• Apr. 27, 2008 - Happy Birthday Sweet Little Girl
Sweet Little Girl,
Sweet Little Girl
With curled up toes
and a button nose
Sweet Little Girl
Sweet Little Girl,
Sweet Little Girl
Her name is Emily
As cute as can be
Sweet Little Girl
11 years. I can hardly believe it. I saw so much in those eyes when she was born. I still do when I look at this picture. I see my grandmother now gone. I see an estranged father who I will never know or understand. I see myself. When I look at Emily now I don't see these things. I see her and wonder what she will be. I see a little girl on the edge of woman hood. I see a little girl who still loves to sit and play with her little animals making up stories. In some ways she will always be my little girl but it is a wonder to see her blossoming into a young lady and all the possibilities that will bring. I am amazed at how much she has grown and matured. I feel proud to call her my daughter. I wonder if she would recognize her little song that I sang to her when I rocked her. Maybe I will sing it to her tonight.
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• Apr. 13, 2008 - White Oak Sinks
Saturday we went on a Hike to White Oak Sinks off of School House Gap Trail. It was a great day for seeing wild flowers. Here are three from the Trillium family: This is one of the pictures that Emily took. I can't find my Smoky Mountain Wild flower field guide that several of these flowers are in. I think this one has something in its name that means big. It is one of the bigger trillium in the park.
 I think this is a catesby trillium. I like this one It's bloom comes from under the leaf unlike the other trilliums you will see in the park.
 I always call this a yellow trillium, I don't have a book that includes this flower.
 Blood root
 Rue anemone
 chickweed (growing among phlox)
 A kind of woodsorrel? I have never seen this one before and was first drawn to the distinctive leaves when I stumbled upon one flower beginning to open.
 Spring Beauty
 A field of blue phlox. The whole area was just covered with these little blue flowers. The pictures don't capture the effect.
 These are not in the books and seem to be rare. I believe I was told that its name is Star flower.
 Don't they just look like they love each other? Or at least like each other? They were fighting just before this photo and yet I still got such a sweet picture of them together. They had a friend along that falls between Emily and Noah in age and they both enjoy Adam. As you know though three is a crowd and sometimes Noah loses out.
This is one of the first caves that we came to upon entering the sinks from above and I guess behind. I don't think I could ever take us the way our *guide* took us again. There are several caves in this area (the reason for the sinks :) This particular cave was the site of the stranded youth pastor and his little hiking group that was in the news a few weeks ago. I did notice (and point out to my son) that there was a sign right at the entrance that you could not enter without permission.
In the white oak sinks area there are several notes of interest. Up on a hill were these cogs. It is not known what they were used for... We also hiked up to a grave site, The only in the area because everyone was usually buried in Cades Cove. I keep saying we hiked up because that is where the home sites would be, up on the hill so that valuable flat land could be used in farming.
 Here is a stick that Noah called his Chinese stick. We have been studying Ancient China and he thought that the little worm "tracks" looked like chinese writing. It was a huge stick and I wouldn't let him drag it around for fear of tripping up someone who wasn't used to having little boys around.
 After we came down from the one grave site in white oak sinks I spotted two deer. There were only 5 of us out of the group that got to see the deer. Noah had to bury his snail that had died and was having a hard time dealing with the fact that I was not going to let him carry the sticky thing around anymore. So we had fallen a little behind during the process. When I spotted the deer the three others that were kinda lagging back with us decided to take pictures. I was amazed at how close we could get to the deer.
This is the deer that Noah sited. A friend was trying to convince him to find other treasures to show us because he was so good at looking around. She was trying to convince him to walk and to get over his dead snail. This was what he found. A log that looked like a deer eating.
This is a water fall that is there in the sinks. (I don't know why my camera isn't focusing sometimes) It tumbles down and back under itself and under ground. It connects somehow with the Tuckaleechee caverns.
 Here is the bottom of the falls. The kids are getting reading to enter the hollowed out area behind the falls.
 Noah who was still sticking with me pretty close saw an alligator in this log.
Here is a look back up to the opening. To the right you can see the falls splashing on the rocks.
Here is a picture of some of the group at the bottom of the falls. It was a slightly treacherous, very muddy trip to the bottom.
 Here are two bats that weren't disturbed by our group. We did stir up a couple others that flew around and thrilled Noah while we were there.
This was a fun hike. I think we did more than the estimated 4 miles. Noah was a real trooper. Emily complained at the end. My feet were complaining at the end. Would I do the hike again. Yes, at the very least the shorter more direct route at least. The longer way again? Yes but with better shoes :) It was fun being with a group. So often the kids and I just go off on our own. |
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• Mar. 23, 2008 - Easter
My kids are so sad that Easter is over with. I am behind in posting pictures so here are our pictures from Easter weekend:
This is from our Church's easter egg last Saturday. The kids Love this event.
Later that afternoon Emily made and dressed up the dog in bunny ears:
Saturday night the kids decorated eggs:
I almost forgot to snap a picture of the kids before we went to church:
Later Sunday afternoon the kids did their easter egg hunt. This is the only photo of the afternoon hunt. I have video of it instead.
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• Mar. 9, 2008 - Snow... almost
| We woke up Saturday morning to snow. The ground was still too warm for much snow to collect but it snowed a good while and the kids were excited to see it. The kids wanted to go out so I told them to get coats and shoes on and they could go out. What shoes does Noah grab? His sandals. He hasn't tried to put those on since I don't know, October. He couldn't understand why he couldn't wear his sandals outside in the snow. Coat, gloves and sandals. I should have taken a picture but I was too busy trying to get him to understand why I was stuffing his feet into boots. After all the excitement they stayed outside maybe 5 minuets. I don't think it was worth the effort to stuff him into the boots. I think I spent more time putting boots on then he did in them. |
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• Feb. 28, 2008 - To snow or not to snow
Last night I arrived home from choir practice to find my daughter, with no coat, standing out side trying to catch a snowflake on her tongue. I was thankful that she had shoes on.
Yesterday we woke up to the first snow we have had this winter. It only dusted the ground at our house. Just 20 min. from our house people had several inches in their yard. Some friends of ours drove up to the Smokies so the kids could play in the snow at least somewhere.
At gymnastics some of the moms chatted about the snow. One mom mentioned that her boys 7 and under were so excited about getting to play out in that dusting. One of the boys even asked their mom if they could build a snowman now. To this Emily said, "I have never built a life size snowman". She is right. We managed when she was about six to build a snowman that was maybe 8 inches high but that is the only attempt we had at making a snowman.
I think back to my snows as a child. I wonder will my children have snow memories to think back to when they become adults? |
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• Jan. 7, 2008 - Lessons from Laryngitis
If you whisper to your children~ they whisper back.
If you get their attention before talking~ they notice that you are talking to them and amazingly listen.
If you snap your fingers at them when they are doing something they know they aren't supposed to be doing they amazingly say~ "I know and stop."
If you leave them alone~ they eventually work things out.
And if you look pitiful enough~ they don't even tattle.
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• Dec. 5, 2007 - Noahism
As I was heading out to choir this evening Noah asked me if I liked going to choir. I told him that I did. He says "I like it when you go to choir too."
It might have broke my heart except Emily still at ten is blocking the door begging me not to go.... |
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• Nov. 28, 2007 - Simple Prayers
I love Noah's prayers:
Dear God, Thank you for my bed, thank you for my pillow. Thank you for mom and dad. Thank you for my toys thank you for my friends. Amen.
What a wonderful reminder to be thankful for those things we take for granted like a place to sleep and a place to lay our heads.
I am always amazed at the things that can be learned from listening to children. |
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• Nov. 26, 2007 - Where are the McIntyres?
Have you wondered why it has been so quiet around this blog? I like to say we have been too busy living life to write about it. But all are well.
Noah had a close call pulling a shelf over on him this evening. Scared me to death. Took twenty minuets for me to stop shaking. Took even longer to clean up the mess he caused. He was wearing his spiderman outfit... that has been put up for awhile as his punishment (yes he was climbing). Of course seeing me sit there and cry after I knew he was okay may have been punishment enough. It was a horrible sight seeing him lying underneath that shelf so still. By some miracle he was not injured except his "little pinky toe".
We got in yesterday from West TN. We had a good visit with several family members. Even got a little shopping in on Friday while we were there. I think I have most of my shopping for Christmas done. I love the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays. |
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• Oct. 12, 2007 - Noah turns 6
Noah turned six last Sunday. It is amazing that even though you know it is coming it still is a blow to the heart when they day arrives. It didn't really sink in until I started placing the candles on the cake. 6 years. I can't believe he is six, in first grade. Where did the time go? It seems to have scattered in the leaps and bounds that he is forever taking.
If you ask Noah how old he is he will tell you five. He still has not accepted that he is now six. He liked 5 and doesn't want to change numbers. We have talked about the friends he has that are 6 already. One of his best friends Duncan is 6 and when I pointed this fact out to Noah he simply said, well Duncan is taller than me. So he continues to claim 5. I wonder what would happen if we never claimed our aging years. What if we could hold onto a favorite number, a favorite year? I imagine it would grow stale as all things do with time. 5 will also grow stale and soon Noah will embrace this new age he is growing into. God will ready his heart to move on.... in time. |
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• Sep. 15, 2007 - Noahism
| Last night while Emily was at a friends house we went to eat at Ruby Tuesdays. Noah had been a little more active than usual while we were there but nothing too annoying. I was just sitting there thinking how much easier it was to put up with his antics since it was just him when all of a sudden he said, "Look mom, I'm a character!" I got tickled because I thought yep you ARE a character. I knew what he meant though. We have been talking alot about the actors in shows and how they are real but the person they are pretending to be is just a character in a movie. I think he was having one of those aha moments where something finally clicks in your mind and you have a full understanding. He had been sitting there pretending and it just all clicked. |
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• Sep. 13, 2007 - Gulf Shores
We went on our first vacation since having kids. Nate's family rented a condo in Gulf Shores and invited us to come as well. The kids have never seen the ocean. I wish I had done a little study on oceans and the earth to help them comprehend a little more just the vast size of water we were looking at. But I think it was even a little beyond me. This is a picture of our last night on the beach. I couldn't believe that we hadn't built a sand castle yet and I thought, we can't go home without having built at least one sand castle!
Nate's favorite thing to do was look for shells. He was constantly on the look out....
Here is a picture of Nathan and the kids with his mom...
Here is a picture of Tara, Nate's sister and her son Mathew who just turned 2. Her husband Carl was there as well as Nate's two brothers were there as well but somehow they were never around when I was taking pictures.
Here we are dolphin watching. We didn't expect to be able to see this and just happened upon them.
We visited an old Fort. I can't remember the name.
It was fun having a pool to jump in any time we wanted. Noah really got more comfortable in the water but still liked to wear his trusty life jacket.
Before it was all over with I heard my kids actually say things like, "I am tired of the pool" and "We are going to the beach again?"
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• Sep. 12, 2007 - Family Reunion
About 2 years ago my mom started a "family reunion". I know initially it was meant to try and bring my step brothers in for a visit and maybe my niece. They all live out west and the only time my parents get to see them now is if they make the trek out west themselves.
So our family reunion consists of my parents, me, my sister and brother and our families. The overly practical person that I can be sometimes wonders if it is worth all the trouble. Every time I go out to visit my parents we all usually get together at least once for a meal so in some ways it seems silly to call one of those times a family reunion. But we do make a big deal out of the day and spend almost the entire day at my parents house. The main meal is lunch under canopies that we set up. We usually try to have activities for the kids to do and they think it is a big deal. It is a lot of work but even I have to admit that it is worth the extra effort that we put into the day.
Here are all the grand kids minus my step-niece who lives in New Mexico. She is between my sister and I in age and has three children that fall in between all of our kids.
From left to right~
Noah, almost 6, Joey 3, Elijah 3 1/2, Brianna 9, Ryan 5 1/2, Emily 10 and Kelsey 12. Joey is my brother's son and then the other four that aren't mine are my sister's children. Other than some minor stuff the kids get along great. They always want to get together and spend time with each other. Kelsey is entering that difficult time where sometimes she wants to be a kid sometimes she wants to be with the adults.
My grandfather from Alb. New Mexico came back with my mom from her last visit and stayed through the reunion. I had not seen him since Noah was about 8 months old. It was good to see him but I felt that something was missing. Or I guess someone.
The kids had a blast that day even though it was VERY HOT. In the end I think that is what it is all about. Giving the kids opportunities to find friendship in each other and learn to value family time. Since I have always had to work hard at family time it is very important to me. I am telling my kids that they do not have to move off to another state once they get married. They are allowed to stay in the same town as us. It was hard on me as a child to have grandparents in New Mexico and in Indiana while growing up in West TN. Now I see how hard it is on my kids to have grandparents long distances away as well. Now my family doesn't have real vacations either. We use our time going to see family....
well except for last weekend :)
more on that later......
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• Sep. 12, 2007 - Wiggles
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Noah likes to dance. What is so funny is how serious he is when he dances. He has never been shy with the camera so the other day when I was at my mom's house he let me video him dancing to the Wiggles. . |
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• Sep. 12, 2007 - Blessed
A week ago today this is where my brother was...
It took them two hours to cut him out. His truck jack knifed and then flipped. If you look closely they are just getting him out of the cab and his wife is standing over to the side. She came to the site to be with him.
The police and the medics say that he was very lucky. My family thinks it was a God thing. When he was placed in the ambulance they thought his ankle was crushed his thigh broken several ribs broke and possible internal bleeding. He also had a couple of bumps on his head. After being checked out at the hospital Joseph only has a pinched nerve in his ankle. He can not move his foot and it may take 6 months to heal. So he isn't exactly walking away from this but he was very blessed. |
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• Aug. 23, 2007 - Irish Folk dance
Here is a side of Noah that you might be unaware. He likes to dance. He loves to listen to music and is always doing moves that are sure to make us laugh and at the same time think he really isn't bad at what he is doing. In this picture he is dancing like the Irish folk step. During the Festival of Nations last Spring at Dollywood I couldn't wait for him to watch the Irish steppers perform because he had been doing something very similar for a while.
I asked him the other day if he wanted to take dance lessons. "NO WAY," he said with much disgust. I assumed it was because he thought it was a girl thing. After thinking about it I wonder if he thinks he already knows how to dance and it would be pointless to take lessons for something that you already know how to do. He also thinks he already knows how to play the guitar and the drums. I am not sure if he feels that way about the piano.
My favorite thing about this picture is that he is dressed up as a cowboy. This was his "cowboy day" and he walked around all day with different gadgets stuck in the belt. Usually all used to torment his sister or the dog. |
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• Jun. 28, 2006 - Rusty
In May Emi went to Horse Camp. I won't say that horses are ALL that she
has thought about since then. I also wouldn't say that she has been
bitten as hard as some girls whose whole world revolves around horses.
But every now and then out of the blue Emily says "Rusty" in a way that
only Emily can. It expresses longing, hope, possibilities and dreams
all wrapped up together. She wants lessons so bad.
Decisions....
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• Jun. 26, 2006 - Cooking
 What
have we been doing with all our extra time this summer since we have
been "stuck at home"? One of my major undertakings for our summer break
was to revamp my kitchen. Completely. A second goal for my summer was
to start cooking more from scratch. During these processes I involved
the kids as much as possible. Emily and I talked about how to sort and
organize the food, why I placed some dishes where we could get to them
easily and others dishes in the not so easy places. I have also been
able to sneak in some practical math. Math may never be Emily's
favorite subject and she may never be great at telling time (that goes
hand in hand with her personality and will always be a problem)~ but
this child can add money and she can do fractions. We doubled recipes,
we cut them in half, either way she was able to answer my questions.
That is if we were actually making something. Noah enjoys "dumping"
things into the bowl and mixing. He wants to crack the eggs, but I just
can't relax that much yet. The funniest thing from all of this is that
Emily is amazed how you can make "anything you can get from the store".
That remark alone made me glad that I took on these huge projects. I
have successfully convinced my daughter that most of the things that
she would like to get from the store we can make at home... and it
tastes better. Her stamp of approval when she likes something is "write
that recipe down!"
The down side of this new cooking endeavor....
~Foods with preservatives and snacks with lard gag me even more than they used to.
~Now that I have reorganized my kitchen I care more where my husband
puts items when he helps me clean up the kitchen (he never puts
anything in the same place twice, or understands that like items go
together).
~And now when ever I get out a bowl or skillet
to do something Noah thinks he needs to help me. "I help you every time
mom".
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• Jun. 24, 2006 - Noah reads
• Jun. 24, 2006 - Emi Dances
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Nothing brings tears to my eyes like seeing Emi dance. She isn't going
to be a prima ballerina. She probably won't dance but one or two more
years. But when Emi dances, my heart sings. Why? When she was five
years old she wouldn't speak to adults. She growled... especially if
you told her she looked pretty. She didn't want to be "seen". Her first
year of dancing happened that following summer. She didn't smile on
stage, sometimes she wouldn't even do the arm movements. (because she
thought them silly) We were lucky to have gotten the costume on her,
much less have her up on stage moving like everyone else. Something
magical has happened with each passing year. This last Christmas
performance it hit me how far she had come. During the dress rehearsal,
she was smiling and actually enjoying herself while she was up on the
stage. This Spring's found me once again with tears in my eyes. There
have been no talent scouts knocking at our door... but to me she was so
beautiful.
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