children's choir retreat

On Saturday we had a Bentonville Children's Choir Retreat where the singers spend all day in rehearsals, playing games, eating pizza, and getting to know each other. They love it and had been looking forward to the retreat for awhile. I have a blast, too. But it's exhausting!! The BCC has two choirs- Camerata (grades 2nd-6th) and Cantus (grades 6th-12th). Jamie and I love all the work we pour into this group and pray that God keeps this organization going strong.We have a great group of about 85 singers this year and we are all really looking foward to our first concert in October.

www.bcchoir.com

the women

My wonderful husband babysat so I could go out with some of my gal pals this weekend and it was a much needed treat. It's sad how quickly I let stress get to me, but somehow seeing a chick flick with close girl friends was just the estrogen boost that I needed. We saw the movie "The Women" (so cute!) and hung out at Fish City Grill til they closed. Then we walked around the mall afterwards and took some random photos.

Thanks, ladies, for being my hot date to the cinema! Can't wait to go see the chihuahua movie with you...! :)

laugh out loud

Jamie and I love the tv show "The Office"! Most of our friends don't like the show, but Jenny and Rhonald love it too and invited us over last night to watch the season premiere. (They have a beautiful home!)
It's just one of those shows that makes us laugh til we cry!
And Jenny made an amazing dessert... a delicious cookie baked in a tiny souffle dish and as soon as it came out the oven she put a scoop of ice cream on top and then we had tasty toppings- cool whip, hot fudge, sprinkles...to put on it all. YUM!
Thanks, guys, for having us over. It was wonderful to hang out and laugh so hard for awhile!!

baby steps

We got Audrie a baby walker and she loves it! We took her out in the front driveway the other night and let her test out her new wheels. It was pretty cute.
Jamie gave her a few pointers to get her started...
She was a little unsure at first and didn't want to let go.
But then she was zipping all over and having a blast.
Oh, and also Audrie is offically CRAWLING. Whoo hoo! She looks more like an inch worm at this point, but she is mobile now and it's a whole new ballgame. And she's not the only one learning new tricks around our house... we have also taught Jamie's mom, Donna, to text message (a big deal for her generation!) and we took her out tonight for her first sushi. What's the world coming to?? :)

cornett family reunion

We made our way down to Drasco, Arkansas this weekend for the 20th Annual Cornett (which they all pronounce like "hornet") Family Reunion. Last year Audrie was just a bump in my belly, so they were all excited to meet her this year. It's always fun to see Jamie's dad's side of the family even if the long drive is tough. These kind hearted country folks bring out the best in me...
(PS- I won that camouflage hat in a serious game of bingo!)

good taste in shoes

We did a little shopping this weekend and, of course, had to get a few things for our sweet baby girl, too. I picked out these cute shoes for her (I went to Rhea Lana's with Melissa) and Jamie thought Audrie needed this adorable hat from Old Navy. Here is what Audrie thought of the shoes...

She'd much rather eat them then wear them, but oh well! At least she seems to share my enthusiasm for a cute pair of shoes!

"You are so precious to me, sweet as can be, baby of mine."

"it's game day in the ozarks, baby!"

The weather was beautiful. The game was not. But there is so much more we love about going to the games besides the acutal football...
The band. And acutally the highlight of the whole game was during the halftime show when the entire band busted out in the Thriller Dance! It was awesome.

The concession stand. I absolutely LOVE the jumbo pretzels!
The fly-overs during the singing of the National Anthem (which I sing very loudly). Ok, you can't really see, but those tiny specks in the sky are F18 fighter jets that flew over so fast I couldn't get a picture!

The cheerleaders. One of my former piano students is a cheerleader for the Razorbacks this year, so I like watching for her.

The jumbo-tron screen. I think I actually watch more of the game on that screen than on the field. And, of course, getting to spend time together! Awww... (Thank you, Mom, for babysitting Audrie!)

This last photo is a little random, but before the game we saw some kids riding these motorized scooters that were actually coolers! They are called Cruizin Coolers and there has got to be a reason why we need one.

pizza & preggos

We got to go out last night with our fun and fabulous FOOS friends ("Fun Outside Of School"). These are group of wonderful girls that I teach with that we have become friends with their husbands and try to get together every now and then. It was great to hang out and laugh and just have a good old time at Gusano's. The most awesome thing is that 3 of the 6 gals are expecting their first babies! Jamie was nice enough to sit with the soon-to-be fathers and offer some advice while us gals talked about stuff that should probably not be discussed in public.
Having close friends expecting babies is starting to get to my brain and it almost makes me want to expedite our plans for a sibling for Audrie...! Almost... but not quite. Though it is neat to go through the daily preggo excitement again with these girls.

Thanks, everyone, for a fun night out. And congrats on "making the blog"! HA

walking, eating and spinning

Audrie seems to be changing by the minute... here are a few things she's added to her resume just this week.

She loves to walk everywhere holding our fingers. As soon as we try to sit her down with her toys, she is reaching out for some fingers to grab. It's pretty cute... but she wears us out!

She's a girl on the move.
Even Kyla next door helps Audrie practice her walking... Audrie is also learning to feed herself! Yum, rice crackers!Ok, she sometimes gets a little carried away but it's a big accomplishment for a little girl!

I'm pretty sure she was threatening me with a karate move here if I didn't stop taking her picture... (that look in her eye is pretty convincing!).
And, ok, this is not too terribly exciting but she loves her "Jenny" Jump Up and today we captured a few seconds of her new favorite thing to do in it... spin around in circles. She just started doing this and it makes me dizzy just watching her. So if you're prone to vertigo I'd skip this video!

Ok, that's all her latest adventures. Life is sure exciting when you're 7 months old.

new trick

We've been working with Audrie this week to try and teach her to wave bye-bye. She's just about got it down... except she waves at herself! We caught a few seconds on video...

bookworm

Audrie loves books! They really are one of her favorite things to play with/chew on. We have a HUGE stack of cardboard baby books for her to slobber all over so I hope she learns to love to read as much as I do.
Oh, and I had to share this photo of Audrie and Cole (our friends, Jenny and Rhonald's, baby). We went over to their house last night and he is SUCH a cutey!! This picutre is a couple weeks old, but seeing them last night reminded me that I still had pictures on my camera...

Young Love...?

gina's family

My neighbor, Gina, asked if I would come over and snap some photos of her adorable family on Sunday afternoon. Of course, I said yes! I never pass up an opportunity to practice taking photos. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing some of these with you...

My favorite moment was when I was trying to get her son to smile so I was snapping photos and singing Old MacDonald at the top of my lungs...! Maybe a singing photographer is my real calling in life?

I had a blast, guys! Thanks for letting me practice on your beautiful family.