Happy 4th!!

We had the privilege of being visited by Brian's family from Maryland for the 4th of July weekend.  We were also blessed, by my husbands diligent searching, to find a boat to rent on Lake Norman!  It was a BEAUTIFUL day  on the 3rd and we had an amazing time enjoying each other and the Lord's creation.  On the 4th, we had a great cookout here at our house and then were again blessed to find the most amazing fireworks ever!  A few neighborhoods over (the "mansion community" as we call them) dropped thousands on some killer fireworks.  They closed down their culdesac and shot them off right there in the street.  We were maybe 50 feet away from the "launch zone" and those bad boys were RIGHT up over our heads.  These were no home made fireworks either.  They were what you would see at a professional display.  The neighbors behind them and around the corner also had a great show going on.  It was like "fireworks wars" between these two streets.  We were surrounded 360 degrees by beautiful fireworks (and nasty smoke but beggars cant be choosers!!)  The girls loved them but were sooo exhausted that they both fell asleep!  How they could sleep through the bangs and cheers who knows but they did.  Here are some photos of the boat trip on Lake Norman that Justin Mein (Brian's super talented cousin) took.  His website is www.jmeinphotography.com if you ever need a professional in MD!  God Bless America (Lord knows we need it)!

Our New Favorite Things to Do...

As of last week, my girls have found their own new favorite activities.  I am sooo pleased to report that Sophia's new favorite past time is GOING TO THE POTTY!!!  She is almost completely potty trained and I couldn't be more proud of her.  She hasn't quite gotten the concept of TELLING me when she has to go, but if I watch her every few hours she does the "wiggle and grab" as we have named it.  She marches with me to the potty emerges with a beaming smile after she completes the pee pee task...haha  She has only had 2 accidents in the past 4 days (one of which was my fault) and she is very emphatic that "Diapa for Buppa Mama, Phia big dirl unda-wea!!"

There is a mall near by that has a lovely little choo-choo train.  The train is kiddie sized and gives rides around the mall.  It really is super cute (but a major rip off I might add!! $3 per person and adults have to pay!!).  My mom wanted to treat the girls one day so we got aboard the choo-choo.  Sophia was thrilled right up until it was time to actually board the train.  She cried and yelled "NOOO CHOO CHOO MAMA!!".  I'm not quite sure what made her change her mind but she surely didn't want to ride!  Autumn on the other hand could not get enough!!  She took a ride with my mom and was in her glory.  She now gets overly excited when anyone mentions "the choo choo".  I hope she doesn't throw a fit every time we enter that mall now!! Here are a few pictures of her sticking her head out the windows.  I'd have included some of the proud potty power Sophia but these days she hides her face when I try to snap any pictures (hopefully just a phase).

The Girls Rooms Continued...

We went with more of a simple butterfly theme in Sophia's room.  She loooves her "fuffa-fies" and "fliiii-as" (butterflies and flowers for translastion)!! haha

The Girls Rooms...

For Autumn's birthday, Brian and I decided to decorate her room.  It has been pretty boring and highly non-stimulating for the first 7 months we lived here.  So we loaded up the troops and headed to IKEA for a little shopping spree.  Here is what we came up with!!  I cut birds and such out of some scrap booking paper that we got at AC Moore and the big white flowers are actually lights!! It was fun to create a little space for our munchkin.  Of course we had to spruce up Phia's room in the process so the following post will be pictures of her room.

Father's Day...

I decided to take my lovely hubby to Carowinds Amusement Park for a father's day surprise.  They were hosting their first annual car show and if you know my husband you know he LOVES cars!!  And well, let's be honest, who wouldn't want to go ride some crazy roller coaster and water rides!!  He was very surprised and had a great time.  We haven't done a lot of "fun" things together since we moved here to NC.  It has been an insane past 9 months and it was nice to just simply enjoy one another.  We felt like little kids again, screaming and hollering as we whirled around.  I haven't heard my love laugh so hard in quite a while.  It was a blessed idea that the Lord supernaturally knew we needed and placed into my little brain.  Thank you God for your graciousness and for a wonderful day of memories!!

Some pictures for fun...

More on Autumn...

I thought I would continue to theme and finish the updates on Autumn.  I am sad to report that she had her first major incident about a week ago.  She was playing happily outside with Meme and Sophia one minute, and the next she is screaming her head off!!  In the blink of an eye she apparently launched herself face first off the mini lounge chair and onto the concrete patio.  My poor little girlie split her top lip and got some nasty scrapes across her little nose.  By God's grace she did not need stitches.  Just lots of tylenol and tlc :)  One week later, you can't even tell anything happened.  Some might think I'm crazy for making mention of all this, but for me it was a noteworthy milestone (every first needs to be mentioned!!).  Here is a shot of her injury.  She was eating at the time I took this so don't be thrown off by the bits of food on her face...haha  Poor thing!!

Catching up big time!!

So this is going to be update post number one of eight.  Yes, count em eight!! :)  It has been a long time since I got on this blog.  Sorry to those who have been bugging me to work on it.  Our life just got busy, as it often does.  Now that I know how to shrink my pictures, I am hoping it will take half the time to load them.  However, since I am attempting so many posts they will be short and sweet.  I hope you can still get the gist of what's been going on with the Knotts!!

I guess we will start with an update on Autumn.  She turned one!!  June 4th was her big milestone day and we had her cookout/pool party on the 6th.  She is getting bigger and "older" every day.  She is weighing and measuring average at the doctors and is still eating with a furious appetite...haha  The ONLY thing she hasn't been a huge fan of is watermelon.  She has taken a maximum of 5 steps on her own and is quickly working her way to "walking" status.  She is learning things such as how to brush her teeth, comb her hair, attempt to put on her shoes, tell me when she's "all done" eating, respond with "yes" or "no" and give kisses!!  How fast they grow.  Personality wise, she has unfortunately developed quite a temper.  Some of it is due to the need for self defense against her pushy big sister (we are working on loving one another!!) but it's mostly that innate sin starting to ooze out.  Oh the joys of shepherding our children's hearts.  God has been faithful to give us wisdom on how to guide a one year old through a bitty fit of rage (though we still have much to learn!!).  Anyways, here are a few shots from her birthday party.