Labor Day weekend

Chris and I had a great Labor Day weekend!  We went to the Alabama tornado relief concert on Friday night and we loved hearing some of our favorites.  They played "Dixieland Delight" with "Will the Circle be Unbroken" in the middle, and they played all of their biggest hits.  Then they brought out the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra and performed a song they wrote about the April 27 tornado called "Raising Alabama." Also with TSO, they played "Christmas in Dixie" and "Angels Among Us," and ended with "My Home's in Alabama."  For an encore they lined up and played each other's instruments for a part of "Wildwood Flower," and then they finished the show with "I'll Fly Away."  It was a wonderful show, and the band repeatedly reminded everybody that they were here to raise money to help Alabamians and thanked the sponsors of the show and the audience for being there.  

At the Alabama tornado relief concert at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater

On Saturday we headed up to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to see Chris's brother, Ben, his wife, Daeon, their daughter, Kaelyn, and their new baby, Alayna.  Chris's parents, David and Lu Ann came to visit too!  We had a great time playing with Kaelyn and watching Alayna do cute baby things.  On Sunday afternoon, Chris's mom and I went to Old Time Pottery to look for a pot for her and we made the poor guy load and unload 3 different giant (and very heavy) pots before we had the one we wanted!  He earned his pay that day!  The boys spent most of their time out in Ben's garage/workshop/man cave, building storage cubes for Kaelyn and a step stool for Kaelyn's best friend Reagan (or so I thought!).  Sunday evening, Chris asked me to come out to the garage, and they showed me the finished step stool and said it was for me!  Ben had built a step stool for Kaelyn to use for her bathroom sink and I told Chris I needed a step stool to reach things in my kitchen cabinets.  After they finished the storage cubes, sweet Ben started working on the step stool for me.  I still have to paint it, and I plan to use stencils, so a post on that process will follow!   Take a look at a few pictures from our visit:

Grandmama with Alayna

Me with Alayna

Sleepy baby

She's so long!

Stretch!

Long legs and toes! 

Teaching Kaelyn the art of the one-handed self-portrait

Kaelyn decided to give it a shot.  It's a steep learning curve when you're 2.

We watched Dirty Dancing, and Kaelyn and Uncle Chris decided to give the lift a try.   They gave Johnny and Baby a run for their money.  

Alayna sleeping

This girl was so hungry, she started sucking on my finger, and boy is she strong!