The Simmons Family: May 2015

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Daddy and pumpkin carving

Mad men and their skills at work. Nuff said.

I have been blogging about the trike a thon for years and I believe this is the last one. It is bitter sweet in ways but after seven years I am ready to move on. I can let this one go, and to be completely honest I am ready for Lucas to lose the training wheels and ride with the rest of us. I do realize that saying this means that I am letting go of my baby. But, like any other mom, no matter the age these boys will always be my babies.

Waiting patiently for the signal to start.

Off he goes. Around and around.

And around.

And around again.

Until it's time to get off for snacks. He is so stinking cute!

These two enjoyed taking a peak inside the police officer's car.

Little Larkin's last go at the trike a thon.

He rode for a really long time. It was fun as usual out chatting with the other preschool families. I will miss some of that time we all spend together while our kids were so young. It will be interesting to see how our lives grow and change together or apart as our kids get older.

Trip to the Dawson Mountain House

Beautiful house and a great weekend spent with friends! Mary has family that lives in Asheville, NC and they have a beautiful mountain house not far from downtown. They invited us up to spend the weekend with them The big boys were able to pull together a mountain bike ride and Eliot and Avery were able to join them. Mary and I manned the house with the four boys and fun was had by all, even in the yucky cool rain! I have to add that it rained and was damp and wet the entire time!

Koi pond on the property and the boys got a kick out of feeding them.

As you can see from the picture the kids didn't mind the rain at all. Mary and I were in full rain gear and actively trying to engage the boys in the woods in the rain!

Stunning views of Asheville from the yard of the Mountain House. It was so beautiful! Simply breathtaking.

Hot tub fun included!

The romantic chalet from the front of the yard. It is a true gem tucked away in the Asheville mountains.

It's hard to see in this photo but you can see the skyline of downtown from the house. At night the view is amazing as the city is ablaze with lights.

The beginnings of a brotherly relationship. These boys love each other and had a fantastic weekend together. We look forward to more trips to the mountain house. I hope the next time we have a little better weather!

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Chloe's gymnastics show

There she goes flipping down the mat! She is so good as gymnastics and I am so very happy that she loves it. She is a part of Heart Gymnastics and they were performing at a fall festival in King, NC.

Proud of our gymnast!

First Lemonade Stand

Cutest entrepreneurs I've ever seen! Hunter begged all summer to do a lemonade stand. He really wanted to do it and I really didn't want to do it and before we knew it the summer was gone and we never had the stand. One weekend he asked again and I said Ok but he was going to have to do the work. I would help but the majority of the effort would fall on him. He was fine with that and off we went to the store to buy supplies. Over the weekend he made his sign and decided he wanted to sell cookies to go with the lemonade. What a deal he had going on! You could get a nice cold glass of lemonade and a cookie to go with it for one dollar! The following week we had our stand set up for a Tuesday after school. Since we live on a cul de sac I knew we weren't going to get much traffic so I did what all moms do and send out a massive text to all friends and family that Hunter is selling Lemonade. As much as it pains me to day this adventure turned out to be loads of fun and a great experience for Hunter. All the people I texted came buy for a nice refreshment and brought their kids (all of whom ended up playing in the yard) and the lemonade stand turned into a block party! I was very proud of Hunter through all of this. He never left his stand. He diligently stood there while all of his friends were playing and begging him to play. He never wavered. He refilled cups, cleaned up spills and counted out money. His stand was a success and after a few hours he cleared close to 60 dollars!!

Hunter and early, eager helpers. Thank you to all that came over and helped make Hunter's day!

Hiking day trip to Grayson Highlands

One beautiful day this past fall we took a day trip to Grayson Highlands state park. We missed the peak weekend of fall leaf beauty but the day was gorgeous, warm and just perfect for a family fun day and hike.

Typical Lucas expression. I feel like he is thinking about how long of a walk this is going to be. But, ya know what, this little guy walked the entire time without any complaints.

Big brother getting ready. We saw many folks out at the park this day. Many of them looked liked they were hiking part of the AT which crosses through this park.

He was so cute carrying his camelback water.

Best friends. Buddies.

Even Ibis joined us for the day. This old man has had a fantastic journey. His long distance running days may be over but he can still hike for hours with his family. We love our dog!

David had the camera on this trip and he took hundreds of pictures. Some were great and I am blogging about most of the more interesting shots of which captured our day. I am thankful he took so many wonderful pictures of our day but I wish there was some way I could get him to help me edit and save/blog about them!

We hiked the waterfall loop. Here is just one of the many waterfalls we saw on our hike.

I love these boys! I put all the pictures up!

There was a younger group of hikers behind us. They offered to take a picture of all four of us. We need to take pictures of all four of us more often.

Even though I get behind on the blog. It is nice to take a step back and remember how special this day was for me. We have good boys, great boys. I love them with all my heart and I hope they remember moments like this day for years to come. I hope by blogging about it they will always know how much it meant to me.