It's Friday. I taught class at the gym, came home and straightened the house, mopped the floors, and cleaned the bathrooms. Then, I took a long shower wherein I shaved my legs, deep conditioned my hair and even applied a bit of self tanning lotion afterward. What in the world you may ask? How is this done with three kids in the house? Well, they are not here. Folks, I just sent them off with Seth to see his family for the weekend. ALL THREE OF THEM! We were going down last weekend but the boys had a baseball game that was rained out and rescheduled for Friday evening so we changed the trip to this weekend. However, I couldn't find a sub for my Saturday morning kickboxing class so I suggested they just go without me. Low and behold, they did just that. Can you sense my excitement? If not, let me just say that I am stoked to have a couple of days all alone. I certainly don't mind to go visit with the fam, but I will gladly take some quiet and solitude for a day or so. Nana is surprising the boys with a very special over-night zoo trip. They spend the night there or something. I guess I will hear all about it on Sunday and will report back later on all of that. Annabelle didn't mind at all that I wasn't going along because she was so very excited about playing with Amy's dolls, strollers, and jewelry.


All of this quiet gives me more time to think, clean, read, sing, and blog.........A friend of mine is having her first boy in a couple of weeks and it made me think of something someone told me when I was pregnant with Caleb. First let me set the scene. I was just 22 years old, struggling through a pretty rough first year of marriage and was working my first full-time job when I found out why the heck I was barfing all day. It certainly wasn't the time frame I had planned out but I embraced it and was quite happy at the thought of a little sweet baby of my own. I would give her an awesome name and dress her up and braid her hair and we would sing and dance together. Again, contrary to my "life-plan" she was a boy. Getting back to the point of all this, I will never forget a friend with 2 grown sons saying to me, "There is nothing like the love between a mother and her son." I liked that idea and it has proven to be true especially now that I have a daughter as well. Not that Annabelle and I don't love one another, but it seems like there is a little extra friction with us ....... oh I can't explain it and it is probably just because she is three years old. Regardless, it is safe to say that the relationship is different. There is nothing like the love between a mother and her sons. I adore having boys and all of their weirdness that I can't understand like how they adore legos and dirtbikes and frogs and worms and fishing and building fires.


Alright.....fast forward to Monday. Everything is back to normal and the break has done us all well. I am rested, better organized and my fingers are good and sore from playing the guitar all weekend. I am trying to keep the house in shape although the toilets assumed their states of filth within hours of the boys return. We have our third baseball game of the season this evening which should be interesting. Caleb and Adam are playing in the 7 and 8 year old Little League for the first time since they were 4 and 6 years old and things are fairing well. Both of them have hit the ball a few times and made a few outs. So far Caleb leads the team in spitting and scratching while in the field and Adam leads the team in finding four leaf clovers in the outfield. Like I said, should be interesting. Pictures to follow.....as soon as I find the camera.



Here are a few cute pictures from birthday parties in the last couple of months: We gave all the girls up-dos and painted nails at Lorie's hair salon in Boone. I was the "birthday fairy."











































Annabelle with her friend, Abby-------->












Here are some pictures from our workday last weekend at our lot in Black Mountain. Seth used the weed eater while the kids and I lined the tiny stream with rocks. It is going to be a cute little place to live if we can ever get there! Aren't phone-cameras awesome? Even though the picture quality isn't the best, we always have a camera to take pictures anywhere we go these days.

Music

We played some music at the Francis's house a couple of weekends back when they had some friends over to hang out. I snagged these pictures from face book because they are just so dang cool. Jessie always takes incredible pictures and writes one heck of a blog. I love to read her thoughts and see all of the photos.

I can't put into words how happy I am when I am playing music with these guys.
Thankfully they put up with my crappy guitar skills and let me sing my heart out.

Speaking of,
Red Mountain Music has made one of my very favorite albums available on noisetrade to download for free. You must check it out if you've not heard their music.

Here are some Easter photos for you. Aren't they just the cutest things you've ever seen? Well, perhaps I am a little biased but they certainly looked nice that morning before church. It was such a treat to see Annabelle in a different dress from the two she wears EVERY day lately. I knew there would be a battle over the Easter dress so I planned accordingly and left enough time for the discipline required to get her ready. By the end of the morning I think she even enjoyed wearing that cute little dress and and protested when she changed after church! The boys just throw on whatever I lay at the end of their beds and go with it. Thank goodness for that.



The Saturday before we went to the annual Easter Egg Hunt at Cheshire Village in Black Mountain. The kids hunted eggs and then we all had a potluck picnic following.








We met Aunt Amie, Aunt Lorie, Miss Carrie and the girls at Amie's house and then walked over on the path through the woods.





We got there just in time for the hunt.


















We loved hanging out with so many of our Black Mountain friends.

Lucie and Annabelle showing their eggs off.

So, on the dirtier side of things, here is what we look like most days:
It has been down-right hot this week and we are loving it! There is a nasty little creek down the road in the undeveloped area of Justice Ridge Estates we frequent in the afternoons. Caleb spends most of his time jumping of the little banks into the shallow muddy water.........

while Adam would rather sit and pile sand and mud in his lap and construct little walls and dams.

It took Annabelle a few minutes to get out of the backpack on my back, but eventually she was right in there with them.



Sunday afternoon we drove out westward along the Pigeon River and found a cool place to wade and hang out. The water was so cold that it hurt but the boys could care less. They just jump right in!




We have a little solar-powered lantern in the backyard that Annabelle loves. She carries the lantern around and uses the stand as her microphone. (the lamp is lying on the ground behind her)



Now, I know what you are all wondering. What happened to the weird Easter Egg Hunt that Uncle Jonathan and Beth coordinate complete with Granddaddy dressed as the Easter Bunny???!! Well, we usually postpone that part of the tradition until the week after anyhow.... since the church calendar is man-made, Amie and I are usually out of town on Easter Sunday, and most importantly, the candy all goes on sale. Just by chance, Mom and Dad took a trip to visit the Manns in California this year and we all ended up being in town!

So stay tuned for those pictures in a few weeks!

Thanks for reading and keeping up with us!