Notes of Sweetness

My heart runneth over...

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." 

1 Thessalonians 5:11

THOSE shoes!!!

Have you ever just loved something so much that you couldn't let it go?

Those must be Caleb's sentiments toward his old white Asics.  

I did not know this until a recent incident.

He actually wore these shoes THREE pairs of tennis shoes ago.  Somehow they still linger in our home.  Somehow.

The bigger mystery is how in the world does his big ole foot still fit in these bad boys?

Over Christmas break, we bought Caleb a new pair of Asics.  While he was at school one day in his brand new shoes, I took my opportunity to discard the old ones into the trash.  I really thought they would not be missed. 

A couple of weeks went by and I totally forgot all about the shoes.  One day, while the boys were at school and I was putting some clothes away in the closet, something caught my eye.  I had to do a double take.  Could my eyes be playing tricks on me?

No, they were not.  

Those holey Asics were staring back at me in the back of the closet.  

But how???

It was almost as if they were sneering at me.

I closed the closet door and walked away, defeated.

Then I laughed my head off.

When Caleb got home from school, I showed him the shoes.  He got a sly little grin on his face, and I was like, "How did you find them?"

"Well, my chore is emptying the trash."

Touche.

After Caleb's valiant rescue effort, I didn't have the heart to actually escort them to dumpster myself.  I made the condition with him that if agreed that they would NEVER leave our property again, then he could keep them.

He agreed.  

Ugh.

The shoes are still here.

Reading Tent

Here is proof that the Workman's set up camp anywhere...

Tante and Uncle Tim's living room last Friday at a sleepover

The boys' bedroom floor

The second tent still remains.  Caleb marketed it to me as a "Reading Tent," because he knew that would be hard for me to argue with.  And he is a smart cookie.  So, I have allowed camp to stay set up.  It actually does serve its purpose pretty well.  I often find him in there, hunkered down with a book.  Not a bad idea, Mr. Workman.

Side note:  Thumbs up is Caleb's new thing.  Now when he sees the camera, he flashes those thumbs.  Love it!

Scrabble Love

If you know me very well, you know my love for Scrabble.  I just love words, as evidenced in my excessive use of them on a daily basis.

Alas, the only time I usually get to play is when Mom or Becky is around, since it is just not the game for Eric.  Sad, but true. Hmm, how did I miss this before committing to marry him?   TOTALLY KIDDING!  He has many other wonderful attributes.  Avid Scrabble player is just not one of them.

BUT all is not lost.  There are two other people who live in this house.  And one of them came to me recently with the Scrabble box in hand.  Woo Hoo, Caleb!  I think a small tear of joy escaped my eye.  Anyway, as we were setting up the game, another little Workman asked to play.  Sheer joy!  My hope was just one Scrabble convert, but two.  It is just too much.

Due to bed time, we had to put the game on hold.  I captured this shot of our first board together.  I will hang it on the wall next to my grand children's pictures one day.  Ha!  We did actually make it pretty far in the game over the course of about three days.

Here's to many, many more games of Scrabble together!

Maybe, just maybe, we will one day convert Eric, too.  Probably not.

But maybe.

The Upside of Yuck

Seth spent all of the long MLK holiday weekend with the yuck.  The upside was that it only lasted a couple of days and Granny was here, so he got lots of cuddling in.

And few things are better than Granny cuddles!

Trail Rides

We were blessed to have some extra adventures last year, and one of my favorites came along with our Asheville excursion. Eric had a surprise up his sleeve while we were there-one that didn't include the Biltmore or the swanky, ultra hip downtown area. Both were so much fun to experience and explore, and such contrasts to one another.  Biltmore transforms you back to a time of over the top grandeur, lavishness, and tradition whereas Downtown Asheville could not be more modern with its celebration of diversity, artsiness (is that a word?), organic EVERYTHING, and bucking anything that wreaks of tradition.  Yes, Asheville is an interesting place.  Two different worlds colliding, yet coexisting well.

The adventure Eric had planned for us took us away from Asheville all together and into to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.  It was a more laid back, slower paced adventure.  One that was more our style of fun, one that, although a very brand new adventure, catered more to our comfort zone, and one that was more US.  (I love how well he knows us.)

And, it just so happened to involve horses.

Yep, this Kentucky girl had never before ridden a horse.

I can't say that anymore.

Eric had planned for us a two-hour trail ride through the mountains.  I had no idea what to expect.  Sometimes that makes for the best adventures.  I hopped on my horse, who was named Becky (how sweet is that?), and hoped for the best.  The trail guides gave us a very quick crash course in horse riding and then it was up to me and Becky to make it through the ride unscathed.  Oh, but Becky was great!  Just as gentle and sweet as the wonderful person she reminded me of (in name, not looks, Sister).  She listened and was very patient with me as I fumbled with the reigns.  Only once or twice did I have any inkling of fear and that was only because she got just a little too close to the side of the mountain, and I was afraid we were going to tumble right down it.  However, Becky had probably carried thousands of people over that trail, so who was I to doubt her and her proprioception?  But still, I mumbled a few silent prayers on both of our behalfs.  Yes, I learned that horseback riding takes a lot of faith.  And I also learned that it is one of the most relaxing and fun experiences I have ever had.

Eric and I kept trying to remember his horse's name.  It was not quite as memorable as Becky.  We are thinking Sassy, but who knows?  She was a good horse, too, and a bit more rowdy than sweet Becky.

 

The views from our trail were so beautiful!  The weather was so nice and although it had been raining that morning, it stopped just in time for our ride.

What a fun morning together!  With the horses.
Thank you, Honey!  You rock!!

We did end up back downtown later that night...along with the rain.  Unfortunately, we did not escape the torrential downpours.  We didn't take an umbrella and got drenched!  It was all good, though.  There are SO many great places to eat in downtown Asheville, but we went back to the place we ate at on our first evening there...Tupelo Honeys.  Partly because we didn't want to keep walking around in the rain looking for a place to eat and partly because it is just THAT GOOD!  It had come highly recommended and now we highly recommend it.  YUM!!

First Snow of the Year

The boys FINALLY got their snow day!!

(And they didn't even have to sleep with their underwear on their head to get it.  Yeah, that little rumor just did not hold truth.)

Although most of the snow has already melted, the boys definitely made the most of it this morning.

 

 

After they came in from the cold, we feasted on blueberry coconut pancakes and hot chocolate.

Yeah, we set the snow day bar pretty high here today.