Fall Creek Falls

A few weekends ago we had some beautiful upper 60's lower 70's degree weather. So what did the Bates household do? Took a day trip to Fall Creek Falls! We didn't realize that it was a two hour drive when we set out, but we went with it:) . It is such a beautiful place and the kids loved all of the waterfalls, not to mention getting to stand on the edge of cliffs. I was surprisingly not overly fearful of them tumbling down into the abyss ( which may have to do with the iron grip I had on them), and only almost had a panic attack while walking across the suspension bridge. Not because I was afraid of falling, but because I kept having flashbacks of a very scary incident at Wonder Works Emporium (in Gatlinburg). I will just say that it had to do with Rogan, an inversion tunnel, and a shoe. Anyway, here are some pictures of our adventure!

Leave it to beaver :)

Rogan is really excited in this one!

The scary swinging bridge.

He loves his sister!

Ameryn Says the Dampedest Things

Last Sunday Ameryn and Rogan spent some time hanging out with my parents and siblings while Chris and I went out with some friends. Ameryn had started saying that her ear hurt a little earlier in the afternoon, but as it was Sunday and no Drs. offices were opened, we decided to give her some Tylenol and take her in the morning. She was doing fine when we dropped them off with some happy meals and kisses, promising to see them later that evening. I left my cell phone at home because we were taking the motorcycle, and I would have nowhere to keep it. I thought that Chris had his on him, but he had left his at home as well. Ameryn's ear really started to hurt later in the evening, and her fever started to spike. She was pretty pitiful, I was told, and spent the evening snuggled up to her Mimi. At one point my brother David came in to the room and asked if Ameryn would like to sit with him for awhile. She said yes and they settled down in a chair together. "Wow Ameryn, you're really hot. Let me go get you a damp rag" he told her. He got up to get her a nice damp rag, and Ameryn went back over to Mimi. They waited for about ten minutes for David to come back (he doesn't get in any kind of hurry), when Ameryn looked up at her Mimi and said in the sweetest little voice " Mimi, where's my dam rag?" My mom did her best to hold in the laughter and asked her what she said. "Where's David with my dam rag? I really need a dam rag." What made it even more hilarious is that she was saying this with the sweetest, most pitiful little voice. She really needed that dam rag!

So SmOoOoky!

I am a sleep walker, talker, seeing things...er. I have been for as long as I can remember. I once got out of bed, went out the front door, and knocked on our neighbors front door at about three in the morning. I remember falling down in the grass on my way back home, and then nothing until I woke up in my bed later that morning. I was about six. My Dad was sure to engage the chain lock on our door the next night and waited to see if I would attempt my escape again. Sure enough around the same time I came out of my bedroom and started trying to open the door. I could not, so I just stood there pulling repeatedly at the handle. My Dad decided to undo the chain and watch what I was going to do next. I stepped out onto the porch and just stood there for a few minutes. When my Dad asked me what I was doing I replied "Don't you know Dad? I'm floating." I only remember him bringing me back into my bed and asking me what I was doing. I was very insistent that I was in fact floating. I had started to wake up by then, and knew that what I was saying was silly, but just couldn't make myself say anything else! I have continued to do things like this even until now (though I have never to my knowledge left my house again).I even freaked out my newly wed husband by trying to catch the wagon wheel on a pole with giant nails sticking out of it that was falling onto him...twice. For the past few months I will suddenly wake up as if someone had yelled my name, and see a huge spider sliding down his web from the wall toward my face. I will jump out of bed to turn the light on only to find that the spider has disappeared. I have apparently passed this trait onto my children. Ameryn has woken up crying numerous time watching things on her ceiling that I can not see. She also talks, and will even answer questions you ask her with a hilarious "yisssss" when her answer is yes. Well, the night before last something very smooky (Ameryn's version of "spooky") happened. I snapped out of a deep sleep to see not a spider, but a giant black beetle crawling down the wall. Being that I am not as deathly afraid of beetles as I am of spiders, I lay there watching it until it slowly disappeared. As soon as it had faded into oblivion Rogan woke up crying in his room. I went into his room and found him crying, staring at his pillow. "What is it buddy?" I asked. "The cricket" he answered. I searched through his bed, insisting that there was no cricket lurking anywhere in it, until he was appeased enough to go back to sleep. When I got back into bed I told Chris that It was really weird that I had just seen a beetle on the wall and then Rogan wakes up with a phantom cricket in his bed. I went back to sleep only to be woken up with Ameryn about two inches away from my face ten minutes later. "Mommy, there is a beetle crawling down my wall" she said pitifully. I got up and checked it out, finding no beetles. She went back to bed, only to get back up about thirty minutes later tell me that the beetle came back. I rechecked her bed, and let her sleep with the lights on (which is a surefire method of keeping ghost bugs at bay). After that we had no more night time visits of the arthropodian kind, for which I am very grateful! So what do you think, pretty smooky? I thought so!

I Ate A Leaf Once...

Ahh Ameryn, my sweet , wonderful, precocious daughter. She says some crazy things!Recently while we were talking I was reminded about a funny thing Amy told me that happened while Chris and I were in Barbados. Brent was asking her where her favorite place to eat was and she replied " McDonalds." " Ok, but if you could eat anything in the world, what would you eat?" Her response? "I ate a leaf once." I was laughing so hard when Amy told me this! I forgot to ask Ameryn about it until She and I were discussing why it is that some people like the way fish tastes and some people don't (this is mainly because she and her Daddy love seafood, but I cannot stand it). I was explaining that it was the same thing as her hating "long beans" (green beans) and me loving them, when she said "long beans just taste like grass, or maybe a leaf." In that moment the "I ate a leaf once" statement came back to me and I asked her to tell me the story of the time that she ate a leaf. "Well," she stated, " It was when David, Kaley, Rogan, Aubrey and I were playing hide and seek outside. None of the other babies were out there, it was just us. Well, I was hiding behind the spider tree"-"Wait, what is the spider tree?" I asked (not only out of curiosity, but so that I can avoid it in the future). " It is the one with all of the baby rocks around it and it has a hip like this" she says as she puts her hand on one hip and juts it out to one side. "Oh, OK" I said even though I still was not quite sure of the one the was describing. "Well I was behind it and there was a stick with six leafis on it. I picked it up and took one off so then there were five leafis on it (the equation is apparently essential to the story). And then I ate one...all of it." She said matter-of-factly. I was trying so hard not to laugh because she was so nonchalant about eating leaves, or leafis, whichever the case may be. "Did you like it?" I asked her. " It tasted kind of like lettuce" She replied. Chris gave her the talk about why we don't eat wild plants, and I don't think that she will be experimenting with exotic tastes anytime soon, but I expected this more from Rogan and not the my little girly girl! :)

Busy Busy!

Summer has passed too quickly this year! It seems like it barely got hot enough to swim before it started cooling down again! And we apparently have two monsoon seasons in Tennessee, or at least that is the way it was this year. I am so glad to see the (albeit much cooler) sun last week! Too bad it has hidden its self again! We have been very busy this summer, with Ameryn's and Rogan's birthday's, their combined party, weekend trips to Chattanooga, Gatlinburg, Panama City Beach, Family visiting for the Fourth of July, Ameryn getting a new pet, Ameryn starting homeschooling for kindergarten, Ameryn placing first runner up in the fairest of the fair pageant, and Chris and I celebrating our 8th anniversary in Barbados! We have had so much fun this year, and I can't wait for the warm weather to return (I don't do very well in the cold). But now, let me introduce you to my little friend.

This is Josie! She is a sweet little sugar glider:)
isn't she cute!

Conversations With My Son

Rogan is talking so much these days. He has moved on from the talking just to get something to actually carrying on a conversation with you. These are not yet as deep and thought provoking as the conversations that I have with Ameryn, but are great just the same. Here are just a few short examples to let you get a taste of his personality.

ROGAN: Mommy, see my hand (he is showing me his empty cupped palm)?

ME: Yeah buddy, I see it.

ROGAN Sighing: See, there no doughnut.

ROGAN: Mommy I poop my mouth!

ME: Wait, you did what?!

ROGAN excitedly: I poop my mouth!

I am getting slightly nervous now about what he could be meaning when he lets out a little burp.

ROGAN: See, I poop my mouth!!

Wow, I am going to have to work on his terminology!

ROGAN: Mommy, I want night night.

ME: You just woke up buddy, do you really want to go back to bed?

ROGAN: No, I want Mommy night night. He then snuggled into my lap :)

We have longer winded conversations, but these usually happen while he is ahem on the toilet, which is about the only time that he is still for more than a few seconds. I won't get into those on here, as they are often very detailed accounts of what he is doing at the time with some other hilarious things mixed in. I will have to figure out how to post a video on here so that you can actually here his sweet little voice and laugh with us at the way he says things! I don't know what I will do when he stops saying he wants to "holded" something or when he doesn't give an enthusiastic "yeah" when you ask him something!

Little Miss Fairest Of The Fair

Ameryn was in the "Little Miss Fairest Of The Fair" pageant last night. This was the first year that she had to walk the stage all by herself! They would not let parents be backstage, and she was feeling a bit nervous when I had to leave before the pageant started. Chris and I could see her from where we were sitting, and it took her no time to make friends with the little girl beside her. She did so good walking out and smiling in front of the crowd! We were so excited for her when she made top fifteen (there were thirty girls altogether). She pretty much had no idea what was happening when she made top five, but was so excited when they started calling out names and giving out pretty silver plates to the winners. She placed first runner up! She loved having her picture made and showing her fancy plate off to everyone! Being the forgetful person that I am, I did not bring our camera to the pageant, so here are a few shots from when we got home. Katelyn is going to do a photo shoot with her in her dress, so I will have more pictures to post soon!