My new addiction

I am always up for something free,so when I got a coupon for McDonald’s frappe I decided to use it! Oh my goodness,it was so good!! This was the first time I have ever tried a cold coffee drink. Now I just need to find more coupons! Zoe had the strawberry banana smoothie and said it was YUMMY!

Of course the people beside me at the red light thought I was crazy for taking these pictures:) I know my blog looks a little funny.

Of course I tried to change something and messed it all up. Luckily Keisha is working on a new look for me:)

Summer Camp

Kain left on Monday afternoon for CentriKid camp for a WHOLE week! He is only about 2 hours away,but that is still far enough. I hope he is having a great time,and growing in his relationship with the Lord! Thursday is family night,so Corey and I are driving over to see what he has been up to!

This was the only picture I was able to take,and it was like pulling teeth!

Yes, I am alive

I feel like it has been months since I blogged,and it may have been. I have been so busy these past few weeks with my on the side photography business! Yes, I am very thankful to be making extra money and meeting new people,but I AM TIRED! Being a photographer is hard work! I am sure you are thinking “really? Doesn’t seem that hard to me.” Well down here in SC we have been under a heat advisory for a while now. So when you are outside for hours on end taking numerous photos it can wear you out. If you get a chance you can check out some of my work over at my other blog, www.stacycotheranphotography.wordpress.com .

I can’t believe how this summer has flown by! We start school in 3 weeks…YIKES! With all this picture taking I had not even got a picture of MY kids since our vacation. I am such a bad mom:)

I hope to get caught up in the blogging world soon,but I can’t make any promises. My oldest is going to camp without his mama for a whole week on Monday! While he’s gone I am going to attempt to clean out our upstairs middle room. It could probably be featured on a episode of Hoarders..I am NOT kidding! Most people have a “junk” closet, well I have a whole “junk” room. Noah would like to make the “junk” room his,so we will see how that turns out.

Until next time,which I hope won’t be 2 weeks from now!

Mama is HAPPY!

A few weeks ago my boys decided that they were NOT going to get a haircut. At first they said they wanted a MULLET…are you kidding me? No way would their dad or me ever have a child with a mullet (no offense if your child does). Even though there hair looked awful I decided I have more important things to worry about than their hair. Thankfully while on vacation they BOTH asked for a haircut!!! Oh yeah, I was doing the happy dance:) So as soon as we got home dad broke out the clippers!!

My handsome boys!!!

Last Day

On our last full day of vacation we headed out to shop,eat and do a few fun things. Our first stop was to do some Gem Mining. All of the kids got some great gems. My kids have done this a few times ,but this was my nieces first time.

We then went and hit all the little downtown shops. The kids all got a flute and even meet an Indian!

When we got back to the campground Noah and Kain went back fishing. Noah caught a trout (Corey took the picture) and even a huge bull frog!

The weather has been wonderful all week so we weren’t disappointed when it rain on the last day. The kids had a blast playing in it.

We had a great vacation and made many memories! Now we are just waiting on November to get here. We will be spending Thanksgiving at Disney:)

What a welcome home!

We have had a visitor in our house since we returned from vacation and I wish it would leave! It seems the stomach bug wants to visit everyone in our household. This is why I have not have the chance to blog:( So while I would love to blog.I will be cleaning up vomit and spraying Lysol all over the house!

We heart Visitors

On Wednesday more of our friends came for a visit. It was nice seeing new faces and the kids like having “new” kids to play with. We really didn’t do a lot.They just went swimming, played some candy bingo, hung out at the river, took a hayride, and ate some juicy watermelon.

All 3 of my kids got bingo! Of course they were playing for candy and not money:)

Lots of river rats

Tuesday we spent the whole day at a beautiful river in downtown Cherokee. The water was just deep enough for the kids to play and us not to worry about them. We all went tubing,Noah caught lots of creatures,and everyone else had fun looking for special rocks. Of course the day was even better when our friends joined us!

Before we left this morning the kids went to day camp (that wonderful youth group again) and made these flip flops! They were free!!!

Visiting the Smoky’s

Monday morning we took a day trip through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I think everyone else had this idea too. It took 6 hours to do a 3 hour trip. We still had fun and saw all of God’s beauty. The kids really enjoyed looking at the old farmsteads and learning how things were done in the old days. One of our favorite spots to visit is Cades Cove. It is a 11 mile loop that normally takes 1 hour,but took use 3. On a really good day you can see all kinds of wildlife including bears. We were only able to see deer and turkeys. It also has lots of historic churches and homes. When we left Cades Cove we headed over to Gatlinburg,TN (which is only 2 miles) to grab a corn dog. I LOVE the foot long corn dogs at Fannie Farkles! If you are ever in town you need to try one:)

Later that night some of our good friends came over to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Nothing better than yummy camp food!

Red,White and Blue

The holiday spirit was in the air Sunday with everyone’s campers and golf carts decorated. Of course I bought stuff to decorate,but left it at home. I cooked pancakes for breakfast and they were yummy. After we got cleaned up we went to a worship service led by the youth group that is here. This is the same group from downtown yesterday. It was a really great service!

The kids swam all afternoon and there was even a pool party. They played corn hole,limbo,hula hoop contest and so much more. We finally made it back to the camper for dinner and a little rest before the HUGE block party that evening. That same youth group hosted this main event. Everything was free and of course that's what brought everyone in . The kids filled up on all that free carnival food,but my favorite was the skits. They were so bold,but really spoke the truth! They were AWESOME! To end the night the kids did a little night swimming.

( This is the Jumping Pillow. It is a mix of a trampoline and a bounce house. The said it was GREAT! )

Pool Party!!!!!

Water Balloons!!! Thankfully I was holding my camera and the kids knew better:)

block party time!

This was a great skit preformed to a Casting Crowns song. It was talking about “setting me free from these chains”. I can’t think of the song title,but it was very good.

Nothing like some late evening/night swimming!