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Cathy Rigby’s Peter Pan delights another generation in Nashville!

March 1, 2013 By sami

Cathy Rigby as Peter Pan delights another generation!

It’s midnight and I just got back from seeing Peter Pan, starring Cathy Rigby, at TPAC in Nashville! I wasn’t asked to write a review, but I was so pleasantly surprised by how entertaining this show was that I wanted to let you all know that if you haven’t bought tickets for this show yet, do it now!

As soon as my son found out that Peter Pan was going to be opening at TPAC on his 7th birthday, his request was made official. So that’s what we did…

After dinner at his favorite (Outback), we made our way to TPAC for this show. One of the things I loved most was that it stayed very close to the classic Disney film we all love so much.

But what I didn’t expect was how absolutely entertaining this show was going to be! From Cathy Rigby’s high flying Peter Pan to the stupendous dance numbers, it embraced the simpleness of this classic while giving us great energy and humor that kept the adults AND kids in the audience on the edge of our seats.

I will warn you, the one thing that is different from the movie that totally freaked EVERYONE out was the mermaid – not only was she not like Ariel at all, she was actually quite disturbing, with freakishly long nails and a shriek that I thought was going to send my kids out to the lobby!

Although, one of my favorite moments of the night came in the lobby. No, not the Peter Pan cut-out I forced my kids to stand behind…

…but as we were leaving, we heard, “Make way for Peter Pan!”. A press person whisked Cathy Rigby right in front of us to go sign autographs for her fans. I said, “Britton, look – there’s Peter Pan!”. He looked at me funny and said, “That’s not Peter Pan; that’s an old lady!” True, my son, but if I can do 1/8 of the things that grandma did when I’m her age, I’ll be a happy camper!

Cathy flipped, sang, kicked, flew and sprinkled Pixie Dust like a champ. Considering she has four kids AND four grandkids, this Tony Award nominee knows the true meaning of entertainer.

Did we have a good night? Here’s all the proof you need:

As tired as this newly-crowned 7 year old was during the show, he stayed awake for the whole two and a half hours and waited until he got in the car to fall asleep.

Peter Pan runs through March 3, 2013 at Nashville’s TPAC.

UPDATE: As we were going through our day today, Britton turned to me and said, “Peter Pan was my favorite show I’ve EVER seen at TPAC”. Nuff said.

I was provided tickets for my family for this show, but no expectation was put on me to write this, I simply wanted to share with you all the fun we had!

Filed Under: Britton, Events, Reviews Tagged With: birthday, britton, nashville, peter pan, show, tpac

Happy Birthday Jake (& Britton!) March 1, 2013

March 1, 2013 By sami

I didn’t realize Britton shared a birthday with such a famous friend As it turns out, March 1 is not only my son’s birthday, but it’s Jake’s birthday too!

You know, Jake…from the Disney Junior show “Jake & the Neverland Pirates”.

For those of us with kids in the under 8 crowd, Jake is a Superstar of mega proportions. So when we realized that Jake & Britton were both celebrating birthdays on March 1, our house was quite a flutter.

Even if your little buccaneer isn’t celebrating a birthday on March 1, you can still help Jake celebrate.

First of all, watch a new Jake episode at 8:30 am EST/7:30 CST. You can also create free Jake coloring sheets, make him a birthday card or even play Pin the Tail on the Croc!

Regardless of when your child’s birthday is, you can celebrate with a FREE CALL from their favorite Disney character!

So let me be the first to say happy birthday to my little man. He continues to make me laugh each day. His spirit for live is unparalleled and I can only pray that as a mom I never understimate his wisdom while still enjoying his wit

Filed Under: Britton, Disney Tagged With: birthday, britton, jake, junior, walt disney world

Adding to our Family; on the Compassion blog today…

July 26, 2012 By sami

We’re celebrating Kariss’ 8th birthday today by adding to our family in a very special way!

If you want to find out the details, you can read my post over on the Compassion blog…

Filed Under: Faith, Family, Kariss Tagged With: adding, birthday, blog, compassion, Family, kariss

The Birthdays of July 26

July 26, 2012 By sami

20120725 212956 The Birthdays of July 26

July 26 is very special to our family because there are actually 3 of our family members with the same birthday! Our July 26 birthdays are:
*My daughter, Kariss (who turns 8 today)
*My father in law, Rick Sr. (who you may know from this blog as “Dad Cone” if you’ve been following his health journey after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor this summer)
*Ricky’s Uncle David (his mom’s brother)

Kind of crazy, isn’t it?

It’s interesting because when it comes to Kariss’ birthday, I feel like we’ve already celebrated it (She had a McKenna American Girl birthday party earlier this month), but we still want to do something special for her today. Yet when we asked her what she wanted to do or where she wanted to eat, she kept drawing a blank.

Doesn’t that seem odd for a kid when given carte blanche to do whatever they want?

After more prodding, we finally got something: She wanted to stay home. She wanted to play. She wanted us.

I wrote a post earlier this year on how the best present for our kids is our presence. Although we love being a family on the go, I guess we may have been gone a little too much this summer. We moved into a new house at the end of May and between travel, work and family issues, it seems like we’ve hardly been here!

So we’re getting back to basics today, shutting down the electronics and playing some serious games of tickle monster, monsters in the bushes, spy, gymnastics and whatever creative games her 8 year old brain comes up with.

Oh, and I think she want’s some Sweet Cece’s too

So please join me in wishing my baby girl the happiest birthday an 8 year old could ever have!

*On a side note, if you’re wondering why I haven’t posted on Dad Cone in awhile, it’s for two reasons: 1. there hasn’t been a lot of change in his condition and 2. it’s not exactly my story to tell. While I wanted to have a concise way to share about his story in a way I relate best (writing) so the most people could be praying, I’ve also come upon a little backlash for it. Realizing it’s not my life, I’ve decided to not write about the details of his days for awhile. PLEASE, continue to pray and should there be any major developments, I promise to pass the facts along. Thanks for understanding xoxo

Filed Under: Dad Cone, Family, Kariss, My Story Tagged With: 26, birthday, Dad Cone, gift, july, kariss, present, Rick, Uncle David

American Girl McKenna DVD Birthday Party for Kariss!

July 12, 2012 By sami

We celebrated Kariss’ 8th birthday early with an American girl McKenna DVD viewing party!

Having never seen an American Girl movie, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. But knowing that Kariss loves gymnastics and the movie “McKenna Shoots for the Stars” revolves around gymnastics, I figured we were on the right track.

I also got a great response from her friends before the party and the parents afterwards. Mom after mom shared how they loved the American Girl movies for the lessons they taught and how the were so well made that the entire family could sit and watch them together.

So we decorated in McKenna’s colors of Aqua & Purple (one of my favorite color combinations, I might add), cut out star-shaped sandwiches, and watched McKenna learn that her identity is not based solely on what she does, but rather who she is (a lesson I had to learn for myself and shared here).

Even though Kariss doesn’t yet own an American Girl doll, I’m beginning to see that American Girl is much less about the ‘toys’ themselves and more about an overall experience for the girls. Just look at the fun we had!

I’d say the party was a huge success! All the girls got to take home Mckenna bracelets and activity sheets after indulging in some Cookies & Cream ice cream cake. Of course, Kariss insisted on dressing in her gymnastics leotard, which, ironically enough, is also purple and aqua (good thing because I had to take her to gymnastics immediately following the party!).

My only drawback was that I wished I had looked at how long the movie was first. For some reason I expected it to be one of those dinky DVD’s that was just half an hour, but no, this was a true feature-length film that ran about an hour and a half. So it was a little long for a party atmosphere, but again, perfect for our traditional family fun night. Nonetheless, the girls loved it and luckily, no-one started tumbling in the middle of my living room

If you want to learn more about the latest in the American Girl DVD collection, you can read my previous post.

As a mom, I was just thrilled to watch my daughter be surrounded by her friends, their dolls and lots of laughter and camaraderie. Happy 8th birthday angel!

I was not compensated for this post in any way, but I did volunteer to write it in exchange for receiving the movie and the party favors…but wouldn’t you if it was your daughter’s favorite? All opinions expressed are completely my own.

Filed Under: Family, Kariss, Movie, Reviews Tagged With: american, birthday, dvd, girl, gymnastics, kariss, McKenna, party, stars

Britton’s 6th Birthday

March 1, 2012 By sami

It’s hard to believe my baby boy is six years old today.

What’s even crazier is to think that he has now officially lived in Tennessee longer than he lived in Florida. When you put life in perspective of the short years of our children’s lives, it really makes you take a step back and re-focus.

Another first for us this year was a class birthday party. We have always held smaller gatherings at home, or celebrated his birthday on a vacation. But when I Groupon came up to host a party at monkey Joe’s, we jumped at the chance to be an observer and participant in his birthday rather than an organizer.

I have to admit, it was nice to not have to clean my house before and after such an event and just sit back and watch the smiles on all the kids faces.

So I wanted to share just a few of my favorite pictures from Britton’s sixth birthday party with you:

Filed Under: Britton, Family Tagged With: birthday, britton, monkey joes, party, six

My Health Journey Day 12: Half birthday & take out

January 18, 2012 By sami

I know it’s only day 12 of my health journey with Blue Sky MD, but it seems that the half-way point of each week it the toughest.

For example, yesterday was my half birthday: for those of you that think I’m crazy, hear me out. As a kid with a summer birthday, I always used my ‘half birthday’ in school as the day to celebrate, bring in cupcakes, get my locker decorated, etc. We’ve continued the tradition with our kids for one, because our daughter has a summer birthday and two, it ends up being a fun night for the celebrating kid because they get to choose whatever they want for dinner that night.

As I was leaving the YMCA after a good workout and on my way to get some eggs for dinner, my husband called and said the kids wanted to have pizza to celebrate my half birthday. Thinking that was going to be more of a celebration for them than for me since I couldn’t enjoy pizza just yet, they came up with another option. Just next to Publix is a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese take out place (you know, the kind with a counter and a couple tables to eat at) we found shortly after moving to Nashville and have been eating at about once a month ever since. It’s the one place where they know us and start cooking our order before we even get in the door and sit down.

The kids always ask to go there (they LOVE any kind of Asian food) and since I’d just received coupons for it that day, my husband and I reluctantly agreed, thinking we’d share our typical steamed chicken and veggies with garlic sauce on the side.

Of course, what we didn’t anticipate was just how fast our friend was and before we could say that we were going to change our order up a bit, she was already cooking our usual crab rangoon (fried wontons with cheese) and potstickers as an appetizer. As they sat steaming in front of us, I wish I could say I had the will power to resist, but in fact I did not. I ended up having one of each – much better than my normal amount – but still not exactly keeping to this week’s nutritional guidelines.

I wouldn’t say I totally derailed myself; in fact, this is all about making the best choices possible while we live our real lives, right?

It has been interesting though that I was able to closely control everything I was eating last week while this week I’ve already had to eat out twice, eat at someone else’s house once, and host a Tupperware party with yummy goodies! If I somehow thought I was going to get to live in a bubble while doing this journey, that dream bubble has popped!

All that to say, I’ve realized I can’t hide out and eat every meal in my house…especially in my line of work! But what I can do is better plan out where and what I’m going to eat before I get there.

For instance, Blue Coast Burrito (which has the most delicious chicken tortilla soup I’ve ever had) has a completely customizable nutritional calculator on their website that gives you specific facts down to the exact salsa you choose! <Attention other restaurants – please follow suit!>

So off I go to try to get back on track today. I almost feel like I need a mid-week appointment with my friends and nutritional counselors at Blue Sky MD to encourage me during this re-occurring half-way slump. In fact, I think I’ll suggest just that…

As a reminder, Blue Sky MD has agreed to waive my fee for the program in exchange for me documenting my journey online (like my own little reality show!). I am not getting compensated financially in any way and (obviously) these opinions are all my own.

Filed Under: Health, My Story Tagged With: birthday, Blue Sky MD, health, journey, take out, weight loss

Happy 7th Birthday Kariss! Top 10 Tuesday

July 26, 2011 By sami

Happy 7th Birthday to my Kariss! It’s hard to believe my first-born is about to enter 2nd grade and yet, here we are!

This is only my second time doing a “Top 10 Tuesday” post (and the first time was for Britton’s birthday!) – ironically both my kids’ birthdays have been on Tuesdays this year I wanted to share with you not only why I won’t be online much today, but also what amazes and delights me about my little angel on a daily basis:

1. Her Mind
Kariss has an amazing way of processing information. She is very “thought”ful….meaning she is always full of information and is constantly thinking about how to order her day. She finds great delight in order and security in knowing what’s coming next. She is very bright and keeps our family in check when we may be feeling a little too spontaneous

2. Her Hair
I thought it only appropriate to talk about her hair, especially since she’s having a “Tangled” birthday party! The first thing everyone always says to Kariss when they see her is “You have such beautiful hair!”. It’s true. This girl’s hair goes on for days in beautiful waves…though I can take no credit for it! It’s purely from daddy’s side of the family (and much like her Auntie Kate’s hair!). It is truly stunning.

3. Her Sense of Justice
A typical first-born, Kariss has a need for everything to be fair. Though this can sometimes get her in trouble with her little brother, it is often put to use to make sure all her friends are being taken care of. She does come from a line of lawyers on my side of the family

4. Her Sense of Adventure
Though Kariss is more introverted than her parents, she has a wonderful sense of adventure. I wouldn’t say she rushes in to try new things, but as she’s found success in taking risks (like winning her first swim meet, loving water slides, etc), she’s become more inclined to try more and more and thus experienced even more out of life!

5. Her Height
After everyone talks about Kariss’ hair when they meet her, the next thing they say is, “You’re so tall!” (again, don’t think she got that from me either). Though I feel like it’s always made her look older than she actually is, she’s also been able to live up to that maturity and help us in so many ways from a young age.

6. Her Name
Before I even got married, I knew that I wanted my daughter’s name to come from the Greek word, “charis” which means “grace” or a “gift from God”. I actually discovered it when reading my Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible; in Luke 1:30 when the angel of the Lord visits Mary and tells her, “You have found favor in the eyes of the Lord”, “favor” is literally the word “charis”. We just changed the spelling to make it a little easier to pronounce – though that hasn’t worked out as well as we’d planned Her middle name is “Nevaeh” which is “Heaven” spelled backwards (her daddy came up with that one!).

7. Her Artistic Ability
This was the first thing Kariss truly claimed as a talent. She loves to draw and create for others. Not only is it her way of showing love, but I love how she’ll tell people, “I’m an artist.”

8. She’s a Fish
Kariss has always loved the water. She loves to swim and is good at it. She’s always had a home in the water, but now that she’s joined the swim team, she’s discovered another talent as well.

9. Her Love of Princesses & Babies
Like the rest of our family, Kariss loves Disney, but she’s especially fond of the Princesses (especially Ariel, Rapunzel & Tiana) and truly loves taking care of her baby dolls in her nursery…and really any other real baby or little girl under 3 for that matter. She’s very sweet and caring with all of them and it gives me a special glimpse into what she’ll be like as a mother one day.

10. Her Love for our Family
While Kariss will be the first to tell you she’d rather be alone in her room than in a large group, she also loves just being at home with our family. It doesn’t really matter what we’re doing, as long as we’re together! I pray daily that her spirit will always stay the same as she grows because I always want her to WANT to be with us!

Happy birthday, my lovely Kariss! I pray today is all you’ve dreamed it would be!

Filed Under: Family, Reviews Tagged With: birthday, kariss, top 10, tuesday

My ‘First Class’ Birthday Gift

July 17, 2011 By sami

I have to admit, I wasn’t thrilled about flying on my birthday.

I mean, really, it’s not like I’m 6 and can wear the pink, frilly, tutu dress with a big cupcake on it that says “Birthday Girl” (though I’d consider it if Gymboree started making them in my size…)

So I was even more disappointed when I tried to check into my flight last night at my hotel and couldn’t even get a seat assignment!

Really, Lord? Is a seat too much to ask for? Apparently he had bigger things in mind…

When I approached Mike, the American Airlines, gate agent this morning to get a seat to embark my journey home, he asked, “What kink of seat would you like if you had a choice.” (Are you already preparing yourself for my sarcasm to shine through? Good)

“Well, since you asked, I’d prefer to sit in First Class since it’s my birthday, but I guess I’ll take an aisle seat if I had to choose.” (Really, what else would you expect from me?

He looked up from his glasses, smiled politely, and said, “I wish I could,” and then proceeded to hand me my coach class boarding pass.

Off I went to work on my computer, not really paying attention to the pre-boarding procedure that followed about 30 minutes later. When all of a sudden, I heard over the intercom, “Passenger Cone, please approach the desk.”

I curiously packed my things, and hurried over to the gate, expecting the worst…

Instead, Mike simply handed me a new boarding pass and said, “you can board at any time.”

Smiles all around

Oh, he gave me an aisle seat alright…. A FIRST CLASS aisle seat!

Granted, it wasn’t a trans-Atlantic flight to Paris, but still, I thought it was a pretty nice way to start my birthday!

Filed Under: My Story Tagged With: birthday, first class, flight, gift, plane

Tommy Nelson “My Faith Journal”: Giveaway Day 9

July 9, 2011 By sami

Win Tommy Nelson’s “My Faith Journal” on day 9 of my Birthday Giveaway a Day in July!

Your daughter will love Tommy Nelson’s “My Faith Journal“! I gave this to my daughter when she was 5, and even though she had just started writing, she loved having a place to put thoughts and pictures of her own.

As it has since the day she received it from me, it sits at the top of her bed by her pillow with a pen clipped on- always ready to be used at any moment

In their own words, this journal (by Karen Hill) has “guided questions on relevant topics help girls meet the intersection of faith and daily life, therefore solidifying a Christian worldview”. Couple that with fun places to write in, doodle and dream, and you’ve got a gift girls of all ages will love!

To enter today’s giveaway, simply leave a comment below with who you would love to give this journal to and why.

For additional entries, choose any or all of the methods below, then leave me separate comments for each entry:

1. Tweet about the contest then come back and leave a comment letting me know you did so: I want to win the @TommyNelson “My Faith Journal” for a special little lady thanks to @TheSamiCone http://samicone.com/?p=13185
2. Visit the Tommy Nelson Facebook page, ‘like’ them (if you don’t already) and leave a comment saying: I want to win the @TommyNelson “My Faith Journal” for a special little lady thanks to @TheSamiCone http://samicone.com/?p=13185
3. Follow Sami Cone on Facebook and mention the giveaway on your own profile.

You have until midnight on July 16 to enter. Good luck! I can’t wait to hear about the princesses in your lives!

Filed Under: Deals & Freebies, giveaway, Products, Reviews Tagged With: birthday, girl, giveaway, journal, Kids, tommy nelson