The last month in a nutshell.

Wow it's been awhile since I posted.  In the month that has passed I have driven myself, 3 children and one dog from Oklahoma City to Charlotte, NC; Charlotte to Daytona Beach; Daytona Beach to West Palm Beach; West Palm Beach to Goose Creek, SC; Goose Creek back to Charlotte; and Charlotte back to Oklahoma City.  I attended not one but two family weddings, met some new family members, saw old friends, and made new ones.  It was a long trip, but I am very glad we made it.  My sister made a beautiful bride and I couldn't be happier for her, my niece and my new brother.
During my first stay in Charlotte I recieved a phone call from my deployed hubby informing me that when he gets back from the desert, we will be moving to the West Coast for 6 months and then from there we will be going to Germany for a few years.  We are so excited! 
We're almost two months into this deployment.  It seems like he's been gone so much longer.  I'm hoping time starts going quicker once the kiddos go back to school.
Today though I got a big surprise from my hubby.  A HUGE bouquet of flowers.  Little things like this make me smile and really help me get through the days without him.

Disney Pictures. Better late than never.

Here are the super late (I'm talking over a month folks) pictures from our Disney trip the day after Christmas.

Nashville, Day 1: Downtown

After the science museum, we braved the drizzle and headed downtown. The hubby & I are big country music fans, so our first stop was a peek inside the Ryman Auditorium.

Of course it wouldn't be a trip with the Shearer's if we didn't hit up at least one hockey rink, (we hit three in this trip, but that was the whole reason for the drive to Nashville...a tournament!). The home rink of the Nashville Predators was right downtown so we popped in there as well and got the kids a little souvenier from the pro shop. The boys LOVED this huge sign on the side of the arena. Noah & Jonah referred to the city as Smashville for the rest of the weekend.

And there were some popular buildings to photograph too.

My favorite was Union Station, which is now a hotel. Awesome!

A slice of Heaven.

Today I got a chance to go to one of my FAVORITE places on earth. Last week my friend Aubrey told me she was going to make the 2 hour drive to Columbia to hit up Hobby Lobby & JoAnn's since we don't have them here in Charleston. And since Hobby Lobby is what I would consider my own personal Heaven, I promptly decided to invite myself along on her little road trip. Our hubbies had today off for Columbus Day, so they would be able to pick the kids up from school, which gave us the ENTIRE DAY to go up!

We got up to bring our kids to school, I left Sophia home with the hubs, and we packed her little man an our other neighbor's son into the car and hit the road at 8am. We got rained on ALL DAY. But did we let that deter us?!

NO WAY, JOSE.

We walked into the sacred doors of the Lobby of Hobby and I swear I heard angels singing. We both stopped and inhaled deeply, wanting to breathe in the awesomeness. We bought some snacks for the boys to keep them appeased and then we took the store literally one aisle at a time. When we got to the fabric section my heart skipped a beat. I didn't even know where to start!! I knew I wanted some Christmas fabric (check), some fabric with some raspberry colors on it (check) and oh so much more. I was very proud of myself for the restraint I showed, because I wanted to buy out the store. But I didn't. I think I deserve a pat on the back.

Then, after a couple of hours we ran back out into the pouring rain, piled bags and kids back into the car, and headed over to JoAnns. We spent another hour or so in there, picking out MORE fabric (hey...you can't pass up Columbus Day sales!!).

We took the kiddoes to a late lunch at Chik-fil-a and then hit the road back home. Even with being at a complete standstill on I-26 for FORTY-FIVE MINUTES, we had a superb day. Totally worth every minute. I can't wait to do it again.

Oh, and if you're reading this Aubrey, "I spent less than you did! Neener, neener, neener!" :)