EXHAUSTED... and lovin' it!

We are completely exhausted after our week ending and weekend fun! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Kari and James, which was all too short, as usual. I can hardly even remember everything we've done since I posted last, but thankfully I have pictures of some of the good stuff!

On Thursday morning we had an awesome play date with some dear friends who live in Chattanooga. They were here for the latter part of the week and weekend to visit with their family, and we were fortunate to be able to spend some time playing. During the play date I watched as Sarah morphed into a lover not a fighter, as I so lovingly called her before. She chased little Luke (3 months her junior) around all morning long saying, "Kiss Uke, Kiss Uke". It was the sweetest thing ever! When he actually turned to face her and puckered up, however, she suddenly became very bashful and turned her head.... it was too cute!! She landed a couple of good ones on his back and arms though. Meanwhile, Ella and Campbell were in Ella's room practicing their songs for a performance on our "stage". I don't think the girls ever actually sang a song together, but I had the privilege of hearing Campbell sing several selections from The Sound of Music. Kate sang a little bit of the ABC's. Maggie did her favorite number "Where o, where o, where is Cody", and Sarah sang "C is for Cookie". They were all precious, and I was glad aunt Kari got to hear their little snippets of song. Now she realizes exactly how difficult it is to capture these things on video!

Friday morning Scott and I took the girls up to Duke's Creek Falls for the first time.

From the top to the falls it is a 1.1 mile hike down hill the entire way. Needless to say, we didn't go all the way to the falls... only about half a mile down, I guess, to a great spot where they were able to throw rocks and get very close to the creek. So close, in fact, that Kate was wet all the way up to her knees before I knew it. Scott crossed the creek on a fallen tree to get some cute shots of the girls and I.

It was great fun and the girls loved every minute of it... until the hike back up. Torturous is the best description for it. Everyone was crying and wanting to be held/carried. For at least the last half of the trip back up, we were constantly dragging convincing children to walk. I even reached a point where I said to myself that I was NEVER doing that again. But by the time we got back to the car and started handing out lunch everything was peaceful once again. Then I realized that perhaps they were just HUNGRY and TIRED.... we're not winning any parent's of the year contest around here, but at least the crying eventually stopped!!




Saturday was a big day. We played at Mimi and Pop's pool in the morning with several friends from 10am until we took a picnic lunch break at noon. Then we headed home for naps. Before the girls woke up from naps some of our friends from our newlywed days at Ft. Campbell arrived with their kiddos to go with us to the party at Mimi and Pop's. We hadn't seen Hank and Lori in over 5 years, so it was great fun catching up with them and meeting Olivia and William for the first time. As soon as our girls woke up, we headed over to the pool and swam again with numerous friends and family members for about an hour before the party began. We played, enjoyed spending time with friends, both old and new, and ate tons of BBQ. After most of the crowd (about 150 people) left, we let the girls get back into the pool with Daddy, Kelli, and Kari. This was the only time that I thought to take out my camera... which had been sitting by the pool waiting for me to take pictures all. day. long. I got a cute picture of little Noel at the end of the day in there as well... he's growing up, and oh yeah, his adoption is official now too! Congrats Amanda, Chris, and Chase!!

Daddy and Sarah pose for the crazy camera lady

Anyone remember Super E from Memorial Day last year? Here's Sarah's version this year.

Ella and Daddy playing rough

Kate enjoying a cookie and Kari's attention.

Maggie ready to call it a day!!

By the time the girls' heads hit their pillows at 9pm they were completely and totally exhausted, as were their parents and many other people who had helped us keep track of them during the day. For the first time ever they all four slept in until 8:30am this morning. Scott and I kept looking at the clock and each other and shaking our heads. It was awesome. They are still in recovery mode, and I expect we will be for several days. It was most definitely worth it though.