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!

Adalyn's Dream

I had to blog about Adalyn's dream she had last night so I will always have it documented and will be able to look back on one day. It is just so sweet.

At 3 1/2, Adalyn has the wildest imagination. At times I wonder where in the world she came up with that, heard that, etc. I raise my eyebrows a lot when she is telling me one of her fascinating stories. Mainly because I am in such shock that her imagination is that good or because the way she speaks and words she uses is just so impressive. On our way to Church last night, I told her today (May 8) was Grandmother's birthday. Most of you have been reading my blog long enough to know my Grandmother passed away in 2011. We seriously talk about her every single day. Now that my Granddaddy just recently passed away, she has been asking a TON of questions and quite frankly, I'm not sure how to answer some of them. I keep praying for the appropriate words to use so she will understand but sometimes, I just quickly change the subject. One question she asked me last night was, "When is Grandmother and Granddaddy coming back from Heaven? I really miss them". I told her they weren't and she said, "Huh? Like forever?" lol We had a short conversation about them (once again) and the fact that today was Grandmothers birthday and she was celebrating in Heaven. Adalyn also threw in there that she was eating cake, too. So, with that being said, when Adalyn woke up this morning, she came in the living room to see Landon and I for a few minutes then went in the bathroom to see Adam. He was getting ready when she told him she had a dream about Grandmother, Granddaddy, and Jesus. She proceeded to say Grandmother was up in Heaven sewing. A little back ground, my Grandmother was an amazing seamstress. Really. She practically made every single dress I ever wore as a baby/toddler/child and even my Winterfest dress I wore in the 9th grade! She made all my bows, too. But, I have never had a conversation with Adalyn about how she use to sew. It just never crossed my mind to bring it up. Adam then asked her what Granddaddy was doing. He said, "I bet he was gardening". She said, "Yeah! He was planting tomatoes and carrots!" My Granddaddy was a huge gardener. He would start his veggies from seeds in their dining room in January. My Grandmother was never a big fan of having little Styrofoam cups in there, but she never said anything. My Granddaddy would always say, " You can't grow a tomato like this in Pelham". He would always joke with Adam that his tomatoes in Henry's Cove were bigger and better than Adam's tomatoes in Pelham :)

To hear Adalyn tell us her dream this morning, really did put the biggest smile on my face. It's funny how a 5 minute conversation about my Grandparents on our way to Church leads to having a dream about them by a 3 year old. God works in amazing ways, doesn't He? He reaches out to people of all ages, you just have to listen!

Playing in the mud

It has rained so much lately we haven't been able to play outside as much as normal. It's safe to say... I am OVER the rain. But, since I am a farmer's wife, I have been told I shouldn't say that....

Anyway, I took these pictures last Tuesday. (I think) It was warm and sunny and Adam mowed on that day. Of course, with Landon's help. Landon eventually got off the mower to play with Adalyn and I. He came across a little hole right by our driveway that was holding water and of course, it was muddy. He started playing in it and I didn't even feel like telling him not to. I thought, Oh what the heck. They have to take a bath anyway, so I let him go at it. He had a ball. He would look at his hands, then look at me and say, "Messy, Messy". Adalyn had to join in on the fun, too. That's when I went inside and grabbed my camera.



Does this mean he will have curly hair?!

Dirty boy!

Adalyn joining in on the messy fun
He was saying, "Help".



They had so much fun playing in this tiny mud hole. I put them in the bath as soon as we went inside.

Letters

Adalyn loves to play "school". She is so excited about starting Pre-School this Fall so this has been a hot topic at our house lately. We are always quizzing her it seems when it comes to the letters of the alphabet. She is mind blowing! She knows all of her letters and most of her sounds. A big part in her knowing this is the Leap Frog DVD, "The Letter Factory". Anytime we are looking at a book, we will randomly point at a letter and she normally spits out her answer in no time. For whatever reason, "H" gets her. She makes the sound as soon as I point to it, but forgets what the actual letter is. We also write random letters on her magnetic board as well. You know the thing you slide to erase? Yeah, that. I just can't think of the proper name. Anyway, we also have a Leap Frog Letter Factory game that goes on your refrigerator. It has all the letters of the alphabet and you press it in to place, it plays a song about the letter and sound. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. After baths, the kids get to watch an episode of Handy Manny (per Adalyn's request. This has been one of her favorites for the longest time now.) Adalyn asked Adam for her cup of Milk and Adam asked her to tell him the sound of 1 letter, then she could get it. Well, she told him so Adam kept going with it. We have had this on our fridge since she was a baby so we have some missing letters. Surprise Surprise. Anyway, she told Adam every sound of the letter he asked that was on our refrigerator and she pointed out which ever letter they were referring too. She was so excited so I had to take a picture so I could document it.