Greenville trip

 We spent the first week of August in Greenville visiting my parents (aka Gran and Boo/Grandaddy). Paul had a conference up there the week before and the girls and I went up Friday afternoon after my doctor's appointment. I was able to go meet up with Paul and his coworkers for dinner in downtown Greenville. It was great to get to sit down at a nice restaurant and eat a whole meal without interruptions and have adult conversations!

My mom sent me this picture while we were at dinner. They were having popsicles because according to Emmie "we have dessert EVERY night at home".

Saturday afternoon Paul and I headed to Asheville to see a girl Paul grew up with get married. We were so excited for Neely and Michael! The wedding and reception were at and the venue was GORGEOUS. There was lots of exposed brick, hardwoods, white lights, and beautiful arrangements and centerpieces! The band they had was amazing and while preggers here didn't do much dancing it was still fun to watch everyone else! Sunday morning we got up and went to City Church. City Church is an ARP church plant and Duff, who married us, is the pastor. He and his wife Kristi have 3 girls the same age as our 3 (their birthdays are super close...we were actually due with the second ones on the same day!). It was great to see Kristi and Duff and their family and to see the wonderful ministry they have in Asheville. They have such a great group of people at the church. They were all very friendly and welcoming and we felt right at home. We also ran into my friend Kennerly (who takes all the beautiful pictures of our girls!) and her family. Her brother and sister-in-law go to the church and Kennerly and her family were up visiting. After church we met up with Blake and Emily and had brunch at West Asheville Lounge and Kitchen (recommended by Kristi). It was really good and didn't have a wait which was a plus! After lunch we headed back to Greenville and then Paul headed back to Columbia.
Sunday night the girls helped Grandaddy make ice cream. By help I mean they did a bit of supervising and taste tested the oreos.
We went to the pool almost everyday. Right before we left Columbia I finally found a float that would fit teeny tiny Ruthie and that she liked. It arrived at my mom's house Sunday morning and Ruthie had a great time getting to swim "by herself" all week.

We went to the neighborhood pool most of the week and it was so fun because there were LOTS of little girls around Emmie's age down there. Emmie and Ellie had a great time playing with all the other girls! Ellie liked the pool because she could touch really well in the 3 feet which gave her a lot of more independence. She did a lot of practicing her swimming! At the end of the week we made it over to the other pool which the girls had been begging to do because it has 2 diving boards. The diving boards are significantly higher than the ones at our pool at home and I really didn't think Emmie would actually jump off of them. After a few minutes though (and Grandaddy getting in to "catch" her) she mustered up the courage and did it. She and Ellie had a great time jumping off of the boards and Ruthie did lots of clapping for them!






Monday morning we went over to Will, Griffin, and Izzy's house to play. They are friends from Columbia who moved to Greenville a few years ago and we love getting together with them when we're in town. Carissa has always been such a good friend and I loved catching up with her. I really wish we had gotten some pictures of the kids but with 6 kids running around it was too crazy to think about pictures!
Tuesday my mom and I took the girls to Jelly Beans to get their back to school haircuts and Ruthie's FIRST haircut (just a little trim/shaping). The girls loved it because their were toys while they waited and they got a balloon and jelly beans when they finished! They are used to going to an adult salon so this was a special treat. They also got their hair styled when their cut was done. Ruthie and Ellie had little braids and Emmie got the much yearned for Elsa braid. She has been growing her hair out for months so that she could have an Elsa braid and she was beyond thrilled with the results!

After haircuts we ran to Walmart to get Emmie's school supplies and then did the MOST.FUN.THING.EVER. We went through the car wash. My kids had never been through the carwash and they were amazed. I loved getting to see all their expressions (Ruthie's face is my favorite)!

After the carwash we went to chick-fil-a for lunch...always a favorite for the girls.
Tuesday evening Uncle Blake and Aunt Emily came over for dinner. The girls loved getting to spend time with them and Uncle Blake was a trooper and went out in the heat to watch them ride bikes and let Ruthie crawl all over him.

Wednesday evening went to church. The big girls were very excited that their friend Jacob was there. He moved to Maryland the next day and I know they'll be sad when he's not there the next time they're at church. We ate dinner at church and then the big girls went to the Musical CAT kids summer program. The group was rehearsing for singing in church in a few weeks and the girls knew the song so they had a great time. They're still singing some of the other songs they learned. There were lots of Emmie tears when she got in the car after church and found out that we wouldn't be in town for her to sing in church. Such disappointment!
Thursday afternoon I went to Switcheroos, the big consignment sale in Greenville. It worked out really well because the one in Columbia isn't until mid-September which is way to close to my due date to be standing on the concrete floor for a few hours! I also had a friend from college give me her guest pass so I got to shop early! I found quite a few things for Emmie (she was the main one I was shopping for) and also a few things for Ellie. I also picked up some games. My favorite find was probably this Discovery Toy game...I loved it when I was growing up!

Friday morning we took the girls to Grandaddy's office. They loved getting to see where he worked although apparently Ellie was worried they'd give her a job to do because as soon as we walked in she told the ladies at the front desk that she was "just visiting". The girls quickly decided that work might not be so bad. Grandaddy had candy in his office and one of the secretaries had toys that they could play with!





After visiting with Grandaddy, my mom and I took the girls to TCBY for frozen yogurt. Of course they loved that!



Friday afternoon I went and got my haircut which was a fabulous treat because I really only get it done about twice a year. It's impossible to go with children in tow and Paul and I are almost never at home on the same day! I went to the April at Famous Hair and she was wonderful. Without me saying it, she recognized that I needed a low maintenance hair style and she wasn't intimidated by my laid back attitude toward my haircut. (You'd be amazed how many stylists panic when you tell them to do whatever they want and only give them a few parameters!)
After my haircut I went to a friend's house and shopped through the clothes her daughter, who's about a year older than Ruthie, had outgrown. Ruthie definitely doesn't need any clothes but this friend has the CUTEST clothes for her daughter. My favorite find was a blue minky jacket (the last thing any of my kids need is a jacket...we have a ton!) and I just couldn't resist getting it...Ruthie is going to be obsessed with the softness!

Saturday Paul came back to Greenville and that afternoon we had a special treat for Emmie and Ellie. Gran and Grandaddy had gotten us tickets to go to see Broadway's Cinderella at the Peace Center! The girls were really excited all week and kept saying that this was the "real" Cinderella. The show was so good and both girls seemed to really like it. Emmie was pretty transfixed the whole time. Ellie got restless after intermission but still said afterwards that she loved the show!

After pizza at Gran and Grandaddy's we packed up the car and headed back home. We had a great trip to Greenville and it was really nice to have the extra help chasing children all week. I hadn't been feeling great the few weeks before we went and I definitely have felt much better after getting to rest for a week!

In between all these fun activities the girls did LOTS of playing at the house. Ellie pretty much colored the entire time we were there which is so funny because she doesn't really color much at home. When she wasn't coloring she was trying to find someone to read another Bernstein Bear book to her. Emmie spent the first few days riding her bike all day. Ruthie enjoyed playing outside (we had great weather and it was soooo much cooler than in Columbia) although after a day or two I had to monitor how much time she was outside because she had a big eczema flair up from the heat. Ruthie a lot of her outside time trying to figure out how to pedal the tricycle. Franklin enjoyed lots of outdoor playing, chasing bugs and such, and got lots of walks (and petting) thanks to Gran!

1 word: rotten

The girls LOVE looking at the pictures and videos on Gran's phone and ipad.

Snuggle time with Gran for miss. curly q

There's a great story behind this pic. Grandaddy had just "booed" Ruthie and about scared her to death so he picked up a book and started reading to try to get back on Ruthie's good side. She REALLY wanted to listen to the book but wasn't willing to sit too close!

However, Boo is just too much fun to stay away from for long!

We ate lots of fresh peaches while we were in Greenville. Ruthie LOVED them and she wanted to eat hers whole instead of having it sliced.

Pretty sure Ellie colored through an entire coloring book while we were in Greenville.

I think Emmie got to eat breakfast with Grandaddy almost every morning we were there. There were a few days where all the girls managed to get up before Grandaddy left for work. An added bonus was when Gran made waffles!