The countdown is on.....

We are headed to the Big Apple for Thanksgiving!!

This Sunday we are headed to NYC. Lord willing, we will actually get there this time!

This will be Britt, Cam and Carlie's first trip to New York. The kids have never been to a city bigger than Atlanta. They are going to be so amazed at the landscape of Manhattan!! Britt has been to Chicago, and Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. But he's never been to NYC. I went in January about 5 years ago on a girls' trip with my mother in law and Britt's cousins and aunts. It was cold, but we had a fantastic time!

I am so excited about taking them through the city. I can't wait to show them Central Park, and Top of the Rock, and Times Square, and the Statue of Liberty! Since we are now going in the fall instead of summer we get to ice skate either in Rockefeller Center or in Central Park! But it's going to be much cooler!!

I'm honestly a little nervous about the weather. I mean, we live in the Deeeeeep South! In a previous life, I worked for Wachovia. I spent one week a month working in Stewartstown, PA. From November until February I thought I was going to die from hypothermia every day walking from my car into the office!! But I had on a suit and heels. I can dress myself to be much more comfortable walking the streets on New York City! I worry the most about the kids. They've traveled a good bit in their 9 and 7 years, but never to the northeastern US in the wintertime! I think they'll be fine walking around, but I'm worried about the standing and waiting for the Parade to begin.

After our last scheduled trip to NYC didn't happen (thanks to some car theives in Atlanta) it took us some time to decide if, and when, we were going to try again. Obviously, we decided to go. We looked at our schedules and realized we had a couple of options. Since I was a little girl I have always wanted to see the Macy's parade! So I was thrilled when I realized we were going to have the opportunity to be there for it!

We did our homework, and selected a hotel on the parade route. Just in case our poor little southern children got too cold waiting to see the SpongeBob float! It's no surpirse, given our recent "luck", that for the first time in 83 years the parade route has changed!!! It now bypasses Times Square completely! So we are going to bundle up and hunker down with the rest of Manhattan at Central Park West to watch the parade!

We have reservations for lunch at American Girl. Our kids can't wait to ride the ferris wheel in Toys 'R' Us. Cam wants to go to Nintendo World. I want to eat dinner at The View on top of the Marriott Marquee. We are going to see a show....we just aren't sure which one yet! Oh, and did I mention that Bon Jovi is performing on the TODAY show Wednesday morning?! I don't know who is more excited, me or Britt! Probably me!!! It should be a fun filled week!

I've got to get started packing. That's the part I dread. And packing winter clothes is never fun. They are so bulky and take up so much room. Our suitcases will be heavy with boots, and coats. I usually prefer to go someplace tropical when it's winter in the US. There's nothing quite like packing swimsuits and sundresses in the middle of winter, then going somewhere to lay on the beach for a week! But this year we are going to brave NYC, in not quite the middle of winter...more like late autumn. But it'll be cold nonetheless. And I am just not a cold weather girl! Britt has been wanting to go to Colorado on a ski trip forever. This year his extended family is all going to Steamboat right after Christmas. That's the one trip I just can't give in to. Not yet, Carlie is still too small (by my standards). Skiing is alot of work! I want to wait and go when Cam and Carlie can dress themselves in all their ski gear! I'd love to go watch the snow fall in Colorado, as long as I don't have to touch it or stand out in it long periods of time! God didn't build me for cold weather! That's why I'm stressed about NY. I don't like being cold. Hopefully with all the walking and moving around we will stay pretty warm. The 3 hours waiting for the parade will probably be the worst, but I'll have on about 6 layers of clothing!!!

I keep checking the weather for NYC. It is going to be about 59 on Sunday when we arrive, and the temperature drops all week. The "Real Feel" for Thanksgiving morning is around 35 degrees. But I guess it could be much worse!!

My parents are coming to stay at our house and take care of our "baby", Bentley. There was no way I was going to put him in a kennel for a week! He will be just as spoiled, if not more, with his Gramma keeping him! I won't worry about him a bit with her here! And my mom always picks up around my house when she's here! Which is awesome, because I tend to make a mess the day we leave. I tell myself time and time again that I'm going to clean up before leaving, but I'm always running late. Between packing for four people and taking care of day-to-day tasks, and making sure we've taken care of everything for the Sonic, and school, and home I am always exhausted. By the time I get packed and the car loaded I don't care that there are Barbies all over the playroom floor! So yay for moms! I may come home to a clean house!

So we're getting ready. I've been laying out clothes to pack. And making lists of things to pack or carry on. I can't wait. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to share when we get back! I'm hoping to take our Christmas card photo somewhere around NYC too! Let's just hope we don't freeze to death!

Oh, and we are planning to eat BEFORE we get to Atlanta this time!!!

Not as young as I used to be....

Remember when we were kids? When 30 was old? I remember thinking my mom had one foot in the grave and the other one slipping when she was about 35. My how my perception has changed!!

But today I realized, my kids think I'm ancient!

This morning Cam was in rare form. He has spent the last 4 days deer hunting in South Arkansas with my husband, and my father-in-law. Britt and Cam got home around 4:00PM yesterday. Cam was none too happy that he had to go back to school today.

Cam asked me to turn the radio down as we drove to school. It wasn't loud to start with. But, trying to keep the peace, I obliged. He said "I can still hear it. Please turn it down some more!" I told him that it was barely audible, not nearly loud enough to annoy him. He kept whining and I said "Cam get over it. The radio can't be bothering you. I can barely hear it". Of course he replied "Well I can hear it!" Carlie, having had enough of this exchange between Cam and myself, came to my defense, "Cam don't be so mean to mama! When you're her age, you won't be able to hear good either!"

Thanks for being on my side, Carlie-bug. I think.

A fabulous wedding.....

My cousin got married on Saturday the 7th. It was a beautiful outdoor autumn wedding.

I love this picture.
I love that little ring bearer staring up at the bride and groom.
And I love that weathered brick wall.
Gorgeous.


This is L and her mom before the wedding.
Her mom is my aunt.
My dad's sister.


She was such a beautiful bride.


Her daddy cried when he gave her away.

She started crying about 7 hours earlier, during breakfast!

...and continued throughout the entire ceremony!

My little princess was in the wedding party.

So was I.

So were 14 more of her closest friends and family.

This isn't all the bridesmaids. Carlie took this picture, she cut off two of them on the end!

It was Carlie's first time to be a flower girl!

She did such a good job!

The other flower girl got sick the night before. So another cousin helped out at the last minute. Sometimes its good to have such a large family!

Carlie was mad because she slept in sponge rollers and wore them until 2PM the next day.

I took this at another one of the bridesmaids house before the wedding. 8 of the bridesmaids and the bride and the flower girl got dressed at the same location...with only two bathrooms! Carlie loved this dog, Ellie. She carried her around all afternoon! But aren't they both so adorable!?

But these curls were so worth 17 hours in sponge rollers!!

Cam was supposed to be an usher in the wedding. He also had a playoff game scheduled at 1:30 that afternoon, in a town 40 minutes away. Unfortunately, his game started 40 minutes late and he and Britt missed the entire ceremony! They came for the reception, but we didn't take any pictures. So we had to take a few pictures when we got home! It's not everyday that Cam wears a suit!!

Isn't he handsome?

And almost as tall as I am!

I'm even wearing 2 1/2 inch heels!!

It's certainly not everyday you see Britt in a tie either!

The whole wedding was wonderful! November in Alabama is still pretty warm. Definitely comfortable enough for an outdoor wedding! It was about 74 degrees and sunny last Saturday. Much better than say, a June wedding. In June it's 90 degrees before 8 AM and 100% humidity! November is absolutely perfect! And the autumn floral arrangements were beautiful! And the fall colored bridesmaid dresses were fabulous! I'll have to remember all this when it comes time to plan Carlie's wedding.

But I'm not even going to entertain that notion yet!

Miley Cyrus Concert

This post is also known as "Our LAST Miley Cyrus Concert" or "What the heck happened to Miley Cyrus".......

A couple weeks ago Britt and I took Carlie and her friend to the Miley concert in Birmingham. I had bought tickets back in June. Carlie had been looking forward to the show for months! We had planned on taking Cam, but he bailed on the last day. Britt was a trooper and suffered through for his little princess.

This is Carlie and Lindsey before the show started

I was excited, because we had GREAT seats! By the looks of TicketMaster's diagram, we were right at the stage.

Little did I know that I would be wishing we were on the back row and the back of the arena before it was all said and done!

Then the week of the concert arrived. About two days before the show I saw the video to Miley's "Party in the USA" on Disney Channel. Now, my kids have been listening to that song for a month. It's pretty cute. Talking about her transition to Hollywood, how nervous she was. It's all in all a wholesome song about a girl from Nashville making it big. THEN I saw the video! OH MY GOODNESS! Can someone explain to me the connection between small town girl going to LA and trampy looking girls, scantily clothed, dancing in the bed of a pickup truck? I fail to see the connection.

I guess seeing that should have been my warning. But because we had been so excited about it...not to mention the $400 I dropped on tickets. (Britt was appalled saying "I didn't pay that much to see The Rolling Stones!")

Oh, did I mention this concert was "ticketless"?? Because of the outrageous markups on her last tour, Miley's company did a ticketless ticket. You have to bring the credit card you purchased the ticket with, and all members of your party must enter together. All to prevent ticket scalping. I was afraid it would be a nightmare to get in. But it went surprisingly smoothly. I imagine we will be seeing much more of this in the future. Regardless, I couldn't have sold my tickets if I wanted to.

So....we headed to Birmingham. Now, we had seen Miley on her first tour, two years ago. We went to Memphis to see her in her "Best of Both Worlds Tour". She did half the show as Hannah, and half as Miley. It was a really cute concert. Well choreographed, very entertaining. It almost made up for her lack of talent. She managed to keep both me and my husband and my then 7 year old son interested. Carlie.....was thrilled from start to finish.

We got to the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center (we locals call it the BJCC). But we were purposely late. See, Miley's brother's band MetroStation was opening for her. I didn't know but one song they sing. That "Shake it" song, and I knew that would be last. So when we got there Metro had already started their set. We went down to find out seats. Sure enough. Right at the corner of the stage. They were the best seats I've ever had at a concert. I hate that we wasted that good fortune on this concert however!

Metro Station weren't quite as far into their set as I had hoped, but I decided to grin and bear it. Britt however, volunteered to go get us snacks and t-shirts! ha! Then MS started their next song, there was a long drawn out dedication then the song started with the lyrics "I like to get high and play" and of course Miley's brother Trace had to pretend he was holding a joint to his lip when he said "get high". I told the girls I needed to go to the restroom, and quickly ushered them out of the arena!

And as a parent of a 7 year old girl I just couldn't, in good conscience, sit in there allowing her to hear that. We took just short of forever in the restroom then slowly meandered back to our seats. Much to my chagrin MetroStation was STILL on the stage. They were doing their last song when we sat back down. I was relieved that the horror was over, or so I thought. Then, Trace pulled his shirt off revealing his millions of tattoos.....

Now my girls may not have heard the "get high" song, but they definitely SAW this! I could hear mothers sitting around me commenting about him and this band. Needless to say, I wasn't the only one shocked and appalled! After MetroStation finished people all around us were talking about "Why in the world did they let THEM open for her!" I couldn't agree more! Right now, Miley's target market is 6-12 year old girls! MetroStation's target couldn't be further from that demographic!!! It was absolutely disgusting.

The only thing I can figure out is that Miley and her dancers' trashy clothing and suggestive dancing doesn't seem quite as revolting after you've subjected yourself to a nearly naked, tattoo covered, strung out looking, guy who is singing about smoking pot!!

Then Miley came out after several minutes of shrill screams and girls chanting her name...

Here's Carlie either screaming for Miley or showing me what I looked like on the inside while MetroStation performed.

Miley's entrance was full of drama. The screen let us know that we were supposedly on the moon. Then Miley appeared frozen in a chunk of ice. But we all know that isn't real, because she would've died of hypothermia within seconds considering she was nearly naked.

Oh wait...she did have on a shawl.

The show was highly entertaining. Miley rarely, if ever, had more than a tanktop and panties. I didn't want Carlie thinking it was ok, or that teenagers should dress like that so I told Carlie it was like her ballet leotard. "Miley had to wear outfits like that so she could dance. Miley wouldn't never have on anything that short if she was going somewhere, because it's not ok to dress like that." I hope she bought it.

Miley at the front of the stage. The first of many times she would squat toward the audience. Atleast this time she kept her legs together......I think this was the only time.

The back up dancers looked like absolute trash the whole time. I wish I could say that nicer, but I just can't. It's one thing to wear leotard-esque clothing so you can dance and move, but when did it become necessary to wear torn fishnets or lingerie at a concert targeting children?

Each of The Wiggles may as well start wearing nothing but a red, purple, yellow, or blue thong!

Miley's shorter version of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" dress.
See the back up dancers' costumes?

This was the one costume that left something to the imagination. I was thrilled when afterward Carlie said this was her favorite!

As bad as the costumes were, they were not the worst part. The suggestive dancing done by Miley and her dancers was shocking! If Miley squatted like a pole dancer once, she did it two dozen times. It was revolting. She is a 16 year old child!! The back up dancers were as bad if not worse! At one point, Miley sang a slow song I didn't know. A boy and girl dancer did a somewhat ballet number behind Miley. During that song a friend of mine, who was also at the concert with her 9 year old, text me and said "HIDE THEIR EYES!" The dancing was overtly sexual. And just completely unnecessary.

This was taken as Miley was about to sing a cover of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock n' Roll".

She sat on a Harley and was lifted up and circled the audience.

The low point came during the song G.N.O (Girls Night Out). Miley and the girl dancers had on construction worker gear. They were each carrying saw horses. When they got to the front stage they danced around the saw horses, leaning over them and each doing the equivalent of a lap dance. It was more than disturbing. Then when you thought it couldn't get any sleazier, they went back to the main stage and ropes dropped from the ceiling. Each girl and Miley proceeded to do a full out pole dance, grinding up and down the ropes. There is no picture for that. I was too far into shock to take a picture.

I was so glad when the show finally ended. Apparently many other parents were too. The general consensus of chatter as we left the arena was disappointment and disgust. People were talking about her dancing and wardrobe as we were walking out of the arena, and as we walked to the parking deck, and in the elevator, and in the parking garage. Everywhere we went someone had something negative to say about her.

Then day after the concert I talked to several of my friends who took their daughters. Each and every one of them regretted taking their children to see it. I joked and said "I don't remember Debbie Gibson or Tiffany being this trampy!" But it's true.

It's really sad that Miley has gone this route, and so quickly. We saw her in concert in November 2007 in Memphis. She had just turned 15. Her concert was excellent. And full of screaming, adoring young girls, who looked to her as a role model. Now she dresses like a streetwalker and performs like an exotic dancer. I would be willing to bet that more than half of the people who were at this concert won't go to another one. My guess is that Miley is trying to get away from the tween idol persona. I'm sure she wants to be seen as "a serious artist", but why bite the hand that feeds you?

So be warned if you have tickets to her show in your city. This ain't no episode of Hannah Montana you are going to see. She puts on a show that you would expect to see from "P!nk" or maybe Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. Artists you would expect to have more mature audiences. Artists I doubt people would drag their kindergartners to see.

The bottom line is this....had this concert been a movie, you would have to be atleast 17 years old to see it. Unfortunately, the arena was packed with girls under the age of 12. And one of them was mine.

Backyard Grudge Match

Down.....Set.....Hut!

Looks like our QB is in trouble!

And Bentley gets the sack!!

But it looks like Bentley may get an excessive celebration penalty....
just look at that taunting face!!

That sweet, adorable, taunting face!