Our weekend getaway to Pigeon Forge 2016

Every year on President's Day weekend, my family heads to the Smokey Mountains for a long weekend of eating, shopping, playing games and sleeping! We have been traveling to Pigeon Forge for years on that particular weekend and we always look forward to it. It snowed the day before we arrived and it stuck around our cabin area the rest of the weekend in certain places. We stayed in a different cabin than we normally do and we had a beautiful view! Adalyn and Landon love having Hunter to play with and they try to spend every minute they can with Casey and Autumn. Our trip up Friday night was nice and easy. The kids are easy travelers now that they are older so that makes traveling a breeze. 

Now for picture overload! :)

I love this picture!!

Old school Uno cards!

For whatever reason, this picture just reminds me how big Adalyn is getting. It seems like just yesterday Adalyn was 2 1/2 like Hunter is but now, she's the big cousin taking care of Landon and Hunter! So crazy!

On this weekend we also celebrated 2 birthdays! My dad's is on the 13th and my brother's is the following week on the 20th. So we normally grill steaks that night and they each get their favorite type of cake.

After we ate dinner and celebrated their birthdays, we bundled up and headed to The Island. It was freezing. Like the high was 20 degrees and it was spitting snow. We all rode the huge ferris wheel and walked around. 

Sunday was Valentine's Day and Adam and I bundled up the kids and went shopping! We went back to the Island to pop in some stores, but it was primarily for Landon. There is a super hero store that he has talked about since last year when we visited! It was so late the night before when we rode the ferris wheel that all the stores had already closed. He was in Heaven looking around. It just made me happy!

They couldn't get over how big the gum ball machine was. Of course, they had to try one out ;)

The infamous store!!

So.much.candy!!

We went in and out of stores until finally Landon passed out! He was just sitting so quietly in the stroller when I looked down and realized he was gone. I was able to get quite a bit of Spring/Summer clothes for the kids so that was nice!

Of course The Disney store is a must to visit when we are there. Landon found a superhero Look and Find book and plopped himself down. 

After we shopped, we met Christopher, Brandy and Hunter at Mellow Mushroom for supper. Everyone else had gone to Gatlinburg for the day to sight see. 

After pizza, my dad and uncle brought Autumn to meet us for the Alpine Coaster! We have done it a couple of other times when we have visited but never at night. Even though it was right at 20 degrees, night time was my favorite! The kids absolutely love it!

After the alpine coaster, we went for ice cream! Autumn and I chose Starbucks though. I was TOO cold for ice cream and wanted a hot chocolate so bad!

Once we made it back to the cabin, we all got warm and the kiddos played and played. They were so hyped up!

Monday morning we got on the road to head back home. We always enjoy this weekend getaway! Already looking forward to next year!

A look back at a few of our visits!

2010

2012

2013

2014

2015

A big catch up via my phone!

I still have lots more to blog about, but wanted to share some random pictures from my phone to document them here.

I'll start with the farm. I have said this so many times, but I am so thankful our kids get to experience the joys of working on the farm. It's some of the best learning experiences they can get!

They are seriously the best helpers! The joy of picking up sticks and making piles tickles the fire out of them so we let them go to town with that job! They love riding and checking on the cows, gathering the eggs and playing around with the pigs.  There is ALWAYS something to do on the farm!

I'm so sick of Winter and all the static and dry skin that comes with it!! Ugh. So thankful Spring is here and plants are starting to bloom! Here are a few pictures of us either being stuck inside due to the freezing cold weather, or the kids playing out in the snow. We were treated with quite a few snow days this year so that is always nice!

Watching the snow fall

Thor!

Another snow day!

With all the snow days we had, this girl practiced gymnastics in the living room just about all day long.

Home girl has the pointed toe thing down pat!!!

One Friday back in January they had Awards Day at school. Adalyn received 2 awards! The Reading Award and Honor Roll. She is such a smart little girl. We are so very proud of her!

How cool is it that your dad gets to call your name for an award?!

The beginning of December started Upwards cheerleading for Adalyn and myself. I was asked to coach so this was officially my first time coaching and I really did enjoy it. We practiced every Monday for 1 hour and then games started in January through February on Saturday mornings. We had early morning games which I liked, and the girls cheer for 1 hour. The age ranged from Kindergarten to 2nd grade. They even learned a half time routine! Whew. It was hard work but those girls worked so very hard!

Valentine party at preschool

Passing out his Superhero valentine suckers and cards!

Saying the prayer :)

Such precious boys!!

One Sunday night before Church it was actually "warm" enough to play on the play ground for a bit!

Family Dance at school- Adalyn had a blast dancing with her little friends!

Can we just pause for a minute and agree that Landon looks exactly like his daddy?!

I sure do love my boys!

My parents went out of town a few weeks ago so we had the pleasure of dog sitting! We love Singer and the kids take such good care of her!

hahahaha

We got some fro-yo one Friday night. 

Delicious!

Before fro-yo, we went to Hibbit's and got Adalyn some new cleats for softball this year. It blew my mind that last year she was in a size 1 cleat, and this year we bought size 3. She tried on size 2 and her toe was right at the end. They would have worked ok, but I knew with thick ball socks and playing well into June, maybe July, they really wouldn't fit comfortably throughout the whole season. A 2.5 would have been perfect, but the 3's worked really well! She has room to grow and her ankle didn't slip out when she walked so that's what we went with. She will be wearing my clothes before I know it!

Ever since Adalyn started Kindergarten, she will randomly fall asleep after school. This particular night was after Gymnastics and Adam was holding her. The next thing we knew, she had fallen asleep. 

We couldn't get over just how long she looked. Just doesn't seem real that this sweet girl will be 7 years old this November. 

Landon nailed Mis-matched day at preschool!

Two different shoes, sweatpants, swimming trunks, and a Halloween shirt. So much fun!

When Adalyn turned 6, the most popular gift she received were Shopkins. I had no earthly idea what a "shopkin" was when she came home from school talking about them and drawing them. It didn't take me long to figure out they are the new, cool thing for little girls and they are everywhere!! Well, not only does Adalyn enjoy playing with these little characters with funny names, Landon is obsessed with them, too! Actually, he plays with them more than she does. On this particular night, Adam took Adalyn to gymnastics and Landon was home with me while I cooked supper. Lining them up on the bar was all of his doings. I had to snap a picture!

He specifically asked that I take one of him with his favorite shopkin, "Dolly Donut".

 I happily obliged :)

I'll stop there for today. I have lots more to blog about so I hope to get to it soon!