Lady Antebellum was AWESOME!

Hey everyone!

I got off of work at 5:30, changed (in Walgreens' bathroom lol) and we headed straight to New Berlin for the show. We grabbed something to eat and got in line because it was starting to get long. We only had to stand in line about a half of an hour before they opened the gates. We had never been to this venue before, so we didn't know how the seating was going to be. Once we walked in, we could either go up to the bleachers or the standing room. So, of course we took off for the standing room! We were about five rows back when we first started standing there, but by the time the concert actually started, we were like second row! It was awesome. There was a lady and a guy in front of us (both of them were taller than Jason and I) but that was it. I could actually see pretty well, too. We were just about as close as we could get.

The opening act, Still Kickin' was pretty good, I thought, but Jason didn't care for them much. They started about 8:00 and Lady A started about 9:00. They only did one song as an encore, which we were hoping for more than that, but oh well. The band was throwing out guitar picks and Jason almost caught one, but not quite. However, one of the guys in the band threw his sweat towel that he was using off the stage, and Jason actually caught it! LOL At the end of the concert, they announced that they'd be signing autographs and they wanted to meet their fans, so they pointed to where they'd be after the show. Once Jason and I found where they were, we waited in line. We didn't have to wait very long either. I didn't have anything for them to sign besides my sweat towel....so I had them sign that. LOL I did get a concert t-shirt, but I bought that after I waited in line to get my autograph. So, we both got to shake hands with all of the Lady Antebellum members and they signed my sweat towel. One of the guys seemed to think that it was pretty funny that Jason caught it. lol

So we had a lot of fun and then we had to come home. :( lol I would love to go see them again if they come next year. One of the radio guys said that they've never had as many people come out for the Thursday night concert as this year. Lady A seemed to be having a good time too. Getting ready to upload some of the better pics. I took like 70'ish pics the other night, but I'm just going to post some of the better ones.

Opening band (Still Kickin') and pics of the crowd:

Lady Antebellum (Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood):

Lightening bugs, baseball, and other misc stuff

Hey everyone!

I'm trying to catch up on all of this stuff! It's Friday night and I wanted to write another blog to talk a little more about what we've been up to. Last week, we had Luke staying with us for a while. His cousin Matt plays on the Virginia baseball team for the summer league. I got off of work at 5:30 that night and Luke wanted to know if we could take him to the park. So, I took him to the park, and after about five minutes, he had to go to the bathroom. So we walked over to the bathrooms and he saw the baseball games going on and wanted to stop and watch. Matt's team was up next, so we sat and watched another game. Surprisingly, I was able to explain enough what they were doing on the field that he understood. lol He was very impatient waiting for Matt's team to play. We left around 7:30 because we hadn't had dinner yet. Here are a few pics I took of the game. I want to take the kids to see another one before their season is over because it was fun.

Baseball pics:
(I took more pics, but for some reason, the site I use to upload pics as slideshows won't let me upload any others besides these two...?)

Tonight, we went outside to feed the kitty and Shawn saw some lightening bugs. So, I said, "Do you want to catch some?" Of course the answer was yes, so I came inside and got us a jar to catch some lightening bugs in. Jasmine ended up taking the jar because Shawn brought this net thing from his aunts with him and he wanted to use that to catch some lightening bugs. We all had fun. Even that cat was chasing them. LOL He was so cute to watch. I took a bunch of short videos, but I'm just going to post the few pics I took. We poked a hole in the jar Jas was using and I told them that we would let these bugs free and we could get some more tomorrow night when it starts getting dark outside.

Lightening bugs:

Here's just a couple of misc. pics that didn't really fit into any other category. I have some pics (on Myspace and Facebook) of Luke riding his bike a few weeks ago, but they're on a different SD card, so I'll get to those later.

~Ladybug~

Hey everyone...

For those of you that don't know, mom had to put Ladybug down a few days ago. :( I've just now been able to write about it because I'm still upset about it. The last time I saw her was when we came to MO for my birthday the weekend of the 21st. But I did give her a hug (and Cody) before I left because mom had said that they were both getting older and going downhill.

I was telling Jason the story of how we got Lady in the first place. I think it was summertime, and my mom and I were going to see a movie. I think we were in the kitchen and I looked outside and saw a pup and her momma wandering in the yard. Of course mom and I thought she was so cute, and I wanted to keep her, but mom said no at first. Then she told me that we'd talk about it if she was still there whenever we came back for our movie. And sure enough, she was. Her momma kept bringing her into the yard and trying to leave her, as if to say, "Here is your new home." I even told mom, "Please! I'll buy her food and I'll pay her vet bills and everything!" And you know how that goes. Mom ended taking care of her most of the time.

I remember we used to tell her to "sit pretty Lady bug!" and she'd raise her body and her two front paws up and bark. As she got older and bigger, it was harder for her to sit up straight though because she's tip over. lol I also remember that I entered her into a dog contest at my elementary school at Rockport and she won the Longest Tail award for the dogs in her size. Ugh...trying to keep from crying again. I did too much of that the other day.

Anyway...mom said she got a few pictures of her and Cody before she put her down. Cody is really lost. We used to joke that Lady and Cody were like husband and wife. They were always together and Cody would try to take care of her, even though he was younger. Now Cody is all by himself as far as fellow K-9's go. Tigger and Smokey are still there though. Mom says that him and Tigger are sort of friends. lol I will try to post a few pictures whenever I get them. I figure she'll have my dad email them to me at some point.

**********On a happier note**********

Another Lady... Lady Antebellum is coming to the Sangamon County Fair next Thursday and Jason and I are going to see them! I'm sooo excited! The tickets are really cheap and it gets you into the fair and the concert that night. I get off of work at 5:30 and the concert doesn't start until 8, so we're going to go. I can't wait! I've been wanting to go to a concert for a while, but everybody I want to see is either playing too far away or the tickets are more than what I want to pay for them. lol I hope I can take my camera in. I probably won't get any good pics of Lady-A, but I'm sure I'll still end up taking pictures because my camera is always with me! In case you're going, "Okay, Lady WHO???" Lady Antebellum is a country trio made up of Hilary Scott (Linda Davis' daughter), Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood. They're singles are: Love Don't Live Here Anymore, Looking For a Goodtime and I Run to You. I'm really looking forward to this! :)

I had to end on a happy note since the first half of this blog was depressing.

Love,

Cole xoxoxo

Virginia Carnival and early Father's Day

Hello everyone!


This little town of Virginia, IL that we're in (1800 people) had their annual BBQ this past weekend. Mom, Dad and Travi came up to go to the carnival with us. We had all the kids this past weekend also. I worked until 3:30 on Saturday and then mom and dad came to our house. We left for the carnival...which is just right up the road, so we walked. Our kitty (because we don't have a name for him) started following us up there! Jason picked him up and put him back on the porch and everytime Jason would start walking towards us again, he'd just come right back following us. Finally he stopped. It was kind of funny though. lol

We got something to eat first and then we started riding some rides. After each ride, all the kids were like, "We wanna ride it again! Can we ride it again?" I took some pictures that I'll get around to posting. I've got this one picture of Jason and my dad holding all of the stuffed animals that kids won in their arms and pockets. lol It's kind of funny. I told Jason that he ought to go win me a stuffed animal. So, him and my dad went to play a game that Travi and I played at the carnival. You have to use this squirt gun thing and fill up the water balloon and make it pop before the other person. So, they did that and Jason won and he got me a little stuffed husky dog. It's cute. My mom said, "Like you NEED anymore stuffed animals!" Then she started talking about all of the stuffed animals that my brothers had won me at carnivals and the several barrells of stuffed animals I have at their house. I was like, "Mom, you're not helping my case any!" lol

Here's my husky dog:




Carnival pics:

I think we all had a lot of fun. My dad emailed me and he said that even though my mom and I kept making comments about him and Jason looking thrilled to be there, that he really did have fun and enjoy it. After we were all done with the carnival, we came back to the house for a little bit. I had dad and Jason go outside so I could get stuff ready for Father's Day. Since this was the closest to Father's Day that I would see my dad, I figured I might as well do it this past weekend. I just did Jason's too, since we may not get the kids the weekend that Father's Day falls on. I covered both just in case. For my dad, I just bought a little fancy bowl (it was actually an ice cream bowl, but you can't tell) and bought some cashews and put them in the bowl and then wrapped it with gold tissue paper. Because my dad is as good as gold. Get it? lol I also got him a card. I was going to write him a poem too, but I thought my card covered just about anything I would want to say. I'm really picky when it comes to cards, so the one I picked out for him was perfect already. But I did write a little in it too. The kids made him "Papa's day" cards. lol Dad said that when Shawn gave him the card he made, he had this expression on his face that he couldn't really describe, but it's priceless, like maybe he was proud of his card or something. lol

For Jason, I bought a card for him from me and then I had the kids make him cards, because I figured it would be more personal if they made it versus just signing a card that they couldn't read. Luke and I were at Walmart a few weeks ago, and he picked out a Father's Day shirt that says "#1 Dad!" on it and it has Peter Griffen. For those that don't know who that is...he's the dad off of the animated TV show Family Guy. Which is hilarious. I wasn't comparing his parenting skills to Peter Griffen, but I just thought he'd like the shirt. And he really did like it. He was like, "Are you kidding me? It has Peter Griffen on it, of course I like it!" LOL My mom had also put together a goody bag of stuff (you know my mom lol) For Christmas he got this Gift Set that had a lot of Gillette for Men products. He really likes Gillette, so she got him more stuff, which was good, because he was about out of his other stuff.

Father's Day pics:

I have been off of work today and I haven't done much of anything. lol I've lounged around and read today and that's about it. Back to work tomorrow...yay. I hope this finds everyone doing well.

Until next time...

-Cole- xoxox