Judah & the Lion

Hello, Monday.

A couple of things happened this weekend...  Saturday marked the 1 year anniversary of this blog.  I think that's pretty significant.  I would say I'm basically hit-and-miss when it comes to sticking with things, so this relationship is doing pretty well!

Saturday was also a good time for the Baums to be lazy.  We've got a lot going on this month, so we enjoyed a day of errand-running and swimming at the pool.

Sunday was a full day.  I had to work the church nursery with Collin that morning.  He made sure to tell all the kiddos, "MY mommy".  How's that for sharing?  Oh well! 

Sunday evening was highly anticipated around here.  Some friends of ours had a house show last night featuring a band called Judah & the Lion.  

Disclaimer: The rest of this post is going to be a general gushing over this band.  Bear with me!

I had actually heard of Judah & the Lion a few months ago.  I cannot remember exactly how I came to be familiar with them, but I had heard their album Sweet Tennessee and really liked it.  So when our friends told us about the house show, I told Jarrod we were going!

Judah & the Lion is a group based out of Nashville, TN.  They are a bunch of twenty-something, Belmont students.  Resembling groups like Mumford & Sons and Needtobreathe in both sound and appearance, they are the most down-to-earth group of people.  The thing about a house show is that it is incredibly intimate and lends itself to easily making friends with people.  It's also incredibly forgiving of technical difficulties and indulges little girls in their desire to twirl endlessly around a room.

Collin tends to shy away from loud settings with lots of people, so the first couple of songs he actually said in my ear, "I don't want to yike it!"  I just kept smiling and clapping his little hands for him though, and he got over it quickly.  One of the girls traveling with the band made sure to speak with him several times.  She gave him one of the band's stickers, and that alone endeared her to Collin for the rest of the night.  He woke up this morning asking for "that girl, Caroline".  And let's not forget to mention the time he discovered that giving high-fives and making scary faces with the band members would get him plenty of laughs.  He is like his mommy that way...shy to the death, unless there is a foolproof way to get a laugh!

So proud of that sticker!

Thank goodness for Ms. Caroline and her attempts to draw Collin out of his shell!

By the end of the set, Collin was clapping and bouncing up and down to the beat of the music.  There was a fantastic new song they did for us that included having the audience shout "Hey!" and Collin loved it.  He fell asleep last night telling me about how "those two guys, they play the guitar and I said, 'HEY!'"

So pretty much, if you haven't heard of Judah & the Lion, you need to give them a listen.  They are definitive Americana.  A banjo, mandolin and guitar always.  Vocal harmonies that will make you cry tears of happiness.  A depth to their lyrics that enables them to stay true to both their Southern roots and contemporary music but also spills over with their love for the Creator of the Universe.  

And if you have a thing for suspenders, you'll love seeing them live.

**And of course, Thanks to Zack and Leigh Ooms for hosting us all.  It was a perfect space for a great night.

Class of 2003: 10 Year Reunion

Last Saturday was a crazy whirlwind.  It was the day of my 10 year high school reunion.  I've been helping with this reunion since January, I think.  It feels like forever!  It was slow going, but ultimately turned out to be what I would consider a success.  We had a wonderful turnout and the location was great!

Saturday morning, three of my dear friends from high school came over with their families for brunch.  We had a blast watching old videos, telling funny stories and giving each other a hard time like not a day has passed.  It was surreal to sit around with all of our spouses and kiddos, but it was also such an awesome picture of how the Lord has blessed us all.

Saturday evening we got set up for the reunion...

The centerpieces we made for all the tables...Mason jars wrapped in print-outs from old yearbooks, flowers in our school colors and a little handmade pennant.

The Sign-In table, complete with name tags and year book photos.

 I don't know why this picture is giving me trouble, but here is a table with a Thank You card we asked everyone to sign for a mom who provided us with some assistance in retrieving the Time Capsule.  There are also some party favor "koozies", and on the back of the table were a few print-outs from our Kindergarten year book.  "Even the ugly people were cute in Kindergarten!"

It was awesome to see so many people, and it was WEIRD to see how much everyone has changed in 10 years.  We did have a bit of a disappointment occur when we opened a Time Capsule that we buried back in middle school...  It turned out to not be airtight and once opened it smelled rancid!  There was mud resembling poo all inside the thing, and everyone's items were basically ruined.  However, having a drunken classmate digging through it and handing stuff to people ended up providing plenty of entertainment!

A few of the girls I grew up with...

I still don't really have any idea what Jarrod thought about the whole experience.  He graduated with a much larger class than I did, from a much larger city and he had only been with that class since 9th grade.  Many of the people I saw last Saturday, I have known since I was 2 or 3 years old.  I went to daycare and Sunday School with many of them.  The rest I met in Kindergarten, and we graduated high school together.  Say what you will about a small town, but there was something about coming together with these people and sharing memories from Kindergarten through Senior year.

Whitesboro High School - Class of 2003
Go Bearcats!

This girl was my best friend through elementary and middle school.  I cannot tell you how many times we spent the night together at each others houses.  I developed a party trick early on at one of her birthdays...it may have involved snorting soda up my nose.  Anything for a laugh ;)

I'm sure that by the time the next reunion rolls around, I will have forgotten any trauma involved with planning this one!  I'm so thankful I got a chance to see some of these people, and I look forward to seeing what the next 10 years hold for us all.

Happy Independence Day, Y'all!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!  We were able to travel to Texas for a long weekend to see both sides of our family.  Collin had a blast with his Nonne and Papa on Thursday.  We were up early to watch a July 4th parade in their neighborhood...

Collin waved so enthusiastically to all of the parade members!

Then we swam at their neighborhood water park...

And after dinner, we watched fireworks together.  Collin did great with the fireworks!   

Matching glow necklaces !

                                         

Friday we got up and went to my parent's house.  We had tons to do in order to get ready for my high school reunion that was on Saturday night.  More on that next time!

Mimi had promised to get Collin a kiddie pool when she was here a few weeks ago, so Collin had to take it for a spin.  Uncle Austin brought his new puppy, Mia, and she jumped in the pool with Collin!  The only thing that could have made it any better would have been having Tinsley there, but we'll catch her on the next trip.  Oh, and PawPaw too :)  We were there for several hours before Collin thought to ask, "Where's PawPaw?"  That just means he was having fun with Mimi!

Saturday night was my reunion, and also our first opportunity to take advantage of this whole thing I keep hearing about called, "Free Grandparent Babysitting"!  Unfortunately, I was so busy I didn't really get a chance to talk the whole thing up to Collin.  So when he woke up from his nap to a house devoid of his parents and just Mimi to hang out with, he wasn't a very happy camper.  He got over it because he has been talking about his fun with Mimi.  Now we just need Mimi to recuperate from her experience!!

Sunday came too quick and we were back on the road to Arkansas before noon.  Thankfully Collin fell asleep and slept the first half of the trip; it made him so much more enjoyable the second half.  I had given him some crackers to snack on as we were leaving town, and he actually fell asleep holding one up to his mouth.  Unfortunately his hand fell before I could snap a picture of it, but here he is cracker crumbs and all...