Happy 8th Birthday, Bailey!!

We celebrated Bailey's birthday all weekend, culminating with her party today. We always like to do something a little different, so Bailey invited a few of her friends to see the new movie, "The Tale of Despereaux," at the Regal Riviera downtown. After the movie, we walked to the new Marble Slab on Market Square for ice cream. The whole thing came together without a hitch, and I was really sweatin' it! The kids were super-sweet during the movie and they traveled well to get ice cream. Bailey got to open her presents after finishing her ice cream and she got so many neat things! The hit of the party was Andrew's present, the Wild Time Pin Print! It was a hoot - every kid wanted a turn with that thing.


For her pre-birthday dinner, we went to Wasabi with Sam & Sarah and had a blast. Then, the dads and kids came back to our house to play Wii and the moms took off for the mall - a place Jennifer and I should never be allowed to go without supervision!! We had a great time - it was a wonderful break from the holiday craziness. Bailey's 8th birthday turned out to be a lot of fun for all of us!!! Yea, and I'm off the hook for a whole year!!!!!

Merry Christmas to All!

We had the most wonderful Christmas season! We were so blessed to be able to spend time with family and friends. We started new traditions while keeping the old ones - we went on a Victorian home tour, walked in the Fountain City Christmas Parade with Bailey's Brownie Troop, went to the Downtown Christmas parade (and almost froze to death!!), had a cookout with friends on an especially warm (then rainy!) night, went to church on Christmas Eve with Grammy & Pops at our church where Bailey was an angel in the nativity pageant, enjoyed a delicious lunch with Chris's family in Crab Orchard, TN, delivered cookies on Christmas Eve to people who had to work, enjoyed a country Christmas at Dollywood, bought a cool bicycle and helmet for a boy who was part of the Angel Tree program, enjoyed another delicious meal with our Sunday School class at Calhoun's, and many, many other fun and special activities.

We are so thankful that our families are healthy this year and so are we. Chris's work hours are crazy but we are so thankful for his job. We made an extra special effort this year to keep Christ in Christmas, to not get caught up in the craziness that the season often brings and the little details that are often so unimportant. And, as I'm writing this on Christmas night, feeling calm and serene, I think our Christmas was as close to perfect as it could possibly be.

Love and blessings in the new year,

Angela

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

Today, Bailey & I delivered a few treats to the teachers and staff at school so, of course, Bailey had to wear a Santa hat and the cute little Santa shirt I found yesterday!! We felt like elves going to the classes and offices leaving goodies! It reminds me of when I was young and Daddy & I would "play Santa" and deliver gifts to our friends. That is one of my very best memories and I hope Bailey will always have good Christmas memories, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had the best Thanksgiving!! We slept in and then cooked for my parents. Chris fixed his famous and delicious country ham and mom made my favorite cornbread dressing casserole. I made a pumpkin spice cake with caramel sauce that was to die for!! So basically, we ate all day and then had to walk it off at the Fantasy of Trees. It was so great! I am always amazed that the trees are more and more amazing every year. The brown and turquoise one was my favorite! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! Bailey had such a good time, too! She rode a spinny ride and did crafts and loved all the gingerbread houses. Her school tree was really neat! The theme was recycling, which sounds kind of dull, but it turned out to be a fantastic tree! There was a huge lighted globe on top and lots of super-cute ornaments that the kids helped make. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!

Rocky Hill Rodeo

Holy cow! I have never seen a school raise money like Rocky Hill Elementary School! We've been to their Rodeo two years in a row and it is always WILD! There are dozens of cool baskets for auction and activities like this year's bucking bronco and bungee run that "encourage" parents to willingly fork over lots of $$ for tickets and chances to win big prizes. Last year's grand prize was two tickets to see Hannah Montana at $5 per chance (sadly we didn't win!) and this year, they gave away a Wii and other cool stuff. Bailey and Regan rode the bronco, Bailey a little more reluctantly than Regan! But, as usual, I got some good pictures . . .

The Cheetah Girls Concert

Bailey and I had such a blast at the Cheetah Girls concert!! We had AMAZING seats - 17th row on the center aisle! I think I had a better time than Bailey, but she really loved dancing her heart out. I believe she wanted to be "discovered!" I took a ton of pictures because the camera did so well! This was our first concert together and I can't wait to take her to more and more as she gets older - if she'll let me!

Who's that girl?!?

She's a Spanish dancer, of course! Halloween was great! We met Grammy and Pops for dinner at the Downtown Grill and then took Bailey trick-or-treating on Market Square. She flew from store to store and slowed down only when she saw the sword fighting. The little treaters could "fight" the professionals with fake swords and Bailey tried her best to beat the crap out of a grown man. A proud moment for all of us! After Phase 1 of trick-or-treating, we headed to Bailey's friend, Austin's neighborhood, and I thought she was going to come unhinged. Phase 2 yielded a ton of candy, which is just about gone now. Good times!