Angels

Today the kids (and their mama) worked on their fine motor skills!  We had a great time cutting out Christmas Angels! 

Christmas Cards

The last of the 276 Christmas cards are going out today!!  I switched to labels this year to save time. It still took two of us about 6 hours to get them all stuffed, labeled, stamped and sealed! :)

Call me crazy but I love sending them!  

Making Valentines

Ugly Sweater Anyone??

How do we look?  

This past weekend we attended an Ugly Holiday Sweater Party.... Andrew even took home the grand prize!!!! 

Thanksgiving Cinnamon Rolls!

 For the past several years I have had a Thanksgiving Day Brunch... this year we moved it up a day since Micah was in town.  The kids helped me make the cinnamon rolls. :)

Many Hands Make Much Work :)

The best part of helping...

Getting dirty making orange rolls...

My cinnamon roll making helper with his masterpiece.

Asheville Holiday Parade!

This past weekend was the Asheville Holiday Parade.  We made a morning of it and went out to breakfast downtown at Over Easy (yay for Andrew's work parking garage!) and then got good seats for the parade... which meant we were there 90 minutes before the parade started... :)  Here are a few pictures...

Passing the time, riding the copper pigs. :)

More wasting time... group hugs!!

More time wasting... taking pictures!

Finally starting!

Kids favorite thing... jugglers...

Enjoying their parade loot... Statue or Liberty style. :)

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

July 4th!

 We had a wonderful, crazy, jam-packed 4th of July!  My brother Micah flew down for a few days, as did his roommate Nate, and we managed to pack-it-in!!  Here are a few pictures, although I am not sure if accurately shows the chaos that was the three days (between missed flights, 3 trips to the Greenville airport, 2 kids, and 3 LATE nights... well, you get the picture!).  But I think it shows the fun! Watch the video in the next post to get an even better idea!

Ben & Micah at the Dupont State Park Waterfalls!

My 4th of July Pies!!  Blackberry, Peach and Blackberry/Peach! 

Micah & Naomi all ready for the 4th!

Siblings and a squished nephew (Leah, Ryan, Ben & Micah) at Tupelo Honey on the 4th! 

The "Other Halves :)" Meredith (Ryan's Wife), Nate (Micah's roommate) and Andrew (the hubby :).

Patriotic Sangria!! 

Yes, he paid REAL money for those shoes.  And just in case you thought they were a little much, there is a picture of Uncle Sam on the bottom. :)

At the Tourist Game!

Melanie & I!! 

Waiting to get on the field to watch the fireworks!

Aren't We Cute in Red, White & Blue?? :)

Zip Lining for Micah's 25th Birthday!!!!  (We also tried the Purple Bus Tour, but they hit a parked car 20 minutes in and well... that was the end of that...)

That's Right Folks, I really did it! 

Welcome to the Quarter Century Club!!!!

July 4th "Weekend" Video

My brother Micah came to visit for the 4th of July and for his birthday on the 5th!  It was a whirlwind few days (hiking, baseball game, zip lining, birthday party, fireworks and more!) but we had an amazing time!!  He has a GoPro camera, so here is a little video he created!!  

Kid Chatter - Easter Edition

I sing in our Church choir and have the privilege each year of learning and singing a number or pieces for a Good Friday service as well as for Easter morning! It is so good for my heart to have months to ponder what Easter really means! And I am so thankful it is overflowing to my kids.

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On Easter morning we sang a number of songs including Up From The Grave He Arose! and the choir also sang the the Hallelujah Chorus. So Monday at breakfast:

Ben: Mom, what is gravy?

Leah: Well, it is something you put on food, like mashed potatoes or here is the south, on biscuits... or really on anything.

B: Oh... Hmmm... So What does "Up From The Gravy Arose" mean?

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Both children went around for several days afterword singing "Hallelujah! Christ is Risen!" and "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"

Ben: Mom?

L: What Ben?

B: I wish I could just cut off my mouth and have lots of ears so that I could listen to the choir sing that "Hallelujah Song" over and over.

Easter Tulips

I love taking pictures of my children with my SLR camera. Now that I have two kids, and still only have two hands I haven't been able to do it as much as I would like (heaven help us when we have the next one!). But for the first time in a few years we have Biltmore Estate passes again, and I had forgotten how much I LOVE the tulips this time of year!

We were able to sneak away for a few minutes and capture a few things... although my current motto in life has become "document the event" rather than trying hopelessly for a good picture! So without further ado... here you go!