Saying Farewell to the Sloans

I knew it couldn't last forever, but it really did pass too quickly, in my opinion... the Sloan family has driven off into the sunset - headed to the West Coast and Mexico. You can check out their blog, also - it's over there in the right-hand sidebar. They came back from a week of selling fireworks in S. Carolina for New Years and we celebrated by setting off fireworks (of course!).

Reed


Lincoln & Reed


I also took my boys plus Lincoln Sloan ice skating one day.

Clay & Lincoln


our friend Jacob, Clay & Lincoln


Reed finding his balance


taking a break at the rink


Then it was time to say good-bye... Have safe travels! We love you guys and miss you already ... hope you come back with many new adventures to share!



hot mamas


gettin goofy

Just wanted to say...

Wow, so many things happened in 2008 - not sure I've ever had such a busy year... good memories and not-so-good, but still all part of the great plan, and I'm happy just going along for the ride :) I find contentment in knowing that the sun keeps shining & flowers keep blooming, friends are abundant, and even after rocky times - peace always finds us. I'm so excited to see what this next year will bring us! I'll get to be an auntie twice! I'll sell my house and finalize the divorce so I can start fresh in a different part of town. We'll get an amazing new leader for our country that is deperately needing change! We'll make new friends, reconnect with old friends, and deepen our connections with all the current ones. I constantly feel blessed to be surrounded with such good friends and good energy! To all my dear friends who are reading this - I love you all, and am eternally grateful for all the love you give to our family.

Christmas 2008

Since the boys' plans to spend Thanksgiving with their grandparents in memphis was unexpectedly cancelled, they went to spend a long weekend with them mid-December. They celbrated "Early Christmas" there with their Aunts Holly & Elizabeth, Uncles Alex & Brian, cousins Grant & Elizabeth Claire, and Gram & Papoo Houston. They LOVED it! Hopefully I'll have more photos to post of this visit soon ;)

Elizabeth Claire & Reed (she stuck by his side the whole visit)


Cousins


Two nights before Christmas (Xmas Eve Eve?) we went to the Asheville Pizza and Brew to watch a free Xmas movie. The kids had a blast, except Reed who wasn't feeling good - he and I went home early, but Clay stayed to enjoy the rest with the Sloans and Fotis

(parents) Julie, Steve, Todd, Theresa; (kids) Quinn, Connor, Isabelle, Winston, Clay, Lincoln, Reed


Clay & best friend Lincoln at Pizza & Brew


As you can imagine, Christmas with 6 kids is completely chaotic and lovely all together. The kids woke up when it was still dark, they opened their stockings and legos from Santa ... and didn't wake me up until 7:30 (how convenient that Santa always gives them something to occupy their time for a while!). Soon after, the Sloans came in, and the present opening commenced! We had hoped for a slow, relaxed present opening, involving taking turns and acknowledging the giver... haha! the kids had other plans - I think they had torn through everything in about 10 minutes.



Julie & Bryce (still not quite awake)

Happy December Chaos

December was really much too fun! Our friends the Sloans (http://organictribe.blogspot.com) came to stay the entire month in their RV/School Bus. They have 4 amazing kids, who are all great friends with Clay & Reed; 2 dogs who at least tolerate Mountain Laurel; a cute cat; and Bryce & Steve (the parents) whom I love dearly. I really couldn't imagine a better fit for people to have stay with us for so long... nearly all meals were together, the kids always had playmates, etc. I feel like we adults all motivated each other as far as creative projects, gift ideas for xmas, and especially nice to have adult conversation and someone to go out with at night (one of the downsides of being a single mama running a daycare - not much adult interaction usually)!

Before I get to the Dec. pics, here's the boys and I spending Thanksgiving in Charlotte with my brother Scott and his wife Julia. My mom and brother David were also there from Omaha.





Here are some photos of us making sugar cookies for neighbors and chocolate pretzels for family presents...

Isabelle & Clay


Clay & Lincoln




Winston & Reed


Pretzel making

Autumn-licious

Pumpkins for change!!



Here's a great hike we went on up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We went with our homeschool group:

















We said good-bye to our foster kittens this November and the next day our house went under contract to close in February! woo-hoo!



Our lovely friends, the Sloans, have come to stay for a bit in their modified school bus. The boys LOVE having their 4 kids to play with, and I LOVE having extra help and company around the house... and the sloans have running water, electricity and friends to play with, so it's a win-win :) In this photo of all the kids playing, you can see their bus out the window, parked out front.



The kids getting busy cracking hickory nuts they gathered from the back yard:



My mom and one of my brothers came from Omaha, NE to visit for Thanksgiving... one day we took the boys and Leah (daycare) to the pool and had a great time!











For some "me" time this month I went to the Widespread Panic Thanksgiving shows here in Asheville, and got that rare opportunity to act my age and pretend like I have no responsibilities and cut loose for a bit :) (photo credit to Tater & Jackie)

Autumn Festivals!

After such a busy and drama-filled summer, I was GLAD to get back to our nice peaceful life this Autumn. Some of my favorite parts of Autumn are all the great festivals!

The first one is in September called LAAFF, Lexington Ave. Arts Festival. It's in downtown and brings out all the crazy freaks in Asheville, hence reminding me why I LOVE living here!! It's filled with street performers, bike jousting tournaments, car painting, arts arts arts, music, and all the crazy ashevillians you can imagine! Here are the boys with some friends doing body painting and just hanging out ... also we watched a local guy attempt to break the world record for riding the tallest bike (40 ft) - didn't happen this year (or last), but there's always next year :)









Then in October we went to LEAF - Lake Eden Arts Festival just down the road in Black Mountain. It is a camping festival, and luckily happened to fall on my 29th birthday this year! There are tons of artists, dancing, music from local bands and all over the world. It's at a location that is otherwise used as a Summer camp, so there is also a zip-line going down to the lake, swimming beach, etc.

These were taken early in the morning, before most people had set up - the fog was just so beautiful sitting on the lake and mountains.





One of the families we camped with, brought these beautiful eggs from her chickens:



Around the campfire (and the ridiculously raging fire one night!):