The Last Two Weeks: Photo Collage Edition

So, before my dad came, this was the state of my house.  THIS, and worse.  And for each step forward, I took to backwards... you know how it goes with us...

Grandma Gallagher sent down a care package that included awesome dress-up stuff for the girls and Jack, and dolls from their Uncle Jon and his fiancee, Amy!  So that was awesome, because it kept the kids occupied for about 30 seconds while I started a load of laundry...

And, luckily, the kids are adorable enough that I don't mind TOO much when they interrupt me, or worse - make a bigger mess to clean up in the middle of my cleaning.

Somewhere along the lines, I realized Addie has become a toddler.  She's a real, honest-to-goodness toddler, with two-piece jammies and who likes to wrap her dolly up in a blanket and give her kisses and rock her while she sings to her.  So I probably took about a day or so in the last 14 to spend time marveling at how quickly babes become kids become moms watching babes become kids. 

Then my dad got here!  The kids took to him right away (it was the first time he'd met the girls and maybe the 3rd time with Jack!) and we had a phenomenal time enjoying one another's company!

We went to our aquarium, of course, and loved every minute of it!  It was Dad's first experience at any aquarium, so it was really cool that we could take him there!

Jordan decided to ham it up for the camera...

 We also visited the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum to take a ride on a real steam engine.  Also a first for my dad and he absolutely loved it.  I let Jack have his own camera and he happily snapped away, photographing his favorite subject matter in the universe!  It was a tremendously cool experience and again, I'm beyond thrilled that we could introduce Dad to something so awesome.

That afternoon, we all went to the Southern Brewer's Festival in downtown.  Talk about fun!  There was beer, food, live music and general fun to be had by all!  I can't believe that we got lucky enough to have his trip down here coincide with the Festival.  Score!

We went for walks, ate an incredible amount of food, watched football, played with the kids, went to Mass, drove around the area and just really had a blast.  It was certainly a whirlwind of a week and I am so grateful that Dad made it out here!  He's never been this far east in the US OR south, for that matter, so it was certainly an eye-opener for him... There's just a different feel to life in the South than there is in his native Colorado, and it was really neat to see him learning so many new things and to introduce him to the way we live our lives.

But, things are calming down a bit and I'm getting back into routines and whatnot.  I've got a few blog changes that might be coming up, as well as some fun stuff to post about AND if you haven't noticed down below, I've got a blog button now!  I have no idea what to do with it or why in the world you'd want it, but if you do, it's yours for the taking!

I'm off to go get a very cry-y Jordan out of her crib and start dinner before the hubs gets home, but I hope you enjoyed my collages!