Inaugural Friendsgiving!

We are thankful for a lot of things this year (as always), but one of the new things we are thankful for is our small group. We met these other three couples and their kids back in February when our church had a small group creation event. It was nerve-racking and scary but we did it and it has been a HUGE blessing to our family. These people are literally some of our best friends in just a few short months. We decided to have our inaugural friendsgiving this year and it was a blast! Seth and I hosted. We put the grown ups (our small group + a neighbor of one of the couples!) inside and the kids in the garage with an indoor/outdoor rug and some heaters. It worked like a charm and we couldn't believe it. The kids were able to be loud, they were warm (actually, it was warmer out there than in our house), and we could eat in peace! :) 

We deep fried the turkey (YUM) and while we did so, we had apps and snuggled the babies! After dinner, the kids watched a movie in the basement and we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (of course!!!). 

We had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, baked corn, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and rolls. Oh--and lots of desserts (with many, MANY leftovers).

It was such a blast and we can't wait to make this a yearly tradition with these amazing friends!

Easter-ish things

A couple weeks ago, Seth and I formed a small group with three other couples from church. We did not know them prior to this but matched up with them during a meet and greet one night back in February. We are so thankful for this group already and we are only a couple weeks in. All the couples are similar in age and all have kids, so it's perfect. On Palm Sunday, we got together for an Easter "party"--we painted eggs and had dinner as part of our weekly get together. 

Carter and his new BFF, Lucy. They get along so well and every time we see them, Carter asks if we can have a sleepover. :) 

Addison got a little dirty. Surprise.

The set up for the party! 

This is just some of the 40 eggs we painted that night. 

Weekend in the Poconos

Our friend, Sharon, contacted us a few weeks ago about going to the Poconos to a vacation cabin for her husband, Bob's, 30th birthday. Of course we were in! There were five couples total and three kids. We arrived Friday night by dinner time. The place was really nice - it was in a gated community, had a pool table, hot tub, four bedrooms and a loft, fireplace, grill, and lots more.

Carter slept well Friday night into Saturday, though he felt it necessary to get up at 5:15 a.m. Since every area of the house was occupied, we had to keep him busy in our room until a more reasonable hour. We found a secret cabinet under our bed which kept him occupied for a bit. :)

Mid-morning on Saturday, the girls got in the outdoor hot tub, and within a few minutes, it began snowing. We knew it was supposed to snow but when we woke up on Saturday with absolutely nothing on the group, we thought we'd been punked. Turns out, the weathermen were right this time! It snowed all day straight!

After naptime, we took the kids outside for photos. Carter HATED the snow. He lasted all of two minutes, and he was back inside. I took a few photos for some of our friends and we all headed back inside to the warm house. We played pool, watched movies, and just hung out - it was awesome to just relax!

The lights began flickering off and on Saturday late afternoon and I was getting really nervous. After dinner, it began to flicker more frequently. Seth and I charged our phones, our laptop, and I ran upstairs and turned our space heater on to a freakishly high 80 degrees just in case the power would go out (so it would take awhile to cool down!).

I quickly gave C a warm bath and got him in bed. He was tuckered out and fell RIGHT asleep, which turned out to be really awesome since by about 8 p.m., the power went out and never came back on. UH-OH! We dressed warm for bed and all went to bed at a fairly decent time since there isn't much to do in the pitch black. Since it was a rental house, we didn't have candles or flashlights (except iphone flashlight apps). Sarah thought ahead and brought a lantern - smart girl!! That and the light of the gas fireplace was all we had. We all slept well and Carter at least slept until 6:15 on Sunday. But when we woke up, it was FREEZING in the house. We played in our room (using the light of cell phones and our laptop) until the sun came up!

We hung out for a bit, and then packed up to head out. Here is a group shot before we all headed home. It was so much fun to get to see everyone and catch up. We hope to do this again soon!!

I was SO cold even after we left. I had my side of the car on 75 degrees, and was wrapped in a blanket. It actually took me a full day to really warm back up I was so chilled. :)

Pure adorableness

We went to a wedding in NJ this weekend, and stayed over at our friend's, Mike and Sarah's house afterwards. Before we left on Saturday morning, I had to snuggle their precious little boy, Ethan, and snap a few shots of him. He was one of the cutest subjects ever, and those eyes and that baby-soft skin could fill you with envy. SO CUTE.

Is he not the cutest??

Playdate at the Curiosity Connection

Carter had a playdate with a friend on Saturday. We went to the Curiosity Connection at the State Museum. We've never been there, but it looked cute on the web site so we gave it a shot. It opened at 10 a.m. but we arrived a few minutes early. They let us in and we had the whole place to ourselves for about 30 minutes!!

They have tons of different learning areas - a farm, build your own truck station, tons of legos, a mini bedroom, a school bus, secret tunnels and forts, a farm truck, a forest with a tent, animals, and tons more. Everything had buttons to push and things to do. We were there for about two hours and didn't even dent the things to do there. Carter had his favorite areas (the farm and the mini bedroom/tunnels) and played there a lot. :)

Here are a bunch of the probably 100 pictures I took at this place!

Afterwards, we walked around the regular museum for a bit, but all of the kids (my friend also has an almost 5-month-old) were ready for lunch and naps. We went for lunch to a local place - complete with a few "get my to bed now" meltdowns. :) It was a fun day - they were  tuckered out!! :) 

A Best Friend Happy Birthday!!

You know how when you're growing up, your mom says "some of your best friends in life will be ones you make in college."? I remember chuckling at that and think ok mom, whatever you say.

Well, it's true. I am still best friends with a handful of people from high school who I know will be best friends for life, but one of my very best friends is from college.

And today is her birthday!! :)

If you know me, you know Allie. She's fabulous and gorgeous and sweet and hilarious and sarcastic....and she lives too far away. I'm sad and missing her right now because I have not seen her since Christmastime, and have been stalking Expedia for a cheap plane ticket to Atlanta to visit her. Right now, they are like $450!! How do the people at these airlines sleep at night?!?!?!

I told the story before - we met the very first day of freshman year and we didn't like each other (that whole petty 18-year-old thing, ya know?). By day two, we were becoming friends, and I think by day three, we were connected at the hip.

And since then (2002) - almost TEN years of being best friends - she's been there for break-ups and deaths in the family, bad grades and awesome spring break trips, funny texts and inside jokes. I simply cannot imagine my life with her, and am certain college would not have been as fun.

So, happy birthday, my wonderful friend. I hope you have a blessed day! I love you!

Best Friends

twenty-some years of friendship.

husbands and fiances.

babies.

new houses, new jobs.

and, though we don't always see each other as much as we want,

still best friends.

This Sums Up Last Night!