a night with an american idol star

About a month ago, someone told us that Easton Corbin and Lauren Alaina were coming to Koch Arena for KFDI's Listener Appreciation Concert.

The tickets were free, but we kept forgetting to get some.

And typical me, 2 days before, I was finally on the search.

And of course, all locations were out of them.

But according to the website, we found out they'd be giving away last chance tickets at an Ace Hardware in Wichita.  Only 200.

We just so happened to be in Wichita Friday night for Dave's birthday dinner, so we decided to check it out.  MANY things almost stopped us from going.  The traffic, the time, the fact that we weren't sure we wanted to spend another evening in Wichita since we were there all evening Friday night.

But we got there, and they had tickets left still.

The kids were pumped to see Lauren Alaina!

If you don't watch American Idol, you probably don't know who she is.

But we watched last season as a family and the kids loved Lauren and Scotty.

Lauren was runner-up to Scotty.  But 2nd place in Idol is usually just as good! She has her own record and has opened for SugarLand, Jason Aldean and tonight for Easton Corbin.

We had no expectations for the night.  We didn't even plan to get there too terribly early to stand in line for seats, we figured seats in the back were better than standing for hours with the kids (the seating was all general admission).

We still had to stand for a little while.

 Dave's good friend from high school is Easton Corbin's manager. So he had told us to text him when we got there and he'd probably be able to set us up for a meet and greet with Lauren.  (this is why Taylor made her a picture).

Little did we know what this would really turn into.

We got our seats, all the way down on the first row, to the side of the stage, and we waited to go see Lauren.

I seriously thought that we'd be in a room with lots of other people who were there to see Lauren, and we'd get to stand in line to get a picture and say a quick hi.

But it was WAY better than that.

We followed Chris through the tunnel toward Lauren's room.

Lauren came out and it was JUST us. Taylor handed her the picture and Lauren made a HUGE deal of it and said she was going to put it on the fridge in her bus.

I totally expected to be the tag-alongs, feeling kind of awkward, like we were in the way. But Chris left us with Lauren's incredible staff who were super super nice to us!

Lauren loved Taylor and acted so excited to have her there.

It made us feel so good and I could tell that Taylor was loving every. single. second.

We still didn't have a clue what was going on.  But the staff just told us we were going to walk with her to her "meet and greet". 

We walked into a big private room, our kids side by side her.

The people here were all waiting to meet her.  And they were the ones that got in line to get her autograph and a picture.

We on the other hand felt like we were WITH her.

Dave and I, and the boys, stood back with Lauren's staff girls, and Lauren let Taylor sit right beside her as she met with all her fans.

And Mason chowed down on all the complimentary food and drinks.

Abuelos Restaurant and Pepsi - seriously, could this night get any better???

When it was time for Lauren to go back to her room, we got to walk all the way back with her and stop for one more picture before we told her goodbye.
What a sweet, fun and welcoming girl Lauren was.  I am so thankful for that.
Because it seriously made our time with her amazing.

Wow.  Dave and I seriously just looked at each other with that "is this really happening" look, many times.

We know that not everyone knows her name and that she's not a huge music star YET.

But after cheering her on through her season of American Idol - she is definitely a star to all of us!

And this night was SO special and fun for our kids!

The concert started, and our little guy fell asleep with Daddy's hands over his ears.

We had awesome seats, first row, with the floor in front of us for the kids to dance like crazy!

We were all the way on the side of the stage, right by where the performers got on stage.

So we even got to see Lauren and wave to her one more time as she stood there waiting to go on stage.
Taylor was just bummed we couldn't find her at the end to tell her goodbye.

For being a very last-minute evening, with no real expectations, other than to see Lauren Alaina sing, we were blown away.

Pretty sure this night will go down into our "all time favorite family memories".

a pro

Well, she did it.

She moved from the little bike to the big bike after just a few days.

It was like she has been riding the big one all along.

 It seriously is crazy to see her riding down the street when we go on walks or rides, like such a big kid.

She's just seeming so grown up lately.  It's so weird.

Kind of a mix of emotions - I love it and hate it at the same time.

And riding on a big bike with 2 wheels doesn't help.

first cereal

I'm pretty sure this little guy is going to have quite the audience for every single one of his firsts.

His brother and sister are just so excited to see him grow and learn to do new things.

And because we have lots of other baby friends, they have been asking WHEN in the world is Gavin going to start cereal.  When mommy, WHEN?

We started the other kids right at 4 months with cereal. #1 because I was just excited for new things.

#2, neither of them were sleeping through the night, so I thought it may help. #3, they both seemed like they needed more to fill them up and be content.

I wasn't in as big of a hurry with Gavin.  It's just one more meal to prepare and mess to clean up. 

 But it definitely makes for some great evening entertainment for all.

Especially when he starts to play with his feet at the same time.

Oh sweet baby, you are TOO cute!

But the audience got bored after a few minutes.

I actually love this picture and the story it tells. 

Taylor has been very much into doing her own pony tails lately (as you can see). And she's also been very much into song writing.  On this day, she had help in writing a long song about spring and Jesus. She can read all the words, and she just sat there rehearsing her new song over and over again.

While her baby brother ate his rice cereal for the first time.

prom

Dave doesn't like that the Cuda is going on the blog.  He thinks it looks like he's bragging about his car. I reminded him that it is ME who is doing the post, not him.  I was the one who took pictures, not him.  I think his car is pretty cool, and I know nothing about cars.  And the kids love it and think it's pretty cool too.  This car has tons of sentimental value to Dave.  He and his dad spent many many hours in the garage together fixing it all up. 

It pretty much sits in the garage at our old house through the winter, until the weather gets nice.  Then it comes to our house where Dave's anxiety level goes up just a wee bit with the kid's balls, bikes, scooters and other things that make it's way in and out of the garage.

The nephew of one of Dave's good friends from high school asked Dave if he could take the Cuda to Prom.  He actually asked if Dave would drive them, but in the end, Dave decided to let the boy drive it himself.  WHOAH! Big deal!  The boy was thrilled, but nervous.  He came over the day before to practice driving it. 

On the big day, Dave drove the Cuda to a church near the high school, where a group of the kids were meeting and all taking different cars.  This is where Dave gave the keys over.  He told me his stomach was in knots.  Not because he was afraid that the driver wouldn't be careful, but the amount of traffic that he had to drive in to get to the high school was crazy.  Starting and stopping in a line of backed up cars isn't the easiest in the Cuda.

(seriuosly...Dave was pretty much freaking out at this point)



But all went well. 

Our family made our way to the school to watch all the kids arrive.  Taylor had been excited all day to see all the pretty dresses.  And it was fun seeing the Cuda pull up to the crowd.

 (can you believe these freshmen and sophomore boys agreed to carry one of the couples to prom like this)

Dave was waiting to hop in and drive it away.  I think the guy in the black tux and purple hat is suppossed to be Willy Wonka (for a Willy Wonka/candy type theme) I think the guys in the blue should have dressed up like umpaloompas.

Such a fun night.  Maybe the Cuda will get to make an appearance another year.

InstaFriday

It's Friday.  Thank goodness.  It was a BUSY week here.

In the midst of the busyness, we still had some fun and made some memories.

Here are some pictures from our week.

1. getting much better at holding his head up - he seemed to be kind of slow on this

2. first time for cereal!

3. such a fun sign of spring - I knocked on the door at the home where my jewelry show was and these babies greeted me in the wreath.

4. happy after nap time

5. a beautiful morning for some swinging with my boy

6. It was 'B' week at preschool and Taylor decided to bring her Big Brother and Baby Brother for show and tell.

7. 4 month appointment - 16 lbs. 3 oz.

8. copy cats

9. world's longest curly fry

10. more happy baby

11. he caught a butterfly!

Have a great weekend!!!  I'll have pictures next week of Dave going to Prom! Kind of.

Link up and share your cell phone pics!

two wheels

I was gone last Friday night and I got a text that said Taylor was riding her bike on 2 wheels.

WHAT!?!?  We hadn't even talked about trying this.  And WHY in the world is this happening when I'm gone.  Doesn't he know that a mom has to be present for these kinds of things, to be the cheerleader, picture taker and video recorder??

Who knew that in one evening she'd have it down nearly perfect.

So guess what the first thing we did the next morning was?

Bike riding in pajamas.  She was so excited to show me what she could do.  And I was completely shocked that she could get going, turn, and stop all on her own.

She hasn't tried it on her bigger bike yet, just this little one.  We figured we'd let her get really good first, and plus, it's a lot shorter of a distance to the ground on this one, if she falls. 

Mason is talking about wanting to try.  So who knows, we may have two 2-wheel riders at our house very soon!  That's what happens with kids just 16 months apart, sometimes they just learn new things and go through new transitions at the same time.  It's hard enough to believe I have one child big enough to ride on 2 wheels, let alone, all of a sudden 2!