Memorial Day 2013

Monday morning we woke up, ate breakfast and headed outside to mow the back yard. Once we were finished, we loaded the car and headed to town and stopped by Food Lion. We were getting some ice cream for the day. We arrived at my parents house around 10:00 and Adalyn and Landon were SO excited to be there. They were more than ready for their first swim of the year! The water was pretty cold, but that didn't stop any of us. Well, it stopped me a little bit. It just took me a little longer to get past my waist! ha! We were so curious to see how Landon would react to the pool. He obviously does not remember being in it last year, and he "swims" in the bathtub every night, so we were hopeful he would love it. And sure enough, he did! Another water baby we have on our hands! Adalyn jumped right on in. The cold water didn't phase her at all. When Adalyn was around Landon's age, we went straight to arm floaties. I'm not messing with life jackets in a swimming pool. It taught her so quickly how to keep herself above water where she wasn't relying on a "float" or anything in front of her to lean on. So, we did the same with Landon. At first, he wasn't sure how to keep his body weight even, he kept going forward a little bit, but after 30 minutes or so of swimming and getting use to the floaties, he was floating around the pool by himself. (Don't freak out people, there were 3 adults in the pool with him, too.) Adam and I were so excited to see he loved the water like Adalyn. It definitely would not be a good thing to have a baby hate the water as much as we swim and go to the lake in the Summer. Landon also loved jumping off the side into the pool. It got to where we really had to watch him because he would run and jump if someone was there or not! Everytime he got out to grab a toy or to jump to Adam or my dad, his little body was shivering. It was so funny. So, Adam put him in the hot tub. They had it turned down so the temperature was perfect for the kids. He went back and forth between the pool and hot tub all day. He would get out of the pool and run to the hot tub and say, "Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub!". He loved floating around in there, too. My kids swam their little hearts out. We got out around 12:00 and took the kids inside to dry off and get some clothes on. The boys started grilling while Adalyn and Landon went ahead and started on lunch. They were so hungry. (Swimming always makes me hungry, too) Landon was also very tired. He ate a few bites before I realized he was sitting perfectly still and his blinks were getting slower and slower. He fell fast asleep in the highchair so of course, I took that opportunity to take his picture.

I got him out and laid him in the bed and closed the door. Adalyn finished eating then was ready for her nap so she went into my parents room, cuddled up in bed and watched Veggie Tales. Burgers and Brats were done so we were able to sit and actually eat our meal without any interruption! If you have kids, you know how rare that can be. I enjoyed every single bite of my juicy cheeseburger, corn on the cob, and chips. Yum. We talked about our possible vacation for next summer. Disney! Landon will almost be 3 and will be at such a good age to take him. Adalyn will almost be 5 (whoa!) so I'm already excited about starting my research on it. After lunch, my mom went and laid with Adalyn and we went to the family room and watched tv. Landon had been asleep about an hour and a half by then when I heard him waking up. I went in there and laid him back down and I decided to sleep with him too :) Again, never pass up on an opportunity to take a nap ;) Once we got up, we went swimming once again! Those kids swam their little hearts out. Check them out!




Adalyn would ask us to take her floaties off and push her to the bottom so she could pick up some diving sticks. Here she is showing us she did it!


Landon "swimming" in the hot tub


We were finally able to drag the kids away from the pool. We put them in play clothes and played in the yard and walked Singer.

Adalyn stayed the night and we took Landon home with us. We had such a fun and relaxing day. So glad it is finally Summer!!

Read about our Memorial Day in 2010, 2011, and 2012!

Saturday on the farm

Saturday morning Adam left the house at 5:00 to head to Pelham to finish processing the rest of our chickens. I waited around the house until I felt certain he should almost be finished with them. It would not be a good thing for the kids to see their chickens being killed and gutted right in front of their eyes. So, we arrived around 8:45. I called Adam and he had a few chickens to go so we played in the garden for a bit. I got some of the sweetest pictures.

My Favorite



Look how sweet my two babies are!


Jerry came up to the garden and met us then we headed over to the store for breakfast. Every Saturday, the kids chow down on sausage biscuits. We headed to the house for a bit. They played and watched TV then Adam and Jerry were finally done processing the chickens. So we headed back to the garden and got to work! Adalyn and Landon rode on the tractor with Adam while he plowed. Adalyn ended up getting off and helped me ho around the tomato plants. Landon dozed off but woke up soon after Jerry took him off the tractor. We just let the kids roam all over the garden. Landon would try so hard to carry the hula ho around. It was so cute. We took a break and I took the kids over to the store and got them some push pops.

Push pop in hand, Landon makes his way to help his daddy and sister

The kids went back to the house with Nancy while she cooked lunch for us. We stayed in the garden and planted a few more veggies as well as some flowers. When we were finally through, we headed to the house and ate mashed potatoes, pork tenderloin, and fried okra. YUM. Adalyn was dying to go check on the cows by this point so we took the kids and hopped in the truck. Adam was needing to put up a new fence anyway so off we went. We weren't in the truck 5 minutes and Landon fell asleep in my lap. I took him back inside and laid him on the bed. He slept for about 2.5 hours. Adalyn and I drove the truck by Adam while he put up a new fence for the cows. After that, we were hot and tired so Adalyn and I went inside. Landon was still sleeping so I kicked back in the recliner and Adalyn couldn't keep still. She kept getting into things and getting in trouble. I finally got up and put her in the chair with me. 5 minutes later, she was out. She just needed to get comfortable and to sit still for longer than 1 minute, and she went right to sleep. I was able to take a nap with her which is always nice! I get one in any chance I can get :) Landon woke up during our nap and Nancy took him out to the garden to see Adam and Jerry. After a while, I packed everything and woke Adalyn up. She wasn't too happy with me but she ended up falling back to sleep in the car on the way home.

We had a great Saturday with beautiful weather! The kids always have so much fun on the farm. For that, I am so grateful! I pray our kids grow up with a work ethic just like their daddy has!

Weekend Getaway to Atlanta!

Last weekend, Adam, myself, Christina and Dustin made our way to Atlanta! We had this trip planned for a few months now and we were SO ready for a fun getaway! Friday afternoon, Adam went straight to Pelham after work so he could do a few things on the farm since we wouldn't be there this weekend. Once I got off, I went home and got the kids, loaded the car, and off we went! They were so excited to be going to MeMaw and Pa Paw's house. Landon kept saying " Pa Paw, MeMaw, tractor, Cows", etc. By the time we got there, we stopped to check on the pigs, got eaten up by mosquitoes, then sat down after a while and ate ribs, cream style corn, and green beans. Adalyn kept saying, "Bye mommy!" ha. She was so ready for us to leave. We gave the kids hugs and kisses and we made our way to my parents house. We had to pick something up and it was so nice to just sit and talk for once. Normally, we are all chasing and playing with the kids so talking with no interruptions was nice! By the time we made it home, it was around 8:30 or so. We packed and did some cleaning, watched TV then went to bed. Saturday morning we met Dustin and Christina in Pelham at 7:30 to make the trip to Atlanta. We ate breakfast at the store before we left. I'm not a real big fan of breakfast in general, so I had a BLT sandwich and it was delicious. Saturday afternoon Jerry and Nancy took the kids to my parents house for the rest of the day/night. My mom told me they kept them so busy and all they did was play, play, play! They were wore out by the end of the day and she said Landon went to sleep at 7:30 and woke up a little after 9:00 Sunday morning. Adalyn was still a little sick(more about that on another blog) so they didn't go to Church.
Here they are playing in a mud puddle Saturday afternoon!



We made it there so quick. No traffic at all and when you talk the entire way there, the trip seems so much shorter. Check in wasn't until 3:00 so we had a few hours before we could go to the hotel. First stop, the Coca Cola Factory! Oh my goodness I had the best time. We all did. I love a good coke. Always have. My Granddaddy drank multiple Coke's everyday of his life, or at least the 26 years I knew him. Even the months he was dying of cancer, doctors said to drink water but he didn't listen. He always wanted a Coke, so a coke he would have! I kept thinking the whole time that he would have loved to visit the Coca Cola Factory. It was so interesting to learn the history and see how they make it. At the end, you go through the Tasting room. They had stations set up from all different countries and you were able to try all their drinks. Some were OK, but most were nasty! Yuck. I think if we visit a country any time soon, I'll stick with water.

Here we are testing some drinks!


Everyone who goes through the factory gets a glass bottle of Coca Cola on their way out of the tasting room. We then went into the huge Gift Shop. We found a red Coca Cola hat for Landon. He absolutely loves hats and will keep one on all day.

Once we were finished there, we were all starving. We went to The Varsity for lunch. It's downtown and if you haven't been, you NEED to go! The atmosphere is great. It's definitely something you need to experience. Adam and I have been before so we knew they would love it, too. We all had a cheeseburger and either french fries or onion rings. In addition to a cheeseburger, Adam got a chili cheese dog, too. Oh, and a slice of peach pie. :) I'm telling you, he can eat! So if you are on a kick of "It's not organic so I can't eat a french fry", then this isn't the place for you. This is down right greasy, southern comfort food and it is oh so good!

After we ate, we headed to Buckhead and went to a crazy expensive mall. We so did not fit in. Think Green Hills times 10. In the parking garage, we saw a 4 door Porsche, a Bentley, Porsche Cayenne, a super nice Mercedes, and countless Range Rovers and Lexus. The mall was so nice. We stayed in Pottery Barn Kids for the majority of the time. They were looking at bedding for Baby Dotson while Adam and I strolled the store and "ooh and awed" over everything. We went into a couple more stores then Baby Gap. Adam and I are suckers for that store. We can't walk out empty handed. Ever. Adalyn now has the most precious dress for this summer! Once we were all finished shopping, we headed to the hotel. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Downtown and it was so so nice! We rested and got cleaned up, then hopped on the Marta to head to the stadium.

We ate dinner at The Bullpen then walked across the street to head into the game! The food was so good. When we got to our seats, we quickly realized we had an amazing view of the field! The seats were perfect!!

It was Military Appreciation Night and they had so many neat things they did to recognize and say "Thank You" to our troops and Veterans. It was really neat. The game was kind of slow for a few innings until two guys hit back to back home runs! Of course the crowd went wild and that put us up 3-1. Braves won the game and we couldn't have asked for a better ending! After the game, we made our way to get back on the Marta. It took us straight back to our hotel. It was so quick. Sure beats walking out to find your car, then sitting in traffic for hours. We got some playing cards from the front desk and headed to our room. We popped two bags of popcorn, played cards, and watched a movie on TV. The next morning, it was raining. We ate breakfast at the hotel then got on the road. We went through some major storms but we finally got out of them. We stopped in South Pittsburg to eat lunch. I was craving Stuffed Crust Pizza from Pizza Hut and luckily, everyone else wanted that, too! Lunch of course was ah-ma-zing! You cannot go wrong with Pizza Hut. We had an order of their new cheese bread sticks and oh my goodness! Delicious. Once we got back to Pelham, Jerry was working in the garden and we showed them our Pigs.

We were so anxious to get to my parents house to see our kiddos! It was so nice to get a way with friends though. We don't do things like that near as often as we would like, and with Baby Dotson #2 on the way, we knew this would be the perfect chance! We had a great weekend! Thanks to our parents for keeping our sweet babies for us!

Our next trip away from the kids will be longer than a weekend. ;) That was a start!

Mother's Day 2013

My Mother's Day pampering started early! It started on Friday to be exact. My dad came over after work to play with the kids and to fix the latch on our bedroom door. Of course, Adalyn asked if she could spend the night. My dad told her that Granna wouldn't be home tonight (Friday) because she was going out to dinner with some friends. Enter... hysterical crying. Bless her heart. Her little heart was broken. I quickly told Adalyn, since Granna wouldn't be there you can always stay with Granddaddy! Her mood instantly changed and she was so excited. She quickly told me she needed to go inside to pack her bags. She started planning their evening right off the bat. "We will play outside, play with Singer, swim in the hot tub, watch Veggie Tales..." She went on and on. My dad had me call in a pizza for them and once we got her packed, off they went. I laughed to myself knowing my mom wasn't going to be home and that my dad was in full control of everything Adalyn got in to. Once they left, we went inside. I was already in my gym shorts and a t-shirt and Adam said, "Ok, go change your clothes and get ready to go." I was taken back and said, "What?" and I started to question him. All he could do was smile and told me to stop asking so many questions. I changed my clothes and figured my mom really wasn't going out to dinner with her friends, that she was coming over to watch Landon so Adam and I could go out. I asked Adam why he wasn't changing and his response? "Don't worry about it." Nice Adam. Thanks. So by now I was really curious. It was 6:00 and to me, that is pushing "late" in my world. A few minutes later, my mom walks in the door. Adam told me to open my purse when I got in the car. I was so excited and confused at the same time. I gave my boys kisses and got in the car with my momma. I opened up the sweetest card from Adam and a nice chunk of change to go shopping with. What?!?! This was part of my Mother's Day. A huge shopping spree, just for my self. He even noted in the card that I wasn't allowed to buy the kids anything. No clothes. No toys. I was to use it on my self. Y'all, I hardly ever by my self anything. Seriously. I have to really really want something before I buy it. I've mentioned before, I'm at least a year behind on fashion and I don't even care! Well, maybe a little but I would just rather buy something for my kids or for my house. We are also saving for our ski trip to Salt Lake City this Winter so I love seeing our "Ski Trip" envelope get larger and larger. Anyway, I would never spend the amount of money Adam surprised me with on my self. Ever. Again, I would just want to save it! After I read the card, of course I cried. It was so sweet of him to plan all of this in advance and surprise me with a shopping spree. So, off to Murfreesboro my mom and I went. It was a little after 6:00 by now so I knew I wouldn't have much time so I decided to start at Old Navy first. I had been stalking their website all last week and I knew just what I wanted. As soon as I walked in, I just started grabbing clothes to try on. Anything that caught my eye, I grabbed it. When I was finally finished browsing, I tried everything on. I walked out of Old Navy loaded with new summer clothes. We then headed to Ulta because I needed new make-up. Then we hit up Target. I love Target and found so many cute dresses and shorts there. By the time I got home, it was a little after 10:00. That was a lot of shopping in a short period of time. But I have to say, I had a blast!! Oh my goodness. I was so thankful for that surprise! I couldn't wait to show Adam everything I had gotten. Thank you Adam for my awesome surprise! I love you!

On actual Mother's Day, I woke up to flowers, Oreos (y'all already know they are my favorite!) and sweet cards from my kids! We got everything packed up for the long day ahead of us and made our way to Church. I was so very thankful for the beautiful sunshine we had on Sunday! Church was wonderful of course. I love my Church family so much! Afterwards, we went to KFC to pick up two buckets of the best fried chicken and we then headed to my Granddaddy's house in Hillsboro. It is so weird pulling up to his house and him not be there. We got all of the food out and ready, then went outside to take some pictures! My uncle, aunt and cousins pulled up not long after we had gotten there. We had an amazing lunch then we went outside. We threw the ball around (which adalyn loved doing. I'm pretty certain we have a softball star in the making!), Adalyn rode the 4-wheeler, Landon helped my uncle mow, we cleaned off the porch, and spent the majority of the day outside. Again, it was so pretty!

Nancy was sick with major sinus/allergy stuff so we weren't able to eat dinner with her and Jerry but we are going out to eat next week to make up for it!

Here are some random pictures on Mother's Day

Really? When did she get this big?! Slow down baby- you look 5 to me!

My sweet sweet curly headed girl!

My mom with her girls!

Love this one of my dad and Adalyn May!

Dad with his girls!
(I look just like my dad and I can totally see my mom in Adalyn!)

You may be wondering where Landon is? He's in the car sleeping :)

Oh look, he's awake!


It is so hard to get a picture with both kids smiling AND looking at the camera! Oh well- this is real life folks! Love those kids!



Is this not the sweetest face you have ever seen? Snot and all!



(no idea why they won't turn! and notice Landon's Tractor book... that boy loves Tractors)

Look at the arm!
(and notice the tongue sticking out... such an Anderson!)

Cleaning the chairs. Adalyn loved this job





My Grandmother would be so proud to see her beautiful Iris' blooming!

We came inside around 6:00 to eat homemade ice cream and watch America's Funniest Home Videos. Landon held his book up to me and started to whine. Which means, sit down right now and read me this book. We plopped down in the recliner, I read one page, and he was out. (notice the same Tractor book?)

I had a wonderful Mother's Day and I am so thankful for my momma and Mother-in-law! Read about Mother's Day 2012 HERE and Mother's Day 2011 HERE! oh! and my very first Mother's Day HERE!