Sunday, August 29, 2010

Acting Class

Since 10:30 or so, Britney and Cody have been in Brit's room. She's giving him acting lessons. They've been LOUD and silly and have been running through the house and having a wonderful time. They've acted out two skits for me. Man, my kids are funny.

They were laughing and running back to Brit's room and I said

G - "It's 11 o'clock. It's almost time to settle down."

B - "But it's acting class."

G - "Why does acting class need to be at 11 o'clock at night?"

B - " Because that's when you're crazy enough to enter your inner awesomeness!"


LOL! That kid.

Friday, August 27, 2010

This is for Gretta!

Cody's newest pajama pants:) GO BAMA!


He LOVES them!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Pepper's going home - UPDATE

Esther found Pepper's owner. I will be meeting the couple today to give Pepper back. I have mixed emotions. She's really sweet and cute, but I don't know if her cuteness can outshine her spastic nature. Lord, that dog is hyper.

Thank you, Esther for helping us out!


*UPDATE*

We just got home from meeting Pepper's, I mean Blue's, other momma. I think we should have kept her! I know she is a spastic little puppy, but man I miss her already. Cody is sad too, which doesn't make it any easier. I'm also convinced she would have had a better life with us. :(

New Jammie Pants

Most of Cody's pajama pants look more like capris. It's definitely time for some new ones! I made these for him this evening. He doesn't like them because they are plaid. Punk. :)~

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

glub...glub...

We were suppose to be going on a field trip to the Golden Flake factory today, but...well, that's just another post. Heather was kind enough to invite everyone over today to hang out and swim instead.

Look how cute these babies are!

Cody's in love with this one. Don't tell Bobby, but I am, too!
Awwww!

We ate lunch and chatted for a while. Then it was time to jump in!




We had a fantastic time! Thanks Heather!

We came home with one less kid. I'm sure she's having a blast with Chan tonight! See you guys tomorrow!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Birthday Round 4

The mailman, um...woman finally showed up this afternoon. She was several hours late! Britney got a gift card from our cousins, Cathy and Rick. Thanks guys!

Right after we got the mail, Mr. Fed Ex pulled up with our birthday present to Britney. She now has her very own cell phone. Talk about a happy girl!

Birthday Round 3

Dad came over yesterday to celebrate Britney's birthday. We ate prime rib, mashed potatoes and salad...yummo! And of course cake!

Dad brought us each harmonicas! They had bought them years ago and he ran across them the other day. Cody LOVES his! Thanks Dad!

Me and my boy

Britney and Cody with their Grandpa George

Me and my Daddy

Birthday Round 2

After all the girls were with their mommas, we got cleaned up and went to lunch. Then we went to mom's house to pick up Britney's present.



She got a new guitar and case! She loves them!


We went home and Britney crashed. She had been awake for 29 1/2 hours!

We all took a little nap actually. Then Cody and I made her birthday cake.
PEEK A BOO!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Britney's Birthday ~ Round 1

Well, it happened. She's really 12 years old. In one year, my daughter will be a teenager. Sigh...

This is a card she got from our Aunt Cathy

It pulls out into this guitar and meows Happy Birthday:) TOO CUTE!

Pepper helped decorate for the birthday party. Thanks puppy.

Brit wanted a spend the night party with her best friends. They had so much fun! Pepper LOVED all of the attention. They even got Tango out for a while.

Conga! Conga! Conga!


She waited for Bobby to get home from work to open presents and eat cake. She got some wonderful presents! Thanks guys!


Cookie cake...Hmmm

I took Pepper outside around 11:15 and saw spot lights. Ooooo....aahhhhh. We HAD to find out what they were for. I loaded up all the kids and drove until we found the source...the midnight madness sale at the Toyota dealership. Well, that was disappointing. We had decided it was at the club and Keilee made jokes about me taking them clubbing. Not yet sweetie.

The girls, with one exception, stayed up ALL night. We had a blast! Thanks guys!!

Friday, August 20, 2010

12 years ago

at this very moment, I was having contractions. It was late afternoon before they were strong and regular enough to venture to the ER. I was in a room by 5:30 and had a relatively easy labor. Britney arrived on August 21, 1998 at 1:40 am. She weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was perfect. She was one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen. I know...all moms say that, but she really was. I don't remember hearing her cry, although I've been told she did. I remember seeing her for the first time. The nurse placed her on my chest. Britney was wide eyed and completely alert. She pushed herself up on her hands and looked around the room. She's been that curious ever since:)

Wow, 12 years. Of course I am sad that my little girl is growing up. I'm sad that we're getting her a cell phone for her birthday. That's what she REALLY wants. She doesn't want a My Little Pony. She doesn't even look through the toy aisles for herself anymore. I miss when she called me Mommy and played with my hair to fall asleep. I miss that little girl in pig tails singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Of course I'm sad to see how much time is passing us by, but mostly I'm proud. I'm proud of who Britney is and who she wants to be. I'm amazed by her appetite for life and learning. She loves God, her family and friends. She is kind, generous, compassionate, creative, has an incredible sense of humor, loves music, reading and writing and playing her guitar.

Britney is a wonderful person and I am incredibly proud to be her momma.

I love you sweet girl. Happy almost birthday:)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

LOVE this song!

I think I have a new favorite song. I've been listening to it all day in between vacuuming, steam cleaning and laundry.

One Republic ~ All The Right Moves


Go listen!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Pepper

Britney has nicknamed Pepper The Spazmanian Devil. Hmm...that should tell you something:) Oh, and I called her Hard Core Crazy. She gets a little excited and spastic occasionally just like any puppy does. She's actually fitting in quite nicely. We took her to the vet on Monday. She only weighs 23 pounds! She's SO tiny...compared to Logan. I'm used to big dogs, but I rather like having a smaller one. We're hoping to take her camping with us next time we go. Ah...camping. I miss you.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Day

We went to Cathy's today and had a great time chatting away the afternoon. We couldn't swim because of pool issues, so Cody got into the hot tub. It was so hot today, even he couldn't take more than a few minutes in there.


Britney's birthday is rapidly approaching. She'll be 12 on Saturday! Bobby has to work the rest of the week, so we took her out to dinner to celebrate a little early. After we ate, Bobby sang to her...quite loudly I might add. I think Britney tried to melt into the wall. When he finished, everyone in the restaurant clapped:)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Our New Addition

We got home from the birthday party and Britney and I gave the new kid a bath. She handled that pretty well.
Here she is all cleaned up.

She's an Australian Cattle Dog, and appears to be quite young. She's VERY friendly. I wish I had voice recordings of us trying to decide on a name for her. Sheesh! That was difficult. First she was Dingo, and then Bandit. We asked Cody what names he likes and I heard him say something about her spots and yelled COW! He also thought of Books A Million. I'm just not sure about that kid:) Right now, we've decided to call her Pepper. We'll see if it sticks.

Do you remember Pepper Ann on the Disney Channel? We loved that show! Ever since we picked the name Pepper, that theme song has been stuck in my head!

We bought her a new collar today. It's red and looks quite nice on her. We'll be taking her to the vet this week to get her shots and have her checked out.

Birthday Party!

We were invited to Sidney and Jessie's birthday party. It's always fun hanging out with the John's family! We had such a great time!

Jessie and Britney

Cody helped David play the viola. That kid LOVES making music. He wants a ukulele. Oh and an electric guitar.

We stayed after the party and had a wonderful time talking and laughing and just being together. I ate WAY too much!

We played this game called Snorta. Oh my...FUN! We have to buy that one!

Homeschool Swim, Sweet Doggie and a Meteor Shower

There was a homeschool swim at the Hartselle pool on Friday that we were excited to attend. It's been SO hot and Bobby hasn't gotten to swim at all this summer. We picked Kaitlin up and headed to Hartselle. Unfortunately, we were unable to swim because of bad weather :( We decided to go back home, so we could change clothes and then go to the store to load up on goodies to take to Esther's.

While we were in Walmart, Kaitlin started feeling puny, so we took her home. Hopefully she's feeling better now.

On our way to Esther's, we found a dog running around by the road. I know it's the country, but dang it people, keep your dogs put up so they won't get hit by a car. She's the sweetest little girl. We took her with us to Esther's to see if she'd ever seen her before. She hadn't. She said people dump their dogs out there all the time though. By then, she had worked her way into our hearts. She's just so sweet. She ran around with their dogs and played with the kids for hours.

Esther had planned for everyone to come out to their house to eat, hang out and watch the Perseid Meteor Shower Friday night. We had such an amazing time! There were 19 of us total and we talked and laughed for hours! Ah...SO much fun!



We went outside just before midnight, grabbed our blanket and pillows out of The Beast and watched the stars. It had been cloudy but the sky finally cleared off! We saw several meteors and Cody thought it was just the coolest thing ever. My back was hurting, so I had rolled over on my stomach for a minute and missed the best one of the evening. Oh well...there's always next year!

We got home from Esther's around 3:00 and I got a crate cleaned up and brought in the house for the new kid. After we went to bed, she barked and whined for a bit and then was quiet the rest of the morning.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Today

What a GREAT day! We slept a little late, which was nice since I haven't been sleeping well. We ate, got ready and headed to the library. Britney found the newest Charlie Bone book and literally danced with excitement! I am in awe of her love of reading. It just amazes me sometimes. Cody found a couple more Goosebumps he would like to read. He was pretty excited too!

We're learning about the Salem Witch Trials so we loaded up on books. I really do need to remember to bring in a bag with us next time. The Crucible and Salem Witch Trials should be coming in the mail tomorrow. I just love Netflix:)

After the library, we stopped at The Rose Garden at Delano. That lasted all of three minutes. It's freakin' hot outside!



Cathy invited to group over to swim today and we had a wonderful time...even though we didn't swim. I just couldn't today. Cody played the Playstation with Carson and Griffin, Britney and Kaitlin hung out in Kaitlin's room mostly, and the mommas talked and laughed. The girls ran in the kitchen at one point giggling like crazy and wanted to know if they could dye Britney's hair purple. Ah, sure...it's just hair....have fun.

We stayed late and ate dinner and dessert. Then we watched The Matrix. I had forgotten how much I liked that movie!



Cody REALLY wanted to go swimming. Next time, buddy. I promise.


Britney's purple hair! She LOVES it! It really does look awesome. Too bad it's temporary!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Separating Colors

When we went to the used book sale at CLC, Cody picked out a science experiment book. It's full of easy experiments that he seems semi interested in. He really wanted the book for the magnets chapter. That boy loves magnets!

I was flipping through the book this afternoon, and came across this experiment. We've done it before and it's SO easy...I mean little kid easy, but it's fun and makes something beautiful. I asked Cody if he'd like to try it out and he was game.


Take a paper towel and draw a dot of color with a marker.

We then placed the paper towels on top of glasses and dropped water onto the dot of color.


The ink separates as the water spreads, carrying the colors at different speeds.
Cody tried all the markers we could find and really liked watching the colors spread across the paper towels. He said his favorite is the rainbow one - Top center in the picture above :) My favorite is the orange explosion! So pretty!

Where we've been as a family