Lately...
I know the blog has been kind of quiet lately, so I thought I'd update you real quick on what's been going on!
Last week was Marc's 36th birthday! It was a beautiful, sunny day so that was awesome. We had tickets for the X Factor Cardiff auditions so we dropped the big girls off at school while Addie stayed with an intern and headed into city centre to get in the queue. Even though we had tickets that you had to request online, you still were not guaranteed a seat. We thought we would have plenty of time after dropping the girls off at school but that was not the case. They cut off the queue not too far behind us so we thought we were safe until they started handing out raffle tickets and told us that the last 250 of us were in the "standy-by" queue and once they got everyone seated inside the arena they would see if there any left over seats for us. Well, we were number 210 and 211 out of 250 so we were pretty sure we wouldn't get in. It was not a big deal, but it would have been fun too sit on the filming. Since we didn't get in, we got to have a lunch date together and walk around city centre so that was fun. Marc even bought me a pair of shoes on his birthday!
We did get to see an interesting side of TV though as we waited. They moved us through these rows and rows of fences like cattle and every once in a while they would bring someone who was auditioning and plant them in the queue to make it look there were thousands of people auditioning. They were also interviewing auditionees (is that word?) for the extra bits of video that you see before someone auditions. I was feeling really bad for one girl (it's the mercy in me) that did not have a good singing voice. Bless her heart, why do people do this? But you could tell they were going to use all that video for the show because they would have her pose against a wall and anyway..it was just ridiculous so I felt sorry for her because I just know that once they air the show in the fall, she will be one that is shown and not for her good voice.
As we were waiting in the queue these university girls in front of us suddenly went crazy and started shouting. I realized that right next to us was a former X Factor contestant, Olly Murs. He and another girl are the host of the Xtra Factor, the after the show kind of show. Anyway, they were planting them in the crowd and interviewing people and he ended up standing right next to us. I don't even really know any of his music, but you know crowd mentality- I had to start taking pictures with my phone! I'm not sure why, but I felt compelled. Marc was a bit baffled by this whole experience, especially after Olly turned to look our way and one of the girls was about to pass out while screaming his name. Marc rolled his eyes while I told him "It's okay honey, this is what girls do. I'm sorry to admit to you that when my Dad took me to NKOTB back in 8th grade, I was reaching out toward the stage as if I could really touch them." Again, a blank look from Marc. I just love this man. And find it humorous that God gave him three little girls. He's low on drama, that's for sure. Which reminds me that when Cerys was trying to buckle her seat belt this morning and she couldn't get it, she sighs and says "Oh, there's always trouble!" Hahaha. So dramatic. Anyway.
So, here are a few pictures of Olly Murs and the other girl, whom I could tell was annoyed that no one knew who she was because they were all screaming for Olly. Apparently, she was the host of another famous celebrity reality show. She is in the (too) short white dress and Olly Murs was in the brownish/green T-shirt.
Like I said, not sure why I took pictures of them. At one point Olly jumped out of the fences to head for the port-a potty. Yes, I have a picture of him coming out of the toilet. I'm deleting it from iPhoto, don't worry.
In other news, we've been drinking lots of smoothies around here. The girls love them for an after school snack. Depending on the color of our smoothie, it's either a "Tinkerbell" or "Purple Fairy"- I have no idea why that name, we really should come up with something better. I use plain, live yogurt as a base, with some ground up flaxseed, pineapple, banana, and kale for the "Tinkerbell" smoothie. And for the "Purple Fairy" I just use strawberries, blueberries and raspberries instead of pineapple and banana. They are a big hit and I get some green into them!
Here is Addison and Jesse, enjoying a smoothie:
Bailey got the movie Tangled for her birthday, but Addison is the one who LOVES it. I mean, all of us love it, but Addison will ask 50 times a day, "I -watch -Tangled - I -got- a -dream?" It's all one word to her! While her sister is at school, she carries around the Tangled doll and shouts "I gotta dream! I gotta dream! I see lantern glow!"
Someone freeze time so I can eat her up! I think that was like two southern phrases mixed into one right there.
There's lots going on here so we value your prayers- the Lord knows every detail! Thanks y'all, have a great weekend!