We Have More Cousins......Yea!

My cousins and uncle from Minnesota came to visit for a few days and brought their children as well. The girls were so excited to find out they had cousins their age they didn't even know about. I had prepped them ahead of time. Showing them pictures on facebook, telling them names and ages of their cousins. Everyday they would ask when are they coming, how many more days until they get here? The big day finally arrived. Our first meeting for the kids was at the Children's Museum, not the best place to get to know people, but later that night at the Astro's game they got acquainted and friendships began!
We had a great time while they were here, swimming, eating, playing, going to the lake, more playing! The girls were sad their trip wasn't longer.
The Minnesota cousins made them special bracelets to remember them, which was really sweet. Olivia and Eli exchanged email addresses and they all asked if they would ever see each other again? We sure hope we do!

End of the school has come and gone......

I let the end of school come and go without a mention of it's passing, which was kind of a big deal......after 8 years at Trinity Lutheran Early Childhood Center, our time there has come to an end. Hard to grasp that time in my life is over and all my girls are big now. I vividly remember the first day I dropped Olivia off at Mother's Day Out. Her teacher, hand picked by God, Mrs. Sharon. was and still is the sweetest of teachers. She sent the mothers off with a sweet little packet that had a tea bag, cotton ball, kleenex and the sweetest poem you have ever read ( if you are a first time mom dropping your first child into the the hands of a stranger)

So Your Baby Started Mother's Day Out......


After you've dried your eyes


Sit back, relax, and have a cup of tea.


Hold the warm fuzzy in your hand and


Think of the gentle spirit of you child.



Thank you for entrusting your child to me.....



Okay, well maybe it's not the sweetest poem you have ever read but it is the sweetest something.....I sat there in the car with tears coming down as life was moving on.


Fast forward 8 years......walking out the door that last day of school for Emily, I thought our years here have been wonderful. My children were blessed with teachers that loved the Lord and loved them as well. We have the best of memories and our time there will be cherished forever.

Abby's last day of school wasn't as earth shattering, she will be leaving Spring Baptist and the best first grade teacher on the planet, but Emily will be there next year for Kindergarten and our memories aren't quite as special there as they are at Trinity! Though we love Mrs. Loftin dearly and have very special memories of Olivia and Abby's first grade years with Mrs. Loftin. Abby is very excited to move and be at the same school as her big sister.
Emily wants to be there as well, but her momma isn't ready to give her up to the public school system for 5 days a week.

Olivia's 4th grade year ended smoothly. Mrs. Brewer and Mrs. Mott were great teachers and she had fun year full of a new thing at school......girl drama! And her teacher said it really wasn't bad this year. She says usually 4th grade girls are much worse than her crew she had this year. Hard to believe. She and I are both excited for her 5th grade year......it should be fun!

Another Tennessee Vacation

The view from the back of our house!

Our awesome house...."Above it All"

Family picture as the Old Mill

We left the day Olivia got out of school we headed east for Louisiana to meet up with David's family and then head off for another Tennessee vacation. How we love Tennessee. Once we finally found the house we were off to a good vacation.Olivia was doing some heavy praying in the backseat! Actually I think all the girls were this time. Being lost in the mountains with no cell phone reception isn't fun! T-mobile your days are numbers in the Simpson household!
Once again we had a great time at Dollywood. Grandkids can talk their mawmaw into riding just about any ride there. That added many laughs to the trip. MawMaw got soaked more than once on a couple of rides but she was a trooper and that made the trip more fun and memorable for the girls.This year we hiked a pretty treacherous trail. We had a few accidents coming down with Emily falling flat on a a pointy rock and 5 seconds later Cameron almost falling down the side of the mountain. Afterwards we went tubing...which was pretty fun,unfortunately we didn't take a camera with us so we have no pictures of that memorable event, full of more laughs! PawPaw got sick on this trip so he spent most of his time in the house and missed out on all the fun. He made it to The Dixie Stampede. The girls loved the show and especially loved getting autographs afterwards on their cowboy boot cups.
The kids made up a bunch of Tennessee songs and put on a show for the grown ups. It was super cute and they made us all laugh as we watched on the balcony of the house, while they were running around the yard singing!
Great memories were made once again in the beautiful Smoky Mountains!


Emily did not care for this ride once it got going. As you can see by her puffed cheeks, she held her breath!

Family pic at Dollywood.....we LOVE this place!

Dixie Stampede Host....the girls loved getting autographs after the show.


The treacherous hike to this beautiful water.....was it worth it????