Some country music fun

Yesterday afternoon Drew, the kids, and I went to a Parmalee and Jana Kramer concert downtown.  It was so much fun!  It was a benefit for breast cancer so the event was small which was perfect for the kids. 

We arrived about an hour before the concert started so we walked to an outdoor theatre area where the kids could run and get out some energy.  That was probably the best decision we made all day!

I was super excited to hear Parmalee, but we enjoyed both concerts.  Thankfully because it was outside Jonah was not bothered at all by the noise.  The small event meant that we could get right up to the barrier as in the front row which was fun!  Elena loved the music and had so much fun dancing with her Daddy and some with me.  The kids hear these songs enough at home and in the car that they could sing along.  I am not sure if this is good or bad, but it was sweet watching them sing. Parmalee played all my favorite songs except one, but we did get to hear a new one that was really fun.  Jana Kramer sang some new songs as well...good stuff!

Jana Kramer opened for Parmalee and played for maybe 35-40 minutes.

Parmalee began at 5p and played 11 songs.  By then Elena was happy to dance and was more interested in being close to the band.  So were the boys.  Emma was happy sitting on the stairs. 

So close...

Being her typically silly self

Dancing in daddy's arms

I don't know what Samuel's problem was, but Jonah liked watching the guitarists. 

After the concert Parmalee met all the fans.  The kids were almost as excited about this as I was.  Samuel had his hat signed which he wore to bed last night.  He likes it just a little bit.  Emma had her shirt signed and wore that to school today.  Jonah asked for guitar picks since he just started taking guitar lessons.  We were told to ask for them and they happily gave Jonah three.  He was thrilled!

After our dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe it was time to end our fun day, but not before one more picture!

Again with Elena being silly...so her!  

The good and the bad and the ugly

Our weekend was supposed to be filled with lots of family fun.  That plan changed on Friday when Samuel got off the school bus and this happened...

This was actually his second attempt to make it inside. Samuel just laid there and moaned about how tired he was.  It was really a pathetic sight.  Drew carried him to the couch where he stayed for a long time.  I honestly thought he was just really tired.  Samuel had a really long week with school and football practice.  Unfortunately, he was not only tired, but sick.  By Saturday morning, he had a fever.  That was what ended our family fun weekend. 

I sent the rest of the family to the zoo for Drew's annual company zoo picnic day and Samuel and I stayed home.  Samuel slept off and on all day fighting his fever.

Hiding from life because he felt awful

Sunday was more of the same and everyone left us again to go to church.  Thankfully by Sunday afternoon Samuel was feeling better and acting much more like himself.  Now, it would be great if no one else caught whatever bug this was.  So that was the ugly of our weekend.

They had lots of fun without us.  I guess we have to find another time to go back as a family.

The good of our weekend was Emma's district gymnastics meet. 

This was her 4th meet of the season and the meet where she needed to qualify for the South State meet.  After a seriously rough start that included a fall off the beam, Emma rebounded.  Her floor routine was solid.  Her vault was great and so was her bar routine.  Because her beam score was so low I was really worried about her making it to South State.  Watching Emma and Jonah at their meets is so nerve wracking for me.  Yesterday was no different.  I don't think it will ever get easier either.

Emma managed a 4th place finish on vault.  The three girls ahead of her tied for 1st place with a 9.35.  Emma's score was 9.3. 

She finished 7th on bars with her 9.275. 

Overall, she placed 10th which was awesome considering the beam fall. 

She solidly qualified for South State.  I was so proud of her.  She worked hard to battle back from the fall and she did.

She has a lot of work to do to qualify for the state meet.  It is a really, really, really big goal and pretty far reaching too.  We shall see.  She is capable of better and she knows what she needs to do in three weeks.

The bad of our weekend for me was this post of Facebook.  I realized this weekend that the BCS marathon won't be happening for me no matter what happens at my appointment on Friday.

I refuse to run a race I am not adequately prepared to run.  I also refuse to run a marathon just because I am registered and may be able to run it.  The next marathon I run I will be trained well with the plan of doing my best.  That is not possible with 9 weeks to go.  Just not happening so some more tears were shed over this stupid, stupid injury.  I did not start today and I did not go.  I continued to hobble and it sucks.

Thank goodness my children keep me busy and bring joy to my days.

A fall-filled weekend with a lot of Jack

I absolutely love fall.  Unfortunately for me, we don't get to experience much fall in Texas.  It has been years since we were able to be home...meaning PA or MD or VA...during the fall. Well, lucky for me, the girls and I took a weekend trip to visit my sister Kelsey and her family.  The weather was amazing and we could experience fall in all its glory.

On the plane really early Friday morning

The purpose of our trip was to meet our new nephew/cousin Jack Mitchell Hayes.  I am not allowed to post pictures of him on Facebook so that means none on the blog either.  What I can tell you about Jack is that I am so in love with that baby boy.  I held him as much as everyone else would share him.  I am pretty sure I gave him more kisses than he will get in a while and I told him all about football.  He and I watched the TCU-OU game on Saturday afternoon.  He is so even tempered, pleasant, quiet, and just oh so cute.  If you want to see pictures of this tiny little boy...so, so tiny...you will have to look me up on Instagram at kortnilm. Really...you should take the time to look because he is just too much!

Besides loving on Jack, Kelsey and Scott took me and the girls everywhere.  On Saturday we went to a fall festival and a pumpkin farm.  The weather was too perfect.  Being able to wear long sleeves and jeans the first weekend of October was a treat. 

Always the best of friends no matter how far apart they live

Emma climbed up this rock wall in what seemed like 10 seconds.

There was some face painting which according to children is always worth the long wait in line.

Everyone enjoyed the pony rides.  I think this is the first time either girl was on a pony or horse and both liked it.  Hanna really liked it.  She rode on the pony 10 times.    

Leah and Elena did this obstacle course/slide thing about 15 times.  They loved it!

After this we were off to the pumpkin farm.  One the great things about a two week old baby is the portability.  Jack was so easy to take places.  He ate, slept, and slept some more. 

The broken foot momma and just had a baby two weeks ago momma were a little tired!

The excitement before heading into the corn maze

After all that excitement you would think the girls would be tired, but no.  They continued to play hard all afternoon and were in good spirits for a marshmallow roast.  It was cold enough that the fire felt nice.

I was working on the perfect marshmallow

Sunday was another beautiful day.  In fact, it was 37 degrees when we woke up.  The big girls made everyone breakfast and asked us to eat at their "restaurant".  It was a very sweet thing to do and a wonderful wake-up surprise.  We left in the morning for the Homestead Apple Farm.  It was cold enough that I wore a fleece and sweatshirt.  It was sunny, but windy and in the low 50's.  Perfect!

Kels and I were cold

I was definitely missing my boys because they would have loved all the activities.  But, it was nice to have girl time and get pictures with just Elena and Emma.

Emma's height difference from the other girls makes me laugh!

I just love this...sisterly love!

The girls picked almost two full buckets of apples!

We went on a hayride and the kids had caramel apples. They waited in line for a while to get them. 

I made them share

It was the perfect weekend.  Seeing Kelsey and her family every six weeks would be awesome.  Too bad it can't happen all the time.  Thank goodness it is happening again in six weeks when they come down for Thanksgiving!  I so wish we lived closer!