here's your sign

peacelovequilt

When your kids ask what you want for Christmas and you give them specifics - “a sign like this one on Etsy but too much $ maybe you could make one and here is what I want it to say and look like, and two generations come together to make it happen! #heresyoursign #patchwork #diy #teamwork

AND while planning this sign - the kids/grandkids asked Grandpa Buddy to cut a piece of wood for it, and can you cut 2 just in case?  Someone apparently remembered way back in the summer when Buddy said he wanted to put up a sign on the property 'Tidwell Forest'.

Great job everyone - 1) to remember that and file it away, 2) to get him to cut out his own sign, 3) painting and personalizing the sign, it is just what he had in mind!

#engaged

thanks for the memories

Thanks for the memories….

THANKS to grandpa Buddy's boss for the annual end of year bonus and THANKS to Buddy for sharing it for the family trip, wait, that check hasn't come in yet…. Hopefully no jelly-of-the-month club for us this year!

THANKS to SARAH for her idea, "let's have matching PJs this year" and to MELISSA (and Target) for making that happen!

THANKS to ALLISON for making the official family photos again this year.

THANKS to MELISSA and CARRIE for creating the menu and grocery list and ordering it online for pickup at the Kroger(s) in Pigeon Forge upon arrival, and thanks to the folks at Kroger for having everything ready right on time.

THANKS to KEITH and DANIEL for all the cooking.

THANKS to MELISSA for the neat hot cocoa bar.

THANKS for the memories, the baby holding, the hot chocolate, the puzzle, the music, the coloring, the laughs and fellowship around the table. THANKS for the big table and the fireplace to gather around, for the Christmas trees and décor.

THANKS to RACHEAL and ISAIAH for bringing the entertainment (baby LILI).

THANKFUL that everyone had safe travels from places near and far. THANKFUL that all of our kids and grandkids are grown and have jobs and cars and can fend for themselves, they could all go places either together or separate, whenever and wherever they wanted (after a few minutes of car Tetris to get out of the parking area). A few places visited this weekend by some of us: Dollywood, Gatlinburg Aquarium, Laser Tag, Mini Golf, GSM Foothills Parkway, Ferris wheel at Pigeon Forge. 

Thanks to Dollywood Cabins for another great destination lodging experience. Staying at DW cabins has a lot of perks but the two that stand out are the 'length of stay pass' - for $69.95 per person you can come and go to DW as many times as you want for as long as you are staying in the cabin. But the best perk we think is the free parking at DW. Yes parking costs $15 per vehicle or you could all cram into the car with grandpa who has the Gold pass, but if you stay at DW cabins every vehicle gets a free parking pass (we had 7 vehicles). But not just FREE parking in the main parking area and ride the tram, but FREE parking up at the top of the hill in the special lot G with a short walk to the back entrance.

Thanks all y'all for another great family Christmas trip!

tiny progress

Tiny House on Wheels progress! Carrie and Daniel went to visit the building site in North Carolina this weekend and were very pleased with their house, and Tasha too!

Carrie surprised her builder with a scroll piece she made of the builder's logo, nice job!

Surprise!

surprise well kinda... :)

Did you ever get a wrong number, or in this day and age a wrong number text? It happens more often than you think, I have done it.

I got this text… it was not meant for me, but another Susan in Melissa's phone contacts.

The surprise she had been keeping for a LONG time was exposed in the click of a SEND button, oops.

Melissa made me a quilt!

I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see the pictures. 

You see Melissa is not the sewing type, that is Carrie who can sew, crochet, knit, she got that gene. Melissa is the IT specialist, but she is also very creative and imaginative (wait til you see what she made Buddy) - Melissa can do anything she sets her mind to, and she set her mind to make a quilt. For me. And she did. 

With help from her mentor and quilter friend Teresa who provided a sewing machine and operating instructions and lots of advice. And of course thanks to a lot of YouTube videos.

I wouldn't believe it if not for the pictures, yes lots of pictures, a whole picture book full of them to document this momentous event!

Wow. A quilt. For me.

Awesome! Thanks Melissa! I love it!

cabin with a view

I could have stayed all weekend at the cabin just looking out at the view.

Buddy had this great idea of renting a cabin in the Smokies and taking all the kids and grandkids to Dollywood. Reservations and plans were made, Dollywood tickets bought, then the wildfires came to the area. We watched the terrible news unfold and our hearts went out to all the families affected. The fires were still being fought, the roads were closed into the area, we heard that some rental cabins were totally destroyed in the area we had reserved, our plans were on hold. But then we heard that our cabin was fine, we saw the Mayor of Gatlinburg in a video on Facebook saying, "We will be back open for business on Friday morning Dec 9th, y'all please come back to see us!" So we did. Miraculously everything opened up that morning right on schedule, the town, the roads, the restaurants. We drove through the mountains and saw the scorched earth, the Smokies were living up to their name, you could smell it in the air.

Check in was at 4 p.m. so we arrived in time for sunset and moon rise over the mountains. The deck faced Mount Leconte, an awesome unobstructed view.

Friday night the kids were hyped up, trying out all the entertainment at the cabin - foosball, pool, air hockey, arcade games.

They couldn't figure out the arcade game console, with 4 IT specialists and one engineering student and one grandpa puzzling over it. Probably needed an 8-year-old to push the right button or combination of buttons, but there was plenty of other stuff to do.

The call went out for everyone to gather in the living room to play Cards Against Humanity, a game the kids had brought. It was funny watching them getting set up and telling each other hurry and come play because Buddy and Susan are playing, it will be so fun to watch them read these cards out loud. They tried to explain to us the goal of the game and how to win, etc., but apparently they just wanted to hear their mild mannered grandparents say bad words. Well if that is what they like, then they should just ride along with grandpa when he is driving, especially if it is a roundabout or 4 way stop. Or hang with granma when a snake comes crawling across the camper floor. What happened to the fun kid games like Life when we used to snicker about having babies?

Melissa and I were up at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday waiting and watching for the sun rise, it was 17 degrees outside so we were watching through the window. Then a big breakfast of bacon, sausage, biscuits, waffles, before heading to Dollywood. 

This cabin has windows on 3 sides, 3 levels, did I mention the awesome view?

The cabin was big enough for everyone to spread out which is good with 12 'adults'.  Yes our youngest grandchild is 19 now, so all big folks who can entertain themselves, drive themselves wherever they want to go. The big plan at Dollywood was the kids would all ride rides while us old folks stayed warm in the shows. The first show on our list was the new "It's A Wonderful Life". The show was almost over when I got a text, 'we are right outside waiting for you'.  I hoped nothing was wrong, and as we exited with the throng of folks, we found all 10 of them standing there looking like little lost kids, "The rides are all closed because of the cold weather, what do we do now?"

Thankfully the rides started running after the temperature warmed up a little more, and they got to experience the Lightning Rod and Eagle. Aren't you going to ride grandma? I have ridden everything here at least once, so no, not today, wind chill is not my favorite thing to experience.

So a long day of park walking, being entertained by our crew of millennials and their parents, my fitbit says I walked 17,000 steps, what does yours say? and eating good food, drinking lots of hot chocolate, standing in line to buy cinnamon bread, riding the train, and seeing the millions of lights transform the park at night, it was a good day. The sun was out and it warmed up to maybe 40 at one point.

One goal of the weekend was a group family photo, the suggestion was to make it on the deck with the mountains in the background, but construction guru Buddy nixed that plan - we don't want to be on the news… Georgia family falls as deck collapses… so we opted for an inside shot with the windows in the background.

Sunday night everyone was back home safe and sound, the kids were posting pictures on Facebook, and Sarah summed it up nicely: The family vacation was a success!

~more pictures HERE

down time

After working 6 days a week for months now, Buddy was coming home for a 3 day weekend. In a moment of weakness he emailed that he would like to just sit down at the falls and rest, have a campfire, and for me to see if any of the neighbors wanted to stop by to talk. The neighbors on both sides are kin, so I sent out a group message to share his invitation (before he changed his mind). Then the next day I get this e-mail outlining all the work that he needs to do at home and maybe postpone the R&R at the falls for another time. I refused and insisted on the down time. So it actually happened, it didn't rain, and was a very nice time spent.

Not one of the BIG official family gatherings that happen maybe twice a year, but just a casual drop in if you want to, it was good to see some of the kids and grandkids.

The waterfalls are popular with other neighbors who often hike back there on the weekend. This time we were happy to see some folks we have not seen in a long time, two of the Smith boys and their kids. It was also good to see little kids in the creek again, so excited to be walking up the creek, climbing the rocks, having a great time.

The newest addition to the family, puppy Georgia wanted to play with big sister Sophie, and they had a good time, separately.

Matt liked to play in the creek, looking for crayfish or spring lizards, moving rocks, he really wanted to build a dam.

We had watermelon and salty peanuts and s'mores and boiled peanuts. We heard some old stories from Joey Smith and some new stories from our grandkids, snippets of conversation…

don't ever put your toothbrush in the dishwasher

how to make a jager bomb

how to turn yourself over when your kayak is upside down

s'mores made with Reese's cups

which trees to use for hammock

where to buy boiled peanuts - you have to get them from the guy on the side of the road just before you get to the dump, those are the best, not mushy like gas station boiled peanuts

We have our token Yankee in the group, well not Yankee in the derogatory sense, and not really Yankee since she is from Ohio, but Allison has the attitude that keeps Kyle in line, fun to watch, a good match. And she is slowly embracing the Southern life - bringing the boiled peanuts!

thanks everyone for sharing in Buddy's down time, resting, talking, making memories, til next time...

wedding fun

great times at family wedding!!

sew proud

Madison is headed to Alabama for college in a few weeks. The last one to leave the nest, her mom is dealing with it as best as she can, keeping very busy gathering everything needed to send her baby off. 

Back in April, Melissa sent me this picture of a pillow on Etsy, with this message:

Whacha think? BAMA......Georgia?

Cost way too much!

I took this to really mean - Mom check out this pillow, it costs too much to buy but I bet you could make one, right?

I was wrong.

I started sending her ideas for fabrics and asked about size, etc., when she gently let me down and said that SHE wanted to make it for Madison. Ah, I understand.

A little background here, Melissa does not sew. Or knit. Or crochet. She has done some cross-stitch in the distant past. But then if you know Melissa, if she decides she wants to do something, she will do it and do it well.

So she waited until Madison was away from home for a few days and started in. I got this e-mail with subject line Pillow stage 1:

Followed a few minutes later with this:

Glad I used heat bond lite....alabama is backwards. Oops

All stitches done by hand… with love. Sew proud.

Near-empty-nest tendencies - Melissa sewing - who knew! 

happy place

from all the smiles it looks like the Disney trip was fun!

disney

Melissa's fridge

When Melissa graduated college nine months ago, she was asked what are her plans? I'm going to Disney World!

She has been working full-time ever since, and is finally taking a whirlwind long weekend break and is finally on her way there.

Melissa 1981

fitness fun

Once again Carrie and Daniel and friends go play in the mud, run the obstacle course, drink beer all for a good cause. Fitness can be fun!

Seeing a distinct need for a fun, challenging way to stay healthy and get fit, we (Red Frog Events, an event production company based in Chicago, IL) unleashed Warrior Dash in 2009 and have been a forerunner of the event production industry ever since. The first Warrior Dash was held in Joliet, IL and we’ve come a long way in the past four years! Over two million Warriors have stormed The Battleground and have raised more than $10 million and counting for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. More than 200 Warrior Dashes have taken place on the most rugged terrain across six countries and four continents. We’re no scientists, but that’s a ton of mud, sweat, and beer. ~ Warrior Dash folks