While We Were in Knoxville...

Murray and Ella had a great father-daughter weekend.  My trip to Knoxville had been planned since the beginning of the summer.  When I am going out of town for the weekend and not coming back for church on Sunday, I always plan on bringing the kids with me since Sunday morning for Murray does not have a lot of flexibility.  As our trip approached and Murray realized not only was it the weekend of Alabama's first game (a morning game that he could actually go to!) and the Mountain Brook vs Vestavia (his high school vs rival high school) he started to think about how much fun he and Miller would have spending the weekend together watching football.  Miller has REALLY been into football lately so we both thought Miller would be really excited.  Here is how the conversation went:

Murray:  Miller do you want to stay home with me this weekend and go to the Alabama game and watch the Alabama linebackers (Murray was a linebacker and Miller loves watching the linebackers).

Miller:  Why don't you come to Knoxville with me to see Granddaddy and Granna.

Murray:  Are you sure you don't want to have a guys weekend and go to the Alabama game with Daddy?

Miller:  Why don't you just come to Knoxville with me?  We can stay at Granddaddy's.

Ella:  I'll stay with you Daddy!  I want to go to the Alabama Game!!!

One day Miller will love spending a weekend with just Daddy that is all about football.  He is just not quite there yet.  Murray and Ella ended up having a great time (and was probably very much needed right before starting kindergarten!)!!!  Murray sent pictures over the weekend from all of their adventures...

Friday afternoon they headed out to the farm to pick the scuppernongs (a type of grape).  

Ella filled two buckets (more on these later)

Came home and had a nice dessert for their hard work.  Why not eat dessert in the middle of the afternoon right out of the dish?  Only with Daddy!!!

This is the picture that Ella sent Miller from the Mountain Brook vs Vestavia game.  We recounting the weekend to me, the thing that stuck out most to Ella about the game was that she got to stay up way past her bedtime.  This picture looks like she is having a pretty good time to me.

 Saturday morning: Ready for the Big Game.

Ella and Addison endured the heat together as they cheered on Alabama.

Sunday Murray took Ella to Charming Charlie's to pick out a beautiful butterfly necklace.

The is the last picture from the weekend.  The text with the picture said, "Ella wanted to go to Wendy's for a date.  She is going to make the best wife.  Two football games and Wendy's for a date!"

Obviously, Ella and Murray had a great time.  After getting all these pictures I was shocked when Murray told me that she was missing me.  A weekend with Daddy is WAY more fun than a weekend with Mommy.  Every little girl needs to get spoiled by their Daddy every now and then:)

Labor Day in Knoxville

Sara Wells, Miller and I spent Labor Day Weekend in Knoxville.  With all that has been going on here this summer, we have not been to Knoxville all summer!  So, it was a much needed get-a-way.  Besides spending time with family (that is a given), the best part of the trip was taking the kids to The Cabin.

This is where I spent weeks and weeks every summer of my childhood.  I have so many memories playing in this very spot.  

One of my mom's closest and oldest friends has owned this cabin in the Smokey Mountains as long as I can remember.  I have been wanting to take the kids to the cabin for a long time, but it just has not worked out.  We finally made it and I felt like I passed on part of my childhood to my children.

A lot of times Miller has to be talked into liking new things.  Since I was not sure how he would like being in the cold water with shoes on and dirt and small pebbles getting in his shoes, we really talked up looking for crawdads.  

Fortunately we found a "grandaddy crab" within one minute of getting down to the water.  Finding that crawdad distracted Miller from all the things that would normally cause him to fall apart (dirt, rocks, cold water) and continue on his search for more grandaddy crabs!

 Sara Wells was not quite as thrilled about the crawfish.

This rock is the picture rock.  My mom has filled scrapbooks with pictures of me and all the friends that I took to the cabin with me over the years.  I will confess, getting this picture was much more difficult than it looks!

Granddaddy never passes up an opportunity to get in a nap.  

To make the trip official, we stopped on the way and got fried chicken for lunch.  The last time I had Popeye's fried chicken was probably when I was at the cabin.

Granddaddy quickly discovered the way to Sara Wells' heart... Food!

Miller and Sara Wells cuddled up on the couch together for relaxing evenings watching cartoons.  (Ok, just look at those legs... don't you just want to eat them up!!!)

And we played lots and lots of hide and seek.

 Miller won the trophy for finding the best hiding spot of the trip.

School's Back in Session

School (finally) started on Wednesday.

 Which means Ella started Kindergarten!

I don't know how our little girl 

turned into a big kindergartner!

 Miller is now in 3 year old preschool.

And even though you cannot tell in this picture, he LOVES it!

Side Note:  Can you believe he wore a sweater on the first day of school in Alabama?

I am loving this weather!!!

 Sara Wells feels like she is finally one of the big kids.

 She is most excited about having her own lunch box!

Sausage Pinwheels for breakfast to get ready for the Big Day.

Miller's good friend Drew is in his class again this year.

Miller ran in and would barely even look back for me to take this picture.

Ella on the other hand put up a little bit of a fuss.

This looks like a sweet picture, but do you see how tight she is squeezing my neck?

I ended up having to sneak out through the bathroom while her teachers pulled her back in the room.

I am looking forward to carpool starting on Monday!

Everyone had a great first day of school!

Loved their teachers

Loved their new friends

And excited about being a year older

We celebrated the first day of school (really Kindergarten) at Yogurt Mountain.

Ireland: Part 2

This year was the third year that we have gone to Greystones Presbyterian Church to lead Holiday Bible Club (For two years we put VBS on the t-shirts and finally realized they do not have a clue what Vacation Bible school is.  Evidently it is very American.  It only took 3 years, but we learned).  Our first year we started out with just a kid's club in the morning with about 25 to 30 kids.  Last year we added an afternoon club for 11 to 14 year old kids.  We had around 50 to 55 kids total.  So we were blown away this year we were blown away when we had almost 100 kids the first day!  Luckily Courtney, our Children's Director, decided it would be better to have way more than not enough and ordered 100 of everything.

We gave away every single t-shirt that we brought.

 There are a lot of yellow Holiday Bible Club t-shirts running around Greystones...

 

 Singing lots of crazy songs!

 When you have that many kids in the morning, a little R & R is needed to prepare for the afternoon.

 In our short time in Greystones, we have introduced a sport that is taking over the town:

4-SQUARE

 Last summer after we left they painted the 4-square court on the back patio.

 One of the traditions that we started our first year is an American Bar-b-que for the kids' families.

6 Boston Butts, 60 Hamburgers, 160 Sausages

Not one bite left!

 My sweet group.

About half of this group was in my group last year.

 All those kids in this sweet little church.

 Tuesday night a couple from our group (who are phenomenal musicians) 

had a gig at the local coffee shop.

 They were joined by Gwen

 and Erin

 This is as close as Murray is going to get to being a musician.

 We couldn't pass up this photo op

 Two of my favorite cottages we passed every day on the walk to the church.

Just look at those hydrangeas!  

 Our walk back to our Bed and Breakfast

(Like walking in a postcard!)

Every night the group unwound over dinner.

Every night was a new experience.

This particular night we waited over two hours to get our food! 

I said it in my previous post, but one of the most amazing things about this trip is the relationships that we have built.  We get to go back every year and see these same families and see how the Lord is continuing to work in their lives.  Yes, the scenery is beautiful (everything you imagine Ireland would be like, it is), but the work is great!  We feel honored to be a part of this ministry!