It's already November!

Somehow I've missed 2 months! This is going to be a random post about the last few weeks, so here goes...

Since the boys have started school, I have been super busy.  I've been doing all my normal stuff, but I've also been trying to work on stuff at the house. As soon as school starts I get the bug to decorate for fall and I made a piece to go on the mantle. I LOVE it and I think it turned out great.

Reed gets out of school 1 hour later than Hudson, so we've been trying to find some ways to pass the time.  One day I needed to run to Wal-Mart and  Hudson and I tried on some hats... 

 In early October, my mom, the boys and I went to the State Fair.  We played carnival games, looked at exhibits, ate fried things and took selfies. 

Hudson's homework each week is a list of different activities to help him practice his reading and math.  One of his activities a couple of weeks ago was to practice writing his vocabulary words in salt.  He did his homework and asked what to do with the salt when he got done.  I told him just to leave it and i would take care of it.  A little while later, Reed came through the kitchen as I was busy with dinner and left me a little note.  He's such a sweet kid. :)

Things I often find in my house - random toys in random places.

On Homecoming night, our youth group had a party after the game at our church and they played bubble soccer.  It was easily one of the funniest things I've seen.  They would run into each other, bounce off and fall and roll around.  The funniest was when they would flip over and have their feet straight up in the air.  I haven't laughed that hard in a while. 

 Going into middle school, each kid has to choose band, art or choir.  Reed chose band. In his "instrument fitting", he ended up being a good fit for playing the reed for the bassoon, so that's what he chose.  He has been doing GREAT and he really enjoys it. We went to his first band concert in mid-October.  

He is really doing well and I love hearing him practice during the week. They do a chair test each week on Fridays and he has gotten first chair the last 3 weeks in a row.  Proud of that kid! 

Hudson and Reed both had friends over a couple of weekends ago and they all piled in front of the TV in the movie room and played Minecraft.  I wish I would've invented that pixelated mess of a game... that dude is crazy rich.

Hudson and I at his school field trip to Casa Mañana to see Junie B. Jones.  Such a cute play and we had a great time!

After picking up Reed that day, we were on the way home just a couple of minutes from our house and I saw some smoke. There is an old, abandoned trailer house that has been sitting there for years.  I saw the smoke and slowed down to see what the deal was and saw some small flames coming out of a front window and the front door.  I knew the house was abandoned and would probably be up in flames pretty quick, so I called 911.  I took this picture about 2 minutes after I pulled overt call.  That thing was like kindling.  

This is the smoke from our pasture.  Luckily, it had rained like CRAZY the previous few days, so everything was wet. As you can see, it backs up to our property, so we could've easily had a crazy grass fire that would've been really hard to contain. Pretty grateful for that rain!

Halloween hit and we had an Ant-Man (with a too short costume - he could've used the next size up, but they didn't have it and he HAD to be Ant-Man)...

...and an orange mohawk.  Red didn't go trick or treating again this year.  He had no desire until he talked to a friend about it 4 days before Halloween.  We told him no and he was not pleased. I've been called a party pooper of a momma from some others, but I just think a middle schooler is too old to trick or treat.  He sure is a cutie, though. :)

Silly trick or treating selfie...

And I took this cute picture of Brian and Hudson watching TV the other night in our bedroom. Hudson LOVES his daddy... he is often stuck to his side like this.

Now that it's November, I'm gearing up for Christmas stuff.  I know it sounds early, but remember, not only does our advent calendar start on the 1st, but Joy the Elf comes on the 1st!  I'm sure she has plenty of shenanigans in store for us this year.  Hudson has already been randomly talking about her for a couple of weeks now (which I love).  I'm looking forward to see her again  (it's like childbirth - you forget the pain and exhaustion of it and just remember the good stuff.) :)

First Day of School 2015

This morning I got up on time and started out my day in quiet time.  I prayed for my boys and their teachers and my friends kiddos who were also starting school today.  I wanted to be calm and have plenty of time to do things and starting my day off with God always makes it go smoother.  I looked out the window and saw this beautiful sunrise.

I made breakfast and woke up the boys.  They requested blueberry pancakes (from the mix we bought on vacation at The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge, of course.) :)

We got ready and headed out the door to take a quick picture before school...  my 2nd and 6th graders. 

The sun was a little bright, but I wanted it in front of the front door like last years' picture.

Anyway, Brian and I always drive in separate cars, meet in the parking lot of a shopping center in front of the school and then he hops in with us so we only have to fight traffic to park one car to walk the boys in.  We only had Hudson to walk in this year because I knew Reed wouldn't want us to walk him into middle school. :)  So we started down the driveway to the school and Brian said "Hudson, do you want us to walk you in or do you just want us to drop you off?"  Hudson said "Just drop me off.  I know what to do - just find my table that has my teachers name on it."  I felt like somebody had punched me in the gut.  "I said "Are you sure?" and he followed with a confident "Yep."  So we just pulled through the line and I put the car in park and jumped out to give him a hug.  I'm not gonna lie - it hurt.  I got back in the car and tried to hold in the tears as we drove over to the middle school to drop off Reed.  We got there a little early so he sat in the car with us for a few minutes and then it was like all of a sudden he was ready.  Watching that kiddo walk into school was rough.

I dropped Brian off at his truck and went and did some shopping for things for the house and got some groceries.  I had planned on working out, but my stomach has just been a little uneasy and I just couldn't get my self there.  I gotta say I'm not a fan of the first day of school - I feel like this every year... I think I've got it under control and the waterworks hit me every time.  I love that my boys are independent and I LOVE the schools they go to and the people that they are around.  I've already had a picture sent to me of Reed from a sweet friend and a text from someone else who has seen and talked with him today.  It truly a blessing to have so many people we love that come in contact with my kids, but it's still hard on my momma heart to see them go each fall.  

College might very well kill me. Ugh.  

The rest of vacation

I failed at blogging every day, so many details have been lost at this point, but oh well. :)

Day 6

On Thursday we got up and went into Pigeon Forge to ride the Smoky Alpine Coaster.  It was SO fun.  I thought it was going to be similar to the one we did in Jackson Hole a couple of years ago. but I liked this one a lot better.   It was on an actual track and once you got in the "cart", it would pull you  along the track on a leisurely trip up to the top of the hill.  We couldn't take phones or bags or anything, so I just got this picture of the back of Reed's cart as he left.

There were lots of twists and turns and they made the track go out away from the side of the mountain in a spiral which was scary and fun all at the same time.  We had a blast.  Hudson and Brian rode it a second time.

At this point it was lunch time, so we ate lunch at The Old Mill Restaurant.  The Old Mill is a mill that has been there since 1836.  It has been a mill, a sawmill and even a blacksmith shop for a bit (i stole this picture off of the Internet because I didn't get one. Boo). 

The food was yummy (especially the corn fritters they brought out in the beginning) and we went to check out the general store which was built on to the original mill.   They had a 45 minutes walking tour about the mill, the distillery and the pottery place and I could tell Brian wanted to do it so we signed up.  It was interesting, but the boys were DONE by the time it was over.  Of course the tour ends back at the general store and after listening to the history and how they still make things there, we ended up buying the corn fritter mix and two pancake mixes. :)

Next to the distillery, they had a blacksmith shop that you could make your own knives.  Brian and the boys watch a show called Forged by Fire (the contestants make knives out of things but they don't know what it will be until the show starts- like a giant ball bearing or a big spring).  Anyway, this place had it where ages 12 & under could make a knife out of a nail for $15.  We couldn't say no to that.  Brian ended up making a knife out of a pony shoe.  Here they are geared up in their leather aprons.

They listened to instruction and were ready to go. 

This is Reed's after all the forging.

Then they moved over to have them shaped and sanded. 

The final products-

This was definitely a high light of the trip for Reed and Hudson.  After the knives were made, we walked around and checked out more of the mill area then headed on to Gatlinburg.  We ate dinner at Bubba Gumps.  Reed LOVES crab and we try to get it for him every once in a while.  He ordered 1 pound of crab legs and ATE IT ALL.

Hudson was more interested in using his new knife to cut his crayon in half. :)

We went went back to the cabin and hung out watching TV and just enjoyed the evening. 

Day 7

Friday was our last day.  We got up that morning and went to go play mini-golf.  By this time, Mike, Susan, Eric, Sara and their kiddos had gotten into town a couples of days before, so we met them to play.  (They all rode together to also come to the family reunion activities over the weekend).  We all went to Hillbilly Golf in Gatlinburg.  Mike was taking pictures, so I ended up not taking even one.  The kids had fun together and I keep forgetting how freakishly good Brian is at mini golf.  We played and chatted and then split off to finish our days. Brian, the boys and I went to eat lunch.  We stopped at the Mellow Mushroom and it was nice.  The weather was awesome and we sat on the balcony upstairs (again, didn't think to take a picture.. GRRRR).  After lunch we went to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.  It was lots of fun.

They had the best tunnel I had ever seen - it was long and you got to see lots of things while in there. They had a moving walkway you could just stand on and go around or room to get of it you wanted to look more.  We loved it!

You can't really read this, but it says that "The scratched you see are the result of a shark attack on the acrylic tunnel on December 15, 2000".  There were some pretty big scratches to the right of the sign - I can imagine whoever was there that day was probably pretty freaked out.

At the aquarium, we up sized our tickets to include 2 other Ripley's attractions.  The boys wanted to do a mirror maze with me and Brian, so that's where we went next.  We stopped for some popcorn and a break on the way.

We did the mirror maze and then the Ripley's "Odditorium".  The boys loved that - they had a lot of hands on things at the end.  On Friday evening, we reunited with the other Blevins went to a dinner for the reunion.  We spent a few hours chatting and playing bingo and just getting to know each other.  

We got back to our cabin and packed up to get ready to leave in the morning.

Day 8

Saturday morning we got up and headed out.  We stopped for breakfast at The Old Mill Restaurant and then hit the road.  We drove to Little Rock, ate and stopped for the night.  I think Brian would've been fine to continue on and be home in the wee hours of the morning, but I want to sleep in a bed and take a shower.

Day 9

We slept in a little on Sunday and the boys and I enjoyed a good breakfast at the hotel. We stayed at Hampton Inn and it was one of the best free breakfasts we've had.  It makes it worth it to stop at a hotel with a free breakfast - Reed, Hudson and I always partake.  We checked out and made the final push home.  They boys were still enjoying their road trip "presents" (things I bought to help them pass the time), and the pipe cleaners are always a hit.  I don't know what Hudson made, but it was pretty funny.

We got home about 5:00.  We had a blast, but I think everyone was glad to be home in their own beds. 

Road Trip 2015 is in the books. :)

Day 5

We spent today in Pigeon Forge.  It is super touristy and garish... The boys loved it. :). Actually, we spent our day at "The Island" which is a collection of shops, restaurants and such off the main drag.  A friend of mine had mentioned the Ferris wheel to us, so I knew I wanted to take the boys on it.  

Each car is enclosed glass and air conditioned.  We loved it- the views were spectacular!

It was probably a 10 minute ride and so worth it.  One of my favorites of the day.

After the Ferris wheel, we ate lunch at Paula Deen's Family Kitchen.  I was quite excited, but it was mediocre. I was sad.

While strolling around, we stopped into a magic shop.  The gentleman there engaged us in conversation about where we were from, etc.  After a few minutes, he had me, Brian and Reed be volunteers for different magic tricks.  The boys were enamored.  I knew we would be buying stuff. :). The gentleman was SMOOTH and super nice... It was a good plan he had going.  We bought a couple of things and he showed the boys how to do the trick.  So fun. 

Next we visited the Mirror Maze close by.  The boys loved it and we went back several times.  There was a window where you could look in and see your kids feeling their way around.  

Most of you actually know Hudson.  He is high energy and VeRy goofy.  We told him not to run and I pointed out the sign that said "No running in the mirror maze".  The boys had gone in and I could usually hear them squealing and laughing, but this time I didn't hear anything and they were gone a little longer than normal.  When I met them outside the maze, Hudson was not happy.  I asked what happened and Reed said "Hudson was running in the maze and he ran into a mirror and he thinks he chipped his tooth."  We went outside in the daylight and sure enough...

When I knew he wasn't actually hurt, I could not stop laughing.  Who, of all people would chip their tooth by running into a mirror maze mirror, but Hudson?  It just was so funny to me.  He was quite annoyed and mad that I was laughing, but I just couldn't help it.  I trailed behind while he was comforted by the good parent. :)

We stopped at Pommes Frites for the "spaghetti Ice".  It's vanilla ice cream fed through and extruded to look like pasta.  They top if with sauce (we chose chocolate, but they also have raspberry and strawberry to look like actual marinara), Parmesan cheese (white chocolate flakes), meatballs (Ferrer Roche) and breadsticks (sugar cookies).  It was very good and the boys loved it.

Somehow, during the eating of this, Brian somehow started calling Hudson "Chip" and Hudson thought it was quite funny.  I guess the embarrassment had worn off.  Of course we all thought this was hilarious and continued to call him Chip the rest of the afternoon.

We played around on rides and shopped in stores and enjoyed the afternoon. 

We went to a Lumberjack dinner show at 5:00.  

This is us on the big screen... You can't really tell, but I wanted to get a picture quick. You know you're famous when you get on the big screen at a Lumberjack dinner show in Pigeon Forge, TN. :)

They had the audience divided into two teams, or "families". They would have competitions between the Lumberjacks and if your side won, they would give out a "cookie" (a slice of wood) to someone in the audience.  On the first two competitions, we won and the girl gave the cookies to the grown lady sitting right next to Reed and the people behind us.  I thought the boys would be out of the running for sure, but the next game Reed got picked as a volunteer!  They had people for each team shoot balls from a giant slingshot into a net.  We lost by one, but Reed got all 3 of our points! 

AND he got a cookie for participating. :) 

We headed back to our cabin and the boys played some pool and foosball with their dad.  We had a good, full day. And as we were getting out of the car at the cabin, Hudson said "I think I'm going to get my friends to call me Chip in the second grade." Good times all around. :)