Another Cool Thing...

You can see Hadley and Layton playing on the video games in the background of this photograph. This is a partial view of the ginormous playground at the orthodontist's office. It makes it so much easier to take them all with me when I know they'll be occupied.

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While Ella Was At The Orthodontist...

Hadley and Layton played video games in the play room while Ella was having work done on her mouth. She will have to have a new appliance for a few months. :( It's worth it though; she doesn't suck her thumb anymore.

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What To Do After a Workout...

Take the children for a dip in the gym pool of course!! It's great to let them swim and play during the winter months. They absolutely love it!!

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Find Joy In Everything...

My life has been wonderful. I have been blessed with far more goodness than I deserve. I have chosen to keep my blog upbeat.

I have three beautiful children.

I have a husband who loves me more than anything else on the world.

I have an education.

I have a home and a car.

I have a truly splendid existence.

Sorry, that makes it sound like I am bragging. That is not the purpose of this post. The purpose is make a few truths known about me.

I have experienced loss.

I have experienced tragedy.

I have been victimized.

I have been afraid.

I have survived.


None of these things makes my life any less blessed. None of these things makes me look back on my life and not think of it as wonderful. I am a "glass half full" person. Sometimes God has asked me to walk a path that I didn't want to walk. I walked it anyway. I didn't ask...WHY ME???...even though I wanted to. The "why" is not important. How I pick myself up and keep going is the important part. Faith. Faith keeps me going.

I have chosen to keep my blog upbeat. Sure, sometimes I want to have an all out cuss fit. Then I remind myself that having a cuss fit on my blog won't make things any better. Describing every negative aspect of my life won't make it any better.

I have chosen to keep my blog upbeat. Sure, sometimes I want to wallow in self pity because of something that happened a decade ago. Then I remind myself that the past is over and done. Maybe I will never get over certain things that have happened, but I have learned to get past it.

I have chosen to keep my blog upbeat.

Another Quote I Love...

A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.

~Oscar Wilde

Retreat...

If you were going to go on a retreat, wouldn't this place be great?

Well, this is where the recent young women's ministry retreat I attended was. Everyone had a great time!

My Dirty Affair...

Confession time. I am having an affair with my vacuum cleaner. Can you blame me?



He has a schedule.
He can be told to start his job early.
He doesn't complain when I ask him to clean extra rooms.
He goes back to his home base when he's done.
How did I survive without him?

Weekend Review...

7 - The number of hours I spent doing laundry this past weekend.

6 - The number of children in my house Saturday morning.

5 - The number of people in my nuclear family.

4 - The number of Krystal burgers Davis ate.

3 - The number of times one child hit another child with a Wii remote.

2 - The number of times a child wanted me to cook something while I was in the shower.

1 - The number of dental emergencies.

0 - The number of times I wasn't happy with my weekend.

Overall, it was a blessed weekend! I got to spend time with friends Friday night. I got to babysit Davis on Saturday. If it's okay with his mama, I have a couple of pictures of him that I am dying to blog about!!! I helped with laundry Saturday night for a family that needed it. I made an AWESOME supper last night. I'm not much of a cook, but even I have to admit that last night's meal turned out really well. Even Hadley ate it without complaining. And, my new boyfriend (Roomba) got the floors all nice and clean. That's right. I have officially fallen in love with my Roomba. My mother-in-law and father-in-law gave it to me for Christmas. Last night, I told them that I loved my Roomba more than I love their son. That was extreme. I had to do some serious apologizing to the hubs after that. :) He forgave me though. 'Cuz if he didn't, he wouldn't have any clean socks today. I'm passive aggressive like that. :)

I Love Crabs...

Crab tastes yummy!! Some of the best crab I have ever eaten was in San Francisco last year. We bought it at Fisherman's Wharf at this restaurant.



There was no seating. You order your crab which is cooked in front of you and placed in a paper basket of sorts. You also get lemon with it.



This is my crab in my lap. Yum.

I Was Happy Until You Took My Camera Away...

Just Because He Is So Cute...

Ella's Photographic Journey Continues...

Ella has continued to use her camera at an alarming rate. Everyday she takes more and more pictures. I have included a few recent photos for your viewing pleasure.

Self Portrait. Again.



She made Hadley smile.



She even got her ugly mother in on the photography.

Alexander Supertramp...

Christopher McCandless wandered into the Alaskan wilderness without a compass, map, or enough food to sustain his life. He died in 1992 presumably of starvation.

Sean Penn directed a movie about Christopher's life and death a couple of years ago. I would recommend watching Into the Wild. It's not an easy view. It's not something that will give you the warm fuzzies. It will provoke thought though.

He's Got Legs...

I was perusing the Internet. I saw this photo of Conan. I realized that his legs are longer than I am tall. Maybe not. But it's close...I am a hobbit.

Chesley...

This is my younger sister. I call her KK. We have always called her KK. This is her youngest daughter. Her name is Chesley. Pronounce it like the game plus leigh...Chess-Leigh. Cool? I don't call her that though. I call her Cheese Wee. That's how Layton pronounced her name for the longest time, and it just stuck with me.

The hubs chased her all over my mother's house when we celebrated Christmas. He was trying to get a good photo of her, but she wasn't having it. This is one of the few pictures of her we did get. Isn't she a doll?!!?!?!?!?!!?!

Sleepy Ella...

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The Nixon Pose Returns...

Well. He is still making his Nixon pose when I pull out the camera. This was in the car on the way to get Hadley one day. It was just so cute!!

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Before the Fro Was Gone...

This photo was just too cute not to share. Notice that my niece Charsy looks like she is ready to fight.

Just Another Random Day...

With Ella...



And Layton...




And Hadley...

E. Ro. - Self Portrait Style...

Ella loves to take pictures. She wanted a camera for Christmas really, really bad. So, she got a camera for Christmas.

I was checking her memory card when I realized what she is photographing. Herself.

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



Exhibit C:




Exhibit D:

A variety of hairstyles, outfits, and locations...

Snow Shuts Down The South...

I live in Alabama. The South. It's not really cold here. In the summer the heat can be oppressive. It's been decades since we last had a big snow. No really, decades.

Our city has no plows. There isn't a lot of salt hanging around the stores either. We are not prepared for snow.

We recently got a little bit of snow. Not much. But enough that schools closed and roads closed.


Layton threw snowballs at the wall and the tree.




He looked precious in his hat.



He ran through the front yard layered in clothes and pajamas.

He made snowballs and had a blast.

Facebook Games...

These are my girls. Yes, one is half dressed, but I do not consider this to be a pornographic picture.


They love those silly games on Facebook. Fishville or Petville or something like that...

The hubs and I established a facebook account for them to use...purely for the games. Obviously, we have the password and it is super locked down. Jay gets on it and feeds their fish or sells them or something. Since I don't have a facebook account, I have absolutely no clue what any of it is about.

I am dying to know. How many of you don't use Facebook? Even my mother is on Facebook; therefore, it is safe to assume that I am in an incredibly small portion of the population that doesn't use it. We're talking so small that standard deviations and p values cannot describe my value.

Holy cow! I think I just had a seizure!! Oh wait, that was just my brain responding to the use of the words "standard deviation." Flashback to Stats.....

Caulk Professionals...I Salute You...

This is an old picture of the children in my tub. I blogged about it earlier in the year.



Clearly, the children have enjoyed the big tub with jets...a lot. So, I decided that it was time to freshen the caulk in order to prevent disaster down the road.

To the men and women who caulk for a living, I salute you!!

It turned out beautifully. So fresh. So clean. So not easy. I could not caulk for a living. It would suck the life out of me. The hubs however seems to think I have found my true calling. He mentioned that he was glad I finally found something I am good at. I then asked him if he liked living. :)

Sweet Super Sleep....

The other night I walked in the bedroom to find my sweet boy had fallen asleep on my coat on my bed.




Oh, he's so precious...

Another Quote I Actually Like...

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."--Abraham Lincoln



The last sentence is something that appeals to me more than the others. I tell it to my children all the time when they scream for me to come brush their teeth or clean their rooms or get them a cup of water.......I tell them, it's not my job to do everything for you. It's my job to teach you to do everything for yourself. Realistically, that's the ultimate goal of being a parent.

Things You Do When No One Is Looking...

As I sat in front of my computer one morning, I was all alone. The children were not awake. The hubs had gone to work. There was a strange quietness in my den...until I farted really loud. No, seriously, I did. I was taken aback by the loudness of it, and I kind of giggled about it. That's when it occurred to me; I would never do that in front of ANYONE! Why would I let it rip when I'm alone? Light bulb moment. We all do things when we are alone that we would NEVER do in front of anyone else. Not even a spouse.








So, without further ado.....things I do when I'm alone...








1. Walk around the house with no pants on. Ewww, gross! Just the pants pervert! Of course I wear underwear!





2. Stay in my pajamas until it's time to pick up the children from school. Then, I don't even take a real shower...I wash my hair in the sink and put on makeup to make it seem as though I actually got dressed on a day when I had no where to go.





3. Fart. Out. Loud. Stop it...you know you do it too. You're just not admitting to it on the interwebs like me.





4. Dance. That's right. I will turn the radio up as loud as it will go and get all risky business in my kitchen while unloading the dishwasher. If you paid attention to the aforementioned items, you already know that I don't wear pants, so I imagine I look really silly.





5. Watch Lifetime Movie Network like it's my only chance for survival. It almost makes me crazy enough to fake a pregnancy, amnesia, cheat on my spouse with his boss, seduce a young neighbor, and drive really fast. Okay, so I don't go that crazy, but it absolutely sucks me in. Every time.



What are some things that you do when you are alone? Things you'd never do in front of anyone?


And be sure to check back later this week for a really fun give away!

Monkey George...

Layton loves Curious George. He also loves stuffed monkeys for toys!!! This is one of his favorite monkeys. He is called Monkey George. Monkey George went with us to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital one day. He was so lucky to have his own ID around his neck!

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World's Crappiest Photo...World's Crappiest Bowlers...

Yes, this is a terrible photo. Deal with it.

I took the children bowling the other night. Well, actually, I only took two of the children bowling. Ella and Layton. Their combined score was 87. I let them bowl for me too. Each child would get one roll per frame. They did a lot better together than apart. They scored a 52 for me.

Classy...Except for This is My Bed...

Layton's haircut looks really cute! He's such a sweet boy. He had on an outfit yesterday that made him look....oh...there are no words....



The oxford cloth striped shirt...
The corduroy pants...
The sweater...


What a Boy!!!

The Blonde Fro Is Gone...

I love my little boy's curls. They are beautiful. It was time for a trim though. When the nice girl at the salon wet his hair and combed it out straight, I was shocked by the length of it. It was as long as girl hair...except he's a boy with really, really curly hair.

The curls started to come off, and he started to look more boyish.

More pictures to come...

Santa Said Knock You Out...

This is one of the three piles of trash we accumulated in one day. Christmas Day.

I stayed up really late on Christmas Eve...or early on Christmas morning...whatever you want to call it. VH1 was showing the 100 greatest songs of the 90s. It was so much fun to watch.

This trash, on the other hand, is not fun to watch.