Yikes!

Grace found my veil the other day and wanted to try it on. What a scary glimpse into the future is this?! I'm and NOT ready for this! She sure is beautiful though! Yikes, they grow up too fast!

Ruby

Thanks to Gunny Bag, I'm pretty sure that Ruby is going to be scarred for life by her sister cleaning up her toys before she can even play with them. Grace is a great cleaner, but we're definitely learning when toys can be left for a couple minutes while they're being played with :)

Ruby riding Louie the dog.

Ruby is so cuddly and snuggly. She loves to give kisses now, and not always with a closed mouth...it can be a messy affair ;) She is also getting really protective of  her mommy time. If she is sitting on my lap and Grace even comes near, she'll let out a nasty screech-warning to stay away.  In fact, she's not really saying any real words yet, but she is well versed in many grunts and screeches to let everyone know (from miles around) what it is that she wants whether it's for Grace to stay away from her food or for someone to help her get something down from the counter or whatever else. She's hilarious and stubborn and smart. We sure do love our Ruboo!

Get Well Grandpa!

Rob's Grandpa Gwilliam hasn't been feeling well and has been in and out of the hospital for various issues (on top of radiation for cancer, ugh, poor guy!). We sent him a card that the girls made for him. I wanted to post it here to remember their funny little personalities in each picture. They crack me up!

Smoky Mountains Revisited

 Over spring break we decided to take a little trip. We went in on a cabin in the Smoky Mountains with our friends the Meek's. Their kids are exactly the same ages as our kids, but both boys. We had so much fun with them!

 We started the trip off in Crossville, TN at the World's Largest Treehouse. It was built by a pastor who was told by God to build it, and if he did he wouldn't ever run out of materials. And he didn't. It's supposedly 6,000-9,000 sq ft inside. It is crazy. You can just walk through and explore it. It was fun and terrifying all at the same time :)

 

 You can't really tell, but this photo was taken from one of the balconies waaaaaay up high.

 They actually hold worship services here on Sundays. Wouldn't that be crazy to go to church in a treehouse?!

 

 View of the garden from the highest point we could get to with small kids. To get to the crow's nest above you had to climb a rather rickety looking ladder. It was a great way to take a break on the drive out and let the kids play a bit.

We stayed at the Fontana Village Resort. It was a little before the high season, so we pretty much had it to ourselves, but it was awesome! There was tons to do. One of the highlights was the free 18 hole mini golf course they had. Ruby brushed up on her skills.

 And so did Gracers.

The babies just liked to hold the balls that weren't in play at the moment and see what other exciting things they could find to put into their mouths.

 

 Awesome position for a shot there, Rob!

 Ben and Katie both getting their shots off. The boys got creative on how to get the best shot and ended up in some funny positions. I didn't which is probably why I lost. Badly.

 But, here I must have gotten par or something...I sure am proud of myself! :) haha

 They also had some playgrounds, pools, a lazy river, shops and more! It was an awesome place to stay!

We went there because we got a Groupon for the cabin, and part of that was a pontoon rental. We spent a very chilly morning out on the lake.

 

 Ruby was so funny. She LOVED the boat and was so mad that I wouldn't let her out of my reach. She would run around the boat and stick her head over the edge and generally do everything that made her mama nervous. She sure is an adventure girl!

Everyone got a turn to drive the boat:

We got to spend some time exploring the park too. The kids loved running around and getting into anything and everything. They even did great on not much sleep.

 

 Waiting for their leaves from the leaf races to come down the mill stream.

We also hiked to a really beautiful waterfall.

We had lots of other adventures, but I wasn't so great about taking pictures. It was a really fun trip though! Thanks to the Meek's for a great adventure!

All bundled up and ready for sleep on the ride home.

Hail Storm

 We had an awesome hail storm a while back that went along with an equally awesome thunderstorm complete with a tornado warning. Living in Tennessee sure is exciting! The weirdest thing was that it was 80 degrees while it was hailing. It seemed so wrong to have the fans blowing and shorts on while ice was falling outside!