U2 Nashville

David and I are pretty big fans of U2...okay they are my favorite band. We saw them in Atlanta in '09 on this same 360 tour. After that show, all we wanted to do was see them again. So, we bought tickets for their proposed show in Chicago in July '10. Bono hurt his back and all concerts were cancelled for the rest of the year. Our show was rescheduled for July '11. THEN, they announced they were adding a show in Nashville just three days prior to their Chicago show. We couldn't NOT see them in our hometown. :) So here we are at the Nashville show.

We caught dinner with friends before going to the show in Hillsboro Village. It was fun walking from dinner to the concert and seeing so many familiar faces along the way. It seems like almost everyone we knew from Nashville was going to the show.

What a fun night, especially when Bono referred to having dinner the night before with people like Jars of Clay, Amy (Grant), and Michael J. Smith (I will now also refer to Michael W. Smith as Michael J. Smith...if Bono says it, it's TRUTH. :))

construction zone

A couple of weeks ago, the boys eagerly went to a construction playday with other boys from church (despite the temps in the high 90s and no shade in sight!). The boys didn't care that the dirt was dried up and difficult to dig in because what could be more fun than permission to use their big construction trucks and play in dirt and with construction hats!

Asher's good friend Ethan joined in the fun (meanwhile Ethan's sisters were inside in the air conditioning learning ballet).


Thanks to Lucas, the boys played with this really fun excavator!


The older boys made a quick connection that with they could use the water for drinking purposes to make MUD!!


Jonas knew that all construction men needed adequate water breaks while on the job.


Very busy boys working in the construction zone...if they only had cones!

firefighters to the rescue!

Our local Chik-Fil-A was having a Family night with Firetrucks and a police car. We didn't want to miss this! We also ran into our friends Lila, Ruby and Levi!

One brave boy got into the hook and ladder firetruck.

Another brave boy shook hands with the fire cow.

Jonas wanted his picture with the cone!

We feel much safer now that we have been in and around a firetruck and learned more about what they do.

trains!!

We had been hearing about the train display at Cheekwood for weeks and finally, we found a day that worked for our friends and the weather! This is a must see if you have children that love trains!!


This was when we first arrived and Crosby lasted about five seconds in the stroller before he wanted out with the rest of the boys.



All the kids waiting so patiently for their moms to get their lunches for them. We thought this was a perfect moment to try and capture a picture with all of them.

Sweet brothers!!

Waiting for the trains....(we kept trying to explain to them that if they just stay in one spot and wait, they will see the trains come around again instead of trying to chase them down.)


Since Asher was the oldest one there, I didn't know what his response to the younger boys would be. I soon found out that he took on the motherly role by helping Miss Danielle chase down Crosby. Asher grew very fond of Miss Danielle so I had to get their picture together to remember this sweet morning.

snow! snow! snow!

Snow fell upon our city this past Sunday night and we woke up to a beautiful white blanket on the ground. Asher is now associating snow with Christmas morning and asked if Santa had come. Thankfully, we had traveled north for Christmas so we had our snowsuits ready to adorn.


Asher thought it would be fun to make different types of tracks in the snow, including bike tracks.

Jonas, my cleaner-upper, had to clear the snow off of everything in his reach- the steps, his sandbox, the car, the garbage cans.

Asher is always ready to have a snow ball fight!!

And of course, when you can't go anywhere, you do the next best thing...you invite your neighbors (Rebecca, Gavin and Zack) over to play.

My friend Rebecca's snow day tradition growing up was to make beignets (french doughnuts). We were more than obliged to help her continue this delicious tradtion along with our other neighbors Shawn and Sydney (wish I could have gotten a picture of sweet Sydney in her winter gear!).

halloween in hope gardens

We had our neighborhood Halloween party on the same day as our music class dress up day. Since I had learned earlier that day that Jonas' monkey costume was not going to work, we pulled a quick wardrobe change and pulled the fireman costume from our dress up clothes. He was much happier (at least long enough to get pictures and enjoy a few minutes of the party).
Thanks to my friend Rebecca for the chef's hat, I was able to pull my baker costume together in five minutes! (David showed up late to the party as a "business man." ha!)

The party host family...Rebecca (the Cracker Barrel worker), Alex (the mechanic), Gavin (the firefighter WITH his fire engine) and sweet Zack (the race car driver)

And of course, "the baker" had to show up with some yummy treats! I made vegan chocolate cakes so that my vegan friends could enjoy them as well.

And what's a Halloween party without bobbing for apples?!

Sweet London who was quickly calmed by the sweet witch! :)

Our friend Jessi brought three very delicious butters that I could not stop eating! (Thank goodness I am not vegan. :))

Another fun time in the Hope Gardens neighborhood!!

music class dress up

I signed up the boys for a music class this year with Music with Mommie. They have enjoyed it so far and have made some new friends. For our class this past week, the kids all dressed up. This was our first time to try out our Halloween costumes. Asher was excited about being a football player. Jonas liked the idea of being a monkey UNTIL he had to put on the costume. I couldn't even get him to put to hood on for one picture.

All the kids enjoying the music (although you can't hear it in this picture :)) and bubbles...minus one kid.

Here is the child missing from the above picture. Still quite unhappy with the monkey situaiton.

One of Asher's favorite things to do is to play the "big drum." It can get quite loud when all of them play.

Asher enjoying dancing with the scarves (not stars..ha!) and yes, that is the hidden Jonas, crouching monkey!

Well, at least one out of two enjoyed the dress up time.

gentry's farm

I took the boys to Gentry's farm with some friends to enjoy a pumpkin patch day. It was our first time to Gentry's and I was amazed at all the fun things we could do and we ran out of time to do them all. Our morning began in the corn maze.

Luckily, the kids were able to find our was out!













We are already looking forward to going back next year!!