Moments with the Matheses: East Tennessee with the Addison Three

The week before Christmas we were so blessed to be able to go on a trip to East Tennessee with our dear friends: Ashley, Patrick & Kate. It was our first trip together with the kids and it was a success! Here are a few highlights.

We headed out on Friday after the two Addison teachers were let out of school for Christmas break. We were packed out to the max, as you can see.

The first day we were there the boys made a Walmart and Lowe's run while we girls stayed home for playtime.

You may be thinking, why Lowe's, but if Josh is on the trip there is a project planned and therefore at least two trips to Lowe's are a given. :)

When they arrived home they surprised us by cutting down a tree from the surrounding woods for our Christmas tree for the week, Charlie Brown style.

Patrick pretending to be a "tree hugger"

Below we are all "tebowing." In case you don't know, tebowing is getting in the position that Tim Tebow gets in pretty often on the field where he looks like he's praying. You can see more "tebowing" here: http://tebowing.com/

we are "TREEbowing" actually

There was also a beautiful sunset that evening.

A few miscellaneous pics:

I guess I was letting Ellie Grace pick out a toy.

Not sure what they are looking at.

We brought our door jumper and I'm so glad we did. The wood we hung it on was much higher than a normal doorway so their feet were like 18" off the ground so it was more like an indoor swing and both of the gals loved it.

Ellie Grace & I stepped out for a stroll.

She loves her a good water bottle.

Kate Kate

We had a bonfire one night down at the fire pit to cook hotdogs and smores. Ashley and I just brought the girls down for a few pictures and the guys stayed and did the cooking. We didn't want the girls inhaling too much smoke.

All bundled for the bonfire.

Mesmerized by the fire

The Addison 3

The Mathes trio

While Ellie Grace was in the walker she made her way into the Christmas tree. She really enjoyed playing with the needles. No eyes were poked. :)

Josh & Patrick working on the deck

We went to Dollywood to see the Christmas lights. They have 4 million lights! We counted. Not really, of course.

She's looking at me like, what in the world is he doing?

All bundled for Dollywood

Watching an outdoor show

A few of the 4 million lights

Waiting for the parade to pass by

The boys watched the gals while Ashley and I went to the outlet mall. That was so nice. Here are some pics the boys took while we were away.

Wonder what they are thinking

Kate sometimes lets out some high pitched squeals and apparently one scared Ellie Grace.

Then the pjs came off. :)

They are gonna love these when they are older.

This is my FAVORITE picture of her. I think she's so pretty here.

Kate was showing us her spit bubble blowing skills, very impressive.

Then she conked out.

holding the twins

That's quite a load, about 36 lbs

We spotted some turkeys up the hill which was quite a thrill for the boys. They tried to shoot them but missed.

The next to last night we ventured the the Gatlinburg strip and no trip to the strip is complete without a funnel cake or two and a pronto pup or two. :)