Writing in the sand

This is just another fun way that Maggie practices her letters and writing her name. We have an old pan that is full of sand. She is doing a great job of writing her first name with her pencil, too. Hunt is enjoying our school days as well. He is learning to count with us. Every time I start counting he perks up and says "5", "9", "10"...It is hilarious. Tyner had his first soccer practice yesterday and Maggie had her first day of dance class. They both enjoyed their activities!

Our first full week of public school and homeschool

Tracing her name with sandpaper letters.

Our color of the week was red so Maggie went on a scavenger hunt for all things red

Tyner's first day of First Grade! He was beside himself with excitement!!

Making the letter M with her popsicle sticks

It is so much fun using all these hands on activities to help get her ready for writing. We are learning all the "stick" letters for the next few weeks so popsicle sticks help us learn how to form them!

Well, we quickly went from laid back summer with no schedule to schedule, schedule, schedule. But I am glad to be back into a routine. Tyner absolutely LOVES school. He has a wonderful teacher that I feel like is doing an excellent job. This school is incredible and has gone above and beyond my expectations! Public school is such a blessing!! We walk out of the door every morning at 8:03 and walk up the hill to his school. At 8:05 he is in his classroom! He still wants me to walk him to his classroom door...that makes me happy! It is so much fun living across the street from his school. I looked out of the back door the other day and could see him on the playground! Thank you, Lord!

As for Maggie...my little inquisitive child...Oh, we are having so much fun. I found a curriculum I love and that is perfect for her. We begin each morning with a Bible lesson and then go on to reading, phonics, math, gross/fine motor skills and handwriting. We have a "recess" time to break up the morning. Hunt just goes right along with us. This week her verse was
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
She got it the first day...surprised? i'm not!
We read the story about Jesus walking on the water in Matthew and learned the character traits of faith and trust. Children this age are such sponges...She just takes it all in! This teacher of a mom is so in her element! We talked about the letters T and I and learned their sounds. In handwriting she will be learning how to write her first and last name. I am using sandpaper letters, popsicle sticks, play dough and a big box of sand to help her get the feel of writing her name. I think that is enough to spill in one post. When you get to see her in person I promise she will give you every detail of what happens in our school day!

Happy Spaghetti Eating!

Note to self....never feed Hunt Spaghetti right after he gets out of the bathtub because this is what will happen. While I was cleaning the kitchen, putting dishes away, etc...I fixed a big bowl of spaghetti for Hunt. Well, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to him while he was feeding himself. I looked up from the sink and this is what I found. I don't even think the pictures do it justice. He had spaghetti ALL over his hands and had obviously been playing with his hair. It was covering his hair, face, fingers, arms, legs...Needless to say he took another bath right after dinner. All I could do was laugh!

Warriors Path State Park

Maggie on top of the Beavers house...One of the Narnia stations

The view of the playground from the tree house

Having fun on the see-saw

Can't remember this horses name?

Wow is all I can say about Warriors Path State Park. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived but it is incredible. So much that we went twice this week! We first went on Monday. I took an immediate left when I saw a sign that read "stables...that way" I was beside myself. I have been telling Hunter that I really want to go horse back riding. So we walked up to the stables and found out the kids could ride a pony. They were fired up! We walked around and looked at all the horses and found out all their names. Then we walked over to a ring and Tyner and Maggie took turns riding Jasper the pony. Maggie is dying to go back and ride again. After horseback riding we had a great picnic on top of "picnic mountain." There was a beautiful view of the lake! After lunch we went to the "boundless playground." As well all know, I LOVE playgrounds. I love finding new playgrounds! Well, this playground is a sight. It is huge! It has a tree house, a "babbling brook", and an 8 station path that gives a brief overview of the story "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." That was Tyner's favorite! Anyway, it is just a incredible!

Hunt's new hiding place

I couldn't find Hunt the other morning. This is where I found him! Inside Maggie's kitchen! Now he gets in there at least once a day. And I still laugh every time he does it. He crawls in and shuts the door and sits there for a second. He then swings it open and screams! Precious!

He loves yogurt! Can you tell?

I feel like sometimes I am raising Maggie all over again with this little one! Another strong-willed child!! He won't let ANYONE feed him. He wants to do it "all by himself!" So, during snack time...he fed himself yogurt. Doesn't he look like he enjoyed it? It was messy but way too cute not to take a picture!

Hilton Head

This is Hunt's face when he is mad! I caught it right in time!

I could go on and on about how much fun we had! It was very busy but so much fun! All 3 of them could have stayed on the beach until sunset if we would have let them! We did a lot more playing in the ocean than we did building sandcastles. Tyner had a lot of fun riding his boogie board. Maggie was right there with him! Are you surprised?!! And Hunt!...whoa...we couldn't take our eyes off of him because he would run straight for the water and never stop! We cooked some delicious fish the first 2 nights and then found 2 great restaurants the last 2 nights. We took time to ride around the island. We are excited about this new beach we have found and look forward to going back! It is such a blessing to be able to get away and enjoy watching the kids have so much fun! I am very thankful!

Sewing like crazy!!!!! and loving every minute of it!!

I made her this eyelet lace dress as a swimsuit cover up. But it is cute as a dress as well.

She is ready for the holidays!

Maggie's first halter top

I had this cut out for a while and finally finished it when we got up here. This is one of my favorites. And the little boy that wears it is pretty cute, too!

Mama, I thought you would enjoy seeing what I have been doing during nap time for the last month. It is SO fun having time to sew again! I finished the knit leggings I was telling you about and will post a picture of those, too. Well, I have to go now because Hunt just woke up and he is standing in his bed screaming"MAMA, MAMA, MAMA"...do you remember that sound? haha!!

My Big Boy!

My left-handed/right handed little boy...He can't decide what he is going to do. I was sitting with him this morning while he was eating and couldn't resist taking some pictures of him. He is just so stinking cute!! Ohhhh but he is so unbelievably strong-willed. Do I still get to feed my precious little boy? Absolutely not!! He won't even let his sister feed him anymore! but..oh well...he sure melts my heart!

Sweet memories to cherish and save!

This brings tears to my eyes. I have been working my tail off in my sewing/computer room the last few days trying to get all my pictures uploaded and my website off and running. Still have more work to do on the website(actually Hunter does:-)..) but I published my facebook page. Yeah!!

Anywhooo, the kids have been doing an incredible job of "using their imagination"-a phrase i use quite frequently around here- and entertaining each other. It is really weird getting to this stage with the kids where they can play by themselves, and I don't have to sit in the room with them. and as for Hunt...the older two watch after him! N-I-C-E!!

Well, the point of all my rambling...Tyner made this note for Hunter(with no prompts from me at all!) and taped it to his office door. He couldn't wait for his Daddy to get home to see it. It was so fun when Hunter walked in the door. He actually worked really late that night and I let the kids stay up and wait on him. Daddy walked in the door at 9:30. The minute he walked in they took him around the house and showed him all the pictures they had made for him. Oh it was precious!! I cherish these moments with my children!

It all makes beautiful sense!

Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the Earth!!
(This is what we got to look at all weekend while we were on two beautiful lakes)

"Someday, when we see the face of Jesus, we'll finally understand why things happened the way they did. And even more amazing, we'll agree that we would have done it the exact same way, so that He could bring us to the place we were supposed to be. Someday it will all make beautiful sense."

This is a quote that I saw on the facebook page of a friend of mine from Nashville. Our preacher at our old church in Nashville said this. When I read it I thought...wow! Our family has certainly been put to the test over the last several years. Our faith has been tested in many, many ways. But honestly...I would do it all over again! He put us through all that to bring us to the point where we are now! I am so content and so very, very thankful! Blessed! That is what I feel...very, very blessed! I feel like a lot of it makes beautiful sense! All the tears, heartache, pain...they were all worth it!

And I don't think I will EVER get tired of looking at these mountains. They are such a perfect reminder of how great our God is!

Roan Mountain

What I saw out my window the entire drive!

Playing at the Roan Mountain playground

Just another mountain! ha!

The "Babbling Brook" that Tyner spotted first. He said "look Mama it's a babbling brook!"
PIE...that's for you!!!!!

Roan Mountain is just another one of the wonderful mountains to hike, picnic, camp, play...I decided last minute that we were going to visit it. It is about a 45 minute drive from our house, but the drive is gorgeous! I kept saying to the kids, "y'all look at these beautiful mountains! We live here!" I think after the 15th time saying it they were like...yes, mom we know! ha! We got there right at lunch time. We had a picnic and the kids played on the playground. They have a wonderful pool with a fun slide. We enjoyed that too! I can't wait to go back with Hunter and hike it!

The Track in Pigeon Forge

Daddy and Tyner

Mama and Tyner

Maggie was hilarious! She had her hands in the air almost the whole time!

Well, I can say we have been there and done that and we won't go back. It was fun while we were there and the kids enjoyed it! That was the purpose. So, mission accomplished! It is such a joy to see my kids having so much fun.

Hands On Museum

performing on the stage

shopping in the grocery store

playing in the tree house

There are so many fun things to do here! We are having a blast! The Hands On Museum is wonderful. It is downtown and such a fun and educational activity. It is a museum full of stuff for them to touch...read...play...spin...draw...slide...I could go on and on. Right up my ally!! We even went twice in one week! There is a stage where they can dress up and "perform." Guess who did that! imagine- our little performer!

Jonesborough July 4th Festival

Indian Dance

Priceless!

Fun Kiddie Rides

After Maggie opened her birthday presents we all loaded up and headed to Jonesborough for their 4th of July festival. It began with watching Indians dance and looking inside a teepee. The kids loved it. The kids had fun riding rides, playing games and eating lots of junk food.

Maggie's Birthday

Riding the horse at Chuck 'E' Cheese

Pointing to her Dora birthday banner!

The birthday girl! I still can't believe she is 4!

My girly, girl had a great 4th birthday. Of course she woke up at 6 a.m. ready to begin her special day! We had lots of fun and ended it by going to Chuck 'E' Cheese. She was screaming the whole way there. Poppa and Susan joined us. We were so glad to have family there to celebrate with us. Hunt had as much fun as Tyner and Maggie did. We stayed for a good 2 hours. Needless to say everyone was exhausted by the time we left.

Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium

This was our friend waiting right outside our car when we arrived!

not sure what Maggie was doing! haha! that happens often! and yes that is a purse hanging from her wrist. She is such a girly-girl sometimes!

If you look close that is a wolf! aghhh! They(there are about 8 of them) all went running to the fence when they heard someone howling. It was amazing!

Today, we took our second trip to Bays Mountain Park in Kingsport. Tyner has been asking to go back so we were all excited about going again! It is just this beautiful nature preserve on 3500 acres. They have tons of hikes, a planetarium, animals, etc...so just perfect for the Simpson nature lovers! We packed a picnic and had a great afternoon. The first thing we saw when we pulled up was a deer standing about 10 feet from our car! That was a great way to start our afternoon adventure. We saw the wolves (behind a huge fence- thank goodness) up close and personal. We ended our visit at the planetarium. We took a trip into outer space and learned all about the solar system. It was amazing! We had to cut it a little short because Simpson #3 doesn't quite understand about sitting quietly in a dark room for 30 minutes! ha! We were able to stay long enough to learn lots of good stuff about the inner planets and the sun. We will go back for the rest of it soon!