Just Simply the BEST Thing Ever!

I am a little late on this, but 2 Saturdays ago (5/23/09), I got to see my farvoritest band ever!

Toad the Wet Sprocket!

Right here in Charlotte!

They do not record together anymore and they just tour from time to time! And since moving from Virginia, they always seem to never come to NC, but ALWAYS come to Virginia. I wish they could come together and create some new stuff, but alas, in talking to the guys basically it is never going to happen!

My dear sweet husband got me the ticket! He heard they were coming before I did! I have no clue how that happened!

I had a 3rd row center seat! For some reason the 4 seats in front of me were empty, so it was as good as having a front row seat! The set was great and they sounded amazing! I got the set list afterwards and stuck around and had the guys all sign it! Basically there are very few shows I go to that I do not stick around and meet people. I do not get out much and it sort of makes the event last longer!

I talked to Todd a lot. Then I went out and talked to their tour guy Joe Lyons about t-shirts of all things. He sells the shirts and I need to get some printed up for the business, so we discussed shirts and business start-up and what not! He owns a place off the beach in Santa Barbara http://www.beachbreakcafe.com/ . Nice guy, fun talking to him!

Got to talk to Glen about his other projects. I still do wish it included some more Toad stuff, but alas, I will just have to find comfort in the fact that they still tour now and then!

Anyway, here are 2 videos I took during the performance from my camera and some pictures because I know you guys reading this are just so highly interested! I promise my next post will have something to do with my kids and not just music!

One of my favorite Toad songs called "Windmills". Love the melody and guitar on this one!

Good Intentions! A nice fun song!

Glen

Lead Guitar- Todd, Bass- Dean

This is Joe! He always has a cowbell solo! He has toured with them since FOREVER!

All the Toad fans know Joe!

Poor Jovie!

She was so tired and she was not feeling well! And she did not have her nap. So, she covered up with the dog bed and fell asleep! Then she would wake up enough to grump at whoever was around her and then go back to sleep! I tried to move her to somewhere more comfy and she went back to the floor to her dog bed. Crazy goose! This was a few weeks ago. Today she is sick again. Poor girl may have her momma's ears and need tubes again.

Ruby-doo's Birthday!

Better late than never! Here are the pictures from Ruby's birthday party! Since we did not do presents, she went to Monkey Joes for her birthday! Well, actually the day after her birthday because Wednesdays is 1/2 price at Monkey Joes!

She dressed up as a princess for her party with her favorite flower in her hair!

Everybody with their party blowers lined up for Ruby's meal of choice: Hot dogs, baked beans, and macaroni and cheese!

Twisty straws too... just for fun! And Lettie and Silas dressed up too! Silas got out his Spider Man mask!

There were also party poppers! The kids love those! The rule was you had to yell Happy Birthday and pop them on Ruby... just not too close!

The group with the cake picture... uh, oh... does daddy have a suprise?...

Boom!

The after-reaction! Most are laughing, but I love Jovie's face! She was not scared or impressed! See the confetti hanging from the streamers?

My pretty birthday girl and her cake! I can not bear to get them absolutely nothing, so I do put something special on their cake! Ruby wanted a princess cake, so she got her own birthday princess crown! Hooray Wal-marts bridal section!

The king and his two princesses! After the cake we watched Enchanted. They had not seen it yet! They liked it a lot!

Time for some fun at Monkey Joes!

Me and Callie going down the huge slide! I love her little petrified face! After that she would go up and down it all by herself! She is a brave little critter... but she is still scared for you to lift her even a little bit above your head! Weird girl...

See Callie at the very top... fearless! & Ruby jumping!

The curls going up and the curls going down! I LOVE the curls going down picture!

Addis Under Construction

I said I was going to write more on our trip during the last week. And frankly, I got busy. But I think I will intermix posts about our trip with posts about just life in general and then one day I will hopefully succeed in showing you our whole trip!

This post may only interest some. But I thought it was fascinating!

Addis Ababa is growing by leaps and bounds! They are in the process of building some beautiful tall buildings. Although many of them are still under construction, I look forward to going there in the future and seeing the finished product! The city is growing at such a rate that the electrical grid can not keep up so they have rolling blackouts now and then and certain sections of the city have sceduled time where they know they will not have electricity.

The thing that fascinated me was their method of construction. They did not have the big machinery you see in the United States. Everything is done with very primitive construction methods, yet the finished product is very modern and you would never know that the modern building you are visiting was built with this type of scaffolding:

All the scaffolding is made from thin trees and sticks tied together with rope. If you look at the top of the building you will see a very simple elevator.

The next picture is of a man who was working on the addition they were adding to the hotel we were in. There was no one else on site. Just him and a hammer with a ax blade on one end widdling a scaffolding stick down to size. No big machines. A lot of hand tools.

Here is the addition he was working in.

There were no bulldozers that I saw. When we first arrived at Addis, when I saw this following scene I quickly got out my camera and snapped a picture. 10 men doing the work of a bulldozer. The picture does not do it justice. Dirt was flying and it amazed me how quickly they filled up that hole!

Here is a picture from the 12th floor of our hotel looking down on the contruction site. The men were sawing the rebar with hand saws. I saw them pouring the concrete a few days later. They would make it on the ground in a small mixer (no concrete trucks) and send it up in a bucket with a crane. Fascinating to watch.
The electrician bending his poles with an old bucket of hot coals.

Anyway, I know this post will not appeal to the majority. But coming from a contruction, big equiptment, concrete background... I found the whole thing really fascinating! It is amazing what great things are built through simple means!

One Year Ago Today!!!

Do you remember where we were?

Here is a hint:

Can you believe it?!

This is a picture from the morning of May 11, 2008! One year ago we welcomed Yonas, Ruby (Selamawit), and Silas (Yomane) into our family! They were small, did not know a bit of English, scared to death, but very ready to have a family!


Although we anticipated their arrival... we were all still strangers!


Now they have grown 2 clothing sizes each, can talk your ear off, and we can not imagine what life would be like without them! They are no longer strangers, but my beloved children whom I love as if I gave birth to them! We became family on Mother's Day last year! What a perfect day to add 3 beautiful children into your life!

I know their smiles, their tears, their voices, their laughs, their habits, their likes, their dislikes, their joys, their fears... I know them because they are my children!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Ethiopia! In the hustle and bustle of settling into family life when they first got home I never shared pictures of our trip to Ethiopia! During the next few days I will share some pictures and some stories of our trip!

Outside the hotel! In the brochure they showed a nice green field that the kids could play in. When we got there the field was gone! They were adding on to the hotel and there was nowhere to play but the parking lot! We had a lot of "game on", "game off" moments as cars came in and out! I love the picture of Ruby with her purse, jacket, shoes, and sunglasses! They were all so proud of their sunglasses! And although it was 80 degrees outside I could not get that jacket off her! It was so dingy by the end of the trip! It never totally came out. That dinginess reminds me of Ethiopia and her love of that jacket!

Here we are at the Hilton! We went there almost daily and played on the same small patch of grass. The kids wanted to run about and there was no place to go in the hotel! It turned out to be a very nice place, especially for soccer games!

Most of our pictures from Ethiopia are taken by the kids! I wish I had more pictures that I took, but they were very taken with the camera and it gave them something to do! So I have a bunch of blurry random pictures taken by 3 fascinated children! It did not take long for them to figure out how to work it! Here is Yonas showing our driver a picture he just took of him! Also, one of the national symbols is the African Lion. There was a stuffed one outside the hotel! It looked like it had seen better days! When the lady removed the glass to clean she let the kids take a close up picture with it!

A view from the 12th floor of the hotel looking down on Addis! I also love this picture of Levi and Ruby! She was a daddy's girl from the beginning!

Every day was so exhausting! Here are the kids all warm and snuggly on the floor! We finally the last few days bought some cheap movies on the street and watched them on Levi's laptop. We finally "figured out" Ethiopia when it was time to leave! And this is them with their nurse from the orphanage! We were looking at pictures yesterday and they all forgot who she was. It was sad how quickly memories fade for kids! I try to talk to them a lot about Ethiopia and their birth families so they never forget!!!

More to come in the next few days....