Dirty Feet.

My favorite things about Bluegrass:

1. John McCutcheon
2. Finally getting out my rope sandals and tie-dye
3. Watching crazy people
4. John McCutcheon
5. Tom Chapin
6. Long lost friends
7. Watching drunk crazy people
8. SO. MUCH. GOOD. MUSIC.
9. Taking pictures of drunk crazy people.
10. John..........Mc..........Cutcheon.


What a weekend! So many great pictures, so little blog space. I can't tell you how much fun it is being sober when so many around you are drunk. I met a man with a parrot. His shirt said 'Saucy Wenches Follow Me". Sadly, it made my day.

I was surrounded by amazing music and great people all weekend. The talent these musicians possess blows my mind. I was born without that gene entirely. My dad can pick up an instrument and just play. I grew up listening to hammer dulcimers, mountain dulcimers, guitars, and more recently mandolins. Keyword there is LISTENING. I can't carry a tune to save my life and I sure as hell couldn't play a darn thing on an instrument - he didn't pass his talent onto me. BUT...he passed on a great love and apprecation for it. Now Isaac? That boy will do something great in his life. Music and/or dancing will be involved. He griped and complained about going to Bluegrass, but as soon as we got down there it was like...."Dirt? Music? Food? Suh-weeeeet".

I have a small obsesssion with John McCutcheon (no, seriously?!) and was so happy to see him this year. I'm a total McCutcheon groupie. I could go into great detail as to why I heart him, but that's not what is important. The important thing is that I got this amazing picture that will be framed on my bedroom wall. Brandon has never understood my strange mind (insert insane laughter here) and my love for Bluegrass music and John McCutcheon just further fuels that. I have to stare at his camoflauge everywhere. He can stare at John:

The amazing Tom Chapin:



Walking into Pecan Grove:

There are all different kinds of camps in the grove. This was Isaac's favorite!

Hanging out with my boy on the midway (fooooooood!):

MOMMA!!!!

Halloween Hint

Can anyone guess what my sweet little boy will be for Halloween?

Little Moments....

While we try to teach our children all about life,

Our children teach us what life is all about.

2009 Music Video of the Year

Let me preface this by saying that I am singing and I am sorry. I know I am not Shania Twain although you wouldn’t know it by how I freely warble away in this video. When I started filming I didn’t know what an EPIC movie I was shooting. I thought my quiet little whisper of singing would be drowned out by my car stereo and The Zac Brown Band. Sadly, my mouth was DIRECTLY in front of the mic on my camera. What the hell, Zac Brown?! I blame you.

Isaac loves the song ‘Whatever It Is’ by the aforementioned group, The Zac Brown Band. He knows almost every word and it’s become ‘our’ song. I pulled up to my house Saturday night and had both the kids with me. I let them out of the car and let them play in the yard while I finished my jam session with Jason Aldean. The second ‘Whatever It Is’ came on, Isaac was ready to boogey. And I was ready with my camera. You are so welcome.





Okay, I know this one is long, but stick with it. Gracie does some interpretive dancing/tai kwon do at the end that is just amazing/hysterical/slightly scary.




And with September comes THE WALNUT VALLEY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL!!!! I don’t give a hoot if you don’t listen to Bluegrass music, this festival is made for everyone. I remember sitting on my balcony in California and seeing the infamous “I Can’t – I’m Going To Winfield” bumper sticker. Our town’s population doubles and the energy of the fairgrounds is just soooo laid back. My mom and I were talking about it this weekend and she said it perfectly – it’s the spirit of Bluegrass that we love so much. There is no such thing as a stranger – everyone is your friend. The people are so eclectic and so is the music. Down one dirt road there is a hillbilly with a washboard and a banjo and right around the corner there is a jam session with mandolins, guitars, fiddles, etc.,. No one cares who you are or what you do. It’s a family. My brother and I drove through the grove the other night and it’s already packed. The festival is only 5 days long, but for two weeks before the festival there are thousands camping. And glory, glory, halleluiah – I get to be me! There is tie-dye everywhere! And I’m not the only one in rope sandals!!! Wooo!!!! And you bet your sweet little BUTT my kiddo is rocking the tie-dye too. He is totally in his element down there. So there may not be too much blogging going on this week. You can find me in the Grove =)




Those are the campers and tents at the Fairgrounds. The bottom of the picture is cut off, but that's Pecan Grove - where the REAL party is!!!

P.S. Thank you Brandon for working your butt off this weekend doing security so we could have free tickets. Isaac and I love you more than you will ever know. MUAH!!!!

Sniff, Sniff, Sob, Sob.

My sister sent me these videos she took years ago....and I just found them. Time flies when you are having fun...and wreaking havoc on society. You're welcome, Earth. He's all yours. And I know the second video is a broken file...you will have to put up with only seeing 1/2 second of his screaming until I can find the original one!

NOTE: Put clothes on our next kid.

Oh, School....How We've Missed You.

Today was Isaac's first day back to school! Wooo!!! He's been ready for a while, asking us when he was going to go back to 'normal school' (which I believe means NOT Sunday School). He laid out his clothes last night and was very specific when he told me what SHOES he wanted to wear (which, by the way, I'm looking for a bigger size...anyone find a size 10.5 or 11 in black one-star Converse low-tops, holler at me. Life will end when these shoes are outgrown.) He looked so nice. I can't believe this is his 2nd year going to school. He is just too grown up. Isaac thinks it's "SUH-weeeet" that he is the only kid that has long hair. It's starting to curl in the back. Momma loves it! Okay, I got off track there. I get started on sweet-boy's luscious blonde locks and I get lost. Sheesh. He seems to really like his new teacher, Ms. Kristi, and I think he's happy to be back at school. There. Now....Let's talk about his hair some more.

It is TOTALLY his decision to grow his hair out. He's old enough to choose colors of shirts and shoes, and by golly, how he wants his hair. If all my son asks for is to grow his hair, can I really complain?

Isaac cannot STAND to have his hair spiked up. He will have none of that tomfoolery. I'm scheduling an appt. to trim it up and I guess we'll start training it to fall to the sides instead of hanging in his eyes like Shaggy off of Scooby-Doo. I can't even tell you how many people have said I needed to give my son a haircut. It's like me walking up to someone and telling them they should change their lipstick because it looks heinous. In fact, next person to tell me to cut my son's hair, I'm going to. I'll let you know if it comes to blows and let's hope she is a not a woman of great size.

There Is Absolutely No Title That I Could Think Of That Would Suit This Amazing Video.

Here's Looking At You, Kid.

So hey. Isaac is four now. I could blog about his birthday party, but you wouldn't believe me. Harry Potter was there. How did I do it you may ask? I don't reveal my secrets, thankyou. (Okay, so I work with a wonderful lady who's son looks JUST like Harry Potter. She asked him, I gave a puppy dog face to him, SHABAM. That's my secret.)

But, seriously Isaac - you are an amaaaazing 4 year old. I swear I'm not biased, you really are a genius. You are my best friend and have an energy that lights up my life. You're laughter is infectious and your smile is so genuine. You are my greatest joy.

Now, the good stuff. You dance, jump, and boogey to the beat of a different drummer, my child. You want your hair long like a hippie and have a love for music. You make the cutest comments:

"I can't wait to open up Jesus's birthday presents."

"I love you all the way behind the moon and daddy's back."

"Man, mom you gave me alot of cheese. That means you really love me a lot."

"I shot a tiger. It's okay though, he was with the bad guys."

"The bad guys have girlfriends, but I didn't get them. I left them in the yard because it's not nice to hurt a girl."

"I don't know what rockstar that is, but someone should tell him he's amazing."

"My mommy lets me be weird."

We dance in the living room and we don't care who watches. You lip-sync 99% of the time, because that's what you see mommy do. I sound like a dying goat when I sing and I hope that you learn to use your voice instead of just mouthing the words (ask Hawa about Grandpa Barlag and his quote - "I, even I, will sing unto the Lord"...you'll get a kick out of it, buddy). We hunt for bad guys and protect the world from all things evil. Right now, your favorite color is purple and you want to be a purple rockstar for Halloween. Your converse and your 'skateboarder shoes' are your favorites. You still love Thomas the Train, but now have a love for Star Wars, Harry Potter, and iCarly. Mommy has a friend that is on iCarly every once in a while and you love to get excited and scream "I KNOW HER!!!". I have passed my love for Silver Dollar City down to you and you ask to go at least once a week. You are a Wii Master. I challenge ANY adult to a showdown - you will whoop them up, down, and sideways. You love going to movie theaters and always ask 10 minutes in if the movie is almost over. Frisbee and soccer are a few of your favorite games, as well as baseball, which is usually played with the skinny edge of a tennis racquet. Your heart is so big and sometimes I can't believe it's all held in that tiny body.

If you remember ONE THING in this crazy world, please remember that you are perfect just the way you are. Every single hair on your head and every crazy thought in your mind is exactly how it is supposed to be. You're my superhero, my Mr. Fixit, my confidant, and my best friend. That drummer that you dance to? It's the same one I've been jammin' to my whole life. And I've had a lot of stinking fun, kid.

Soooooo Predictable...

Well, Dr. D - you were right. I'm blogging about it. But, seriously....I am so proud of my boy! I sat down with Isaac and told him about shots. I didn't sweeten it up, I just told him - Son, they are going to stick a needle in your leg. It will hurt, but it will be over SO quick...and you will get showered with love and hugs and kisses after it. He got upset, but knew he couldn't go to school without them. Yesterday morning, he was pumped. He was ready. Bring. It. On.

We walked across the street to the Doctor's - and Isaac was in SUCH a good mood. Two nurses in, two needles in the thigh, ABSOLUTELY no tears, and a cute little "That didn't hurt so bad, mom" - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! Wooo! I feel so bad that I had little to no faith in my sweet Isaac. I pictured Brandon and I holding him down while he beat the hell out of the nurses. Oh well. There's always next time =) Oh, and his wonderful nurse (we'll call her J for the whole privacy thing) gave him a handful of stickers and two, count 'em TWO, pencils for school. Isaac was so happy to have a G-Force sticker that he told me to take a picture for my blog. That's right folks....he encourages my behavior!!!