Statesville for Katelyn & Braiden's wedding

We went to Statesville for Memorial Day weekend for our friends' Katelyn and Braiden's wedding.  They put us up in the groom's family's lake house.  

Ahhh, I am getting relaxed all over again just looking at this view from our their porch.....

even the kids were seriously relaxed, they slept in till 8 every morning.  

We ate a lot of watermelon on the dock.  The kids swam, Parks got tired of watching the catfish and got up and caught one with a worm from the garden, Hadley yelled at the "quack quacks", we all got some sun, and we all had some time to connect with each other. 

The girls were flower girls in the wedding.  I never was a flower girl so I was very excited for them.  I painted their nails and toes coral to match the bridesmaids.  Here they are waiting for them to dry.  

The big girls and I went to the bridal lunch, which the girls were calling "lady luncheon".  There were mini champagne glasses and ginger ale set out for them.  Here they are toasting because that's what fancy ladies do. 

Our friends, the Artemenkos, also came for the wedding.  They have 3 boys who are each just a few month older than our 3 girls.  All the kids really paired off this time.  It was funny.  Here are Sam and Hadley enjoying the in-ground trampoline.  Have you seen these things on Pinterest?  They're so cool.  

Hadley, Charlotte, and Ben in the lake.  I do believe Hadley is attempting a hands on the hips pose for the picture.  

Saturday morning the big girls and I went to the salon to get them "fancy lady hair dos" 

*there wasn't a lot the sweet lady could do with Charlotte's hair because we got her a new "summer shortcut" so she pulled each side back in a braid and we all called it fancy.   

Here is one of the only pics we got of the girls in their dresses.  Here is Sam, Ben, and Will.  I directed the wedding and reception so I traded in my camera for my clipboard around noon and didn't get any more pictures,  these next few are from Park's phone.  

Isn't Katelyn beautiful?  What a glowing bride.  She had such a wonderful evening.  

Her groom isn't so bad either :) Here he is dancing with Charlotte. 

We took home some extra sparklers from the wedding and did them on the dock the next night.  Hadley was wild with them.  She loved them and held them with an iron grip, but swung them around like crazy.  The big girls were ducking and running and laughing.

This was after she did the sparklers so we can't blame it for her erratic behavior.  She is not the baby who takes one sip of Dad's beer and makes a yuck face.  She really likes it.  Wine too, she'll say "I wan mommy wine" and reach for my glass.  Just telling her it's yucky doesn't work anymore, now we just have to keep them out of reach!

Oh, so much fun.  There's nothing like a family vacation to make relax and laugh and slow down.  I already want to go back!

Preschool's Out!

Last week Charlotte's preschool ended for the summer.  On Wed evening she had a musical performance.  Our family had a picnic dinner at the park nearby.  Nothing like ordering a pizza to be delivered to the park when life is hectic.  

 Here is Charlotte as an elephant.  She was on her way to her spot to sing.  She really enjoys singing and was so excited for us to come to see what songs she has learned this year.  

 Kate with some of the other older sisters.

Playing Catch Up

I just cannot seem to keep up these days.  Here's a photo catch up of the second half of April and the first half of May.  We've been busy.

 Parks and I joined some friends at the Airlie Garden Party.  If it wasn't such a tacky thing to do I would have walked around taking picture of strangers in their sensational outfits.  I'll just say hats were worn my most (the bigger the better), bright colored garden dresses on the women, seersucker and khaki suits on the men (with the occasional pink plaid pant),  and we ate fried chicken and corn pone.  Only in the south!

   

 I went to Wine, Women, and Shoes, a fun benefit for the Make a Wish foundation with lots of my lady friends.  

 Young Life had their second annual Donut Dash.  Jared bravely ran a mile, ate 1/2 dozen donuts, and ran a mile more.  And he didn't join the hand ful of people in bushes puking after the race.  Well done!  

Here are Banner, Kate, and Charlotte eating the left over donuts.

 We went to art night at Holly Tree elementary and saw Lily Kate's self portrait on display.  We also went by the mall the next week to see her wind sock on display there.  The school chose a few pieces from each grade to bring to the mall and hers was chosen.  It was exciting.  

 Then we headed to Windy Gap in Weaverville, NC for Young Life family camp.  It rained just about the entire weekend, but that didn't stop this crowd.  Parks tried to teach the girls to play frisbee.  

 We rode horses

 We rode the giant swing.  The girls each went twice; they loved it.  

 hanging out with Jack and Sam Gayle

 The girls had to say goodbye to their favorite skit characters.  Nothing beats YL camp, really.  

 Last weekend we went out to pick strawberries at Lewis Farm.  No hands free for pictures while picking, but we sat and ate strawberry ice cream afterward.

 Banner & Walker

 Charlotte, Ella, and Kate.  It's funny to me that they all look semi serious with their closed mouthed smiles.  Practicing modeling poses, I guess.

All the mommas: Sarah & Kristen above and Me & Katharine below.

We went out to the beach that evening for afternoon play and a picnic dinner.  The babies were the only ones still enough for pictures.  It was our first trip out this season.  Hadley LOVED it.  I don't think she remembers ever having been there before.  She was fascinated by the sand.  There was a big tide pool, which is perfect for little ones - all the water and none of the waves.  

We just celebrated mother's day last weekend.  I started the day with breakfast in bed (our family's tradition for every holiday if you haven't picked up on that), presents, and sweet cards from Parks and the girls.  Then I rode the ferry to Bald Head Island with some girl friends to meet our friend Steph who treated us to the overnight.  We laid on the beach, rode the golf cart through the island, watched the sunset and Troop Beverly Hills.  Perfection :)