Surprise Shower

What an amazing network of friends God has blessed me with here in Asheville. Today one of my good friends invited me to lunch with her at a tea room. I actually haven't been out to dinner but once since we moved back and was SOOO excited to have the opportunity to spend time with her without kids. Not to mention I had been looking forward to going to the tea room , though I couldn't see any reason anytime soon to be extravagent, so I was hoping for it in February for my birthday. She made sure to tell my husband that since we were going to a tea house I must be "cute." Not knowing exactly the definition of "cute," I dialogued with my husband and he said I should wear my fun brown skirt (I thought to myself....that is really the only pregnancy skirt I have), I should curl my hair, and maybe wear makeup. Seeing as I spend most of my life with a pony tail I was happy to have a reason to dress nice. She came to pick me up and off we went. When we were walking around the corner a whole group of my friends walks out from the side of the restaraunt and I absolutly couldn't believe it! It was such a blessing to me and made me feel so special. We spent 2 hours chatting without our children while our husbands watched them. I actually had 6 glasses of tea (although they were in teeny tiny china cups so....it's totally excusable. We'll disregard the fact that I put a sugar cube in each cup!), cute little sandwiches, and scones with lemon curd. It was such a fun afternoon and when I got home I couldn't stop smiling. Thanks guys-you are truly a blessing to me and I love you all. It may have helped that Carolina won their football game too....it's about time we had a football team!





There were other cameras but I didn't bring mine since obviously I didn't know it was happening! I will post another post once I get more.

Gas Frenzy

Today I was driving to the doctor (shocker right?) and ran into a traffic jam. It seems the traffic was stopped for two lights. I waited, expecting an accident....but as I inched forward I realized it was no accident; it was a gas station. People were lined up 15-30 cars deep on the road in 3 directions waiting to turn into the station and there were 3 cops there patrolling the situation. Craziness? I suppose our culture is not used to not getting what it wants when it wants it! This has brought the worst out in people. In fact I have heard that at one station a man got a baseball bat out of his car in a fight. And people aren't just getting a little and letting others have some too. People are topping off whenever they can because they are scared they will never see gas at normal supply again (even though our news sources say it should be back to normal within a week). Luckily I was able to fill up on Sunday when the wait was only 5 cars deep and it still took about 30 minutes. I pity the person who is almost on empty now. On my drive home this was the only station out of the 8 I passed that had any gas at all. And tonight when my husband went out to get ice cream for the non-craving pregnant wife, he said the line was a mile long down the road just turning into the station. The news says it may be a couple weeks before this is over! What the heck!

On a lighter note-here is a funny picture of my son before we went to church on Sunday. He has gotten into putting this hat on his head and now thinks drinking water out of this baby bottle that he found is hilarious. Oh, the phases we go through with a 1.5 yr old!

Western Mountain State Fair

Today we ventured out to the Western Mountain State Fair. We figured our kids could enjoy the animals and the overall over-stimulation of loud music, flashing lights, highschoolers, and fair rides. It poured on us for part of the time, as you can see by Steven's friend Eli in his wet stroller.









Here we are inside the barn weathering out the storm (pun completely intended). Between the four of us we had 8 kids! And if you count the one in my belly...that's 9. Two of the kids are 3 weeks or younger! I know you are all impressed.



Once the rain subsided, as you can see our boys were much more interested in the puddles than they were in the animals!






I was super glad to have my baby carrier during the rain.....but....it didn't take long before pregnant me got tired of carrying a 27 pounder and I let him run around a bit by himself! He did quite a good job for the first time walking just holding my hand!



This is Steven Edward's new favorite game, shown to him by none other than his father. He runs around the house with this bucket on his head staring through the slats.





As some of you know, I have the same condition I had during my first pregnancy, which means I go to the doctor ALOT! This is a picture of my good friend Jenny doing what she always does now that I'm at the doctor....babysitting my son. Here she is reading to Gabe and Steven.

Looking Glass Wilderness

Today we decided to go on a trip to the Looking Glass wilderness area. It is near Brevard NC, and has lots of creeks/rivers, waterfalls, and some beautiful mountains. The picture above is the actual looking glass rock. I have hiked it before, but today we just attempted to hike to the base. We choose this because it had some relatively easy hiking for me, but unfortunately we got rained out and picked up a stranded climber along the way. Either way it was lots of fun and Steven Edward got to try out his new hiking backpack. We're not sure how much he liked it, but Steven the elder LOVED it and it made us extremely mobile!

Here we are at Looking Glass Falls. The water was extremely cold so wading was not an option, but the boys did some exploring! It doesn't look as impressive as it is in real life. I mean, it's not Niagara, but even pictures of Niagara look small in comparison to the real thing. Some things photos just can't capture.