We walked from the hotel to Opry Mills, a big outlet area, on Saturday. We took a couple of pics on our walk. Ben, who rarely wants his picture taken ran up to this pathfinder and says "hey mom, take a picture" and proceeds to totally pose for the camera. It was really funny. The look on his face is priceless. Also, daddy wanted to get a pic in front of the Grand Ole Opry with the kids.
Before we went to the Opry we first, let the kids sleep in the car for awhile to get in a much needed nap before the 9:30 show, then we headed to P.F. Changs for dinner. It of course was yummy! Although all Ben ate was 2 bowls of pineapple. Then we headed downtown where the kids talked us into a horse and carriage ride. It was really nice since it was so nice out, a little breezy but really nice. The kids absolutely loved it so it made it totally worth the money!
These were our seats. Not the greatest but ok. We learned that it is worth paying the extra money for better seats but it was still a great time. The Ryman is so intimate that you could see the performers great no matter where you sat and they are real relaxed there, allowing you to go up and take pictures during the performance. It was such a classic evening and I could see myself wanting to go every Saturday night if we lived close by. I could close my eyes and picture it back in the 50's and 60's and imagine Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline and others on that stage... so neat. It was a great night and even though it was extremely late for the kids to be out they did Awesome. They were in awe the whole night.
The main reason we went... Keith Urban... he played two songs and they were great. Nicole Kidman was there but did not make an appearance on stage. It was totally worth it. I was able to walk up closer and get a couple more shots of him. The australian accent was nice too!!! hee hee
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The next few acts were great also... Julianne Houghs is an up and coming artist that was on dancing with the stars a while back. Jamey Johnson is a new one too... started out as a song writer and actually wrote an Emmy awarded song for George Strait last year, and then there was Jean Shepherd, a sweet lady from back in the 50's. It was so fun!
I have somehow lost the pictures from Christmas morning... They are probably on my desktop... I will post when I find them...
Here are some pics from our small family gathering... We missed being with all of Craig's family but were thrilled to have his mom, Mary Ann with us!!! The kids love Craig's turkey... they eat it up... and Katie loves her some gravy and some rolls with lots of butter!!! (She is definately my child on that one!!! :) It was a nice, quiet dinner... We all agreed that we are all so very blessed!!
The next couple of posts are going to be out of order because I have pictures on different computers and on different cameras. (don't ask) This year I made the whole dinner by myself and from scratch... except for the turkey, which Craig smoked! I actually only had one "breakdown" during the cooking process... and it was about how my kitchen is too small,I dont have all the cooking utensils I need etc. But I made it through and all the food was edible!!! I used all of mom's recipes and I really relied on how mom would do things in years past... She always said timing is everything and boy she was right. So.... here is a picture of the main dishes... I was going to have a "Green" something but that did not pan out... so we ate a lot of orange and yellow... yum, yum!
All dressed up for church in the cute, cute, cute outfits Grandmama bought them!
Grandmama and the children before our Christmas Eve service!
Chris playing around at the table with his mom, Leah (Craig's cousin)
A view from the other side of the table... after we were were all stuff from Aunt Jean's GREAT meal!!!
This is the picture of the little girl that read the scripture and prayed. Katie and Ben wanted to be front row-center!
Our church is partnered up with a church north of Birmingham. Every year at Christmas we adopt angels from their community. Each sunday school class takes a few angels and goes shopping for their wishes. This year, Craig and I decided to get more involved by being one of the families to deliver the gifts to the families. So today we loaded up the gifts and our kids and traveled in a caravan to Acipco. The community is very different there ours which was eye opening for Katie to see. "Why is that house burned, mommy?" "Why doesn't that house have doors, daddy?" were a few of the questions Katie had on the way to the church. We won't discuss the question" How did they get me and Ben out of your tummy, mommy?" yes, she asked that question today... oh mY!!! Anyways.... We arrived and brought in all the gifts. Katie and Ben were very eager to help in anyway possible. A little girl read scripture and prayed and did a far better job than I could have done! We shared a meal of chicken wings and meatballs and then watched as the gifts were handed out! It was very rewarding to be a part of this ministry and to really show Katie and Ben that it is far better to give than to receive! Here are a few pictures from our visit!
After I took the pictures today, Katie and I were in her room about to change her clothes when I noticed that she totally matched her room.... so I had to take pictures. Katie has gotten really good at posing for mama. She totally knows what I am wanting in a picture. So here are a few I snapped. Then I tried to catch Ben playing but everytime I came in the playroom with the camera he would turn his back... so I was only able to get one picture of the little booger!!!
Since getting the kids dressed on Sundays proves to be a weekly challenge(especially for the boy in the family). I thought I better take pictures of them all "dolled" up today. Grandmama has continued the tradition of buying the children's Christmas outfits each year and this year she, yet again, did not disappoint. Katie wore her beautiful white dress with smocked ornaments across the top and of course the hot pink bow to top it off. It was quite chilly so she was able to wear her white faux fur coat! Ben wore his adorablel sweater with green polo underneath, brown cord pants and new stylish shoes... He just LOVES wearing church clothes!!! (not) So here they are in our backyard where we have our blow up santa and rudolph!
