Signs that fall is coming

I love fall..I love everything about fall.  And here in one my favorite places to live-Asheville- there are 2 sure-fire ways to know that fall is approaching:

1.The Apple Festival

2.The Fair!

Since my kids hadn't been to either of those yet we decided to show our kids one of the many reasons why we have and always will be a lover of good ol' Asheville in the fall time!  :)

The kids at the Apple Festival standing next to one of the bears in downtown Hendersonville. Believe it or not..these bears are pretty famous down here.  You don't drive down main street without some tourist pulling out there camera from their fanny pack and snapping a picture of one these colorful furry bears!  haha

The kids enjoying their cotton candy and snow cones-a MUST at the apple festival!  :)  If your wondering if Ezekiel is wearing a leash...the answer is YES! haha  Wow, those things are amazing! Shame on me for all those times I looked at moms and thought, "Really?!  Geezzee...you can't keep your kid under control so you have to put them on a leash??!!"  haha  #TotallyGetItNow   :)

There was a giant (and I mean giant!) inflatable cop with some gut inside dancing around (I still don't actually now why or what he was promoting?! haha)  and Malachi wanted to dance with him.  Well he was a little shy but I could tell he wanted to get his grove on so I joined in to help him get the party started! haha :)

Now on to our FAIR experience!!!!

The kids eating funnel cakes.  But they didn't even want them!  I know-CrAzY!!  So I took the liberty to finish it off for them.  :) 

Ok, so the kids apparently haven't really been on any real rides before and when they saw all the rides they went NUTS!  They didn't want to see the animals or eat the yummy fair food or even go to the circus...just ride those rides!   And of course the boys ran straight for the motorcycle ride!  They LOVED it...until they had to get off.  I think I actually saw a man put his fingers in his ears from the piercing screams that Ezekiel was letting off into the universe! haha

Mr. Cool.  :)

Annabella and I on the carousel

This made me laugh because Annabella wanted to ride all this fast stuff and we told the kids they could pick one more ride and the boys wanted to ride some fast car ride and we asked Annabella what she  wanted and she picked the train that goes around like a 1/2 mile per hour. haha  We said, "Annabella, are you sure you want to ride that?  It's gonna be really slow...it's meant for the babies."  She held her head up high, not caring what anything thought and said, "Yup!!" haha  That's my girl!  And...she loved it!! :)

The mini roller coaster that the kids went on...and LOVED of course!  It was actually pretty fast!

My most favorite picture ever!! haha  I LOVE that face!

We finally made it over to the circus but after a couple meltdowns, Ezekiel dropping both his sippy and his favorite car under the bleachers, and Malachi deciding to sprawl out under some ladies feet..we decided to call it a day!

It was so much fun to be able to take our children to things that Charlie and I used to go to when we were dating! I feel blessed. :)

Woman's retreat

If you are a mom you know that getting away for the weekend is well... virtually impossible!  But thanks to my very generous husband I was able to attend a weekend of girls, relaxation, and yummy food!  Very much needed! :)

Some of the ladies at lunch..so lovely isn't it?!

 Yummm!  

 beautiful!

 My mom, sister,and I's room

 Snuggling with some of my most favorite people! :)

Kristi,a zumba instructor gave us all a zumba class in the morning.  Super fun by the way!!  

 I guess I wasn't paying much attention when I was packing cause I packed one of my shoes and one of charlie's! haha

 Elizabeth and Pam (my mama)- the beautiful ladies  who put it the whole sha-bang on!  :)

 The cozy living room

 My adorable little basket they had ready for me and every other lady by their pillows!

 One of the "activities" they had us do was to sit before the Lord and paint whatever was in our hearts...I am NOT a painter but after this I think I could get really into it- even if I'm not awesome at it..it's just fun  to have a paintbrush in your hand! :) 

 Pretty table settings

 Kinda hard to see...they had a menu displayed at every meal.  That would be fun to do this once week for a date night with the hubby after the kids go to bed- have dinner set for two with a pretty menu set out and candles!  :)

All of the beautiful ladies!! 

Things are a changin

A lot is going on in the Cochran household!  For starters, Annabella has started Kindergarten...Malachi has started preschool and Ezekiel can finally start to say sentences....sorta. haha :)

Annabella on her first day of school!!! :)

Annabella's new school

Two days after she started her first day of school she also lost her first tooth! 

Malachi's first day of preschool!

They all have to wear the same little backpack...cuteness  :)

Oh and did I mention that Annabella also had her first sleepover?!!?  Her best buddy Leah invited her over for her very first sleepover and she had the time of her life! I guess this is the beginning of many more slumber parties to come!!  :)

I LOVE watching them grow up! I am so blessed!

Insanity or simply divine?

 My life is crazy most days...there is usually not a day that goes by that my hours are not consisted of ridiculous amounts of laughing and a good bit of crying!  :)  Everyone tells me this time will go by fast so I do all that I can with God's grace to cherish every little bit of it!

This just so sums up Ezekiel... loves food...loves being messy...and is very secure in his masculinity. haha

my little drummer boy

This was one of those moments that your just not sure whether to laugh or yell! haha  I was in the other room for 3 minutes getting dressed and Annabella comes in and says in a frantic, "Mama!  It's the boys...come quick!" (haha...that is just SO Annabella....miss dramatic!  I love it!)  Anyways, I come into the kitchen to find them cracking every egg and smearing them all across the kitchen floor....

they decided that cracking them wasn't fun enough so they decided to throw them like baseballs across the kitchen.  (they were soo in their own world they didn't even acknowledge that I was there taking pictures....that worked out well cause I took the pictures without them thinking I was condoning their behavior...although, it was hard not to laugh!)

I am trying to turn our garage into my own little crafty room/office and Malachi was helping to paint a desk that we found on the side of the road...teaching him to be thrifty! :)

my little worker bee

Another one of those crazy moments.  I knowingly let the boys play in the bathroom- knowing that they were probably using their cars as boats in the sink and getting themselves soaking wet.  I guess it's one of those times when you're like, "I mean, why say no...what's it gonna harm anybody?"  :)

Well that theory got shot to the ground when I walk in a minute or two later and somehow they had found a pen or maker and had drawn all over the wall!  :(  Geezzee...you give them an inch...  Thankfully, after much scrubbing, it finally came off!

This was one of those absolutely precious moments!  We were all exhausted one afternoon and Ezekiel went down for his nap...I fell asleep on the couch and Malachi was SO tired he fell asleep on the kitchen floor.  I woke up to a pillow under my head and a blanket on me...and Malachi was also covered with blankets and such!  Annabella had been busy being mommy while we were all napping!  :) 

What we do for fun   :)

I walk out of the kitchen for a minute...and this is the result.  *sigh* I have decided he has to eat with no clothes on! haha :)

So yes, life is insane at times...but I would't have it any other way, which makes it...simply divine!  :)