presenting the CLACK middle school band!

Tuesday night Mitchell had his first concert of the semseter at Clack Middle School, the Christmas Concert. This is also his first head band directing position. He was excited, nervous and ready to get it over with all at once. He has been working so hard all semseter long, and it has gone by so quickly. It almost seems like a whirlwind remembering the first day of school until now.

Mitchell just loves the kids at Clack and has enjoyed every minute of his semseter there. They are truly special students. It was hard to leave Madison, but he knows Clack is where the Lord has placed him.

I can't tell you how many students are in the band... 230 or so, seriously! The concert was at Cooper's auditorium and there was standing room only. It was awesome. I am so glad I got there an hour early to save our seats. One student's grandmother and family came from like Ohio to see the concert. How sweet is that? Mitchell also has two students who are home schooled who pay tuition just to be in his band, two little twin girls. He had 8 students make honor band this year, over 100 beginner band students all on stage all at once and over 60 students in each of the other 2 bands; Concert and Symphonic Band. Mitchell directed all three bands.

Mitchell's mom, sister Meredith and our nieces Maggie and Mollie Grace all came in for the concert. They have made it for all of his Christmas concerts since he has begun teaching and the girls are just too adorable for words. They sit there entranced, pat their hands to the beat of the music and wave at the stage, "There's Bubs!" Bubs is what they call Mitchell!

The girls watching the band.



Group picture at the end of the concert.



Maggie and Uncle Bubs

let there be PEACE on earth

And let it begin with me!

I got the new Harry Connick Jr. CD this weekend and it is absolutely, fabulously, amazing. (and so is Harry!) I recommend going out and purchasing it right now! Or you can come by my office and I will burn you a copy. He sings Let There Be Peace On Earth, which is one of my favorite Christmas songs. It's beautiful. You know, I can't even decide what my favorite Christmas song is. What is yours?

I haven't posted pictures yet of our Christmas decorations - here are just a few. I hope you enjoy, Mom! I wish I could keep the decorations up all year long. Mitchell did suggest leaving the tree up, but I think that was only because he didn't want to break it back down!

This was from the Christmas parade.
We think Romulus should be his own attraction next year, don't you?

Katie and Hunter who we watched the parade with.

And Ben.



The Six White Horses.

And Debbie - she is so sweet!

This is my manly man putting Christmas lights on the house.
He insisted on getting on the roof to get this part of the house.

Mitchell's view from the roof.



Our rickety latter Mitchell uses to get on the roof - a little sketchy, don't you think?



When I was decorating the house, I decided to decorate Romulus too and put a bow on him.
He didn't like it and immediately took it off!
This is him showing me what the thinks of me and that bow!








Our Christmas stockings were hung, by the built in with care.



Away in a manger no crib for a bed...



The beautiful handmade ornament my mom got us last year.



The ornament my friend Aimee gave us for our first Christmas together :)



A piano for my music man of course!





The end.

be fabulous...

Courtesy of Fabulous K Creatives

Go get your new blog design now! You know you want to!

i want a hippo for christmas

I love Christmas! This is my favorite time of year and I wish it would last ALL year long! The smells, decorations, food... everything is so wonderful.

To top this time of year off I am a total Christmas nerd. I play Christmas music around the clock, am always wearing my Reindeer socks (those are my favorite) and can't wait to decorate the house. The Hippo song is my favorite, and if you haven't heard it You Tube it right now. Gayla Peevey sings it.

Since we are fairly newly weds we don't just have a plethora of decorations, but what we do have I LOVE! I meant to post pictures today of our house decorated but I left the camera at home, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. We even have lights up on the house! The love shack looks SPECTACULAR! Oh, and we have this massive tree that mom gave us. Thanks Moonchie!

I couldn't wait to decorate the love shack this year (we didn't get to decorate last year). A year ago this past weekend we moved into and purchased our first home, 918 Meander Street. (side note, we officially became parents a year ago this past weekend when we adopted Romulus! This is our first family picture!) We have officially been home owners for 1 year. Can you believe it? We certainly can't! The most amazing, blessed feeling in the entire world is to come home every day to a house that has our name on it. A home that we worked for and bought all by ourselves. Yes, I know that was the corniest statement I could have possibly said. But it is SO true.

God has so richly blessed us and we are so grateful to Him and His Son!

road trippin 1301

There is nothing fun about long road trip. Or being 120 pounds and stuck in the back seat of a small foreign car. Especially after leaving my family. I sure do miss Abby and Brutus. Come and see me guys!

Anyway, I'll tell you how to have a good time on a road trip. There are 3 specific things you need to do keep yourself occupied:

1. Take a long restful nap. This is how you get snuggled up in the back seat. Take good notes people.

Yes, this is.... ahhh, very comfy.

This is mom waking me up.

Why in the heck did you wake me?

Not so restful anymore, but now I am ready for my close up!

2. After waking from a nap make sure you are driving and watching the road very carefully. This is always fun. For some reason people always look at me funny when I am driving I don't know. Maybe it's because we were speeding or something. Don't dogs always drive down the highway? This is how I get to and from places, by driving in the Mazda! Come on people!

3. Stop everything you are doing. Get in your car. Make sure you are driving 70 miles an hour. Now stick your head out the window. YES!!! Isn't that aaaahhhhmazing. I knew you'd like it.

I would not let you down, would I?

Oooooopen the WINNNNNDOW NOW!



Seeeeee Mooooom freeeeessh breaaaaath!

Now my friends, that was how you enjoy a road trip. Don't you agree? Just remember my 3 simple tips and you are guaranteed to have a good time. If you want an added bonus throw a raw hide or your treat of preference and there is no going wrong on highway 83/84!

Now, I'd invite you on our next road trip to share in our adventures but I'm not willing to give up precious seat space.

Until next time...