Caution: Party Under Construction!

 Tim was out of town on Ty's actual birthday, so we held off a week for his CONSTRUCTION PARTY! It was fun...and crazy. 

We started out "Building" wooden boats that Tim's dad made for us.

 

Then we headed outside to "build a building" (empty boxes we wrapped with brown paper) then knock it over with a "wrecking ball." It took some patience for the kids to take turns but was quite a hit.

Next, we had pizza for lunch followed by "Build your own dirt cups!" 

Lucy ate more than the big kids!

 We had a cake last week, so this week we just had a cake of chocolate donut "tires." The kids LOVED the donuts!

 

The kids had the option of putting "bricks" (strawberry wafer cookies), "pebbles" (Reece's Pieces), "boulders," (chocolate bridge mix), and gummy "worms!" Though they had a blast making the dirt cups and showing them off, I don't think anyone ate them. (I guess I should have made it more clear that they were not real dirt cups!

Showing off the dirt cup creations.

Happy Birthday Ty!

Yesterday was my handsome FOUR-year-old's birthday! I can't believe it!Ty was up by 6:15 am and ready open presents.

  He is totally spoiled!

Grandma Diney made him this awesome flag for his firehouse. It even has a dalmation on it!

 We went to Cheekwood in the middle of the day, but I forgot my camera AND my phone! It was so fun though. They had bunnies, a duck, and chickens to see, an art project for Ty, and a kids story-time/concert with the performer Silly Grandpa who sang a song about Biscuits and Gravy!

Tim is out of town, so we are doing a party next week, but Ty's buddies, the Mendenhalls will be out of town, so invited them to join us for a mini-party and dinner at Chick Fil A. 

 

Don't forget this little construction worker!

 Ty got money from Grandma Sheila and Grandpa Tom. I took him to Target on our way to Chick Fil A and he knew exactly what he wanted to get. He is obsessed. I also made him buy some clothes with the rest of his money.

A few of Ty's best 3-year-old Quotes:

6/4/15
Tim walked into Ty's room while Ty was in bed.
Tim: sorry I'm late for our sleepover
Ty: oh I've been waiting. I've just been thinking about marshmallows.

10/17/15
Ooh, this is a good strawberry shake. I call it coffee.

Daddy, if you don't help me fight the fire, I'll eat all of the croutons!

10/19/15
Let's just lay down and think about what we want for Christmas.

11/1/15
Getting frusterated: "oh seven birthday cakes"

12/8/15
While dancing naked because we are potty training: "my bum is dancing"

2/17/16
Me and Pluto are going to science camp for sixteen weeks.

2/17/16
Mom, how about you be Simon, I'll be Alvin and Lucy can be...the chubby one.

3/10/16
Me: you're getting so big, Ty. Ty: yeah, I want to be like my dad.

4/13/16
Ty:Hey! Tomatoes are strawberries that are roasted. (With a big smile) Did you know that?

A Week in the Life of Us

So. We had a pretty good/busy week.

Usually...

 ...This precious angel sleeps with her princesses from Aubrey. 

 ...We usually take a trip to a park. This is Centennial park by Vanderbilt Campus.

...We go to a library (and Lucy walks around)

 ...This girl gets messy.

....We play outside in the firehouse.

And this was an especially good week because...

Last Saturday, we took a trip to the Middle Tennessee Train Show.

Ty got to drive!

 Later that day, we actually got a babysitter and went downtown!

And our biggest news from last week...Ty is Potty Trained! One week of dry pants!

 Let me show you how I feel about this subject: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nashville in Bloom

These things make my soul happy!

Centennial Park

 

 

Warner Park: 

Cheekwood Gardens:

Adventures in March

Spring in Nashville beats Spring in Colorado! Here we are on a family hike in Warner Park...just 3 miles from our house!

 Below: We are still doing a co-op preschool with Ty and two friends. This day, Tommy couldn't come, but we had fun with Ty's friend Lauren learning about healthy food! R is for Rainbow...eat a rainbow!

 Let me introduce you to "Uncle Pepe`" and Lucy at a hair salon:

 We LOVE the downtown Nashville Library. They have amazing variety and puppet shows. There is a train table, climbing wall, playhouse, and these fun tablets!

 Easter was wonderful!

We are trying to take advantage of our time in Nashville. The Ryman is where the Grand Old Opry got started. It's a huge old church building (with a new part built on the back) which has very cozy seats on hard pews, but it's historic. We saw the Piano Guys. I know. They're from Utah and we're in Nashville, but I figured I wanted to see a show there, and I like Piano Guys, so it's a win-win. It was an amazing show!

 

We're moving to Rome!

....Rome, Georgia, that is. Tim got a job at Berry College! It's a small Liberal Arts College in Northwest Georgia. They boast of having the largest campus in the country. Acres and acres of land with deer and trails. It's beautiful. I mean, look at it!

Liberal Arts school mean they are smaller. Students and teachers have great relationships and a lot of interaction. It is mostly undergrad, although Berry has an MBA program (and Tim will be in the Business School). Visiting the campus, I wonder why anyone would want to go anywhere else. The school is awesome, the campus is beautiful, and the education is great!

Though he only lived an hour away and never even imagined he'd be teaching there, Tim likes the other Econ Professors and we are excited for the opportunity to work with them. 

This means we are moving to a small town in Northwest Georgia called Rome. It gets it's name for having rivers and hills like Rome Italy. The big "industry" in Rome is that it has the biggest hospital in Northwest Georgia. It also has a cute downtown (with a cute bakery!), and the Rome Braves, the minor league team,. There are no freeways in Rome. Or anywhere near Rome, though Atlanta and Chattanooga are both about 90 minutes away. It has about 40,000 people (about the size of Cedar City, Utah). I'm a little nervous, but I welcome a new adventure. Plus, "Grandpa's Cabin" is less than an hour away!

After finding out where we will be the next few years to the rest of our lives, we ventured down to take a look. It's only 3 hours from Nashville. We stayed the night at the cabin and the kids were happy we found Nutella in the pantry!

 Ty on campus:

 We took a trip back when Gma and Gpa were at the cabin so we  could look around without kids. It happened to be on the day of the Berry Half/10K, so I ran the 10k! It was a great way to see the campus!

So...that's where we're at. We'll probably look at houses in May and move at the end of the Summer. 

Love, the Future Romans!