The Blanton Bunch

Christmas at Lake Lure

2012-01-14T20:50:00.012-05:00

Christmas with the Jollys and Denisons was in Lake Lure again this year. We have stayed in this house the past two years and I love it. It fits us all (which is not easy), is right on the lake and is in a resort with lots to do. Thankfully the weather was very nice this year and we got outside quite a bit. Last year there was snow on the ground and it was freezing, so this was a nice change. We got to stay four nights this year and it was so relaxing. We played games, took naps, read books and ate waaaaay too much!

Our lovely house. I really want to go here in the summer!

Just down the street from the house is a lake beach and play ground as well as a fitness center, indoor pool, putt putt, basketball courts, etc. This is the view. I just love Lake Lure.

Bald Mountain as seen from the lake beach.

I didn't get a picture of all the gifts. The adults exchanged gifts our first night there after the kids went to bed. This is what was left for the kids. They must have been good!

Bahumbug! :)

Becky and Jacob

Kate in her new apron with her kitchen utensils.

B was excited about this "huge" gift!

My little penguin.

The aftermath

The next generation of Jollys...except none of them will have the last name Jolly! That's kind of sad.

Ben and Uncle Steve working on the annual puzzle. I have no patience for puzzles!

Holly's dad, James, came for a visit since it's only 20 minutes from my hometown. Here is Braden and James having some guy time!

James and the babies. Judy would be so jealous! She always hated when the kids gave him more attention than her.

GranJan made these reindeer for the big kids. Here she is showing Kate how to ride. What a great gift!

Kate found a new friend...Uncle Tyler!

I see lots of this in our future! So glad Braden has boy cousins to romp around with!

We loaded up the kids one afternoon and headed to the park down the street.

Braden, Aubrey, Papa and Kate

Jacob the monkey

Captain Aubrey

Decorating cookies

Papa and Jacob

Caleb

I have to admit I really enjoyed this activity! The looked pretty, but tasted nasty! They were giving away these cookie kits at Kroger a couple days after Christmas so I couldn't say no to free! We had fun and the kids thought they were scrumptious!

My Kate always likes to make herself at home wherever she goes!

Oh my!

Cousins!

Becky sporting her birthday outfit from yours truly!

New Years Eve was about 60 degrees so we went back to the playground.

Steering the ship

Love these two!

No matter how big they get, they all love slides!

Braden and Kate with the grandparents.

Sweet Daddy

New Years Eve left only my family and my parents at the house. Ben and I got a little crazy and played Jenga. haha! I don't think it ever fell, we just ran out of places to remove blocks. It's probably better for our marriage that nobody won!

We were making some frozen drinks and Braden wanted some. We made him frozen lemonade and he was slightly excited! Only GranJan and I lasted until midnight. After years of hosting New Years Eve, I really enjoyed this. Maybe when we have older kids I will want to party again, but for now sleep just sounds better! Plus, if all our friends that used to come to our parties came now we would have like 40 kids under 7! No thanks.

Before we packed up to leave Braden and GranJan got in a game of Memory.

A good indicator that we had a great Christmas: kids knocked out in the back seat! Braden literally slept from driveway to driveway! Kate slept an hour which is about triple her norm for car naps! Success!

We really did have a great Christmas in Nashville, Knoxville and Lake Lure. I'm so glad we are still able to celebrate with both mine and Ben's family. The only thing missing this year was Conway and Sandy and Chris and Nikki. Uncle Conway broke his hip in early December and was still in a rehab center on Christmas. We have been praying for him and are thankful he is at home recovering now. Nikki and Chris were unable to get off work to travel all the way from Maui! Maybe next year we should just go visit them! :)

Christmas Day

2012-01-09T22:06:00.006-05:00

On Christmas Eve we drove back to Knoxville after the festivities at Connie's house. We left late and lost an hour due to time change so we got home at midnight! Would you believe the kids didn't even sleep on the drive home! They must have been too excited for Christmas. I was so exhausted but had to get everything unpacked, put away (or at least out of living room) and then play Santa. It was so fun! I videoed the kids coming down stairs and seeing their gifts so I don't have any great pictures, but in 30 years I'm sure these pictures will be sufficient.

The living room all set up for Christmas morning.

K was so excited for her stroller and Cabbage Patch kid. Sadly, she would have been just as happy with only that ball!

Braden got this marshmallowy Clone Trooper sucker. We had to stop all gift opening and such so he could eat it right then. I knew I should have gotten Kate one too! Next year I have to be sure to be more even on their stocking stuffers.

I love how Kate is holding the baby by the leg!

Christmas breakfast: Cinnamon rolls, bacon and strawberries.

Ben made us a fire. I think it was the 3rd time ever at this house, but it made the atmosphere nice and cozy.

After breakfast we got ready for church. I liked Christmas being on a Sunday and getting to go to church and worship to Christmas Hymns. What better way to celebrate Christmas! It was a great reminder of why we do celebrate and a nice break from all the gifts and busyness.

The best I could get beneath the tree and it's blurry! Bummer.

This is what happens when you have 4 Christmases in 48 hours combined with lack of sleep and too many gifts for her own good!

Going out to dinner. Several years ago we started getting take out on our way home from Nashville on Christmas Day. Not much is open but we found Smoky Mountain Brewery. We got take out from there for a couple years. Then we started coming home on Christmas Eve and decided we would continue the tradition so we always go eat there for Christmas dinner. It's nice because we don't have family in town and I don't have to try and create a huge feast for our small family.

Our kids have a history of doing horribly at restaurants. However, they did great and I felt like it was their gift to me! :)

Each booth had it's own TV. My sweet husband let us watch A Christmas Story (which he hates) instead of football. I had to document since I'm pretty sure we have never watched it together.

Then we went home and had Jesus a birthday party. I forgot to take a picture of the cake, but it was nothing to write home about. Braden picked the flavors: strawberry cake with chocolate icing. It was a hit!

It was another great Christmas. I am so thankful that Ben has never had to work Christmas Day. That is not common for a nurse. He always works the day after and many other holidays throughout the year so he can be with his family on Christmas.

Coming soon: Christmas with the Jollys :)

Christmas Eve

2012-01-09T21:21:00.006-05:00

Christmas Eve we head over to Granddaddy and Grandmama's for brunch and gifts and hanging out.

Braden posing in front of the tree. Kate was supposed to be with him, but I had to get one of her alone.

Uncle Peter is a favorite among the kids. Here he is giving back rubs to the little guys.

New favorite picture!

Kate and Lincoln. They are 2 months apart. We have their picture like this last year and boy have they changed!

Who knows what she is doing.

Both my kids have loved this toy at Grandmama's house

Avery, Aidan, Katie and Peter

Carl and Collin

Funny face by Braden, but he loved this remote control car from G-mama

Kate excited about her first doll house.

Caleb, Silas and the axe.

Granddaddy and Grandmama are moving to Edmunton, Canada in February so we got them these "woolybooger" hats (as Carl calls them). I think they look cute.

Kate and her favorite uncle...Peter!

Collin playing Christmas carols for us at Aunt Connie's house Christmas Eve night.

Aunt Connie and Kate

Braden singing either "Happy Birthday" to Jesus or Jingle Bells with Aunt Cayce. I really need to teach him more Christmas songs next year.

Great Granddaddy and Great Grandmama. How cute are they?

Caleb lead us in a few more Christmas songs. Kate just loves dancing to any kind of music. I really need to record that soon!

Christmas Eve Eve

2012-01-09T20:42:00.005-05:00

On Christmas Eve Eve we always do Christmas with Pops (Ben's dad) and Amy and Molly and their families. It is always so fun and crazy and too short! I wish we had several days to spend with everyone at Christmas. Here are a few pictures of our time there:

Kate getting into something as usual. I'm pretty sure she's holding a remote.

Braden and Tobin having dinner.

Every year before we open gifts Pops read the Christmas story from the Bible. I love how he tries to focus the attention on the true meaning of Christas even though the kids are squirming with excitement about gifts!

I thought this was cute. Aidan, Lincoln and my B

Kate running with excitement to show me her new Camelbak cup. She is in love!

Braden got a Leapster Explorer. He is finally getting the hang of how to play it and is loving it.

Kate got this Fur Real pet named Cookie. It's the first thing she looks for when she comes downstairs in the morning. And she squeals "Dog!" It turns it's head and growls and barks and whines and pants. She flips out every time it does anything! I would have never picked this toy but Pops knew what he was doing!

I love this intense face. It must take serious concentration!

Cruise

2011-12-26T16:35:00.010-05:00

Well, Ben just graduated from grad school. He is now a Nurse Practioner and I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard the last 2.5 years to get here. We missed his graduation ceremony so we could go on a cruise to celebrate the end of school and the beginning of, hopefully, much more time together as a family. I didn't take many pictures, but I will never forget this trip as long as I live. I had the hardest time leaving the kids for six nights, but after about a day I got used to the idea of no cooking or cleaning, sleeping until 9 and tons of alone time with Ben!

Here is the stack of books (minus 1) that we took with us. It was ambitious, but I just wasn't sure which one I wanted to start with. We each finished 1 and started our 2nd on the boat.

We drove most of the way to Charleston on Tuesday night. Here is Ben at our hotel in Columbia, SC.

On our way to Charleston to get on the boat. I had such mixed emotions. I was so excited for some tropical weather and rest, but did not like the idea of having no contact with the kids for so long. I called them right before we boarded the ship and Braden was like "Hey, love ya, Bye!" I felt better knowing he was having fun with his cousins and not missing us at all!

View of Cooper River Bridge from the boat.

View of downtown Charleston from the boat.

Sun setting as we take off.

So excited!

I kind of forgot it was December while we were on the ship. It felt like Summer outside and you felt like you were at the beach. It was really fun to see little reminders like this and know that even when the cruise is over, we had lots to look forward to.

Ready for dinner! Thank goodness for the self timer or my arm would be in every picture!

What is it about turn down service that I love? The towel animals are fun and I always thought "the kids would love this!" Something about freshly fluffed linens is so inviting. Maybe that is why we slept so much!

Beautiful blue water in Nassau.

In Nassau we got off the ship and took a cab to Paradise Island. We walked around Atlantis for a while and checked it out and then went to a local public beach and relaxed and read and napped. Then we walked around some shops and ate lunch.

Johnny Rockets. Home of the $15 burger..we shared! :)

A side view of Atlantis

Holly, this is for you! A bench made to look like an ice cream sundae. It wasn't zoomed out far enough to see the whole thing, but I was too embarrassed to take another one.

It was Christmas in the Bahamas too!

The taxi ride back to the ship took about three times as long as the one to get to the beach. The drivers there are crazy and traffic was awful. Needless to say, I was so glad to see this sign and get back on our ship!

The brand new Disney Dream parked beside us at port. Yet another time I thought of the kids and how I hope we can do that when they are older.

We did absolutely everything there was to do on the ship, including all the water slides! Here is Ben about to slide.

I have no idea how is legs got way up in the air. It was fun racing down this slide side by side.

Freeport from the ship...the only way we saw it. We decided to stay on the ship and just relax that day.

Carnival Water Works...so much fun!

Ben cannot make a normal face in our pictures!

One night they made it snow in the lobby area and sang Christmas carols. It was really fun and made me excited for Christmas when we got back!

This area is called Serenity. It was for adults only, in the back of the ship, had two hot tubs and really comfy chairs and was our favorite hang out! This was the last day so we had to order our favorite drinks and soak in the last little bit of sun!

Our waiters Deni and Gustav. They were so sweet and took great care of us. We had our own table, which is a rarity on a cruise ship. I loved not having to be social at dinner! ha ha. I wish I was about to go eat dinner there and not cook right now! :)

Singing us a farewell song. All the wait staff entertained us nightly with songs and dances. That's not so different from real life, only the kids usually do the entertaining.

Last night of turndown service. Our room was such a mess, but I had to get a picture of our room before we left. When we first walked in I was like this room is tiny and claustrophobic. But I grew to love it and would love to go back right now!

This was actually the sunrise our last morning. We got off the ship around 7am on our last day. It was so pretty seeing the sun come up over one of my favorite cities. I would have been tempted to hang around any other time, but I could hardly wait to get back to my babies. Again, I had such mixed emotions. We had so much fun and I did not want our trip to be over, but at the same time I was ready to get back and see the kids and have Christmas.

We are so thankful we got to do this trip! It will probably be years before we even think about another vacation alone. Thank you to Amy, Pops, Cayce, Connie and Carol for all your help with the kids! Thanks for feeding them, changing diapers, cleaning up their messes, bathing them, playing with them, doing fun things with them. They had so much fun with each of you and Braden is ready for us to go somewhere again. Now that I've had a few days back in real life I would gladly go again! :)

Swimming in December

2011-12-06T09:03:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we had an unseasonably warm day. It was so weird...70s and humid. Anyway, the kids had a great time playing outside while Ben cleaned the cars and I organized toys inside. I looked out the window to find this. I had forgotten we left the baby pool out a few weeks ago after it housed our pansies. A little cold water and potting soil never hurt anyone!

Christmas Cards

2011-11-28T22:26:00.002-05:00

We love Christmas cards! Each year we probably get 50 cards and display them in our card holder. I love this picture of Braden from 2 years ago checking out the assortment. This year we are ordering our cards from Tiny Prints. It was so hard to narrow it down, but we finally decided on one. Check your mailboxes soon!

California Day 8&9

2011-11-15T13:08:00.004-05:00

Our last day in California we just hung out by the pool. It was nice to have one more day of relaxation before traveling back to the real world.

Grandmama and Kate hanging out on the stairs

Two kids can fit in the float!

Our last night we got to play one more game of Catan.

When it gets ugly, I just turn up the bottle! ;)

Alas, the time came for us to fly back. We were sad to leave and sad to face 5 more hours of flying with the kids! Fortunately the way home went much more smoothly than the way there. Kate contained to a carseat helped tremendously!

The boys! Braden couldn't be bothered to look at the camera. He was too busy scoping out the flight attendants so they could get him some root beer!

Success! Kate slept...only 20 or so minutes, but she did sleep! Notice how close the seat in front was. The lady reclined all the way and Kate kept kicking her seat. I felt bad, but the seat beside her was empty so she could have moved or not reclined.

In Dalls waiting on our final flight. I took Kate to the bathroom to change her diaper between flights and the girl on the other changing table asked if we were flying to Hawaii. I felt like a loser when I said "No, just Knoxville." ha ha! But I really was happy to be going home. I was just jealous of all the people near our gate about to go to Hawaii.

This is from my phone, so excuse the poor quality. This is our "last flight...woohoo!" face.

What a wonderful trip! I really was so thankful that we got to take such an amazing trip. We saw lots of great things and got to spend lots of time with Granddaddy and Grandmama and check out where they are living. Carl and Carol, thank you so much for flying us out there and letting us take over your place for over a week. We had such a great time! I was sad looking through these pictures again to blog because I hate that it's over. But as much fun as it is to visit new places, we can't wait to have you back in Tennessee! Love you both!

Day 7 - Sequoia National Park

2011-11-12T15:49:00.010-05:00

On Monday morning, we left Yosemite and drove a couple of hours to Sequoia National Park. Just so you know, no picture can accurately show how huge these trees are! I was so excited to get to see them in person.

I took this picture because my Grandmother's brother's (my great uncle) name was John Muir. I'm pretty sure it's not the same one, though! ;)

Another picnic lunch!

Poor Kate, always confined to the stroller!

The sign is neat because it explains this fallen tree and how early settlers used this tree for settlers and when they designated this area Grant Grove in 1890, they used it as camp for employees. That made it more fun that we got to go in.

Standing in the Fallen Monarch

You can walk all the way through it.

From inside looking out.

This was the only tree that you could walk this close to. Braden is demonstrating just how big this tree is. Notice the burn marks on the bottom.

See, I was there too!

I couldn't get the sign and the tree all in one picture. Nor could I get the whole tree in the picture. It is the 2nd largest Giant Sequoia in the world.

There she is! See, it doesn't fit, but you get the idea.

Believe it or not, these are baby Sequoia trees and in a few thousand years, they too will be as big as the others. Isn't that crazy!

Don't make me get back in my carseat!

So...there was road construction leaving the park. If you time it just right there can be up to an hour wait. Well, we timed it just right! We were the 2nd car in line waiting our turn to go. So we had a 45 minute break. We had been in the car so much already I wasn't sure how the kids would do. The adults could get out of the car, but about one foot out of my door was a huuuuuge drop off. I was not letting those kids out of their carseats! Ben and Granddaddy were brave and got snacks and beverages out of the back for us. Thankfully, Grandmam packed some of my wine! And the kids didn't seem to mind the wait at all.

And even thought it was close to 100 degrees in Bakersfield and pretty warm in the parks, in the distance we did see snow. It's hard to see, but there in that distant mountain range you can see it. Never seen snow in August before!

California Day 6 - Yosemite

2011-11-12T14:52:00.012-05:00

On Sunday (August 21 -wow, I'm behind!) we left Bakersfield, CA and headed for Yosemite National Park. It was so beautiful! We had a picnic lunch and then drove arond the park to see the sights. It made we want to go camping...and I am not a camper! However, I can see us camping there for a week and riding bikes and canoeing and seeing something new every day! I would love to go back for longer, but we sure enjoyed our one day there!

My cutie pie on our long trip to Yosemite.

Three hour car rides make us grumpy! :)

There were tons of these pretty blue birds (not their technical name ha ha) where we picniced.

"Come on Mom, enough pictures already!"

Braden and Grandmama walking down to the water.

Favorite picture of Kate to date! Squish!

The water was still freezing (the snow had barely melted and it was August!)

Grandaddy and Kate

Kate and Grandmama

I forget the name but this the spot where all tourists stop to take pictures. You can see Half Dome in the background.

Obligatory family photo in front of pretty scenery

Bridalvale Falls

This may be inappropriate...but "when nature calls..."

Hi!

Half Dome

Isn't this field so pretty? I want to camp right in the middle.

Yosemite Falls

My boys checking out the falls. All the falls were very small this time of year because there was no snow melting. Earlier in the summer we would have gotten soaked if we stood there.

Enjoying the view....or happy to be out of the car!

Cheeeeeese!

Now that is a big rock!

View leaving the park

Another gorgeous view!

After we left the park we checked into our hotel and had some Mexican for dinner. Then everyone else went to the pool while I tried to get Kate to sleep.

California Day 5

2011-09-27T21:53:00.008-04:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting about our California trip. It's not as easy to blog at home where I have responsibilities and no grandparents to help! :)

On Saturday, Granddaddy wanted to take Braden fishing. We headed to a nearby park for a very short fishing trip. It was just so hot, but Granddaddy was determined to catch a fish!

Getting ready.

I love this shot! Such a cute little guy.

Granddaddy accidentally threw the fishing rod in while casting. I had to get a picture. It was just too funny!

Kate just worked on her tan and looked cute while the boys fished.

So after we had all given up hope of catching a fish and starting packing up, Granddaddy would not give up. Thankfully he finally caught this little guy and made it worth the trip. Braden was excited, but did not want to touch it!

Carl, thanks for going through all the trouble to take Braden fishing. He had a great time and made a fun memory!

California Day 4

2011-08-20T20:37:00.007-04:00

On Friday we spent the day at Ventura Beach. It was a 2 hour drive there, but we saw beautiful scenery along the way. Bakersfield is very flat, but everywhere you look there are mountains in the distance. We got to drive through some of those mountains and they were so pretty.

Kate did not appreciate her beautiful surroundings. Instead she took a little cat nap.

When we first arrived at the beach the morning haze had not burned off yet. We had a picnic on the beach and by the time lunch was over there were blue skies. It turned out to be a beautiful day!

Wake up, Daddy!

This nasty pelican walked right up to us. Turns out he was injured, but still told him to get lost.

Working on a sand castle with Grandaddy

The finished product.

I love how you can see mountains from the beach.

After a full day at the beach we walked across the street to the marina and shops for dinner. The kids were so tired from not napping that we didn't get to stay for very long.

What a cute octopus.

My three favorite people!

Beautiful!

Grandmama trying to entertain the tired baby!

Our view from dinner.

It was such a fun day! The kids didn't make it five minutes down the road before falling asleep. I am loving California! It is just so different from the east coast. No humidity, no winter, beautiful views. It doesn't even rain from March-October here in Bakersfield! Sounds like my kind of place!

California Day 3

2011-08-20T13:02:00.005-04:00

On Thursday we stayed around Bakersfield. Grandmama, Ben and Braden went to a local park to play and stomp around in the creek. While there they saw these frogs that were between and tadpole and a frog. They had 2 front legs but still had their tail. That was a highlight for Braden. He has been talking about them ever since. After the park they needed to cool down in the pool so we did that for a bit. Ben and I made a Target run during nap time and I had my first ever iced coffee...yum! Anyway, when Grandaddy got home he grilled shrimp, chicken and veggies. We had a delicious dinner and then went back to the hot tub for a bit. While we were in the hot tub a fox crossed through the pool area. I have never seen a fox so close, so that was neat. It was a low key day, but so feels like vacation!

Playing in the creek with Gmama

Silly face...surprise, surprise!

Daddy's girl

Sharing his Caprisun...warms my heart!

Grilling with Grandaddy...well waiting with him anyway!

Bedtime routine with Grandmama.

California Day 2

2011-08-18T13:32:00.004-04:00

Wednesday was a day of rest here in California. We all slept in, had a leisurely breakfast and headed to the pool for a while. Grandaddy works so close he comes home for lunch so we had lunch with him, followed by very long naps. We had to wake both kids up after 3 hours so they would sleep at night. Then we had more pool time and dinner and baths and early bed time. Hopefully we are all on west coast time and can function past 6pm the rest of the week! Here are a few pictures I snapped on G-mama's camera:

Peekaboo with Grandmama

LOVE this picture!

We love having Daddy around all day everyday!

Nap please!

California Day 1

2011-08-18T12:19:00.005-04:00

Tuesday was a big day for the Blanton family. We departed Knoxville at1:45 and headed first to Dallas. The kids did really well on the first leg of our flight. It took 2 hours and 15 minutes and neither kid slept for a minute. I wish I had gotten a good picture of Ben and Braden but I was busy every second entertaining Kate and trying to keep her in her seat. As you can see they did not allow her carseat on the plane (we are going to fight harder for that on the way home). We arrived in Dallas at 3 local time and our next flight wasn't for an hour and a half. Our stroller was 2 pounds over the limit so we had to check it so we had to carry Kate and her carseat and our 4 carry on bags about a mile across the airport. We were all so tired and the kids needed to nap so bad by this time that sitting around the airport proved very difficult. Everyone waiting was looking at us and I was dreading the 3 hour flight to Los Angeles. Thankfully Kate did take a small nap on the second flight and I was able to relax for a bit. All in all the trip was good. It could have been way worse! It wasn't easy, but we made it. I'm not evening thinking about the flight home yet! Here are a few picture from the first flight:

I got to sit with this cutie all day.

Checking out her new surroundings.

I hate this picture is dark. I was trying to sneak a pic of Braden between the seats but the seat blocked my flash. He was so cute sipping his Root Beer through a tiny straw. The plane was all quiet with people reading and sleeping and Braden screams as loud as he can "This is the best day EBER!" Everyone laughed and I was glad I got to share this "first" with him.

"Must you take a picture of everything?"

So we arrived at LAX at 5:45 (8:45 our time) and found Grandmama waiting for us at the baggage claim. She was so thoughtful and had the kids some chicken nuggets and fries knowing they would be hungry. We had snacked all day but a meal was very much appreciated! From the airport we drove straight to Santa Monica Pier. We knew LA traffic would be horrible so there was no need sitting in it when we could have fun instead. My college roommate, Lisa and her husband live close by and met us there. We had dinner at Bubba Gumps and then walked around the pier and let the kids ride some rides. This was about 10pm our time so the kids had turned to zombies, especially Braden. Kate just loved all the lights and people and was having a good ol' time!

Grandaddy and Braden

Grandmama and Kate

There were tons of big rides around that cost $5 each to ride, but my son picks this 50 cent ride! That's my boy!

He also rode these airplanes. It was so funny because he just rode around staring into space. The poor boy was so tired! He had not napped at all and it was 11pm to him.

Checking out the roller coaster.

Scott, Lisa and Kate. It was so good to see Scott and Lisa! I had not seen Lisa since Braden was a baby so it was great catching up and spending some time with them. I kept thinking that it was so weird that we were all together hanging out in California! What a long and tiring and fun day!

So we drove to Grandaddy and Grandmama's house and finally got everyone in bed at 11:30 pacific time! That is 2:30 Knoxville time. Whew! Of course Braden woke up with night terrors due to his lack of sleep, but we all got to sleep in the next morning.

Scary Monster

2011-06-29T08:09:00.002-04:00

May

2011-06-27T14:37:00.009-04:00

Now that June is almost over, I guess it's time to blog our May happenings. Better late than never!

Kate and Henley

We went to Dollywood a couple times in May. Kate and I got to watch a lot!

I can't believe how big Kate looks in these pictures.

This boy loves the Scrambler!

Watching Daddy ride the Barnstormer.

I hope you can zoom in on this picture to see Ben's face. He said it was so scary!

We found a new playground this time.

Kate loves black beans!

On Mother's Day Braden came in from church, went straight to the fridge and brought me a Diet Coke. He smiled real big and said happy mothers day! How sweet is that? I love how he does unprompted things like this all the time now.

Mother's Day at Wasabi...my favorite place!

Picking strawberries with Aunt Katie!

Kate enjoyed testing the strawberries for us! She was a mess when we left!

Silas and Katie

On Ben's birthday we went for a family bike ride. It was so fun!

Along the way we stopped and let the kids play at a playground.

That night Ben took Braden to the father/son campout at church. Braden had a blast and stayed up until midnight!

Ben called me at 11:30 and said "he's still awake!" I laughed and said good luck!

While Ben had a few weeks off of school we went to the beach. Here we are having a picnic at a rest area.

Braden enjoying his superman ice cream.

Kate was excited for ice cream too!

Both kids loved the beach!

The only family picture of the whole trip!

Best buddies enjoying lunch together.

Kate is turning out to be silly just like her brother! :)

Kate's Birthday Party

2011-05-08T13:51:00.022-04:00

We had so much fun at Kate's birthday party. We decided to do it super small since she really doesn't care yet and we had just done Braden's party two weeks before. I think next year we will combine! Parties are a lot of work, but so worth it! I think my dad has a few more pictures that I will add later.

Cupcakes and Kate's cute smash cake, courtesy of Scrumdidlyumptious!

My lovely cookie boquet! These were so fun to make!

Almost too pretty to eat!

Jacob

Kate snuggling with Aunt Becky

Uncle Andy playing with the boys before the party.

Birthday girl all dressed up!

Jacob driving

Kate and GrandJan swinging

Henley Jane sporting her party favor headband!

LOVE this girl!

Ally filling up the water table. Last picture with dry kids. :)

The husbands

Caleb either loved Henley or the exersaucer!

Then he got stuck!

Cutie!

The water table was a hit. This was the last time it was played with before the storm demolished it!

Kate and Ally

Silly boys!

Happy Birthday to Kate!

Sweet brother singing to her.

Showing her how it's done! ;)

I crack up every time I see this picture! Fatty!

The smash cake was smashed!

My little piggy!

Proud Mommy and Daddy

The boys loved their cupcakes...especially the icing!

Finally some girl toys...thank you, Aunt Becky!

So polite to open her cards first!

The box is always the most fun!

Aunt Katie and Silas

Ryan and Ben with their girls! Soon to be BFF!

Hilarious boys!

Our Big Storm

2011-04-30T13:26:00.007-04:00

Last Wednesday we had severe storms in the South! After watching the news, our damage seems like nothing compared to those in Alabama. We are thankful God spared us from major tornadoes that night. I have never experienced a storm like this in my life! It was very windy and stormy all day, but no big deal until around 8. We were watching American Idol and kept seeing tornado warnings and severe storm warnings, etc. The lights flickered but that was about it. We put Kate to bed and were starting to get Braden ready for bed too. Ben opened the front door to see how bad it was out there. We were both looking out when the first tiny hail started. My first thought was "lets throw a quilt on the 4runner!" Maybe I should have, although it would have blown off for sure. Anyway, in a matter of seconds the size of hail went from pea to golf ball and bigger. I was in the door comforting Braden because the sound was so loud he was scared. I was scared too. I couldn't hear what Ben was saying, but he evidently saw hail coming sideways and thought this isn't good. Before I knew it he was up the stairs grabbing Kate out of bed and we were all getting in the coat closet. The thing was, it was just so loud that you couldn't hear if there was a big, loud tornado coming at all. So I sat their huddled with my little family in the closet thinking "if there is a tornado, we are goners!" I had visions of tiny Kate being stripped from my arms and sucked out the closet door! It was terrifying for a few minutes. Once the hail stopped we came out and were shocked at the state of our yard. It looked like it was covered in snow. Hail is so weird! It's so strange to see "huge ice balls" (as Braden calls them) when it's warm outside. Round two came with bigger hail and poor Kate was forced out of bed again! Thankfully, that was the worst of our storms! We stayed up late to make sure we didn't need to run to the closet again. It was crazy to see our neighborhood the next morning. We fared better than others like the house down the street with a tree through it! Here are some pictures we have taken since the storm.

We could hardly get our back door open. It was practically frozen shut. This was after round 1. We were too shocked to think of pictures after round 2!

Big hail!

The deck was covered!

The siding is full of holes.

Attic fan slightly beat up and leaking water into our bathroom. Looks like we are getting a new roof. That's exciting!

Lost a tree.

And a water table!

The grill got beat up, but still works.

More busted siding shot.

Poor 4runner!

Is this safe to drive?

Happy Birthday, Kate!

2011-04-30T09:36:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was Kate's birthday. We were supposed to be in Chattanooga, but the storm messed up our cars and left us lots to do at home. (I will post those pictures soon!) We still had a fun day! Her party was last weekend so she has been celebrated plenty, but I still wanted her actual birthday to be fun too! Ben had to take his final exam in the morning and we had our small group in the evening. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Birthday banana muffins. This girls loves muffins! Really all carbs...like her mom!

We ate at Tropical Smoothie Cafe, which I love! She had her first smoothie and was a huge fan! She managed to only get a little on her shirt!

"Must you document everything?"

Then we went to Toys R Us to buy a new water table since ours was torn about by hail! The kids had gift cards so it worked out great.

My cute little three and one year olds!

Kate, we love you so very much! You are the little girl I never knew I always wanted! I wanted all boys...or so I thought! But now I so insanely crazy over my little girl. I love her 2 tooth smile, I love when she laughs hysterically when Braden tickles her, I love how her hair is always a mess, I love how she pulls my chin over to make sure I'm looking at her when I hold her, I love dressing her all girly, I love how she is so dramatic, I love the 5 seconds a day she snuggles me, I love being Kate's mommy! What a wonderful year!

Braden's Third Birthday

2011-04-07T21:25:00.012-04:00

We started the day with some balloons.

Then round one of gifts and cards.

An early morning birthday song from Aunt Holly.

Number "3" pancakes.

Kate enjoyed the pancakes too.

The cove with our birthday buddy, Leah. She is four today!

"Hooray for birthdays!"

Striking a pose.

Jillian and Kate

Kate loves Mrs. Alison

Beautiful day for a birthday!

PlayDoh to help ward off post nap grumpiness.

Presents Part 2: "My own fishing pole!"

Fishing with Daddy (I love this picture and these guys!)

We headed to another park for dinner, fishing and cupcakes.

Kate was a trooper. She mostly gnawed on french fries. Don't judge me! :)

Happy Birthday to you!

Kate still chilling in the stroller.

The Stanleys met us at the park for cupcakes and playing.

Love these cuties!

I think Braden had a great birthday! He said his favorite part was the cupcakes...surprise, surprise! We sure love this little guy and thank God for him daily!

February

2011-04-04T15:51:00.008-04:00

Well, it's April and I'm finally posting pictures from February. If there are still readers of this blog I am sorry for my lack of posts! What can I say? Life is busy and blogging is at the bottom of the list. Here are the few pictures I took in February.

Hanging with the Hughes!

Henley and Kate: best friends!

Kate is ready for Henley to sit up and play with her.

My morning snugglebugs!

Braden with his letter projects. We started out strong and have since slowed down. Spring weather came and we have been outside every day we can since!

Story time at the library! A fun cold day activity.

On "C" week we went to Cities Cupcakes! Fun and delicious!

Kate's mohawk. She still has some cradle cap so I lathered her up with lotion in an attempt to help it. It didn't work but it made for a cute picture!

I found this stinker digging in the diaper bag. She is into ev-er-y-thing these days!

Old news now, but I found Kate like this one morning. Don't judge me, but we still haven't moved the crib down! It's a big job and Ben is busy and I don't know how. Soon!

I will try to get March pictures up soon since April is a big month around here! There will be many posts to come!

Kate says "Hi"

2011-02-23T08:57:00.002-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T20:25:00.003-05:00

Ben and I were going to go on a date this evening, but then we decided that a family night sounded fun since we haven't seen a lot of Ben lately. We went to Brixx for pizza and then went to the mall for our annual photobooth picture. We have only missed one year since Valentine's 2005! They didn't turn out great, but I still love it. Braden also got a big M&M cookie. He decided Valentine's is a pretty fun holiday. I'm afraid he's going to be like me and enjoy any reason to celebrate!

January Recap

2011-02-09T22:23:00.011-05:00

January always seems to last forever! It's cold and the kids are sick a lot and you are stuck inside. But as I was looking at our month in pictures it looks like we had fun and made memories! I'm thankful for the snow days as well as the few days that were warm enough to play outside. We even enjoyed the cold, rainy days. Enjoy our month in pictures!

One of the semi-warm days of the month. Kate loves to be outside!

Kate looking like a fatty! Her face looks thinner even from this picture! Sad.

Braden has loved his scooter he got for Christmas. We even let him ride inside sometimes.

Both kids were sick the first half of the month. I think Braden enjoyed the extra pampering and special snacks.

Oh, snow! I just have to bundle the kids up and go outside in the snow, even if they are sick.

Sweet Ben got home from working a 12 hour shift and took Braden sledding. What a sweet Daddy!

Once we were all well Allyson and I got to trade kids again. The boys love snack and Sesame Street time!

Another outside scooting day!

We got Braden some rain boots because everyone needs rain boots...and for the next time it snows! Well Braden was determined to get dressed up and go outside to splash in puddles. I told him it was cold, he didn't care. This picture is so funny because this is as far as he made it. He stood on the deck and looked inside. Finally he asked to come inside.

We have been learning a letter each week. This was "A" week and Braden was practicing writing his "A's". This boy is one smart cookie!

Picnic dinner and watching Despicable Me. Fun times with the fam!

Braden's morning "Kate holding" time. It usually ends with tickling and screaming. Love these two.

Kate is on the move! They don't stay immobile long enough!

A day at the park!

Kate got two teeth this month. The first on the 15th and the second on the 19th.

Letter of the Week

2011-02-08T17:03:00.002-05:00

Goodbye Paci!

2011-01-15T20:30:00.002-05:00

Braden is finally paci-free! I know you all thought the day would never come. So did I. We had no real plans of trying to get rid of it any time soon. We discussed sometime after Christmas, but then we decided he would eventually do it on his own. Honestly, I dreaded it more than anyone. I was the one who would suffer every nap and night time. But on Tuesday (January 11) Braden had his paci downstairs (which we tried not to allow) and I took it away and put it up on the fridge. He fell on the kitchen floor screaming "I want it!" I thought to myself "this is a problem!" But then it became nap time and of course I gave it to him and he slept 3.5 hours! THAT is why I didn't take it away. I knew his sleep would never be the same. But over dinner we talked about what a big boy he was and how Kate takes a paci because she is a baby and that he is so big he probably didn't need his anymore and he agreed. I told him if he made it all night that he could have a doughnut. Sold! So Ben comes home from dinner and we agreed to try but did nothing drastic like throw them all away! We ended up giving him one we cut the end off of and he complained it was broken and that he bit it off. We said sorry and to try to go to sleep. He did cry and whine a little. But then he just played in his room. We heard him up as late as 11 but since he wasn't crying we just let him play until he finally got tired enough and got in bed and went to sleep. He slept all the way until 7! I was so happy. Then he cried about five minutes at nap time the next day and by the night when we did our night time routine he told Ben "I don't need a paci!" And that was that. He has hardly even asked about having one since then. I'm so proud of him and cannot believe it was so easy. If I had known it wouldn't be a big deal I would have done it long ago. His naps have been about half as long so that is very sad to me! Somedays I'm tempted to just throw him a paci and say go back to sleep! Ha ha! What can I say? I LOVE nap time! But I love my boy more and am thankful that it was such an easy transition. The Lord certainly answered our prayers! Sorry for such a long story, but I wanted to remember this one day.

Raspberries

2011-01-12T09:28:00.002-05:00

Welcome to meal time at our house!

Singer/Songwriter: Braden Blanton

2011-01-11T20:25:00.004-05:00

This is how we've been spending all these days in the house. I made up songs about Braden and Kate and then my sweet boy made a song about me.

Christmas Day

2010-12-27T15:53:00.005-05:00

This year we decided that we wanted to have Christmas at our own house. I'm so glad we did. It was so much fun having the day with our family! After all our Christmas festivities in Nashville we drove back to Knoxville and got home around 11pm on Christmas Eve. Ben and I quickly put away all our stuff piled in our car and prepared the house for Christmas morning. Surprisingly it only took us an hour. What a special day filled with gifts, snow, brunch, naps, dinner out and a birthday party for Jesus! I forgot my camera at the restaurant, but I captured a little of the rest of the day. I may post videos later if I can find clips that aren't too long.

All ready for Christmas morning.

Opening stockings.

B and his new bike!

So funny that they made the same facial expression.

My two cutie pies!

Enjoying his dry erase table from Pops.

All dressed up for dinner.

Birthday cake for Jesus.

"Happy Birthday to you!"

Words you don't hear often: "Can I lick baby Jesus?"

Christmas 2010 was definitely the best one I can remember!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-27T15:09:00.005-05:00

On Christmas Eve we head to Grandmamma's house for brunch and gift opening. It was so fun having Grandmamma and Granddaddy in from California as well as all five siblings, spouses and ten cousins together.

Kate playing with Grandmamma's necklace.

Ben relaxing! :)

Kate helping Granddaddy open his present.

Braden excited about his gifts!

When I came across this dress of Kates I remembered that I had a bow tie of Braden's that would match. That meant a photo shoot of Kate and her cousin, Lincoln! He is just two months older and such a cutie!

So sweet!

Two cuties in front of the tree!

Loving her new ride! Thank you, Grandmamma!

(Evidently we only took pictures of Kate this day. Sorry!)

Christmas Eve Eve

2010-12-26T14:37:00.005-05:00

On Christmas Eve Eve we always go to Pops' house to celebrate Christmas. It is always a fun evening where we eat way too much and open gifts and the kids go crazy!

The kids could hardly wait to open gifts!

Molly was so excited about her stocking stuffers!

Brent and Abbey

My three favorites!

Amy

Kate opening her very first Christmas gift!

Avery

Atticus looking thrilled about his gun!

What is it?

A scooter!

The aftermath

Kate and her celery!

One of my favorite things was Collin and Nolan performing for us! Here is Collin on the piano.

And Nolan playing the guitar and singing. So sweet!

Chatterbox

2010-12-22T19:43:00.003-05:00

A Girl on the Move

2010-12-21T16:37:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately Kate has figured out that she does not have to sit in one place any longer. She's been on the move for about a month and in the last few days she has even made her way from the living room into the kitchen to find me. So sad! Now I must keep my floor clean. Booooo!

The Best Buddies Band

2010-12-14T11:03:00.002-05:00

Sorry for all the videos! First the snow, then Braden and Gavin made a band. I had to share. Of course they never do it as good once you bring out the video camera. Enjoy two silly boys!

Snow Balls

2010-12-13T15:06:00.002-05:00

Snow Day

2010-12-13T11:19:00.003-05:00

I love listening to Braden's little voice and laugh. My favorite part of the video is: It's "veddy" cold!

BFFs

2010-12-12T17:44:00.003-05:00

These two love each other! One of my favorite things is when we are riding in the car and they are just cracking up at each other. Since Kate is still facing backwards they look right at each other. Kate will make a funny noise and then Braden does it back and then Kate does it back and so on. They are both giggling so hard! One day I was at a stoplight and they were doing this and I just wanted to freeze that moment and remember it always. I know they will fight as they grow up. Why do people always remind of you of that? Can't I just enjoy them now? I pray they have many close friends as they grow up, but I hope that they are always best friends with each other (and any other siblings that may come along). What a special gift from God!

Care Group Christmas Party

2010-12-11T21:16:00.004-05:00

We had our Care Group Christmas Party on Friday. It was a lot of fun. We were supposed to wear "cheesy" Christmas sweaters. It was so hard to take anyone serious when they were dressed like that. Especially my husband! We also did a "white elephant" gift exchange and ate the most delicious food ever! Here are the few pictures I did take.

Braden's shirt was about 5 times too big so it didn't last long. Ben is too funny!

The whole group (minus Timothy who was having fun playing upstairs). I wish the self timer hadn't made it blurry!

Ben's idea: everyone do a cheesy smile!

White elephant. Emma got a tea maker! But it was later stolen.

The Cummings kids brought lots of toys as their gifts so Braden racked up. He is enjoying this Mickey doll. Today he put him in a diaper and then had me fix him a sippy cup of water and then he went to put him in his bed. Braden's excuse to get out of bed tonight was that Mickey's diaper was wet. Ha ha!

The kids decorating their ginger bread houses.

We are really enjoying our small group! We didn't even know most of these people until August, but the Lord is knitting our hearts together. We are so blessed to get to share life and learn more about God with these guys and girls.

Braden taking a big bite of his house today.

Santa Pictures

2010-12-08T16:13:00.004-05:00

This picture makes me laugh so hard! I saw that Bass Pro Shop was giving away free pictures with Santa. Of course I cannot pass up free so we went the other night. It was really fun and Braden was not scared at all. I told him that Santa would ask what he would want for Christmas and he said he would say "candy canes!" Easy enough! So when it was our turn he jogged on over to Ol' St. Nick and sat in his lap. He doesn't look too sure in the picture. Kate was not sure about this man either. Here are a few more pictures from the evening.

Both kids loved the fish tank.

My sweet girl!

Bath Buddies

2010-12-01T20:40:00.001-05:00

Today was the first of many baths together! I love how these two LOVE each other!

Shutterfly

2010-11-22T20:50:00.002-05:00

As most of you know Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love the music and decorations and food and gifts and parties...the list goes on and on! One thing I love is giving and receiving Christmas cards. I love hanging them up and looking at all our friends and families' pictures throughout the holiday season. Photo cards are my favorite!

This year I am ordering our cards from Shutterfly. I have had so many good experiences with them in the past. I have ordered a photo book, a photo mug, a calendar, and tons of prints over the years. I've been pleased with everything I have ordered. You can imagine how excited I was to hear I could get 50 free holiday cards just by blogging about them!

If you have a blog and are interested in getting your own free cards go here.

And be checking your mail! You should be receiving a very cute card from the Blantons soon!

The Cheeks

2010-11-19T16:08:00.003-05:00

Sometimes they are more than I can take! You do...sometimes you DO have to squeeze them!

And the double chin!

A Picture Post

2010-11-15T22:49:00.005-05:00

Sweet Braden posing for me.

Carving our pumpkin with a Dremmel tool. Ha ha! Only Ben!

Our trick or treaters: Henley the freshly hatched chick, Kate the sleepy flower, Braden the Army man (aka Uncle Andy) and Gavin the farmer

Two and a half years old and his first time playing with Play Doh.

My big baby in the swing.

Oh Kate! You spoil me. Thanks for still loving to swing while I cook dinner.

Bed head!

Laurel came to play a couple weeks ago. They had a great time playing...

And eating doughnuts....

And watching Toy Story 3. Then we all took a nap! Fun times!

"Braden, write only on the paper!"

Two little buddies playing while I get ready. Note Braden's shirt half tucked in his underwear. Love these kids!

Kate's first pony tail! Poor girl only has action figures to play with!

Six Months

2010-10-29T14:56:00.007-04:00

What can I say about our Kathryn Lillias? One thing is for sure, her short six months of life has flown by! It really is going much faster than it did with Braden. I am enjoying Kate so very much! I love her huge gummy smile, her coos, her slobbery kisses and her squinty eyes. She really is happy most of the time...but be very afraid if you catch her in the rare instance she isn't. This girl has quite a set of lungs! Her scream is so loud! In the night when she wakes up, there is no letting her "cry it out." Once she gets worked up, she will scream for an hour or more. I'd much rather just feed her and go back to sleep in ten minutes. Once in a while she will sleep through the night and thats good enough for me right now!

I have finally started feeding her baby food, sometimes. I must admit I'm not excited about it this go around. However, it must be done now! So far she hates rice cereal, thinks apples are too sour, but will eat pears. Poor second child has no pictures being fed yet. I will work on that! Kate can now sit up, roll all over the floor, get ahold of things you swore were out of her reach, put her paci in her mouth and copy lots of sounds you make. She used to be quite the smiler, but now she is starting to save more of those just for me, Ben and Braden. Now she likes to stare at strangers and figure them out rather than charm them with her smile.

Here are a few pictures of her sixth month of life in no particular order.

I love how content she is in the stroller. It makes life much easier. She likes to look out at observe the world.

Leave her alone for one minute and she gets herself into predicaments. I mean really, getting tangled in the blanket is understandable, but how did the wipe box get on her legs? Braden was asleep!

These two love each other!

Letting Kate take the 4runner for a spin! Only 15.5 years until she can drive!

She has the unique gift of falling asleep anywhere...even in the jumper!

My little friends!

They are just SO sweet!

Two words: Chunky Thighs!

New head band.

This girl loves to swing! She seriously will stay in it for an hour. Very helpful when I'm trying to coordinate their nap times!

I can't tell if she is going to be a thumb sucker or not. Some days she is all about it and others not so much. Either way, it's pretty cute!

What a wonderful six months it has been!

Today is the Day!

2010-10-28T15:57:00.004-04:00

Praise the Lord, Uncle Andy is home! We are thanking God for bringing him home safely from his second and FINAL deployment! We are aware not every soldier gets to come home so we thank God for protecting Andy.

"For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways!" -Psalm 91:11

Andy, THANK YOU for your years of service in the Army! Thank you for sacrificing time with your loved ones and risking your life to protect our great country!

Becky, THANK YOU for being a brave, supportive, faithful, loving and prayerful wife! What an example you are to me personally and to so many others!

Family Fun Day

2010-10-23T21:00:00.007-04:00

Today we spent some much needed family time at a Corn Maze. Of course, we didn't even do the corn maze, but we did do lots of other funs things. We saw lots of fun farm animails, rode a little train, jumped on the inflatables, picked a pumpkin and the highlight for Braden: riding a horse!

Checking out the goats. Unsure about them at first, but did pet them in the end.

Kate looking precious in the stroller.

I love this one! I always post smiling pictures because they are so cute, but you can never see her eyes! Well, here they are!

Braden riding the "train." He is on the orange car in the back.

Having the time of his life!

They had this sand box type thing full of corn. It was really neat, and much less messy than sand!

About to slide.

My boys!

So thankful for our little family of four!

Look at my big girl sitting up!

Looking more confident with one arm down.

Sweet.

He was running through the pumpkins but I made him do a quick turn for a picture.

I love how Braden is leaning toward Kate. That's usually what she does to him. He loves his sister!

Possibly my new favorite picture!

Future cowboy! Taking this very seriously.

He hasn't quit talking about his pony ride yet!

Time to go home. What a fun day!

Five Month Comparison

2010-10-06T16:04:00.003-04:00

Here is a quick comparison of the kids both in the exersaucer at five months. They definitely have the same shaped face and chubby cheeks, but are certainly looking different! I love that Kate is chewing on a super hero!

Dollywood

2010-09-27T14:38:00.011-04:00

We took Braden to Dollywood on his birthday back in April and we had a pretty good time. I was very pregnant and he wasn't feeling well. We haven't been back since because we had Kate just a couple weeks later and it's been hot, etc., etc. Last Friday we decided to go with my parents and we had so much fun. In fact, we had to leave early so Ben could leave town and we were so bummed because we were having so much fun. It was mostly fun watching Braden have the time of his life. I don't think he ever quit smiling. This is a lot of pictures, but I they were all so cute!

Even Kate had fun and didn't fuss one bit! I think she likes people watching.

GrandJan and Papa

Braden driving this pink car was the cutest thing! Look at the huge grin in every picture. Especially the last one!

I still cannot believe he rode the Scrambler! I would not even get on there! I came out of the bathroom and there they were. Daredevil!

The carousel with GJ.

The last ride of the day. We all rode together (along with a couple strangers). Braden wasn't too sure about the unexpected water in the face. Look how his hands covered his face the entire time. He said he had fun when it was over, but that is debatable!
A tired little boy!

And his worn out sister!

Bumbo and More

2010-09-05T15:04:00.004-04:00

Here are some random pictures from the past few weeks. They are pretty much in reverse order. Oh well.

Miss Kate enjoying her Bumbo seat.

Looking nice and plump.

Taking a nap with Daddy.

Kate with her Children's Ministry name tag. I forgot to take a picture the first time we left her there. This is probably more like the 5th.

Kate isn't the only one who enjoys sitting in the Bumbo!

Braden and his cousin, Tobin. This was the only picture I had from the Simmons' visit on this camera. I will post the mini golf pictures later.

We visited my sister, Becky a couple weeks ago. Here is the one and only picture of all four kids! This was the one and only time I think they were all still at the same time too!

A Conversation with Kate

2010-09-02T21:14:00.002-04:00

Just when you've given up on this blog I come up with a gem like this. Enjoy!

Getaway

2010-08-13T09:48:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago Ben and I went on a getaway to Chattanooga. Kate went with us, but we left the wild one! :) We had so much fun eating tons of food and sleeping in. Kate slept all night both nights and didn't wake up until after 8am! That was such a treat for me. Now she is waking up every hour, but I know she is capable of sleeping. Anyway, we didn't take many pictures, but here are a few.

While we were gone Braden had tag team babysitters. Meg watched him until Katie and Caleb got off work, then they had him two nights and Alison had him the last couple hours. Thanks to everyone! Here is proof that Braden missed us none at all!

Will She Be Curly?

2010-08-12T11:59:00.001-04:00

She sure is after her bath!

Our Cute Tadpole

2010-07-27T14:06:00.002-04:00

Pictures!

2010-07-21T07:16:00.005-04:00

I just realized I haven't posted many pictures lately. Every now and then I post a picture on facebook and forget to put it on the blog. So here you go!

Sweet little Kate. Can't even play on her mat alone. See the little hand and foot at the top of the picture?

Heaven forbid I take a picture without Braden in it. (Sorry about no pants on B! We are potty training and it is much easier with no pants! ha ha!)

The Sextons dropped by one day and all the kids wanted to hold Kate. I love how she is looking up at Jillian in this picture.

Kate was the center of attention. Except for Braden...looks like Leah had all his attention!

Smiley girl!

One day it was really rainy and there was no hope of us leaving the house so I just let Braden run crazy for a long time to get nice and tired for nap time. I was playing with my camera and trying to get action shots. Evidently I need to practice much more and he needs to slow down!

Like my skirt?

Never know when you might need a head lamp.

My babies!

My boys walking home from the pool. Ben takes Braden most days of the week so I can cook dinner or clean up or just have a quite moment. Very sweet!

Kate relaxing while I reorganized my kitchen cabinets. When we finish tiling the backsplash I will post before and after pictures of our kitchen!

We are so enjoying this little girl! Life is good!

picnik.com

2010-07-12T16:15:00.003-04:00

Have you ever used picnik.com? It is so fun to edit your pictures different ways and it is free! I was playing on there during nap time today and thought I would share this funny picture of B. His mouth is huge!

July 4, 2010

2010-07-07T14:23:00.004-04:00

We had a very fun July 4th weekend. The Robersons came up to visit since James and Judy hadn't met Kate yet. Growing up, their house was my second home so it's fun to get spend time with them.

On Saturday we did a little shopping.

Then we went back to their hotel for lunch and swimming. Here is James playing with Braden.

Braden enjoyed the indoor pool. Judy watched Kate while the rest of went swimming.

Holly bought the kids July 4th outfits so after naps we attempted a photoshoot.

This is the only picture I got of the two of them. Ha!

Aunt Holly and Baby Kate

Saturday night we dropped by the Hughes annual 4th of July party. Always a fun time, especially visiting with Joslynn!

Aunt Holly and Braden before church Grandma JuJu and Braden waiting for a table at Mimi's cafe.

Thanks for driving here to visit us! We love and miss you guys!

Happy Independence Day!

2010-07-04T15:22:00.003-04:00

Outer Banks

2010-06-23T20:57:00.012-04:00

We had a great trip to the Outer Banks this year. It took me two hours to upload these pictures and get them in chronological order. Maybe another evening I will add captions, but for now here are the pictures. Enjoy!

I Love These Kids!

2010-06-22T21:34:00.004-04:00

I have lots of pictures from our trip to the Outer Banks to post. However, I don't have the energy tonight! Instead, I will leave you with these sweet pictures of my little boy and girly.

Aunt Becky bought the kids these shirts before Kate arrived. She can finally fit in hers, so I had to get a picture. They aren't good, but they are both in the picture wearing their shirts. That was the goal! Here is Kate starting to fall over.

I love the way Braden is looking at Kate in this picture. I'm pretty sure he's thinking "get off me" but I like to think it's a look of admiration!

This is the night we got home from the beach. We were all so glad to be out of the car. After I took this picture Braden decided to be done with this pose and proceeded to dump poor Kate in the floor. Boys!

Two smiling kids! It doesn't get better than this!

Six Weeks!

2010-06-11T07:30:00.005-04:00

Six weeks sure goes by quickly! Here is our little princess in her usual spot...the swing! If only we had room to take it to the beach with us!

Here is Kate with my doctor at my six week check up. Since I delivered late at night he wasn't able to deliver her, but he did come in the next morning and see us. He is the greatest! I hope he is around to be my doctor through all my pregnancies!

Might as well post Braden with Dr. M as well. That was May 22, 2008. Look at that sad face. So cute!

Random Pictures

2010-06-08T20:15:00.009-04:00

I was trying to take some pictures of Kate on her one month birthday. Of course Braden wanted to join in on the fun. I didn't get any really good pictures, but I thought this one of Braden and Kate was cute. He sure loves his little sister!

My favorite thing about this picture besides the cute foot is that you can see her pink paci in the background! It is her signature these days!

Get that camera out of my face! This makes me laugh!

Braden loves playing outside but its been so hot and I have been so lazy that we haven't been much. However, I finally sat out there with him the other day and he had so much fun. It made me want to do it more.

He looks so serious about his baseball!

Want one?

Love this little guy!

The Sextons stopped by and brought us Icees. Leah and Braden just cozied right up! Ha ha!

I love this picture! It makes me look forward to years to come and my kids being best friends!

A little pool time.

This is what Kate did at the pool. I could not ask for a better, more relaxed baby.

And just before bed tonight Braden decided to serenade us with his harmonica. What a little ham!

Our Smiley Girl

2010-06-03T14:18:00.002-04:00

One Month Stats

2010-06-01T10:57:00.004-04:00

Baby Kate had her one month appointment this morning. She weighs 9 pounds, 3 ounces (50%) and was 20.5 inches (30%). I know you are thinking that is how long she was when she was born, but the hospital measures to their toes and the doctor measures to their heels. She has grown an inch! I'm so thankful for our beautiful, healthy, sweet baby girl! And why do a post without at least one picture?

(Check out those rolls!)

Target

2010-05-29T12:14:00.004-04:00

I survived my first trip to Target with both kids by myself. No big deal except I couldn't put Kate's carrier and Braden in the shopping cart. So Braden walked...bad idea! However, he did well and we tried to be quick. Only got the essentials: diapers, toilet paper and coffee! Ha ha! Here is Braden with his blue tongue from the sucker I used to bribe him into being good while we were there! :) Oh yea, I did buy him this hat too.

Retropost: One Month Ago

2010-05-29T08:30:00.003-04:00

I forgot I never posted these few pictures leading up to Kathryn's arrival. It all happened so fast that I'm surprised we even took any pictures. We should have been heading to the hospital instead of taking these. But luckily we made it to the hospital in plenty of time and all was well!

This was 6:00pm(ish) and Allyson had come to pick up Braden so we could head to the hospital.

Taken during the two minutes between contractions. Getting excited to meet our little girl!

Crying while telling my little boy goodbye! I had never left him for two whole days. However, he had a fantastic time with his good buddy, Gavin! Click here to see how much fun they had!

Last picture as a family of three!

10:00pm: Texting my sister that it's time to push. Ha ha! Keep in mind I had Kathryn at 10:13! We like speedy deliveries over here in the Blanton household.

And you know the rest of the story! I can't believe it's been a month already. More pictures of our sweet little girl to come soon!