Protect Your Shake

Below is how our girl looks like when she has her own shake..."No, Daddy...you can't get my shake!"

She went to the allergist/asthma doctor this afternoon for a follow-up visit. He wanted her to have a second pneumo vaccination with follow-up blood work (in a month or so) to check her immune system. The good news is she doesn't have allergies or asthma.

So...she deserved her shake after her unexpected shot!

Two Full Days

On Friday, Hubby had the day off. We did some quick shopping (had to hit a store for a return & bought a few new things too), we went swimming with friends, and went to spend the night at Nana and Papa's house to celebrate Papa's BD and Father's Day.

Here are a few pics of our two full days:

Want to know how to watch 7 kids swimming at once? Don't ask me...ask Mrs. Kim:

Kim has 2 kids of her own; she was watching 3 neighbor kids; and add our 2 kids=7 kids total.

Here are some pics of some of the 7 kids:

Our kids liked icing their own cupcakes for Papa's Birthday-yum! Yes...they got a little "burned up" in the pool!

Then on Saturday, we hit another store for a return (and more purchases too), checked out the "outlet kinda store" that sells stuff from Costco--ended up with a few bargains, stopped to eat lunch with E, rushed home to drop over-night bags and change clothes, rushed back out for the People's First Pageant to root for "Aunt Paige", got home to eat a quick dinner, kids watched new movie with Hubby, and I started uploading pictures!

Aunt Paige is the aunt of one of our son's classmates. She volunteered in their K class every Thursday, and the kids absolutely love her! So...we went out to support her by attending her pageant. And guess what??? Aunt Paige won the pageant!!! We really had no doubt that she would win! After they announced the winner, they asked that only family go on stage after the pageant. But, there was no holding our son back from his "Aunt Paige" (especially after being there for almost 4 hours waiting for the results). Good thing Ms. Christy was there to help him get on stage to see her!

Look at how pretty! Congrats to Aunt Paige!

Also...the entertainment was John Barry, the country singer. Hubby knew who he was and said he had a brain aneurysm or something like that back in the day. I knew who he was once he started singing. I'm quite sure the kids have never heard his songs, but we took their pic with him for their E. She said she spoke with him once when she lived in Nashville.

I wanted to take a pic of our girl with her new shirt, but she tripped and scuffed her knee...and then her brother pinched her when she tried to put her arm around him....and our son said it felt like ants were biting his feet...oh...and remember we were at the pageant for almost 4 hours--so this pic is the best one I could get!

And there you have it...two full days!

Caught My Attention

Last night, I came across Wendy's blog at Mommy Times Four. She has a great blog and a fun company for personalized stationary and other cool items at Duck Duck Goose Designs. But...the reason she really caught my attention...is because of her post Needles upon Needles describing her daughter's need for daily shots to keep her alive. In this post, she has a picture of containers of used syringes. She describes her perspective/struggle as a mom with her daughter's disease. More thoughts on this post to come...

Poor June

Background Info: Our dog, June, is a great dog. We got her the year we married--so she's 10 years old. She was our "first born." I'm not kidding...once, she got sick in the middle of the night and we rushed her to the emergency vet. We even called my parents, and they met Hubby and me there. That's the kind of thing you do before you have 2-legged children!
Fast Forward to Today: Ever since the start of this summer, she's spent most of her time at my parents' house down the street from us. Why you ask??? Because she has TERRIBLE separation anxiety! She cannot stand to be alone...she never has! We've been in & out so much...she's spent a lot of time with her grandparents.
So tonight...I received this photo below in an e-mail from my mom. It was titled..."Help the homeless. She needs food."

Poor June! We did go to visit her tonight! Look out Megan....this is what's coming for your wiener dogs! :)

Monday Happenings

The kids and I kinda slept-in this morning...that equates to waking up anytime after 7:30am. Got some chores done around the house-laundry, tidying, toilet scrubbing, etc--the fun stuff!? Then we had swim lessons after lunch. Our son swims first, and then our daughter swims in the next lesson. Well...our son finished his lesson today and then we heard thunder. You know what that means???? Let me spell it out for you...a S----A----D, S----A----D girl. Swimming for brother and no swimming for sister equals (let me repeat) a S----A----D, S----A----D girl!!! So...how did I get her outta there? Well, the way any mommy of a girly-girl would do it...promise to paint her toe nails as soon as we arrive home. She designed her own pattern with the new polish she recently picked out--check them out (kinda a fuzzy pic):

Tonight was our second night of VBS. Hubby and I are in charge of the Drive-In each night showing short videos and leading discussions. I took this opportunity in the swamp to take pics of our daughter in the Super-Cute new outfit that her Nana made her-striped capris and a cherry top--LOVE it!

Check her out shaking it here in her new threads:

Thanks Nana-you're awesome!
Here's a photo of her and her Daddy...could he ever deny her--NO WAY!
Hubby got a pic of me and the kids too:

Well--tomorrow--we'll do it all over again--swim (hold the thunder) and VBS.

This one's for JB

Everyone in Hubby's family has an initial name. Hubby's brother is JB, his sister is T, and he is B. So lately I've heard Hubby calling our son by his first and last initial...wondering if that will stick. Anyway...I digress...this post is for Hubby's brother because he's a TCU Purple & White Horn Frog. So here's why this post is dedicated to JB...in my 17 1/2 years of knowing Hubby I have NEVER seen him wear purple (even to support his brother's Alma mater) UNTIL tonight. We are both volunteering at the kids' Vacation Bible School, and the t-shirts for the volunteers are PURPLE. So JB, maybe he's ready for a purple TCU shirt for football season!
I'm so sad that my camera didn't pick up the true "purplish tone" of the shirts. It was much, much more purple than it's showing up here. Shocking-truly not used to it.

How to cool off on a hot day

This afternoon our thermometer read 98 degrees. Yuck! So how do you cool off down South? Our son tried some relaxation techniques--I'm not kidding...I look over and see him in this position below with his hands and everything. I was like....where did you see that????? He told me it was on Phineas and Ferb--educational.

Our son couldn't wait to take his shirt off in the yard to cool off (because Daddy had his shirt off working in the backyard). So of course...we had to go through the whole "girls-don't-take-their-shirts-off-outside discussion" with our daughter. So here she is in her tank top and shorts trying to beat the heat. She's wearing her "Mrs. Beasley" glasses as her E likes to call them. Look at her here posing...what's up with that 4-year-old?

Here our son thought I was taking his picture...Cool Dude didn't know I was doing a video.

Here's a video of the kids right after they filled up the truck with water from the hose...then off again.

Hope you're staying cool!

"I'll be the Mommy tonight"

Today was a busy summer day! Hubby was off work today...so he joined the fun. We started the day by going to see Kung Fu Panda at the free movie. Next was swimming lessons this afternoon. Then from 5-7, the kids went to a birthday party at Pump It Up. I was trying to decide if all of us would go to the party or if Hubby would take the kids while I got a few things done around the house. Well, our 4-year-old daughter heard Hubby and I talking about the decision, and she said to me..."You stay home...I'll be the Mommy tonight. I've got my purse." Well...you don't have to tell me twice. I stayed home, and off they went--Hubby, son, and the mini-Mommy!

Questions

Question #1 How did our daughter go from healthy to strep throat in one night? She went to bed healthy, and woke up at 2:30am with a fever. I checked her throat this morning-red, puffy, yucky breath! Yep--I think it's strep. I took her to the doctor this morning, and...it is in fact strep throat. No fun!

Question #2 What was that noise? I heard a loud noise in our laundry room this morning. Didn't see anything unusual when I went to check, but later I found the culprit:

It was an ice-cold DDP that exploded in our mini-fridge. Wow-what a mess! Interesting how the top of the can actually "blew off."

Question #3 How did I do that? Yesterday I thought I'd try a new workout DVD. I ended up with a sore neck--I knew I wasn't doing those side crunches correctly! After 4 Advil this morning...I'm starting to turn my head again!

A fun, unique BD party

Last night we went to a fun, unique birthday party for a 5 year old friend. He had his party at Atlanta Motor Speedway for Thursday Night Thunder. I've lived in Georgia my whole life, but I've never experienced Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The party started with tailgating in the parking lot with pizza, cupcakes, ice cream, and juice. I'm thinking that lot doesn't see much juice or cupcakes when there's a NASCAR race there! The kids had fun eating, running, playing, and watching the BD boy open his presents.
Then we went to watch the races and to have the full experience of being with the people of the speedway. Interesting. The tickets were general admission, and we sat right at the start/finish line. The kids liked standing down near the fence to watch.

I won't attempt to explain the types of cars that were racing, but I was amazed that some of the racers were 8 years old...and many traveled from out of state to race. Here's one that had to be towed off because of a wreck. Our son loved this wrecker with a "hook."

There was a threat of rain with lightening in the near distance, but it blew over leaving this pretty cloud peaking through.

Here's our girl drinking her $2 can of Sprite!

Here's the kids with "Monkey Wrench." They loved that guy!

The kids got to go on the track to a grassy area for a race for Candy & Coins at intermission. Here's a pic of them on the track with their loot.

When we left, everyone was so thirsty...so we planned to stop and get drinks. On the way there, our daughter said she threw up! Not sure what happened...she was eating a Now-and-Later, she was hot and full of pizza, cupcake, and ice cream...who knows??? Yuck-so we had to go to Wal-mart for drinks, snacks, and a new dress! I changed her in the bathroom and her Daddy and I said "Whoooooooooo-Whoooooooooooo!" She told us..."I know you like it, but you just have to calm down!" Oh me...that girl!!!

Selecting THE picture

I mentioned in an earlier post that we went to Athens to have family pictures made. The main reason we went was for a portrait of our son in
Kindergarten. Since I'm a K teacher, I want to have portraits of our children in K. Well...I've been thinking and thinking about how I wanted to capture this portrait. I have a snapshot from the fall that I thought would be great as a pencil drawing. I also looked into a pastel or an oil portrait. Then a friend recommended a photographer who is a family friend of her husband. He works out of Athens, and he has reasonable rates. So that's what we did, and we couldn't be more pleased! So if you need a photographer, dear reader, check out Blane Marable at http://www.blanemarable.com/.

Here are my top 4 pictures of our son that I was thinking about to enlarge
from the shoot...

#1 I call this one his "model pose." It's a great pic, but does it showcase him and his true personality? I really, really love it, but I'm not sure if it's the one.

#2 I call this one the full-length shot. Love it because it is a "full-length" shot. Our son likes this one because of the fence and he said he likes his feet being included in the picture???? Still...don't think it's the one.

#3 Close-up looking off (who-knows-where)...this one is kinda looking up to him...love it, but not the one.

#4...Ok...I think this is THE ONE...like how his personality is coming through in this pic...like how his body is not straight at camera..but his face and smile are--he seems to be looking right at you...like how his hands are in his pockets....like how it's soooooooooo green around him...like how you can see his teeth--he hasn't lost any yet! Yes...I think this is THE one!

What do you think?

Now...just have to finalize the size and a frame. I'm thinking we'll buy 2 of the exact same frames. Then when our daughter is in K...all we have to do is contact Blane for a photo session...and the frame will be waiting (won't have to run around hoping I can get the same frame again to match her brother's)! Stay tuned...hope to have it framed and hung soon!

Oh...I also used one of our pics as my new profile pic! Love it!

Football Camp

This week our son is in 3-day football camp at his school. It is for upcoming 1st-5th grade boys. Today I took him to camp, and then worked some in my classroom. Our daughter came with me and "helped."

Here he is arriving at camp this morning getting in line with his ball to begin warm-up drills. He was showing us his drills last night in the store! Notice his nice, neat hair.

Here's our daughter "helping" in my classroom! She loves puzzles...so this one kept her busy while I did a few things.

Here she is helping the boys by filling water cups for them. She LOVED this job!

Post-water-filling walking on the sideline-"tightrope" line.

Here goes all her hard work--on her brother's shirt!

Post-camp hair!

The boys with their camp footballs.

Tomorrow is the last day of camp. They get to "play" in the real stadium and take pictures! BTW...Football Camp wears a boy out...he was ready for a nap today!

Our 10 Year Wedding Anniversary

Bermuda, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Callaway Gardens...what do all of these places have in common...they are all places we considered going for our 10 Year Wedding Anniversay Trip. Well...with the economy...we decided on Callaway Gardens!! We spent two nights there...one night "roughing it" and one night in more luxury.

Below is the place we stayed the first night. I'll spare you a picture of the inside! It really wasn't bad, but it was nothing fancy! The reason we booked a night there is because this place had a deal which included: 2 hours of bike rentals, 2 hours of boat/canoe rentals, free admission to the gardens, one free round of golf, one hour of tennis, and use of the fitness center.

Hubby and I got married in 1999, but we started dating in 1992. This trip was fun because I don't think we've ever riden bikes together and I know we've never canoed together. So...we tried new things together!

We had the best time on the lake searching for turtles. They are more clever than you'd think...as soon as we approached...they'd stop sunning and start swimming:

Below is a pic of the inside of our room for the second night--much nicer!! Twice the price of the first night...this room rate included a nice breakfast.

We saw lots of nature, and spent lots of time outdoors.



We also got some neat ideas.

Using broken pots for labels for plants:

Creating a fun rain barrel:

Making a living picture frame:

Here are some fun things we saw that made us think of others:
E--we saw elephant ears!

How about planting our own pumpkins hoping to save some cash on pumpkins in the fall? Nana and Papa--is it too late to add pumpkins to your garden??

Megan--we saw these weiner dogs for sale at the gift shop at the Bulloch House in Warm Springs!

We ate good at the Bulloch House...fried chicken! They also had 2 items we usally don't see--fried fat back--I'm not even kidding!!! and also fried quail---the poor things with their whole-little-selves all fried up like that! Here's Hubby after dinner...

I had a houseplant like this one (so pretty, varegated on top of leaves, purple on the bottom of the leaves) around the time we got engaged:

Thank you so, so much to our family for helping with the kids while we were away!! You are appreciated!