Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

Well I certainly haven't been doing a good job updating this blog! I recently took on a new role at work. I am excited about it, but it has been a little overwhelming and time consuming. Hopefully, I will be able to update more frequently soon.

Our Thanksgiving was so nice. Brian's parents came to our house to eat with us. The food was delicious and fattening. We are so very blessed.

Our thankful banner

We also had a breakfast with my side of the family that weekend. It can get a little crazy when you get that many Fridays in one room. Especially when there's food involved.

We enjoyed celebrating our little friend Tobiah's first birthday.

My two clowns

Do you recognize these crazies?

We put up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend. I'm so glad we got it up early so we can enjoy it all month.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

A Star Is Born!

Claire has been taking a musical theater class this semester. At the end of the class, there is a performance for the students to show all that they've learned. Last weekend, she was so excited to be in five shows of Beauty and the Beast at Jonesborough Repertory Theater. Her roles included a very important wolf (we called it the VIW), a spoon, and a person in town/shepherd. Most of the big roles were given to the high school students (which we expected of course), but she loved every second of being on that stage and took her roles very seriously. In fact, she's already registered to do it again next semester.

Hair and Makeup

Claire and the Prince/Beast

Claire and Belle

One of her important wolf scenes

A beautiful dancing spoon if I ever saw one!

She had LOTS of fans!

Parker, Claire & Gaston

We are so proud of our little star!

(I might be turning into a stage mom!)

Nashville

Over fall break, we went to Nashville for a few days. One day, we just explored Franklin. It is such a quaint town with lots of really fun shops and restaurants. We ate at Puckett's Grocery, and it was delicious!

We also went to The Factory at Franklin. It's a really neat place because it used to be a real factory. One the outside it still looks pretty much the same ~ like an old factory. On the inside, it has been totally renovated with shops, restaurants, and space that can be rented out for events.

We really enjoyed visiting with Andy, Miriam, and sweet, little Bear.

We also toured where Andy works on Music Row and ate at Bella Napoli for lunch.

Yum!

We took some time to look all over Nashville including the Capitol Building.

Opryland Hotel is so beautiful. The kids had never been there before, and they loved it.

Family Weekend In Pigeon Forge

Our family went to Pigeon Forge recently to celebrate my mom's birthday and my mom and dad's 60th anniversary. We enjoyed some beautiful mountains on the way into Pigeon Forge.

We had lots of fun hanging out in the two condos we were sharing.

There may have even been a dance-off!

There was some song writing and singing going on.

Rides, rides, and more rides!

We celebrated Silas's first birthday!

We all went out to dinner at The Apple Barn restaurant.

Parker and Claire were able to fit in a little go-kart racing too before the weekend ended.

Families that love each other are a blessing for sure. We are very thankful for the weekend to spend together.