In Case You Haven't Heard ...

I'm pregnant again!

Here are the answers to the most FAQs:

Yes, it was planned.

Yes, we're excited.

Yes, it would be nice to even up the score with another girl, but of course, healthy is the most important thing.

Yes, we're going to find out if it's a boy or a girl. I'm way too impatient to wait unnecessarily!

Our favorite names are Jack and Kate. Are we LOST fans or what? Our last two children's names are from TV shows. Why stop now? A little embarrassing, but we still like those names!

I'm only 4 weeks along.

I'm due March 1, which means I'll probably deliver toward the end of February, if my delivery history is an indicator for the future.

I feel fine. Morning sickness will probably hit next week.

Yes, it's okay to tell people. It's "Facebook Official." ;)

Yes, I'm still running. Did 4.38 this morning! I'll keep running until it starts hurting my tummy, I guess.

I'm REALLY looking forward to being big and pregnant in the winter for the first time!

No Longer a Kindergartener!

This was the last week of school for Johnathan. We've had a great year at Owens Elementary! Here are a few pics to document the last day. Sorry for the poor quality. Maybe someday we'll actually get a camera.

Marching in. But my favorite is the look on the kid's face in front of Johnathan! Ha!

All six kindergarten classes. And we actually had pretty good seats!

Kalleigh's having a blast.

Jonas did remarkably well! Whew!

Getting his diploma.

Not sure what this face is ... :)

Johnathan and his fabulous teacher, Mrs. Miller. We love her!

The "after party" at Chuck E. Cheese's:

Jonas watching Chuck E. Cheese from a safe distance. ;)

Johnathan and Mrs. Miller going head to head in air hockey!

The loot!

It's been a great year, but hooray for the lazy summer schedule!!

Girls' Weekend!

This past weekend, Kalleigh and I drove up to Searcy to spend the long weekend with my mom. As you know, Mom is getting married in less than a month, so we had some things to do!

We went to a dinner hosted by one of mom's friends. It was kind of like a shower, except it's like it was just the hostesses there. They gave her a joint gift: A beautiful wall decoration with the end of Joshua 24:15 on it. Kalleigh did her best to be a big girl, but the child took over and she excused herself from the table to go play while the grown-ups visited. ;)

We did a LOT of shopping. Mom has a beautiful dress for her wedding. Of course, two weeks ago, when I hadn't seen it yet, I bought a beautiful dress to wear to the wedding (way on sale!). It was mostly a champagne color, knee-length with shutter pleats. The problem was that when I sent a picture of it to Mom she said, "It's beautiful! It's just like mine!" Oops. We have such similar tastes! So, she was on a mission to buy a new dress for me. Hard to say no to that! And we succeeded. I now have a beautiful black & white summer dress to wear to the wedding, with a great necklace to match!

Kalleigh ended up with two dresses as options for the wedding, as we took advantage of the fabulous Memorial Weekend shopping deals.

We also found several more things that we "really needed." It took us two full shopping days to do it, but we successfully conquered Little Rock.

While we were there, we also did some work on Mom's house. She and Craig plan to sell both of their houses and start together in a new one. Great idea, I think! We got up on the roof and found that there were more than a few leaves and pine needles that needed to be removed from the roof as well as the gutters! We also cut down some limbs that were hanging over the house. I only got wobbly once. :) No injuries, save a small scratch on my hand. It's healing quite nicely, as I'm sure you wanted to know.

And, of course, we had dinner out at the farm with Mamaw. There's just nothing like being out at the farm, and you cousins know exactly what I'm talking about! What a special place.

 After a fabulous dinner (as always, including fresh cherry pie--I died), we spent a couple of hours out on the porch while Kalleigh had a very successful first firefly catching experience. She managed to catch a tick, as well, and rather than being scared or grossed out by it, she was fascinated that he wanted to go home with her! She is my animal lover, for sure!

So, we had so much fun. Kalleigh hardly knew what to do with herself as the only child, but she caught on pretty quickly. ;)

Thanks, Mom, for being you! For teaching us how to play, work, cook and shop like pros! I love you!

PS  *Pearl of Wisdom* Mom sent home our old Slip 'N Slide with us. It's not made for adults. I sure was the coolest mom yesterday afternoon, though! But I can hardly lift my arms today.

Field Day

Johnathan had a blast at his first Field Day! Here are just a few shots to document the event.

the baton race

"Hula-hooping"  I didn't even know he could do that!

Cheese! Love the hand/iPhone shadow? I thought so.

What a fun day!

The Chapter 6 Experience

About 2 1/2 weeks ago on a Friday night I went to a Chapter 6 concert here in Tyler. They, like Clearly Vocal, sing contemporary a cappella, with an emphasis in jazz. John was at Pepperdine at the Ascending Voice Symposium, so I went with some friends, Andy, Stefanie and Mary. Andy and Stef are in CV. Man, they were so good! We took notes and came away with some good things to add to our show.

After the show, we hung around to meet the guys and pick their brains. :) We mentioned that we sang in a vocal jazz group, too, and they thought that was cool. We talked so much about the contemporary a cappella world; it was nice to talk to people who "spoke that language" and knew the other groups we knew! Toward the end of our chit chat, I said, "You know, if you guys are ever back in the East Texas area, we would just love to open for you!" One of the guys said, "Well, we're in Irving (just outside Dallas) next week! Are you serious? Are you available?" DUH. They said they would go online and listen to some of our stuff and get back with us.

Here we are with them after the concert:

Well, that was cool, but I really thought that they were just being nice and that we probably wouldn't hear from them. But later that night, one of the guys emailed us saying that he really hoped it worked out and that they would check with their Irving venue. He also gave us his cell phone! On Sunday he texted saying that they hadn't been able to contact the venue yet, but they were still trying. Hope was fading. Monday night, he said again that they venue wasn't getting back with him and that he was afraid that it might not work out. Bummer. But then Tuesday around noon, we got the text that said they finally got in touch with the venue and they all thought it was a great idea! They just hadn't been open all weekend or on Monday! Ha! We were going to Irving to open for Chapter 6 on Thursday!

We drove to Irving that afternoon and got to the Irving Performing Arts Center about the same time that Chapter 6 did. We had some sound technical issues (as the IPAC people weren't the most helpful), but Mark, Chapter 6's sound guy worked out the kinks and the show went on! The house was beautiful, and almost full. We sang for about 700 people, CV's biggest audience yet! We sang well, and the audience responded well, too.

After the concert, one of the board members from the Irving Concert Series came up to us and wanted our contact information! He said that he really enjoyed our 5 song set and would love to see us back in Irving! That right there made the whole night worth it!

Dad and Maria as well as Uncle Randy and Aunt Karla were gracious enough to buy tickets and come see us! We were pretty proud that we brought 4 fans. :) Chap6 said that they had 1 fan that they knew of coming to that show. Haha. Ironically, that fan just happened to sit right behind us when we went out in the audience to watch the rest of their show! I was so glad that John and Don got to see their show, since they weren't able to go to the one in Tyler.

After the fans all left we all (CV + Chap6) went to Waffle House for a late supper and just hang out time. Man, that was fun! These guys are so nice. They're my age, but have been singing together since college. They have accomplished a lot as individuals as well as as a group in the professional world. It was nice to be able to have that much down time with them.

Wow, so fun, and a huge thanks to the Chap6 guys for letting us share their stage!