Fashion Advice

Can some one please give these kids some fashion advice! This is how they wanted to leave the house the other day. (notice the clothes hanging on the bowflex, you can tell we use it alot!)

Life jacket: check, Pants that are to short: check, Cowboy Boots: check, Playing like this all day outside for 6 hours looking for caterpillars: priceless!

A Whirlwind Saturday

So we started out our Saturday morning by being very tired and washing all the sheets in our house. Yes, Ryleigh and Tanner both had accidents in Ry's bed and our bed. About 3AM I was really missing my hotel bed in Birmingham! : )

We really had no plans for Saturday. We talked about going to the park and playing and running later but nothing set in stone. The reason why I said that is because we ended up doing the most random things on Saturday and none of it was planned!

Around 9:30 Ryan suggested going to Dauphin Island to the parades they were having. I agreed and we packed a picnic lunch and took the jogging stroller to go running afterward at the beach. 

On the way we stopped by Starbucks.

Because you can't even talk to these kids in the morning until they've had their coffee. 

We then set in traffic for 2 and a half hours to get on the island. It was insane!

We then enjoyed the parade from the best location. We were at the very beginning and stood behind this fence so we didn't have to worry about the kids running out. The parade was packed but there wasn't anyone near us. I guess they didn't want to stand behind the fence. 

What those people didn't know is that behind the fence is where the party's at! Ry and Tan caught 19 stuffed animals!! 19!! It seems like that's what everyone is after at parades and they just kept throwing them to us. For those of you who don't know how I feel about stuffed animals...I like them as much as I like waking up to feeling pee on me and washing sheets all morning on a Saturday!

When we got in the truck Ryleigh said "Momma please, please, please, please don't throw the stuffed animals away (I didn't even say anything about that she just knows my feelings to the stuffed toys that take up way to much space and serve no purpose) I love them all equally and would be so sad."

Like I said earlier we were in traffic forever going down there so Ryan decided that instead of sitting in traffic for hours trying to get off the island, he wanted us to take the ferry to Gulf Shores. So we ran to the truck afterward and raced to the ferry. We weren't the only ones with the idea but thankfully got on the first one out. 

So we rode the ferry to Gulf Shores. It was so windy so we stayed in the truck the whole time.

Once we were off the ferry and buckled back in, some of us decided to take a nap while still pledging our allegiance to the great country we live in. 

We decided to meet our friends Kris and Tina who were hanging out at the outlets, for lunch at Lambert's.

I know these next pictures aren't going to make much sense but Ryleigh and I walked in before Tanner and Ryan. When she saw these 2 statues she immediately wanted me to take her picture with them. 

Tanner came in a few minutes later and without knowing Ryleigh did it, wanted the exact same thing. That's their new thing, they want me to take their picture in front of everything and then they immediately want to see it. 

Cutie Pie Madison was at lunch, well I guess it was dinner. What's the meal called between the two? If it's like 4:00...Lupper??

We then went to the aquarium!

Really it was just the bass pro shop, but they don't know the difference. It was their idea to go by there. They love that place. (I feel the same way about that place as I do about stuffed animals!)

This is Tanner's newest obsession. IT'S ALL HE TALKS ABOUT!! "Mom my birthday is soon and I really want a hulk or spiderman 4-wheeler, really bad mom, really, really bad!!"

FYI: We are taking donations to buy him a 4-wheeler. Anybody want to donate? No? 

He's not going to be happy with you all!

And you'll be happy to know that this is the last picture. Ryleigh wanted us to buy this "Because it'll be perfect to drive to Aunt Lisa's mom, just perfect!"

Needless to say when we got home I was exhausted! We slept late and went to late church, we never go to late church. 

I would also like to applaud everyone who read this post that is entirely to long. You must really love our family and we love you to!

Twins

Lately everywhere we go we hear, "Those are the cutest twins!"

"Look at their outfits they are just darling!"
"They look just alike!"
To which we respond, "Thank you!"

I mean, who really wants to spend 10 minutes in Wal Mart explaining how we have 2 kids so close in age that look so much alike!

Big Buck!

Well maybe it wasn't a big buck but it was still a deer...Tanner's first deer!!

Sunday afternoon Ryan and Tanner went hunting at Aunt Lisa and Uncle Terry's...like in their backyard. I know, I'm sure there is some kind of redneck joke there! 

Ryleigh had a friend spend the night and they were in the bathtub when Ryan calls to tell me to get my camera and head over. So I got the out and we went to see the deer. 

Tanner was so proud of himself!!! He was so excited. Ryleigh and Carlee was so grossed out (and I was to) so we took a few pictures and went back home. 
Here he is with the deer's blood on his face. It's something that you have to do when you kill your first deer. He loved having the blood on his face. When he got home he was chasing the girls all around the house saying he was going to wipe it on them. 
Everyone has asked me if he really killed the deer...All I know is that I wasn't there and I've never seen him so happy, so I'm counting it as Tanner killed his first deer!

I love that little boy!

Birmingham

So I'm laying in a very comfortable hotel bed watching Grey's Anatomy and playing on the computer. I've been in Birmingham since Tuesday and I go home tomorrow. I've had a good week. I've eaten more food than you can imagine and completely blew my diet! I'll be up here again all next week. 

I really, really do miss the kids and Ryan. I didn't think I would but I do. I talked to them last night and here's how the conversations went:

Me: Ryleigh! I miss you so much!!

Ryleigh: I miss you to so so so much! Mom, why did you take the blow dryer?

M: Because I thought I would need it while I was in Birmingham.

R: Well I'm sure they have blow dryers at Birmingham mom. Now my hair is going to look bad for school!

Me: Hey Tan Man!!! I miss you so much!

Tanner: says nothing

Me: Tanner, do you miss me?

T: No mom, I just seen you da udder day. 

M: I know but I still miss you! 

T: Well mom, I can blow you a kiss frew da phone if you want me to. 

M: I would love that!!

(I typed it the way he said it. It was so cute!) 

I can't wait to get home and kiss their cute little faces over and over again!

Getting Lost

Around Christmas time Mom and Larry had the kids one Saturday. I think it was our anniversary weekend. Anyway, they were going to Wal Mart. I know, they are much braver than me! Wal Mart+2 kids+Saturday+Christmas time=disaster in my book!

Before they went in Larry was giving them the whole spill on how they either had to hold Mom or Larry's hand or get in the buggy.

Ryleigh said "Why?"

"Because it's Christmas time and there are a lot of people in Wal Mart this time of year and if we lose you we won't be able to find you. So just make sure you either hold our hand or stay in the buggy" Larry said.

Ryleigh looked at him and in all seriousness said "La La if you can't find me it check the band aid aisle. That's where I'll be!"

It's no joke that my kids LOVE Band Aids. We seriously go through a box a week. They want a Band Aid for everything. I used to tell them unless there's blood then you're not getting one. Now I figure there is only going to be a few more years that they are going to beg me for Band Aids so why not put one on everything! They are only young once! It's their favorite thing about going to Wal Mart. They love picking out new kinds!

I'm gonna miss this

It's no secret that I am a very vocal person. I always express my opinion and stick my foot in my mouth more times than I wish I did. I've been eating my words more and more lately. It's seems like all the situations tie back to parenting.

Before Ryleigh was born I would be quick to spit off a list of things "I would never let my kids do!"

I would never let Ryleigh wear clothes with characters on them.

I would never let my child have a passy once they can walk.

I would never let my child pass their 2nd birthday without being potty trained.

All juice had to be watered down and dessert never comes before dinner.

And my absolute favorite thing I always said I would never do-Let them sleep in our bed!

It's funny how I actually stuck to those things with Ryleigh but once Tanner came along I got more and more lenient. He had a passy well past being able to walk and just in the past couple of months has became fully potty trained, and he's almost 3!!

All of this has recently came to my mind because a friend of ours is pregnant and is a lot like me. As I sit back and listen to her as she rattles off everything she is going to do it makes me laugh. A lot of her list looks just like mine did. I told her you know you are going to be eating your words in a few months. Her response was much like mine, "No I'm not!" She probably thinks the same things I did before when I saw kids with passy's or diapers well past the age I originally thought was appropriate for those things.

So what made me change my mind? They are only young once and you have to go with the flow.

Although I still can't stomach the characters on clothes in public, you should see our kids when they are at home all day. Most days they have dora or spiderman plastered all over every article of clothing they own. Or the other day I dropped Ryleigh off at curves for school and Aunt Cheryl noticed our newest compromise...Cinderella socks.

Like I said earlier Tanner had a passy until he was almost 2 and just recently is potty trained.

We still try to water down juice but if we don't every once in a while, it's not the end of the world!
Sometimes we just skip dinner and only have dessert!

And the last thing I always said I would never do-sleeping in our bed...ask me how that's going.
More often than not I wake up to a foot in my eye or a little persons hair tickling my nose. We still make them start off in their bed but 5 out of 7 nights they start migrating our way between 2-3 am. Before we would fuss and fight with them and be up for hours trying to get them back to sleep in their beds. Because I always said "I would never let my kids sleep in our bed!"
But it actually has become one of my favorite parts of my day. I love more than anything waking up and getting to hold them for a few sweet minutes every morning. They love to snuggle for a while once the alarm goes off and we get bombarded with kisses!

They are only young once and the day is coming way to quickly that they won't even want to speak to me much less let me hold and kiss on them. When that time comes I'm going to miss this. I'm going to miss the chaos and the loudness, the sweetness and the kisses. So out of the many things I've eaten my words on this is one that I'm happy I did.

Now excuse me while we go buy king size mattresses, a queen isn't big enough for four people!

Fancy Nancy

Today at school Ryleigh had to pick her favorite book and dress up as a character out of the book. The instructions said that it couldn't be a disney character...to bad because I think we have every Disney costume available! 

Instead of actually letting her pick the book I went through the books to find one that we would actually be able to dress up as. I found a few and let her pick from those. She chose Fancy Nancy. Which if I had to pick I would think actually is her favorite book. It's actually a series of books but we only have one. So this is kinda what she should dress like. This is a picture I took of the page in the book...The second one is a better picture of Fancy Nancy but not the one we were trying to duplicate.

And here is our creation!

Notice the crown, pig tails, tights, skirt, dog and sunglasses. I think we did a pretty good job and the best thing is we didn't have to buy anything. She helped pick the whole thing out and is very excited to wear it to school today! She wanted to also take an umbrella like in the picture but I thought Mrs. Parden may get mad if we showed up with to many accessories! Like there is such a thing as to many accessories! 

Fun Day

So being off for two weeks can kind of take a toll on you! We were getting kinda stir crazy. We decided to go out and have a fun day. It was a lot of fun. I made this promise to be good all day or else we were going to pack up and come home. They were excellent!!

We went to Paint that Pottery. I had a gift certificate that was about to expire. I was kind of worried about going with the 2 of them by myself but they were excellent! Ryleigh made a cat bank and Tanner made a dog bank.

Here are our finished products. We didn't get to take them home that day because they have to fire them. We can pick them up in a few days. They were kind of disappointed to not be able to take them home that day.

We met Aunt Velvet for lunch at where else...Zoes! I kid you not they actually knew what she was going to order before she even told them!!

Before we met Aunt Velvet for lunch we went and got Tanner's hair cut and Ryleigh's nails painted at Smiles and Styles. It's a really cute hair salon for kids. Notice the hair color in the above picture with Aunt Velvet. They got their hair cut and "colored!" (pink stripe and a green mohawk)

It was a really fun day but by the time we got home I was exhausted!! I'm happy to say I'll be glad when it's time to go back to work!

Power walking

Aunt Cheryl and Aunt Velvet go walking every weekend and I use the term walking lightly. It's actually running without actually running. It's insane! They only go up the side of the block that has a million hills!


They are probably going to be so mad I posted these pictures!


I tell them all the time to call me when they go and they never do...I think it's a plot so I won't become as skinny as them! I mean seriously, have you seen them lately? They are wasting away!
Whitney went this time so she invited me. Thanks Whit!
Notice in the above picture Whitney is ahead. Believe me she could barely keep up. She has to jog to keep the pace of our walk. I don't know how she was ahead in that picture. Did you notice her vest?
When I pulled up I saw her putting it on. I had no idea what it was. She said it's her bullett proof vest. She said there have been a lot of shootings in the area lately and her motto is "safety first!"


Really it's a vest of weights to help you burn more calories. I think halfway through she was wishing she hadn't worn it!

Roll Tide Roll!!!

All I can say is OH MY WORD!! I've been about to go crazy for the past 4 hours! I'm happy to say that Alabama won the National Championship!!!

Roll Tide Roll!!!!

It was a great game and it's so awesome that we won!!
We watched the first half of the game at some friends house and then left to come home at half time so the kids could get in bed.


Ryan had his wisdom teeth pulled this morning and look at him!! He is completely fine...if I were him I would at least act like I felt bad so I could milk it! At least for a day!


Ryleigh had dance so I had to leave their house for a few minutes to go pick her up.


Our friend Deanne. Tanner had never met her and instantly fell in love with her!

We had a great night and I'm so proud of our football team!

As far as my new job goes...so far so good. I've actually just been in an office all week doing computer classes. Tomorrow will be my first day in a branch and I have to go to Tillman's Corner...I'm not looking forward to that! Next week I'll be at the hillcrest office all week which will be great. The manager there is a friend of mine from compass. Then the next 2 weeks I'll be in Birmingham. I'm looking forward to that right now but I know by the 2nd week I'll be ready to come home.

Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Every year Nana has a Happy Birthday Jesus party and it has become one of my favorite things about Christmas. I love hanging out with all my cousins and just goofing off!

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Isn't this a really good picture of Nana!

Nana reading the Christmas story.

Evan not listening to the Christmas story! You need to get on to him Nana!

Mrs. Pam was able to join us this time and we were so happy to have her!!

This dance is hilarious! You may remember me posting last year about Nana doing it. I guess she's making it an annual tradition. This year she was able to get Whitney to join in also!

We also played Taboo after we ate. Nana was surprisingly good at it and Aunt Velvet was surprisingly bad at it! : )

Ok, I think that is the last of my Christmas post!

Semmes Christmas Parade

I know it's the new year but I still have a few more Christmas things to post. I'm almost done I promise!!

Every year Pathway Kids has a float in the Semmes Christmas Parade. You technically have to be in the older group to ride in it but we snuck in anyway. Actually, Gill's truck pulled it so we rode in the truck where it was warm! Ryleigh and Tanner had so much fun. Here's a group shot.

Doesn't this look so safe, riding down the road hanging out of the windows. They thought they were some kind of special!

Ok, this was THE HIT of the parade. I present to you Bubbazooka! Gill and Ryan made thisridiculous gun that would shoot T Shirts the length of a football field. (They have to much free time!) The gun was pretty awesome. They turned the pressure down and shot 250 TShirtsduring the parade. They actually have a ton of people wanting them to make the guns and sell them. Wouldn't that be hilarious if they really did. It would be even funnier if we got rich off of the "Bubbazooka!" Nothing and I mean Nothing screams redneck like becoming rich off aBubbazooka!

See these awesome decorations? Well I stole them off the float after the parade. Guess who's having a candyland themed birthday party!