Nashville

In November I had a work trip to Nashville! It was so fun to get away for a bit, connect with other tribal IT leaders, and eat delicious food. :) 

I sent Dan all kinds of dimly lit, delicious BBQ food pics! Yum!

Oh yeah, there were some delicious drinks as well. ;)

We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and, even though it was early November, it was all decked out for the holidays! Christmas music was being pumped through the facility and the decorations were beautiful!

 

Grammy Nola helped hold down the fort in Wisconsin!

I would get sweet selfies in the morning!

The kiddos worked on homework and drawings in the evenings.

And acted goofy in the mornings. Haha!

On my flight home I sat right behind Williams and Ree! I am so good at seeing D List celebrities. I know that you would be shocked to learn that they were not sitting in first class. Hahahaha!

I was still pumping like crazy during this work trip so returned home with a bunch of breast milk! Super thankful that I have a pump at my fingertips and access to a minifridge in my hotel room but definitely not going to be sad to say goodbye to my pump.

I came home with lots of treasures for the kiddos! ;)

Unfortunately I got a flat tire on my way home from the MSP airport so I didn't get back to the house until very late in the evening. Ugh! Glad to make it back safe and sound but it was definitely an ordeal.

Dan and I were able to go on a day date on Friday to celebrate my triumphant return to the house.

We decided to continue with the barbecue theme for lunch! 

My handsome guy!

My other handsome guy! :) 

Big thanks to Nola for helping with everything on the homefront! I had such a great trip and would love to get back to Nashville sometime soon. 

Lucy's 8th Birthday Party

 Our little lady turned 8 this fall and requested a dance themed party. We reached out to the Eau Claire School of Dance for the big event. They were so awesome and made Lucy's party so special!

Lucy wanted a teal & pink party and these guys delivered! A dozen 2nd graders (plus our 4th grade neighbor) attended the celebration so we set out our treat bags on the table and Lucy donned her tiara.

We also brought pink cupcakes with tiny dancers on top.

The girls worked on a special dance - Uptown Funk. So fun!

These girls danced & danced!

Then we took a break for treats and cake!

As you can see, there was never a dull moment! 

The girlies had an opportunity to dig through a bunch of dance costumes and dress up!

I could not have managed this party without the awesome staff at ECSOD! 

The girls put on a little performance for the parents at the end of the party. It was so cool to see their little routine. 

I tried to snap quick pics of Lucy with all of her little friends! I am so glad that she has been able to meet so many girls at her new school! 

Here is Lucy with Autumn.

Lucy loves spending time with Brooklynn! She is new to Eau Claire as well so these 2 have become good friends.

Lucy and Charlotte

Lucy and Shiloh - You can see that Lucy's pose of choice of this evening included a leg lift. :)

This is Lucy's 2nd grade bestie, Abigail.

Lucy and Kinleigh are actually birthday twins!! So fun to celebrate both of these girls who were born on November 8th.

Lucy takes gymnastics classes with Brynley.

You can tell that the evening was winding down because Lucy is sitting still for this picture! Hahaha! Here is the birthday girl with Kennedy.

Dan and the boys did make an appearance! You can't have a party without a little brother wreaking a little havoc, am I right? 

Love you to the moon and back, Lucy Bear!

Its November!

Here are some of the early November happenings from the Storm household. 

I took the kids to see Pippi Longstocking at the Eau Claire Children's Theater. They loved it! 

Super grateful to live a community with such a fun little local theater. :) 

Dan is especially thrilled that both kids are developing such a love of music theater! Hah!

We got the big kids' school pictures back! 

Here is our handsome Kindergartner:  

And our beautiful 2nd grader! 

Lucy desperately wanted to wear her giant Jojo Siwa bow for photos. I said yes ... someday I think that she will look back at these and say, Mom - why did you let me wear such a crazy huge bow?!? ;)

And, just for good measure, here is our sweet 10 month old:

 

Roman cannot wait to hunting just like his Daddy. :) Here he is, ready for a scouting trip with his faithful dog Ranger.

Lucy and Roman had a special assembly at their school to honor Veterans so they were asked to wear camouflage to class. We had no problem tracking down appropriate attire. :) This was their Instagram picture ...

Versus Reality! I love these crazy kids of mine!!

Roman celebrated one of his good friend's/next door neighbor's 6th Birthday in early November. His buddy Wyatt had a BTS (Korean Pop Band) themed party and Roman was pumped to attend! I wish that I captured a better picture of that amazing cake!! Dang! :) Happy Birthday Wyatt!

Our girl celebrated her golden Birthday this fall! I still can't believe that my baby turned 8 on the 8th of November. Time flies! For her special day Lucy wore a cat ear headband, a It's my Birthday t-shirt, and 80's style fingerless dance gloves. She is a fashionable lady! 

This year Lucy wanted a desk for her special day so we made it happen - Dan worked hard to secretly assemble it in our basement storage room. It was a big surprise, even though Roman gave her a number of clues including: 'Lucy, your present starts with a D and ends in a X!' Haha! 

I will do a separate post on Lucy's dance themed birthday party soon!