Weekend Update

This past weekend was a busy one... here are some highlights and pictures from the weekend...

Anna had her first gymnastics meet of this 2010-11 season at the VBC here in Huntsville. She is competing at Level 8 this year and the skills and competition just keep getting tougher. But she had a good, consistent-scoring meet and was happy with it in the end. She came in 9th place overall in her age group and had a 7th place finish on her bar routine. We're excited about our next meet that will be at Disney World in January! :)

So the gymnastics meet was late Saturday afternoon and we had to leave that a little early to run over to Randolph Academy to watch Mackenzie perform with the UAHuntsville Honor Wind Ensemble. She was chosen again this year to be in this band composed of the best high school players from around Madison County. She was very happy to make 3rd chair out of the 7 flutes and get to play piccolo! She even had a couple of solos and played beautifully. The concert was fantastic! It's amazing what these kids can do with 1 and 1/2 days of practice to put together a whole concert - wow. :) I don't have a recording (yet) of any of that, but here are a couple of pictures from the night:

And I guess this will end my 'break' from housecleaning and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I've been vacuuming and mopping floors this morning and had to sit down for a little while! :) Our Thanksgiving is going to be a little quiet this year - dinner here at our house with mom and dad... but I'm looking forward to that and it's a little less pressure if my turkey doesn't come out good... mom and dad will always forgive me. haha And I'm thinking about how thankful I am that I have them here to celebrate thanksgiving with and am trying to make things special since this is Mackenzie's "last" Thanksgiving living at home! Thanksgiving just seems full of happy and sad things all wrapped up together...

Here's Anna's floor routine from the meet. (And now after viewing it on my blog, I realize the quality of it is pretty terrible. Not my camera's fault - blogger just won't download a file with a bigger resolution! Gotta try and figure out a way around that... Oh, and special thanks to Natalie and her mom, Jenny, for filming this for me and for the fun commentary. ;-)

Outside my window...

Stealing (once again) from my friend Lisa's blog, I've been wanting to try this for a while, so here goes...

Outside my window... it’s a cold, gray, rainy, windy morning. The last of the fall leaves are being blown off the trees.

I am thinking... about friends who are going through hard things and wishing I could do more to help.

I am wondering... what this time a year from now is going to look like.

I am thankful for... a warm fire, my dog’s company, and many good things that I know I don’t deserve.

In the learning rooms... I’m finding out all I can about financing a college education. :)

In the kitchen... are dishes I just finished washing from yesterday’s cooking – beef stew for dinner and chicken salad for lunches.

I am wearing... comfy t-shirt, sweatshirt, sweatpants, fuzzy socks and sporting a bad case of bed head.

I am creating... a plan, or at least gathering thoughts, for a “mini-retreat” coming up soon.

I am going... to put the wash in the dryer and put clean dishes away.

I am reading... “Birthright”, by David Needham – it’s challenging me to think deeper about many things.

I am hoping... that my problems with Comcast are going to get fixed today. ha

I am hearing... the “wrinkle guard” feature on my dryer reminding me that I need to get my clothes out.

Around the house... baskets of laundry (do you see a theme here?), lazy, sleeping dog, piles in corners that need to be put away…

I am praying... for wisdom.

One of my favorite things... is seeing how excited Mackenzie is right now about college plans and her future

A picture to share... Mackenzie got her acceptance letter from Lipscomb yesterday! :)