bubble bath

Well I've already fallen off the bandwagon with the blogging... whoopsies! Life has been once again, great - but very busy. Wedding season has officially begun, which means that I spend lots of my free time editing the thousands of pictures I've taken! There will be lots more pictures to come... but I do post frequently on my website: http://brandilyndavidsonphotography.com/ - lots of times pictures of the kids - so check it out and leave a comment to let me know what you think!! Anyhoo - here are some pics I snapped of the kiddos in the bath the other night:

Signs of Spring

I still can't get over what a beautiful day it was today. I was just thinking how wonderful it is that the weather is getting warmer, everything is blooming, turning green... everything is getting 'happier'. Perfect timing isn't it...

Anyhoo, in light of the warm weather we decided we wanted to do a garden this year. We've done one once before in California and it was so much fun and so rewarding. I had a photo shoot this morning and it was so cute to get home to Josh and the kids working out in the yard. He even got them their own little gardening set. We finished one planter box and got everything planted in it and just need to plant the second box.

While we were outside, I took a couple minutes to capture the beauty of spring... We'll hopefully post pictures in a few months of our booming garden!! =)

{Click on Images to Enlarge}
- Spring -

are these not the cutest??

I hate not seeing these images absolutely HUGE, but as I explained before - blogger makes it ridiculously time-consuming to do so, so these will just have to do. Took these pics a couple days ago and am still working on the rest. I love those two so much... what would I do without them? And to think we're going to have another one to love in only a matter of months... wow.

Knoxville Zoo

The kids and I came down to visit Josh for the weekend because he wasn't going to be able to come see us this week with his work schedule. We met in Knoxville (half way between the two) at the zoo to break up the trip.
The kids had a great time. The zoo was so huge that we didn't even see the whole thing! They also had a play area, similar to the museum in Johnson City that the kids spent most of the time in. It was fine with me too because there was air conditioning! It was so hot that day!!
Josh had to leave to go to work, so he left Mariah's carseat under my car for when we got out to the parking lot. I was pushing both kids in our huge stroller up this GINORMOUS hill (okay I'm exaggerating...) and was soooooo hot. I finally made it out to the car and some jerk had stolen our carseat!! It all worked out fine though because we got her a new one and she loves it... but it was just one of those moments.
Here are some pictures from the day...

My little future doctor/vet...

Cave Trip

We - Josh, me, the kids and Rashauna - took a trip over to some near by caves for a little day trip. I guess some guy just found them many years ago and claimed it. We were very surprised to see that our tour guide was a 13 year old boy! But we were even more surprised to see how knowledgable and mature he was! He knew more about calcium deposits, limestone, bat guano etc. that any one I know! ps: did you know they use bat poop to make several things, one being DORITOS!!!!! I still have to look into that one, but I trust this kid! We had a pretty good time, except that Robbie cried almost the entire time and only wanted ME to carry him... and he's not a petite kids by any means so my back's still a little sore. But it was really fun and educational. Another side note: they used this cave during the civil war as a hospital because of the humidity level and other factors, the air inside the cave completely inhibits the growth of bacteria and infection! You can feel how good the air is when you're down there. Here are some pictures: Mariah checking out stuff in the gift shop
Rashauna rockin the coon hat!

me pretending to like robbie (i'm kidding!!!)

the fam.

me and the kiddos =)

Practice Makes Perfect

We're leaving on Tuesday morning to fly out to Tennessee to visit Josh and his family for about two weeks - the kids are so excited! I know that the ONLY way for us to make it through the 7 hour flight is... MOVIES! So we went to Target and picked up some headphones for the kids. I learned so many lessons the first time around flying with them and I intend to not make ANY of them again. One of them was that they weren't able to hear the movie from just the speakers. So before church this morning I let the kids "practice" for the airplane. As you can see, things went pretty well and don't they look so cute with their headphones on? (The pink ones are Mariah's by the way). Now I just need to pack...

Visit with Papa

Josh's dad moved back to California (yay!) so he came down for a visit on Friday. The kids were so excited to see him and the goodies he brought with him - we had a great day together. Robbie absolutely adores him, and he doesn't adore too many people. We're looking forward to being able to see him much more often now.

Bathing Beauties

Yes, she's spitting water into his face and yes, he loves it. So weird...
My crazy Robbie

My sweet and silly Mariah (with a mouthful of BATHwater in her mouth! eww)

My kiddies... Love them to the moon!

The Kids

Mariah and Robbie playing around, saying hi to Josh.

Robbie watching a clip from 'Cars' his favorite movie of all time. He's saying "KaCHOW" and "Mater" (the two main characters). He's getting so big!

Jelly Bean Factory!

We went with the Duffey's to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfeild this past weekend. The kids loved it! We got to go on a tour of the factory and see the history of jelly bellies and how they are made. Mariah loved seeing all the different colors (especially PINK) and Robbie loved watching all the machinery and forklifts (of course). They even have a 'tasting bar' at the end of the tour where you can try every kind of jelly belly. Mariah accidentally tried rotten egg! Ewwwww! Robbie, Taven & Mariah
Checking out the machinery

Cool hats.

Mariah & Robbie

Day at the Park

Robbie
Mariah

The kids love the park and it's just right down the road and right next to the library, so we usually make a whole event out of it. Mariah loves the swings and Robbie is terrified of them. He just screams when I put him in, even if he's not being pushed. He figured out that he can climb all over the jungle gyms and he likes that. Mariah is so good at showing Robbie how to do everything, like sliding down the slides and crawling through the tunnels. One of her most favorite things to do at the park now is the monkey bars "all by herself" (me holding her legs while she holds the bars). Fun fun.