Catching up on Christmas

Oh yes, we are having fun fun fun on our two week Christmas vacation... week #1 in Ohio came and went with less sleep than I had when Reese was first born. (which isn't saying much since my kid has never really had a night when she hasn't slept through the night) Some overseas sister of mine who will remain nameless has harassed me for my lack of blogging, but what can I say... I had more fun with my sisters last week than I have had in years. I think I like us better as adults than as kids... :) Needless to say blogging was the last thing on my mind. I'm gonna do my best to catch up for her though over the next few days.

We opened gifts at our house on Friday the 19th... Santa was very good to us all! :)

We're now in Oklahoma celebrating with Reagan's family for the new year. Speaking of said overseas sister... I miss her bunches and wish they were all here with us... I'm super proud of them right now though.

Last night was spent with his Dad and tonight will be spent with Mom. Lots of pictures have been posted on Facebook... you can see them there if you'd like.

Hope you're all making as many wonderful memories as we are!

Christmas at Home

Christmas in Ohio

Christmas in Oklahoma

Fave Foto Friday (a little early) - Christmas 2007

SNOW DAY!

Playing in the background of my mind, I hear Bing Crosby, Vera Ellen, Rosemary Clooney, and that other guy singing on the train to Vermont... "snoW, snOW, sNOW, SNOW SNOW! It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow..." :)

Ooh I'm definitely gonna watch that movie tonight.

Anyway... here are some pictures of our fun in the snowy morning. Reese was not altogether interested... kinda more of the same "what are you idiots doing with me out here? and NO I don't want to touch that stuff... can't you feel it's cold?" :) So it lasted all of about 5-10 minutes...

And if you're really interested, you can see pictures of our snowy night here.

How The Grinch Iced Christmas

I dont' know how I've lived here for five years and visited The Opryland Hotel twice at Christmas and still and never heard of this thing... probably a good thing we learned about it after we had Reese though, cause she loved it. The lights mostly... she enjoyed looking at all of the sights and crawled up and down and up and down the stairs in the slide room talking to us about it the whole way. She actually cracked us up going down the slide. No smile, no laugh, no screaming or tears... just kinda slid down and lay at the bottom motionless and patiently 'til someone picked her up like... "OK morons why'd you shove me down that big sheet of ice? What was the point in all of that?" (now that I think of it, the motionless part was probably because she couldn't move due to how bundled I had her...)

I think her Mama enjoyed the colors as much as she did! :)

Since I already uploaded my pictures to Facebook, you can see them by clicking here!

A Mozart in the Making

This may go down in history as my favorite picture ever. You can thank my hubby for the clever Blog Title... :)

She may look like her Daddy... as long as she plays like her Mama! :)

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Tribute to My Karaoke Buddies

That little girl that used to pull the long skinny knobby things out of the top of her canopy bed and use them as microphones while she sang to herself in the mirror... she came back out tonight. Tonight I remembered how much I love music and not only that but Christmas music, and took more than one trip down memory lane thanks to a wonderful Christmas concert I got to sit through tonight.

See, where I've been living for the past five years, it's not uncommon to "know" and be around musicians as a part of normal life. When I first moved here, it was not uncommon for me to get all excited anytime I saw someone... like the first time I saw Keith Urban at Wild Oats, or the time I noticed Michael Tait a couple rows in front of me at the movie theatre watching "The Passion", or the time I almost rear-ended the guy in front of me watching Jeromy and Jennifer Diebler walking down Main Street in Franklin, and we all know what I did when I saw Toby Mac at the Mellow Mushroom... (c'mon people, 99% of the time I leave them alone and let them live their lives... I really just felt Reese deserved the opportunity to have her picture with a rock star that was cool when I was a teenager and is STILL cool today.) After you've been here long enough though, you do start to get used to it a little bit. If you knew me about 5 years ago and prior though, (my life pre-Tennessee), you may (or may not, who knows...) be a little suprised to know that my life was a different story when it came to my music. To be honest... my music was pretty much my identity.

So back up about 9 years with me to Heather-the-freshman-in-college and meet these guys... Stephen and Brandon... my two best guy friends in college.

(ooh they're gonna love me for that one)

Stephen... well the first time I met Stephen he got me in trouble with this crotchety old professor we had who wouldn't hesitate to embarass the junk out of you in your very first day of Old Testament Survey by calling you out for "talking" because you were politely listening to the crazy guy sitting next to you pulling pictures out of his wallet and telling you all about his girlfriend in Clearwater (who at the time I was certain didn't really exist... lol. ) Just kidding, buddy... :) ok maybe I'm only kidding a little.

Brandon... well Brandon and I had a little bit of family history... meaning that I was actually engaged to his cousin rather quickly after meeting, but anytime we visited his home, rather than hanging out with my fiance I wound up becoming better friends with and spending more time with Brandon, singing together and playing around on the piano. I think that fiance actually thought Brandon and I were running away together after our break-up... that however, is a different blog for a different day. :)

Again... if you knew me pre-Tennessee, you also know that as far as having girls for friends... well, I had one before college and one in college, (who is now actually married to Brandon.) and then other than that... the rest of my friends were guys. These two guys are still the only guys I've ever known that shared my "freak-out" level love for music right along with me. (I honestly don't even know if Reagan has seen the full side of what was once music-freak-Heather.) I had a blast and the privilege of travelling with these two and 6 others guys and gals for a year, (living out of a 15 passenger van and a trailer), in a college recruiting ensemble, seeing most of the country east of Missouri. It was during this year that Stephen and I earned (or rather gave ourselves) the nicknames Karaoke King and Queen. To this day when I get to go to a good concert I always think of them while I am there and wish they were with me. (and Reagan now... hi honey :) )

So back to said concert... The Gloria Tour with Travis Cottrell, Shaun Groves, and the reason for said walks down memory lane... Cindy Morgan.

Travis- Travis just rocks my socks off. I play it cool when he sings y'all, but you have to know that I think it is the most awesome, coolest thing that they go to church with us and I get to hang with his kids and hug his wife. They're just a neat and crazy family. If anyone ever had a reason to be a snotty musician family they would, and they're just not like that. Travis, your music blessed my heart tonight, along with watching your proud wife smile from ear to ear as she sang backup to you in the choir.

Shaun Groves- Shaun sang "Welcome Home" tonight at a Christmas Concert. I don't care if it was a Valentines Day concert... as long as he sings "Welcome Home" I'm a happy girl.

and last but not least

Cindy Morgan- It's 1996, I'm 15, and as much as I can be in love... I'm in it. :) My best friend bought me the soundtrack to a song she'd heard because when she'd heard the lyrics "being so in love that you can hardly eat" all she thought of was me and my new boyfriend. :) Those lyrics were from Cindy's song "How Could I Ask for More" and to this day makes me giggle to think of me and Ruthy when I hear it. (I actually wound up singing it in a few weddings later on in college... including Brandon and Stephen's.) Then a year later when that boyfriend dumped me with a note passed to me in chemistry class nonetheless, it was her song "You Were There" that got me through the summer." and tonight when she sang "Praise the King" I couldn't stay seated long. I could tell a few more stories, but needless to say Cindy and I had quite a relationship through my teenage years.

So tonight, sitting in my own church at a great concert, (geesh, what am I talking about. compared to where I come from, every Sunday morning is like sitting through a concert in my church) I couldn't believe how I found myself reverting back to music-freak-Heather, singing at the top of my lungs with the musicians on stage and wishing my co-freak-out-buddies were there with their wives and my hubby singing right along with me. I miss you guys! Hope you get to experience some awesome Christmas concerts of your own this year!

In A Blogger Slump

Whatever hormone that you lose that causes you to stop thinking clearly and gives you Mommy Brain after you have a kid... I think I lost a double portion.

I've always been a very organized, clear-thinking person. Now traveling to my mom's for 5 days and coming home to Christmas musical preparations and Christmas recital preparations and just plain Christmas preparations puts my brain in a whirlwind.

Ahhh... isn't there a vitamin I can take for this?

And so while there's been plenty of bloggable material, like our wonderful Thanksgiving in Ohio, or the very first Turkey that I cooked all by myself, or the beautiful table that my sister and I put together (and really thought Better Homes and Gardens would've come knocking on our door to photograph for their magazine...) or the fact that my dad's first round of chemo has been a small bit successful (meaning his counts have dropped a little), or my niece's new "evil-eye", or the fact that my mother in law has managed to make it to the other side of the world in one piece all by her lonesome, or the fact that my daughter walks around like a drunk zombie now practically all the time, my brain simply will not let me sort it all out long enough to put it in writing.

There are pictures, however, on facebook for your viewing pleasure. Should you be so interested, you can find them here and here... though I still haven't even put all the pictures onto the first link yet. Maybe tonight.... we'll see.

Until then... it's time for six hours of piano.