Good Times.......

"If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times." 
Saint Augustine


A trip to the mountains, lots of pictures, loud music, dancing, and one almost speeding ticket made for a very fun filled weekend. Our weekend was anything but boring! After getting the car packed with all of the luggage, and receiving a much anticipated phone call or two, we hit the road. I had one teenager, one pre-teen, and one 9 year old in the car. The levels of excitement were at an all time high. I don't know which was louder, them or the radio blaring Def Leppard. I was very relieved when Felicia joined us in the car. Finally, another pair of adult hands. Lol. We were running a tad late. Running behind plus my natural lead food equaled an almost speeding ticket. I got LUCKY! Thankfully, the highway patrolman was making a turn and didn't have his radar available. We spent the next 20 or so miles with him pacing me. I have never been so happy to see the N.C. border! Whew! Dodged that one. We made it to Maggie Valley, N.C. just in time and without a ticket. Thankfully, my phone rang again and offered much needed relief from the tension of being paced like that. Lol

Mom met us in Maggie Valley to watch the girls dance. She loves watching them. I think she could sit for hours and do nothing but watch them dance. She HAS! The girls did great! They competed in their first ever acapella solo. Acapella is danced with no music. The judges turn around and they are judged based solely on sound. I was very impressed with how well they did. Morgan forgot her step at the end. Her reaction was hysterical as you can see in the video. All of the dance teams and dancers did really well this weekend. WAY TO GO!!! We also received some AWESOME news while we were there. We have a new little dancer to the studio. Brayden Scott Cassidy was born! Congrats Scott and Missy!

I couldn't leave Maggie Valley without "paying" my respects to the Indian Reservation in Cherokee via Harrah's Casino. Mom had to come home Saturday. She already had a room at Harrah's. So, she gave us her room for the night. That was fun. Courtney spent the night texting us from the jacuzzi tub. Silly girl! Of course, I took advantage of being there and went down stairs to support the local Cherokee economy. I "played" my part in that. Thankfully, some luck was sent my way. I managed to break even. That doesn't happen too often. All in all, a good night ;-)



Our adventures began again bright and early the next morning with breakfast in the hotel; where we lost Courtney's inhaler. Thankfully, we found it. We loaded up the car and headed over the mountain; stopping along the way to take some pictures of the beautiful fall foliage. I was having problems getting good shots out of the car window. I improvised by standing out of the sunroof. Got some great shots, strange looks, and almost hit in the head by an eagle. But, well worth it. The stupid things I do to get a good picture. DOH!!! We stopped off at Clingman's Dome. We attempted to walk up Clingman's Dome. Unfortunately, Courtney was ill with a sinus and upper respiratory infection and got dizzy on the way up. So, we turned around and headed back down. Maybe next time. Hopefully, she will get better soon. Our next adventure led us to Cades Cove. It was BEAUTIFUL! God must be really creative to create something that beautiful. We were AMAZED!!! Nature at it's finest. I took lots more pictures and found a new hiking trail. It took us almost 5 HOURS to make the 11 mile loop. Still, very much worth it. Felicia and I finally made it back to the house with 3 exhausted girls around 8:00 pm. All in all, it was a tiring, busy, exciting, fun, and adventurous weekend. Now, I get to spend the week looking forward to hiking that new trail I found next Saturday. YIPPEEEEEE!!!!

End of September Updates

September brought us lots of new experiences and excitement. As I told you in my last blog, we started school with Morgan. That has been a real experience. It's came with its own highs and lows. For the most part, things have been going really great. We are starting to see some improvements with her. There have been hurdles we've had to cross. Morgan's favorite subjects are the Language Arts. I am very pleased with that. I have found a way to incorporate reading and reading strategies into all of her subjects. Shhhh.... Don't tell her that. She doesn't realize it lol. Our biggest struggle is Math. Math is typically an argument as soon as the books are opened. She hates it. Too be honest, so do I. I finally admitted defeat and accepted that the Math curriculum wasn't working for us. I ordered a new curriculum the other day. This one is more computer based and has fun games built into the lessons to further her understanding of the Math concepts. I'm hoping this new program will work much better for us. Overall, we are really enjoying it. I don't think she's ever going to want to go back to school. She IS! lol. Jason is also getting very actively involved in helping me teach her when he is home. He's even enjoying it as well. Friday, we had a bunch of errands to run. I started school with Morgan while he was busy. Then, he took over her lessons by himself while I got ready to leave. I was very proud of both of them! I only got called back to the dining room twice to help out! Good job Jason! One of my biggest concerns with teaching Morgan was how I would manage to get everything else done that needed to be done and still teach her. I've, since, learned to teach English while folding laundry, Science while doing dishes, and I've even learned to do my exercises while teaching her. Morgan thinks that's funny. lol. That is Math isn't it? "Morgan if I do 15 reps of arm curls and 3 sets, how many have I done in all?" No, don't worry, I haven't really asked her that. Thank you all for all of your encouragement!

Abbey is really enjoying her 7th grade year. She has turned into such a sweet and beautiful young lady. I couldn't be more proud of her, of both of them. Her teacher, Ms. Harris, pulled her aside and invited her to be a part of TSA (Technology Students Association) She is very excited about this. She chose 3 areas of study in the program; photography, website design, and criminal science. She is loving it. She has also become very active in her small group at church. She loves going to her leader's, Amanda, house every week to study and worship. She brought home her first mid term reports 2 weeks ago. She got all A's and 1 B. WAY TO GO ABBEY! She loves going on the computer and keeping a check on her grades. On the boyfriend issue......SHE BROKE UP WITH HIM! YAY! Can you tell I'm excited about that????

In other news, the dreaded flu bug has came to visit. Abbey was out of school sick with the flu most of last week. I thought that it was limited to Abbey. After she was healthy and back in school, neither Morgan nor I were showing any symptoms of having it. I thought we had escaped it. No such luck. It has now hit me as well. I'm hoping it skips Morgan and Jason.

Abbey attended her first UT football game. I had bought tickets for Jason and I. Unfortunately, work called and he was unable to go. Abbey had always wanted to go to one. So, I thought, why not take her. I have this extra ticket now. We dressed up in all of our orange and headed to the stadium to watch the UT - Ohio game. She LOVED it! She said that was the only way to watch football! Said it was like watching football on the biggest HD, flat screen T.V. ever. lol. When UT scored the first time, she went nuts! She loved hearing the band play Rocky Top every time. The crowd doing the wave really excited her. She cannot wait to go back again. Jason and I are discussing getting 4 season passes next year so they both can go with us to the home games.

On the sports front, the softball season is almost over. This will be there last week of regular season games. Tournaments start next week. Both girls have played exceptionally well all season. Abbey's team is ranked 1st in their age division so far. We have had a little mishap this season. Abbey has been suffering from a knee injury. Her doctor has advised bracing her knee when she plays ball and dances for now. If that doesn't work, he will refer her over to TN Sports Medicine for further consult. I'm hoping the brace does the trick. The girls will also compete in their last dance competition in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, October, 23-25th. Wish them luck. The indoor season of soccer for Morgan will also be starting again soon. She can't wait! She loves indoor soccer. Go figure. It's very fast paced. Perfect for Morgan.

Happy October everyone!!!