Update...

It's been a while since I've posted so I need to just "dump" a few pictures and try to remember some of the things we have been up to lately!  Addison is always keeping us laughing with the things that she says.  Just last night at the dinner table, something was said about her being such a big girl and she went on to tell us how big she is and that mommy wishes that she was still little.  I agreed with her that she WAS a big girl and that she IS growing too fast and went on to ask her what she wanted to be when she grows up.  Her reply after thinking for a second was, "NO TELLING."  Craig and I cracked up. 

It's been SO COLD lately so we have been trying to find fun things to do inside.  We've been working lots of puzzles, playing dress up, doing a lot of crafts involving painting, and playing with play doh.  There have been a couple of afternoons where the temperature "soared" to the upper 50s so we tried to get outside and ride bikes and play for a little while on those days.  By the way, I am SO impressed at how well Addi is doing on her tricycle this year!  SO READY for warm weather!











What else have we been up to in February?  Austin and I went to the Rascal Flatts concert on February 8th--it was fab.u.lous.  Katie Belle had her 5th birthday and had a party at a pottery place in Versailles.  We went to a fundraiser carnival at Little Elk's preschool (where Katie goes now and where Addi and Connor will start in the fall).  Craig has been busy working on the basement and also putting a tile backsplash in our kitchen (he is doing a great job).  Austin has been practicing a lot at school with his show choir group for competition in March.  Also, Addison is a great helper when mommy is cleaning.  She always gets her own cleaning rag and is great at wiping cabinets, baseboards, and even cleaning the bathtub.  HA! 























 And of course we can't forget the pictures from Valentine's Day - heart-shaped pancakes and lots of goodies!

I think that about sums it up!

Adventures in Gatlinburg...

It worked out this year that we had two consecutive weekends in a row planned to be spent in Gatlinburg.  One trip had been planned several months ahead and the other trip came up a few weeks after the other trip was planned.  It just so happened that the dates were consecutive weekends.

Morgan, Craig's niece, turned 16 on January 21st and wanted to spend her birthday weekend celebration in Gatlinburg so her parents booked a big cabin and invited everyone down for the weekend.  FUN!  The dates were January 25-27 (Friday night thru Sunday morning).  We were planning on going down Friday night but icy roads and snow kept us at home that night and we left Saturday morning instead.  The cabin was very nice and Addi got to meet and play with one of James' nieces from his side of the family.  Of course the cabin had a hot tub and Addi REALLY wanted to get in.  I was reluctant because of the high temperatures but figured it would be okay if she was only in for a few minutes so she got in with Craig and some of the other kids and loved it!  We only let her stay in for probably 10 minutes at a time but over the course of the weekend, she did get in 3 separate times.  We left Sunday morning and stopped by the outlets for a while and then hit Shoney's for a late breakfast before we headed back home.  It was a great time even though we were only there for like 24 hours!

I was at work Monday morning when my mom texted me a picture of Addison's belly which had a rash on it.  I didn't get too alarmed as Addi has sensitive skin and I figured it was one of two things--either she was broken out from the recent little cold virus she was recovering from or the chlorine from the hot tub had caused the break out.  In addition she had the spots on her bottom too.  She wasn't itching though and it wasn't bothering her at all.  I called her doctor though and told him the circumstances and he told me it was most likely folliculitis as a result of the hot tub.  I asked if it was a bad decision to let her in the hot tub and he said it was fine as long as it was for short periods of time because of the heat--YAY!!  He said kids shouldn't be denied FUN as long as fun doesn't become a safety issue.  He said it should clear up on its own in a few days but that if it got worse or seemed to be bothering her that I should bring her in.

The next day Lisa, my sister-in-law called me to tell me that all the kids that were in the hot tub had the rash.  She also told me that Mallory, the little girl that Addi played with while we were there, had spots too and that her mom took her to the doctor and they told her that she had chicken pox!!  WHAT?! 

A couple other kids went to the doctor too and were told it was chicken pox.  That didn't really make sense to me though because everything I read online said once you were exposed to chicken pox, it typically took 10-21 days for the spots to appear...  Addi was around these kids on Saturday and the spots appeared on Monday...  In addition, I think it was strange that only the kids that were in the hot tub had the rash.  Craig was in there too and didn't get a rash but adult skin typically isn't as sensitive as kids' skin.  AND.. all the kids with the rashes had been vaccinated for chicken pox.  I know the vaccine isn't 100% effective but the fact that ALL the kids had the rashes was a little too much of a coincidence for me.

It was Thursday and Addi still wasn't itching or running a fever and had no symptoms of having chicken pox but we took her to the doctor just to be sure because we were supposed to be leaving for our 2nd Gatlinburg trip that night!  This is the one that had been planned for so long!  There were going to be other kids in Gatlinburg and if she did have chicken pox, we obviously weren't going to go and risk exposing other kids too.  Her doctor looked at it and was sure it was just the folliculitis.  He even had another doctor in the practice come too and she agreed without a doubt that it was NOT chicken pox.  Haaaalelujah! 





We were Gatlinburg bound again thankfully.  This time, no kids got in the hot tub.  It was reserved for adults only! 

We got there around 10 Thursday night and stayed until Sunday morning and had a great time.  We ate in the whole time because it's too hard to take 5 little ones to a restaurant.  There was a theater room in the cabin which the kids loved and the adults got to play some board games and card games.  The girls did some shopping on Friday while the guys watched the kids and we got to watch the UK game on the big screen Saturday night.

Very thankful for good times and great memories and NO chicken pox!