The Weekend Lowdown

Is the weekend over already? Boo. But it was a good one. Our life seems to have slowed down a bit the last few weeks. Which is good.. so that means this is a totally random post of the not so exciting things we have been up to. 

Friday night we headed to the Depot for dinner. It was even nice enough to go outside for a 

bit and watch the falls. 

We came back and snuggled in our PJ's. We are excited because we now have a schedule of when our favorite Christmas movies are coming on. What are your faves? Our number one is definitely Christmas Vacation. I have a few newer faves like  Four Christmases and Elf.  

Saturday we hosted Matt's family for Thanksgiving. We love our turkey shirt that KK gave us. However, Fulton is convinced those two people on his shirt are mommy and daddy. I have looked everywhere and can't seem to find my pilgrim outfit like I am wearing on his shirt. 

Saturday afternoon we went in with my sweet friend Lisa and rented a Rug Doctor together. It was our turn with the machine and this is how our house looked most of the night. Fulton got a great kick out of the fact that everything was out of place. Not such a fun experience for his OCD momma. Matt is a champ and did the whole house while Fulton and I tried to stay out of his way. I guess Harley sensed we had done something to his territory and decided to mark it again this morning. Nothing like fresh clean carpet and then your dog tee tees on it. 

We had a great service at church to end our Make Initiative. It was a good reminder not to store up earthly treasures for yourself because moth and rust will destroy them. It is all His and with all the materialism that surrounds us, it's hard to remember to invest in the Kingdom and not the things of this world. We had lunch with Aunt Keri and stayed inside the rest of the afternoon and took naps. It's simply freezing outside. Matt braved the wintry storm and finished up our outside decorations. If he doesn't get a gold star for the weekend I don't know who does. Here's to a short school week. Hooray. 

The Friday Five

Today I am linking up with The Sowell Life for the Friday 5. Here are a couple of 

random things from this week. 

1. We are focusing on Thanksgiving, pulling our thankful slips out of the jar, thanking the Lord for how He has blessed us, and even gave ourselves Indian names. Fulton's was Skipping Bull. He loves to skip. It is very entertaining for others. The best is when he does it with no shirt on and a football in his hand. 

2. We did put up our Christmas decorations this week. Don't judge. Remember number #1 above.. we still love Thanksgiving, just getting in the spirit of Christmas too. Last year Aunt Keri gave Fulton his very own Nativity Scene. It wasn't less than 24 hours later and we had already lost a wiseman. Poor guys, they were down a man. No worries, the police man is still watching over the 

manger with the other two. 

3. All three of us got haircuts this week. They were all three much needed, but no one as bad as me. It was starting to get Rapunzel like. This guy got himself a pretty good trim too. 

4. I am doing a new Bible study with some of my friends at work. It's called Stuck by Jennie Allen. It is amazing! I highly recommend it. We are discussing one chapter a week and we started about three weeks ago. I have almost finished the book, because I literally cannot wait to get up in the mornings to dig in the Word and into this study. It's all about the places in life that we feel stuck and the feelings that come with them-mad, sad, overwhelmed, broken, scared. It's a must do. 

5. And last but not least, you may remember me talking about the ole potty training. Well, still going strong, trying not to give up, and persevering. Most of our afternoons and nights look like this once we get home from school. We are making progress, but I sure am doing a lot of laundry in the meantime. 

Loving a Long Weekend

We had today off from work which gave us a long weekend and we have loved it. My heart goes pitter patter on a Sunday night when I know I don't have school the next day. 

Saturday we attempted to try to get some Christmas shopping done, but it was a fail. Nothing... nada... except a sweater for Fulton and that's not what we were going for. Oh well, I guess we will try again. We had some friends over for dinner and got comfy to watch the AL game. 

Sunday night we got together with our care group to pack our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. I don't think we did a shoebox last year, so we had fun shopping for a girl this year. Fulton inspected everything to make sure it was safe for her. He even gnawed on the toothbrush a little--no worries, it was in plastic and we just left a little love mark on it. 

Happy Veteran's Day. And thank you to those that have and are serving our country. I cannot imagine the sacrifices they are giving for us. We had a few errands to run and stopped by a place our friends had told us about. It's a random place with random things, but Fulton enjoyed 

this throne of a camping chair. 

We were right near Aldridge Gardens and decided to stop by for a minute and soak it in. We didn't want to go for a swim, so we stayed close by this little explorer. 

Does this not just drop your jaw? Look at God's creation. This is so beautiful. Matt tells me a lot (and so does my family) that I don't appreciate nature like I should... but they would be proud. I actually stopped and just stared at this tree and the beauties the Lord allows us to enjoy. 

We headed to lunch at this new little hotdog place, because you know I love a good hotdog. They had ESPN on and were doing a special on soldiers coming home and surprising their families...I just sat there and cried while I ate my dog. What a great day. 

The Porcelain Throne

This was what our last week consisted of. Starting to potty train. Yikes.  

This was so not my idea. I got several texts while at work on Tuesday and they were pictures of Fulton going to the potty. Say what?! His babysitter decided to start the process. I had Bible study that night and this is what the scene looked like at our house when I left. Just like his daddy. 

Wednesday I ran to the store and got all the needed supplies. We hurried home with our special potty and I left him on it for 2.5 seconds while I stepped in the other room. Should have known why he was being so quiet. He unrolled half a roll of toilet paper into the trash can. Note to self... put him away from everything while sitting on the potty, he obviously got bored. 

This was at pickup on Thursday. Laylee is one of Fulton's best buds and they are trying to achieve this milestone together. I have a feeling she is going to leave him in her dust. We will keep this and show them when they are older. I know they will love it. 

And later that night I get this picture while I was at Christmas Village with mom and sister. A little bowling on the IPAD to keep you entertained. 

These were a couple of his potty charts from school this week. I have to admit, after day 1 I really said to Matt--I just don't know if I am ready for this. And again on day 2, 3, and 4 when he peed in the middle of the kitchen floor with his underwear on. He is pretty stubborn with the whole potty thing at home. Maybe I can get Matt to sit on one beside him and make it a little more fun. I will work on that. 

To the Mountains We Go

We packed the car Thursday night and were ready to head out as soon as school was out on Friday. Headed where? The mountains... to Gatlinburg. We made it up late Friday night, hopped in the bed and woke up Saturday morning ready to go. 

We went to Dollywood on Saturday. I cannot count the times our family has been here... so many that my sweet Mema buys us season passes. We are tight with ole Dolly. This was Fulton's first time and we had to try everything that he was tall enough to do. First up, the old cars. 

After that we headed to ride the train, but wouldn't you know the train wasn't running. Fulton was crushed. I wanted to speak to Dolly about this matter. You can't have the train not working when you have been talking about it all morning with a two year old that has a special place in his heart for choo-choos. The carousel was nearby, so we tried to distract with that. 

They had a cute little kiddie area that was perfect for Fulton's size. We did everything they had to offer. We don't necessarily ask him if he wants to ride, we just gently place him on and let him go. He will pretty much try anything. Matt was sort of jealous he couldn't ride the ducks too.

These three and myself did a lot of waiting on Matt while he road the roller coasters. Back in my younger cooler days I would ride them with Matt, but I am just a boring old gal now. That means he rides solo. He doesn't mind. 

We ate a big lunch and threw some pennies in the water. We tried to get some famous cinnamon bread, but our secret got out and everyone else was in line for it too. 

This little guy had a ball. He never missed a beat. Didn't even stop for a nap. We tried... we went to a show after lunch and thought he may rest a little. Nope.... he was clapping along with the music and after about 20 minutes, he was done. Ready to move on to something else. 

This little playground provided for some good entertainment as well. 

No comment. 

We sat on this bench, listened to a little music, decided to get a chocolate chip cookie and call it a day. We headed home, made some potato soup, and watched some football. 

Sunday morning I conned the family into going to the outlets for a bit. It was a worthwhile trip for everyone... well, maybe not everyone, but Mom and I enjoyed it. We spotted this hot air balloon as we were leaving and tracked it down. 

We stopped by another money pit ride place and let this guy pick a few things he wanted to do. The swings were by far his favorite. He had his mouth wide open, tongue hanging out, and giggling the whole time. 

We ate a quick lunch and headed to downtown Gatlinburg to walk around a bit. 

We rode concrete horses, threw more pennies in the fountain, watched them make taffy, mommy ate a chocolate covered doughnut, and did some great people watching. We ended with dinner at the famous Alamo, dad's favorite. It's a little more on the fine dining side than we have experienced in the last two year when Fulton is in tow, but it was delicious. 

Monday morning we got up and relaxed and played a bit before it was time to head back home. KK and Pops stayed another day and would you believe after we left they saw 8 bears. It must have been all that beef jerkey mom was carrying in her pockets.