Celebrating with Tay on her 9th B-Day

I will never forget the day when this little girlie came into our lives! Can't believe it was over 9 years ago, but one thing is for sure the fam would not be the same without her!

As good as a pic of all five together can get!! A pretty good one if I do say so myself! If you click on the pictures in the blog it will enlarge them!

Ella's Stage Debut-December 19, 2008

Ella's class were the maids in the Nutcracker (yeah I didn't know their were maids in the original production either). But, their job was to come out after the party and tidy up. They did a super job! I was so proud of Ella. She was not scared a bit. She walked right out on stage and kept her eyes glued to Ms. Heather doing every move she did...on a couple second delay. This is such a big step for Ella. Just 6 mos. ago I do not think you could have gotten her out on stage like that. Her confidence is on the rise.

That red duster in Ella's hand is the other major story of the night & my major overreacting. The duster was a big part to their routine because they used it in all parts of their dance. Well, we get to the Capital backstage and seeing the other little girls running around with their dusters makes it dawn on me that I have not seen Ella's duster since we took these pictures at home. I quickly realize she left it laying in the living room & I forgot to pick it up & put it with her other stuff.

Well I quickly became one of the dreaded stage moms running around frantically trying to figure out what to do. I have never been one of THOSE type moms. Usually I am pretty laid back, but the thought of Ella being the only one on stage without that stupid little duster crushed me. She was so looking forward to this night & I wanted it to be perfect. I ran to find the stagehand to see if Ms. Heather had extras, but she was clueless & zero help. She said if there were none in the lost and found then they didn't have any.

So the other moms suggested running to the Dollar Tree to try to pick up a regular duster just to make due. I just imagined my poor Ella up there with a Swiffer Duster looking like a Proctor and Gamble commercial while the other little girls were all cutesy with their fancy red ones. I ran to find Matt and he zoomed out to search for one. In the mean time the crafty moms sprang into action with their crafty-mad momma skills (imagine MacGyver in heels.) These are definitely the type of women I would want with me in case of emergency. One found a hanger from the dry cleaners with the paper tube around it. They broke that off & started collecting red & purple feathers from the ground that had fallen off of the other girls dusters. They then took hair ties & wrapped the loose feathers to the tube. And I have to admit it looked pretty darn good.

With stage call quickly approaching I call Matt and inform him to abort 'Mission Feather Duster' and head back as quickly as possible. Within 5 minutes we were up ready to go on stage, and I just knew Matt did not make it back in time. I stood at the side of the stage bawling through the whole performance. I was so sad that her daddy was missing her first recital...all because I made him bolt for a silly duster. I was also crying because watching Ella with the big smile on her face out on that big stage made me realize how big she is getting. I can't how fast these 4 years have flown by, and that night was just a prelude to all the big changes ahead in life. Who would have thought that this whole situation would make me so emotional?

Well...as it turns out Matt had ran back into the theater with literally 30 seconds to spare. But, not without breaking every traffic law imaginable, and as he puts it, "Highly motivating a couple in the back parking lot to scurry out of his way!" I just imagine one of those scenes in a movie where a husband is trying to get his pregnant wife to the hospital before the baby is born in the car. I am surprised we didn't have law enforcement waiting for us afterwards.

Oh, and about that duster...as soon as we walk up to the stage I see Ms. Heather holding three dusters in her hands. So there really shouldn't have been a crisis at all...next time I will not trust the stage hand and go directly to the boss. No actually next time I will make a checklist & make sure there is nothing left behind at home.

(Sorry for such a long story)

Ella & the girls from her dance class.

We were very grateful for everyone that came out to support Ella in her first recital. I know it isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but I know it meant alot to us and her.

We took the girls to the Opry at the Ryman for the first time on December 16. Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Julianne Hough (Matt's eye candy), and CHUCK WICKS (my eye candy) were there...hehe. The highlight for Ella was seeing Carrie for sure. At the end all three came out to sing together. Matt put Ella up on his shoulders when they were waving bye & Ella started waving so hard I think her hand about fell off. Carrie looked right up to Ella and waved. That was the highlight for her. She had to tell everyone that, "Carrie waved to me!" That was a nice moment for her!

What gives it away that my kids are missing summer??

Ella is home sick from school today with a terrible runny nose, chest congestion and a bit of a fever. However, she wasn't sick enough to keep her and Addie from getting into my closet and raiding the pool gear. Through her little stuffy nose she coughed, "M0mmy can we go swimming?' Yeah right! Addie is pretty proud of her ducky, and he is her new companion for the day. She is walking around the house with him around her middle going, "Duck, Duck!"

5th Wedding Anniversary-December 13, 2008

We celebrated 5 years together this past Saturday. We are grateful that Matt's parents were willing to watch the girls so that we could sneak away to Nashville to celebrate. It is nice to get away without the kids from time to time & enjoy just being together.

We went to our favorite bistro P.F. Changs...somewhere we could not take the girls cause they would refuse to eat!! The wonton soup & chow mein are incredible! Saturday we were able to go to the Frist Museum for an exhibit on photography. It was nice to feel cultured ;) First time I have felt intellectual in a long time...LOL! They had a neat spot for children to make their own artwork using different mediums...so of course as with anything we do without taking the girls my mind kept wandering to how much fun it would be to bring the girsl. We ate at our other favorite spot on this day too...RED ROBIN (Yes we need to take the girls back cause they love it too!) Saturday night we got tickets for the Rockettes at the Grand Ole Opry House. I have wanted to go see this show for years now, and it was definitely worth the wait! The living nativity at the end was awesome as well. I am usually not into those type of theatrical productions, but the living nativity had me tearing up. I definitely want to take the kids back next year. Ella loves dance & would get a kick out if that. It was a very nice weekend and a great way to celebrate 5 whole years together.

Here is a look down memory lane by rewinding to our wedding day. It snowed that morning & of course being the nervous bride I freaked out. I called Matt bawling my eyes out screaming, "No one is going to come. Someone is going to have a car wreck getting there...etc. etc." You know the typical bride meltdown. It had been a stressful week with finals and getting everything ready for the big day so I was entitled to one good breakdown. I am proud to report that the evening turned out just fine and no one was injured getting to and from :)

Our wedding was held at South Green St. Church of Christ in Glasgow, KY. I am thinking around 5 pm. I actually wanted the wedding to be at 4:30, but I couldn't figure out the formal way to write that out so I settled on the top of the hour cause I knew how to write that out...yeah I know...I probably could have just Googled it...but was google around then? Okay, yahooed it.

All of these pics were taken by our friend Vanessa! She takes great pics & needs to become a professional someday!

I was so proud of my simple red roses! Exactly the way I wanted them. She even added a bit of shimmer to the petals which made them pop more in pictures.

My bridesmaids & me right before the big moment. LtoR Jeanie, Dana, Amanda, Jennifer, & Jenny.

Matt and his groomsmen. John, Andy, Alex, Greg, & Jason.

I wanted my cake to look like stacked presents, and I was very happy with the way the lady at Sweetheart Bakery made my vision come to life!

Oh what a great day. I just flew by way too fast...as have the last 5 years. If someone would have told me we would have 2 kids by now I would have called them crazy.