Summer........

What a great time of year. Warm weather, pool time, less laundry, trips to Dollywood, trips to the BEACH, hiking, waterfalls, outdoor music, creeks, festivals, and on and on.....


I suppose we wouldn't appreciate the warm weather if we didn't have to bear the winter as well, although I am not too sure about all that. All I know is to have a nice mild summer climate, you inevitably have to go through the coldness of winter additionally in most parts of the world. We certainly have lovely summer, spring and fall weather in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Speaking of these mountains, I learned yesterday that my family's roots literally date back to the 1700's of the colonists who came to these mountains. My brother, Jonathan, has done quite a bit of research on our family's genealogy and both sides have lived here since.....well, before America was born. No wonder I am still here and have never wanted to leave. These mountains run deep in my blood.

I believe Dolly Parton says it best in a song:
(you must imagine Annabelle or Lucie singing these words)
These are my mountains, my valleys
These are my rivers flowing like a song
These are my people, my memories
These are my mountains, This my home


The goal for this summer is more hiking. We went up on the parkway last week and this is a picture of Uncle Jonathan and the boys discussing the leaves they collected (and left there by order of the park ranger lest we get a ticket). We had planned on hiking to some falls on up the road, but the road was closed due to a rock slide. We made the most of the day anyhow.




















Completely unrelated to the rest of the post, is a random picture of Annabelle and her make-up. This little gal just looooves that stuff! After our dentist appointments (which is a story for another post sometime) on Monday, I let each kid get a prize at the store. Caleb got a little toy tent and camping Dad and son. Adam got a pack of Silly Bandz (don't get me started on those things) and Annabelle got some make-up. She looks gorgeous with her red sparkly lips and blue eye shadow! (her words)




I will close with a couple of shots from our first Dollywood trip of the year....

A Few Things

The kids love to go down to the creek that runs near Cheshire after class. I use it as a bribe once in a while when they are cranky and protest childcare. A couple of weeks ago, they collected about a hundred tadpoles from a mud hole/pond down there and we've been watching them morph into frogs since then. Adam is particularly fascinated with them and is constantly feeding and watching them. He is my little "critter-lover".

We warned our neighbors that if they feel like there are more frogs about this summer, it is because of our little project.


This is the only picture I have from the Song Circle we had at church a few weeks back. I am not sure why we all look so solemn here, because it was a delightful evening of music. The night's purpose was to raise money for our Music Director's incredible songs so that they can, in turn, be shared with other churches. We each got to sing about 5 songs- one Dylan cover, another one had to be a Beatles cover and then one "guilty pleasure" song. I loved learning all of the new songs and having a microphone to sing into! We are doing another one in the fall and will be doing Wilco and Dolly Parton covers. I can't wait!




More Baseball photos:


The boys are having a good time and getting better with each game. Seth amazes us all with his patience and coaching skills during the games. It can be a little frustrating at times when everyone is yelling something different at the players.



Football sign-up time has arrived and the boys have been dying to play since last year. Seth told them that they had to play baseball first and then we might try football. I think the decision is still up in the air as we really hope to be out of here by the fall.

I say sign them up so it raises the chances for the house to sell!

























Annabelle does well at the games and I don't have to miss much aside from our many bathroom trips.




Lastly, this is a photo from my SURPRISE birthday party last week. My sweet sis, Amie, coordinated a fun evening out with some girlfriends after class. She gave me a cute new dress and tricked me into bringing my shoes to wear out. We had a wonderful time and I felt so very loved and special. thanks Amie-you are the BEST!

Annabelle was a flower girl last weekend at our friends, Jon and Beth's wedding. She was precious and completely cooperative to my surprise and delight. The rehearsal/out-of-towners dinner was at the Grove Park Inn and was without doubt the best food I have eaten in years. We were the only natives had a great time meeting folks from all over the country. Annabelle was a dream child and she and I spent most of our evening the dance floor. It is a good thing I like to dance as much as her! She was having a blast and didn't even want to go when things were winding down around 10:00pm!







The ceremony and reception were at Claxton Farms which naturally made it one of the most beautiful settings in the country. It was the first time they used the newly constructed "barn" as part of the festivities.


This is during the ceremony. The girls walked down with these cute little parasols and then frolicked in the grass behind until we grabbed them and gave them some crackers and lip gloss to keep them busy.

















How is this for some cheesing? I just love the background in the picture which was the view surrounding the entire farm.


















Annabelle loved the other flower girls and they were fast friends upon meeting. They spent the evening grabbing grapes and cheese and DANCING!















Oh, I love weddings with all of the flowers and favors and cakes and decor!

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!