A short hike in the Smokies...

Come and join us on a hike in the Smokies:

Mommy and Gray watching the big kids (and Daddy) swimming.

 Swimming in a mountain stream.

Steve and Grayson are sitting in the midst of a chilly waterfall.

Vitali caught this moth; in a recent trip to the zoo, we learned that this is called a Buckeye.  (I think)

 Pretty paths through the trees.

 The whole bunch of munchkins plus Steve taking a short break for a snack.

 The goal of the hike was this waterfall.  The cool water felt great.  We planned to go down below it to swim but....

 ...this Black bear had already thought of that.  Then he started to come up the path towards us.  We didn't really have anywhere to go if he did since he was using our path and everything else was rock walls.  Steve decided he'd better walk towards the bear and make some noise to scare him off. 

 That black smudge ahead of him is the bear.  My hero! (Steve, not the bear)

 Beautiful views and plant life.

 Hannah

 Little Grayson looks so cute with the big guys.

 awww...

The best part of the trip was something I didn't catch on camera:
         As we were walking back, Steve kept telling the kids, "Don't walk so far ahead, we can't see you around the bends in the path." And,  "Stay closer to us." But, as kids will do, they kept wandering ahead.  Suddenly, Ivy (7) and Vitali (8) came running back into view from further up the path.  They were waving their arms and Vitali was pushing Ivy aside trying to get ahead of her, "BEAR!!!" they yelled.  Sure enough, not 30 yards from them up the hillside a bear had stumbled and rolled down a little ways towards them on their path.  Haha!  The bear was unfazed and by the time we got around the bend we could see that he was working his way back up the hill.  Black bears aren't very aggressive usually and this bear was no exception.  So it was a funny moment and you can bet Ivy and Vitali stayed in view of us for the rest of the hike!

 

I was glad to get these pictures of our family this past week.  Our new living room was empty except for the couch and so I begged cooperation from everybody letting them choose their clothes.  They did a pretty good job though the boys took a couple of tries before they were wearing shirts with no pictures AND no writing (my stipulations).  

But, everyone was looking in most of them even if they weren't always smiling (ahem, Hannah...), no small feat for a family of nine.  Even Grayson got into it; he loved the blinking timer light on the camera and even cried for more when we were done.  (ahem again, certain oldest daughter.)

Happy Birthdays!

 Grayson turned ONE! 

  Yes, already.  Actually, I am posting this so late that he's 14 months old.  Still, I look at him and can't believe it has been a whole year already.  I've soaked him up as much as possible and still the time flew!

   Even without the added sugar he's a sweetie!

 He's mommy's little snuggler!

And you know who else had a birthday?

  Great Grandpa Anderson turned 93!!

 Each year his birthday reminds us to be thankful for the gift of getting to spend so much time with him.  He surely is a special guy--and I'm not just saying that because he's my Grandpa! 

 Happy Birthdays, Grandpa and Grayson!!

Dear Grayson, Happy Valentine's Day, 2028!

If you have a baby around for Valentine's Day, a good activity for you and baby is to dress baby up in a cupid costume, set him on a blanket and start snapping pictures.


Baby Cupid will almost certainly eat the props. (In case of a melt-down, having a red-heart sucker and a big sister handy for your
disgruntled Cupid is a good idea, also.)



And it is helpful to know that when Cupid's red-heart sucker is done,
he's done.

More house project pictures

The boys all love to watch the Bobcat! See the almost-finished garage behind Vitali? It's done now! I love it!

Working on the front porch portico.

I accidentally made this picture my desktop picture this morning. Haha! There's the portico as well as a view of the new Bathroom window.

Acceptable seating standards have changed in our living room these days. See the new window behind Gray?

Clearly, these pictures are not in order. This is the house during the living room addition and before that portico.

Inside project: making usable space out of the high area above the stairs. This is a closet now that opens into the living room!

My baby can beat up your baby. My baby eats nails for breakfast!

Oops!

Put the front door in and had to move it over by 4 1/2 inches to center it on the porch.
Ugh! It's better now. Thanks, Steve!

So, you can see, it's coming together! I haven't even shown you the inside stuff! More later....

sneak peek

We've been busy....

(And this little guy just turned 11 months old.)