A Night Out with Toby Mac

At least once in your life, you should get to experience a Toby Mac concert with Biz.  It is just an  unparalleled event.  We took the boys on December 14th to their very first concert, and I am not sure who Eric and I enjoyed watching more...Toby or Biz.

 

 

It was just so much fun!  Biz's excitement just could not be contained and he was singing and dancing all over the place. 

I love that about Biz.

 

Now, don't get me wrong. A concert with Seth is a lot of fun, too. His excitement is just a bit more reserved. But it is there, and evident in his sweet smile and voice singing (not shouting, like brother) his favorite lyrics.

 

 I love that about Seth.

 

 

 

We weren't quite sure what to expect with our guys.  We didn't have a whole lot of success with our Disney on Ice and Circus excursions at the Bridgestone.   However, we were more than pleasantly surprised with our guys' enthusiasm at the concert.  Music must be the thing with them.  Or at least, Toby Mac's music.

Since the boys listen to Toby Mac's "Eye on It" CD every night at bedtime, they knew almost every song he sung. Yeah, those are not your traditional bedtime lullabies, but the boys love the CD and somehow fall asleep while rocking out to it.  Actually, Caleb played soccer against Toby's son a month or so ago, and at the game, Eric told Toby that our boys fall asleep listening to his CD each night.  Not until after he said it, did we realize that it could have been taken as less than a compliment.  But Toby was gracious and hopefully not insulted.  Especially since Caleb ran up to him after the game and told him how much he loves his CD.  Yeah, it is pretty cool to see Toby Mac at the soccer fields, but what a super treat to see him on the stage!  Woo Hoo!

The boys were even enjoying the opening acts, which were Mandisa, Chris August, Brandon Heath, Jamie Grace, Britt Nicole, and Group One crew.  And so were we.  Seth's only minor protest was, "When are they going to sing MY songs?"  Well, once Toby Mac took the stage, Seth's songs came with him and he was one happy dude. 

As was his dancing machine brother.
 

 

 

 

Let me say it again...We had SO MUCH FUN! 

 

Our kiddos are super cool.  We are just so blessed by them.  Before we even got to the show, the night was filled with adventures.  The boys loved walking through downtown Nashville amid all of the lights and sights on Broadway. It made me realize how little we venture into the city with them these days. We should definitely do it more often!

The highlight for them was definitely touching the "actual Batman building." 

 

 

And posing in front of a big boot. 

It is Nashville after all. 

 

 

 

We had our preconcert meal at Demos in downtown Nashville.   You know, you need your strength for a night of partying!

 

Yep, we are one wild crew!

 

 

What a FUN NIGHT!!!

 

 

Three More Days...

 

 

Somebody was VERY EXCITED when the mail came today.

 

 

Thanks Meem and Peep!!!

 

Look out, Rupp Arena!  Seth will be making his first appearance there in just three more days!!

"Hot Yeah!"

 

 

 

And he can't wait!

 

Goooooo Cats!!

Snookie Comes to Town

This weekend Eric's mamaw, Snookie, came to Franklin to visit.  It was only her second visit here and the first to our house.  Eric loves his mamaw and makes sure that he calls her at least once a week.  So, we were excited that she came to see us. 

Well, she didn't come just to see us. Since Unkie Dew and Ticia will not be able to make it home for Christmas this year, Christmas came to them.  In the form of the Workmans, Dentons, and Snookie. 

 

I am not so sure Snookie will come back, though.  We made the rookie mistake of taking her to Opryland to see the lights and Christmas decorations at the hotel. 

On a Saturday.

The thing is, we are not rookies.  This is our ninth Christmas here. We know better.  So I am not sure what we were thinking.  If you have lived in this area for any amount of time, you know to avoid Opryland at all costs on the weekends from Thanksgiving until after Christmas. 

No brainer.  Oh well.

We sat in traffic for well over an hour on Briley Parkway and then walked nearly 3 miles from our parking space to the hotel.  (Okay, that 3 miles was an exaggeration, but the over an hour on Briley was not.)

Anyway, everything ended up being fine.  Snookie was a great sport about it all and we all had a good time.  Snookie did comment that Nashville just might be too busy for her. Next time we will just have to NOT take her into the city.

After the eventful day, we ended up at Drew and Ticia's to relax, hang out, exchange gifts, and eat some yummy truffles.  On Sunday, we had Snookie all to ourselves for a bit.  She went to church with us, while the rest of the crew went with Drew and Ticia to their church.  The trip definitely ended on a slower paced note, so hopefully, that will be enough to encourage her to return, because we sure were glad to have her and the rest of the family here for the weekend.

My Kind of Elf

There are only a few things that really freak me out, and that Elf on the Shelf is right there at the top of my list.  

Next to clowns.

I guess another advantage to never doing Santa Claus with our boys is that the creepy interesting little dude never even had a chance of making it into any of our Christmas traditions.  Whew!

However, this would be more of my style of elf.

Totally adorable, doned in UK blue, and not one ounce of creepiness.  Just a whole lot of preciousness!

Wisconsin Send Off

Saying goodbye is really hard.

Especially when it is to beloved friends.

 

 

So, we did our best to send them off with a fun and memorable playdate/sleepover.
 

 

 

This much fun would be hard to forget!

 

 

 

We miss you, Keepmans!

Two Readers and an Oops

Oh, I love our Advent tradition!  This is the fifth year we have done our Nativity Advent calendar and the boys get just as excited about it now as they did when we started it.  This year, however, is the first year that both boys are able to read the scriptures BY THEMSELVES.  Woo Hoo!

And as an added bonus feature this year, Dada laminated our scripture readings each day.

Fancy

 

Could it get any better?   Well, for Seth, it will, because after thirteen days in, Momma made a big discovery today. When we set up the Advent calendar each year, the boys debate over whose turn it is to pull baby Jesus out on the last day of Advent.

Well, thank goodness for blog archives.  In Seth's case, anyway.

After much discussion and memory jogging, it was originally determined that this was Caleb's year.  BUT after looking through the past two year's blog posts about our Advent tradition, it looks like we were wrong.  (Gasp) It is ACTUALLY Seth's turn this year.

Oops!

I am not looking forward to breaking the news to Caleb this afternoon, but on the other hand, Seth will be very excited!

 

 

Like I said, I love, love, love this tradition.  The boys always want to do Advent as soon as they wake up in the morning.  It is really sweet how much they love it being a part of their day.  Not only do the boys enjoy pulling out new pieces to add to the Nativity each day, scripture abides in their heart, as they read and reread the birth story.  Caleb can now pretty much recite it in its entirety from memory.  Little brother will get there soon.

 

 

 

Praising Jesus for His glorious Word and for special traditions that keep us focused on Him.  May we keep Christ as our focus in every season and be in constant awe of His majesty!  Thank you, Jesus, for coming to the world and saving us.  You reign in victory!

 

Revealing the Ornament(s)

 

Okay, we totally cheated this year.  Instead of choosing one special ornament to be "our" Christmas ornament this year, we chose three. 

 

 Dum dum da dum...

And here they are:

  

 

 

 

Disney was...well, Disney, so that in and of itself would have been enough. But this year we celebrated our ten year anniversary, and decided that since we went there on our honeymoon, this would be the perfect year to return...with a couple more suitcases this time and two extra Workmans. (Maybe one of these days I will get some pictures on here from the trip.) It is hard to look at this colorful ornament and not be reminded of what a sweet and FUN time we had!

 

I had ALWAYS wanted to visit the Biltmore in Asheville, NC. This year was the year! For our ten year anniversary, Eric took me there...sans kiddos and it was definitely worth the wait.

 

 

Kentucky Lake is a special place not just for us, but for our family.  We went there again this year for our annual lake trip with Workman/Denton clan.  It is special to Eric and I, because we took a "just us" ninth anniversary trip there last year.  That was such a wonderful weekend.

It was definitely a fun year of travel! Each ornament and each trip has special significance to us.

 

See, it was hard to choose.  So, we just didn't.

Merry Christmas Ornaments!!

And the Lightning came to Play

This week was a complete turn around from last week for the Lightning!  Maybe it was the Lightning bolts that each team member was sporting on his cheek (compliments of another team mom).

Or maybe it is just that the boys all showed up ready to play...and more importantly, play like a team!  It totally paid off for them.  Their coach has said several times already this season, "The team who shows up and plays like a team, is the team who will be the most successful in this league."  I do believe Coach Spears is right. The Lightning ended up winning 22-12. 






Again, Caleb was all over his opponent on defense.  He totally smothered his guy and kept him from being too effective. Go Biz!  Eric said that he was going to get him a shirt that says, "Defense is my Biz-ness".  Oh my!

 

The Cheering section
 

 

 

Way to go Biz!!

 

Go Lightning!!

 

Note:  This is day #3 of Seth wearing the Kentucky jersey (he snuck it in under his shirt yesterday, so he could wear it to school two days in a row).  Yes, I will pry it off of him and get it washed...soon.  For today, we will enjoy watching him enjoy wearing it so much.