Impromptu Vacation

We recently enjoyed an impromtu {mini} vacation to the beautiful mountains in TN, to visit our vacationing family.  Mark's parents and uncle had rented a cabin for the week, to enjoy some rest, relaxation, and fall colors in the beautiful TN mountains, and they graciously invited us to join them for the weekend.  We obliged with little (if any) hesitation!

Although our time was short, we enjoyed our wonderful time with the family, and the beautiful sights of the mountains.  We spent the majority of our Saturday meandering through the beautiful Cade's Cove area.  While there, one of our first sights was this field of horses -- as you can imagine, we had some extremely excited kiddos from the start!  And, though I'm not exactly what you'd call a "horse lover", I couldn't help but want to take pictures of such a beautiful view...

And, who could go through the mountains of TN without taking at least one picture of them?  Not me!  I loved seeing all of the leaves showing their true colors across the valley, below the mountains...breathtaking, to say the least...

Katie watched, with her camera in tow, only steps behind me as I trampled through an overgrown field of weeds in one of our Cade's Cove walks, as I tried to capture this lone butterfly as it searched for nectar.  I thought it was an odd time of year to see them...and this was the only one we saw the entire day...but, who knows!  It was beautiful!!

Katie & Austin had a great time exploring the woods and  mountains with Pawpaw, Nana, and Uncle George.  Their goal was to look at every kind of rock and leaf, and anything that moved!  I think they did a great job, too!

Did I mention how much I adored the beautiful foliage throughout the mountains??

We also enjoyed giving the kids a little "history" lesson as we made each stop throughout the Cade's Cove area.  What's better than an impromptu vacation that can also count as an educational field trip!?  I love homeschooling!!

And no good trip to Cade's Cove would be complete without seeing at least one deer or bear...we actually saw 1 large buck, several does, and a yearling -- which totally made Austin's day (he just wished he could have a gun and go hunting with Pawpaw)!

And, toward the end of our trip in Cade's Cove, we came to an almost complete stand-still.  After a long while in the cars, we finally realized why!  There was a large black bear in a nearby field, which caused lots of "slowing down" and the entire forest ranger force to arrive for precautions.  This would be where that great telescoping lens would have been awesome to have handy! ;-)

And, what better way to end our Saturday, than to stop by for a picture at the HUGE haybale scarecrow and puppy (and to try out their great icecream)!

It was a quick, impromptu trip full of more car time than anything, but we all had a fantastic time visiting with the family and enjoying the sights.  Gotta love memories like these... ;-)

Wordless Wednesday

Gymnastics

As I mentioned in a previous post, our little kiddos have decided that they love their gymnastics classes at Hartselle Gymnastics, and we've enjoyed seeing them love it!  They have been practicing their back bends, front flips, back flips, and cart wheels...enjoying their first attempts on the vault, the balance beam, and the bars...and even learning how to stretch and work toward the splits (which Katie thinks is absolutely amazing!)  I like seeing them active in a productive way, and I can't wait to see their progress at the next "Parent Day" (when we can all come and watch/take lots of pictures/etc.).

But, until then...here are a few quick shots I took the other day.  (I couldn't really see any area except the bars from where I had to stay, so that's what you'll see...which is Austin's favorite!) 

Trust me...more pictures will come as soon as Parent Day comes :-)  I'm as anxious to see their progress as you are!  But believe me when I say, it's a new favorite pastime for these little ones!  They want gymnastics to be every day :-)

Fall is HERE!!

I absolutely love this time of year, all of it's crazy-busyness and all!  The cool weather...the "fall" colors...boots come out of the closet...mini vacations...pumpkins...field trips...beautiful leaves showing their "true"colors.  {sigh} What's not to love?!

Our lives have definitely been far from calm lately...it's been a busy time of year for photography (which is not a bad thing!), as well as a busy time with (home)school/family/trips, and life in general.  Because of that crazy-busyness, I'm a little behind on blogging, so hold on to your seat!  It's going to be a busy week of blog posts here for the Barton family :-)

And, to start the ride through our fast-paced, wonderful life, I'll tell you about our fun-filled trip with our youth group to a local corn maze.  I chose not to take my camera due to the dust and nature of our escapades...but I did talk Katie into bringing hers.  I took LOTS of pictures of the kids enjoying their first marshmellow roast...their oh so favorite corn cribs...their trip through the corn maze in the dark (minus their flashlights)... their unforgettable ride on the cow train (which, by the way, really needed some "bum" pillows haha!)...and them shooting their corn launcher!  But, wouldn't you know it...I went to upload the pictures, and THEY AREN'T THERE!!!  Apparently, our kiddos unintentionally deleted about 400 pictures that were on Katie's camera while we were on our recent trip to TN.  I'm going to intentionally leave that detail out when talking to my sweet daughter, because she'd be heartbroken, but hopefully that won't happen again before I have time to get the pictures off the camera. 

At any rate, the kids had a VERY long night at the corn maze, but they had a wonderful time!  I think we got home around midnight, which is unheard of for them!  But they were great sports the entire night...I was very proud of them!

So, now that I've talked you through the "non-pictured events", how about we start blogging about those other fun things soon? ;-)  Check back...they'll be coming throughout the week! 

Not Me! Monday

I did not allow my son to play a game on my cell phone, only to find that he had purchased a different game that "he wanted to play" -- remember, he is only 3 -- and being the sweet, understanding mother that I am, I certainly did not make him pay me $1 for the game he unknowingly bought.  And, after doing so, I did not find myself thinking of what game I wish  he would have unintentionally purchased...instead of "Brick Breaker"...Not me!!

After dropping the kids off at their art class this week, I did not decide to walk into a local clothing consignment store, only to find my very own YUMMY TUMMY tank.  After trying it out this week, all I have to say is, WHERE have these been my whole life??  They make your tummy (and sides) look slimmer, shaped, and it's LONG, so I can wear it under practically everything I own!  I do believe I need to find several more of these...especially if I can get it for $5!!

I did not have our bedroom tv crash on me this week...then our air conditioning...followed by my "almost brand new" Dell laptop...  One is bad, but THREE major things in one week...NOT me!

Bunk Beds & Best Buds

Okay, so I've been terrible on getting pictures of the kids "finished" (aka liveable and decorated...until I find more to add/change) combined bedroom.  And, after looking at the pictures, I'm thinking -- did we really change that much??  So, here's a "before" picture of the kids separated bedrooms...

Austin's "BEFORE" Room...

Katie's "BEFORE" Room...

And now, your look into their "new" combined 

BUNK BED & BEST BUDS room...

They both sold a lot of their "old" bedroom

decor and reinvested in their new rooms

I think the best part was seeing how excited the kids were 

as they were able to choose their accent pieces together

and AGREE on them!

We definitely have two horse/country lovin' kids...

And I wouldn't change them for anything in the world!

Love my little Cowboy & Cowgirl!!

And, as for the transitioning to one bedroom and one playroom, things have been great!  The kids love the set-up, and I love that they make a mess in ONE room (the playroom) instead of two while they play together.  There are times that I reconsider -- like when they are supposed to be sleeping and they are instead laughing, giggling, and telling secrets -- but then I remind myself that those times are what make brothers and sisters best buds forever.  We're still working on the play room...step by step...but it's also working great as our homeschooling area, which I never really had before.  I definitely think this was a great decision for our family.  The kids love their combined country bedroom, and I love that!

So, what do you think of our country bunk bed room for our best buds? ;-)

Wordless Word-Y Wednesday

Thinking I need a better way of organizing my ever-growing prop collection, 

since it's now completely overtaking my closet...

And the sad thing is, these are only the props that I couldn't "fit"

into our current home decor...

Suggestions?  Volunteers {grins}??  Anyone?!  ;-)

Not Me! Monday

I did not look at what I dressed my sweet girl in for church yesterday and think, "Wow!  She's grown so much since last year...I suppose I need to find her a new church sweater to wear with her dresses, because that looks a little snug (and 3/4 length)"... Only to look and see that I had been literally squeezing her into a 3T sweater!!  She's probably been wearing that since she was 2 (going by the fact that she's typically one size larger than her age), so I think I've gotten the "worth" out of it and really should invest in a new one this season.  She thought it was hilarious that Mommy put her in a 3T sweater without knowing it...I would never overlook such an obvious wardrobe malfunction... ;-)

I did not again fail to post the pictures of the kids' new combined bedroom last week, so I'm now adding it to THIS weeks' blog "to do list" -- man!  after making you wait this long, I need to come up with some even BETTER modifications, to make it worth it to you ;-)

Katie has not been insistent on having a "Daddy/Katie" Date Night this week, which I think has just melted Daddy's heart a little more each time.  She was so excited when he scheduled his "date" that she drew a reminder picture for all to see...

And, after all of that excitement, we have not already had to make changes to the date of her "date night" {due to her gymnastics class starting tomorrow evening...during her originally scheduled date night}.  Though, she's now chosen Daddy's "OFF" day, so she is even more excited -- get ready, Daddy!  I sure hope you have lots of plans for this girl, as she's not going to let you off easy! ;-)

I do not have many many tasks to complete over the next couple of hours, so my Not Me! Monday is going to have to come to a close for today...