Stay-cation

Wilson County schools has a two-week fall break every October. This is the 2nd week, so Grant decided to take a few vacation days. I only had one day to take, so today is the day. It's a stay-cation for us . . . a quick trip down the road to the Hermitage. We've lived here 2 years and this is the first time we've toured Andrew Jackson's home. Here's a few shots of the visit.

The Hermitage is toured via audio commentary, hence the headphones.

Holly and Lauren noticed an area on the grounds where the sod was moving, literally, like it was breathing! We stood there and watched for awhile then Grant pointed out the path of the mole's burrow that extended several feet across the grounds.

Lauren refused to have her photo taken, kind of feeling sick most of the day, so you might be able to see the top of her head just behind Grant in the bottom picture.

Grant and the girls have a few more days of relaxation and maybe some fun this week. But for me, it's back to work! Ah well, better some than none!

12 lbs

We've had Snowcone for about 4 months now. She's really gotten bigger. She still has that youthful puppy look and she's fun to play with now. But wasn't she just the cutest little precious thing back then?

Lauren turned 16 on September 22nd. We surprised her with a Sweet Sixteen party the day before. With the help of one of my friends who "needed a babysitter" we were able to have Lauren away from home after school on that day. Holly decorated the den and kitchen, I made a cake, and Grant cooked up a heaping helping of shish-kabob.

A bunch of Lauren's friends came and helped with the surprise.

And at times they acted a wee bit crazy . . .

There was a cake depicting several of Lauren's little girl birthdays including her day-of-birth, her first birthday, her Harry Potter birthday, her Mickey Mouse birthday, her carousel birthday, and her baptism birthday.

Her cake had sparklers in the shape of the number 16. They were very smokey! We were lucky the smoke alarm didn't go off.

Lauren's heart's desire came true for her birthday . . . no, she didn't get a car for her birthday, she received a Chi flat iron. She was very excited! All the girls squealed when she opened that gift. Go figure!

She did get her own set of keys to Mom's and Dad's cars. Funny, she still asks to borrow our keys when she wants drive.

All in all, we successfully pulled off the surprise. And Lauren successfully managed to make it to sixteen. Hard to believe isn't it?

Band Season

It's band season again. It's been very busy, but this time, we have two kids marching, and one dad on the boosters executive board. The theme for this year's band show is Lunar, with music representing Orbits, Tides, and Reflections.




















Every year the kids and parents get a theme t-shirt

The high school's football team is undefeated so far, which means we'll most likely have a the season extended by several weeks. We have two out of four competitions finished, the first was very successful and the second was a little disappointing, even though the band performed well. I think it was just a matter of somewhat stiffer competition.





















This is Lauren and her section leader, Leah.





















Here's Holly, the short one playing the saxophone.
She can't help it, it's just that all of those guys are tall and
skinny, by comparison she looks miniature!