Friends!

YAY for friends!  Molly Ryan & Naomi are just a month apart and have become great little friends!  (Great excuse for the mama's to hang out!)  I hope their friendship can last a lifetime!!  So thankful for friends!

Friends, Labor Day & The Apple Festival!

 For the second time, our great friends Dave & Jennifer came down for Labor Day weekend.  The house was half the size as last time, and we had 3x as many kids, but we may have had twice as much fun!  Many many settlers games, matchbox cars, wine and cheese, crazy kids and more...

It was a little hot.... yay for Apple Slushies!

 Not sure while we are always a glutton for punishment, but we always head to Hendersonville over Labor Day to bake in the bright sunshine with thousands of others while eating our way up and down main street.  Apple Bread Pudding, Carmel Apples, Apple Slushies, Apple Turnovers, Fried Apple Pies and more!!

Cute Kids!  Ben, Andrew & Naomi

Sunflowers, Clovers and Sunshine!

 One one of the last days of summer we headed to the Biltmore to enjoy the beautiful weather and sunflowers.  :)

Hi Mom!

Melanie the Teacher, educating Ben on 4-Leaf Clovers

Making clover necklaces and headbands

Crazy Clover Girl

Clover Model :)

Jackie O

 We always love it when Melanie  comes over!!!  She even shares her sunglasses!

Naomi said the sun was in her eyes.

Jackie O

Camping in the Smokey Mountains

Sadly, the only picture I got of the Harris'

Friends!

 Our good friends Josh & Missy were in Asheville for a few days, and they stayed with us!  The kids played non-stop for three days and had a blast.  Ben found it very hard to say goodbye, :(  He cried for an 2 hours after they left.  I guess it just means they need to come back soon!!  :)  (Of course, now that we have kids, we don't get any pictures of us... oh well... next time).

Friends!  Alina, Ben & Naomi

And this picture is just HILARIOUS! :) 

Friends

When I was little I learned this little jingle:

Make New Friends
But Keep the Old
Some are Silver
And the Other Gold

Josh & Missy are Gold! :) Sadly, J & M don't get any picture space now that they have a child (and one on the way!), but here is their daughter Alina with Ben and Naomi. They had such a great time together... which means the adults had time to talk without constant interruptions!

They were able to stay with us for a few days before Christmas and we loved seeing them!

Alina's B-day is Dec. 23rd, so we were able to celebrate with her.
Here are Ben & Naomi - every so ready to help her open anything. :)

The party was at the Play Lodge!
Ben got to try the stocks out. :)

The Three Kidlets. :)

Friendship!

Here are Melanie, Becki, (Juliet,) Lara & I visiting the gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn.
We are all in bible study together and it has been such a blessing to be in eachother's lives!

LOVE THIS TOWN: Thursdays

I love my town. It is laid back, casual, a perfect blend of hippies, hillbillies and rich retired folks... with a few of us "none of the above" sprinkled in. Big enough to have lots going on, not big enough for horrible traffic. Voted most independent restaurants per capita recently, very earthy and organic but you can also find a walmart when you need one. :)

Well, a friend mentioned that I should blog about fun things to do here in Ashevegas, so I will try and list some of the fun things we do... some free, some not, but hopefully all fun.

So, tonight we will start with THURSDAYS!

On Thursday nights we head to Earthfare for free kids meals! With a $5 purchase from the deli area (I usually treat myself to some sushi or lettuce wraps, but you can also get wraps, pizza of stuff from the hot bar) you get up to six free kids meals. (They are usually only $4). You get your pick of sandwich (chicken salad, ham and cheese, pbj, soy nuggets and more), a fruit or vege (carrots and dip, raisins or grapes/bananas/oranges/apple... and you can pick), a snack (cheese stick, yogurt, animal cookies- that are dairy, wheat, rice free! - organic goldfish or gummies) and a drink (milk or juice box).

We usually pack up our lunches and head out for a picnic... sometimes on the front lawn. But a couple weeks ago we went downtown and found a concert in Prichard Park. Put on by a local radio station for the summer (so it is almost over), they have Homegrown artists from 6-8. Fun music... as you can see Ben, Naomi and my friend Missy's little girl Alina really got into it!

These kids can move! Enjoy the videos!

Faces.

I just love taking pictures of faces. Places are fun, beautiful even. But nothing compares to faces.

Ben: Mom, I am done with pictures!
Naomi: He is so cool!!!

Sweet siblings.

Naomi. :)

Baby girl.

The radiant Bride.

Ezra.

McKenna.

Benjamin.

Kaylan.

Kiersten.

LAUGH... Or You Just Might Cry...

There are so many words that come to mind when thinking about last weekend. Fun. Hotel. Wedding. HOT. Ring bearer. Teething. Ice. Croup. Sucker. HOT. Clean. Blood. Stitches. Museum. Cartoons. And so much more.

Last weekend was a wonderful weekend because we were able to see... and participate in... the wedding of my amazing friend Tonia... the weekend also presented its fair share of challenges... and we needed a vacation after our little vacation. :)

So here is the story in pictures:

Andrew had a staff meeting in Hendersonville Wed/Thurs/Fri of last week. So on Friday morning we went with him since his meeting was half way to Greenville, SC where the wedding was. The kids and I visited Sam's Club (to buy a swimming suit for daddy so we could go swimming at the hotel pool!)... and then we headed downtown Hendersonville to the Hand's On Children's Museum.

If you haven't been to downtown Hendersonville, there are these odd bears all over... and my animal loving kids had to of course stop and hug each one. :-P

The kids, especially Ben, had a blast at the Museum. They had painting stuff, a huge bubble blowing thing, rice that was like sand with all the toys to go with it, play dough, slides, slides for lego cars you built, a kitchen, a grocery store, a stage, dress up everything and so much more!

And that is when the weekend started to go south. :) Naomi decided she was a big girl and tried to go down some wooden stairs... I caught her about 2 seconds too late. She managed to save her teeth but split her chin wide open (being the horrible mother I am, my first thought was "there goes the nice family picture all dressed up from the wedding). After talking to my nurse mother I decided to not go to the Urgent Care but to CVS instead for alcohol wipes, steri strips, bandaids and all that good stuff.

Thanks to Andrew's travel schedule we had some extra hotel points and were able to get a cool hotel in downtown Greenville. The not so cool part was that they didn't have a pool. Note to self: Never Promise Something until you KNOW it will happen. Instead we got to the rehearsal a little early and I sent Ben running up and down all the isles to burn off some energy. :)

Well, shortly after that he decided to run up the stage. He then fell off and got a bloody nose.
But LAUGH, don't cry... right??

This is Harper. Isn't she just beautiful?! I love that passie. Her mama was in charge of making sure everyone was where they were supposed to be, at the proper time... a big job. :)

Rehearsal time! All the guys in a line.

And now all the girls in a line. :)

So, there were 3 ring bearers and 3 flower girls. And I had the lovely privilege of keeping track of them. :) So, needless to say I don't have many pictures from here on out. This is the only picture I have of the adorable sign Ben helped to carry down the isle. If you can't tell it says: HERE COMES THE BRIDE.

I don't know why I love this picture so much, but I do.

All six kidlets with their stuff. Ezra with a pillow, Ben & Walker with the sign and the McKenna, Kiersten & Kaylan with their baskets. Aren't they just adorable??

Rehearsing. :)

Shortly after this we all headed upstairs for dinner. Where Ben proceeded to RUN into a brick wall... with the side of his face.

Laugh... don't cry... right? :)

And here we are on wedding day. Ben & Ezra. Such sweet friends. :)
And between this picture and the last Ben woke up at 2am with croup. So we ran from the hotel shower to the ac for an hour in the middle of the night. Praise the Lord he was doing fine the next morning!

Me and my ring bearer. :) He walked down the isle like a champ!
I did use bribery though... FOUR months ago I promised him a sucker from the grocery store (you know the big ones by the check-out?) and he didn't forget it. It was waiting for him at the bottom of the isle. :)

The beautiful bride attempting to stay cool on what could have been the HOTTEST day of the year.

Tonia & I.

The 3 ring bearers. It is hard to keep 6 little people clean in the 2 1/2 hours between pictures and the wedding!!

Groomsmen & Groom praying.

Another attempt at keeping the kids clean. Take pictures!
Kaylan (neice of groom), Kenna (daughter of Bride) Ben & Kiersten (niece of groom)

Sweet friends.

Pre-wedding fun. :)

Father-daughter dance.

Bride and Groom.

Sadly this was about the best picture I got of them. Their wedding was beautiful (even if my 1-year-old screamed through it and made my husband miss the whole thing). And the reception was HOT so with kids falling apart we didn't last long. But we are SOOOO happy for Rick & Tonia and McKenna and the beautiful family they are now!!