Halloween 2014

Halloween 2014 was cold.  Very cold, and sometimes rainy.  Claire borrowed a friends costume (doughnut with sprinkles) from last year to wear at her school's "spook parade" hoping to win most original, but she didn't.

That night she changed into something more comfortable.  We all went over to our friends subdivision that we have been going to for the last few years.  They have dinner and a fire pit set up in their cul-de-sac where we can all gather and then we walk around with Claire and her friends while the boys go off with their friends "trick or treating"=run around the subdivision. Claire stopped when it started raining sideways and we were all glad to be done early.  

summer 2014 recap

Yes, it's a bit late, but I need to add some more pictures of our summer, so we know we didn't just jump off a cliff and build a raft.

Here is some more stuff we did:

 Claire and Jared swam on the swim team

Carter lifeguarded some meets

and swam in the last one

we had some great days on the boat, when it wasn't broken

enjoyed the farmer's market

went to Met Calf Bottoms in the Smokies

learned this neat trick with a swim cap

welcomed Trey home from his mission

favorite picture of Lisa and David waiting for Trey's plane 

The boys made me nastalgic for the days when they got free ice cream

we climbed the Chimneys 

had some cuddle time

Carter got his boater's license and went out on the jet ski a lot

some fishing

went to the beach with all the Knoxville cousins right after Trey got home

eleven

Claire had a great party at our local gymnastics place, Tatarus.  I can't believe how old she is.  Last year she asked for Rainbow Looms (rubber bands you make bracelets out of) and this year she still wanted them.  A full year of her making amazing creations with her Rainbow Looms.  She makes up her own bracelet designs all the time and makes other great things like Frozen characters, rings, bookmarks, and much more.  She and I cleaned out her room and closet before her bday and packed up all her dolls, barbies, etc.  Then we rearranged her room and closet to make room for all her Rainbow Loom accessories.  She also is very into painting her nails right now and making designs on them.  She still doesn't care too much about clothes.  When we cleaned out her room we packed up quite a bit of clothes she had out grown.  I asked her if she felt she needed any clothes.  "no, I still have plenty" was her answer.  Maybe all that comes at 12 or 13.  I'm fine to wait.

Claire and some of her friends

one of her friends know how much she loves cheese puffs, so he gave her a whole bucket!

lessons learned

A while back I was taking both dogs to get groomed.  Like always, Neo was pulling ahead and Max was cautiously hanging back.  As we got close to the door, Neo slipped out of his collar so I had to grab him and hold him (while he is fighting to get free from my hold).  This caused Max to loop around me in a panic and started pulling in the opposite direction.  So now I am fighting to walk with a leash around me, Max pulling in the wrong direction and Neo squirming in my arms.  And I had the thought, "I hope no one inside can see me.  I am so embarrassed.  Why can't my dogs just walk into a building like normal dogs?".  After dropping them off, I was driving home and I was still thinking about how embarressed I was and then I thought, "they are just dogs...no one cares...the vet understand how dogs are...they know Max and Neo and their personalities. "  And then a flood of memories came to me.  Me with my two other boys. Feeling like everyone was looking at me as I held a way too big baby while chasing a way too much energy toddler.  Wondering why they couldn't just act like normal kids and not embarress me.  I wish I knew then what I know now...no one cares, people understand how kids can be.  

fall break

We headed back up to the Virginia Creeper bike trail for the first part of fall break.  We brought along Carter's good friend, Matthew.  Which ended up being a very good thing or Carter would have rode the trail by himself.  Here is the story:  It all started great our first night; we played games and ate junk food.  But the next morning Jared wasn't feeling good.  He said, "I feel like my stomach is being stabbed by a ton of knives".  Not good.  By time we needed to go, he felt a little better and decided to try.  We were riding the 17 miles that connect Damascus to Abingdon, which is flat and so you have to work instead of coast like White Top to Damascus.  About a mile in Jared stopped for the third time and so Allen decided to wait with him.  The four of us went on.  Carter and Matthew would ride for awhile at their fast pace, then stop and explore/climb until Claire and I caught up.  This was Claire's first ride on her own=slow.  Ended up Allen decided that there was no way Jared was going to be able to make it, so he headed back to the car in Damascus so he could drive Jared back to our rental house in Abingdon.  Good plan except for one thing.  I had the car keys and house with me, now several miles away.  Luckily a man gave them ride back to the house.  Allen left poor Jared on the back porch and then took off down the trail hoping to find me as I was coming his way.  And praying that I didn't decide to turn around.  So, instead of enjoying the ride and the beauty around him, Allen had a great work out biking as fast as he could to me and then right back to Jared.  Carter and Matthew road back with Allen.  And about an hour or so later, Claire and I made it back.  Did I mention she was SLOW?  Oh, and it rained on us for about 30 minutes, but that really wasn't bad.  Thankfully Jared felt much better that night and was able to make it to dinner ( a fun 50's soda fountain place) and to the play we went to.  So, not the best trip ever, but one we will not soon forget.

the raft

Once upon a time, Carter had a dream of making a raft made from milk jugs.  So, being the supportive mom that I am, I started collecting them in the garage for him.  We saved them all winter long.  I think there were about 75 in all.  It was going to be his summer project.  Then summer came and he lost some of his enthusiasm.  We kept reminding him and he kept putting it off.  Finally Allen and Jared helped him one day to get the first layer done.  That first layer sat there for the rest of the summer.  Sad.  So un-Carter-like.  Finally, in September, he had a few friends over to finish it up.  And the next week he and his friend Konnor tried it out.  It worked!  Now it is sitting in the basement garage.  Will it see the water again?  Maybe next summer.

climbing the mountain

 See that mountain behind Allen and Claire?  We have wanted to figure out how to get to the rock part , where we have seen a few people before, for awhile now.  Then this summer one of Carter's friends called him from it and said he could see our dock.

So we found out how to get there and set off one summer night.  I packed a back pack with water bottles as we didn't know how hard the hike would be.  We found the road we needed to start on.  We ignored the sign and set off.  Little did we know that it was more of a walk than a hike.  So quickly we were there...

 We had a great time looking over our little part of the lake that we have spent so many hours on.  Carter did some research and found out there was also a cave not to far from the lookout  point.  So, we headed over there and explored a little.

 Then we went back and enjoyed the sunset.  It was a great night with the family.