What a Week!!!

We have had a fun and busy week around our house. A couple of days ago Ava came into the living room trying to tell me that Emet had gone potty (he hadn't). She had tried to "potty train" him by taking his pants off, his diaper off and putting him on the little potty. The first picture captures the moment nicely!
Addi came to spend Wednesday night with us. It was fun having another little girl in the house. They danced on Ava's bed when they should have been going to sleep...I caught them in the act! They also enjoyed dressing up and snuggling when they eventually did go to sleep!
Ava got to go back to the preschool yesterday. We went to Mrs. Jolee's class for their hayride and pumpkin decorating. Ava got to go to lunch with the class too...what fun!!!

Ava's attempt to "potty train" Emet

Addi and Ava in their pjs, with their bedtime snack and milk!

Sweet Snuggly Girls

All Dressed Up

Ava and Caleb picked out their pumpkins

The class on the tractor for the hayride!

Emet enjoyed playing in the kitchen in Jolee's classroom!

Black Saturday in Boone!!!

Thursday we headed to Hickory for a night with Mom and Dad. Dad was scheduled to have a procedure to remove kidney stones on Friday morning, but got sick on Thursday and Mom had to take him to the ER. I spent most of Thursday night (from 7:30 until midnight) with Mom and Dad at the hospital. Dad didn't get to see the kids, but he is better now and hopefully free and clear of his kidney stones. Pray that he will stay well and not get anymore stones. Mom only got to see the kids for a few minutes on Friday morning before heading back to the hospital. They are coming to spend the day with us Saturday and go to our Fall Festival, so we are looking forward to that time with them!

Friday afternoon we drove up to Boone to spend the night and go to the game on Saturday. We always enjoy going back to Boone...who doesn't? Friday we did a little shopping (window shopping...didn't buy anything!), got Ava some ice cream, checked into the hotel and had dinner with Roger and Denise Critcher. Ava and Jon went swimming when we got back to the hotel. Saturday was fun...we ran into some friends, the Greenhills at the hotel, went for a drive on the parkway, a trip to the Candy Barrel, free lunch with the Yosef Club (thanks Mom and Dad) and of course a GREAT football game! We love to see our Mountaineers play!

Ava, Jon and Emet at Price Lake

Me and the kids at Price Lake
So Sweet!
Future Mountaineer!!!
Family Fun Zone
The kids got free pizza, and of course loved it!
She is quite adventurous these days...loving the giant slide!

Watching the Game!

It was a little cold and it did drizzle some...but well worth it to see our Mountaineers!

So glad to be a fan of a team like this!

One of the players from Georgia Southern was injured, on the field for quite some time and not moving. The stadium was pretty quiet as everyone waited for him to get up. As they were checking on him our guys knelt on the sidelines to pray for him! How encouraging!

He was taken to Watuaga Medical Center and last we heard on the drive home was okay, had movement and the team was waiting on him to be released before driving back to GA.

State Fair Fun

As we have done every year since we have been married, we headed out to the N.C. State Fair last Thursday. Thursday was opening day and we were some of the first through the gates. It was the only day that really worked with our schedule and turned out to be a great day to go. It was chilly and overcast (and rained a little on us as we were leaving) but there was next to nobody there. It was definitely the least crowded we've ever experienced the fair. We had a great time eating and walking around. We do enjoy the food and our favorite treat at the fair is probably the frozen cheesecake dipped in chocolate! Ava, Nana and Papa enjoyed a few rides. To no surprise, Emet loved the cows. As soon as he saw them he began to yell "cow, cow, moo, moo!" Fun times at the fair for us...what a great day!

We were a few minutes early...Jon and Ava waiting to get in!

Smiley Man
Papa, Nana, Jon, Emet and Ava...the entrance at the main gate

Our family at the main gate entrance

Her first ride...the jet ski!

Loving the piglets!

On the swings

My little man! Love his smile!

On a ride with Papa

NHS Reunion Weekend

Last weekend was Jon's 10 year high school reunion. It is hard to believe that we have been out of high school for 10 years. Amy came home for the reunion and we had a good time at the Friday and Saturday reunion events. Friday night we headed out to the County Stadium for Northern's homecoming game. After tailgating and catching up with their old classmates, we watched the game. This was a family event, so everyone brought their kids. Saturday was a party downtown. The weekend was fun and I enjoyed meeting Jon and Amy's high school friends!

Amy and Ava at tailgating

Lily, Kelly and Amy
Emet enjoying the game (and his cracker)!

We sat with some people from Ridgecrest during the first half of the game. Ava had to potty so we left tailgating to take her to the bathroom. Turned out that everyone else tailgated until halftime. It was fun to catch up with some of our friends from RBC. Ava enjoyed sitting with Cindy. She missed Chad and Christy though!

Before the Party Saturday...

It isn't often that we get a picture of just the two of us!

Me and Amy...love you Amy! As always, I enjoyed getting to spend time with Amy and wish we could do it more. I'm blessed with 3 great sister-in-laws and always look forward to my time with them. Can't wait until our weekend together...just 3 more weeks until our girls weekend. Thanks to Scarlet for organizing and initiating that...Myrtle Beach here we come!

Gap Casting Call

I have entered both of my kids in the Gap Casting Call. I need your help! Please go and vote for my kiddos as the fan favorite. You will have to register to vote, but once you do you can vote once a day. The voting runs through the middle of November, so make sure you go back each day! I think you can vote for both of them, but if not, pick one and vote for them each day. If one of my kids wins the fan favorite, we will win a family vacation. Pass this on to your friends and help us out! Thanks! Here is the link...

http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/thechasteens/

Emet's ID: 716673771
Ava's ID is: 126673894

National Children's Day

Thursday was National Children's Day. The ELC at church had special activities for their kids on Thursday morning. The director had asked me to paint faces. I probably painted around 100 faces in an hour and a half. Crazy! Jon had the kids, but Ava quickly joined in with one of the three year old classes. She had a blast! They were the last class to get their faces painted and when they were leaving to go get lunch (she went to the lunchroom with them and everything) she looked at me and said "I need my jacket because MY class is leaving." She jumped right in and was one of them. Caleb was her buddy for the day. He had me paint a basketball on his cheek, so of course Ava had to have a basketball like Caleb!

Buddies

Family Fun at Hillridge Farms

Jon has been on Fall Break from school this week, so he actually had a day off with no school or work. We packed up Tuesday morning and headed to Youngsville for a day at Hillridge Farms. It was a great time together as a family. The kids loved the farm. They played in a corn house (we did too), went down a giant slide, fed the animals, took a hayride and got a pumpkin. The best part of the day was just being together and seeing the kids' excitement about each part of the farm. They also did some "hay jumping." There is an open air building with huge hay bails and you can jump from bail to bail...Ava loved this! Emet was especially fond of the llama at the farm and affectionately called it "mama." (He calls me "Mommy," so I know he does know the difference!)

Ava, Jon and Emet in the cornhouse

Loving it...
having fun!!!

My sweet little boy!

He loved the tunnel!

Pumpkin Patch

"Can I have this one Mommy?"

She loves the camera!

Ava and her pumpkin

Giant Slide

So fun!!!

Hay Jumping

We had a great day together as a family!