Pretty Weather Weekend

It is officially feeling like fall around here-- beautiful weather and busy schedules. Harper has started back with "winter" swim lessons, so every weekday she has either preschool (MWF), swim (T), or gymnastics (Th). Appalachian Power schedules outages for the mild times in the year, so Spring and Autumn are usually the hardest times of year for Sam at work. During the outages, it isn't uncommon for him to work 60-70 hours a week or go 10 or 12 days without a day off. 

Though it is hectic, this is undoubtedly my favorite time of year. Big blue skies, sunshiny days with a cool breeze- this has to be Heaven's weather. It makes you take in His creation a little more,  enjoy moments and the view a little longer. 

Last weekend, we enjoyed a Friday Night Family Date. Sam and I took the girls over to Outback for some QT together since we knew they were headed to Poppy & MiMi's house the following night (and of course, just because we love their sweet little company.). After looking at the menu, Harper told us that she would like "scrimp."  The kids' menu didn't offer shrimp as an option, so I added unlimited shrimp to my dinner instead, since it was cheaper than doing a separate meal anyway. Daddy taught her how to pull their tails off, and next thing you know, Harper Mae had eaten between 10 and 15 shrimp. As soon as a new plate arrived, we were requesting the next. I am often amazed (and always thankful) at what an adventurous eater she is. Both little ladies were so well behaved at dinner. My goodness I don't get to say that very often.  :)

Appalachian Power was a sponsor of this year's Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival, and a lady from public relations gave Sam two of the VIP tickets they received as part of their sponsorship package. How nice! 

The weather was unbelievable. We enjoyed lounging in the VIP area, listening to the live music, and visiting the booths of all the local vendors. 

Even though we enjoyed the afternoon together, we really missed the girls!  The only things we brought home were for them-- sparkling organic juice and an interactive children's book signed by a local author. (P.S. Harper loves the book, and would probably love to get the others in the collection if you ever need a gift idea for her!)

Since Sue and Dave had our girls for the night, we met up with Chris and Tabatha (also childless for the weekend) at Beamer's 25 for dinner and some fun downtown. Just in case we didn't already know, we verified just how old we all are since we were yawning by 10 pm and struggled to "make it to midnight."  What on earth are we going to do when it's New Year's Eve?!  

Maybe the biggest luxury of our Saturday night/Sunday morning without Harp and Wills was being able to get ready for church without refereeing fights/cleaning messes/changing clothes/changing clothes again. We leisurely walked in to church early. Our life group friends may have not even recognized us.  :)