Great Smokey Mountains

We arrived home safely from our trip to the Great Smokey Mountains! Here are some snipets of the trip...
1. We stayed in a homey 2 bedroom chalet with a complete kitchen and TV's in every room and a hot tub on the lower deck for $60/night so much nicer than any hotel room and it was soooo close to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park...just down the mountain. (check out craigslist the next time you plan a vacation)
2. I HATE it when A is off schedule and refuses to sleep during the day and night.
3. I was rudily awakened to the reality of living with irritable bowel syndrome/ulcerative colitis before hitting the appalachian trail.
4. What the weather is at the bottom of the mountain is usually much different at the top.
5. God is an AMAZING creator!
6. Rain makes quaint little streams turn into strong rivers.
7. Son and hub are cute together when the laugh and restle. I love the noises associated with that play time.
8. I'm so glad my son loves to read.
9. 5 hours in a car is my sons limit...determined by him.
10. I'm thankful my hub got to fulfill part of a life long dream...hiking the appalachian trail. (and with his son and wife too)

Here are some pictures...

We were welcomed home by this sunset.

The beginning of the Appalachian Trail trailhead at the Newfound Gap. Elevation 4058 feet.

A loved to try and touch the branches ahead.

He has no fear. Dancing along the rock.

You want me to smile? Get me outta here. Let's run!

My wonderful guys.

Part of the view on the flat hike to the sign.

sights and smells

yum spaghetti squash

Happy Thanksgiving

Carving the bird

Ma ma ma did you mention cookies?

As noted before Daddy is home. And with that has come some wonderful things like the smell of fresh brewed coffee and the giggles of my son and his dad playing together on the floor. Not to mention it's great to hear his boisterous laughter here there and everywhere. :) We've shared some great memories already and this week we're headed to the smokey mountains to make some more. Thanksgiving was nice and quiet. We made an eleven pound turkey with all the fixins including home made cranberry sauce and S's favorite, spaghetti squash. Angus slept through most of the meal but enjoyed some turkey afterwards. He's not a big texture guy so he steered clear of everything except the turkey.
We've enjoyed the chance to be together as a family again and are thankful it's not just for a couple weeks this time.
I had a blast shopping for Christmas on black Friday. We have one or two more things to get and we're done with our shopping. Rahooo! I'd have to say I enjoyed getting S's gifts the most because I found some good deals. All his gifts are wrapped and stacked ready to be opened. I just hopes he likes what I bought him.
I'm looking forward to spending Christmas together again and being able to celebrate with our extended families which include two new additions this year our nephew C and neice R.

Proof!

Graham cracker face waiting for daddy....

Quick pic before we head out to see the plane.

A sleepy baby and daddy reunite. He almost fell asleep on Daddy's shoulder.

Together again!

What's normal?

I'm glad to acknowledge that my husband has returned. :) Angus and I waited from 10:30pm to 2:30am on Sunday night/Monday morning to see him march in formation into the Hangar. I was surprised that after two other home coming ceremonies that I was still emotional as they all walked in. Maybe it was a mixture of the anticipation of his return and not being able to pick him out of the crowd. It was raining hard and it was about 40 degrees out so I wasn't about to stand outside without an umbrella with Angus in the wetness. We finally were home about 6am after we dropped a co worker off that didn't have access to his vehicle yet. It was a very long night of waiting but well worth it of course. Angus almost fell asleep in his daddy's arms because he was exhausted by the time we were able to greet him. And promptly fell asleep as we waited for the bus to take us back to our cars to wait some more. The last few days have been full of fun watching him and Angus interact and me trying to get my bearings as a wife and stay at home mom all in the same time frame. We had a couple typical half day work days and then a four day break which we're currently in for the Thanksgiving holiday. We'll have most of December off to be together, him to work on his bug and for us to make new memories as a family. We're looking forward to getting away to the Smokey Mountains and part of the Appalachian trail and then do our marathon trip up north to spend time with both sides of the family.
We had a very quiet Thanksgiving at home. We made all the traditional thanksgiving fixins including S's most favorite part...spaghetti squash! Angus only got into one cranberry, some turkey and a whole dinner roll. It was a nice relaxing day with our family tradition of eating pecan waffles at waffle house for breakfast and perusing the sales ads for Black Friday to see if we wanted to attempt the sales.
Well the ads were good enough to get us there. We shopped together as a family for a couple hours in the morning then S went and worked on his bug and A and I went shopping some more. And S went to bed early and I went and shopped even more! I guess you can say I'm really enjoying Christmas shopping this year!
Goose is vying for my attention as I type this. More books please! Mommyhood calls.

picture review of the week.

see what the flashlight can do?

whoa I made it shine on the ceiling!

hello mr. frog!

my what big leaves we have from our tree!

here have a leaf!

where do I start?

I'm pooped tonight after not too much of a crazy day. Just seems there's a lot to do before my parents arrive tomorrow night and Scott comes home. Thankfully I have my parents to help get some things done and/or help with Angus so I can actually do things like clean the refrigerator out without a monkey by my side climbing in the fridge to play with his milk cups or rearrange the ketchup into the butter door. He certainly is a charmer most of the time. There were a lot of hugs and kisses today...seemed more than usual. We enjoyed a visit with Carol and Micah. We were going to be crafty together but our boys wouldn't nap for longer than an hour so there went that idea. We'll try again some day soon. So here's some pictures from the past few days. :)

giveaway

a classmate from moody is giving away an ecofriendly cute lil animal bag on her blog. go check it out :)

Ready for a new day

His latest fun...lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling and chuckling to himself.

It's only 7:30pm and I'm already pooped. I guess the mental exhaustion of taking a big exam and getting Angus' crud has made me tired tonight. I have to share though that he's talking and signing something new it seems daily. Today he showed me he could wave and say bye bye consistently, sign please when asked, sign more when asked and is blowing kisses complete with "MWHA!". He's been quite under the weather this week but the Dr. on Tuesday said it was just a bad cold with low grade fevers. It may have turned into something more towards the end of the week but the routine of ibuprofen and saline in the nose 3-5x a day has been helping. This is an interesting article I was sent about ear infections. In the mean time he's been enjoying the balloon he got from his friend Wesley's birthday party along with balls as usual. We're excited and gearing up for Daddy's return. I can't wait to post some pictures of them playing together. :)