Katie's Tinkerbell Birthday

We had a fantastic birthday party tonight. It was our first party with "friends" (well, not counting any random ones throughout the years that the Freemans have happened to be in town for :) We of course wanted to invite Kaitlyn, our classmate and great friend, and Bethany did happen to be in town, so she was able to bring Canaan and Zion. They had a blast, but boy what great birth control when you are feeling sentimental about your babies growing up...is this the secret reason people have big parties and invite lots of kids?! ha ha.

Anyway, we had so much fun. Publix made a beautiful Tinkerbell cake, the decorations were all up and Katie was READY!

We started with some pizza, then opened gifts. She loved each and every single one! She was also able to read all of her cards out loud (which I think everyone probably decided by the time THAT was over that a blank card would be good for next year! ha ha!)

We got her Disney on Ice tickets for tomorrow night, which is the whole reason we had a birthday party on a Tuesday night. Next Tuesday is her actual birthday. We were able to get the tickets half price for opening night which is tomorrow, and this past Saturday was Noah's last soccer game and party and Poppa and Ben were out of town. So, we decided having the party on a Tuesday wouldn't kill us!

We had a fashion show, since Katie's big gift from the grandparents was a complete head to toe Tinkerbell costume (to wear tomorrow night of course and for Halloween). They all dressed up and came out one at a time while we clapped. We had Katie as Tinkerbell, Kaitlyn as Minnie Mouse, Noah as Captain Noah the pirate, Brendan as Sir Brendan the knight, Zion as the pteradactyl, and Canaan as Captain Canaan Freeman, USAF. (aka, airport guy by Katie).

They had a lot of fun and I picked a few of the pictures from the night for a slideshow. I am too lazy right now to put them in any kind of order so they are completely random, taken from three different cameras. If you want to see a better view of the pictures, just click on the slideshow and it will take you to a larger view.

Happy Birthday Katie!

So Excited!

We are so excited at our house today! We are having Katie's SIXTH Birthday party tonight! Corey and I were up till 12:30 cleaning and decorating since we won't have time today with school and ballet this afternoon and picking up the cake.

She is having a Tinkerbell birthday party. Her actual birthday is next Tuesday, the 28th, so I will save the slideshow until then, but I will probably get pictures of the party up tonight or tomorrow.

She is SO excited! Her daddy picked up a giant birthday balloon that is Tinkerbell and it talks when you tap it. A total splurge (I skipped buying it at the grocery store yesterday, but of course Daddy had to go get it!). So...the house is ready, the balloons are ready to go on the mailbox and we have a very excited birthday girl (and mommy!) I can't believe Katie Grace is turning 6!

Cabins for Me! (Or you!)

A friend of mine from church came across my blog just a bit too late!

Apparently, they have a cabin rental company that rents in the Smoky Mountains area. AND, she said their cabins are NICE and CLEAN!

So, you can bet who we will be calling the next time we want a cabin in the moutains! Our good friends at Cabins For You! Oh, how we wish we had known!!!

Take a second to look at their website and book mark it so you have a good place to start the next time you want to head out for a nice mountain retreat! I saw that they actually have giveaways for their rentals as well. Visitors write-up about their stay...and the stories are so great! You have to read the winning entry from the last contest...SO sweet!

Click here: Cabins for You

Challenge: Be a Good Samaritan

We got our Samaritan's Purse Christmas Gift Catalog in the mail yesterday. It reminded me what we have thought about doing for the past few years....giving a donation to a charity instead of buying a gift for our family members.

We tried to last year, and even started by helping with providing Christmas gifts for a needy family, but at the last minute everyone changed their minds and starting buying gifts. We have decided to absolutely do the charitable giving this year, and not give in, even if others do.

There are so many ways to give to others...people who could REALLY use a Christmas gift...unlike so many of us who are blessed with the things we need: clean water, shelter, food, clothes, medicines, doctors, hospitals, the list could go on and on.

If you are a regular gift receiver from the Thompson family.....be prepared. The children will be making their usual homemade ornaments and I will do my holiday baking for gifts. And above and beyong that, there will be a card with your name on it stating the gift that was given in your name....the gift that would provide a child with some clothing, or a family with clean water, or a nursing mother with nourishment. It is what we feel led to do, and what we will obediently follow through with for Christmas.

We will be still doing gifts with our children, that is a tradition that we enjoy with the three gifts (if you read about our Christmas last year you remember what I am talking about), and who would want to give up the joy of celebrating in their own homes? The big difference here is all those other gifts...we will still be giving with our homemade items, but the "extra" buying can be transferred to those who really are in need. None of us are in need...only in "want."

I know there are a variety of charities, local and abroad, who need help. Pick one. Start a trend. Be different.

Booking Through Thursday.....

I read a very fun book this week and wanted to share it with you all. I love to read and so do several of my friends, and Corey, so I thought it might be fun to try and do a weekly meme based on book reviews. So, here goes. If you want to do a "Booking Through Thursday" book review, just leave a link to your post in the comments and then link back here in your post and we can all read each other's latest book finds!

The book for today's "Booking Through Thursday" is A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin.

This was the choice for our book club for our November meeting, and I happened to find it at the awesome used book store we visited this past weekend.

I have to say, that this book actually inspired me to create a post and weekly theme about it, because I just enjoyed it so much!

It isn't a deep, thought-provoking, life changing kind of read. On the contrary, it is pretty light reading, silly, and just fun. The main character is a sort of mix between an Anne of Green Gables, and Jo, from Little Women. She has just graduated from a "finishing school" for young ladies. She goes to visit her aunts in turn of the century Chicago, who each have their own agenda for finding her a husband (or not at all in the case of one rebellious suffragette aunt). Violet is the main character's name and I just loved her from the first page! She has the habit of remembering people she meets by creating a nick-name for them that reflects their personality, and I found myself laughing at how "frankly" she thinks, but at the same time she is trying to appear to be nice and "acceptable" like so many people do! She ends up trying to find her mother, 4 different "beaus" propse to her, and to tell you the truth for a lot of the novel you don't really know which way she is going to go. I knew there was going to be some kind of interesting twist to how it all came together but it wasn't boringly obvious.

If you like Christian Fiction, and historical novels, I think you will love this book. I read it in 3 sittings over 2 days, because it was just fun and fast paced and easy to read and enjoy. A main setting of the book is the 1893 World's Fair, which she happens to visit with 3 of her potential suitors...showing a different side of the Fair with each visit. The description of the Fair is fascinating...especially the point of view of Violet experiencing "Mr. Ferris' Wheel" for the first time.

Here is one cute little excerpt from the book...Violet is trying to figure out a way to keep her father from remarry-ing a dislikable widow and bringing her two obnoxious children into the family. She speculates that the widow actually murdered her first husband and is fishing for information to incriminate her. Violet, throughout the book, gives nicknames to the other characters based on what she thinks about them....

"It's so tragic that she was widowed at such a young age, isn't it? I was away at school when her husband died, so I'm not sure I ever heard the cause of his demise."
"It was most unfortunate, I'm sorry to say. He tumbled down the cellar stairs and struck his head."
Ah ha! Just as I thought! Murderous Maude had pushed him! Homely and Horrid had probably strewn objects in his path to aggravate his fall, and greased the handrail for good measure. I masked my glee with what I hoped was a look of horror."
-excerpt from A Proper Pursuit, by Lynn Austin

Happy Reading!

Weblink Wednesday

I have decided to start participating in Weblink Wednesday, through my online friend, Socalval. She is the creator/moderator of a fantastic yahoo group for homeschooling moms and her blog hosts Weblink Wednesday. I don't know how to get the cute graphic that all the other participants have on their sites, but I expect I may get a helpful little tip about that after I link! Anyway, on to the topic. I hope it is okay to post any kind of link, not just for homeschooling, because unfortunately I get all my good links for her and the group and rarely have something new to share, but I will if I do ever happen to have one.

www.wishlist.com

For an example, click HERE for my family's wishlists.


My link for today is just for fun! It is a really fun way to create a wishlist to share with family and friends. I find it especially useful for my children. We usually plan their gifts for birthdays and Christmas carefully and thoughtfully, so it is helpful to be able to share things that will "go along with" or that "can be used with" what we plan for them. And, just a great way to share with family who want to know what they can get you for your birthday or holiday.

This wishlist site is unique in that you can add a link to your favorites that will easily allow you to add any item from any website you happen to browse. I have items on my wishlist from amazon, target, walmart, and mytwinn.com. You can create individual wishlists for each member of your family and add to whoever you like from that link in your favorites. There is also a place to put any additional info like colors/sizes, etc.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun creating our wishlists on this site and wanted to share. Have fun!
By the way...if you can find it on the web, you can put it on your list! ha ha...our family list includes a Chrysler Pacifica!

You can view other postings for Weblink Wednesday by clicking HERE or on the link in the post above.

Mountain Adventure: Part Two

When we last saw the Thompson family, they were enjoying a nice breakfast at the Christmas Inn and wondering where they would spend their next night of vacation since there was no more "room for them at the Inn."
Excuse my corniness!

Anyway, we were full, walked around and took some more pictures in the hotel and in the courtyard and then went back to the room to see what we could find for a place to stay. I called a hotel in Pigeon Forge that we knew was nice, but they didn't really have what we wanted. (the two bed rooms were a two night minimum). So, then I started looking in Gatlinburg. I called one nice place that had no rooms, then found a place that looked like it had a really nice pool area, so I called them. They had rooms, AND rooms with a view...and the rate was $119! We quickly booked them, then headed out to the Apple Barn.

The Apple Barn is our favorite place to eat while in the Smoky Mountains. Their apple fritters with apple butter are wonderful! The wait is usually really long, so we went ahead and headed that way. We played over by the river and did some shopping in their general store while we waited. After a filling lunch of apple fritters and homestyle cooking, we decided to go ahead and try to check-in at our next hotel.

It took us an hour to drive from Pigeon Forge to our hotel in Gatlinburg! Needless to say, there were lots of people on fall break in the mountains. We actually saw some people we know walking down the street with their entire family, but we didn't get to say hi before we passed them. I also found out that my book club friend was also there this past weekend, but we didn't see them. One of our pastor's wife was there with family as well, but no seeing them either.

Anyway....we got to our new hotel which was up a very steep road literally on a "vista." It was called the Park Vista Hotel...imagine that.

So, we go in and I immediately notice that the hotel is set up with rooms all around the perimeter in a big circle and it is open to the ceiling in the middle with three glass elevators going up to the floors. Of course, if you have read my Fox theater blog, you know I do not deal well with heights, so I told Corey to ask if they have an interior elevator.

He checks us in and comes back to say, yes, they have an interior elevator, and we are staying on the 15th floor....the TOP floor.

Deep breaths. I head over to the other elevator while Corey and the kids get on the glass elevator. I wait and wait and wait...this is the service elevator and with 15 floors it was quite a wait.

It finally opens and everyone gets off so I start to step in and it is looking very small and enclosed. I turn around and the doors start to close right as I think about how long it will take this elevator to go up 15 floors. And then I proceed to walk right off before it even shuts.

I honestly don't know why I have such panic attacks about heights and all that. It is a physical reaction by my body. I get short of breath and literally feel like I can't stand up.

So I called Corey and he is in the room. He said the kids were okay with the elevator for about 5 floors then Katie got upset when they kept going. Anyway, he informed me that the view from our balcony is INCREDIBLE and there was actually a pigeon sitting on the balcony when they went out.

I told him I panicked about getting on the elevator and would they come down and go up with me. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad with people with me I thought.

Well, they come down, Noah tells me excitedly that our room is all the way up at the ceiling and we go over to the service elevator.

When the doors open again, I try to walk in, but I am telling you I know this sounds crazy but my body completely and totally rejected getting on that elevator to go to the top. I don't know why, I can't explain it, but I just told Corey that we would have to see if we could get a different room. It really would not have been an issue I think if there wasn't that big circle area open in the middle of the hotel. That really made the height thing so much worse...all the rooms were around that circle. I think if it had just looked like a normal hotel, with a regular lobby and enclosed elevators, then I could have made it up there. I wouldn't have even been able to see that I was that high until I looked out the balcony, then there would be the awesome view to enjoy. Although, I know I am nuts for this, but I promise I can feel myself getting higher when I am in an elevator.

He is understandably a little bit aggravated, but we have been married for 8 years after all, so he just sighs and gets back on the elevator to retrieve our luggage from the room. I went to get in line to ask about a different room.

They had rooms available on the first, 4th, 10th, 13th, and 14th floors.

We took the 4th floor room. The view wasn't nearly as good Corey said. It was mostly of the top of the pool house. Though, I really regret not sending the camera with Corey to get a photo from that balcony before he got our stuff out. I just wasn't thinking clearly at that point though.

So, we checked into our room, went down to the pool and then took a nap from 5-6pm. The late night was really catching up with us from the previous day. We had dinner at the hotel, then decided to go to the Aquarium that night because it was open until 11pm and we had just had a nap. It was a lot of fun and we really had a great time, because it was really late and there was no one there! We were able to really get our money's worth with no crowds and being able to take our time.

The next day we went out to find a pancake house (a major request from Katie and Noah) and found a GREAT one. It was called Log Cabin Pancake House. DELICIOUS!

We then took the long scenic route through the edge of the Smoky Mountains Park that brought us in a big circle back to the main highway to head home.

I know it may not sound like it, but we really did have a great time. I really didn't even mind switching hotels for the two nights but it might have been less stressful to actually KNOW that is what you are going to do rather than calling each day.

HIGHLIGHTS: The INN at Christmas Place, eating apple fritters/apple butter, midnight swimming

NOT SO GREAT: checking into a nasty cabin/condo, feeling like a child for not wanting to go to the 15th floor of a hotel