President's Day Weekend

The family decided to spend the 3-day weekend with split trips.  Girls would visit Ashlyn at USC.  Boys would go snow skiing in Vermont.

We didn't see the usual crowds on campus, at least not on the upper deck of the Student Union Center (Russell House).  Ashlyn bought us ice cream at Marble Slab.

We enjoyed the stay in her cute apartment right on campus.  After bringing her a few items from home, washing her sheets, and mopping her floors, I threw out her expired milk in the fridge.  Although these things were not necessary in her eyes, it helped me to sleep better.

The next morning, I decided to show her a few murals around Columbia that we saw driving in.  This one would make a cute backdrop for her cross country team photo.

Across the street was another mural that reminded us of our farm in Texas.  

Then, we saw a giant fire hydrant.  Not sure if it's a stand-alone sculpture or part of something to be finished later, but it was still cool.

The weather was just gorgeous, so we walked to the state house.  Our little one found a statue of George Washington and wanted her picture.

On the way back to her apartment, we stopped by her community garden to water her herbs and vegetables.

 Once we got back, I noticed my phone I left charging had 4 missed calls from Vermont.  That couldn't be good.

My son took a bad fall snowboarding down a mountain and they couldn't find Eric or get a hold of me to authorize treatment.  He was in pain for almost 2 hrs.  Feeling like the worst mom ever, I got a hold of Eric and had him flag down a rescue team member to find where they were treating him.  Results:  broken collar bone (clavicle).  Best part, he's okay and is coming home soon.  Worst part:  There goes the best goal keeper for his varsity soccer team.  Eight weeks minimum to heal.

We ended the girls' weekend with Mass at St. Thomas More where Ashlyn was scheduled to be lector.  I gave thanks that everyone was okay because it could have been so much worse.

46th Birthday

Most of my birthday celebration was over the weekend, but I did enjoy a few things on my special day.  I loved all the calls & texts from family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.  That made me feel so special!  Eric and the kids were awesome, too.  They gave me a new blender for my smoothies since I wore out the old one.

For my birthday cake, they wanted to have it specially decorated with something that reminds them of me.  To my surprise, they got me a dinasaur volcano cake!  Very cool, and I loved it!  They know me and my NOVA shows so well.  :)

Birthday Dinner

As customary in our family, I got to pick a place I wanted to go for dinner.  It has to be reasonable, and child-friendly.  For years I have promised my son I'd take him to the castle dinner show with jousting and such, but it was never in a convient location or time.  Well, now that he's 17, I decided to make it my birthday dinner place.

We packed up the family (minus our college student) and drove to Atlanta.  We had a 2pm dinner reservation at Medieval Times.  It's quite expensive without coupons, but we were able to find some discounts which made it more affordable.

We were seated in the black/white knight's section.  Of 6 competing knights, this was our knight we were to cheer for.  Since we didn't upgrade our seats to the "royalty" section that included flags, Eric bought us one to share.  We waved it proudly from the 2nd row!  Whenever our knight won a contest, like target or rings, he would grab some fresh cut flowers and throw them to the ladies in the audience.  Our youngest was the recipient of a flower toss.

The meal was quite good, and plentiful.  Garlic bread, tomato bisque soup, quarter chicken, roasted potatos, corn on the cobb, and lemon pound cake.  Delicious!  No utensils, though.  We ate like guests at the kings table...with our hands.  I can see why it's so expensive.  They really put on a show with lots of staff working behind the scenes: the king, queen, knights, and all the event staff and animal trainers.  It's honestly worth it for the experience to go once.

After all the battles to the death, our knight won!!  We were so excited!  We thought that would be the end of the performance, but there was one special treat left.  The winning knight gets to pick a maiden from his section who is given a sash, crown, and the honors of being his princess.  He hopped off his horse, bowed to the king for the royal sash, and came up the aisles to our little girl!!  How special was that?!!!  The queen gave her a crown, too, as a welcome gift into the royal family.  She got a little embarrased, but it was sweet.  There were so many people there, and what are the odds we would have that amazing of an experience.  Here's her keepsake photograph of that moment.  She gets to keep her crown and sash, too. 

Girl Time

Our little one wanted to go shopping.  As much as I really don't enjoy hanging out at the mall, I couldn't resist a sweet date with my daughter.

She suggested we wear our matching shoes.  Mine..Vans.  Hers..Converse.  Close enough.

After a day of shopping at several stores to buy her some jeans, we came home empty handed.  Each pair was either not soft enough, no snap, no zipper, wrong color of blue, too tight, too loose, too long, doesn't like the waist, doesn't like the pockets, etc.  

After several hours, we did agree on lunch at McAlisters, only the tea was mixed with too much unsweet tea.  Love that face!

Redecorate

When we came back from our Christmas break, we found our downstairs 1/2 bath was wet on the floor and the wood warped.  Our toilet had a slow leak that had gotten under the wood.

After ripping out part of the wood floor, we realized it had been leaking for quite some time.  The walls were wet, the baseboards wet, all of it!  So, Eric did what he does best and made it whole again!  This time, we decided to upgrade the decor.  

Once the bathroom was finished, we decided to finish the living room.  We found a painting that added a hint of color splash to our new fireplace.

Motivated to get everything done that weekend, I decided to spruce up all the family photos along the stairs.  This collage was on clearance at the store and provided a fun, yet clean look to our family tree.

Decorating, done.  Now back to important thinks like playing with the kids...