Catch-Up

This season is a whirlwind whether or not you intend to do anything. Seriously, busy. Last weekend was the worship arts concert that I was in. The choir didn't really sing much but we were on stage the whole time since it takes a long time to get a choir in place. And even though we didn't sing much it was really nice to be part of the whole thing. I was really impressed with the quality of music from the band and the amazing stuff that the dancers did. There were back flips and front flips and breakdance-looking-gymnastic-type-stuff. Overall it was really cool- I'm sad Travis missed it.

We had snow on Thursday! Which is where I got the new blog header. The girls and I had so much fun and it was that really wet, packing snow that is perfect for snowballs and snowmen. Chloe and Halle made me laugh because they'd make a snowball and throw it at each other but never hit the intended target. Chloe finally just pressed the snowball on Halle's back. Here are some pictures of the snow. Yes, my Thanksgiving pumpkin is still on my front step. I didn't get any pictures of the kiddos because the batteries died but you can see how much we got. I wish I'd had a sled. I did see deer tracks all over our backyard- super cool. Since I don't do any heavy duty gardening, I'm thinking of feeding them.

Travis has been sick for a week and we found out yesterday it's walking pneumonia. I had a temporary freak out feeling when he told me but it's called walking pneumonia for a reason. I'm not sure if I've ever seen Travis this sick for this long. He will have missed a week of work and with the week he took off for my grandma's funeral, I'm wondering if there will be any vacations this year.

Chloe had her school Christmas program last night. This is the first school that has had a Christmas program. I didn't take the video camera thinking that it would be hard to find a good spot to film. But as it turns out Amanda took a message from Chloe's school and mixed it up in such a way that we were 50 minutes early for the show- so we got a front row seat. Travis couldn't go and I was bummed but I remembered that my camera has a video feature and we purchased a 4 gig CF card for it this past weekend so I was able to record some of it- in 30 second intervals. Which you'll find below. It's pretty pixelized but hopefully Travis can pick Chloe out of the crowd. You can see her head right between the Asian girl and Indian boy on the front row. She was very excited about the whole thing and proved it by posing for the camera.

Ah, we're in the silly picture taking days- I'm so excited!

In other news we were able to refinance our house and signed the papers on that this past Monday. I have to admit that I've wondered if we really made a good choice buying this house. When we were buying it and expressed doubt, people would say "its in Franklin" as though that's the end all in buying destinations. I know in Middle TN there's the attitude that everything in Franklin is made with gold- but you've seen my house. Anyway, it did appraise and we're actually able to take some equity out (we had equity? who knew?) and put in new windows and some other yet to be determined improvements. I'm writing a check to the window guy tomorrow for 7 energy efficient windows! That's the whole house. They should be done by the middle of January, although I think rain could push it back to the beginning of February. I hope it's sooner though because I'm cold. I promised pictures of the house in my last post but I've only got this one.

See anything missing? Does this ring a bell?

I thought I'd taken more pictures of the window with the shutters so you'd probably only notice if you've been to my house. When I was painting the wood around the window, I couldn't leave the shutters unpainted because they'd be a different color. But have you ever tried to paint shutters? I finally decided that I didn't have the time and really needed a sprayer so I took them down. In the whole house there were only a couple of things that I liked and the shutters were one of those things. But in the end I think I like the look of the curtain better. It's a little less convenient but it's cute.

And lastly, we've decorated a bit around here. Amanda is crazy-excited this year and started decorating before I had a chance to. My mom gave us her Christmas village that Amanda has very fond memories of. She set that and the nativity up when we got back in town after Thanksgiving. I haven't taken pictures of the whole thing but here's a shot of my little sweeties putting the star on the top.

And that's a wrap. I'm not sure if I'll check in again before Christmas but I hope you all have a merry one.

I can't believe I'm already into week 2 of the girls summer break. Time flew last week when Mom and Dad were here. I dragged them to Hendersonville as soon as they got to our house this past Wednesday. I needed a hair cut and I'm very afraid to try someplace new since I have several bad hair cut experiences. And I also needed to go to Ginger's Health Food store. I was able to stay well for 2 and a half months last year by taking some products from Renew Life and even though it's little pricey I'm desperate. I also wanted Mom and Dad to try them because of some health issues. And Amanda had plans with Taylor before her modeling gig so dropping her off there helped him out a little bit. That night we headed over to Centennial Park for her fashion show and there was a movie in the park as well but since Napoleon Dynamite was showing we decided to skip it. Besides after driving from B'ham to Franklin to Hendersonville to Franklin to Nashville they were pretty well tuckered out- and I was too.

So the next day we went to the Factory and visited the Viking store, ice cream shop, and a great consignment store. I actually meant to tell everybody about it but I got a great skirt and linen top from there for around $20 so the next time I have shopping money I'm heading there first. I also found some plate holders that I can use for the paintings that I've done on canvas board. The one pictured is the one I did for my Mom for Mother's Day. I just gave it to her this past weekend because I felt like a dork by giving her something I painted (picture a 6 year old Amy handing her Mom a scribbled on card). I was really afraid she wouldn't like it because I wasn't completely thrilled with it but she did like it and it looked nice in the plate holder. I'll take a picture of another of my paintings in one so you'll know what I'm talking about.

By Friday we had birthday party errands to run, Travis came home sick with a stomach bug and we had to reschedule the party, more birthday errands because we couldn't send my parents home party-less, and hours of Rook playing. By Saturday everybody was just kind of sick from this or that and very tired from all of the running. I'm afraid it might be a while before they come back.

Much more happened over the weekend including a big health scare with Trav's Pop but God is so good and Pop is much better. He was in the hospital with a heart condition but thankfully it wasn't a heart attack and we are very thankful. He's out of the hospital and is able to go back to work- and workout- today, I think.

Right now I'm planning on feeding the little ones and am going to take them to the mall to play. It is pretty hot outside and it really isn't that much fun for any of us to be outside for long.

Amanda's Modeling Thing

Well, it's been a busy week but I thought I'd post a few pics of Amanda's modeling gig. Mom and Dad are here and we're having a great time. Blogger is giving me trouble with pictures again so I'm not going to write a lot in case I have to re-do it.