Mommy's Little Helpers

All the kids like to "help" me when I am working around the house. I can't wait until their "help" can be done through chores!

Isaac helping me take pictures for the blog.

The twins helping me take the laundry upstairs.

Abby helping me fold clothes. She likes when I put socks on her hands. It's a fun game. :)

Andy helping me by being cute. He is really good at that.

Dickson Thanksgiving

Yeah, I posted Christmas before Thanksgiving. Anyhoo- here are some cute pics.

This is a great one of Joe and the twins. This is at the Buttrey- Larkins family reunion. I think we reached 103 people this year.

We visited my Gommy Petty after the reunion. The adults ate dinner while the kids played. This is Abby after being caught playing with the kleenex. She's thinking, "Aw man. I had almost finished the box!"

"But think of the fun I created for Mommy to clean it up!"

This picture is for Uncle JD's benefit. Andy kept leaking out of his clothes, so we finally had to put him in Abby's extra onesie. So, JD, it's not a dress, so I kept my promise!

Here is Abby wearing her pretty new bonnet that Aunt Sandy made. It stayed on her head a full minute before Abby pulled it off. It was cute while it lasted!

School Christmas

We had our Christmas Sing-Along at school, complete with Santa! I was the MC of the sing-along, and I rocked the house! Each grade got to lead the school in a song, and Santa entered when we sang the song "Santa Clause is Coming to Town".

Of course the daycare came to the sing-along and I made sure they got their pictures made with Santa!

Abby was a little freaked out by the fat guy in the red suit. I was surprised since she is usually so social!

The boys did a great job by themselves!

Here are the twins enjoying their Christmas cookies. They had a small party at the daycare.

Isaac loved his cookies!

Abby was up to the challenge! We got a pic of Andy, but it was blurry and not good. (not even Grammy good)

Halloween!

I know this is almost a month late, but better late than never, right?

We celebrated this Halloween the same way we have for the past 2 (maybe 3?) years; with our neighbors Kayla and Travis. We have a cookout and give out candy while sitting in front of our fire pit. Well, we still had the cookout and fire pit, but we stayed on the porch since it decided to rain on and off all night.

Abby and Andy stayed in the pack-and-play on the porch while Isaac helped pass out candy.

Andy was Pooh and Abby was a pumpkin. I found the Tigger outfit a week too late. Oh well. They both stayed warm and played and slept the whole time.

Here is Abby with Uncle Travis. She likes showing off for him. :)

I am holding Andy. Notice how his pacifier matches his outfit? I totally worked that out.

Isaac really had a good time being our look-out. When kids started up our driveway, he would start yelling, "Here they come! Here they come!" and he would get candy ready to give them. We only had one incident when he decided to follow a kid dressed at Buzz Lightyear. Don't worry, he didn't get too far. :)

Isaac also loved the scary bowl of Joe's. He thought it was funny when the hand came down on his. One little girl trick-or-treater didn't feel the same way.

Here is a cute looking Andy just waiting for the fun to begin.

I hope the pictures were worth the wait!

Update on the blog - Finally

Hello out there. I know there has been a demand for some new pictures on the blog so here is an extended blog entry showing the latest adventures of the Delks.

Isaac went on to Chickamauga Battlefield with Daddy on 9/12 since we were not able to go to Washington DC and protest. Instead we explored a part of the park that Isaac has not seen before. On the southside of the park there is a tower monument to the Wilder Brigade. This is something you may have heard about in your history classes. The Lightning Brigade as they were called played a pivotal part in the battle and a monument was erected to honor their sacrifice. It was completed in 1904.

Isaac liked it on top, however, Daddy did have to worry about Isaac climbing up on it. Luckily this did not happen.

Afterward we hiked a short distance over to Glenn Field. Here there were cannons representing the locations of Union artillery. Isaac had a lot of fun playing on the cannons. He looked like he was ready to shoot one off. I also added an artsy picture of tree I took.

Also at this location there was a first for Isaac. He got to see....Grandma Pat turn away ... his first snake. It was a Eastern King Snake, not posionous. I thought it was funny that Isaac knew exactly what it was and proceed to say hello and good bye to the snake in quick fashion. It was fun though to be out on a pretty day, even if we did see a snake.

In an unplanned attempt to let Isaac see more nature, Daddy happened to come across a dangerous insect in the parking lot at Ingles the next day. Isaac was no where near this so .... once again Grandma Pat turn away. Daddy had a Black Widow crawl across his sandaled feet. This was in the parking lot. I had never seen one alive before so I did something stupid (?). I caught it in an empty water bottle. Closed the lid and let Isaac see his first spider. Once again I was very impressed that he knew what it was with no prompting.

The following weekend, Daddy promised Isaac that he would take him to see a waterfall. However, Isaac took an extra long nap and he did not get to go. So Daddy went and brought his camera to make sure he got pictures to show Isaac. Once there, Daddy was very glad that Isaac slept. The area is called Falling Water State Natural Area located in the Walden community about 10 minutes outside of downtown Chattanooga. It is a very beautiful place and there is an extremely short hiking trail that takes you to the waterfall. In fact it takes you to the very top of the waterfall and there is no overlook. You come out on top of the waterfall. The 110' drop would not have been good for Isaac or Daddy for that matter. Anyway pictures are below.

Last but not least. It is not the grand vista pictures of Isaac that are most remembered even if they are the ones that make it on the blog the most. It is the funny ones that you just happen to catch. Isaac was getting ready for his bath and just happened to have some Mr. Potato Head Easter Edition teeth with him. Why? He is 2, he does not need a reason. Anyway, he stuck them in his mouth and the picture below is what I got. Enjoy!

Isaac's Camping Adventure and Little River Canyon

Hey guys! Isaac here. Just wanted to fill you on two things Daddy and I did this weekend. On Saturday we went to Little River National Preserve in Alabama. Daddy heard about this place and wanted to take me to go see it. It is called the East Grand Canyon. We did not see much of it but we did check out Little River Falls which is at the mouth of the canyon.

I thought it was pretty fun. Some people there told us that during the winter it is a raging whitewater scene, but during the summer it was smaller but it was still pretty cool.

I like the waterfall. Daddy would not let me go near the edge like I wanted but it was still pretty neat.

On Sunday night we did something really cool. Daddy took me camping. He did not get a lot of pictures because we had to get sticks for the fire. We went to Pigeon Mountain WMA and camped at Saw Mill Lake. There were a lot of people there but we were all spread out. There were even people with horses.

I had fun roasting marshmallows and cooking hot dogs but I put most of them in the fire and in the dirt and Daddy would not let me eat them. I did not like the tent at first and wanted to go to the car, but we eventually went to sleep. Daddy did not sleep very well because of the loud bugs.

In the morning we got up and went to Hood Overlook to see the sun in the east. I got my picture taken here before and Daddy wanted everyone to know that it is not a cliff ledge. But we got to see the fog coming off the valley below and it was really neat.

After that we went to the Pocket area and hiked back to a waterfall that was not there it turned out. It was still fun to go back there. We did about a 1.25 miles this morning.

I had fun and hopefully Mommy will let Daddy take me again.

Future Miss America

I realize that the 4th of July is long gone, but I stumbled across some pictures I had forgotten we had taken. I had gotten this dress for Abby a while ago, and I made sure she wore it more than once. (so as to not be wastefull)

Here are some great shots.

This was the best of the color pictures.

"... I want World Peace. And a giant chocolate bar."

"I'd like to thank the little people..."

Andy is posing the be the next Gerber baby. Love those teeth!

The two pics look a lot alike, but I swear they are different!

He's the happiest baby in the world!

Grammy and Grandpa Joe visit

Grammy and Grandpa Joe came to visit. (a while ago... I am slow getting pics on here) Andy had his follow-up appointment to check his ears and the grandparents agreed to watch the other two so I could just take Andy.

The appointment went great. Andy's ears are all clear. There's really not much else to report.... so here are some pics.

Here is Grammy reading "Chicka-Chicka- Boom-Boom". She was trying to entice Isaac to come over, but he decided the movie was better. (he'll learn one of these days)

But Isaac was happy to come over for a picture. He won't pose for pictures at JC Penny's, but he will at home. Joe is going to set up a photo shoot soon to get the pictures I wanted.

Here is Abby. She's sporting drool stains, which are all the rage with the babies this season.

Here is Andy. He's just cute.

Here's a great picture of Grammy and the kids. Abby is glad to be front and center.

Grandpa Joe was a great sport and played with the babies on the floor. They were greatly impressed with the toys that they received. Joe and I are patiently waiting for the batteries to die.

Isaac goes to Savage Gulf

Hey everybody! Isaac here writing on the blog. I got to go to Savage Gulf State Park today with Dad. It was pretty cool.


The first part was pretty easy, but I wanted to start with something difficult. I told Dad I wanted to go on the Laurel falls trail first. Mostly because it had dirt and not pavement like the trail he wanted to go on. It was a short 0.3 mile loop that we went on. I got to see a little waterfall and a frog! I put pictures of the waterfall and frog below.








After we left the frog, I told him bye, and we went on to Stone Door. Stone Door is a rock formation that the Indians used to access the valley below. It looks like a giant door in the cliff face. We could see it clearly from the first overlook on the trail, Laurel Overlook.





Once we got to Stone Door. A man there was nice enough to take our picture. Mom did not like the fact that we were standing on a cliff, but Daddy kept me from the edge.





Daddy got a lot more pictures that maybe I will show later, but just know, I really like to play in the dirt.


After Stone Door, daddy took me to Greeter Falls. He was really upset with himself for going to the bottom because it was so steep, but I had fun. I even had so much fun that I made Daddy carry me on his shoulders when we were leaving. I know he loved that. But Greeter falls was pretty cool.





It was nice and cool at the bottom. Daddy really did not want to leave, but I think it was because of the climb up.





Oh and did I mention there was also a 30' tall spiral staircase. I actually climbed that step by step. It was pretty neat.





Daddy and I had a lot of fun. He wanted me to add this picture below to the blog because he really liked how it turned out.




All in all it was a pretty good day. I really enjoyed sleeping in the car on the way home. Dad added it up and we did 0.3+1.1+1.1+1.4 = 3.9 miles today. He was worn out and complained about how he needed to get in shape. I just hope that means we will do this a lot more.