Do we have tickets?

Most of you I am sure know that this time next week, we will be in Disney for Katie's birthday. If you didn't know before, you know now. We are really looking forward to going. Katie is getting more excited by the day. Leeann and I are both looking forward to getting away for a couple of days and we know that this may be our only vacation out of state this year. Oh well.

We had a great weekend with Leeann's dad and step mother. On Saturday we all jumped into my truck as it was the only vehicle large enough to carry all 6 of us (Leeann, Katie, Leeann's dad, step-mother, Leeann's grandmother and myself) and headed up to Cades Cove. If you have never been to the Great Smoky Mountains, then you don't know what Cades Cove is. It is a small area of the park that you can drive through (11 mile loop) and see what the area kinda looked like back when the park was first founded 75 years ago. Along the drive you can go to some of the old cabins and churches that are still standing from old pioneer days. If you ever watched a short lived show called "Christly" about a young teacher in pioneer days, this show was shot in Cades Cove. Sevierville

We all laughed and enjoyed the beauty of the area and just spending time with each other. We stopped in at "Logan's Road House" for a early dinner. Since Katie's birthday is this Saturday, we though we would make last Saturday her pretend birthday since they were with us. We told the waitress that it was Katie's birthday and like most places, they may a big deal of it. The waitress got up on a chair and announced to the whole place that it was Katie's birthday and they did a big "Yah Who". Katie loved it, she had the biggest smile on her face.

Well, today I took Katie to STAR for her riding lesson. We told the instructor that Katie would not be there next week because of the Disney trip. Then on the way home Katie was quite for a bit then she looked at me and said, "dad, do we have tickets for the airplane?" I looked at her and said "What?". She said, "you have to have a ticket to get on the plane when we go to Disney. You know that if want to get on the plane you have to have a ticket. If you don't have a ticket they won't let you on the plane." I told her we had out tickets for the plane, then she wanted to know where did we get the tickets and was the bus we had last year (when she was little) going to take us to the Disney. (Last year we took the Magical Express to the park and the hotel, great service and very recommended) I told her that yes, we are taking the bus to Disney and she was happy.

Katie never ceases to amaze me with the things she says and does. DISNEY OR BUST.........

I am Charlie

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 4 years, I am sure you have heard about the TV show LOST.   In case you have been under the rock, I will give you a brief history:  Flight 815 from Sydney to LA crashes on a island, losties (as they are called) want to get off, but lots of strange things happen.  Smoke monster, time travel, polar bears on topical islands, flashbacks, flash-forwards, basically, expect the unexpected.

Anyway, I have been a LOST junkie from the first show, I have not missed an episode.  Leeann and I make a night of it when it's on.  Don't call, we aren't home.  Computers are off.  With all that said, I have attached a link to see which LOST cast member you are.  I am Charlie, who are you??

Which Lost Character Are You?

More on Lost. Created by BuddyTV

By 9's

Most of you know that our little wonder, Katie, is a very special little girl.  She has a laundry list of special needs and one of them is learning.  In a previous blog I talked about the fact that we now know she has auditory processing problems and one of the symptoms is the fact that learning is harder for her.  So that said, we celebrate the little victories whenever they come and tonight we had a victory.

Wednesday's are gymnastics days for Katie.  She loves to be able to run and bounce (mostly bounce) and have fun with the other girls in her class.  Because of Leeann's class, I have been taking Katie to her gymnastics.  By the time the class is done and we are on the way home Katie is pretty hungry so I have been stopping at fast food places to get her dinner on the way home (I know, I know, "Bad daddy, bad, bad, bad).  Anyway, on the way home tonight we were talking about counting and how we count.  She likes to count to 1,000 by 100's.  She is so proud to be able to do that.  She beams from ear to ear when she does it.  I tried to challenge her a bit to see if she could count by 2's to 30.  She did, but it was a bit of a struggle as she got higher up.

Then she surprised me, she said "dad, I can count to 90 by 9's."  Now, I know some adults that have a problem doing that, but for Katie, this is like her Mount Everest.  So, I said go ahead thinking in my mind that I will have to correct her and help her a bit. She went (without stopping mind you) "9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90."  I almost drove off the road!  I couldn't believe that she did it!!  I was floored, I told her that I was so proud of her and that I was so impressed that she was able to do that.  Katie climbed her Mount Everest!!!

I then suggested to her that we could surprise mom in the morning by counting by 9's to 90.  She looked at me and asked, "do you think mommy will jump to the roof when I do it?"  Well, she may not hit the roof, but I am sure she will jump for joy.  She said not to tell mommy and she was going to just surprise her.  

I will tell you how is goes. 

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE

I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. I have been needing and wanting a new camera for my business. The two I have are great and do a wonderful job, but I wanted to step up to a much more professional camera. So, after much work and saving, we were able to order it this week. I have spent the day by the door looking for the UPS truck all day, and finally at about 5pm, Jimmy our UPS driver (yes, I know his name isn't that sad). Leeann saw him first and yelled "UPS is here, UPS is here!!!" I don't know who was more excited her or me. I ran out to meet him coming up the drive way. I took my time to open the box and take out each item one at a time making sure that everything was there. It was and I put it all together, looked over the owners manual (unlike a wonderful wife I have) and have been spending the evening setting it all up. Tomorrow Leeann and I are going down to Sweetwater, TN for the Special Olympics. Leeann is going to be taking pictures and I am going to use this time to get to know my new camera. This should be fun.

What happened today??????

This has been a day to beat all days.  The day started off very early. We had to be downtown at the county courthouse for this thing with Leeann's grandmother.  Nothing bad, just trying to make her and Leeann's life a little better.  The whole way downtown and back she (Leeann's grandmother) kept saying "Look at all the new buildings."  They have not added any buildings in the past 20 or so years.  She talked about how much they have changed the city/county building. It is the same building it has been since it was first built some 20 or so years ago.  It is just her mind slowly slipping away.  It is sad to see it happen.

After we got her home, we ran back to our house and changed out of our dress up clothes and into run around town clothes.  It was nice to be able to spend part of the day with Leeann.  We treat these days as if they were dates.  We don't go out on weekends as much as we should, so we use the time during the day to do the things we would do at night.  We even have reverse date nights.  What we do is get Katie off to school, then we got to an early movie, then have lunch at a nice place, then run a few errands or who know what.  Saves tons of money on babysitters.

Anyway, we were running around and were at the Home Depot looking at some edging for the back yard when we rounded the corner there was a lady pushing a buggie with a little dog that looked just like Maggie.  Leeann broke down a little.  I kinda did as well.  We both miss Maggie so much, it just doesn't seem like the same house with out her here.  Leeann really started to feel that empty space in her and wanted to fill it.  I can understand that.

When Katie got home, Leeann started to look at some cats and small dogs online.  HUH OHHH!!!!   If you read my blog on when we lost Maggie you know what is coming next :)

Let's just say we made a trip up to Oliver Springs and came home with a little ..............

White.......

What for it...........

CAT!!!!!

I am not sure of the name yet, I think it will be Gizmo, but who knows.  Katie is in heaven.  She has promised me that she will clean the little box each and every day (I will keep you informed on that).  Katie has been wanting a cat for several weeks now.  Ever since we lost Maggie, I think that there was a empty space inside Katie for Maggie as well.  

I think this was Leeann needed.  She has always liked animals and loves to take care of them and spoil them (Hogan sleeps on the pillows between Leeann and I at night) to no end, but it give her so much joy and happiness, how can I ever say no to her when I know how happy she is going to be. 

So what started out as an early morning at the city/county building with Leeann's grandmother ended up on a curvy back road in Anderson County with a 6 week old kitten on Leeann's lap.  What Happened Today???????

I now have a little down time before the big May rush hits.  In May I have a wedding every weekend except one and that is the weekend we are off to Disney.  I am going to be so tired come the end of June, but I am loving every minute of it.  I have a job that I love and is so much fun.  I get to spend weekends shooting weddings and then the rest of the week putting them together, I love it!!!!

This past weekend Leeann and I went with our best friends Rick and Lisa to see Sugarland with Little Big Town.  We had a great time.  We were on the top row of the Civic Coliseum but, it is not a big place so it was not that bad, in fact, I liked the seats very much.  We danced and sang at the top of our lungs.  Plus, being with friends is always fun.  

I had heard several of Little Big Town's songs when I worked at Scripps, so I knew some of their songs and I told Leeann and Lisa that they had a "Fleetwood Mac" sound to them.  They were great and Leeann downloaded most of their song yesterday from iTunes.  

I had a strange thing happen to me Saturday night. It happened to me a couple of time when I was stationed in Germany with the Army.  In Europe, when you go to concerts and events where there are large crowds, it is not uncommon for there to be unisex bathrooms.  I was not aware of that the first time I walked into a large trailer looking building and there were both males and females going to the bathroom side by side. So, I got used to it.  

Well, Saturday night, I had to excuse myself for a few moments during the Little Big Town set and walked down to the mens room.  While in the stall, I heard a couple of female voices come in and then a few more, then more.  When I exited the stall there stood, much to my surprise, were 4 or 5 ladies waiting to use the bathrooms.  They said the line for the ladies room was too long, which it usually is, (what are you all doing in there anyway???) so I just said hello and went on my way.

It is a cold rainy day and a Monday at that.  Leeann reminded me of a old Carpenters song that describes me today, "Rainy days and Mondays always bring me down".  

A tough couple of weeks

I knew things would be busy the last couple of weeks, but I had no idea that it would be this crazy.  I keep thinking of a saying I heard in a movie a long time ago, "the hits just keep on coming".  We just get over the passing of our little Maggie then you throw on top of that Leeann's dads battle with cancer and that roller coster ride it has become, with a little Gran thrown in on the side and you can just image what it can be like.  It's hard to deal with each one, but stack them all together and put it all on Leeann's back and I have to say, I am truly amazed at just how strong she is.  She deals with all that plus still takes care of our special little girl, keeps up with her work with her special client and all his tax work, take on three classes at UT and still run this house, she is just too amazing for words.

My schedule has been crazy to say the least.  I have had two weddings the past two weekends.  I have not had back to back weddings before so I have been a bit nervous taking on two wedding in a row, but I am really happy so far with how well it is going.  I have put myself on a schedule of working on one video in mornings and one in the evenings.  I try really hard to take the afternoons off to be with Katie and Leeann if at all possible.  

I did have one set back with one wedding.  Let me start off with this, I love the weddings and the brides I work with.  It is a joy to watch two people start a new life together and to be able to make something for them that they can watch for years to come is such a thrill.  Working with other wedding professionals is great for the most part.  As a professional, I know they have a job they have to do just like I do, so I try really hard to work with them and help them as much as possible without hurting myself or my product.  But, on two occasions, one just within the past two weeks, I have worked with a photographer that has been less than professional.  I worked with someone that only had his interest in mind.  

I have a set list of shots that I want to get, a set list of "must have" shots that I have learned work well in a video, but I also watch for that special moment that only happen once.  That happened a couple of times in a recent wedding and this photographer either got right in my way or pushed me out of the way.  He crossed the line when just before the wedding was to start, he jumped right in front of me and announced that this was going to be his spot and the fact that he was going to be in MY shot was not his concern and I just had to move.  I then politely told him that I had a job to do just like he did and that I had already set up in this spot so he was going to have to move to a different location.  He put his camera, left the alter area only to return a couple of minutes later to tell me that "the mother of the bride said he was just fine where he was".  Did he just go and tell "mommie" that I was being mean?  

Well, I got even.  I know this was wrong to do, as a professional I should be above doing this, but I have to say that it felt good and it worked.  I was beside him during the ceremony and I could see the picture he was trying to take, I waited until he was just about to take the picture and then "OOOPPPPSSSS"  I bumped him really "hard".  Needless to say, the rest of the day and during the reception, he was always watching where he was in relation to where I was.