Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

The Gallery Pics are from last night's Ding-Dong Ditching outing. Today three of Roxie's best buds are trying out for Rockettes (our school's dance team).

Last year, Roxie made giant cards and attached a real Ding Dong (chocolate) to the card, rang the doorbell and ran like crazy. It was lots of fun.

This year, she wanted to do the same thing, but instead of a real Ding Dong, she decided to give the girls "lucky" socks for try-outs... so the cards read "You Knock My Socks Off" or something like that. Cute idea.

Ding-Dong Ditching with Roxie is very interesting. There are certain rules which must be followed.

1. The Big Gold Van cannot go. It is WAY too recognizable by everyone in Gardendale... much less her friends. We have to take Mikie's Edge or one of the boys' trucks.

2. I have to turn the lights off as soon as we enter the neighborhood. This is particularly dangerous because I, The Enchanting Belinda, do NOT have night vision. Or night vision glasses. So when I'm driving in the dark, I am REALLY driving in the dark.

3. As I pull up to the house, Roxie impresses upon me to be completely silent. However, she sounds like a herd of wild elephants running up the stairs and ringing the doorbell.

4. She also starts screaming, "GO! GO! GO!" before she gets to the car. I haven't figured out if she wants to jump into a moving car... if she wants to jump through the open car window... or if she actually thinks she's already in the car when she starts screaming, "GO! GO! GO!"

It's a lot of fun, and she's already planning next year's cards. (Shhh! Don't tell anyone. It's going to be a big surprise!)

Weekend Happenings

We're mountain bound this President's Day Weekend. This will be our 15th Annual Extended Family Mountain Trip, and we are ALL looking forward to the time away.

Our plans are pretty simple.

1. We will eat a good bit.

2. We will drink coffee on the deck overlooking the glorious mountain scenery.

3. We will sit in front of the fireplace.

4. We will watch movies.

5. We will play games.

6. We will go to Galtinburg.

7. We will go to the Knifeworks AND fudge shopping.

8. We will celebrate Zac's 14th birthday on Sunday.

9. We will relax in the hot tub. (Well, Katie and Roxie will. That is kind of their thing.)

10. We will have lunch at Pancake Pantry. (CAN'T WAIT!)

11. This year, we are going to try something new. We are going to WonderWorks in Pigeon Forge. (Have y'all ever seen the upside down building in Orlando or Pigeon Forge? That's WonderWorks, and according to some friends who have tried it before, it is a LOT of fun.) I'll have many pictures of WonderWorks next week.

We'll have five teenagers and a 20-something this year. When we started 15 years ago, we had six kiddos five and under... and I was only 35... and I looked really, really good. (Heavy, heavy sigh.)

It's different now, but it's a tradition our family has loved, and I hope it continues for a very, very long time.

I hope you and yours have a fantastic long weekend. I'll be back Monday evening with Mindless Monday and a lot of mountain pics. (You can check around 6:00 p.m. Monday night.)

Take care, and I'll talk to you next week.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda