Brad Paisley

I'm so behind on posts and things I want to share/document that when I get the time, I'm just going to randomly pick a folder, and (assuming it's something I feel like writing about) that will be my post topic. Tonight, it's Brad Paisley! Brad happened to be in town on my birthday--what a great way to spend the evening! We've seen Brad a few times before--he always puts on a fantastic show. Last time, we were in the 4th row! This time, the 7th! Here are a few pictures from the night.

He had two opening acts. Justin Moore was the first. He's had a hit song or 2, but I couldn't tell you the name of one. Here's a picture if you're interested.

The second was Miranda Lambert. I'm not a huge Miranda Lambert fan, but she did a pretty good job.

Finally came Brad. The stage was set up with a center catwalk as well as one on the left and right. There were steps on the left and right catwalks so that he could walk down into the crowd, and then through the crowd over to the other catwalk to get back on the stage. So that was neat. When he was on the floor, at the end of the catwalk, he was probably 6 feet from us. As always, his show is the best. He's a fantastic musician and singer, seems so down to earth, and has a great sense of humor. If you ever get a chance to see one of his shows, we would definitely recommend it.

Blair's 4th Birthday!: a bunch of sickies and a pink poodle party

Blair's birthday was on a Thursday. Wednesday night, in the middle of the night, she woke up throwing up. It continued Thursday morning, she had to miss school where she was going to take birthday cookies, and she spent her whole special day in bed with a fever, watching movies with the occassional cheerios and gatorade. She did perk up for a special present though--the long-awaited-for Cinderella dress! Even had enough energy to try it on.

Her birthday party was on Saturday and after going back and forth through the vast multitude of party themes--Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Shrek--she finally decided on a dog party. (How she got from princesses to dogs, I'm not sure, but we were running out of time, so I took the dog idea and ran with it.) I found some pink poodle plates on the internet, Jeremy--yes, Jeremy!--made her poodle cake, and I think he did a fabulous job. :) In addition to typical human party food, the "puppy guests" had white and brown bones (finger sandwiches) and pink bones (rice crispy treats) to munch on, along with raw hide (beef jerky), and puppy chow (chex mix). I had some puppy-related crafts planned, but didn't have enough energy (see story below) to get them ready before the party. It all worked out though, because Blair and the girls spent the whole time playing dress up, while the boys just ran around being boys. She received some great gifts, and had a blast, so it was a huge success!

Too bad I can't say the same for me, though. As soon as the party started, I felt like I hit a brick wall. All I wanted to do was lie down. I struggled to even get comfortable on the couch while the party happened around me. Before our guests had even left, I sneaked back to my room to lie down. I initially thought I had just worn myself out doing too much party planning, but after the second round of vomiting, it became evident I had caught Blair's stomach bug, and I spent the rest of Saturday throwing up. Jeremy came down with the same virus in the middle of the night, so we both spent all day Sunday in bed. Thank God my parents were in town and were able to take over the house and kids for us that day. I'm not sure what we would have done otherwise. Thank you mom and dad! (Looking back, we realized Reid had initially brought it home from school earlier in the week, but only complained of a stomach ache and never threw up or ran a fever, so we didn't take it too seriously. Until everyone else in the house got it!)