Weekend Update

Wow, so much has happened in the past few days. I thought I should force myself to blog before too many more days go by and then I forget to blog about any of it.

On Friday, dad's birthday, Stephen, Bri and I headed off to Georgia. This trip was very hush-hush because Stephen's sister Jenn was going to be performing in Seussical the Musical and we were driving down to surprise her! I didn't ever say anything to anyone except our immediate family that we were going! I was so nervous about her finding out! We made it down in really good time, and after a delicious dinner all of us kids headed off to the play. Leila and Corky babysat Brianna which I'm pretty sure they didn't mind doing. The play was really cute! It is a mixture of three major Seuss stories, but if you listen closely you will find the Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie LaBird, the Whos, Yertle the Turtle, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and tons of other characters! The night we went there were a few technical difficulties with the sound but you could still pretty much keep up with what was going on. We were hoping Jenn could come right out into the audience after the play so we bought her a bouquet of flowers to surprise her with. Unfortunately, she saw us, but their director had told them to change clothes before going out into the audience. But she was definitely surprised! It was hilarious.

Saturday morning we got up and Stephen, Lauren and I went to cheer on Josh at a district band competition. It was really good. The band at his high school is playing at advanced levels and they did great. They played three songs for the judges and then went into a back room where the conductor from the University of Miami critiqued them as well. He didn't even have anything negative to say to them - it was awesome! Then they had six minutes as a group to learn a piece and sightread it. We got to sit in the room while they did that and it was really cool. After that, we went to Zaxby's for lunch. Once we got home from that, we all went our separate ways. Corky and Jenn "ran an errand", Stephen, Lauren and Josh went to a couple of stores, and my job was to distract Leila for a couple of hours, so we went thrift shopping! I ended up getting Brianna a party dress for her 1st birthday party and we both got her a couple of really cheap outfits and bathing suits! When we got home Leila realized why I had been so adamant about her going out with me - Corky and Jenn had picked up a cookie cake for her birthday (which was on Sunday) and everyone had decorated the house for her party!! We celebrated early because me, Leila, and Corky were going back to Jenn's play that night again. The second night was actually 150% better because the sound was better and we were sitting closer. I laughed so much during the play that night! It was really good.

Sunday we weren't in a huge hurry to leave so we were able to stick around for Corky's famous waffles (blueberry, this time) and just relax for a while. We got on the road around 10:30 and by 11:15 we were pulling into Grandpa's nursing home! Dad had suggested that we see Grandpa sometime while we were in Georgia and we thought this was an opportune time because we don't know when we'll be going back before Christmas. I got in touch with Buddy and we worked out all the details. We were able to get in a great 45-minute stop with the two of them!! We didn't stop the rest of the way home and made it home in good time.

Last night was a night out with the girls! It ended up being a very small gathering because of sickness and other issues. It was Meg's turn to host and she aced it! She made these incredibly yummy tacos with things I could never eat with Stephen (he's picky about tacos) and taught me and Jenn how to make homemade cards! I was definitely the least talented in the bunch, but it was more fun than I expected! It really made me wish that I could do things like that more, but I just don't have the time. And like Meg pointed out, it's not nearly as much fun by yourself.

Tonight we were supposed to have practice for our Easter drama at church but we just found out a little earlier that it was canceled. So we ordered pizza which we never get to do and just played around outside - it was so nice out there! Tomorrow we are eating lunch with mom and dad. I'm making a new recipe - cheesy pasta with spinach and artichokes, which sounds delish to me and I hope it's good! Thursday Brianna and I are meeting Granny and Granddaddy for lunch and going to dinner with Steve and Kathy. Friday night we are meeting up with the youth group at church to watch Passion of the Christ in honor of Easter. Saturday night we have dinner with Tony and Jan. What a busy week! NOT TO MENTION that Harris Teeter is tripling coupons all week so I have to fit in a run to the store every day if possible!

I'm excited about this week. I know it's going to fly by with all this fun stuff going on. And then next week.... can you even believe it's already going to be April? I mean... March JUST started, people! This is crazy. Life just never slows down, does it? It's going by so fast.

Enjoy your week!