A Big Orange Weekend!

On a hallowed hill in Tennessee,

like beacon shining bright

The stately walls of old U.T.

rise glorious to the sight...

The odds were against our little family the weeks before UT's Homecoming...3 out of 4 had been sick and one still had a fever, but we rallied, and I'm so glad we did!  It was a wonderful weekend filled with old friends and new memories! 

We went to Knoxville in time for the Homecoming parade on Friday afternoon.  Chris and I met on the committee (All Campus Events - ACE) that coordinates Homecoming, so we had all sorts of laughs with those memories!  We watched the parade with Nan and Mary Lu and the three kiddos had so much fun!  Eli's eyebrows get all wiggly around Mary Lu, he has now named his blue monkey "Mary Lu", and when we announced that we would see her at the parade he said "can I doctor her?"  She has just turned one and we love watching her grow! 

After the parade we went to the Torchbearer for a picture and ran into our ACE Advisor, Jeff.  He was talking with the students who were coordinating the parade and they were about to return the cars used during the parade...Jeff let Lucy and Eli crawl around in a beautiful Corvette before it was returned to the dealership.  You can tell Eli paid attention during the parade...he practiced waving from the car!  Jeff also offered us a parking pass for Game Day...this was a huge pick-up considering our strategy was cash + prayer + hope for a spot within 5-miles of the stadium.  Between the 3rd row tickets bought one week before the game and a parking pass, things were looking good for Game Day!  Of course, neither the tickets or parking pass would have been an option if the Vols were having a better season.  But, our goal was "family entertainment"...so far, so good! 

We spent Saturday morning at the hotel and did a quick swim in the hotel pool...it felt very November-like, so that fun didn't last long.  Our strategy was "early lunch and naps" so all would be in good spirits for the afternoon festivities and game.  We were 50/50 on the naps and left for campus with hopes of making it through half-time without tears or freezing. 

The parking pass was a dream and we quickly to to Circle Park for the alumni festivities.  We met up with Matt and Allison (who were also on ACE) and their daughter, Sydney.  Sydney turned 5 in May...she and Lu always have a great time together!  After some BBQ, we headed to Will and Joy's tailgate.  The kids ran around like crazy and we all enjoyed catching up!  Will was also on ACE with us and in our wedding...he and Joy have Drew (who turned 5 in early November) and Caroline (who is 10-days younger than Eli.)  We discovered that these children born in January 2009 are averse to all potty-training tactics...but their hair is awesome!  

We entered a moderately-packed stadium, watched the team run through the "T" and made it through 3 quarters!  We decided to leave at that point because we wanted to miss some traffic and everyone was still in good spirits!  Lucy and Eli loved the game, the jumbo-tron, and the concession stand!  We'll surely be back to Big Orange Country!  

(game pictures by Lucy!)

So here's to you old Tennessee,

our Alma Mater true

We pledge in love and harmony

Our loyalty to you.

Birthday Wishes Across the Pond...

Amy and Matt both have birthdays this week!  We are sad that we cannot be there to watch them blow-out candles and eat cake, but the countdown is on until we see them again (thank goodness!) 

Here are some pictures of Avery from the summer...she and Amy stayed with us for a bit in August before their grand adventure began.  Since they've left, we've iChatted and it seems Avery is growing 100 pieces of hair everyday...she is almost ready for some serious bow-wearing! 

It was wonderful to have them here in August - she, Lucy and Eli have a great time together! 

You can follow their European adventures at: http://bossbits.wordpress.com/

Happy Birthday Amy & Matt!

School Days

Lucy and Eli have are back in school!  They are in the same school this year, which makes things less hectic for me.  I was afraid Eli would be disappointed that they aren't in the same class so I explained to Eli that he would see Lucy at Chapel Time, then go back to HIS classroom with HIS teachers and friends...so far, so good.

Eli has two teachers that Lucy had before and they are happy to listen to him talk about dinosaurs for 5 hours.  Lucy's teacher is wonderful, we've had our first round of homework (!), and she's started playing school at home now.  Eli is her reluctant pupil and whenever she sits in the rocking chair and says "1-2-3, Look at me!" he immediately says "I want to go to the office."  You see, the first time they were playing "school" (I don't even know if Eli realized what they were playing), he didn't do what she wanted him to do, so she sent him the "the office".  Now he chooses to come to "the office"...he'll even say "I want to go play with the Officer!"...that's me!

Watching Lucy start to play school makes me laugh because I remember the HOURS I would spend playing school...I'm wondering if my friend Stacy is reading this...we would play school together F.O.R.E.V.E.R!  I can remember teachers offering their leftover papers at the end of the school year and my hand would shoot up into the air so I could take them home...I just loved sorting and organizing, such fun!  This is Lucy's last year at her preschool - Chris calls it her Senior Year! - she'll be in kindergarten next year.  Here are some pics from their first few days...

The friendly skies...

Oh, our July has started off with a grand adventure!  The four of us flew to Pennsylvania on the 1st and stayed until the 4th.  Then, Lucy, Eli and I flew to Texas with Mom and Dad...and Chris flew home to work and monitor our house-situation. 

Most of the pictures are from Philly...in Texas it was beyond hot...simply-put, we played inside and went swimming. 

One of the highlights of the Texas-trip was a visit to the American Girl Store in Dallas.  Lucy got her American Girl, Kit, from Andy and Lauren for her birthday two years ago and she has recently realized this world of doll-fashion-craziness!  The lunch at the American Girl store was just for us girls...Dad and Eli spent their time wandering around the Galleria...there was a play area and Dad treated Eli to lunch and chocolate milk!  Then, they joined us at the American Girl bistro in time for cake and ice-cream.  Our waitress at the bistro asked if we were celebrating anything when we were seated...she explained that the "celebration package" included a cake and gift bag...how could we turn that down?  So, Lucy had an early birthday celebration!  She's such a rule-follower that she told anyone who would listen that her birthday isn't until August and she asked them to sing "Happy Birthday" to her quietly...but she ate that cake and ice-cream like it was her job! 

On our adventure, we...

- Loved visiting with our family!
- Toured the "Please Touch" museum in Philly with Aunt Chris...we would still be there if we could, so much to do and see!  
- Ate more than our fair-share of Aunt Chris' delicious cupcakes!
- Met Sullivan!  What a cutie he is...and it was wonderful to catch up with Casey and David too!
- Laughed as Lucy, Eli and Cammi enjoyed the slip-&-slide during our July 3rd celebration!
- Devoured hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and more cupcakes and the Brady family's cook-out!
- Sang "Happy Birthday" to Uncle Phil!
- Relaxed with Grandma in her apartment and enjoyed hearing about her travels!
- Listened to storytime at Mom's library and the many books she brought home for us...some of our favorites were "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site", "Duck on a Bike" and "Folly Beach" (for me!)
- Talked about all sorts of baby-stuff with Stacy since she's an excited mother-to-be!  
- Introduced Lucy and Eli to some Freeman-family favorites...the Madame Alexander dolls Amy and I collected and Legos!  The Lego set Lucy picked out has 435 pieces...no lie...thankfully, Eli's has 38 pieces. 
- Wondered how the days can go so quickly?  Mom and I always brainstorm a million more things we could do during our time and also joke that we need to stay for "about five weeks"...we so enjoy being together!