When Life Hands You Lemons

We've all heard the saying before - "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."  

Like its that easy, huh??

Over the past few years it feels like our family has received a disproportionate share of lemons.  While we try our best to keep our chins up and to "make lemonade," there are definitely times when we become overwhelmed and need a little help squeezing all of those lemons.  Lucky for us, we have all of YOU around to help us out when those days come along.

This past Friday night Matt and I loaded up Mr. Harrison and went to a friend's house for a low-key evening.  We grilled brats, the boys had some very "serious" fantasy football discussions and we had the chance to snap our first pictures of the next generation of Ritchie/Metzler boys (more on that to come!).  One thing that I didn't expect from that weekend was to walk away with this...

In that envelope were the proceeds from a lemonade stand that our friend's daughter Rilyn had held that previous week, plus a little extra of her own money that she decided to throw in.  How awesome is that!?  I have teary eyes just looking at that picture and thinking about the huge smile on Rilyn's face when she handed over her contribution.  Rilyn and her sister Avery were big fans of Charlotte and it makes my heart happy to know that they still think of her.  Thank you so very much Rilyn for all of your hard work and for sharing with Charley's Heart (and thank YOU, Dan and Jenni for raising such awesome kiddos!)

Rilyn and Charlotte - Fall 2010

 Avery and Charlotte - Fall 2010

 All of our girlies

 Rilyn and Harrison - June 2012

 Avery and Harrison - June 2012

I mentioned above that we also introduced some new friends that night.  Matt and Dan were very excited to introduce their mini-me's to each other and snap their very first pictures together.  Mason and Harrison are bound to be best buds and if they are anything like their dads...well...watch out world!  Here comes trouble!  I can't wait to watch them grow up together.  And while it makes me sad to know that there are two little kiddos missing from the picture below, I know that there are some very special angels watching over our boys each and every day.  

The Metzler and Ritchie boys.  Melt.My.Heart.