Swiper, No Swiping

Today I had to run into a store to pick up Ayden Claire's Easter dress that was being monogrammed. It's one of those boutiue-y type stores where t-shirts are $30 and kids knit outfits are $60. But they monogram- quickly. And I was low on time. So, Ayden Claire and I get the dress and head out the door. Ayden Claire is ahead of me squeaking right along in her shoes. About 6 or 7 steps out the door I realize she has a shoe in each of her hands! Flip flops to be exact, but not just ANY pair of flip flops. She's got huge, bulky, leather, wedged, EXPENSIVE flip flops and she's excited about having them! Of course, we turned back and took them back in and set them back on the floor where she had swiped them from. What can I say? That girl loves shoes!

Finally Friday

It's been a LONG week and I am past being ready for some sunshine and dry weather! Today's forecast along with tomorrows look promising, thank God. This week couldn't have drug by any slower if it tried. Now that I can get out and about without a boat I've got to finish getting ready for Easter. We have dresses but the Bunny needs to do some work on the baskets.
The highlight of my week was registering Anniston for Kindergarten. We got there extra early to get in line and I was the first person in line for Kindergarten requests. The lady in front of me was requesting for 1st grade. After much thought, I decided to go with Mr. Hodum once again. The man is an amazing teacher and tons of fun. And Alyssa did actually learn to read when she had him despite the condition of his room. I have never seen so much STUFF in a classroom. He is really unique and the kids just love him. Hopefully she will have a good class and enjoy kindergarten as much as Alyssa. I'm excited for her because I know it's time and school will be good for her. I am sure I'll be a little sad sending her off next year. But I know she will be in excellent hands. Alyssa's three years at Coosada have been nothing but wonderful. They have loved her and she has learned so much and has had superb teachers. I can't sing their praises enough- we love CES!
Alyssa had her first softball game last Saturday and played catcher and outfield. She did great! She's really working hard on her pitching- she wants to pitch so bad! She went to a lesson Tuesday after school and worked one on one with a girl who showed her some warm ups and techniques. My neighbor who coaches a high school team said he would work with her, too. She loves practicing pitching with her dad. It's all she does from the time she gets home and finishes homework until supper. So we'll see. I'll let you know when she gets to pitch in an actual game and how it goes.
Ayden Claire is (for the most part) sweet as ever. She talking much more! Hopefully her latest ear infections are gone since we finished the antibiotic. She's no longer on strike from eating, so that's good! She's such a little sweetie. I could just eat her up! I am constantly kissing her chubby cheeks- they are my favorite and since she's still little, she doesn't object to all the smooches!
Well, that's our life for the moment. Living at the ballpark and trying not to drown in all this rain. I still plan to blog about our Disney vacation- soon, I hope!

Dannit and Broken Pinkie

I had planned to blog about our Disney trip but I had to write about a couple of funny incidents from my day- both involving our blond, witty, stubborn, second child Anniston. First, we were on our way to run errands and I decided to swing in Walgreen's and check the Red Box for Seven Pounds. (The Red Box is a big Coke machine that dispenses movies and I think its one of the greatest concepts to date and Seven Pounds is a Will Smith movie that was released today and I really like Will Smith movies. Lets face it, he was basically the only actor in I Am Legend and who can hold a two hour movie by themselves? Besides Tom Hanks?) Anyway, Anniston asked if she and Alyssa could watch the movie. I told her no, it wasn't a movie kids could watch.

"Why? Is it scary?" she asked.

"No, not really...I don't think." Knowing she would need a REASON why she couldn't watch it I added, "I think it has bad words in it."

"Well, I don't say bad words. But my friend E. does." Ratting out her friend....

"Oh...." I figure she is referring to the words "Stupid", or even worse..."Butt" or (gasp) "Fart"- all BAD words at our house...

"He does say bad words. When he messes up his pictures he says bad words." She was throwing him under the bus...

"Well, what does he say? Stupid?" I'm kind of curious now. Obviously she is in awe that he is cool enough to say "bad" words....

"No! He says a BAD word..."

"Well, I tell you what...you come whisper in my ear what he says but we won't say it ever again, okay?" Because I really want to know what this WORD is!!!

Anniston hesitated long enough to make sure I was seriously going to ALLOW her to say a bad word. Then she whispered in my ear, "When he messes up his picture he says 'Dannit'."

"Oh!" Not exactly the word "butt" I was expecting! "Well, that's not nice to say so lets make sure we don't use that word...."

She assured me she wouldn't. And I believe her. For now. There will come a day I'm sure where my innocent Anniston will let a real "bad" word fly. I may or may not be close enough to hear it. She's human. I just hope it isn't in Sunday School...

I think next time I walk into a door facing and almost break 3 toes I'll scream, "Dannit" just for the fun of it!


And now on to more serious business-and please don't report me for this blog or I'll delete it so it can't be used against me. Anniston has become- well, to put it bluntly- quite bratty since turning 5. I don't know if she got too much royal treatment in Disney or if she feels more important now that she is a year older. Either way, she's been extremely demanding and impatient lately. So I have been doing what any good Southern mother would do- spanking her bottom (yes, that's "bottom", not "butt"). Well, today when she went into complete meltdown mode because whatever she wanted didn't happen immediately, I went to swat her backside with my palm. She put her hand in protective mode on her rear with her fingers pointing out so when I spanked her I hit one of her fingers first. Of course it was the pinkie. I knew when it happened it probably hurt (now, let me clarify, I wasn't spanking her hard at ALL, just getting her attention and trying to halt the whiny fit she was on the verge of having). She stopped the tantrum but the tears turned real and she said "You hurt my finger." Yes, crap Mom- that's how I felt. I looked at it and it looked a little red. I didn't let her see my guilt though. I said, "Well, if you're going to throw a fit you are going to be spanked and I wouldn't but my hand back there if I were you." Although I really wanted to beg for her forgiveness. What kind of mom breaks their kids fingers?! I convinced myself it was crooked and broken and they would of course take all my children once we took Anniston to the ER and told them how her pinkie was broken. About that time Wes walked in and gave it a moments glance and said, "It's fine." Whew! We get to keep them another day! Then our friends from Georgia got here and the kids were running around playing and Anniston fell and hurt her fingers. I hope it isn't broken....

Loss

As I am sitting here, a family from Anniston's preschool is making arrangements to bury their 19 month old son, Cooper. My heart aches for his parents and his big sister. Please say a prayer for this family. Cooper had been sick for a while but I don't think you could ever prepare for the loss of your child. Pray they are comforted somehow through this and pray for little Kennedy as she says goodbye to her brother. And then go hug your children super-dooper tight like I'm going to!

Priceless

8 nights/8 days Disney World vacation package for family of 5- $2000
4 new tires and an oil change to get us to Orlando safely- $664.85
Seeing 3 girls faces as they enter the Magic Kingdom- Priceless

I'll post pictures when we get home! Until then, we'll be at the most magical place on Earth celebrating Annistons 5th birthday- Walt Disney World!

(Little) Lady in Red

I was at Belk one day and found the most beautiful red nightgown on a clearance rack for Anniston. It just screamed out "Anniston"! However, she has a pajama drawer that nearly explodes every time its opened already and I really knew we didn't need another gown, even though it was originally $42 (I know, who in their right mind buys a $42 gown for a 4 year old???) and was marked down to $12. I'm pretty cheap- thrifty, tightwad, budget wise- and I reluctantly put the gown back and moved on. Fast forward a few weeks and I'm browsing through Belk's clearance racks once again. Everything is an ADDITIONAL 50% off. And then I see Anniston's red gown. Because now it's only $6 and that I will do. I knew she'd be excited but I had no idea. She was wearing it by 3:00 pm the day I gave it to her and we had trouble getting her out of it the next day. She absolutely LOVES her red gown. She'll put it on and say, "I love my new gown, Mommy." Maybe it would have been worth the original price of $42 after all. It makes her feel beautiful and special and loved and girly. She twirls in it and pauses in front of mirrors or glass doors to catch glimpses of herself in her red gown. I'm afraid she is going to be a little "high maintenance" and feel for her future husband! :) But, that's okay, too. She appreciates the "beautiful" things in life. Maybe we all need a red nightgown...

Snow Day

For the second time in Alyssa's life and the first time for Anniston and Ayden Claire, it snowed at our house! The girls wanted to see snow last year so bad- we planned a Gatlinburg trip and it was supposed to snow the weekend we were there. We were stoked! Our first stop in Gatlinburg was to Wal-Mart for sleds because we were ready for snow. We woke up Saturday morning and Wes said, "Hey sweetie, guess where the snow went? Montgomery, Alabama." No snow in Gatlinburg, nope our neighbors were out playing and building snowmen back in Millbrook though! So, our last stop in Gatlinburg was Wal-Mart to return the unused sleds- me and 211 other people getting refunds before leaving town. But this year, we were home to play in our snow! And play we did. We had a blast- a freezing cold blast. I would dare say we almost had 4 inches in spots. It was gone as quickly as it came- it melted away by 3:00 or 4:00 and it should be back up to 70 Thursday. Thank God. I enjoyed a few hours of it but thats really all I need every few years. I'll take Spring now, please.

I am 30!

I'm also a little bit behind...maybe that's due to the fact I am now 30! Turning 30, honestly, did not really bother me like I thought it may. I had some of the best events of my life happen in my 20's- I married my soul mate and best friend and together we had 3 healthy beautiful children. What more could I ask for and how could I complain about turning 30? I once heard the saying, "Having birthdays beats the alternative." I couldn't agree more! I'm so thankful for every day much less year I get to raise my daughters and watch them grow. Now that doesn't mean I don't wish I had a few less wrinkles or flab- but that's a very small price I'm willing to pay!
We celebrated my birthday the Saturday before. Kendra, David, Jill and Josh came down that morning and we spent the day doing fun girly stuff. A little shopping, McAlister's (which I used to love but the one in Prattville is absolutely horrible and I'll never go back!), and we went to Palm Beach Tan and got our spray tans on- us girls of course, the guys had the kids!


We all along with my mom went to eat dinner at Beef O'Brady's and then the adults had planned to meet some friends at Mulligan's- an "older", "mature", 80's type bar. Little did I know that my sisters had rented a LIMO to take us there and bring us home! I was shocked! Talk about arriving in style...


We let Alyssa and Anniston go for a ride through the neighborhood with us and that made their night! They loved it! Then we headed to Mulligan's where a group of our friends were.

We sat and talked (yelled) over the music and had a little (lot) to drink. I had some Rum and Diet Coke which led me to believe I could dance and I danced the night away! It was a lot of fun!



So, overall turning 30 was quite fun and I recommend everyone do it at least once. Thanks to my husband and sisters and brothers in law and mom and friends for helping me celebrate 30 wonderful years of life! I love you all!


"Be grateful to have been given one more day, let alone one more year. Remember to dance in your nightgown, sing in the shower, ride a bike, fly a kite, and take an occasional "wind bath" in your bare skin. Give those you love big kisses, huge hugs, and the words "I love you" often and always. Nurture your body rather than starve your soul with fad dieting. Spend time with the old and the weary to better appreciate your life. On your birthday, call your mother and father wherever they are to thank them for all they have done for you, even if you think they haven't done enough. Remember that you are not guaranteed tomorrow and that today is as good as it gets. Thank God for every "thing", every "day", every moment."

Bad Children

While watching the begining of Supernanny tonight, Anniston was obvisouly astounded by the unruly/wild/horrible children! She said, and I quote, "Those are bad bad children- more than us!" Too funny! I'll honestly tell you my kids have their moments but they aren't in need of Supernanny- yet. But the tween years are right around the corner...

Ditch Doctor Wes Doesn't Do Puke

My husband told me last night on the phone that he "admired" me. Not because I found cancer's cure or wrote a bestseller or entrepreneured a big business. Because I'd cleaned up more puke than anyone should have to ever clean up the past week. Wow- and he "admired" that! I mean, that's definitely a pretty low job on the totem pole...maybe right above or below scrubbing the toilets at a fast food joint or gas station. Probably right there with one another. You see, he is a Ditch Doctor- a term he used the other night to describe what he does. He responds to emergency calls and helps bring people back from (almost) dead and keeps them alive until delivering them to a waiting doctor. He has seen more than I care to imagine- death, wrecks, mangled and broken bodies, open wounds, heart attacks, seizures, and I'm sure he could give you more details. Details I do not care to hear or think about at all! He flies with the worst of the worst patients on LifeFlight and puts himself at risk to get them where they need to be- quickly. I think all the admiration falls on him. But he appreciates (and even admires!) the fact that I stay home and run the daily household business which includes our 3 girls and whatever comes with that. Which this past week included puke. Lots of puke. And puke is one thing he "just can't handle". Go figure....