Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Harlem Globetrotters

The World Famous Harlem Globetrotters just started their 84th season of fun-filled family entertainment, and their U.S. “Magical Memories” tour began on December 26th! Through my PR work on My Four Monkeys, we were invited to experience the Harlem Globetrotters as a family and attended their Richmond, VA event on December 27th! Jeremy and I haven't seen the Globetrotters since we were kids and vaguely remember them visiting our schools when we were in middle school. I remember how fun it was and the great tricks, but I was not prepared for the event that we attended on Sunday afternoon. We are so thankful that we got the chance to share the magic of the Harlem Globetrotters with our kiddos! The event lasted a little over two hours and was slam packed with fun, action and music. The show is set up like a basketball game with the Globetrotters facing their arch rivals the Washington Generals. The whole family loved Handles and his funny antics. It didn't take long for Caitlyn to figure out that it wasn't a "real" basketball game, but the younger ones were rooting for the Globetrotters the whole way! It was fast paced and kept the kids attention the whole time. There was never a dull moment with Handles and Globie (the Globetrotters mascot), the incredible ball handling and tricks, the secret weapon of the opposing team's coach that threatened to lose the game for the Globetrotters, the fan interaction (LOVED THIS!!!), and the fantastic slam dunks! Check out the short video below with some clips from our afternoon.



After the game the Harlem Globetrotters all stay out on the court to sign autographs. Everyone who wants an autograph gets an autograph. The players are so nice and you can get as many autographs as you want. All three "big kid" (Luke stayed home with a sitter) got autographs and we're so excited to meet the Globetrotters!!

Here our top 5 list for our favorite things about our Globetrotter experience:

1. Globie the Globetrotters' mascot


2. The action!!


3. Family time :)




4. Getting our autographs


And of course... 5. The silliness!!





**Thank you to the Harlem Globetrotters for providing the family tickets for us via Coyne PR!**

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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas!



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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

We have been having a blast in all the snow! Check out the slideshow of video and pics!



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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Luke Can't Wait to Get Out in the Snow!

We got a ton of snow this weekend! We got about ten inches, and that's a lot for us here in VA. We don't usually get much snow at all and even then it's not till February or March. The kids have been in heaven playing in the snow, and I will be posting video and pics in the next few days. I wanted to go ahead and post this video though. I thought you just might enjoy it as much as I did. :) Luke was so excited to go out in the snow and play. He had no clue what it was, but he wanted out there!



We have more snow on it's way, so it's looking like we'll be having a White Christmas! Since we're not making our usual holiday trek to Tennessee, well get to enjoy the snow here!

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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Kylie's Nutcracker Slideshow

Well, I finally got all the pics and videos just the way I wanted! Here's the slideshow from Kylie's Nutcracker performance and rehearsal. Some of the pics have her little dance partner and friend, Liza, in them. Aren't they adorable?! Now that I've finished it, I can't watch it without crying. :) Some of the video is kind of crazy, but I was trying to watch her and film at the same time. Enjoy!



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Friday, December 11, 2009

Tonight's the Big Night!

Well, tonight is Kylie's big ballerina debut! She stars as a cute little snowflake is her dance company's rendition of the Nutcracker. I took these photos quick last night during dress rehearsal. Isn't she gorgeous?! I will post video and pics over the weekend, but I wanted to post this quick. She is nervous but excited, and although her dance company is small and it's not some huge production, it's huge to us!! We're so proud of her!





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Thursday, December 10, 2009

A Year of Faces

I was playing around with some new slideshow software that I got and thought you might enjoy this slideshow. Gotta love those cuties!



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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Christmas Preparation Checklist:: #1 - Put Up the Decoraions!

We spent Sunday and Monday decorating the house for the holiday. It was so much fun to watch Jeremy and kids get all excited about the Christmas decorations! It's all part of the magic that surrounds this time of year and I love to sit back and watch, watch the pure joy in their faces and the smiles that beam across the room. Jeremy kept asking me what was wrong, I guess I was being a little quiet. The truth is that I was close to tears the whole time because doing this as a family is a stark reminder of just how blessed we truly are! There are so many families that don't have a fraction of what we've been blessed with. And I don't mean just the material things! So for the next few weeks, as we prepare for the Christmas holiday and we're crazy busy with all the activities and parties that tend to crowd this time of year, I'm going to try my best to keep that almost teary feeling because it helps me remember what's important and why we're all celebrating this season.

Enjoy these pictures of our very delicate decorating process. Not quite! :D

Jeremy and the kids did a fabulous job on the tree, don't you think? You'll have to excuse the jammies, our kiddos hadn't gotten dressed yet.






I love the hearth at Christmas!



Jeremy did a great job on the outside decorations and the girls even helped put lights on the bushes.





Can you see the girls peeking out from their top bunk while we were taking pictures? :)



It's getting time to start baking our Christmas cookies. Can't wait!

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Monday, December 7, 2009

How Precious!

I have such a talented sister! She can take a camera and create the most incredible pictures. Although she works full-time as a nanny (and a fabulous one at that!), she works part time as a freelance photographer. She does it all, from weddings and events to family portraits and children. Over the years she has captured some amazing photos of my children, whether it's just an impromptu photo shoot for fun or something we plan during a visit. I love to look at my kids through her eyes, because sometimes life gets so busy that I forget just how beautiful they are! Here's a few pics of the "big kids" she did on our recent visit during the Thanksgiving holiday. Her and her fiance are visiting during New Year's and we can't wait!






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Saturday, December 5, 2009

Our Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting about our Thanksgiving holiday. The boys are finally on their road to recovery (I think)! As you know the boys both had chicken pox, which was a concern since we were due to leave for our holiday weekend in Tennessee visiting my side of the family on Wednesday morning, and my sister-in-law has never had chicken pox. Luckily, the spots dwindled and their fevers disappeared just in time to make the trip. Since the day before Thanksgiving is the most traveled day of the year, or something like that, the traffic was horrid and the 11 hour trip turned into a 13 hour trip. I know it's only two more hours, but it seemed like forever! We finally made it safe and sound to Grandma and Poppy's house, and the kids were very excited. Thanksgiving day went off without a hitch, and the food was fabulous as usual. The kids got in their yearly tradition of baking pies with Grandma. Thanks, Mom!





Friday, brought more time with my parents, my sister and her fiance, my brother and his wife, as well as my niece and nephew. The day also brought presents, as we are not traveling to Tennessee this year for Christmas. So, we all did our gift swapping early. Everybody was all smiles as we opened our gifts. I was super excited to open a Tennessee Titans jersey from my parents!! Jeremy and I also got a new set of lamps that we desperately needed, and a really fun game called Buzz Word. I managed to get a picture of Luke and Crystal (my sil) together. He started warming up to everyone by the second day. The girls also got matching pj's from my parents that were so cute!







The mood of the day soon changed however, when as we were sitting on the dinning room table playing a game of Partini, my sister-in-law started vomiting. She hadn't been feeling well, but the fact that she's a diabetic made us all a little on edge. Sure enough, after she checked her sugar just to be on the safe side and discovered it was well over 600, her and my brother took off for the ER. She scared us all, and while Jeremy and Poppy kept the kids calm upstairs, my mom and I did some mother-daughter bonding scrubbing puke out of the carpet. :) After a few hours in the ER, Crystal was feeling much better and crashed at my parents house for some much needed rest.

Saturday was "dress shopping day", and all the girls set out with my little sis to shop for a wedding dress. While I would love to post the pictures and video I took, we are keeping tight lipped about the dress so as not to give her fiance a peek! :) With such a big age difference between my sister and I (she was only 9 when I got married), I sometimes feel stuck somewhere between big sister and mom when it comes to her, so seeing her in a wedding dress was just a little bit emotional!! I managed to hold it together, as did my mom which was surprising. We were all elated when Andrea found "the dress". It was so obvious on her face as soon as she walked out of the dressing room. Wow! I've always thought my sister was gorgeous, with her thick blonde hair and baby blue eyes, but she looked stunning and I can't wait to see her on her wedding day! After hitting the wedding dress jackpot, we all headed to Chili's for lunch and treated ourselves to some brownie sundaes.

The rest of the trip was filled with the usual staying up late playing games, and laughing till it hurt. We always look forward to this time with my family, and all the fun makes it hard when it's time to leave. When I was looking back over the pictures that Jeremy and I took, I realized there were so many things we missed, but when you're busy having fun you seem to forget to get the camera out. :) The trip home wasn't quite as long, but by the time we arrived back in Virginia, all we could manage to do was slip under the covers and pass out from exhaustion!

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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Strep Attacks

Well, I thought we were out of the woods with sickness here, but I was wrong! As soon as we returned from our Thanksgiving trip, John David spiked a high fever and ended up in the pediatrician's office... again. He has strep and now Luke is running a fever too! It seems we can't catch a break lately and the boys can't seem to recoup from one thing before catching another. Until at least some time next week, the boys and I are quarantined. :D

Kylie has her performance of The Nutcracker next week on the 11th, so we need to all be well for that. We had a great time on our trip and I have pictures to get loaded and posted. Hopefully later today, I'll get around to posting the pictures and tell you all about our adventure during Thanksgiving, wedding dress shopping with my little sis, and having Christmas with my side of the family.

Pray we don't pass the strep around!!

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Wordless Wednesday - Our Blankie Baby



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