November Phone Dump

In early November I headed over to Tennessee to visit Megan and sweet Maggie! I don't think I have ever met a baby that has been longed for and prayed for more than this one. After years of fertility struggles and some very painful losses, sweet Maggie arrived in October. Her mama is one of my very best friends. I couldn't love her or her baby more if I tried :)

So much fun putting this basket of goodies together for Maggie. 

I left Tennessee with an overflowing heart and a severe case of closet envy...

Carson and I made some fall play dough-- it's my personal favorite.

Welcome to Ridgecrest...where we are often found sitting in a cloud. I am going to need to take some Vitamin D this winter... and maybe some antidepressants...

Carson can (sort of) write his name! He brought this to me one day. With the exception of the kind of crazy "r," I think he did a great job :)

Car line shenanigans. Having to sit in the car line every day kind of makes me want to homeschool.

We made the most of a school holiday (Veteran's Day) and headed out for a day full of fun. The Nature Center, lunch and play time at Chick-fil-A, and then on to Asheville Pizza & Brewery to see the Minions movie.

Carson "forgot" to return his 3D glasses. He wore them all the time for days following.

We met Emily and her boys at Lake Tomahawk for a gorgeous, but windy, play date.

Carver made a "turkey in disguise" for a school project.

I found these....

The entire Fall was incredibly wet. Rain, rain, and more rain. We got desperate one night and let the boys bring some outside toys inside. They had a blast!

As a reward system at school, Carson gets to choose something out of the treasure box when he earns 5 sticks in one week. He chose a pink, butterfly, hair clip and SO EXCITEDLY exclaimed that it was what he "had always been wanting!" Hilarious.

Carver's Thanksgiving Celebration at school! It was sort of painful....

I really miss the days when we received proofs of the school pictures, with several options to choose from, before we had to order and pay for a picture package. Those were good days...now we get what we get...

Why is that top button buttoned? Why??

 Some sort of crazy sickness hit our house. First Carver, then Carson, then me...

Thanksgiving gifts for all of the boys' teachers.

A fun Sunday-- superhero day at church, then we went out to a Christmas tree farm and chose our tree!!

Great Wolf Lodge-- Family Fall Break

Last summer was insane. We bought a house, packed and moved in (nightmare), and I went to Rome for a week. There just wasn't much time left for a family vacation. In October we found a great deal on two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte so we made some last minute plans and took the boys away for their Fall break.

The Great Wolf Lodge is a great place for kids. It worked very well for our boys but would work equally well for much older kids. It is one of the boys' favorite places and they were thrilled...

Wolf Den!

Trick or treating around the Lodge.

Pajama/story time!

Painting pumpkins in the Cub Club.

Bowling!

Story time (Night 2).

Carver didn't win in a drawing that was done during story time. That face just breaks my heart.

The water park!

The arcade!

Hanging out in the baby chair in a bathroom at Ikea...

We had the best time getting to spend a couple of days together, just the four of us. We played hard and spent time together without any distractions. I'm so thankful for Daniel and our family-- we're blessed for sure.

 We will definitely be back :)

Halloween 2015

Halloween was fun this year! Both boys were ALL IN with the costumes and festivities. We had school celebrations, a church event, and then trick-or-treating. It was a really good week.

Carson dressed up to go trick-or-treating at school, Carver had a Fall celebration and had to dress up like a nocturnal animal. His costume was definitely not my best work, but...I tried.

Sweet boy. Leonardo, the Ninja Turtle.

A friend of his was in the (exact) same costume. Carson though this was so much fun.

I manned the craft station at Carver's Fall Celebration at school. We made owls using 2-D shapes. 

Halloween Lunch.

Hoopla! at Biltmore Baptist.

We went trick-or-treating in downtown Black Mountain. It was perfect. A number of streets were blocked off and every house was decorated and ready for trick-or-treaters. 

Carson was SO invested in trick-or-treating this year. He totally understood the concept, marched right up to every door and remembered to say "thank you." He was so much fun to watch.

These boys are so perfect. Perfect. Maybe not in the true definition of the word, but certainly perfect for me. They are the best thing I have ever done. The most important job I have ever tackled. They make me want to be a better person every single day. I love them more than I can say. And even bad days are still pretty good. I am far more blessed than I deserve.