You'll never guess where we went on Saturday night! The Rodeo. Yep, my dad called me that morning and asked if we wanted some tickets to go see Joey and Rory (from Can You Duet on CMT......he and mom loved that show) in concert that just so happened to be the opening act for the local rodeo at the Ag Center. Hhhhhmmm, let me think... free live country music? Oh yeah, count me in! So, I put on my cowboy boots and loaded the boys up for a funfilled evening of "bulls and blood and dust and mud..."



The music was quite good and I enjoyed it a lot, but let me tell ya, we were the only folks there who came to see Joey and Rory and oh-by-the-way a rodeo after. The crowd was there for the rodeo, which was more entertaining than I would have expected. First off the whole thing was set to a soundtrack and they played snippets of MANY songs throughout the evening ranging from ACDC to Kanye west. Think a local minor league baseball game times about 10. The whole thing was very dramatic with lighting and music and all that. Then came the actual bull riding. I was a nervous wreck everytime they came out on one. That stuff is dangerous and I was terrified one of them would get seriously injured on each ride. I do know one thing, it could not be good for their backs to be jerked around like that and I hope they all have a good chiropractor!


My boys were impressed to put it mildly. Adam had already told me on the ride there that he would probably like to be a cowboy when he grows up. We decided that he could still be one but not the kind that rides bulls..... cause my nerves couldn't handle that! Maybe he could just dress like one instead. Or better yet, maybe he will be a country music singer! By the way, his outfit was entirely his own idea....hat and all. He was disappointed that he had no cowboy boots to complete it.

The highlight of the rodeo part of the night was watching the girls do the barrel racing. Now that was impressive! We all loved it.

Back to Rory and Joey.......if you don't know them, you really should. I loved watching them perform. They are hugely talented and I think it is so refreshing to hear some true country music that THEY actually wrote. He is the songwriter and guitar player and she sings lead. They met at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and fell in love about ten years ago. *sigh* -----so sweet
Adam and I were going to get a picture with them but couldn't take the line at that hour of the night so we headed home instead.

Thanks Grandaddy and Mimi for a fun night!

I will leave you with a new video of Annabelle singing some Annie tunes. I apologise for how loudly I am singing in the background. I didn't realise it would pick up my voice so much.





Ok, I better get going now. We have a big week ahead........teaching co-op, coffee house at church, Greenway 5k, big music night after....... I will keep you posted as always!

The goal for this week is to get bedtime schedules under control. Homeschooling doesn't demand a super strict schedule so I find my little laid-back self being much too lax on the kids in ways.......especially bedtime. You may know how this goes, a beautiful harmonious tone comes over the household and everyone gets along and plays quietly as bedtime draws near........knowing that if they act up, it is off to bed! Then, of course, the routine itself is quite long. We must have a little snack, brush teeth, straighten up, read books in Annabelle's room, read with the boys alone in their room and finish off with prayers and any discussions that might arise. The reading takes a while because I enjoy it just as much as them and always end up reading 3 or 4 chapters in the Little House books each night. (By the way, the Ingalls' garden and entire wheat crop was destroyed by grasshoppers last night. It was devastating and nearly brought the 3 of us to tears. Can you imagine?) We really need to get the process started around 6:30 or 7:00 to be in bed and done before 9:00, but it is really hard to start thinking about bedtime that early for me. To make the situation just a little harder, I am worn down by that time and just somewhat tired of "mothering".

So there you have it; All of my excuses for why my kids aren't asleep and it just happens to be 10:00 pm!! Hopefully, by writing this all out and sharing it with you, I can create just a little more accountability on my part. I feel like sleep is VERY essential in life and everything goes more smoothly when we are well-rested. I want my kids to be in bed at a decent hour. I really need to "tighten up this ship!"

Here are a few pictures of the kids playing with our new neighbors. Lucie spent the week with Mimi and we got to have her a couple of afternoons. It was wonderful for Annabelle to have a playmate. The two of them adore one another and get along so very well!

We stayed outside lots!


















Annabelle loves Emily's Barbie jeep. I am sure she would ride around the cul-de-sac for hours is we would let her.






















The indoor garden is coming along this year. We have a lot more plants this time around and they are almost ready to be transferred outdoors. The boys are very excited and interested in it all, but I would have to say that Adam is more so than Caleb. We also made bat houses for the Zoology classes so I will have to get a picture up of them soon. Hopefully there will be very few mosquitoes at our house this summer!

Biltmore and the Game

I have been meaning to blog all week long, but just haven't gotten to it until today, especially since the last post was such a downer.
Let me start with Becky's blog game.

Here are the rules:
write 5 "beliefs" ...rules you live by and you are not allowed to get serious or preachy, political or religious! These are just for fun and to see if other people are as quirky as you!

1. I "believe" in beautiful song lyrics.
2. I "believe" that little boys should be allowed to get VERY dirty.
3. I "believe" that if the weather is anything above 65 degrees, one must be outside as much as possible. (maybe I can even go with 60 on this)
4. I "believe" in my friend Kelly's jewelry. I got a necklace and earrings that she made for my birthday and have worn nothing else since.
5. I "believe" that music is always better live. (Annie said this one too, but I have been thinking of my list for a few days and I promise this one was mine before I read hers. Great minds think alike!)


I now tag Jill, Susannah and Jessie.....

One Wednesday, the boys and I dropped Annabelle off at Mimi's and headed to the Biltmore grounds to explore and make future plans. We only had a couple of hours to hang out so we went straight to the farm and the Outdoor Center. The farm has all sorts of crafts, games and antique farm equipment to check out. We loved watching the Black Smith's presentation and stayed for a couple of demonstrations. I took advantage of being one of the few people there and spent some time talking with the lady at the inforamtion stand. She said that as it gets warmer, there will be live music everyday, craftsmen set up in each horse stall, a woodworking presentation, storytelling and lots of other special events. Talk about fun educating! Plus, I have always been a bit obssessed with anything from that time period (late 1800s) so I got super excited about it all. Next time I am wearing a dress and sunbonnet.











No, I guess I won't because next time we will definitely be biking and hiking all over the miles and miles of trails and paths. We picked up maps from the folks at the Outdoor center and got the lowdown on the cool places to explore. I can't wait!



The boys played and played on the wagon and tractor. I had to drag them away!















There were all sorts of old timey games in the middle of the farm to try........

AND there is a petting zoo thing:















These are pictures of the crowns Mimi made the kids. They were so cute. What a great Mimi!

Ah, the heartaches of selling a house.
The prospective buyers are not interested at this point because they wanted the master bedroom on the main floor.
How lazy.






Everything else is fine and dandy here with us.
I don't have much else to report at this time.

Thanks for reading!

Can you believe the beautiful weather we had here this weekend!? Both Saturday and Sunday were dreamy days of 70 degrees with a lovely breeze. The kids spent Saturday at Mimi and Grandaddy's house while Seth and I cleared out, cleaned up and painted the house for our showing on Sunday. Yep, that is right, we had a showing of our house on Sunday. I debated on whether I should post about it, because I don't want to get my hopes up, but I need your prayers. The family is renting in Biltmore Lake but likes the lot size and price of our house. I think the showing went well. They seemed to like the house.........

We will see....

Seth and I have decided to run the Greenway 5K/10K next month so we ran a few times together last week. We loaded up the kids and went to a local park/soccer fields area and took turns running and watching the kids play. It was good for me to have Seth because he brings the common sense into the mix and made sure that we eased into it by running a couple of miles the first day rather than 5 or something. Running uses different muscles than teaching aerobics so we were both pretty sore last week. It has been a good thing. Seth is a natural runner. He used to run 6 minute miles and smoke everyone on the Montreat baseball team back in college, so he is gonna be a superstar by the time the race rolls around. I am not at all made for distance running but I am in pretty good shape already and like the challenge.

I will keep you posted on the house thing.

BTW, go read Jessie's blog. I love when she posts!

"Then what is the use of repining
For where there's a will, there's a way,
And tomorrow the sun may be shining,
Although it is cloudy today."

And as they sang, the fear and the suffering of the long, cold winter seemed to rise like a dark cloud and float away on the music. Spring had come. The sun was shining warm, the winds were soft, and the green grass growing.
The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder




Aaah, we just finished this book and were happy to read that the Ingalls family did not end up starving or freezing to death during the winter of 1880-1881......though it seemed very likely.

How dare I complain about winter being too long or dreary around here!

Womens Retreat pictures

Saturday was a nice break from normal life. We had our annual womens retreat for church at the Biltmore. The speaker was incredible. As always, it was just a lot of fun to hang out with everyone.

Julie, Kristen, Kathy and I lead the music.

Alright, brace yourself.

I had never been to the Biltmore house before this!

Yep, lived here all my life, never gone.

Obviously, I was very excited to tour the grand house after lunch.



It was gorgeous and everything I had imagined. However, my favorite part was definitely the servants quarters, kitchen and laundry. I just loved that.......maybe cause I can relate to those folks better than the rich ones who lived in the main part of the house.

Oh and I loved all of the fabrics and wallpaper designs. Stuff like that makes me very excited. Amie kept saying after I gushed over the wallpaper in each room, "you have obviously never taken down wallpaper in a room before!" To which I replied, "No, but 1. i am never in a house long enough for my decor to go out of style and 2. I would stencil this design on the wall."


Mom rented me the earphone tour so I entertained Amie and her by talking very loudly about the history and facts of each room.

Such great info.....wow.














Then we went over to the winery but decided it was way too crowded for our liking. we'll have to do that another time.





Best part of the day:

We went up to the Biltmore Inn and sat on the terrace for soem drinks. It was cold, but they had those outdoor heaters that felt wonderful and the view was out of this world despite the rainy, dreary day. Mom, Amie and I just enjoyed being together without the kids for once.

It was lovely.




No, maybe the best part of the day was when Mom upgraded our tickets to season passes! Kids can get in free so it seemed like a really great opportunity. The part I am most interested in taking advantage of is the outdoors. They have bike trails, hiking trails, gardens, and waterfalls. I plan on spending lots of our time there as it warms up. The boys and I have been making big biking plans for this spring and summer too. A few months ago Seth showed up with a mountain bike and I want to put one of those little baby seat things on the back for Annabelle.


So if you are ever wondering where we are in the coming months, think the Biltmore House grounds.






Lately EVERYONE keeps mixing Amie and me up with one another.....no seriously it has happened probably 5 different times in the past week. I think it must be because my hair is darker. I'll take the complement!

Pictures from last Weekend

Papa sent me a few pictures from their visit last week. I thought I would share:

Saturday night we hung out at the fire pit until the very tired little ones had to call it a night and go to bed. Not Adam though, he is our little "night owl." Caleb and Annabelle are not pleasant to be around after 8:00 pm on most evenings.

Event he pacie wasn't working to well.

Annabelle loves Max, Nana's dog.