Wordless Wednesday: Cowgirl

Allardt, Tennessee

  

This weekend the Watts Family went to stay at my in-laws cabin in Tennessee. Clay's brother's family and ours were all there and we had a lot of fun enjoying the great outdoors and lovely mountain views!

Audrey loved playing in the gravel. Ha!

This post will be picture laden and few words! The scenery was just too beautiful!

This picture seriously cracked me up. Garrett is in his "cowboy" pose and little Audrey is cheesing away for the camera!

Getting ready to head out on a ride Saturday morning. Shad's riding Tahoe, Garrett's on Coolio (the boss) and Mrs. Deborah's holding the reigns of Nelle (the horse Melissa rode).

I couldn't leave a out a picture of Audrey's horse, Pinky the Precious-- just like her!

We did a lot of cooking over the fire during the weekend. This is a pot of chicken and rice soup that would become our lunch. It was YUMMY!

Audrey and her Daddy spent a lot of time "cooking" their own soup in the gravel drive! This little girl LOVES to be outside and we love it for her!

On Sunday we went to Pickett State Park and went on a hike down to a cave. During certain times of the year, the cave is the hunting ground for a luminescent worm. The worm glows in the dark in order to attract it's prey. When the worms are glowing, this is a popular tourist attraction. People come from all over to see the patterns in the cave that the worms make. 

 This is everyone except me and Shad. I was trying to "bring up the rear" because I was going super slow!  

This is just to prove that I really was there and I did climb those stairs!

Rugby, TN is about 15 minutes from Allardt, TN. It is a small, Victorian village that has quaint little shops and quirky people. Here's one of them:

I went to Rugby during all the Alabama game madness Saturday afternoon. I drug poor Melissa with me.

While  we were at Pickett State Park on Sunday, we rented a canoe and a flat-bottomed boat to cruise around a river there. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. It was so beautiful! Plus, I just sat in the boat while Mrs. Deborah and Shad paddled us around. No sweat equity and still got to enjoy! Ha!

I'll conclude this super long blog post with a picture of sweet Garrett. He was READY to go make smores! :)

Mother's Retirement

My mom has been a "mail lady" for forever.. 26 years in fact. As of August 31st, she became an official retired mail lady! I am so excited for her-- she gets to sleep late, go to lunch with her friends, go shopping, visit us, basically anything she wants. If you ask her though, she has a "To-do" list a mile long of projects she needs to do around the house!

Since she's been home, I have made myself quite the nuisance. I call her a hundred and fifty times a day just to see what's she's doing. She always says something like.. "cleaning the shower", "just got off the lawn mower", "pressure washing the sidewalks", "vacuuming out the pool", or my favorite... "cooking supper"!

She's never once said, "taking a nap" or "sleeping in". Isn't that what retirement is supposed to be about? No, I don't think it is anymore than I think being a stay-at-home mom is about sleeping in, going shopping, going to lunch with friends or doing "whatever I want". It is much more than that!


Back to the retirement before I begin rambling about life as a mommy!

Momma had a little party on her last official work day and we all went to help celebrate with her. Meredith Grace and Laura even got to miss a little bit of school!

Momma with all her coworkers.. well, some of them anyway. I didn't have a lens that would zoom so I cut 1/3 of them off. :(

The rest of the photos are just random party shots. Someone there made a cream cheese dessert with crescent rolls and it was oh. so.yummy! I plan to take it to one of Audrey's little Halloween parties!

I hope Momma gets to really retire one day soon! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Ahhh... sisters have a best friend for life! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Rainy Days

First Trip to the Dentist

I took Audrey to the dentist yesterday for the first time and she absolutely LOVED...

.......playing with the toys in the waiting room.

Although, her joy pretty much ended the moment they called her name to go back to the back. I went with her and the hygienist was the sweetest thing on earth. She let Audrey sit in my lap while she cleaned her teeth which I think helped a little. She still said, "I scared." and cried huge crocodile tears. The whole exam only took about 10 minutes (including the time with the dentist) but poor Audrey just wasn't feeling it. She kept pointing at the door and saying, "go home, go home!".

After it was all over, she was able to choose between a ball and a rubber ducky as a special treat. In true toddler style, she wanted them both but finally settled on the ducky. That was until we got to the car, then she decided she wanted the ball and cried all the way to Target.

Her momma took her straight to the toy aisle to let her pick out another treat and she chose a new Strawberry Shortcake doll that came with her own bathtub and friend, Lemon Meringue. Those two dolls sleep with us and go everywhere with us- she loves them! They also get a million baths a day, including one with Audrey! They made her forget about that ball!

Oh, the dentist said she had beautiful teeth! Yay! :)

Miss Patty Cake

Audrey on the stage before the show began.

We took Audrey to see Miss Patty Cake at a local church this weekend. She was having a pajama party so all the children wore their pajamas and brought their lovies. We didn't tell Audrey where we were going until we actually got there. Clay told her that we were going inside the church and that Miss Patty Cake was there. She said, "Here!?!" in the cutest voice and I will NEVER forget her expression! She was soooo beyond excited!

She sang all of Audrey's favorite songs, "Ten Men", "Patty Cake Praise", and a song about being "fabulicious" or something-- I can't remember the title of it. Audrey sang along with all the songs and did the hand motions right along with Miss Patty Cake.

I think her absolute favorite part of the show was actually getting to sit in Miss Patty Cake's lap! She LOVED this!! The look on her face above is one of pure amazement! I don't think she could believe that the lady singing to her on the TV was live and in person and that she was sitting in her lap!!

We bought Audrey her own little dress like Miss Patty Cake's and as soon as we got it, she had to put it on!! She wore it home that night, wanted to sleep in it and has wanted to wear it everyday since. It will most likely be her Halloween costume if we don't wear it out first!

Here she is after the show modeling her new favorite dress!

This was a super fun night for Clay, Audrey and myself! We loved watching her enjoy herself so much! She keeps saying, "Back, Patty Cake"! She wants to go back!! :)