September Pictures

I took C and friend to Yogurt Mountain - they ate a LOT!

We hosted a dinner group at our house and the girls
were playing the parts of "slaves" to the boys and even
dressed the part!  LOL!

I spend a lot of time in the car and have started listening to
audio-books to make the time go by faster!

I have started running the school store two days a month!
It's a good way to be involved without too much responsibility!

I've also learned how to keep the "book" at baseball games!

S has really taken to playing the flute!  Some mornings when
she is dropped off at school early, she will go down to the band
room where they have the older kids teaching the 6th graders!

Penguinos for the first time this year!

Having to change a light bulb in the living room is not for
the feint of heart!

Getting him to fold his laundry can be a challenge!  

Made his own Clemson shirt!

S getting creative with her nails!

We had a single cool morning and I took full advantage at a new coffee shop,
Barista Tiny, located in a tiny home community.

Dress up day at school

Date night to Saskatoon and to see Downton Abbey on
opening night at the theater

Keowee day!

M and C worked on oiling/staining the dock

S joined many, many kids from her school at See You at the Pole before school
one day!

C has a reading buddy in kindergarten that they go down
and read to once a week.  The aid in that class is his aid from
kindergarten so she took a picture for me:)  And, the little
boy he reads to is also named 'Colton'!  LOL!

Birthday Celebration in the Mountains

We took the day today to 1. celebrate my birthday and 2. spend some time together as a family!

We drove up there Cataloochee Valley where we've been before trying to see elk, but were not successful this time!  Because it was a warm day and we didn't dive through until almost noon, we had not expected to see any.  But, boy did we!!  There was a HUGE buck in a field and as we drove by with the windows down, we could hear others in the woods bugling!  It was the first time we'd ever heard that!

We started off the day by going to Clingman's Dome near the North Carolina/Tennessee border!  It is a pretty popular place so I was a bit surprised at how STEEP the half mile walk up to the top was!  We calculated it was probably about a 12.5% grade!  But, the view when we got to the top was beautiful, even if it was a bit hazy!

We then drove south toward Highlands, NC.  Just before we got to Highlands, we stopped and did a short 2.5 mile hike on the Ranger Falls Loop trail.  It was another fairly steep and challenging hike!

After all that "strenuous" hiking, we were all ready for dinner but also very dirty and sweaty!  We found a fresh foods grocery store with a grill and pizza joint and opted for that and sat outside and enjoyed watching all the rich people walk around town to their fancy dinners:)

We drove home through Cashiers and got a great glimpse of Bad Creek and Jocassee!  The sun had just set and we were in the "last light" part of the day as we drove and it made for a magical end to our day!

Elk in Cataloochee

Base of Clingman's Dome

Made it to the top of Clingman's Dome

Back to bouldering at the base of Clingman's Dome

Ranger Falls Loop Trail

It's been really dry lately so the falls was more of a trickle;)

Pretty tree in downtown Highlands - it was still too early
to see much color even that far north!

C's Friend's Bday Party at the Barn

C's friend had a party at a local farm/barn and what a fantastic time it was!  There was a magician, popcorn machine, s'mores and hand-spun cotton candy in such a beautiful setting!  We both enjoyed the night!!

Love Taylors Day

This morning our church hosted a Love Taylors Day where about 350 volunteers from the church are sent out to work on projects around the community to show the love of Christ through our acts of service!

S and I joined our Life Group class and another class at a local elementary school.  There were over 40 of who showed up to paint, weeding, planting, pressure washing, clean windows and organize classrooms.

It was a good morning and we were glad that we could participate and spread the LOVE!

Student Dodgeball Tournament

The student ministry at TFBC hosts a dodge ball tournament each year.  This was our first experience with it and the girls were a little confused about the process but luckily one of the dads stepped in, got a team together and the girls were able to play!  They won the first game against an 8th grade girl's team and then lost their second game against a 7th grade girl's team.  I think they were more in it to socialize more than win and were all having a great time and eating Pink Mama's Ice Cream when I came to get her!  S is really enjoying the middle school programs at church so far, even if the 6th grade girl's group is really small!

BRMS Skate Night

We have never been able to make it to a school skate night because they are always on Tuesdays or Thursdays, and since S was in kindergarten, those have been dance days!  But, this year, our schedule is different and allowed us to make it tonight!  This was the middle school hosting it, not the elementary school, so that made for some good people watching;)  I took both of the kids with me and was so glad to have some of my friends there to talk to!  C and S both loved every minute that we were there and are already asking when the next one is!

None of these pictures are that great of my kids, but I stole them from the PTA Facebook page and was just glad to have some pictures to document that we all went and survived!

S on the left in the grey shirt

C is the yellow blur in the background

Ice Cream and Fishing

Tonight we met our Sunday School class at Dillard's for ice cream!  Of course, as soon as the boys are done eating, the sugar is kicking in, they get restless and then the craziness starts!  Luckily, we had more planned and were soon headed to M's future business site for some fishing in the pond!  Not everyone went, but there were several families who ventured down there!  The kids had fun trying to catch something(unfortunately, nothing was caught, but I blame that on the dog that was loving a good swim in the pond!).  I don't think it really mattered, though!  It was a beautiful evening out in the field as the sun went down with good friends!

Baseball Game

The night that I decided to take pictures at C's game, C had a great one!:)  He got hits during both at bats - one of them was a really strong one!  And, made two plays, one at center field and one at third base!  I was super nervous when they put him at 3rd and held my breath when the ball actually came to him, but he played it like a pro with an amazing throw to first base that got the out!  We were so impressed, and I think his coach was too because he looked in the stands afterwards at M and I and was grinning ear to ear when he saw us!  So fun to see him do well!!

Sky Top

Today we had planned to go to Sky Top, but the weather was somewhat questionable this morning, but we thought we'd go ahead and go and there probably wouldn't be as many people there!  Buhahaha!!  Boy was that wrong!  

We arrived around 11am and there were tons of people there!  That didn't stop us from getting doughnuts, letting the kids play on the playground, petting the animals, taking pictures with the apples and then buying some before leaving!  

I love this tradition and this was the first year in a while that M has made the trip with us!

I can't tell you how many pictures of chickens I have!  LOL!!