Babysitting the grandkids

Ok, I know it's been forever since I've blogged, but I figure it's time to put in some new pictures.  I took these pictures of Casey and Morgan after nap time.  Morgan climbed up on Casey's bed and they started to play together.  Morgan loves to put the blanket on her head, and they like to wrestle with each other.  But there was also some cute and quiet moments too.

Morgan getting ready to put the blanket over her head

Casey wanted to give Morgan a hug.

They took a breather between wrestling.

New Addition to our family

Well, we took the plunge and adopted a cat.  We would like to introduce Clementine to everyone.  She surprised me by coming out of her carrier right away and checked out the house.  She was quick to get on my lap and wants to be petted.  She is truly a lap cat.  She loves her scratch box, with the addition of catnip.  She also decided, when I was busy, to sleep with Mr. Gorilla and the Art's stuffed puppy.   It's her first day, so we will see what kind of mischief  she can get into as she gets used to living here.  So far, so good.  

Oh, I forgot to mention something.  Art seems to be allergic to Clementine, so I will be making a trip to the drug store hoping to alleviate his burning itchy eyes. 

Christmas tree decorating with Casey

It's been ages since I blogged.  this seemed like a good reason to blog today.  Casey was here as usual yesterday and I thought it would be nice for him to help me decorate the tree.  We had a great time.  Casey didn't want to stop until all the ornaments were gone and on the tree.  It was lots of fun, thanks Casey. 
 

Wildlife on our front door screen

 When we got up this morning we saw this Praying Mantis on our front door screen.  He stayed there all day, even though we went in and out of the door many times.  This looks like a baby, since they are usually much bigger when fully grown.  It was very neat to watch him/her slowly make it 's way up to the top of the door. 

  This is looking on top of the Praying Mantis.                                       

 
 

 This is a view from inside looking out.                  

Fun in Gatlinburg

We had a lot of fun times in Gatlinburg.  The cabin was beautiful, with a great porch we made use of reading books while listening to the rain on the trees.  Yes, it did rain off and on, but it was still nice, and the rain stopped at helpful times.  I took a picture of the resident porch spider, it may be a bit hard to make out. 

 

 

  
  Some views from our porch.

  Morgan taking a bath in the kitchen sink the first night.  She fit well.

Casey loved going up and down the stairs and running through the house.

Morgan liked chewing on the plastic tub, and crawling all around the floor. 

We had some nice family moments.  One at a restaurant on our last night there. 

Art and I went into the town of Gatlinburg for the day and had a great time.  Art rode the sky-lift up    the mountain while I stayed safely with my feet on the ground and took pictures. 

We got thirsty while we were walking in town so we stopped in at a restaurant to get a cold drink.  We met this really nice waitress from the Ukraine, her name was Maryna.  She spent about 40 minutes total talking to us about her experience here in the U.S.  She came on a student visa, and wants to stay longer to travel throughout the country.  She finds Americans friendly and generally happy.  She says this is not the norm in her country, everyone has a sort of downcast face.  We really had a good time talking to her.  We hope her application for a  tourist visa comes through. 

                             Other family pics.

Here are some pictures of the mountains in the town.

And lastly, here is the reason they call them the Smokey Mountains.  Art took me back to this spot after we had passed it by on the way home.  Anyone who knows Art, knows he hates to lose time by stopping to take pics or backtracking.  He was so nice to go back to this outlook, he knew I hadn't taken a good picture of the mountains  from this high up.  

Goodbye Gatlinburg, we will return sometime soon I hope.

 

Monkey Diaries-Wednesday and Thursday

It's been a while since we have had the Monkey Diaries. I was waiting until I got something worthy of blogging about. The first one, from yesterday, is a picture of my chair in the living room, with a note stating that Art was taking the monkey to "take your gorilla to work day". So, we were minus the monkey for the day, but I can't say I missed him greatly. The second picture is from today. Apparently the monkey wanted to help water the garden today. He sadly wasn't very much help, and was sent back in the house to dry off.

Butterflies in the garden

I have two Monarch butterflies that have been frequenting my garden. I snapped this picture of one of them visiting my zinnias.

Friday Monkey Diaries

Ok, I haven't been blogging about the monkey adventures every day. They have to pass the funny test for me to put it on. These last two fit in to that category. The first one is the monkey sitting outside and with a book and a drink, like Art loves to do. The second one is the monkey hiding in the china cabinet because we had a bat land on our screen door last night. Art has a huge aversion to bats, and was fairly upset at the spot this bat picked to rest. He of course re-directed his fear onto the monkey.

A new challange

Casey tried his hand at a new toy when he was at our house on Monday. I got him a Mr. Potato Head over the weekend. Here is a picture of him working intently to place all the parts in the right place. A classic toy is still fun.

Wendesday Monkey diaries

Apparently the monkey was having sympathy illness. He wasn't feeling well today because Casey was under the weather yesterday. He was much better when I got up and went back to his place on the couch.

Tuesday Monkey diaries

I guess the monkey wanted to go with me when I went shopping today. He was too small for the shopping cart though, so he had to stay home. So sorry monkey.

Family Day with Matt's unit

We spent a couple of hours at a park in Kentucky on Saturday with Matt and his unit. It was a cooler day, but still fun. Casey had a great time swinging and sliding at the playground. He had a ride on his dad and grandpa as well, and played with everyone. Morgan was happy just to sit on laps and play with her toys.

Thursday Monkey diaries

Apparently the monkey hid my drivers license. In this picture he is trying to decide where to hide it next. I hope not because I had enough trouble finding it the first time.

Wednesday Monkey diaries

Art ran out of time for the monkey today, so I am including a picture from pre-monkey diary days. Apparently the monkey wanted to go out and felt he needed my purse in order to make his trip. Unfortunately, he couldn't reach the pedals to drive, so he had to stay home.

Tuesday Monkey diaries

This is what I found in the tub when I got up and decided to take a shower. I guess Art felt the monkey needed a bath today.

Monday Monkey diaries

Late again. Yesterday when I came downstairs, I found the monkey in the bathroom sitting on the sink. He apparently suggested I use the UDF napkins in lieu of toilet paper, since Art dropped the whole roll in the toilet. Nice.

Friday-Monkey diaries

I guess the monkey is waiting for Casey and Morgan to come over for dinner. He said he was hungry and he is waiting in Casey's high chair for him. He has a long wait until dinner.

Thursday-Monkey diaries

Ok, I was late again. So here is Thursday. I guess the monkey was hungry for some watermelon. He got everything ready for me to cut it up, including a fork to eat it with.

Monkey diaries-Wed.

Forgot to blog on Monday. So here is today's. I came downstairs to find that the monkey was helping me make my phone calls. I could really use the help lately.

4Th of July Picnic

We all went to Matt and Katie's for a picnic on the 5Th of July. We all had a good time eating and playing corn hole. One of Casey's play balls got stuck in a tree and the boys were working on trying to knock it out. You can see the four of them looking intently at the tree to see if they were successful. It took a little doing, but they did finally get it out. Thankfully it didn't rain, and it wasn't too hot either.