Chattanooga

Baking with Miss Hellen

Building baby Niya's crib

Train on the turn table

Momma, I hear a train!

Ethan loved learning about the train

Steam engine

Tennessee Aquarium

Look, a shark!

Jellyfish

Petting a hedgehog at the aquarium

Mom, I've got my "glubs" on!

Digging for Dinosaurs

The water section is a favorite

Creative Discovery Museum
We made it to Chattanooga even with a sick and grumpy child. One of our reasons for going was because our friends were expecting their first child, Niya. Unfortunately she wasn't born while we were there (she was probably too scared to come after hearing the chaos of the boys) but was born a couple of days later. We enjoyed our usual visits to the Children's Discovery Museum and the Tennessee Aquarium. Ethan got to participate in a science class at the museum and learned about Nitrogen. We also took the boys to their first Imax movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. They weren't trilled with the experience. Ethan says he never wants to see a movie again! We also went to the Tennessee Valley Railroad and had a train ride on a restored steam engine. We got to watch them turn the train on the turn table which was neat. The boys baked cookies with Miss Hellen and banged on her piano and African drums. The boys and George also helped put baby Niya's crib together. We didn't go up the mountain this time :( because it was so cold. None of us have winter coats so we knew it would not be a good experience, maybe next time. The morning we were leaving to head home, George found that our van had been broken into during the night. Thankfully nothing was taken and no damage was done. We were especially thankful that our van was still there! We headed home and drove 12 hours straight, stopping every hour or so for one of us to use the bathroom:) We had a great time and are already planning our next trip to "Nooga."

Disney Holiday

Visiting my grandfather and his wife in Inverness

Ethan and great-grandpa

Light show at Hollywood Studios

Epcot

Room with a view...of the Tower of Terror!

Dolphin Hotel
We recently returned from a long trip starting at Disney and ending in Chattanooga. The main reason I thought it would be fun to go to Disney was because of how pretty it is there this time of year. We started out at Epcot which is the perfect place for my science kid Ethan. There's not much for Ian and I to do especially since he hates most rides. He does love aquariums so we spent a lot of time at the aquarium that's located by the Nemo ride. I had forgotten my cell phone at the hotel so I wandered around Epcot looking for a pay phone to try and reach George and Ethan. Turns out it cost almost $15 to charge a phone call that lasted less than 30 seconds! We relaxed at the pools at the Dolphin hotel for a while before heading out to see the light show at Hollywood Studios. It was a really neat light show which we all enjoyed. Then we thought we'd be adventurous and try to go to Magic Kingdom for fireworks but shortly after we got there Ethan decided he was done for the day. The following day we headed to Inverness to visit my grandparents. The boys always love playing with my grandfather's pool table and Ethan got to learn about wood working. We headed up to Georgia for the night and stayed at a hotel in Valdosta. Ian has had sinus problems almost continually since September (a combination of colds and allergies) and he was up all night screaming at the hotel so George took him to a walk in first thing the next morning. Turns out he had an ear infection. I always say, it's never a complete vacation without a trip to a walk-in!

Vacation

We decided to add more craziness to our holidays by going away for 10 days. We are headed first to Disney for a couple of days then stopping to visit my grandparents in Inverness. After that it's on up to Chattanooga. Our friend's baby is due this week, hoping she's on time. It has snowed there recently but it doesn't look like it's going to be cold enough this week for snow:( We go to a lot of the same places while we are there (Rock City, Children's Museum, Aquarium) I'm trying to think of something new to do with the kids. Ethan's interested in stalagtites, maybe we should try spalunking? Just kidding, though maybe we could do a tour of a cave. There is a lot of train stuff up there too, historic train rides and such, maybe we can do one of those. First we have to see if we even make it up there. Ian who just got over an ear infection seems to be having sinus issues. And Ethan decided to not sleep last night, and we're supposed to be at Disney today! Our traditional Fox family trips are off to our usual start:)

Advent Fun

We've been really busy this Advent Season and having a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of the kids baking cookies with friends and going to a live nativity where they got to learn about weaving, pottery, basket making and grinding wheat.

Future Grace

I've been slowly making my way through a John Piper book, titled Future Grace. I've really gotten a lot out of it but since I only get to read it when I work out, it's one chapter at a time:) I've often said that I never knew the depths of my sin until I became a mother. It's like children are a mirror in front of you where you get to see your own sin in action as well as the consequences for your sin. While reading my book today, I read this from Piper regarding sin:
"failure to have faith in future grace, that is, failing to be satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus, is the root of all sin. Satan knows this and it shapes his whole strategy of how to get people to sin... All the sinful states of our hearts are owing to unbelief in God's super-abounding future grace. All our sin comes from failing to be satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus. Misplaced shame, anxiety, despondency, covetousness, lust, bitterness, impatience, pride--these are all sprouts from the root of unbelief in the promises of God.(p.323)
A lot to think and pray about as I continue on this journey of pursuing holiness and experience the Spirit's sanctifying work in my life.

Bright Nights

During Advent we try to do some fun activities with the boys. We missed our area's annual Christmas parade because it rained so tonight we decided to take them to a light show. It was at a baseball stadium and the lights moved with the music. I wasn't sure how Ian would handle it since lately he has been sensitive to loud sounds. (He complains about loud sounds and covers his ears. I had wondered if his ear infections could have caused the sensitivity. He even made the teacher at the YMCA turn down their music this week. I was going to take him to the doctor about it but then one day this week he and Ethan were banging on a piano and it didn't seem to bother him. Who knows...). Sure enough, as soon as it started he made a dash for whoevers lap was available and was freaking out holding his hands over his ears. He kept his hands over his ears for the entire 20 minutes but he said that he like the light show. It was pretty neat and I'm glad we took them.

Christmas Party

We had our annual Christmas party this weekend. Our eighth so far. At this point we have to have one, it's tradition:) We invited a large number of people but thankfully for my sanity, most of them didn't come. We had the perfect size party for my socialability and I had a great time. The boys went to the babysitters house for the evening and we enjoyed having fun with grown ups. A chef friend brought his fryer and made us fried pickles--yum! We had our gift exchange game which is always fun and enjoyed stealing gifts from each other. Here's a few pictures.

Pictures Finally

I've been trying all year to get the kids back to Sears for their yearly pictures. I had a couple of appointments in the spring I had to cancel because one or both of them were sick. Another time I had an appointment but I think Ian had some sort of injury on his face so I cancelled it. A couple of weeks ago I had an appointment but the boys had played with ink pads the day before and they were covered in ink. So yesterday, everyone was healthy, there were no injuries, and we got it done. I wasn't sure how they would handle the whole experience considering Ian hadn't had a nap in a couple of days and that we had two doctor's appointments prior to the picture appointment. I prayed about it the night before and decided that I would not worry about it and hope for the best. They were AWESOME! Everyone smiled and they argued over who's turn it was to get their picture taken next. They didn't even whine about the fact that it was almost dinner time. I can never get them to both look at the camera at the same time so I was excited that she got some good pictures of them looking at the camera and smiling. Just goes to show the power of God--when everything looked like they would certainly have a meltdown, God intervened and was gracious to give us a perfect picture taking day:)

Gym

I took Ian to the gym today. Well I went to the gym and he went to the babysitting place. He was excited for me to leave and when I came back to get him he said, "Mom, I had fun!" I had a gym membership for years and then when Ethan was born I stopped going. Between all the naps kids take and all the activities we were involved with, it just wasn't going to happen. I had a treadmill for a while and now I have a stationary bike that I ride on most mornings but I've been feeling like I need to get back into doing weights so I mentioned to George that I might like to rejoin the gym. When I found out how much they charged per month, I changed my mind. But, as it turns out, George made arrangements with the gym to have a special deal for everyone at his work, including their families. Yay! We'll see how sore I am tomorrow:)

Thanksgiving Week

The boys did stomp rockets and rocket balloons with Uncle Will and PopPop.

My tables debut at it's first Thanksgiving

Gobble Gobble

Ian and Aunt Shanna

Silly Mommy, this isn't snow!

City Place

Bubbles at City Place