Guitars, Paint, and Halloween Here We Come...

This last week was filled with all kinds of fun. Andi had dress up days at school and made it to two Halloween parties this weekend. John dressed up for the football game Friday night, recieved his big guitar purchase using all his savings and competed in another band competition on Saturday night. Aunt Ryan, Mary Paul and Aunt Samantha came to visit Thursday and spent the night. Then Friday morning, all three of us painted my playroom while watching 3 toddlers. Pretty impressive! Ryan and Sam helped me paint this room as a gift for my anniversary. I am so thankful for their help and it really helps to update my house. I loved having them here and we had fun as always! I couldn't have asked for a better gift! I tried to get the pictures in chronological order but for some reason I just can not get the hang of it. Oh well, I will keep trying :)

John dressed up in his Halloween costume for the football game Friday night. In case you can't tell, he was "packing material". All the band member's costumes were really great and it was fun to see them all playing during the show.


Andi as a Disco Diva! Can you dig it?


John marching in the competition, in which Roane County Highschool won first place overall! Awesome! They really are very good!


Addi this morning after church. I just thought she looked cute all dressed up. Aunt Samantha and Uncle Dave gave her this dress last year for Christmas and she can still wear it so I was pleased. Lately, Addi loves to wear necklaces. How cute!


John and his aunts getting the guitar out of the box on Friday afternoon.


John checking out his new guitar for the first time!


Wow! $1200.00 worth of PRS electric guitar! It is pretty!


John showing off his biggest purchase yet! He was very pleased with it which is good, because it is always a risk buying something like that off of E-Bay.


The playroom post painting. My before and after pictures are posted backwards. oops! I LOVE red rooms!


Andi posing on her tacky dress up day at school! I would say she is definately tacky!


Aunt Samantha gave all the nieces and nephews funny little Halloween treats. Here is Andi showing hers off!


Landon got the hang of it too, and then kept asking me take more pictures of his mouth!


Addi wasn't sure what all the hype was about, but loved the attention she got when she put it all the way in her mouth. So funny!


The playroom pre-painting. Don't ya love the 1970's paneling? My house is definately coming a long way from when we first moved in. We are slowly but surely moving it from "Brady Bunch" to the 21st century. Thanks for the help to my great sisters!

I've Been Tagged By Heather.....My Man

Who is your man? Mike
2. How long have you been married? 7 years (always easy to know b/c we got married in 2000)
3. How long did you date? dated 4 months then got engaged, and then got married 7 months later; all in less than a year
4. How old is your man? 43
5. Who eats more? Mike, he's one of those lucky ones who can eat whatever he wants and never gain a pound. Sickening!
6. Who said "I love you" first? Mike did while we were standing out in his driveway.
7. Who is taller? Mike
8. Who sings better? me, but I think Mike could sing if he would. Even though, he did do an Elvis impression for me for my 30th birthday. It is the ONLY time he has sang karaoke. For those of you who know, I am a big karaoke fan!
9. Who is smarter? I think we are equally smart, just in different areas. MIke is a genius when it comes to fixing just about anything. Really handy man to have around!
10. Whose temper is worse? Neither one of us have really bad tempers. I can count on one hand and remember exact details of the big fights we have had. Not too many of them.
11. Who does the laundry? I do.
12. Who takes out the trash? the kids (Great when they get old enough to help with chores)
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If looking at the bed, I'm on the right side.
14. Who pays the bills? I do and keep the budget going for our home. We set the budget together but I manage it.
15. Who is better on the computer? Definately me. Mike hates computers, they frustrate him more than just about anything else. ( There is a reason he never posts)
16. Who mows the lawn? Mike, lucky for me he loves to do yardwork.
17. Who cooks dinner? Me, but Mike actually likes cooking better than I do. He just doesn't get home in time to do it. Sometimes he will on the weekends. I love it when he does.
18. Who drives when you are together? Mike
19. Who pays when you go out? I pay the bill with our money.
20. Who is more stubborn? Me. Mike has said that I have had control issues for some time and now I agree.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I think we are both pretty good about that depending on the situation.
22. Whose families do you see most? Mine. Mike's live in Missouri and Kansas, pretty far.
23. Who kissed who first? Mike kissed me outside my little basement apartment, I think on our 3rd date.
24. Who asked who out first? Mike asked me out one Wednesday night after church. I was really surprised.
25. Who proposed? Mike did and got it on video too.
26. Who is more sensitive? We can both be equally sensitive depending on the subject matter.
27. Who has more friends? I do overall, although neither one of us have a lot of friends here yet.
28. Who has more siblings? the same, we each have two
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Mike is the "head" of our family, but as was stated in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", the wife is the "neck" and can therefore turn the head wherever it should go. :)
30. Who is the biggest pushover with the kids? I think we both do a good job of not getting run over by our little or big kids. Mike says I am more strict and extreme when we discuss "grounding parameters" for the older kids, so we have to meet in the middle on that.

Now, I tag Ryan, Sam, Karen P., and Mandi

Pumpkin Patch Here We Come.....

We had another fun weekend at the Griners. First, G-Mama and Aunt Samantha came to the football game with us on Friday night. We had a good time and the Kingston Yellow Jackets killed the other team 38-0. Gooo Jackets!
Saturday morning G-Mama had to get back to Atlanta to babysit Mary Paul but Aunt Samantha, who had spent the night, began babysitting for us about 9:30 am. Uncle Dave joined her about 10 am. Then, Mike and I went out for an entire day alone. We left at 9:30 and got back around 9:30. Wow, 12 whole hours to ourselves. It was really great and we had so much fun. We shopped, ate, saw a great western movie (3:10 to Yuma, highly reccomend it), and then shopped and ate some more. Sam and Dave were so great to do that for us. It has been a while since we have been able to spend that much time together alone.
Then on Sunday after church, we went to a pumpkin patch in Crossville, TN. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun. It was interesting watching the kids pick out their pumpkins and how they chose the winner! Of course I took a bunch of pictures. I loved having my entire family together for a whole day! We have not carved them yet, we will probably do that one day next week. For now, they are sitting outside beside the giant 40 lb pumpkin that G-Mama surprised us with on Friday. We have a whole little family of pumkins!!!
Happy Fall!!


The farm had a really big slide with a long slide ramp at the end. Everyone loved it. Even Mike went down a couple of times. You really did go fast. Addi is still too little to go down this slide by herself, so Andi helped out.


Landon was scared at first, but once he went down we couldn't pull him away from it.


Landon and Addi were running to the playground and you can tell they were racing. For some reason I love pictures like this from behind.



Landon picking up his first pumpkin of the day. He likes the white ones the best and was disappointed there weren't any white ones in the pumpkin patch. What is a white pumpkin anyway?

Me and Addi getting ready to look at some goats. They were crazy goats who kept bucking at each other with their horns. Not very good for a petting zoo. Needless to say, I did not let Addi pet them.


John showing us how a "city boy" chews straw!


Addi taking her stance as Queen Addi on top of the hay pile. She loved trying to climb to the top.


Mike wanted Addi to go down this one by herself. It was minature version of the big one. She did pretty good, although she looks a little concerned!


Addi climbing "again" and looking at how high she has to go to reach the top.


Dad to the rescue to help her "safely" reach the top. Safely being the key word! Andi is ready to help too.


Andi showing off her pumpkin!


Addi showing us the pumpkin that Daddy helped her find! Perfect!


Landon with his pumpkin. He chose his in like two minutes and was ready to ride again on the trailor. A tractor was pulling us so he loved that! I asked him to smile and show me his pumpkin, so he did, but then put the pumpkin right in front of his face.


The first pumpkin Addi wanted was the green one you see still on the vine and not quite ready for picking! Sorry Addi. She was really happy with her little orange one though, and did not want to put it down.


They had a sandbox full of corn kernels and the kids loved that. Here the girls were playing together. How sweet!


I had to catch this moment because Addi kept leaning back onto John and John would give her kiss. It was a great big brother moment.


Part of the Autumn Acres Pumpkin Patch!


Landon loved his pumpkin too and did want to put his down either. Here he is admiring it while riding on the trailor back to the farm.


All four of my kids with their chosen pumpkins. Really hard to get everyone smiling at the same time!


John showing off his kinda green pumpkin!

Happy Birthday to Dad, Daddy, or DaDa (depending on which child you ask :)

We celebrated Mike's birthday last Sunday. Blogger has been doing something weird with me and not letting me upload pics this week. Finally, I was able to, so here is my post almost a week late!
We all went out to eat together last Sunday evening to Cracker Barrel (one of Mike's favorite places) to celebrate Mike's birthday. John drove the whole family but we made it there and back in one piece. Once at home, we celebrated Mike's birthday with cake and singing. Landon insists we have cake for any birthday. All of us were too full to eat any cake except the little ones. We had fun all being together, but the biggest entertainment of the evening was Addi eating her cake.
For any of you who saw her on her first birthday, she surprised us all by being very prissy and not wanting to get dirty. She would only eat her big slice of 1st year birthday cake with a spoon. It was soooo cute, but did not leave us with any really messy first birthday pictures. Well, she made up for that with Mike's cake. It was so funny and she LOVED it!! I did post quite a few pictures of her, but this is the first time she has gone crazy with cake!
Happy Birthday to Daddy!!

Andi enjoying dad's birthday too!


Mike blowing out all of his candels. We decided not to put the full 43 on there :)


Mike relaxing after a very filling country fried steak dinner with extra gravy from Cracker Barrel!


A partially clean Addi when she first got her yummy cake.


Landon looking pretty clean for finishing his cake. What a big boy!!


John showing us his goofy grin!


Addi showing us her pearly whites. Does she look happy or what?


Hiding from the camera.


"Look at my hands!!!"


I had to try and get a close up of her "chocolate facial"!

Fall Break Is Here!!!!

The kids were on fall break all this last week and we had a great little vacation time from school. Our fall break began last Saturday with the Roane County Highschool Marching Band's first competition. It was really hot, but they did great! They got all Superior ratings and Best Overall Drum Major and Drumline! We were especially proud since John is on the drumline. He is the snare player in the pics on the far right.

The guy to the left of John is Chris and he always has the best facial expressions during the shows. He plays drums in John's rock band too, Exit 352.



Watch the band lean.......



On Monday morning we drove to Palmetto to stay a few days with G-Mama. She was off of work until Thursday so we decided to take advantage of some time with her. We had such a great time. Also, John drove the whole family (minus Mike who stayed back to work) on the interstate for the first time. I admit I was pretty nervous but John did very well. I did very well too at staying calm. Yeah for both of us!
On Monday afternoon we went to Cochran Mill park to do a short hike to a waterfall and then played on the playground. Surprise, surprise, there was no water at the waterfall. Oh well, as you will see it was a pretty graffitti wall and everyone enjoyed the outdoors.

All four of my kids hiking in the wild outdoors!

Addi loved climbing the fence. She is such a climber already.


Landon loving the playground. He makes the funniest expressions!

G-Mama and the Griner Grandkids!

John showing off the "waterless waterfall"

Landon and Addi both wanted to walk the entire time. It was fun to watch them running around, but it made for a very slow hike!



On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to the Atlanta Aquarium and then to a children's museum in Atlanta called Imagine It!. We had a great time at both places. We all loved the aquarium! Then, afterwards we went out to eat seafood. Kinda ironic! The aquarium was not crowded at all which made it even easier with a double stroller, two teenagers and two adults. We also really enjoyed the children's museum. John and Andi were even fascinated by a few things there. Landon loved the train tables and Addi liked picking up the colored balls and loading them into the ball machine. There were lots of things to do and see.
Then to make John's day even better we went to Guitar Center afterwards. He came very close to buying a new guitar. He has been saving his money for a long, long time and now has a little over 1000.00 dollars. Wow! He plans to spend that and more (after Christmas money) on a new guitar. I don't think I ever spent or saved anywhere near 1000.00 when I was his age. :) Anyway, he stayed in Guitar Center for a little over an hour, so I took the little kids out to the van to have a snack and hang out. I was a little concerned Landon might crash his monster truck into the Vintage Fender Amp for 4000.00. That would not be good!
We hung out some with GG and I even got to be her dance partner at her and mom's dance class Wednesday night. There were not enough men partners, so I was up. I think I did a pretty good job leading. I usually like to be in control anyway :) GG was a great and fun partner. I learned to Cha, Cha and Rhumba! Mom did great too. They are both naturals!
We came home Thursday morning and only had to stop 2 times for Landon to go potty. He has gotten very good at saying he needs to go. That is both good and bad. Our trip was very LOOOOOOONG!

Working in the garden!

Addi hiding in the slide cubby. She liked to sit there more than go down the slide!

Me with all my babies! OK, so two are really big babies!

I loved the jellyfish display and how they used the lighting. It makes for a cool picture too.

Back at the playground. Landon really wanted to slide down the fire pole, but couldn't quite get it. How did that picture get here?

Landon's concerned look.

Landon having fun in the van while waiting for John in Guitar Center.

Addi showing off her style in her sister's sunglasses.

Landon LOVED the trains and hooked them all together to make one LONG train!

Addi loading the balls into the big ball invention machine. I don't know how else to descibe it.

Today we finished our Fall break with a trip to the Knoxville Zoo. We had a great time and the weather was fabulous. Mike took off work which was so nice and even Aunt Samantha joined us. They have a great kid area and all the Fall decorations were so nice. Samantha, Andi and Landon even rode a camel! Wow!

Addi checking out the pumpkins, wondering what happened to them.

Four of some of my crew in front of the waterfall.

Aunt Samantha, Andi and Landon loading up onto the camel.

Aunt Samantha giving us the thumbs up!

Landon loved playing in the army truck they had for the kids to play in.

Me and Mike enjoying his day off and our time with the family.

Pretty Aunt Samantha!

I thought this picture of the riding camel turned out pretty good, so had to put it on here. Don't camels look like they are smiling?