As Of Late...

~ We went on our camping trip and it was a lot of fun! Amber really enjoyed it which made Ricky and I very happy!! We did hiking or tubing everyday and I think I lost some inches in my waist because we were so active every day! Wish I could go to the Smokies everyday!

One of Ricky's favorite hikes in the Smokies is Chimney Tops. A very good work out, 

you climb to the top of a mountain! Took us 4 hours round trip! 

 The whole family that went. We had a blast! 

~Amber is starting to use her little potty. I haven't deemed us "potty training" yet. However she is really interested in it and wants to sit on it before bath time. So why would I tell her no! She has peed in it twice now and it plays music when that happens. 

~Amber also no longer has a crib. She has a convertible crib so we took one side down and put up a little rail. She LOVES it! She still "cries" for me in the mornings and waits till I get her. I'm not pushing on her getting out by herself just yet. :) If she wants she can but it's not a big deal if she doesn't. 

~We will be celebrating her 2nd birthday soon! Just family this year nothing huge. I can't believe she is 2! I know I have said it many time before but time really does fly! 

~Amber also likes to wear the arm floaties in the pool now because she realized she can "swim" on her own. :)

~I can't wait for MOMS to start back up at church and get back involved with that. 

~ So this post was mainly about Amber  as of late.... :)

RVing it

This year Ricky's family had a brilliant idea for Starlight Spectacular at Bellevue. It always is so hot and they have a RV so they thought why not bring the RV and when we are hot we can cool off in there. They called the head of security and got it cleared that we could do that. It was awesome! I'm surprised no one else has thought of it. We are spoiled now and want to do it this way in the years to come. We cooked out and all brought food and kept it all in the RV then we didn't have to deal with flies and it kept the food cool. We had a bathroom right there and was much nicer than a port a potty! And thankfully we had it during the fireworks because Amber was not a fan of them. We were able to sit inside and still see the fireworks.

Poor thing. This was inside the RV while the fireworks went off. She even covered her eyes but eventually warmed up to it a little towards the end. Reminds me of me when I was little,

I hated fireworks! 

Not all fun and games...

Sometimes being a mom is just plain hard! It's hard to raise a child the right way!! It has been one of those days with Amber today. She woke up on the wrong side of the crib and to top it off we went to a little girls birthday party today and Amber had to get a spanking while we were there!!! She took a toy and purposely hit me with it. So off to a bedroom we went to have a spanking and a talk. Before all of that, she was being very clingy and wanting me to do everything with her instead of all the little kids she had there to play with. You could tell that she is an only child and I am her "playmate." It just makes it worse when you are in a social setting and you are trying to encourage/correct/discipline your child with other eyes watching you. Can you tell we are fixing to enter the 2 year mark with her? :)

On a lighter note I bought this the other day and Amber LOVED it! I had a coupon so I decided to try it since Amber has become a picky eater lately. I thought this would be a great way to get her veggies in. I brought it with me to the pool and so for a snack this is what I gave her. All organic Ella's Kitchen food pouch:

It was neat to her because all you do it twist the top off and then she can squeeze it out into her mouth. I tasted some it was actually sweet tasting but all organic nothing added to it. I'm not going to replace this with trying to get her to eat regular veggies when we eat them but its a nice little treat to give her and she doesn't know that its good for her :) By the way, this really helped to clean her out :) So also if she is constipated I will be buying some of them!! :) TMI???? :) 

Looking forward to

The summer is upon us. We have the temperatures to prove it. My car said 101 the other day and its just the beginning of June! This summer I am looking forward to a few things. 

Visiting this place a lot! Jerry's Snowcones! 

Going camping in the Smoky Mountains at a great campsite called Elkmont. 

This is the river that is at the site and we love tubing down it.

 Hopefully being able to have fresh cut hydrangeas but mine haven't bloomed yet.

 I just planted them this year so we might have to wait till next year.

And lots and lots of swimming!! Amber LOVES it! 

Ricky bought us STOMP tickets and I'm really excited to see them!