The Bee

Cole was the spelling bee winner for his class this year. (3rd from the right on the front) The winners are seated, their alternates are behind them.

This picture was taken yesterday after the school-wide spelling bee between the 8 class winners to find a school winner to go to the district competition.

Cole made it through round one by spelling 'influenza', but 3 others did not survive.

The second round brought Cole the word 'surround' and he simply skipped the 'u'. He could have kicked himself.

It just wasn't meant to be. The same girl who won last year won this year. The whole thing took about 20 minutes!

He later said he was glad he didn't win because he didn't want to study words for the next month preparing for the next competition. Way to find the silver lining, Cole! :-)

My Surprise Weekend

Brice told me several weeks ago that he was taking me away for the weekend of the 11th, but he wouldn't tell me where. That added a whole other level of excitement!

We hit the road at noon on Friday and headed east, then northeast. He took me to Asheville, NC! Beautiful! The reason he picked Asheville is because one of our favorite bands was playing there Saturday night at a Christmas Jam concert with several other artists. So we slept late Saturday, walked around downtown, ate yummy food, and headed to the concert.

Have you ever heard of the Warren Haynes Annual Christmas Jam? We hadn't either, but apparently it's a big deal in Asheville. We were expecting some fun Christmas tunes with the various artists playing together - a typical 3-hour concert type thing. We were wrong.

The concert lasted over 7 hours!!! Holy cow! And there was no Christmas music. It was a festival of artists playing their own music for their own set of time. And the place was packed with people smoking various things right out in the open! Our band didn't come on until 12:30 am. We left after they performed. Though not at all what we expected, it makes for a funny memory.

Sunday we visited the Biltmore Estate. After an amazing buffet at the Deerpark Restaurant, we headed over to tour the house. Gorgeous! I've always wanted to go and seeing it at Christmas was priceless.

So three cheers for my husband! He planned, printed directions, purchased tickets, and kept it all secret! Thank you, honey! Merry Christmas to me!

Christmas Concert

Brice and I are unable to attend the normal Christmas piano recital this weekend, so Cole was able to show off his pieces early and in a different setting, along with a couple other students.

There is a very nice hotel here connected to our mall called The Wynfrey Hotel. A beautiful grand piano sits in the lobby/walkway of the hotel's back entrance. There Cole filled the air with Christmas tunes, Harry Potter themes, and a lovely sonata. I was a proud mama.

Occasionally the air would blow right over the music, but Dad to the rescue!

And I love how the light behind him makes him look like an angel with funny hair.

Even the grandmas came out to see the talent show!

Great job, Cole!

Our Thanksgiving

It was just adults for this Thanksgiving. Both sets of parents came over and the six of us had a great meal and fun conversation. It was just a good day.

But before the meal began, Brice and I sat the parents down to tell them how thankful we are for them. We even had a little gift for the moms. T-shirts - of course! Check it out:

Now, the important thing to note is that before this day, mom thought she had only 6 grandkids and my mother-in-law had only 4. But not anymore!! That's right . . .

We're having a baby!

Here's the little peanut:

Baby is due to arrive around July 4th.

The parents were very excited, squeals and hugs all around! My brother and sister, who already knew, were listening in on the event via cell phones strategically placed in the room. Such fun!

So maybe I'll start blogging again, eh?