Pops Connell's birthday

We got together to celebrate Mr. T's birthday.  We decided it was an opportune time as well to take some photos. Woopow!

Sneak peak...

...of a little something I've been working on.

:)

Happy Birthday, Annie!

Recent camera photos that I *love*

My mother in law was in a play of the Lord's Supper at her church.

She's the best Jerusalem singer I've ever heard!

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The question was:

 "do glasses go on top of those point up stick-y things or do they go beside them?"

*Image from Women's Day magazine - interview of a 22 yr dishwasher designer.*

This solves a 2 year long "conversation" in our marriage.

I rest my case.

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Mr. Connell was invited to play at UT's Professional MBA dinner marking their half-way point.

He was warming up before 140ish people filled these seats at Calhoun's on the River:

Everyone loved him.  {Especially me!}

There was even talk of him getting more *gigs at future UT dinners, backyard parties, and possibly adding another local restaurant as a regular weeknight show.

Wouldn't it be awesome if those things worked out?!

I'm so proud of him.

For the other artists out there (not music though), check this blog post out.

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Cupcakes from Gigi's

These yummies were dropped off at the office for us
and I almost died of sugar overdose from eating half of one.

Speaking of eating, you've gotta read this post where Jessica wrote about what her family eats.

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As we're only days away from Good Friday and Easter,
my thoughts are continually going back to Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.

His death was necessary for us to have a relationship with God.  Jesus bore the wrath of God (because of our sin), defeated death, and is now sitting at the right hand of our Father.

Dogwood blossoms remind me of this.

Is is coincidence that they bloom at the time of year we're celebrating Easter?

Is it coincidence that their petals resemble the cross with the piercing marks that held him there?


When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

   “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
 
 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
 
   “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Luke 19:37-40

I am so thankful for truth.



Enjoy Easter!

xoxo

Macy and the battlefield

This cute little furball at the top of the stairs...

...is not supposed to be up there unsupervised.

One day when the baby gate was mistakenly down and no one else was home...

...she snuck upstairs and bombed {potty style} the bonus room.

It was finished with a doo-doo ball in the hall.

Her mission complete.

No one would know {until the stench wafted downstairs}.

But then the little furball remembered...

She can get up the stairs,

but, alas, she can't get down them.

and there she sat when her dad came home...

...excited to see him as always!

I'm recovering...

from one fabulous night with 9 super fun girls!

[First six to arrive on our back porch.]

My small group of high school girls stayed the night with me two Saturdays ago.

[Leaders included now!]

I wish I could tell you about each of these ladies - they are beautiful, not only on the outside, but on the inside as well.  We've been talking about a Small Group Sleepover for months and we finally got to do it!

All the ladies packed up their bags (and sleeping bags) and headed to the my casa.  We kicked out Mr. Connell (so sacrificial of you, Darling) and had the whole house to ourselves!

Four pizzas were ordered, 2 lbs of cheese dip eaten, a birthday celebrated, and the noun game that morphed into some other game of "make up something funny, someone will act it out, and then we'll all guess" was played.  Laughing until your sides hurt = priceless.

My plans of sneaking to bed early were thrown off when we put a movie in at 11:30pm.

That's PM.

I prefer to see 11:30 in the AM, but hey, the night was young!

Not sure if these were taken before or after the movie?

The 10 of us (missing 3 of our other favorites who couldn't join us for the evening...)

Innocent enough...

Until things got a little crazier:

No girls were harmed in the making of this photo.  All were able to breathe (after a bit) and I'm really not sure how that random foot is poking out to the top left of the couch.

No one mentioned dislocating their leg, so I think all is well.

"Okay!  Next photo!"

It's amazing what happens when you set a self timer up for a bunch of girls.

Shocking that our couch survived this.

My favorite part of the evening was the "compliment plates."  This wasn't an original idea since I did it when I was high school, but it is definitely special.  You take a paper plate and string ribbon from the top of it.  Then, you hang your plate from your neck like a backwards necklace.  Everyone walks around writing encouraging things on each other's plates.  It's on backwards so you can't see who wrote what.  When we're done, you've got a plate full of nice things people think about you and of things you do well.  A little something to take away and remember the night by.

It's positive, uplifting, and encouraging.

A little more so than the murder game we played at 2AM.  (That's not a typo.)

Not that walking around in total darkness wondering if someone was going to squeeze your shoulder (thus murdering you) or if you were going to find/kick/trip over someone already laying on the ground (thus already murdered) isn't hilarious...  because it is.  It's just not the encouraging piece I wanted to take away from the evening.

Knowing we burned 500 calories from laughing the entire night is definitely something I'm taking away.

Once I finish doing the sheets, of course.

Prior to church the next morning, we huddled around for one last photo.  (See one of the compliment plates?)

We all saw 4AM, if not later, so it's a wonder how our eyes are open and we made it to church on time.

Wait, I forget...  That's exactly what high school's about.  Stay up extremely late and then act like you got tons of sleep the next morning just so your parents' don't suspect anything.

I'm on to you, bright eyed and bushy tail girls!

Or it could be that you're still delirious from the evening before.

Whatever you would say about that night, it was loads of fun for all of us!

I am so thankful for each girl in our small group and I'm counting down the days until our next sleepover.

Surely, I'll have made up the sleep in a year, right?!

Dancing Bear

  Chris is in a CLC (Christian Leadership Concepts) Bible Study for men that meets once per week.  Two Saturday's ago we found ourselves at the Dancing Bear Lodge with all of the men and their wives for a little overnight marriage retreat.

It was a rainy Saturday.  One of those where you wish you found yourself wrapped up in a blanket at home.

However, with a room like this:

I quickly decided this could be my new home (at least for the night!).



My husband right beside me in a down bed with a down comforter??

Yes, please!

We dined with everyone that evening in the lodge restaurant.  [Side note:  It was good, but for the money I would drive 20 minutes down the road to eat at our new favorite place.] 

Later, we reconvened in a large meeting room around a great big fireplace, talked a while, and then played the three rounds of the Newlywed game.  For each round, four guys were relocated outside while their coordinating girl was asked around 6 questions.  Once the guys came in, they would be asked the same question and everyone listened to see if the answer would be the same as what the girl said.  It was such a fun game!

Chris and I won our round!  6 out of 7 questions answered correctly!  Probably the luck of the draw, but you know we like to win games around here.

As fun as the night was, the next morning was even better.  More special-er, if you will.

This weekend meant specifically for women.  To stay in a beautiful location, away from the to-do lists and children (if you have them), to be together. 

Sunday morning the men had prepared something very special.  They all wrote or thought about the things they love about their wives.  Then, in front of the entire crowd, they told us, one by one.  My heart was pounding as Chris looked at me and said such beautiful things.  He did say I was "the best thing that has ever happened to him" which I plan to hold close to my heart to for a very long, long time.

After that, we had our own church service of 22 and Chris led the music.

Some of the couples:

Brandy, Baby Asa, and Kayvon (one of Yegi's cousins)     Brad and Heather (our neighbors)

                Mike and Jenn                             Beth and John (baby boy makes three!)

Frank and Laura                                            Katy and Hal    

The whole gang (minus Bumble and Mindy):

There was this guy:

He is an avid reader of said blog and asked to have his picture taken with Mr. Connell.

It is nice though that Chris and John get to be apart of this group together.  College BFFs.

PS for anyone on the lookout for a baby bump (IE: our sisters):  Even though my shirt appears that I'm trying to hide something, I am not pregnant.

Just wanted to clear that up.

But I sure am in love with that Mr. Connell there!

The lodge and the stragglers.

So grateful for that little getaway with the Mister!

and for the CLC group of men he's apart of...

PS:  Check this fun recipe out if you want to know what I'm making for dinner tonight. 
PPS:  This list of ways to simplify your life is also pretty great.

xoxo!