Riverdance

Today was a great experience. I went to Riverdance for my first time. Kristin & Jamie had been before, but Me & Cindy had never been. Cindy's husband drives limo's so we hired him on and rode in style downtown. I just can't describe how amazing the whole production of Riverdance was. It was a little bit of everything, opera, ballet, the Irish Riverdance, the music was unbelievable with only a 5 person band. The drummer alone was worth going. While we were at the show, Buddy and Bubba took the limo and hung out at Wendy's. After the show we went to Wasabi Japanese Steak House, where they cook the food in front of you. It was great & I'm stuffed. Suppose to be getting snow tonight. We shall see.

All the girls that went to Riverdance. To the right is my friend Cindy, her husband and our limo driver Bubba, then me and Kristin.Left to right, Shannah, Jamie, Stacey in the background then Kristin
Me & Cindy

Mexican Night

Last night we had Mexican food. Taco salad, rice, frijole beans, jalapeno poppers, taquita's, cheese dip, & apple tart with ice cream for dessert. Buddy's dad joined us this week also. Sure wish Jeremy had been here, this is one of his favorite meals. My dad brought a cake that they had given him at the Senior Citizens Center. I think Trevor was the only one that ate it and he did enjoy it. It is pure sugar and I don't know how anyone could consume that icing. I got some on my finger and was trying to wash it off. It was like trying to get baby oil off of your hand. Now, I know that can't be good for your insides. Nothing else much happened this week. Getting pretty excited about going to Riverdance tomorrow.

Trevor enjoying his sugar high.

Staying Warm

This weeks weather has been crazy, but not unusual for Tennessee. Was in the 70's early in the week and now it is 20, go figure. This is the time of year around here you have to have summer and winter wardrobe available, because you never know what the temps are going to be. Now they are calling for a chance of snow on Saturday. We hear that a lot around here but just never seems to develop. Once it gets warm like it did earlier this week, it is hard to adjust back to the cold. But, then again in a couple of months we will be complaining about it being too hot.

Wednesday night Reggie Dabbs was speaking at our church. He is an amazing motivational speaker. He has been going around to local schools this week. Yesterday, he went to Trousdale County High School, which is where John (my son-in-law) teaches. He said that Reggie was a hit and that everyone loved him. At the schools Reggie isn't allowed to speak of religion in any way but John said through what he talked about he still got the point across. Last night our church had a youth only service with him and about 20 from John's High School were there. They said the church was packed. If anyone that reads this gets the chance to hear him, please don't miss it. http://www.reggiedabbsonline.com/Cindy said that several of the adults that were there had to go out in the hall and watch it on the TVs in the hallway.

The family all came over again last night. John had to eat and leave to go to church to meet with his kids from school. Glad Trevor was able to make it. He went to school yesterday and they called and said he had a fever. Jamie took him to the Dr. and he had an ear infection. Poor guy has had it rough this winter. He just wasn't himself last night. Jeremy called from from the Air Force base and we were all excited to get to talk to him. He sounded really good. He has graduated from boot camp and is now in Techincal School. Gets through around 5 p.m. and has free weekends, unlike it was before. After dinner (beef roast, roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, roasted mixed veggies, Parmesan herb bubble bread & homemade cinnamon rolls) we played bingo. Mom bought a new fancy bingo set and just had to play. Dad & Mom go down to the Senior Center during the week for lunch and they usually play bingo. She is hooked. The prize last night was a $10 gift certificate for Outback Steakhouse (contributed by Dad) Mom won, so she put it back in the pot. Next game, we did a cover all and Dad won. He was sitting by Craig and they tried to pull a fast one on the rest of us and switched cards, making it look like Craig had one. So they fessed up and we played again, since dad put the gift card back in the pot also. On the last game, it was also a cover all and Buddy won, and it was a close game. It was fun, but kind of hard to do, with Trevor not feeling so good and Mitchell was his rowdy self, with the commotion it was kind of hard to hear. Nolen was the ball turner, so that kept him busy. They are used to getting to play.

One other funny note. Kristin had a lot of work on Wednesday, so I went to pick Mitchell up at school. His teacher (Ms. Dorothy) was telling him bye. I told her to ask Mitchell if he was going to have a brother or sister. His response "Sitter" that's how he says it. Then she asked what her name was going to be. He said "Dinosaur Rex" Then she said "What if it is a brother, what will his name be?" He said, "Ming, Ming" Whewy are we in trouble or what. :)

Mitchell, Nolen, and Mom staying warm by the fire. Not sure why the fire isn't showing up but there was one going. :)

Home Again

We got back from Gatlinburg yesterday afternoon. We left the chalet around 10:30 and met up with Cindy and Bubba from church. The youth group comes up to ski at Ober Gatlinburg this time every year. They went up to ski early yesterday morning, and Cindy and Bubba stay down the hill in case anyone needed to come back for any reason. So we met up with them and walked around awhile. We found a neat little kitchen trinket shop that is new. Just had to buy a few things. I'm not a shopper but you put me in a store with kitchen trinkets, I'm a happy person. After that we went to http://www.bubbagump.com/ It was great, I had the shrimp sampler. We then walked back to where the kids were staying and sat around and chatted for awhile. Then headed home. Stopped at the Christian Book Store in Sevierville, to stock up on some books for my dad. He goes through them fast. I'm so glad that he is content to sit and read now. I don't think he had ever read a book through until he was 80 years old. Now he goes through them like crazy. We got home around 5:00 and unpacked. Went to pick our dogs up at Kristin's and came home. Thanks Kristin, John, and Mitchell for babysitting. There was one minor incident while we were gone. Kristin had to go bail Lexie out of jail. She had escaped through the fence and luckily someone picked her up and took her to the pound. Cost her nearly $50 to bail her out. I'm so thankful someone had the heart to take the time to pick her up and take her.

Our youth kids from church are somewhere in this pic

Pretty sunrise on the mountain

These two pics are of them making the snow on Ober Gatlinburg

This little chick-a-dee was hanging out on the deck

Friday and Saturday were great days. Friday it was sunny and warm. We were actually on the deck reading in short sleeves and shorts. I didn't make it through the truck race. Went to bed early. Of course, Buddy watched it to the end. Saturday my Valentine fixed me breakfast. :) The day started out rainy and fog was real thick. There was a fine mist for most of the day. We watched the race yesterday. Our Valentine dinner was grilled flatiron steak, baked potato, and Brussels sprouts with Parmesan cheese. This morning I'm going to try to listen to our church service on my laptop, if I can get it to pick up. The signal here is not real good. Then it will be race time again. Go Jeffy, Jimmie, or Junior. Any wins by either of them would be fine with me.

The sledding hill looks like lots of fun. As you can see in the pic at the bottom of this post. that I took today, there is more snow on it. So the kids from church coming up on Monday should have snow. This was people practicing on Friday before hitting the hill.

This was how foggy it was Saturday morning. This was taken from our deck. We are in the clouds

Fog is about gone. The slopes look better today. They were able to make snow last night.

Gatlinburg

We are now in Gatlinburg, staying in a chalet over top of Ober Gatlinburg. The weather is absolutely beautiful today. It was in the low 60's and sunny. When we got here the twin Nascar races were just starting. Woohoo, way to go Jeff Gordon on the first race, and a win. Buddy watched them and I sat out on the deck and read and watched the people snow skiing. I saw lots of spills and some of the folks were really good. I'm getting ready to fix fajitas for dinner.

Pics from our chalet of Ober Gatlinburg

Tram heading to the ski slopes Beautiful shot of the mountains with the sun setting on them

Great Weekend

Wow! What a great weekend. The weather has made a major turn and we are feeling a little warmer. Friday night Trevor and Nolen spent the night with us. At 4 years old Nolen has mastered my laptop, (scarey huh) He can play all the games on Nick. and can do better than me. Whew, just don't know what the future holds for this little guy. I limit him on time on the computer and he is fine with that. Trevor is just mister entertainment. He is so funny, I'm sure he is going to be a gymnist or something to that effect. He will get on chairs and jump off of them and raise his hands up in the air. (Like give me a 10) Trevor's mom and dad are trying to get rid of his paccy and yes we can do it, but they have to help. He never asked for it the whole time he was with us Friday night or Saturday. We went through the same thing with Nolen. He would stay here for 2 nights and never have the paccy and never asked for it, but when he went home they would give in. I know it will all work out in time.

Today Kristin and John were staining their deck, so we brought Mitchell home after church. He ate his "Old McDonald Hamburger" aka McDonald's and then took a nap. After that he went outside and what a great day it was. It was in the 70's. PaPaw was cleaning up the fence line behind our house. After that Mitchell got to play with Papaw's remote control monster truck. He chased it around and his words were "It's Racing Day" So they raced around the yard. He then played on the swingset and tried climbing a tree. OH boy, he is so much like Kristin when she was that age. Just full of mischief. We were sitting out on the deck this afternoon and Pastor Andrew came by to drop off some blankets for us to embroider and he looked down and Mitchell said "I want to see that guy" Just too funny. After that we took Bailey (our new dog) over to Kristin's house to see if she would get along with their dog's while we were away. All seems to work out so we should be fine.

Trevor with Papaw. Nolen was playing Blue's Clues game for Trevor Way to go big brother you are doing good.

Trevor getting really tired, but hanging in there.

Trevor crashing without his assy (Pacifier) Mitchell climbing our tree. He has no fear and will try anything.

Hanging on

Mitchell was playing Hide-n-Seek from Papaw. He was telling me to be quiet so he wouldn't find him.

Doing a little digging around the tree.

Mitchell driving the zero turn tractor that Papaw borrowed from Uncle Bobby.

No, he really isn't driving just getting ready for his ride.

Happy Birthday Jamie

Last night we did Jamie's birthday dinner. She requested "Make your own Pizza" I lay out all the ingredients and they put on them what they want. Ingredients included Pepperoni, Turkey Pepperoni, Grilled chicken, Canadian Bacon, Onions, Red Pepper, Mushrooms, Black Olives, Tomatoes, Jalepenos, Banana Pepper and Cheese. I also had Turkey Chili and BBQ wings. Desert was heart shaped brownies with chocolate covered strawberries and ice cream. Today is actually Jamie's birthday, she is hanging on to the 20's for one more year. We are keeping the boys tonight so her and Craig can go out on a date. The boys were sick for quite awhile so I'm sure she is ready to get out of the house.

After dinner the boys had their play time. I had a fire going and dad was sitting as close to it as he could get. He stays cold all the time, so guess it felt good to him. The temps are finally on the rebound today. It has been cold for several days now, so we are ready for some warmer temps. It is going to be in the 60's for the next several days. Me and Buddy will be leaving for Gatlinburg next Thursday to stay until Monday, so I won't be cooking next week. If I can get my air card to work from the mountains, I will blog from there.

Jamie is deciding what she is going to put on her pizza

Jamie's pizza she created (Check out Kristin on the right, she isn't flipping her sister-in-law off, just licking her finger. :) Sweet pic of Jamie and Nolen Nolen helping Jamie blow out her candle I was being attacked by Nolen and Mitchell

Guess this is why I can't lose weight, I need the bigger lap to hold my boys. :)