...so Josh had to roast them all, very carefully!


These are the steps Josh just started digging in the dirt so that
we don't have such a hard time walking down the steep bank.

The boys floating in the creek.

And ending up muddy messes!

What more could a boy want than to be covered in mud?!

The bath tub looked real pretty after they were done...

Tub Paint Fun

So we made bath tub paint the other night and let Will paint our faces and feet. We had so much fun with this - all cramped in this tiny bathroom. This paint is so easy to make and easy to clean up which is even better. Sorry we all look so bad in these pictures, but we were tired and were outside getting huge rocks out of the river and so we are looking pretty beat.

Painted Daddy

Mr Green, his favorite color

Yeah, see the wild hair....

Here is the recipe....
1T cornstarch
1/3 cup of dish soap (i used dawn)

food coloring (couple drops)

Family Time

Last night we decided to go for a hike up one of the mountains of Knoxville. It is a steep 30 minute walk up to the rock that we like to sit on and look out from - so we didn't know how it would go with both kids. We did this about a year and a half ago with Will in the backpack carrier and he actually fell asleep on our way back down (don't worry... little miss Abby did not blink an eye). It didn't take us much longer to get to the rock with Will walking 3/4 of the way than it did when just Josh and I went up on our own! We really enjoyed being out in God's creation together as a family. It was great exercise and it was challenging (as I didn't think I could make it up the entire way). Will collected things that he thought were neat and brought them back home (pinecone, leaves, flowers, nuts, etc...) He did better than I thought... just a couple crying episodes where he was tired of walking - I didn't blame him... I wanted someone to carry me too!

There is a picture of the first initial part of the hike.... our car is at the bottom, it doesn't have a flat part to even start - just get right into the uphill climb!


Josh started off with Abby. After about 3/4 of the way up Abby realized she wasn't with me and then we switched. It wasn't hard though... she is so light I didn't really realize I had extra weight on my back.

Our first break.

Abby hanging out. Her backback carrier just sits on the ground like a loung chair unfolds...


Will is excited he isn't walking uphill right now.... he tried to stretch out the water breaks as long as he could.

The last uphill stretch before the rock.

My boys on the ledge.... all of those who are paranoid like me - don't worry, we didn't let Will go near the edge...

The view of Knoxville

There is our house... I zoomed in as best I could to see it from where we were.

Josh taking a rest before we head back down.
We slept well last night! We were so tired when we got home, but it was so fun.

Psalms 90:2

"Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God."

Psalms 46:10

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."