We love Tennessee!!

We just got back from an amazing vacation in Sevierville, Tennessee.    It's Ross' and I forth time there, Leanne and Clay's second time, and a first for Allison, Luke, and Reed. 

We left here on Friday morning at 3:30 A.M.  The kids did great in the car on the way down to Tennessee.  Maybe about 5 minutes of crying from the twins, I couldn't ask for it to go any better.

 

Reed riding in the back of the car

 

 

Allison and Luke in a deep sleep



 

We made it there in twelve hours with a few stops along the way to eat and stretch our legs.  We really didn't do much exploring when we got there.  The kids were having fun being out of the car and playing with the air hockey table in the lower level of the cabin.

 

 The name of our cabin was Hidden Romance.  Yep,

the romance sure was hidden.  We stayed in this

cabin because Ross knows the owner.  (Reed in red,

Luke in blue)

 

 

 

 





 

It is a beautiful cabin.  The main floor has a fully equipped kitchen, nice family room, small laundry room (my favorite thing there), half bath, and a large bedroom with a KING size bed (at one point we did end up have 3 kids in the bed and we were not squished!!!!!!).  Our bedroom had a Jacuzzi tub in the actual room (the kids loved taking baths in there, I'm sure they were not thinking of it for that purpose when they built it that way). There is also a hot tub on the deck that the kids loved using. The loft had a Foosball table and a pullout twin sleeper sofa. 

 

 

Leanne and Allison slept together on the twin

sleeper sofa.





 

 

The cabin also had a lower level.  The  lower level had an air hockey table, video games (if they still call them that), and a pool table.  This is also where the boys slept on a large pull out sofa bed.



 

Luke on left, Clay, and Reed on right

 

 

On Saturday we went exploring.  We took the kids to throw rocks in the river.  They could do this for hours.

 

Luke in white, Reed in green





 

When they were finished doing that, we went to go check out abandoned houses in the Smokey Mountains.  Ross loves that sort of thing and Leanne is exactly like her daddy in that respect.

 

 



 

Ross and the kids sitting on the steps that used to go to

a house.



 

Enjoying ice cream at the cabin

 

 

 

Sunday we listened to a sermon online in the cabin and then went for a nature drive in Cades Cove. 



 

small, adult, male, black bear (that's what the park

ranger told us)

 

Horses they use for trail rides.  One of the horses

came right up to our car and stuck his head in.

 

Family picture

 

Our trip wouldn't be complete without a fun

self picture

 

Family picture at Cades Cove

 

Can't help but laugh at Clay.  What a goof!

 

We would always do a big breakfast in the morning

and a light snack in the afternoon. 

 











 On Monday we went to the aquarium.  This aquarium is well worth the money.  My camera died, as in broke, right before the awesome walk through tunnel where the sharks swim over.  I was pretty bummed not to take pictures of that, but it is what it is.

 

"Not another picture, mom!" Luke would not

leave Ross' side, so he missed out on a photo opportunity.

 

I have a secret.  I really love to look at huge ugly odd

fish.  The odder the better.  If I'm looking at the Yahoo

stories, and there is a picture of an odd fish,

I have to look at it and read the article. When

we had cable, I used to always watch River Monsters. 

 

Look at this fish!!! My favorite in this tank because

it's so odd and HUGE!!!

 

See that catfish behind me?  I'm one happy girl.  I

want to try noodling.  For those that don't know

what this is, it's where you go down south to a river

that has huge catfish.  Instead of using a fishing pole,

you either stick your hand or foot in the catfish's mouth

and pull it up that way.  Ross said if I ever get to do that,

he'd watch from shore.

 

I didn't deserve the mother of the year award right then.

I got so caught up with these odd fish, I forgot about Reed.

He was sitting there crying for a few minutes before I

even noticed.  My face was red with embarrassment. 

This is a selfie of Reed and I and he still hasn't forgiven me

quite yet.

 

 

The last picture I took before my camera quit.



 

It took us 4-5 hours to go through the aquarium and then we headed back to the cabin for a little rest.  We went to Pizza Hut and took that to the river for a picnic.  We went swimming after we finished eating.

 

Tuesday we went to Clingmans Dome (after we bought a new camera).  It is a paved walkway to a top of a mountain with a lookout.  It is pretty much a upward winding paved hike. 

 

View of the mountains from the top of Clingmans Dome

 

Reed and mommy  

 

Luke and Daddy

 

The older three.  If you look in the background of

the picture, you can see a little bit of tan.  The little

bit of tan is the parking lot.

 

Sometimes it's just easier to pull them down

the mountain, instead of pushing them down. Ross

and I each took turns pushing the boys up the path.

People couldn't believe we were.  I even had a man

shake my hand at the top because he said he could

barely make it up there himself and I was pushing

a stroller.  It really wasn't that bad.





 

After we did Clingmans Dome, we stopped for a picnic lunch at Chimney Tops.  Chimney Tops is a park with picnic tables.  It is a must if you go to Tennessee. 

 

 

Allison, checking out the rocks.  Clay is down there

in the yellow shirt.

 

picture of the picnic area

 

I stayed with the little ones while Clay and Leanne

were rock hopping.

 

Allison is doing a happy dance because she rock

hopped all the way over to this rock.

 

Clay could have cared less about his socks

and shoes being soaking wet.

 

The twins found a good rock to lie down on and

take a rest.  (Reed in gray, Luke in blue)



 



We also took the kids swimming in the river again that night.  We all collapsed into bed after that.  Wednesday we didn't do as much.  After a bit of a lazy morning, we took the kids fishing down by the pond near our cabin.

 



Clay, with his first catch.

 

Alli, with her first catch.

 

The twins didn't fish, but they liked touching it.

 

Unconventional bait.  We didn't have worms, so

we fished with hot dogs, pretzels, and cookies.

 

The fish liked the cookie bait she used.

 

The pond was located at the end of a curvy, steep, downward road.  Alli

and I decided to run back up it.  We were hot and

tired after doing that.

 We took the kids swimming again that evening.  It was pretty hot in Tennessee, so we did this often.

 



 

 

Clay, Alli, and Leanne playing Titanic.



 

 

Thursday was our last full day in Tennessee.  We had a large breakfast, packed up the cabin, and did a little bit of shopping at the local country stores.  Then we took the kids to the Titanic Museum.  Leanne is obsessed with the Titanic and has read a lot about it.

 

The twins are showing their souvenir pennies here. 

Luke in blue, Reed in red.

 





The museum does not allow people to take pictures inside of it, so this is all I got of it.  Leanne was one happy girl.  We went out to eat, and then after that, Ross came up with a surprise for the kids for their last night in Tennessee.





 

 

 

Ross noticed that this open grassy area became full of fireflies at night.  We took some clear plastic cups and let the kids catch them.  The kids liked dad's surprise. 

 

The following morning we left.  It took us 13 hours to get home because of bad traffic and rain.  Ross got to drive home with this lovely mirror.

 

 

 

 

The story behind the mirror is, before we left I may have accidentally backed up out of the garage, and hit the mirror on the side of the garage door.  Well, at that time, it only had two cracks.  Ross, one evening in Tennessee, went out to the store and then went for a drive by himself.  I guess he was checking out a house and got too close to a mailbox, as he was going around a curve.  He only nicked the mail box, the mirror fell off and the glass was smashed. At least it was the mirror that was already cracked.

 

 

We had a great family vacation.  I couldn't have asked for more.  I'm so happy we were able to go this year.  Although, I may need a vacation from vacation.

 









Just one of those days

Today was just one of those days.  The kind where it starts with a bang and just never stops.  It started around 3AM when the boys started to cry in their room and slept with us.  I don't sleep well sandwiched between them.  Reed decided that 6:15 would be a good time to get up and raid the school lunches I had on the counter.  With that I got up and started my day.  Luke decided about 5 min later that he should join Reed to welcome the day.  They were both super crabby and wouldn't stop crying (some mornings they just cry through breakfast).  I got the older 2 up for school and made Ross climb out of bed to take care of the twins.  Clay mentioned his throat hurt, but he had no other symptoms.  After he polished off a mixture of 3 different kinds cereal in one bowl, (Reese's Puffs, Cocoa Pebbles, and Rice Chex) he was ready to go.  Clay and Leanne left for school and then Alli got up.  She was so happy this morning, it was Kindergarten round up day!!!  All morning, the boys would not stop fighting and throwing themselves on the floor crying.  It was pretty stressful.  At 8:15AM I got a phone call from school that Clay got sick in the bathroom.  Ross couldn't help me out, so I had to call my mom.  My mom was planning on watching the twins while I took Alli to round up.  My mom saved the day by saying she would go get Clay.  I went downstairs to check on Alli (she likes to get dressed by the pellet stove) and by the time I went back upstairs, the twins were already being naughty, or as they say naugh-nee.  I found them in the bathtub, with their pajamas on, spreading shampoo in each other's hair.  It was slathered on their heads thick.  I stripped them down and rinsed it out.  With that task done, I got them out of the tub and got them dressed.

I thought to myself, "how can this morning get any worse?"  I should know that I should never ask that question because it will usually lead to another incident.  Alli came upstairs so I could do her hair and while I was doing her hair, the boys managed to spill out most of a large container of salt on the floor along with onion flakes. 

 

 I hauled out the vacuum and took care of that mess.  We amazingly left the house on time (although the house was a complete disaster).  Dropped the twins off to my mom's house and checked on Clay.  He was doing much much better and left with Alli.  Kindergarten round up went great.  Allison is so excited to start school next year.  We said hi to Leanne and left for grandmas.  I walked into my parents house to find two little boys only wearing diapers.  My mom informed me that they got into grandpa's cologne and dumped it all over themselves.  The smell was so potent that she had to wash their clothes.  My mom said that she had just taken her eyes off of them for 2 seconds.  They are usually very good at grandmas, but they do this kind of stuff all the time at home.  Not 5 minutes later, still only wearing their diapers, they came out with glitter glue all over their faces and tummies.  The blue color came off but the glitter remained.  They were handsome boys with glitter and smelling like grandpa.  We ate lunch there and went home.  Thankfully, the twins fell soundly asleep on the way home. When I put them in bed, they actually stayed asleep!!!  I looked around my kitchen/dining room and cringed.  It was really bad, but I was exhausted with a headache so I decided I needed a little nap before I tackled the mess (Clay snuggled with me and I did catch a few zzzz's).  When I heard the twins up, I went into their room and found them playing NICELY with their toys.  I thought, "oh, good.  The nap helped their mood."  I should have tried to keep my mind blank and not thought anything, because again, I was wrong.  They cried and threw tantrums till Ross got home (I cleaned up with them crying and clinging to my legs).  It went much better when they had their daddy home.  They are now sound asleep in their beds (don't know if I should say that or not, knowing how today went).  So thankful for a fresh new day tomorrow, door knob covers (to keep those twins in their room!), and all kid safety locks.  Here's for a better day tomorrow!

Baker's Helpers

I have been baking as long as I can remember.  My mother used to set me up on the counter top so I could "help" her bake.  Cookies, cakes, and bars were some of our favorite things to make.  By the age of 10 I could bake with minimal assistance and would often bake for fun with my friends.  Adding ingredients, licking spoons, and baking cookies was fun and comforting and one of my favorite hobbies.  Now I have a family of my own and I hope that I instilled the baking gene in all of them.  I have them on the counter with me when I bake and it usually happens before the age of two.  If anyone hears the mixer going or hears me taking out containers, they come running and pile up on my counter to take turns dumping flour, sugar, soda, and anything else the recipe calls for.   

 

 This is Leanne (my oldest) probably at

age one (I'm pregnant with my second there).

My first little helper.

 

 

 

Leanne again at about age 3(I had just had my 3rd

child)

Leanne, Clay, and baby Allison making/eating

Christmas sugar cookies 



Allison mixing up ingredients.  Another

future baker.



Leanne, Clay, and Allison helping make and press

pizza dough into pans for our weekly family

night.



 

 My newest helpers.  Reed in brown and Luke in

blue.  They love to help.

The older 2 are in school so they don't get to help

as much, but Reed, Allison, and Luke do. 



Yes, I know, I need to invest in some boy aprons,

but they don't care, just as long as they get to bake.



 Baking with the help of kids can be trying, messy, but also it can be FUN!  I'm happy that they all like to help me and take turns dumping ingredients in.  Now that I have 5 children, baking is a necessity and not just a hobby.  I'm happy I learned over the years how bake well.  Now sounds like a good time for a delicious chocolate chip cookie.  Too bad they are already gone and only lasted us a mere 24 hours.  Happy Baking!

 

Spring for the King

I have some advice for all people who are about to be married.  I wish I had known this little pearl of wisdom before getting married.  Always always (if there is enough room and if not, take down a wall) spring for the king bed!!  Biggest (slight exaggeration) mistake in my life!  In the beginning of married life, there are just the two of you.  So when you are bed shopping a queen looks big enough with plenty of room to spare.  You are WRONG!  It will not be enough room starting with your very first pregnancy.  All of a sudden, your stomach is HUGE and your hubby is falling off of bed in the middle of the night because there is only room for you and your ginormous every growing stomach.  Okay, maybe he doesn't fall out of the bed, but your hubby has to sleep in a 5 inch area of the bed.  Then when you have your little one, there is never enough room to nurse (that is if the infant is sleeping in your room, in a bassinet with no bumper pads, on its back, with no blankets, and in a sleeping sack- ha ha, had to throw in all the SIDS precautions).  Yes, someday the little babe will head for it's own room, in its own crib.  What happens next is either, you become pregnant again with a growing belly and no room for your hubby in your bed and he can't touch you because his hand is just WAY TOO HOT or your precious little infant becomes a toddler and you constantly wake up with a crick in your neck because somehow he's managed to crawl into bed with you.  It's not just crawling into bed and sleeping soundly next to you, it's feet in your face, changing positions frequently and sleeping in odd positions and sleeping on point 5 inches of the bed.  That's only if you have one child with you in bed.  As many of you know, I have 5 of these precious little ones.  As many of you know, I was pregnant with twins. 

exhibit A

o

 

Here I am the morning of my  C-section for the twins.  See how large my tummy is?  See how slender my hubby is?  Imagine all of that fitting on a queen size bed, oh and he wasn't allowed to be near me, it was way too hot.  Once your pregnant, there is a major need to sprawl out and in the end of the pregnancy there is absolutely NO way to get comfortable. 

Okay so now you have more kids.  More kids means more bad dreams and more naughty 2 year olds climbing out of their cribs and getting into bed with you.  My Luke is notorious for doing this.  He has Ross' horrible habit of moving his feet to get comfy.  No matter where I move my body, a little foot finds me and taps me until he drifts off.  Yes, we should just keep putting him back, but who wants to risk waking up Reed and ending up having both of them in there.  Sometimes Reed does wake up and we do end up with both of them in bed with us and I've woken up to Alli and the twins in bed.  Talk about SQUISHY! 

Exhibit B



(see how his arm is over the center part of the bed and his elbow is right where my back would be?)

 

I know what your thinking, this won't be me, my children will sleep in their own beds in their own rooms.  That's a great thought, but in the middle of the night, when your mind is groggy, they will find you, they will conquer, and they will sleep with you.  Please heed my warning and get yourselves a nice king sized bed.  Snuggling is great, but a stiff neck and back in the morning is not.

Oh and P.S. do not get a 2 slice toaster.  Go for the 4 slicer, you will need it.  (Yet another huge mistake I made and I'm still stuck with my two slice toaster)

Women driver

Today was the first day of school after a prolonged Christmas break.  Allison also had preschool this morning.  Sometimes  I just wish my brain would work better and be more efficient.  I got the Leanne and Clay off to school with no problems, I even remembered teachers gifts, lunches, and Clay's birthday treat.  I got Alli and the twins ready to bring her to school.  In my mind I thought I was supposed to leave at 9 AM, but in reality, school for her starts at 9 AM.  Oy, she was a little late.  I took the twins to the dead Westshore mall in Holland, and let them play in the indoor play area.  That went fine, we went shopping, that went fine.  Time to go get them in the car and leave to go pick up Allison, and that went fine.  What wasn't so slick, is when I made the turn too sharp by the mall onto the road and got stuck in the snow bank there.  I must add that I drive a Yukon XL (suburban) and I must also mention that the 4 wheel drive broke on it.  Oh, and I should also mention that I am the worst person at charging a cell phone, so that was dead.  I had it with me, but it didn't work.  I got out the car to observe my shortcomings and realized there was no way I was getting this out by myself.  People were passing and staring, but no one stopped right away.  They were probably thinking woman driver.  I was extremely embarrassed.  A nice woman stopped and asked me if I needed help and let me borrow her cell phone.  When I called Ross, it went straight to his voice mail.  grrrrrr......  I thanked the lady and I decided to get the twins out and go across the street to the hotel to wait in the lobby there for Ross and I thought I could use their phone and stay warm.  Just as I got Reed out, the mall security guys came and said they would give it a go to get me out.  I put Reed back into his seat and prayed this would work.  It was starting to get to the point that I needed to go get Allison.  The 2 security men went to the front side of my car and told me to put it in reverse and give it some gas.  So I did and they pushed, but to no avail.  By this time my face had a stupid nervous grin on it and my face was burning with humiliation.  They were probably thinking woman driver.  So then they told me to really give it some gas when they pushed.  I laid my foot down on the pedal and they pushed, the car moved but not enough.  The men stopped pushing and grabbed a bag of sand and put it under the tires.  "Give it gas" they said, so I did.  It didn't help at all.  The younger one of the men said to me "well, I'm sorry but your car is really stuck.  The smoke was cool from the tire burning rubber."  They asked if they could do anything else for me and I asked to borrow their phone.  Finally, I got a hold of Ross and he said "what?! I'm coming".  As I waited for him, several people stopped to see if they could help.  One man trotted across the street and asked if this car had 4 wheel drive.  "Nope, it's not working right now.  My hubby is coming with a toe strap." woman driver.  He trotted back to his car and took off.  My face was so red by Ross got there.   I was dying of embarrassment.  He hooked it up to the toe strap and with him pulling the car with his truck, I was finally free.  "Don't cut the corner to close, Erin," said Ross with a smirk.  I went off to go get Allison, by this time I was half an hour late.  I made it there and got her home safely, and I didn't cut anymore corners.

Chicken Run

Fore note:  A couple of things you need to know before reading this post.  1.  The twin's room is pretty high up. We do not have a second story, but the way the house is built, the height of their room is second story height.  2.  The twins broke their shade awhile back.  It was the roller kind of shade and it had a thin plastic stick insert that weighted it down on the end of the shade.  They pulled it out the other day and it was conveniently laying were I needed it.  Okay, enough details about the shade, now time for the incident of the day.

It was time to go get the older kids from the bus stop, so I got the twin's socks and shoes on and made sure Alli was ready to head out the door.  It was cold out, so I opened the garage door so I could get the car started, as I was getting kids buckled into their seats.  I left the door open to the house because I get one twin in at a time in the car, although the other one usually walks out to the car as I'm getting the other buckled.  I got everyone buckled and went back to shut the door to the house and to my shock, I saw the back end of a chicken in my kitchen!  A CHICKEN IN THE HOUSE!! So I called out the to chicken "here chicken, here chicken" and obviously it didn't listen to me.  It wandered into the dining room and pecked a piece of crumb off my floor.  I slid the slider door open in the dining room in hopes I could get her to go outside on the deck.  Yeah, it did not work, it scared the chicken.  The chicken made it's way down the hallway (on my carpeted floor).  I'm calling after her "DON'T POOP! DON'T POOP" and I let out a few squeals "AWWAH,AWWWWWAH".  That chicken went into the twin's room at the very end of the hallway (It was the only option. Thankfully, all the other doors were shut down the hallway).  All I'm thinking is how am I going to get this chicken out of my house!  The chicken walked around the room and I tried to slowly go towards it, but then the chicken would get a little spooked.  I picked up the diaper box to see if I could trap it with that, but the box was too small and I knew it would make the chicken go crazy.  The chicken went into the space between Reed's crib and the wall and it would have been the perfect spot to pick it up, but I don't touch chickens.  So I did the only thing I could do, I called Ross in hopes he could come home to help me get the chicken out of the house.  So this is how the call went.  Me, somewhat hysterical, "Ross, there is a chicken in the house." Ross, "What!?  How did happen?"  Me, "she came in when I was getting kids in the car and now I can't catch her to get her out, AWWAHH(chicken was running around and I was squealing)" Ross, laughing hysterically, "Erin, grab her by the feet and drag her out."  If you have ever looked at chicken feet, you know they are NOT pretty.  No way was I going to do that.  Thankfully, as he was saying that the chicken jumped up to perch on the windowsill.  I went to open the window and the chicken flew off of it (more squealing from me) and it had a screen in it.  She then ran to other window and perched on that one.  I went to go open that one and the chicken flew up and off of it (more squealing from me, oh and Ross is on the phone yet laughing his head off at me).  The chicken is back at the window with the screen in it.  I yell out, "please, don't poop!"  The chicken comes off that window and perches by the boys' dresser.  I pick up that plastic curtain stick (from the fore note) to try to poke it in the right direction.  Finally, the chicken perches on the window that doesn't have the screen in it.  She looks down, she looks at me, and I poke her with that plastic stick and out she goes flapping her wings, clucking and bawking to her graceful flight down to the ground.  I'm pretty sure that that is the highest she will ever "fly".  Ross was still on the phone and still laughing at me. We hung up the phone laughing. I get into the car, thankful that for once I had everyone in the car early and I had more than enough time to get to the bus stop.  I make sure the door and the garage door are shut.  Oh and by the way, the chicken did not poop in my house!

itemized twin list

1.  Mornings start with a bang.

2.  Crying starts at breakfast.

3.   "Go downstairs and play," is said at least 5 times before lunch occurs.

4.  Items, such as brown sugar, salt, flour, canned goods, are found lying all over the basement because it's fun to do.

5. They know when they see you coming they were naughty and say "uh oh"  with a completely innocent face and begin to pick up whatever they took out.

6.  Pajamas are a cool thing to haul around in the back of a toy dump truck.  I guess it's also great fun to empty out laundry out of drawers.  And again they say "uh oh".

7.  Taking clothes off during nap time is a great activity.  Lets surprise mom and sleep naked!

8.  Picking up poo times 2 is not fun to do after nap time.

9.  Taking dirty sheets off cribs after nap time is also not fun. 

10.  An occasional bath after nap time, if it's really gross, is even more not fun.

11.  Make sure to take care of all folded laundry before letting the twins go downstairs to play.  It's not worth it to leave it out, even if I'm not done with it. 

12.  Inhalers and neb treatment machines are more fun than toys to play with.  NEVER leave them out (I think I tell Ross that all the time)

13.  Shut all doors of every room.  Bummer that they are starting to open doors. 

14.  Toilet lids must remain closed. 

15.  Check on the twins frequently, I never know when they will empty the next container of tilex on the floor.

16.  Toothpaste is also a great toy, said no one ever.

17.  Desitin is sticky stuff.  Good for the bum but not really anything else. 

18.  Haircuts suck.

19.  Supper time is much easier when daddy is home. 

20.  Older siblings are a blessing.

21.  Be extra cute to make up for naughtiness.

22.  Bedtime is the BEST!