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?

The Phone Book Surprise

At Cole's school today, teachers handed out the school directory to all students. This is the yearly publication with all students' names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Guess who's artwork was on the front cover??

Something New

Us at the U2 concert in Atlanta

Goodbye to Wubba #1

Our puppy is a chewer - she's a Lab! Initially we had some trouble finding a toy that would last longer than a week in our house. Eventually, we learned what she'd destroy and what would make it a while. Three cheers for the Kong brand!

This is Daisy's favorite toy:

It should last us 'til Christmas. This is what it replaced:

She plays hard!

Peek-a-Boo!

New Do for 32!

It was time for a haircut, she did it a bit shorter than I envisioned, but kinda sassy! I think I like it!

Yes, my birthday was this past Friday. It was a week of celebrations, but I don't have many photos.

Wednesday night we went over to Brice's parents for dinner. His brother's family was in town with their newborn and I was looking forward to holding the little bundle. After dinner, I was presented with a cake, cards, and a beautiful poster colored by my nephews. Such a sweet surprise! (no photos)

Thursday night my boys took me out for Mexican, my favorite cuisine! We went home to play a game of my choice, which, of course, was Mario Kart! (no photos)

Friday, my actual birthday, began as usual - breakfast and goodbye to the boys. The next hour was filled with various phone calls from family members and I must give props to my brother: he was the first to call and from China! That afternoon I left with my mom for her church's women's conference in Shocco Springs. It was basically a 24-hour conference with worship, games, lessons, and we had a great time! How appropriate that I spend my birthday with my mom, the birther! She brought a couple of presents for me to open in the hotel room - isn't she sweet!

Yea Mom!

Saturday night Brice had arranged for some some friends to meet us for dinner. Then we all went to see a band where a friend of ours is the drummer. Good times! (no photos)

Sunday night we headed over to a friend's house under the guise that we're having a meeting about the children's ministry at our church. After we opened in prayer, all the kids entered with balloons singing Happy Birthday and Shannon brought out a yummy chocolate cake! Turns out that another girl there had a birthday Saturday so our sweet friends decided to have a joint celebration for us! So sweet! We played a Newlywed type game - very fun, lots of laughs!! (no photos)

So, yeah, it was a great week. Shout out to my hubby for trying so hard to make me feel special - and succeeding!

In the Name of Love

My sister and brother-in-law are at a conference this weekend so mom and I flew up to keep the kids for them. You may recall that I did this by myself in the spring. I must admit that it's more fun having another grown up around!

My sister is so good about taking photos of her kids, so I thought I would make sure that continued in her absence. For those of you that read her blog regularly and are therefore going through withdrawal, here are several photos of our two days together.

There have been many bubbles

Memom is quite the cook!

"Can you find the blue marble?"

After retrieving the mail

Bedtime stories

Special breakfast outing with Aunt Anna - yea McD's Playland!

Playing at the park's water pump

A couple of cool peeps!

Just chillin' in the shade

Den Picnic - chicken nuggets and Cinderella!

We've had fun - and we're all tired! The parents return tomorrow night, hopefully in time to tuck in the kiddos and let them say "Happy Birthday" to their daddy!

Back to School!

It's official - my boy is a 4th grader!

And the 1st different thing this year - he is riding the bus! Thankfully, the boy across the street was in his class last year and the two boys down the road go to our church, so he was in good company and had fun.

He said his 1st day was "Awesome!" However, he has a "strict teacher and lots of troublmakers in his class." I'm not worried. He'll love her in no time and she'll straighten those kids out.

So back to homework, back to early mornings, back to packing lunches, back to routine!!!!