Incredible Gratitude.

The wonders of car camping.

 I never knew something could be so easy & fun.  You can pack most whatever want/ need and DRIVE to your campsite.  No walking (although I do love the hiking aspect of backpacking), but with little kids, this is awesome.  We had a blast with the Darnell's and it was a simple weekend full of a lot of nothing- talking, cooking, drinking coffee, more cooking, walking to the bathhouse, more eating, bathhouse again, fires, etc.  Such a therapeutic weekend to be outside with family.  I recommend it to anyone.  Oh- and we went to the North Mills River campground which is 30 minutes from our house!  Can't beat that!

Here's our set up (minus the Darnell's tent to the left of our's).

Exploring the campground in our pajamas.

We even celebrate a birthday!

And drove away from the campsite (in said cars) to go GEM MINING.  Now THAT is a cultural experience- what am I going to do with all of these "gems"?

And she lost ANOTHER tooth....the Tooth Fairy does indeed deliver to campsites.  FYI.

Got to be with these lovely people....our girls were awesome outside even in the cold!

And have moments like this.........

Summer fun.

So I didn't post all summer because we were having SO much fun!  Here are some highlights of the summer....

4th of July in Black Mountain with Grammie & Granddaddy- complete with small town parade in Montreat & fireworks.  We had the BEST time with them!

Swimming lessons with Ms. Jacki for both of the girls.  Lily learned how to swim "like a mermaid" underwater!

Visiting the Adventure Science Center in Nashville.  We also had a great time with both sets of grandparents, swimming with Em, Dave and Evelyn & meeting our new cousin, Eli!

The Krawczyk crew comes for a quick but super fun visit.

Taking some time out of the sun to do some "Mad Scientist" experiments.

Aunt Sandee & Taylor spend the week with us.  Here we are at Lake Tomahawk- we forgot how long & hot the walk would be. (:

Our new cousin, Eli!  Yay for Chris & Danielle.

Cousin photo shoot in our sweet dresses.

Visiting Great Grandpa & Grandma in New Hampshire.  We LOVED our time exploring NH- the farm, swimming under the covered bridge & visiting Ricker.

The Accardis visited and we loved every minute.  We met sweet baby Alice and Piper loved taking care of Cam and I loved being with Erin.  We all won!

Playing at Montreat park- a summer staple.

The grand finale of summer was sending Piper to Crestridge for a week!  She became our first Crestridge Cutie Pie.

Back to school....2 months later.

 Well, trying to update the blog regularly has proved to be a difficult task, but alas, I'll start trying again to update it once a week!  We'll see how it goes.  As always, I think our world is best described in pictures.  Here are our photos from the first days of school for Pi & Lily.

1st grade!!!!

Doesn't she look snazzy in her new outfit and shoes (they light up!) she picked out???

In the Kangaroo class!!!!

Lily at her school- loves those butterflies!

Goodies I made for Piper's teachers on the first day....

3 games.

Oh Lily.  You are always keeping us on our toes.  We decided I decided (why?  I'm not sure) that we were going to have Lily play softball, a.k.a. Bitty Ball, this year.  We lasted 2- maybe 3 games.  She was absolutely miserable.  Here are some pictures that document the experience.....

Her friend on the field....look how adorable they are.  Their team name was the Smashers- Lily was everything but a "Smasher" on the field.

Desperately trying to get out of going to bat.

Excited, huh?

This is our only action shot since we were on the field with her the rest of the time....and what you miss after this is her running after her ball and then, crying when she couldn't have it back.

I realize that I project a lot of my own desires on my kids because I think it would be "fun" for them.  Not that I have desperately longed my whole life to play Bitty Ball, but I want them to have friends, be well-rounded, have experiences, be athletic, etc. 

Don't worry- I realize this is neurotic.  And that Lily is 3.  But still....I'm okay saying it out loud.

And I also realize that both of my kids are perfect the way they are.  And that they will grow into just what they need to be and need to be doing.  I am just going to keep giving them different options and offering unique experiences.

Maybe just not Bitty Ball. 

She is 6!

I'm writing this 1 month exactly after her 6th birthday & have been processing how exactly I now have a 6 year-old child living in my house- that's mine.  Time flies when you're having fun.  I'm not sad about the passage of time because it is inevitable & I feel like our family is living well and enjoying all of our time together.  Piper is growing into an incredible little girl full of life, knowing who she is, cautious but adventurous, loving, funny & thoughtful.  We are so blessed that she is a part of our life because of the way she teaches & changes us.

The morning before school!

Opening gifts at her birthday party.

We had to have a pinata for her girl party that she planned on her own.

"Best friends forever!"

Easter in Black Mtn

 Easter in Black Mountain is one of our most favorite holidays!  The whole community seems to be together outside the whole weekend.  We started our weekend with Friday at Pisgah, 2 Easter egg hunts, church on Sunday and Sunday dinner at our house.  We also had the huge privilege of having our friends, Jimmy and Katie, with us for Mountain Tour 2012.  We are so thankful!

 

Sweet friends!

 

What a fun weekend with these great friends!

Making fun as much as we can.

We try to celebrate a lot because hey, everybody loves a party and it's fun to make really ordinary things special.  It's fun to create fun so we do that as much as we can and I'd love to do it way more than I do.  We do that through special meals (even with just a table cloth), fun music playing, picnics on the floor in our living room, breakfast in bed, etc.  Here's a glimpse at our girls always having fun no matter what's going on.  In this case, it's some college kids cooking chili in our house and our family Valentine's Day celebration.

That's a bunch of trouble and fun right there.

Being a big help to the Owen Young Life team.

Lily got bored of the cooking.

We try to use fancy glasses as much as possible- they make everything taste better.

Nothing says Happy Valentine's Day like some champagne glasses, festive candles and hot dogs on heart plates.  The grown-up Valentine's meal came later after the kids went to bed.  We didn't eat hot dogs.  I have standards.

The Leprechauns played tricks on us on St. Patrick's Day so there will be pictures of those shenanigans coming soon. 

 Well, the day finally came where Lily's hair was a little too wild for even her to contain.  So we went from this........

 to this......

Please, appreciate this classic Lily face.

and this one.

 And a little of this.....

 All the way to get to this.....

Her wild hair may be gone, but I'm sure she'll find ways to make up for it.