Anna Goes to Taylor Swift, Hold On...ANNA GOES TO TAYLOR SWIFT!!!!!!

This post has needed to happen for quite some time and I do apologize. I don't even remember when tickets when on sale for this concert but let me just say that Anna got her "1989" album for Christmas and locks her door like a teenage girl and rocks out to every.single.song and so some tickets were in order. Oh and I may know every word as well after sneaking the CD into my car during preschool hours. Really, every song is SO GOOD! Point is, the two of us just couldn't wait for Taylor to show up in Atlanta in October and Blaire conveniently timed having a baby prior to her concert in Charlotte and so the stars aligned, Daddy got out the credit card and we had ourselves a big time!

The concert was on a Monday night and so Anna and I left on Sunday to head up to Charlotte so we could spend time with Sarah Catherine and Christian and Blaire and Josh too of course. We listened to the CD the whole way up to their house. I haven't been to a concert in quite some time and to take Anna to her first one, just the two of us, was just a very memorable experience. I think Anna just felt very grown up getting to be with just me, staying up late and of course getting to see her hero!

I had heard on the radio that Taylor Swift had bracelets passed out at the concert that lit up but had forgotten about it until we walked up to the ticket scanner. The usher hands us each a bracelet and Anna was so excited. She wanted to get to our seats right away but we had to eat first so we went and got something to eat (and shared a table with a mom and her two older girls). After we ate, we found our seats and listened to the guy opening. I can't remember his name but he sings "Riptide"...Anyway, Anna wanted nothing to do with this guy and was totally confused. So, we went and got her some Dippin' Dots. Came back to our seats and Taylor didn't come on too much longer. I was a little concerned that her new "style" may lean towards inappropriate in her concert but it was a class act all the way. Even some of her older videos I won't let Anna watch because it's just not something I feel comfortable letting Anna see. However, in concert, she is fun, energetic, and puts on quite the show. I would seriously go back every night if I could. Yes, I had just as much fun as Anna did and may be a little Taylor obsessed now too. Not even sorry about this.

During the first song, the bracelets starts lighting up, not just with one color light but multi colors and flashes to the beat of the song!!!! So, when you look out at the crowd, you see everyone's lights flashing. And so, without further ado, I give you pictures of Anna at the Taylor Swift 1989 World Tour Concert. Some pictures and videos are from my phone.

She opened with "Welcome to New York"! Complete with siren sounds going on in the background. Every song was complete with every detail.

Above, a little overwhelmed with being at her first concert. The noise was deafening!

Below, Taylor sings "How You Get the Girl" which is my favorite because I feel like it is part "old Taylor" party "new Taylor" since she has made the jump from country to pop.

And, yes, the dress lit up with tiny lights and the umbrellas did too. One of the lyrics has to do with rain and so, Taylor made it rain on stage. Of course she did!

Admiring her bracelet. Seriously, Taylor, well done, marketing genius!

At this point, Taylor walked out to the end of the "runway" so to speak. Then the runway detached from the main stage, one end of it went up at an angle and out over the floor seats. Then the runway rotated towards each side of the arena. And, I'm pretty sure at one point, she looked right at US. Ha. Kidding of course but it was so cool feeling like we were that close to her.

This is when she was playing to our side of the arena, including her hit "Love Story".

Then she rotated around to the other side of the arena. She also talked during the concert and has such poise about her for being so young. She seems to be such a great person.

The best part of the night was when Taylor left to go backstage leaving the crowd thinking she was done but not having had sung "Shake It Off". Anna was very tired at this point and I could see the tears welling in her eyes. How could she NOT sing "Shake It Off"??? I looked at Anna and said, "I know she isn't done, she can't be.", although it did seem that she was finished. She had after all, had about seven outfit changes and played guitar, piano, danced, sang for two hours! And, then she appeared in a bright green sequined outfit, came out on the runway and blew it out of the water. I had grown weary of that song but seeing her perform it and dance it was amazing. I took a couple bad pictures with my phone and then put it down because I just wanted to soak up that moment with Anna. She was grinning ear to ear and singing along, which I did video a little bit of, but it was just the icing on the cake. It was such a fun night!!!! If you can get to one of her concerts, GO!

The End of May

Yes, it's the end of June. I can't keep up with anything! The house, the groceries, this blog. But, we have had some big events this summer with some more to come so I feel like I should try to document them. At the end of May, the kids got out of school which meant lots of awards, programs, and celebrations. Kyle participated in a program called Playball after his preschool on Tuesdays. It is 45 minutes long and each week they focus on a new skill or game. If you know Kyle, you know he enjoyed this. The kid loves any type of ball and being physical. Justin was able to come with me and see him receive his medal, which Kyle couldn't wait to get!

 Here he is with Coach Michael. The medal was worn for a couple days and now it is hanging in his room next to his trophies. He sees Brice receive many accolades so he loves to be included in awards like this! Coach Michael filled out an evaluation form and said Kyle excelled at ALL the physical "tests". Not. Surprised.

Kyle also finished up his season with the Cubs. He improved from fall ball. One game he hit two off of coach pitch. He is already planning for next fall ball. This kid loves baseball!

Onto Brice...he ended the year as well as he started. All A's all year long, made the Million Word Club, received the Georgia Author's award for his class, award for fitness, and biggest of all was chosen to be a member on the school's Leadership Council. The council is new for next year's 5th graders. There were only 5 students chosen to represent 5th grade and they will be working with the middle and high schoolers as well. I am so excited that he made this as he really wanted it and I think it is just going to be a great program all around. One of the Assistant Principals will be guiding the students. (She also happens to be married to one of Larry's cousins!) Small world, great community. I would include a picture of Brice but I only took one when he was receiving his awards and he just saw it and said, "I look like an idiot."! Brice does not like recognition in a crowd which means he won't smile! He has a lot of Justin in him but there are quite a few of his mother's traits in him as well. :)

And, while all of these awards are wonderful, what I want most for my kids is for them to be kind to others, and put others first. The first week of summer was a little rough with learning how to be around each other so much of the time. We all got to be together for a car ride up to Charlotte to see the newest member of the family, Miss Sarah Catherine!!! Blaire had her on Memorial Day and so it worked out nicely for us to drive up for a quick visit and back again in the same day. I am so glad we went. These pictures are actually from the 2nd trip I took up to Charlotte but I will go ahead and share them. So excited to have another little girl in the family. Anna is the most excited, I think. She has flung herself into practicing motherhood, stuffing baby dolls in her shirt, making Kyle be the Daddy, has mastered swaddling, and has been asking lots of questions about carrying and birthing a baby. For whatever reason, the question of where do babies actually originate hasn't come up and for that I am thankful!

 Here she is! She is just precious and has been a very good baby so far. And, I may have dressed her in this after giving her a bath. I love babies. I love bathing babies so this was pretty much heaven for me. :)

 Here is the new Mommy and big brother Christian. He has been the sweetest little dude to his new sister. Lots and lots of kisses and holding.

And that is how we spent The End of May!!! You will NOT want to miss the next post!

Cinderella And Friends

This year Anna's performance was on May 2, my Grandma's birthday which is so fitting because my Grandma loved dance! And, she really loved tap and this was Anna's first year of tap so it just made my heart happy knowing this love of dance had been passed down three times over. Oh and if that didn't make it a girly enough day (read: NO baseball), Princess Kate went and had a baby PRINCESS!!! EEk! Ok, I'm slightly obsessed with the royal family, ridiculous, I know but I am and don't care.

Back to Anna. This year's performance was titled "Cinderella And Friends" which was a little different. Not as much as a story line as her previous performances but still fun to see. And, of course all the little ballerinas were just in awe of the older girls playing the Disney princesses. Anna had two different dances, one for ballet and one for tap. For ballet, her class was Fairy Godmother's Magical Pumpkins and for tap, they were "Olaf" who is the snowman from Frozen. (Explaining that for my sweet Uncle Bud, who turns 95 on Sunday!!! and while up on most of his current facts, he probably hasn't seen Frozen!) All of the costumes were incredible this year which made me so happy because I did not care for last year's.

Anna did a wonderful job in her two performances and I love seeing her onstage. She was so excited the morning of and I was happy to see that. I took her down to the theatre, just the two of us, and we sang along to Taylor Swift and just made it a fun girly time. Hair, makeup, costume, singing and dancing and performing!

 There are more in her Olaf costume which was driving her crazy, itching her, because that dance came after the pumpkin dance. And, the stuffed Olaf, she just HAD to have. She spotted it after her dress rehearsal in Cracker Barrel and I told her she could ask for this over flowers. Daddy spoiled her anyway and got her both.

 Brice took this picture and cut the top of my head off, good thing he is so good at so many other things!

It was a beautiful, GIRLY day!!! I just love her ballet studio and know how hard they work to produce these shows. We now have the DVD for anyone's viewing pleasure...Anna can be found in the basement watching it every chance she gets!

Spring Break and Easter

We left for the beach Saturday even though it was hard knowing that we wouldn't be celebrating Easter with the extended family. Easter is my favorite holiday and I just didn't know how I felt about not being home. I must say it turned out wonderful. We went to church at the beach and the out to brunch, all after Easter baskets and hunting eggs. Justin really wanted a picture of us all on the beach in our Easter Sunday best and sunglasses on.

After brunch, the kids were ready to hit the beach but not before I took a picture of the kids with this awesome sand sculpture.

 These kids played and played in the ocean, jumping over the waves and splashing. They did it over and over and over again.

 I texted my mom the picture below and she responded that she looked like Bo Derek. Yikes. We are in major trouble.

 And, Brice loves to find shells in the ocean and basically stays in the surf all the time when we are down at the beach. He spotted something in the ocean and couldn't quite determine what it was just by seeing it in the waves. He caught it and it ended up being a tiny baby sea turtle!!!! What the heck?? I had no idea you weren't supposed to catch these things or call when you found one, I only found that out later when I went back to the beach with my mom and sister. Anyway, he pulled it out and we all fell in love with the little guy. Brice looked like a big nerd in the pictures I took of him holding it so here is sweet Anna...as well as a quick video of him swimming. Kyle named him Squirt.

We had incredible weather the entire week and so much fun. I will just say it in pictures.

 We all had a great time and it was so fun being in our newly renovated condo!!
I am now caught up on the blog...Wahooo!!! Just for a hot second because life is always happening around here. Tomorrow is Anna's dress rehearsal and cousin Christian turns 2! Crazy. Then, Saturday is Anna's performance and after that we head to Charlotte for the birthday boy. So, I will do my best to keep up through the month of May, which can be crazier than Christmas time!