Singing in the Rain

Rain. Princess umbrella. Enough said.

Fun in Tennessee

In early August we were blessed to save up enough money to get away for a couple of days. I've been itching to go to the beach and I know Gracie would love it, but we really didn't want to put the kids through a four or five hour drive and have to do it again the next day. We decided to go somewhere close and ended up going to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Our main stop was at the Aquarium. (By the way, we think that the Chattanooga Aquarium is soooo much better than the Georgia Aquarium. The layout is so much better for little kids.) Gracie loved it and the whole time kept saying, "I want to see the SHARKS!" She ran through most of the exhibits looking for the sharks, but she seemed to enjoy everything. She also liked the penguins. One of the coolest things about the Aquarium is that they have all these different pools and man-made streams (I guess that's what you would call them) that kids can play in outside. I think Gracie enjoyed playing in the water more than anything else.

This is how Cooper spent most of his time in the Aquarium.

Here's Gracie and Daddy taking a break.

So, we were getting ready to leave the gift shop when I saw this cute little otter statue. I had to get a picture of Gracie with it. I am so glad I stopped to get this picture. It cracks me up. The otter reminds me of something out of The Chronicles of Narnia.

One of the highlights for Gracie was that we got to stay in a hotel room. She LOVED the fact that she got to sleep in a different bed. When we got to the hotel room, she started jumping on the bed. I actually let her since she had spent 3 hours in the car.

Gracie's excitement spread to Cooper, and they both were all smiles playing on the hotel bed.

We went to Rock City the next day, which was so cool. I've been there before, but still think it is neat. Can you imagine the awesome game of hide and seek that you could play there?

Have I told you how much I LOVE my Snugli baby carrier? Cooper usually goes to sleep in it once I start moving around. Thanks to it, we can boldly go where no stroller has gone before! The Asian tourists at Rock City got the biggest kick out of Cooper in the carrier.

John's parents joined us on our trip. It was nice to have an extra set of hands to help, and we enjoyed their company too. Gracie dragged "Papa" running through most of Rock City.

After Rock City, we went back downtown and let Gracie play in the water again before we headed home. There was this awesome staircase on the other side of the Aquarium that had water running down it. I think I would have sat down in the water if I had a bathing suit. John and I did walk around in the water with her and it felt great on my hot, tired feet. There is a really cool looking kid's museum next to the Aquarium that we had originally planned on visiting, but we ran out of time and money. I figure that we can go next year or sometime in the future when Cooper is walking and can also enjoy it. It was awesome to get away, even if it was only for a couple of days.

"Hunterryalietaylor"

I am still trying to get pictures organized from our brief trip to Chattanooga, so in the meantime, I thought I would post some of these. Gracie absolutely loves her cousins, and they are always so sweet to her. She always has a huge smile on her face when we get pictures with them because she loves hanging out with them so much. When we are talking about the kids or praying for them at night, Gracie refers to them in one word as "Hunterryalietaylor." Here are various shots of them this summer.

Getting ready to play in the sprinkler at Grandma and Granddaddy's house!

Here's a cute one of Gracie and Ryalie at a Bible School party.

We tried our hardest to get a shot of all of the kids with Great Grandma Mabel and this was the best we got. Cooper was good for the first few, but all of the kids weren't looking at the camera. By the time we got all of them looking in the same direction, Cooper was done! GG Mabel reminds me of the Uncle Sam "I Want You" poster. I can't remember what she was saying.

Mountain Girl

We went hiking at Anna Ruby Falls this past weekend. Gracie did so good! She hiked all the way to the top; we didn't have to carry her at all on the way up. Cooper hitched a ride in the Snugli carrier on my back. We also had a picnic and after our hike, we went swimming at Unicoi State Park to cool off. I love being outside, and we had so much fun. I can't wait to go hiking some more when it gets cooler!

Stars and Stripes

We spent the fourth of July in Dahlonega with John's family. Gracie got to go to her first parade, which she seemed to enjoy. She didn't seem too impressed by all of the political candidates walking in the parade, but neither were we. Thank goodness we found a shady spot to stand in at the square! I taught Gracie to say, "God bless America" whenever she saw the American flag, but she never said it when anyone was around to hear! Cooper was a sweetheart, but the loud motorcylces did give him a fright. We had a nice picnic after the parade, but we didn't stay for the fireworks. We had to be in Anderson early the next day and didn't want to whole family to be tired. As most people know, with little ones, once you get behind on sleep, you can NEVER get caught up. "Grown-up naps" are a luxury John and I no longer have with 2 little ones. When we got home, we lit a few sparklers for Gracie and shot a few fireworks in the driveway. I don't have any pics of that because I was holding Cooper. Here are some of my favorite pics of the day.

Here's Gracie showing off her "spoils of war." She walked away with several necklaces, a bouncy ball, candy, stickers, a teddy bear and a penguin. I'm still trying to figure out where the penguin fits in to the birth of our nation...

My two favorite men in the whole wide world!

I think this is a great pic of the Anderson gals.

Here's Gracie chillin' in our new "Sit and Stand" double stroller. We realized we needed one badly after our trip to the zoo. Even though it takes up a lot of room in the SUV, it's worth it! It's awesome!

Talking and Teething

Gosh, I love that sweet smile! My little man had his 4 month check-up last week. He is in the 85th percentile for height and 50th for weight. He's definitely a healthy boy, but it is still strange to have a "smaller" child. Gracie was completely off the charts for both height and weight for almost the entire first year. She was always a size ahead of where she should have been. It's amazing how wonderfully different they are...it keeps things interesting! Praise the Lord for my healthy children! I am so blessed!

On a side note, Coop is talking up a storm. At home, he constantly coos and squeals. He and Gracie will squeal at each other sometimes; it is so funny to see her get him going. It is amazing how quickly he responds to her already, and she likes playing with him as well. He will play on the floor or in his exersaucer much longer when she is with him. The one thing I have realized is that we are going to have to teach Gracie that she can't give him toys that have small parts that he might choke him. She gave him a soft rubber bracelet the other day when I wasn't looking that he immediately tried to put in his mouth.

This week has been somewhat miserable for Cooper as he seems to be dealing with some teething pain. It looks like he may cut some side teeth before his front (if his swollen gums are any indication). I hope he cuts them soon because he sure has had a hard week. We have tried several different teethers and, like Gracie, he doesn't like any of them. We've tried various cold things and he likes those. He seems to prefer chewing on cloth things rather than plastic. He has also started random night-waking. That has been really hard to adjust to since he had been sleeping through the night for the last two months. It's probably been about a week and a half since I've gotten a full night of sleep. For example, last night Coop went to bed at 1 am and then Gracie came in wide awake at 6:45 when she normally sleeps until 9:00. I have learned, unfortunately, that my patience level with my children seems to be proportional to the amount of sleep I get at night. Oh well, this, too shall pass. :-)

It's a Jungle Out There

I realized the other day that I haven't posted anything in a few weeks. I have been working on a curriculum project for work and have spent most of my free time doing that. The summers always seem busier to me than the rest of the school year. It seems that for some reason I am usually pushing to get students done before August so that they can graduate in time for college. John also works 10 hour days during the summer which makes for a longer day with the kids. He gets Fridays off though (because of the 10-hour days) so it is super-nice to have him home on Fridays. We have tried to use that time to take a few day-trips.

So, one of those trips was to the Atlanta Zoo a couple of weeks ago. We were kinda worried about the heat, but it really wasn't bad. Most of the walk was shaded, and we had some of those nifty little portable fans for the kids. Cooper slept most of the time, and Gracie didn't even seem phased by the heat. Every time we would go to an exhibit Gracie would yell out, "Hey zebra, I'm waving at you!" (Or whatever appropriate animal was there.)

We were really impressed with the zoo, and we definitely plan on going back when Cooper gets bigger. My favorite quote of the day came from one of our potty-breaks. The zoo had a cute bathroom near the kids' rides that had colored, wavy-shaped toilet seats. When her Aunt Megan took her into the stall, she saw the toilet and said, "Oh, it's so beautiful!"

Here are some various shots from the day.


This is the "before" shot. I should have taken an after pic to compare. Two words: sweaty, tired.


Here's Gracie showing off her panda stamps.


Aunt Megan took this shot of us getting ready to ride the train that goes around part of the zoo. Cooper was NOT very fond of the noise.




I love these cardboard cut-out things. Do they have an official name?


Cooper's first ride on a carousel.


This picture totally makes me laugh. Gracie was soooo tired when we left. She found a bag of chips in the back as we were packing up the stroller. She was so worn out that she fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot with her hand still in the bag! John and I both agreed that it must have been the "Acker" coming out in her.