Fall Break

We spent Aidan's short fall break (Oct 8-12) in Pigeon Forge with my mom, brother Jon, Menda and Jevan, John's mom, Jason and the boys. Yes all of us. Not in one cabin, though (thank heavens). Aidan had a ball with his cousins and us.

Here they are-from the left- Aidan, Conner, Cooper, Carter, and Cohen in the stroller. We were at the Aquarium in Gatlinburg. They had a great time, especially in the shark room.

Conner and napped while the big boys rode go-carts. Aidan swears he "lapped them", but his dad doesn't quite remember it that way.

Thursday night we all (13 of us) saw the Dixie Stampede and all 6 kids were wonderful! Nobody had to be carried out, or "disciplined" and some even tried their food. If you haven't seen this show, you really should. It's worth every penny.

On Friday, we took Aidan and Conner to Dollywood for the first time (for all of us-hard to believe even I've never been there). Aidan was the best big brother ever-he rode "kiddie ride" after ride so Conner could ride some. Then when Conner fell asleep (we were there all day), Aidan got to ride some of the bigger rides (nothing too big-ya'll know John). When we returned to the cabin, Grammy offered to watch the boys and Jon, Menda (with cutie-pie Jevster), John, and I enjoyed a "grown-up" dinner. It was nice not having to entertain a 2-year old while watching my food grow cold.

Saturday, it rained, so we along with G'ma (John's mom) went to Wonderworks (a kid-exploring place). It wasn't too Conner friendly-but right up Aidan's alley. After putting Conner down for a nap at the cabin, John took Aidan back for more fun (and less crowds). John said Aidan put on quite a show in the dance room. It's a room that projects your image on a color screen using all kinds of special effects. There is loud dance music, and for those of you who know how Aidan likes to "get on down with his badself" know exactly what he looked like. John said there was a small audience watching our little show-man. This is a pic from there-he was in a space suit in the space room (is this our future?)

After a home-cooked Chili/taco meal (great job Auntie Menda) we all slept before making our way home on Sunday. Aidan and John returned to the real world on Tuesday and Conner and I returned to normal then too. I love vacations, but it's starting to feel like a need a vacation from my vacation. Now I know why we didn't take too many growing up-they are exausting.

Here's one more pic-Grammy (my mom) took it quickly at the one time she could get all her boys in one shot. You'll notice Conner is "moody" and not wanting to make eye contact. Imagine him, being himself.

October Update

Well, we've been settling in here in Alabama. Aidan has almost finished his first quarter of 1st grade. He took a while to adjust, but is doing well now. He has friends, was invited to a party at the rocket center (couldn't go-out of town) and has "girlfriends" even. Conner loves his new life. If only he didn't have a pink room (talk to John about that one). He plays in different areas of the house (nice to have more than one room to play in) and runs and runs and runs. He hit a growth spurt over the past few weeks and is actually wearing age appropriate clothing (he's 2 and wearing 2T clothes)!

We're getting ready for fall break. Aidan gets Thurs-Mon off and we're heading to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg with the family. Aidan is so excited. With his memory, I hope everything is as fun as it was 2 years ago. Conner won't remember much (he was 6 months) but hopefully will enjoy more now that he's older.

One interesting note to pass on: those of you who heard about the fun we had closing on this house will get a kick out of this. The former owner of our house-she moved in 3 houses down last week! I'm not kidding. We haven't spoken yet, but I must say-it's a little weird.

No new pics-camera still broken, and hasn't been replaced. I'll include some old ones of the house when we were moving in-sorry if its messy:)

Getting settled

Well-we've been in AL for almost 2 months now. We've been in our new home for 2 weeks and life is starting to feel "normal". Aidan just finished his first 3 weeks of school and is adjusting well. Conner cries every morning when Aidan leaves. He and I are getting into a routine of sorts. There are still too many boxes to unpack-but they are mostly confined to the garage.

One plus to moving here-the mountains. Had no idea there were actually mountains here (not just big hills). We took a car ride Sun. afternoon up to Monte Sano State Park. Wow! The views were incredible and there was a huge play area for the kids, maybe a hundred picnic tables and even cabins to rent (too old and small for us). Neat park! Hope to go back on a clear day to really appreciate it. Best part-it was 10 degrees cooler than Huntsville/Madison. Ya know I'm all about the cool.

Here's some pics of the boys-will attach some of the house when it looks more moved in.

We Have a Key!

We now have the key to our new house! We closed this afternoon after a loooooooooong week of getting paperwork straight. We plan to move over the next few days and then we'll be home. That sounds so nice considering we haven't had a real home for 7 weeks.

Aidan starts school Monday (1st grade) and is so excited. They had open house last Thursday and he loves his teacher and classroom. The school seems nice and close-knit.

Hope all who read this want to come visit soon! We have the space ( and 1 air bed:) ).

Later!
Meridith

Almost There!

We hope to close on the new house this week! Hopefully, all will go well. Having been displaced for over 6 weeks now is getting old. Aidan and Conner are driving me crazy. Aidan starts 1st grade next week and we should be moved in by then. Sorry about no pics, but it's hard when your good computer is in a box, in a storage facility with all the pictures stored on it. As soon as I can-I will post pics for all to see the new pad. Anyone who wants to visit may-just let us know!

My next post should be from my new house. Pray for us that all goes well!

Meridith

We've moved!

For those checking up on us, life has been crazy to say the least. I haven't updated in a while-no excuses, except been extremely busy. Here goes the update-for the last 4 weeks we've been homeless. Not the dirty-street homeless, but the "we-don't-have-a-home-at-the-moment" homeless. We lived with my parents for 2 weeks while our old home in Clarksville closed and now are living with John's dad in Huntsville (Madison actually) until our new home closes Aug. 3. Fun-fun-fun! Aidan starts 1st grade Aug. 10 here in Madison and Conner is excited about having mommie all to himself since I will not be working this year (hopefully not for a while either.

Just wanted to update the page and let everyone know how we're doing.


Thanks for keeping up with us!
Meridith