Snow Days

This past week was a very chilly one in East Tennessee.  Area schools had snow days on Monday AND Tuesday, and then an ice day on Thursday.  I had my first snow and ice day as a teacher!  Because we only meet for class on Tues/Thurs we missed the last week of school before break.  The other tutors and I had arranged for a class party on Thursday and unfortunately that didn't happen.  I guess we will be having a "Welcome to 2011" celebration instead when we return in January!


I mentioned a couple weeks ago that a commercial was being filmed in our living room.  If you look you can see Wayne's family heirloom (the antique desk) with a photo of my parents and grandparents on it.  Here it is:






If for some reason the video isn't working you can go to youtube to view it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgEZRgueExQ

On a side note...we thought that you might appreciate a photo of the house in our neighborhood that inspired out Christmas card this year.  Merry Christmas!

Noel Y'all 2010

Picture Tree Christmas

Turn your unique photos into Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Getaway weekend

Wayne was in California for work this past week and when he returned on Friday night we made a spontaneous decision to spend the weekend in Asheville, North Carolina.

We checked in at a lovely Bed and Breakfast, The 1889 White Gate Inn, and headed to lunch at Mela, a wonderful Indian restaurant that we had heard good things about - LOVED the food!  It was one of the top 3 Indian restaurants I have ever eaten.

Heading to Biltmore

We had heard wonderful things about the Biltmore at Christmas and decided that we should check it out for ourselves.  Our tickets had a reservation time of 2:45pm.  Needless to say I think we were both ready to be done with the tour about 2:47pm.  The crowds didn't help the situation but we were both VERY underwhelmed and actually had quite a few laughs along the way.  Maybe we missed something but for it being just as expensive (if not more so!) than Disneyland we felt like something was missing...like life-size cartoon characters, amusement rides, and 70 degree weather?  Well, we can say we have been to the Biltmore.  Let's leave it at that.

A picture of our Biltmore picture...funny story

After the Biltmore we headed to Fusion Pilates Studio to join Jennifer for her 'Fusion Holiday Drop In 2010'.  They had a Lululemon fashion show and lots of yummy food and wine.  It was great to have Wayne meet some of the fabulous women that I have trained with over the past year.

During our drive back on Sunday it started snowing.  By evening they were already announcing school closings for Monday.  We curled up upstairs and relaxed before heading into a new week.

Snowing

THE BOYS taking a nap together

It's been a few weeks since the last belly pic.  Oh boy (or girl?) I'm getting bigger.  :-)

25 weeks

Party time

This past week we decorated the house and have been generally getting ready for the holidays.

Friday evening we went to our first holiday party for the board of directors of the Friends of Literacy.  The party was in an old brick warehouse/club in downtown Knoxville that was converted into a family home.  I was taking lots of mental notes since we were getting ready to host our first holiday party the next evening!

Saturday we hosted the Pathfinders Christmas party at our house.  Pathfinders is a Sunday school group that we joined at the church we have been attending (Bearden United Methodist).  It is a great group of families (many with small children) and we are really enjoying the friendship.  We figured there was no better way to jump right into the group than to host the bash.  We had 28 people for a sit down dinner of roasted beef tenderloin (over 12 pounds!) and 50 ribs from Rouxbarb.  I also made Paula Deen's Pimento Cheese Potatoes and Wayne made his favorite appetizer, Swiss Cheese Bites.  It was all fabulous!!  Our guests brought everything else, including a pumpkin latte cheesecake (it was SO good!).

After dinner...still so much food

8 people were in the dining room

20 people ate in the kitchen area

Santa's Sangria

After dinner we had a White Elephant gift exchange.  The steal of the night was the leopard print snuggie.  Wayne and I ended up picking second to last and chose 2 Christmas coffee mugs.

Sunday morning at church they had the annual Christmas Cantata.  It was AMAZING!  Members of the UT and Knoxville Symphony Orchestras joined the BUMC choir to put on a touching musical event.  My mom would have loved it.

Sunday evening our house (specifically our fireplace) was used to film a commercial.  Doublejay Creative filmed Knoxville mayoral candidate Mark Padgett, his wife, daughter, and dog, delivering a Christmas message that will air on local cable.  Supposedly it will also be available on youtube...when it is I will post a link.  It was crazy to see all the cameras, lights, and equipment transform our living room into a set.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was wonderful.  My mom and dad arrived on Wednesday afternoon and helped me with a few last minute preparations.  Lisa and Steve made it in after a very long drive from Chicago with their two dogs, Maya and Addy (including 3 hours of traffic just to get out of the city!).  Over the course of the weekend we played many rounds of Scrabble, Cranium, Euchre, and FIFA World Cup '11 on the Wii.  What a blast!

This was our first Thanksgiving hosting and I think it went well.  We had rosemary roasted turkey (brined for 24 hours), mashed potatoes with celery root and mascarpone cheese, homemade gravy, green bean casserole, brussels spouts and carrots, fresh cranberry sauce, biscuits, and pumpkin chiffon pie with fresh whip cream.  I think the consensus was the cranberry sauce, although the underdog, was the clear winner.

After a little Black Friday shopping we came home to enjoy homemade tortilla soup (it was a CHILLY day!) before heading off to an Ice Bears game.  It happened to be one of the most popular game days - Weiner Dog Races. We didn't know what we had gotten ourselves into.  Basically 40+ owners bring their personal pets to the game and then after the first period they race across the ice rink - there were so many dogs that they had to race in two heats.  My favorite part was watching the dogs that stopped halfway and started doing donuts on the ice.  It was quite a laugh.

After the Ice Bears game

Julia and Wayne

Steve and Lisa

On Saturday Mom, Lis and I enjoyed pedicures at the Aveda salon.  It was nice to have some time to spend with "just the girls" before the family headed back home on Sunday.

Baby update

22 Weeks

Officially starting my 6th month of pregnancy!

The baby has been kicking and moving like crazy.  It really catches me off guard when I am standing in line at the grocery store or talking with a neighbor and all of a sudden I feel a *jab* or better yet a *jab/hook* combination.  Stops me mid sentence.

Wayne got to feel his first kick this past week which was very exciting.  I could feel that the baby was really active and called him over.  Seconds after putting his hand on my belly the baby gave him a high five (perhaps with an elbow or a foot, but it still counts, right?).

We are relieved and grateful that we have what appears to be a healthy baby at our last ultrasound (19.5 weeks).  We have decided to wait to find out the sex of the baby.  I know...I know, a turn of events for those of you that had talked with me previously about this issue.  The ultrasound tech said that she could tell the sex (they usually can by 18 weeks) so we had her print out a photo and she labeled it (boy/girl) and then slipped it into an envelope.  We are planning on opening the envelope at a later time before the baby arrives.  Right now we are trying to come up with some creative ways of sharing the news with friends and family; Christmas present or a baby shower surprise are still in the running.  I compiled a few clips of the ultrasound to share.  It is amazing what technology can do!

Going back to Cali

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind.

Wayne and I headed to Tahoe for the annual Malibu dealer meeting.  We stayed in Incline Village and had plenty to keep us busy.  Wayne had meetings during the day and we went to the evening functions together (and then Wayne got some good Casino time in after I checked out for the night).  I found a prenatal yoga class on Friday in nearby Truckee which was a treat.  We both agree that Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places on earth!

After leaving Tahoe we made a brief stop in Sacramento to visit Wayne's sisters, Kelly and Christy, as well as the nieces Stella, Vivi and Molly.  Molly is quite a character.  :-)

That same night we met up with friends for dinner.  Scott and Christy Lucia had us over for a wonderful dinner in their new home!  We realized that it had been over a year since we had last gotten together - how time flies.  Brad and Shonda, and their two adorable daughters, Addison and Kendall, joined us at the Lucia's.  Everyone had a great time catching up and generally hanging out.  The girls were very entertaining and surprisingly lasted way past their bedtime.  Kendall had this infectious smile and laugh that reminded me so much of Shonda...

Brad, Shonda, Kendall, Scott, Christy, and Julia at La Casa Lucia

Early the next morning I caught a flight to Los Angeles and Wayne stayed in Northern California and played a round of golf with Scott.  My friend Julie met me at the airport and we headed to Nina's house with Jamba Juice and Noah's Bagels.  Nina is nearing the end of her pregnacy...this was the last time I will see her before she has a baby!  I also got to stop by Rebecca and Chris's place and see baby Wyatt (4 weeks old).  He was SO precious!  We had dinner and "played" with the little guy - which means holding him and admiring how cute he is.  I am so lucky that it worked out that I got to visit with so many people.  Unfortunately there never seems to be enough time to see everyone.

On Monday I made it out to SMT to visit with my former co-workers and students.  It was shocking to see how grown up my last sixth grade class is now that they are eighth graders.  Wayne flew down to LA and we had dinner with Jamal and Julie and Wayne's parents.  We celebrated Jamal's and Marilyn's recent birthdays (14th and 19th, respectively) with a delicious cake from Torrance Bakery.  Yummm.  Early the next morning Wayne and I headed back home.

After a week away from home it was nice to be back.   Knoxville really does have its moments...

The sunset on our drive home...
the picture didn't capture the rays of light coming out from behind the clouds.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was fun in our new neighborhood.  We had plenty of trick-or-treaters and passed out 3 extra large Costco bags of candy and 40 full size Snickers bars (Wayne handed those out to the witty/best costumes of the evening).  We ended up sitting in lawn chairs on the front porch and greeted the kids as they walked up the driveway - this successfully avoided the barking of the dogs with every ring of the doorbell.  Wayne had fun playing with dry ice but ended up just having a very bubbly cauldron-like cooler of beer by the end of the night.  The dogs even participated in the fun!

LeRoy waiting for the trick-or-treaters

Guinness AKA Moosehead

This past week I had my first Centering Pregnancy group (this is a new format for prenatal care).  Basically for the rest of my pregnancy all my midwife appointments will be at the same time/day at regularly scheduled intervals.  For the first part of the appointment I have my usual check-up but following that I get together with the midwife and a group of women that are all due within the same 4 week time period.  It is great to interact with other women going through very similar experiences at the same time!  It also means that we get to spend over an hour meeting with the midwife.  I am the only first time mom in my group and I think I will gain a lot by being with other moms who have already gone through it.

More exciting news - I started going to a prenatal yoga class.  I am finally feeling like I have enough energy to work out and am loving how it makes me feel.  I guess baby likes it too!  Throughout the entire class the little guy/girl bounces around like crazy.  It literally starts at the beginning of class and stops with the relaxation/meditation at end of class.  Quite funny.

We are finally finishing up some of the home improvement projects that have been on our list since we moved to Knoxville.  The dining room got painted - no more dark eggplant!  Yea!  In addition, Wayne successfully put surround sound in the upstairs TV room.  This involved him running cords through the attic and threading wires between two sheets of drywall (very impressive!).  The goal was to be able to watch the MSU v Iowa game in surround sound but unfortunately we couldn't stand to watch the beating, so we turned on a movie instead.

Cruising right along

Wayne was in California for work this past week so it was pretty quiet around the house.  After Wayne flew back into town on Friday we went to the season opener for the Knoxville Ice Bears and invited my friend Sydney along.  What an exciting game!  The Ice Bears tied the game in the last 2 minutes of play, sending the game into a 5 minute sudden death overtime.   With only 30 seconds remaining in overtime the Ice Bears scored the winning shot.  Wow!  We are really enjoying our season hockey tickets so far.

Saturday was a relaxing day and included some time set aside to cheer on the Spartans (sorry Mom, Dad, Lisa, Steve...didn't catch you on TV) at one of our favorite local food joints, Aubrey's.  Then we took the boat out on the Tennessee River for a sunset cruise.  The cruise was an item that we donated to the Friends of Literacy silent auction.  (Friends of Literacy is the organization that both Wayne and I volunteer for - Wayne's on the board and I teach twice a week).  A wonderful local family joined us for the cruise and it was the perfect.  We took a scenic drive up river getting to see all the beautiful fall colors before heading back to downtown Knoxville for the start of the UT game.  The UT games start with fireworks so we were able to watch the fireworks from the river and listen to the crowd cheer at the start of the game.  The cruise ended with us heading back up river and getting to watch a giant orange full moon creep up over the water.  Sorry, no picture.  :-(  It was amazing.  The fall "sunset cruise" may become a tradition in the future.

Sunday we drove to Kingston and had a wonderful dinner with my Great Uncle Bill and Aunt Betty Alice.  They will be heading to Florida for the winter and we were able to have a fun time catching up with them before they head down next week.  We really enjoy spending time with them.

I wasn't planning on posting any new belly pics this week but I couldn't resist sharing what happened when I went to take my weekly photo.  Wayne did a great job catching the action shots.  :-)

LeRoy trying to get in on the action...

Checking out the belly...

Guinness joining in!

Popcorn and...an Ice Bears Game

17 weeks - WOW!

This week was really exciting because I felt the baby moving for the first time!  After drinking a large glass of orange juice I took a seat on the couch and within 1-2 minutes I felt what I can only describe as popcorn popping in my abdomen!  I sat there in awe of what was happening.  Over the course of the week I had the same feeling a handful more times.  It always seems to be after I eat something and am sitting still or resting.













I've come a long way in the past few weeks:

On Saturday night Wayne and I went to an exhibition game for the Knoxville Ice Bears.  Last year Christy, Wayne's sister, bought us tickets to an Ice Bears game as a gift.  We had such a wonderful time that we decided we wanted to go in with friends and buy season tickets this year.  We are looking forward to the season opener on Friday...

Hilton Head Island

What a wonderful trip!  Wayne, Julia, Bob (Julia's Dad), LeRoy and Guinness all packed into the car for a road trip to the coast.  After crossing through the Smoky Mountains we stopped in Asheville, NC to have lunch at my favorite east coast Mexican restaurant, Mamacitas.


It was the first time to Hilton Head for everyone and by the end of the trip it was apparent that we all want to visit again.  The weather was perfect and the house we stayed in was 200 ft from the beach (Thanks Martha!!).

We all enjoyed riding bikes on the beach during low tide.  I especially loved riding along with the Spotted Sandpipers as they scurried across the beach - it made me laugh out load to watch them run!

Wayne got to play golf at two of the local courses and generally enjoyed having a vacation from work.  Bob was true to form and logged as much beach time as possible - including one sunrise!  Guinness had a fantastic time playing fetch in the Atlantic and by the second day had learned how to ride the waves into shore.  The water was warm enough that even LeRoy took a turn wading in the water!

We made a spontaneous decision to take a day trip to Savannah, Georgia - the 45 minute drive was so worth it!  We took a city tour on an open air trolley and had a fabulous tour guide, y'all.  The beauty and history in the city squares was impressive.

On the way home we took a quick detour and made a stop in Columbia for some authentic South Carolina BBQ: rice and hash, pulled pork with mustard sauce, fried chicken, cracklin, coleslaw, potato salad, hush puppies, and sweet tea.

The final stop to complete our trip was in Spartanburg, SC to our beloved Costco.  After stocking up on wine, cheese, and churros (yum!) we were headed back home to Knoxville.