Our Summer in Review . . . First stop Tennessee

Summer ... Oh lovely Summer ... the Kassouf house is a totally different place in the summer and it was AMAZING! This year our summer trip started with a week in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.  This was for the Barrett Family reunion which is my mom's extended family.  We stayed in a large cabin with 17 bedrooms! The week was full of fun things, which included horseback riding, touring downtown Gatlinburg, visiting the yarn store, riding the Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster, lunch at Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant, outlet shopping, indoor snow tubing, and visiting "The Sinks" waterfall in the National Park of the Smokey Mountains.  

Horseback Riding was a fun adventure, Elisha got to ride with Andrew. Unfortunately, one of my cousins got thrown from a horse so an ER visit was needed.  Thankfully she was okay just very sore and stiff the rest of the week.  

The Mountain Coaster was a ride that you control as you ride down the mountain and it goes approximately 30 miles per hour.

The yarn store was a fun adventure where Rebekah even go in on the fun! 

Snow tubing was a huge hit! There was a warehouse that was built around the side of one of the mountains and using the incline of the mountain they created a huge hill inside which you snow tubed down.  We had an absolute blast! Rebekah got in on the fun and played in the snow pit.  

We also went to visit "The Sinks" which was a set of waterfalls in the Smokey Mountain National Park.  We wanted to visit this site 2 years ago but never made it, I was so happy to get there this time! It was absolutely beautiful. God's creation never ceases to amaze me! 

He is 4

I'm not sure how it happened this quickly but the little man that made me a Mama is four! He is a fun loving, caring, and independent boy who wants to make people smile but he also knows what he wants and goes after it.  

For his birthday we celebrated with a fun filled day of Paw Patrol.  He invited his friends from daycare and the neighborhood.  Although we had planned an outdoor party, God had other plans but we improvised and had a great time! 

I think they ate more marshmallows than made Bingo matches but they were happy!

Having fun!

Paw Patrol Masks!

Picking our Pup for the day and making badges!

Opening Presents! 

More presents

Strawberry cupcakes, Paw Patrol Style! I was very please with this "cake"!

Happy Birthday Little Man! 

Pup Treat, Favor 1

Pup treat, Party Favor 2

After a long day, ending it with a body pillow of the pups was Pup-tastic!

I'm not sure how he got so big, but he still fits for a little bit longer ;-) 

Family Day in Annapolis

Andrew and I had a free hotel night that we had to use before the middle of April.  With the schedule jammed pack the only time to use it was this past Thursday, March 29, 2018.  We decided we would go to Annapolis (one of my all time favorite places) spend Thursday night and have a fun family day on Friday.  For the kids we told them it was a Surprise Trip; Rebekah doesn't understand those yet but Elisha definitely does and it was so excited.  (Surprise Trips are something Andrew did as a child and he started with me while we were dating.  It means you are going somewhere but you don't know where.  It could be Disney World.  It could be to pick apples.  It could be the grocery store.  The possibilities are endless and Elisha LOVES them! Although, he's had many good ones!) 


Thursday night we did not get to the hotel until late but after an hour nap in the car, both kids were wide awake after unpacking.  We decided to start off the trip on the right foot with popcorn during our bedtime story :-) 

 Rebekah's bedtime story

Popcorn and story

Friday turned out very different then we originally intended, but we had a BLAST!  Originally, we were going to go to a local children's museum but after arriving we decided that was not going to work for our family.  We ended up just going downtown, seeing the boats, watching the ducks, shopping on main street, and eating ice cream.  It was a BEAUTIFUL morning and we had a blast.  

One of my favorite places!

Watching the ducks

I don't get sleepy snuggles often any more, so when I do I enjoy every minute!

Walking down Main Street like a big girl!

Ice Cream!

Someone was sure to get her portion :-)

She also wanted her portion of Mama's cookie!

He enjoyed the whole thing!

Elisha was our photographer!

We then got to visit Aunt Heather for nap time!

Finally, we ended the evening with dinner with Nana in downtown Annapolis.  Andrew grew up with one of the chefs at Fox's Den Gastro Pub so we decided to check it out.  The food was delicious and the atmosphere was calm and easy going.  We can not wait to go back! 

Fried Honey Brussels Sprouts! This was my favorite thing we ate.

Pig Wings- pig shanks in buffalo bbq sauce- Andrew's favorite dish.

Thanks Brian!

A Night on the Bay!

It was a fun filled day of family activities.  I am so thankful that we took time to pause and enjoy each other.  

Returning to the World of Blogging

After a year and a half of not blogging I have decided to return!  I loved this tool as a way to capture memories for our family.  Previously, I had gotten caught up wanting to share so many things and not having enough time to do it. I also wanted everything to be here sequentially.  I then got so far behind there was no way to catch up.  Although time is still super hard to find I am getting over the need for everything to be here and it be sequential.  I really want to share fun things we have done.  I want a place that Elisha and Rebekah can look back to when they are older to see things from their childhood.  

So my goal is to post at least every other week and I will get up what I can.  Over the summer I may post "flashbacks" of fun things we did during 2017 that I did not get to share.  

For now, it is Spring of 2018, we are a family of 4! Rebekah Grace joined our family on December 28, 2016.  She is a bundle of joy and we love that we get to experience both a boy and a girl.  
Yes, a Kassouf girl!!  (My first flashback post will be the story of her arrival because we were in complete an utter shock! One my the best moments of my life!) 

Kassouf Family April 2018

Halloween fun!

Happy Halloween! 

My train conductor had a blast trick-or-treating.  As soon as we would say, "Do you want to go to this house?" he would say, "Yes, trick-or-treat, trick-or-treat, trick-or-treat . . . " he would repeat that phrase all the way up to the door. It was so cute.  

My train conductor and pumpkin :-)

Snuggle time at the end of trick-or-treating, with a lollipop treat!

I hope that you had a lovely family evening like we did! 

Fall Fun

Pumpkin Patch
Apple Picking
Fall fun!!

Sesame Place

A day with Elmo!

Fun at Nana's House

We got to spend a day at Nana's house this weekend.  Elisha got to spend time with his Nana, Great Grandpa, Great Grandma, Uncle Kyle and Uncle Ryan.  The highlights of the day included a Mickey Mouse tool kit, riding the tractor, and working on cars.  

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa had not seen Elisha since early in the summer and they they truly enjoyed their time on Sunday.  Great Grandpa bought Elisha a Mickey Mouse tool kit which Elisha quickly figured out and there was a lot of banging with the hammer.  

Later in the afternoon Elisha convinced Nana that tractor rides were needed so he rode around with both Nana and Great Grandpa.  It was quite the adventure, the tractor is very sensitive and Great Grandpa had never driven it before so he and Elisha had a very jerky first ride.  

To round out the evening, Elisha decided he needed to help Uncle Kyle work on Uncle Ryan's car.  First, they changed the oil in Uncle Ryan's car.  This was happening without my knowledge and when Nana went outside to see what trouble the boys were into she found Elisha covered in grease because he had helped Uncle Kyle and poured the oil into the car.  She brought him inside and we scrubbed his hands, after getting cleaned up he said, "I got outside with Uncle Kyle and Uncle Ryan?" Nana told him, "no, you are all clean now we don't want you to be a grease monkey." Elisha replys with "I not a GEESE monkey!"  It was so funny.  Finally, after much begging I caved and let him go outside but this time I went to supervise.  Uncle Kyle was working on fishing the window out of the car door because the motor had died.  As soon as Elisha saw Uncle Kyle working he said, "I help!" I told him, "no, let Uncle Kyle do it." Elisha reply's, "No, I help, I got get my screwdriver!" and he runs back through the garage to the house door so he can get his tools to help.  Needless to say the Mickey mouse screwdriver was then used to help Uncle Kyle dismantle this door.  It was so cute to see Elisha so intrigued by a project and to see him want to help his Uncles.  He absolutely LOVES them!! 

School Work

As the school year is back in full swing, Andrew and I have been swamped in work.  Every fall is crazy but we never remember how crazy the falls are until we are in the midst of it all.  Elisha has gone back to daycare with the amazing, Paid Beth! He loves it there and has great friends.  This week though he has started something completely new.  Beth does a preschool program with her toddlers and Elisha is big enough this year to work on projects so today is day 2 of "preschool" and he brought home a book of "homework".  As a loving Mommy teacher we sat down and spent 4 minutes doing the  first pages of our book.  I LOVED seeing him sit down at desk.  I LOVED seeing him thrilled about a brand new "Elisha Pencil".  I LOVED seeing him just be happy to do his work, just like mommy and Daddy do.  I hope we can hold onto this love for as long as possible! 

My Big Kid Pencil!
(Yes, I know he should be using a short pencil to help his grip but it was brand new and I couldn't break it on the first day.)

Happy!

Totally making contact with the paper! Step one- check!

The color of the month is green!

Day 1: Student Project- Elisha's Family Tree :-)
I can't wait to see how much he changes this year!

Day 1: Writing his name- Yes, the scribbles he did on his own.
The tracing he did hand over hand.