Chattanooga Zoo

On Tuesday, we loaded up the van (that my mother so generously let us borrow) and headed for the Chattanooga Zoo.

 That's a lotta carseats. 

 Here we are about to get started.

 Checking out the apes.

 Some strange animals.

 Two mountain goats.

 She's not so sure about this carousel thing.

 We ended up on this sleigh instead.

I have a picture of the two of us in this very spot when she was a tiny, overheated baby.
I'll have to hunt for it!

 We ended up at Lupi's for delicious.

 If you want to taste one of the most delicious tastes of your life,

get a spicy chicken calzone with extra dipping sauce.

Delightful!

Thanks for a lovely day at the zoo, ladies!

Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!

Eleonora and I are headed to the zoo.

Today I have an assortment of pictures for your viewing pleasure.

 This is some of the fabric we used to decorate pillow covers at Craft Weekend.

 And here I am making many pillow covers out of many yards of fabric.

A chance to use my dormant math skills.

You should have seen Jennifer and me trying to figure out how much of this fabric to buy at Hobby Lobby while three little girls frolicked about our ankles. 

 Flowers from my yard for my Secret Encourager (Secret Encouragee?) at Moms4Moms.

 Our yard had tons of iris foliage growing behind our porch when we got here, but I have moved them all around and this year, they have bloomed like crazy!

My second year using the cardboard gardening method.

I put strips of cardboard between my garden rows, then cover it with mulch of some sort.

Last year we bought straw.

This year I have pilfered 7 trash bags full of pine needles from our walking track.

Ha!

Eleonora Learns

 Eleonora loves the music on Starfall.

Here she is dancing along to the ABC's.

 The Beatrix Potter book on Eleonora's arm was part of a set Josiah recieved at a baby shower.

 The boys would never give them a chance, but other little girls who have visited have read them.

 And Eleonora loves them!

Bays Mountain

We had a wonderful time in Kingsport!

We ate so much delicious food - ice cream, strawberries, roast beef, potato salad, slaw, cornbread, green beans, creamed potatoes, corn, biscuits & gravy, sausage, pies, and more strawberries.

We also took a visit to nearby Bays Mountain.

There were all kinds of things to see there.

I couldn't find one of Eleonora's shoes when we got to the park, so she spent her visit mostly perched on her Poppa's shoulders.

I don't think either of them minded a bit.

Aunt Cathy was visiting from Texas, so it was an extra special visit.

Thanks to Grandmother for a lovely visit, as always,

and to Poppa for taking us along and being our tour wilderness tour guide.

To Grandmother's House We Go

The kids and I are heading up to Kingsport for a visit to their Great-Grandmother today!

 In honor of the day,

here are some pictures of the last time Eleonora and I made Grandmother's biscuits.

Chris is the official gravy-maker.

 There are only three ingredients:

Self-rising flour, buttermilk, and lard.

Good luck with the proportions, that's all I can tell you.

We have made biscuits enough times to empty that lard bucket, if you can believe it.

The main aspect of the biscuit-making that I have yet to inherit from Grandmother is the ability to make them without creating a gigantic mess!

Craft Weekend

Our Crafty friend, Meagan, moved far away to Abu Dhabi and then to North Carolina, 

and she inspired us to have a Craft Night reunion.

Jennifer and I read the blog of a lady who hosts Craft Weekends all the time, 

so we have been hankering to try our hand at leading something of the sort for a while now.

We found this fun cabin at Norris Dam State Park that was a great deal - especially after the teacher discount!

There was Jennifer-made bunting galore and Amanda made beautiful hand-picked flower arrangements for every room.

Ashley led a devotion around Jeremiah 17:7-8, "Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.  They will be like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

Amanda was matching sign on the bathroom door.

Jenn had decorations everywhere!

Jennifer led our first craft of chalk art.

We were excited!

And cracking up.

Of course we also had delicious treats.

And then we got down to the business of crafting.

Ta-daa!

Friday night we also decorated the little clipboards that you can see displayed on the mantle by Aunt Terry's head.

She joined us for our Saturday morning craft, a decorated pillow, let by yours truly.

There was much snipping and sewing and ironing.

Everyone's turned out super cute.

Here are our two expectant-mother friends.

Thanks to Meagan for inspiring such a wonderful weekend adventure!

Bunny & Baby

These two are growing!

Our Craft Night buddies are heading to a state park for a Craft Weekend tomorrow!im leading a craft or two and I'm getting excited!  These are little measuring taped.