The Stokley Family

J E Turner

2012-02-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

When Ryleigh first started Turner this year I was dreading it. I knew it wouldn't be the same as ABC and that made me really dread it. I had heard great things about it and I loved the fact that it was a newer school and was really close to our house. Well the first part of the year was hard. Ryleigh's teacher was out on maternity leave the first part of the school year. This meant we had a sub. Granted she is a sub who is a certified teacher but it still just wasn't the same. I'm all about the teacher and connecting with them. I honestly want Ryleigh to be her favorite (which I know sounds selfish but since when do I care :) I just know that teachers have a lot going on and they relate differently to kids whose parents are very hands on. Anyway I say all of that to say that now we are in the 2nd half of the school year and things are going great!! Ry's teacher is back so we are staying much more informed. We have both connected with her and have a great relationship. (I'm not sure if Ry's her favorite though...is she Mrs. Cooper?? lol!)

A few weeks ago they celebrated 100 days of school. They were 100 days smarter! Each child was asked to bring 100 of something in (pasta, candy, buttons...) we took in 100 pennies. Of course Ryan wanted me to send 100 quarters and then let Mrs. Cooper use the money to buy the whole class snack the next day. He's insane.

Ryleigh also was selected as the Star Student for the month of January. They had a little awards ceremony for them and we were all very excited!

I wasn't able to go to the ceremony but it was on a Friday at 9 am. Ryan went so guess who got out of school at 9:30 on that Friday...the two of them together is TROUBLE!

They are also taking accelerated reading test at school now. They have to get a book from the library and bring it home. Once they've read the book 3-4 times they take a test on it in the library. So far Ry has had 4 test and she has 4 100's!!! We are very proud of her for that! She is also in the Blue reading group. (My friend Allyson, who's a teacher, told me that was the highest level.) I'm so exited with how well she's doing in school.

Ryleigh Claire, we are so proud of you!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-15T13:02:00.000-06:00

I've never been a big Valentine's person. Ryan and I don't go out of our way to celebrate on that day and we sure as heck don't go out to eat. (We chose to celebrate our love all year, instead of just one day, lol! totally kidding) This year though Ryleigh started real school and was very excited about Valentine's day. I'm assuming they talked about it at school a lot. So I did some fun things for the kids to make their day special. I started by making them a heart shaped sandwich and heart shaped cookies with strawberries. I started cutting the strawberries into hearts and that was a terrible idea!

Even though Ryan and I don't really buy for each other he does always get Ryleigh flowers every year. She looks forward to it every year. She kept reminding us all that Valentines was on Tuesday and I think it was really so Ryan wouldn't forget to give her flowers. Here was their little set up Tuesday morning.

Ryleigh also got me a present! She wrapped it and it had been sitting in the living room since Saturday. I technically already knew what it was because I saw it when we picked her up on Saturday but I pretended I didn't know. I forgot to take a picture of it but it combines 2 of my favorite things! Cats and Stuffed Animals!! (Please tell me you knew I was being sarcastic there :) I acted like I LOVED it and it is currently sitting on my bed! It's a stuffed animal cat that has a red heart hanging out of it's mouth. She caught it a Mardi Gras parade on Saturday and was so proud of her gift to me! Although I may not be head over heels in love with the cat I am head over heels in love with her! She has such a giving heart when she wants to!

I had planned on Monday night to make the kids heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. I got up earlier than normal on Tuesday morning to do it. I had sprinkles for them and everything. As I was getting everything out I realized I was missing one key ingredient...the pancake mix! I was so mad at myself for not double checking that we had some. So instead I made them pink muffins. (They were much more pink in person.)

Last night Whitney said she was coming over to hang out for a while since Ryan has been working. Well she texted me and told me she had a great Valentines surprise for me. When I get home she had gotten this for me...

I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How AWESOME is she?????????? So Awesome, is the words you are looking for. She had stopped at the Dollar Store to pick up some note cards for me and I had made the comment that she should get me a Reese's for Valentines day. So when she was checking out she asked the girl if she bought all of them could she have the display as well. The girl thought she was crazy but let her have it anyway. Also, did anyone notice those are Easter Eggs not Valentine hearts? I didn't until way later.
Thank you Whitney for making my Valentines wonderful while also making me gain 100 pounds. I know you technically don't have to eat them all in one night but what's the fun in not? Portion control, yes I do have issues with it!

We ended the night by Whitney and Wesley lying to the kids and saying they used to work at the Lego store in Disney. The kids believed them and thought they were the coolest people ever. Tanner was still talking about how Wesley is the best lego builder in the world! We also had a nerf gun fight and I have a feeling I'll be finding nerf darts all over my house for the next 27 years.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Whitney and Siri

2012-02-14T15:43:00.000-06:00

Whitney finally entered the 21st century and got an iPhone! I'm jealous that she got the 4s. She has no idea all the things that Siri can do though, so we were talking about it the other night. I love our random text!

That's suppose to be ask Siri not get...

I think I need to get my own Siri! Mom has one as well and I tell hers to do funny things all the time.

Sunday I set a few reminders via Siri that she's not going to be happy with me about them when Siri reminds her to do them! :)

Build A Bear and Justice

2012-02-12T17:56:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I wish we lived across the bay. I feel like we are over there all the time and it's MUCH closer to the beach! If it wasn't for our family living by us, I could see us living over there. Saturday we had a late lunch/early dinner on the causeway. I love Ryleigh's face in this picture. She was working hard on that crossword puzzle! Ryan started nights this Sunday night for 2-3 weeks so we went to church at Bay Community Church in Malbis. We have been there a few times and love it! We really love that they have a Saturday night service.

After church we went to Build A Bear so Ryleigh and Madi could make a bear. Ryleigh and Tan love build a bear but I HATE stuffed animals, HATE them!!!!!!!! So we found out they were doing a special thing for USA Children's and Women's Hospital. Basically you go and make the bear like normal and then you just donate it to the hospital. It was a lot of fun for them to be able to make it but then not have to bring it home. they both did really well with leaving it there. I was so proud of them!!!!

We were planning on heading home after that until Ryleigh saw Justice. Yall, I'm not kidding when I say that store is the definition of Tacky. It's like you died and went to glitter, sparkle, tacky heaven. It's no secret that I'm picky about what my kids wear. A Shirt with Dora or Cinderella on it? I would rather get my wisdom teeth pulled without any pain medication than let them go out in public with that on. A shirt with words on it like Princess or Sparkle and Shine, or any other stupid saying...yep, once again I would rather go through something painful than let my kids wear that. Justice is now our new battle. If you look really good in there you can find some things that aren't too bad. The key is not saying you like those things. If you see something you like you need to immediately say you like everything around it but not the actual thing you like. Then instantly she likes the one you didn't say you liked. Yall, I've got this down to a science.

Ryan and I said we don't know how we are going to survive the teenage years. We had a glimpse into our future last night and it wasn't pretty. It was filled with glitter, sparkles, sequins and painful, painful outfits.

Please, stop and say a prayer for us and our daughters fashion future. The battles are getting harder to fight. I'm going to have to pull out the big guns! And maybe a new smocked dress and extra large bow!

I know Ryan, I feel your pain too. We'll get through it together. Maybe just maybe will come out the other end with just a few traces of glitter and sparkles on us.

Cuddler

2012-02-08T12:11:00.000-06:00

Is cuddler even a word? I'm assuming so since it didn't get the red squiggly line underneath it as I typed it. My sweet Tan Man is a cuddler. He loves to get right on top of you when he's sleeping. Normally the person he is snuggled up next to is Ryleigh. She's like me and doesn't like people touching her when she's asleep so he normally gets snuggled up to her once she's asleep.

The other night Ry spent the night with a friend and mom kept Tanner. She texted me this picture with the caption "He misses Ryleigh!" He looked so cute snuggled up to moms pillow.

Last night I tucked them into separate beds because they were mad at each other and Tanner didn't want to sleep by a "stinky girl!" When I got back from running and went and checked on them this is how I found Tanner...snuggled up with his Elephant.

How sweet is that little boy?!

Babysitting

2012-01-29T18:59:00.000-06:00

Friday night we babysat 2 of the cutest kids! Our friends Kris and Tina hadn't had a date night in quite awhile so I offered to keep their kids for them. Ryan and Tanner were originally going hunting but changed their mind when they found out this cute little boy was coming over.

Ryan calls himself "The Baby Whisperer" He says he's never met a baby who didn't like him. Well Tina had been trying to get Fisher to eat baby food and he'll never eat it. That morning she had opened a jar of bananas and could only get him to eat one or two bites. Ryan told her to send some babyfood and of course Ryan got him to eat the whole thing!

I texted Tina those pictures and a picture of the empty jar. She wrote back, "Man, he is the baby whisperer!!"

We also kept the beautiful Madi but she's 2 and literally doesn't slow down...AT ALL!!!! So this was the only picture I could get of her! She is also a machine who doesn't go to sleep until like midnight! She kept me up way past my bedtime!! We had a lot of fun keeping them though. I think Tina was nervous about leaving them with me at first. Who are we kidding, we all know I'm not a baby person. She felt a lot better when she knew that the baby whisperer was going to be home as well! Lol!

Texting

2012-01-27T22:13:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite things about Ryleigh getting a cell phone and also learning to read is the random text I get all the time. (I still think Ryan is crazy for getting her a phone, FYI)

Here are some of the text from the past few days...

She is taking Accelerated Reading test at school. That's what the 100 is about. So far she's made a 100 on everyone! I also love how when she misspelled am she corrected it in the next text.

I love how she wrote Copper wasn't home. She got home from school and Ryan had taken Cooper with him to Lowe's and she was really upset about it.

She's getting so big! Ryan and I both have said how much we love getting text from her. She's gotten a lot better at it. She used to text the weirdest words and we would have no idea what she was saying. I love when she's sounding a word out and spells it the way it sounds instead of the way it's spelled.

Mohawk

2012-01-18T19:33:00.000-06:00

Tanner is obsessed with Mohawks! He wants one so bad. You may remember that we tried one a few years ago on him and bless his heart his hair isn't cut out for it. It doesn't help that Ryan gets one every summer. I don't remember if I mentioned that Ryan went snow skiing this past week but he did and he brought Tan Man the best surprise....a mohawk hat! Tanner loved it! He wanted to wear it to school today so I let him. When my friend Christy saw him (her sons in Tan's class) she thought it was crazy hat day and they had forgotten! lol! Nope, not crazy hat day just crazy Tanner.

When he got to school I got the following 2 picture text from Mrs Carter with these texts:

Mrs. Carter: What state did Dad get Tanner's hat?

Me: West Virginia...is that what you meant? (I had no idea why she was asking me what state it was bought in instead of store) He's a mess! He was excited it was kinda cold and he could wear it today.

M.C: So cute! Everyone wants one like it! He told everyone that his dad got it on a trip. We are talking about the states so we wanted to know where it came from. They all want to try it on. I said no but you can feel it, lol!

When she texted about everyone wanting to feel it she sent this picture! I died laughing! Tanner was eating that attention up, I'm sure.

Me: That's hilarious! Sorry for the disruption of class. Leave it to the Stokley Family to do that, lol!

M.C: No disruption! We turned it into learning too! Loved it!

Oh how I'm going to miss ABC next year. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Did I mention I LOVE them???

Thank you Mrs. Carter for loving my little boy! We appreciate you more than you know!

Ry's first visit from the tooth fairy!

2012-01-17T06:00:00.001-06:00

Ryleigh has been so excited the past few weeks because she has had a loose tooth. She would literally sit in front of the mirror and wiggle it back and forth to get it to come out. She wasn't scared to let anyone and everyone try to pull it. That really surprised me but she wanted that tooth out! I guess it's a big deal in kindergarten to lose your teeth. This past Saturday morning she had me try to pull it and it wouldn't come out. Well that afternoon we were at some friends of ours house and she was showing Christy. Christy asked if she wanted her to pull it and Ry said yes. I told them it probably wasn't going to come out and then the next thing I know Christy has a tooth in her hand and there's blood coming out of Ry's mouth! All 3 of us started screaming! Like an excited scream. It was crazy!

That night the tooth fairy visited her and brought her her favorite thing, cash! She woke Tanner up and showed him the card and money and he started crying because he didn't get anything.

Also, Ryan was out of town snow skiing this weekend so Ry and I just knew he was going to be so mad about it. She texted him a picture from her phone and he wrote back that he was so happy for her! I know secretly he was so mad because that man hates to miss a thing.

A letter to myself at 15

2012-01-13T21:19:00.000-06:00

I know this letter will be hard to believe but here goes.

The guy that you kinda thought you may like but weren't to sure...You know, the one who made fun of you in 7th grade for being so tall and for getting on the wrong bus, yea, that guy. You kinda fall in love with him and marry him. I know, shocker. He proposes at your graduation party so you may want to make sure you dress really cute.

The friends you have now won't mean as much to you in 10 years. I know now you think they are the world but I swear in 10 years you won't even see over half of them. So when you are left out of something, it's not the end of the world.

Your family is pretty cool after all. I know you currently think they are crazy for getting together for every little thing but in 10 year that'll be your most favorite thing about them. Your cousins actually turn out to be your best friends. I wish you would realize that at 15.

Spend more time with your Dad. Don't take him for granted. Be sure to come home from New Orleans the Father's Day Weekend after you get married. It becomes one of your favorite memories.

I know you say you don't want any kids but you currently have 2. SHOCKER! You have them young which some people think is crazy but you love it. They are actually pretty cool kids. Your daughter is just like you which drives you crazy most days but she's also beautiful and hilarious all in one. Your son is probably the most handsome boy to ever walk the planet. Seriously.

The grass across the street that you just got done cutting with scissors for punishment for calling your dad a stupid idoit....yea, that grass becomes your land. You actually build a house on it and it becomes one of your best moves.

The bank that you went in the other day to open your first account...it was totally intimidating and scary and such a grown up thing to do. Well in 10 years you are the manager. Yep that's right, a manager of a bank. Who would have thought you would actually have a job like that. By the way you love it. Your employees rock!

One word...Facebook. You'll have a love/hate relationship with it.

Your cell phone that you think is the most high tech one that'll ever be possible to make becomes nonexistent, Apple invents a device called an iPhone. It pretty much changes the world.

Enjoy eating sugar by the pound. There's a little thing called metabolism that catches up with you. It makes you unable to eat an entire bag of reese's cups and still look the same in the morning. I know, it sucks.

Your mom still cooks dinner for you most nights. That's right, even as an adult you hate to cook. Thankfully she loves it and your husband doesn't mind.

Although now you would never think of sitting at home on a Friday night now, you will spend more Friday nights than you can count curdled up on the couch with your 3 favorite people. You'll realize those are some of your favorite moments.

You know how the thought of changing diapers makes you wanna throw up? Well, that doesn't change. Thankfully God gave you a pretty awesome husband that doesn't mind too much.

You become obsessed with having a clean house. I know that sounds crazy considering throughout your entire teenage years you may see your bedroom floor once. It's nice to walk around without tripping over stuff or spending a hour looking for something in that mess.

Your favorite book is about a wizard. I know, weird.

You have a fight with your best friend...a pretty big one and you think you'll never get over it. You do and you come out the other end a stronger person.

You are a leader in a youth group with the guy you married. You both love it. Probably because you get to act like your 16 again.

Don't give your parents such a hard time. It's not that hard to speak to your mom in the mornings. You'll realize this when your daughter does the same thing to you.

I know sometimes you can't wait to grow up, don't rush it. You're only 15 once. However, know though when your 25 your life is pretty amazing as well. You serve an awesome God, Have a great husband, 2 beautiful healthy kids and a close family you wouldn't trade for anything. Things work out pretty good for you.

Who's Taller??

2012-01-09T19:22:00.000-06:00

My conversation with Tanner tonight.

Mom, will you measure me against Ryleigh? I think I'm taller than her now.

What makes you think that buddy? (2 days ago she was still taller than him)

Because I had the hiccups 2 times today! (They think when they have the hiccups it means they are growing) But mom, her bow DOES NOT COUNT!

So we measured them and she still has him. It won't be long though!

Sweet, Sweet Saturday!

2012-01-07T15:17:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning we woke up to no plans. Why is it that those Saturdays always seem to end up being my favorites? We called some friends of ours and they met us at Cottage Hill Park. We rode bikes around the whole thing first then we headed to the playground.

These monkey bars were REALLY hard to go across. There's nothing like a kids playground to make you feel out of shape!

We ended the morning with a game of soccer. It was a great way to spend the morning! now we are all piled on the couch and might even take a nap! Mom's keeping the kids tonight so it doesn't matter if they take a nap! Lol!!
(If Ry and Tan take a nap they are literally up until midnight. So obviously we NEVER let them take naps! :) Haha, Mom!! Love you!

New Years!

2012-01-06T03:58:00.001-06:00

I know a lot of people complain about the weather in Mobile but I LOVE it! I love that it lets us do what we like to do most! We rung in the New Year at our favorite place doing what we love to do. We spent the weekend boat riding, playing in the sand and swimming (in a heated pool). We did all of this in short sleeves and flip flops, in JANUARY! I love the south!

Bike Riding

2012-01-02T18:48:00.000-06:00

Guess who can ride his bike without training wheels??????

Mom got the kids new bikes for Christmas and yesterday we took them to our friends neighborhood to ride them. Well their son is the same age as Tan and they are in the same class. Landon can ride his bike really, really good without training wheels and it makes Tanner so mad. I told him part of the reason is because Landon lives in a neighborhood and rides his bike all the time, whereas we live on a dirt road.
Tanner tried to ride Landon's bike while we were there and did ok on it. When we got home we took the training wheels off of his old bike and in 10 minutes he was riding it all over the yard!

He is SOOOOO proud of himself! Ryleigh makes everything a competition so Tanner is so glad to be better than her at something. She said, "It doesn't matter to me. I would much rather be a runner than a biker."

Tomorrow we are going to try to taking them off of his new big bike. He's really excited about that!

Goodbye 2011

2012-01-01T10:54:00.001-06:00

I was going to write a nice reflective post recapping 2011 and linking to the various blog posts. But I'm lazy and that would take a lot of work. There's no need to get busy doing anything important because new years resolutions technically don't start until tomorrow, right?

2011 was a good year for my crew. We laughed, we cried, we played and we rejoiced.

Ryleigh started kindergarten, played soccer, made a lot of new friends, spent the night away more times than she probably spent at home and all in all just grew up this year. She went from a preschool girl to, well, just a regular girl. She developed her own sense of fashion and has a mind of her own now. She closed the year out with her first loose tooth. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for her.

Tanner started 5 day a week school and my gosh did I think it was going to be the death of both of us! He finally got adjusted even though he still claims he doesn't like it. He played Tball and football and hated them both. He had more pets than I can count and even more bugs than that. He is moody and sweet all at the same time. 2012 will be a big year for him since he'll start kindergarten. He's excited and I am too!

Ryan would probably say this was his best year yet. He got the boat he's always wanted and he closed out the year with the electronics for it. The last weekend of the year was spent doing what he loves to do most. Boating. He has a job he loves and me...what is there not to be happy about! :)

2011 for me was a great year! I wasn't looking forward to turning 25. I mean, it is a quarter of a century old. But I've learned it's not to bad! I was promoted (still get excited about that when I think about it!), spent most weekends at the beach, went on some fun adventures with my crew and just all in all had a fun year. The year closed out with my mom moving back across the street and not many things could make me happier than that.

So to 2012, 2011 was a good year to our family here's to hoping you are even better!

Happy New Year!!!!

My Daughter

2011-12-29T09:20:00.000-06:00

We may not look much alike...

But there is no denying that she is my daughter. We are JUST alike. Stubborn, hardheaded, funloving, goofy, center of attention loving girls!

And I love her so much for it!

We may argue like sisters more often than not...

But at the end of the day I'm so thankful for my stubborn, sweet little girl!

You have to love a smile like that!

Christmas Day

2011-12-28T16:07:00.000-06:00

Christmas morning we went and woke the kids up with their new puppy, Cooper! We normally let them get up on their own but Ryan and I both woke up early and we just couldn't wait any longer. They got up and at first I thought they would be disappointed that they didn't have a "big" present sitting out and unwrapped. Ryan and I had a few other things up our sleeves. They got started opening their presents. I know some people sit them out for the kids but I love the excitement of them ripping off the wrapping paper. We make them go one at a time and take turns. They don't mind because they get to see what each other got.

Ryleigh's "big" present was a iPhone. In case you were wondering it was Ryan's idea. I know everyone probably already figured that but just in case. I want to make sure we are clear on who the crazy parent is. :) She was over the moon excited!!

Tanner's "big" present was a TV for his room. I normally would have had it unwrapped but I wanted to wrap her phone and call it. She loved opening the ringing package! They had a joint present that we made them go on a scavenger hunt for. That was a lot of fun!

When they opened the box you should have seen their faces. There was only a note in there so they looked really disappointed. It was hilarious! Ryleigh then read it and they went on a 10 minute scavenger hunt that led them to keys. Ryleigh still didn't get it but Tanner instantly knew it was to a new 4-wheeler!

We then walked over to Aunt Lisa's to see what they got. Lindsey got this new purse that I LOVE!! Brandon did a great job at picking out her present. Wesley also bought the kids an INSANE remote control car! He's so sweet to Ryleigh and Tanner and we love him so much!!

That afternoon we had Christmas with Ryan's mom, and brother and his family. The kids got way to many presents again!

We had a wonderful Christmas and we hope you did too!!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T16:43:00.000-06:00

Since Christmas Eve fell on a Saturday we decided to have Christmas with Mom and Larry that morning. Friday night I put 2 very excited little kids to bed! What was really fun about it was that we got to have 2 Christmas mornings. There is nothing like kids anticipation on Christmas morning. This is going to be just a ton of pictures.

So Tammy lives in Cullman, AL now so we don't get to see her often. Mom and I had both asked her to come home for Christmas but she said with their work schedule it just wouldn't work out. Well Saturday morning Ryan and I are getting the presents ready to go to moms and Ryan asked who's F150 was pulling up behind our shed. For some reason I didn't care and was just trying to get to moms. Ryan was really concerned about it but for some reason I wasn't. I had walked outside and was half way to moms when Ryan opens the front door and yells at me to come back home. I was so aggravated. he said just sit the presents down and come back real quick. I thought he needed me to help him do something so I was just getting madder and madder. Ok, Ryan I'll just sit down all these presents in the middle of the wet grass to walk back in the house. I walked back home, aggravated at him, and walked in the foyer and she comes running from our bed room! It scared me to death! I was sooooooo excited to see her!! She COMPLETELY surprised us. We literally had no idea she was coming. We then ran to moms and snuck in and surprised her too! It was a great Christmas present!!!

Nana and Paw Paw came over for breakfast at moms. It really did feel just like Christmas day.

Later in the afternoon we got dressed and headed to Ryan's Grandads.

Grandaddy with all his grandkids and great grandkids. Well just the younger ones.

We got way to many presents over there to just head to Aunt Cheryls to get even more.

I love how these 2 guys make me feel SHORT! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!

I'm doing a whole different post on our NEW PUPPY!!!!!

When we got home we got cookies out for Santa.

And fed the reindeer. A side story on he reindeer...the food was obviously still out there the next morning and Tanner said "Stupid make believe reindeer. We just wasted all that food on no one!"

We then laid out their way to many presents and headed to bed. It was such a fun day and I'm so thankful we got to spend it with our family!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T17:02:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas! Love Ryan, Tiffany, Ryleigh and Tanner

Happy Birthday Ryan!!

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to my favorite guy!

Anyone that knows Ryan knows that he has been saving up for a few months now to buy boat electronics. They are very expensive but he knew we weren't using any of our money to buy them. Bless his heart, he's never saved up for anything in his life. He still had a little ways to go but guess what I surprised him with....

He's not one to get excited about much but I love that smile on his face when he opened them. He had NO idea I was getting them for him. He was even more surprised that I bought them for him (with my money). I had gotten with his friend Wesley and he told me exactly what to order. I had told Ryan I would give him money for his birthday and Christmas to put up for his electronics. So he thought he was opening a ton of ones.

Ryan, this is the first and last time I ever plan to buy you something so expensive! So don't get used to it!! I'm so glad you like them and the smile on your face was worth all the money I spent. You don't get excited about many presents. I think I was more excited about giving it to you than you were about getting them!

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas! I love you more than you love your new electronics!

Party, Party!

2011-12-23T07:31:00.002-06:00

The next few post are just so I can have the pictures on my blog. It's Christmas, I'm tired and I don't feel like writing a lot.

Just take a moment to look at Ryan. I like how he's sucking in like Superman. I love Robert's (beside him) smile even more! :)

The kids had a blast throwing ball pit balls into the ceiling fan! They thought it was the coolest thing ever. Of you hit the blade just right it really would go flying hard across the room!

Poof!

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

I've never been a hair person. I've never colored my hair or really had a hairstyle. Now that I feel like I'm a "grown up" I thought it was time to get a grown up hairstyle. I spent a good bit of money (something I NEVER do) to go have my hair cut and styled professionally. At a real salon. Not Fantastic Sams or some random place. I looked at it as an investment.

So she cut my hair. To be honest I wasn't impressed, it was basically the same haircut I had for the past, I don't know, forever! But then she did something I had never dreamed of doing...she Poofed my hair!

When she initially said she was going to poof it I had thought surely this lady is crazy. But the end result? Pure Love. I had never Loved my hair like I did that day. Everywhere I went, seriously, everywhere, people commented on how good my hair looked. And yall, I'm someone who never got compliments on my hair. It's just not something people noticed. Height? yes, all the time but not my hair. So here is the picture...I would also like to say I fixed it on this day. So it is something I can actually do at home and not one of those salon do's that are impossible to recreate. Not that I would know much about that since I have visited a salon about the same amount of times as I've won the lottery. (Zero, in case you were wondering.)

It's a terrible picture but you get the idea.

Thanksgiving was the first time my family had really seen my hair and the boys laughed at me for a solid hour. Well the boys and Whitney. They kept going on and on with the big hair jokes. But I believe the bigger your hair the closer you are to God, right, Nana? :)

After all the laughs, I have had numerous request to poof other peoples hair. I would maybe even venture as to call myself the poofing expert of the family. I have tried more hairsprays than I care to count and have found the ones I like best. I've poofed Aunt Velvet's hair, Lindsey's hair and a few of my friends hair.

Aunt Cheryl even had me come over when she was getting ready for a wedding to poof her hair. At first she was unsure if she liked it or not but she wore it like that anyway. And guess what, (I know you know but humor me) Everyone loved it!! She said she got tons of compliments on it all night!!

I have even transitioned into poofing my ponytails. I haven't perfected it yet but I did have someone stop me in the Limited to ask me how I made my ponytail looks so good. Nothing like a stranger admiring your Poof to make ya feel good. So here's to Poofs!

Happy Birthday Jesus

2011-12-18T10:21:00.000-06:00

This Friday night we had out Happy Birthday Jesus party at Nana's. We've done it ever year since we were little and we always have so much fun! Here is Nana reading the Christmas Story. The kids were so good during this. They stayed quiet the whole time.

Me holding baby Noah...I have to admit, this did give me the tiniest bit of baby fever. Now don't go crazy mom, I said the tiniest bit. I thought it would be cured by the end of the night because he was bound to start crying but nope, he was so good all night!

It was a fun night! After the party Me, Ryan, Whitney and Jordan loaded up and went shopping. We didn't get home until late. Saturday morning Me, Mom and Aunt Cheryl got up and went shopping...I'm shopped out and thankful to be done!

Christmas Decorations

2011-12-16T11:41:00.000-06:00

Here are some of our Christmas decorations. I love decorating for Christmas and usually do it the weekend before Thanksgiving. I know some people think that's to early but I just say it's one more thing I'm thankful to have done on Thanksgiving!

My favorite part of our house is our fireplace. I love our stockings and the Happy Birthday Jesus sign. I also went a little crazy with the art mesh this year, lol!

This is Ry and Tan's favorite part, the play nativity scene. They play with it literally everyday. Nana got it for them last Christmas and it was one of their favorite gifts.

Here is our Christmas tree...I hate how Christmas tress don't photograph well. I promise it looks much better in person.

Here is a close up of some of our ornaments.

Here is Ryleigh's tree. It's my favorite tree in the house! I just love it!

And here is Tan Man's tree. His is done in fishing lures. It's impossible to find cute boy ornaments so I literally just bought real fishing lures from Bass Pro.

This is new this year and I already love it! It's our Christmas card tree. I love looking at them all. I have about 5 more to add but i haven't had the time to do it.

Here is some art work the kids have done at school for Christmas.

I love these Christmas rugs I got!

And last but not least here is Scout The Window! He's been making messes all over our house this year! The kids have had the best time with it and jump right out of bed when I wake them up in the mornings.

This year we decided to do Christmas with Mom and Larry on Christmas Eve. This is kinda a big deal to me because every year since we've been married we get up and do Christmas with us then walk across the street to moms and do Christmas with them. She then makes a HUGE breakfast and Nana and Paw Paw come over (that's been going forever, even when I lived at home). But this year Christmas falls on a Sunday and I can't speak for everyone but I think it's pretty silly to celebrate Christmas and not go to church (since it falls on a Sunday this year.) What are we celebrating at all for if we don't go and worship the one we even have the holiday for? I know this is kinda a hot topic this year because it messes up every one's "schedule." But you'll find the Stokley Family in church on Christmas morning. Because Christmas is not about opening presents or having time to fit in going to every ones house. It's about celebrating our saviours birthday!

Ok off my rant, lol!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmastime

2011-12-14T20:23:00.001-06:00

I honestly hadn't noticed I hadn't put anything on here in the last 2 weeks or so until Ryan texted me today and said I was a little behind on the blog. December is a month of always being behind! I couldn't tell you the last night we've actually been at home. We've had plans every night for the past few weeks. On the plus side that means that I also haven't cooked in the past few weeks! Woo Hoo!!

So what have we been up to?

We've gone to Christmas parades with best friends! We went to the Semmes Christmas parade which has turned into a pretty big deal. We had literally about 6 groups of our friends all with us. It was a lot of fun!

We went to Ryan's work's Christmas party at the Convention Center and spent the night downtown. While we were enjoying that Ry and Tan were having fun at Bellingrath with their Mi Mi and La La.

Last night we went to my best friends Lindsay's parents house for Christmas with them.

We always have so much fun when we go over there for Christmas. They cook a HUGE meal!

And buy the kids all kinds of little treats.

We technically aren't kined to them even though we have the same last name but they are very special people to us and we love them very much!

Of course the kids favorite part is the presents!! They said Mrs. Pam and Uncle Jeff always buy the best presents! Tanner said "Until we get older and then they'll buy us clothes and that is not fun." Lol!

Last night we hung out outside the whole time and cooked and ate. Their backyard is BEAUTIFUL!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Season! We've are staying busy and enjoying every minute of it!

Seven

2011-12-04T19:29:00.001-06:00

Seven years ago today I married my best friend and my high school sweet heart. She may not always be sweet but we LOVE her anyway and we plan on keeping her around a lot longer. I love to just look back and think about the first time we met and when we first started "dating" and everything we have been through together. If there is a perfect life I'm pretty sure we have it. We are blessed beyond measure and I thank God everyday for that, for this wonderful life and wonderful friends and family we have. I look forward to many more exciting years.
I love you Tiffany.

SEVEN

2011-12-04T06:00:00.005-06:00

God gave me you for the ups and downs

God gave me you for the days of doubt

For when I think I’ve lost my way

There are no words here left to say, it’s true

God gave me you.

-Dave Barnes

Ryan, I'm more thankful today that God gave me you than I was 7 years ago on this day. It's been a fun 7 years so far and I'm looking forward to many more!! I love you!

Ropes Course

2011-12-03T20:41:00.000-06:00

Today for our youth worker's Christmas Party we went to do a Ropes Course. It's in the middle of the woods and it was so fun! Scary but fun!

We had to wear some very awkward harnesses that went between our legs. Needless to say they were not flattering at all. Thankfully everyone looked bad...misery loves company!

There were like 4 different sections on the high ropes and then four different sections on the low one. We were in teams of 7 and when I say that you have to get to love each other, I mean it. We were literally standing on 2 ft by 2 ft square 50 feet in the air. I'm not one that likes people up in my personal space. I like to keep a good 2 feet between me and the closest person to me. At one point their may have been 2 cm between mine and my teams face and 0 centimeters between out bodies.

It was an EXCELLENT Team Building exercise because you really do have to work together. If one of you falls you all fall. They won't let you grab the cables or your ropes so all you have to hold on to is each other. No handles, no ropes, just each other. Scary!

This one below was the hardest. You had to all get on this 2 foot board and you can't move to the next one until you were all on that one. So all 7 of us were on that one board. Granted it was only for a few seconds because the next person had to be prepared to go to the next one before we all fell.

At the end of it you get to zipline down which was really cool! It was a great day! I'm thankful for our church and they great group of leaders I get to serve with!

Field Trip

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000-06:00

Ryleigh had her first real field trip this past Tuesday. I was able to take off work and go with her. It really was fun to spend the day with her and her friends. Even though I was ready for a long nap when we got home. 5 year old girls are exhausting!

We went to Wales West Train Park in Silverhill. The place was just ok. Literally they just rode this train down to the "North Pole" to see Santa and then make an ornament.

There was this little mini train that they got to ride as well.

The big train was pretty cool. It was really loud and smelled really bad!

It was funny to me how many of the kids were afraid of Santa. Like seriously, scream like crazy, run for your life, afraid!

This is her whole class. One of the things I do like about Turner is their small class size. Ry only has 17 kids in her class and for a public school that is considered REALLY small. I think small class sizes are important for kids to learn.

The girl with the long brown hair is Erica, Ry's best friend.

When we got home Ryleigh was worn slap out! I think her most favorite thing was getting to ride the bus. She begs me to let her ride it everyday and I won't let her. Now seeing the way she acts on the bus with all those kids I for sure won't be letting her! She is a wild child!

He's back!

2011-11-29T17:35:00.000-06:00

Guess who's back???

Scout the Window!!! He arrived a few nights ago and the kids were beyond excited!

As you can tell from Ry's face above!! They don't actually believe that he goes back to the North Pole every night but they like to pretend that he does. Our kids don't believe in Santa. They know not to tell other kids that do believe but it's just something that we choose not to lie to them about. That's not to say we don't do fun things that are centered around Santa we just let them know that it's just for fun and that he's not actually a real person. Ryan is really big on not lying to them which I guess is why we decided not to tell them he was real. I always explain it as we love Cinderella and Buzz Lightyear and like to play with them and pretend they are real but we know they aren't real people.

Tanner is starting to write so good! He did this all by himself!

Previous years we just hid Scout the Window in different places every day. This year though we decided to take it a step further. Now Scout the Window gets into mischief every night. Saying that they love this would be the understatement of the year! It's the highlight of their day!

The first night Scout made snow angels on the counter out of flour.

Last night he rolled the Christmas Tree! Tanner said he should get a spanking because that was being wasteful! I love that kid!

We are glad to have you back Scout the Window!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T15:33:00.000-06:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. We have had a rough few weeks and days leading up to Thanksgiving so it was nice to just sit back and remember that we have so much to be thankful for.

Tanner was attached to Wesley all day.

My 2 favorite girls! I read a quote the other day that said "Grandma's House-The place where cousins go to become best friends." I loved that and thought it was so true in our family.

Ryan spent the night at our house Thursday night to keep the kids so Ryan and I could go Black Friday shopping. We left at 6:00 Thursday night and shopped all night. I pulled in to work at 7:45 straight from the mall. I got dressed at work then worked all day...It was a LONG day!

The kids table...Lol!

Evan and I are so much alike it's scary!

This was us trying to get a family picture...Lindsey took like 50 and I got one decent one out of all of those. Why can't we ever have Picture Perfect Christmas card photos??

Happy Thanksgiving from our Family to yours!

Paw Paw

2011-11-15T07:54:00.001-06:00

I try to stay away from posting about sad/difficult things on my blog. I try to get it upbeat and happy but at the end of the day it is somewhere for me to record my thoughts and have something to go back and look at.

We found out a few weeks ago that my Paw Paw has Lung Cancer. He had been sick for a few weeks and had been going back and forth between numerous doctors when we got the diagnosis. Those of you that know me know that lung cancer hits home really hard for me.

When I got the call...well actually the text it was from Whitney and I was in Target. When I saw the words Lung Cancer come across my screen my heart dropped. I hate Lung Cancer more than anything in this world. When I hear the words I think back to my dad and how terrible that was. The difference between my dads and paw paw is that we caught Paw Paw's early. He started chemo last week and thankfully is doing really well with it. He's tired and worn out but he hasn't got sick.

We celebrated his birthday this past Saturday and this picture was from his party.

So let's get ready to fight Paw Paw we are going to kick this cancer's you know what!! You are so strong and we are so proud of you!! So if you are reading this our family would covet your prayers. We know that God is in control and we also know that Paw Paw is one tough guy!! We love you Paw Paw and we are here to help you!!

School

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

Oh how I miss Ryleigh being at ABC Kindergarten. There's nothing like that one on one feeling you get at a small school. I am however so thankful that Tanner is still there and in Mrs. Carter's class. He LOVES Mrs. Carter! He has been doing pretty good in school. He has a short attention span and gets bored easily. He got his report card the other day and got all S's which means satisfactory. I try SOOOOOO hard not to compare Ry and Tan but when them being so close in age it's hard not to and I feel bad that he is going to have to work harder in school than Ry. It comes so easy for her and that makes him frustrated.

They had the annual umbrella parade the week before Halloween. When I asked Tan how he wanted his decorated he wanted a spider/halloween theme which made it easy for me. He loved his umbrella!

I wish I could same the same about loving Ry's school as I do about Tanner's. It's been a big adjustment for me. She does great there and loves it. I on the other hand don't. I miss being able to text her teacher in the middle of the day and she writing me right back. I miss the small town feeling we had at ABC. I miss the feeling of knowing that she was LOVED at ABC. The p love them there and Turner just isn't the same. I don't know if it's a public/private thing or if it's just because ABC is small. I'm hoping it's because it's just small. I wouldn't mind sending her to private school but St Pauls and UMS are just way to far of a drive and I'm not a fan of Faith. So it looks like we are going to have to stick it out at Turner. I'm hoping next year will be better and that part of the problem is her teacher being out on maternity leave. She left 3 weeks into the school year and isn't back yet so we have a sub. One of my friend's mom is a teacher there and what has made me not go crazy. She calls me and lets me know when things are happening and what's going on.

Regardless of my feelings of Ryleigh being in "real school" she has done amazingly well!! We got her first ever real report card and she made ALL A's!!!! Not only did she make all A's but her lowest grade was a 99! That's almost perfect. I'm so proud of her!! She is so smart (sometimes to much for her own good!)

The other day the had book character parade day. Ry had a lot of fun! They got to dress up like a character from a book and then they had a parade around the whole school. MGM's band and cheerleaders where there too!

They also had honors day last week and Ryleigh got an award for all A's and being a good citizen! We are so proud of her!

She is also Miss Popular and has given our phone number to her whole class. We've gotten numerous phone calls from all of her friends this week. I have no idea how I am going to survive the teenage years!

I may have a heart attack!

2011-11-12T19:25:00.000-06:00

It's no secret that Ryan is a little crazy when it comes to buying teh kids whatever they want. I try t keep him in check...like saying no to the cell phone Ryleigh has been begging for since she was 4. I've also said no to the golf cart he's been wanting to get Tanner but nothing could prepare me for what he recently bought Tanner....

A Snake!

Yes, you read that right we have a real live snake living in our house.

There aren't many things I'm scraed of in this world but a snake would be top of the list! They just aren't meant to be pets. I told Ryan they are from the devil...I mean it's even in the bible. The devil was the snake in the Garden of Eden. There's proof right there that we don't need one in our house.

We have had to come up with a few "snake rules."

1. Bring the snake anywhere within 10 feet of Mom and it's being thrown straight into the woods. Period.

2. Put the snake down anywhere in the house and it's going straight in the woods. Period.

3. Scare anyone with the snake and it's going straight in the woods. Period.

When I told Tanner the rules he said, "Mom, how are you going to throw it in the woods if you won't even touch it?"

So now I'm going to take a minute to recap the animals we have owned in Tanner's short little life: Dog, cat, bunnies, rooster, hen, frog, lizard and other misc bugs. So let's add a Snake to the list...The ony reason I'm allowing it in our house is beacuse it makes this little boy so happy and really, who could say no to a smile like this one....

Wedding

2011-11-09T13:31:00.000-06:00

A few weekends ago we were involved in one of the prettiest wedding I had ever seen! My best friend Lindsay's sister got married and she had asked Ry and Tan to be her flower girl and ring bearer. They did so good! They are professionals at it now! I'm not going to write a lot because it's been a crazy busy week but here are some of the pictures I took. They were all taken with my iPhone so the quality isn't great.

Beautiful Bride!

They rented a trolley for us to ride to the church and then back to the reception back. It was so cool and the kids loved it! Tanner kept calling it a train.

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Wyatt

Soccer

2011-11-05T07:00:00.002-05:00

The soccer season has came and gone and I'm actually sad to see it go. As much as I hate to admit it we had so much fun playing soccer this year! I was really sad that my only girl didn't want to take dance anymore. Actually sad isn't the word...I was heartbroken. She was giving up dance for soccer??? Soccer is a boy sport!

I didn't know how good she would be or if she would even like it but she sure showed me! She was soooooo good! And I feel like all of you know me well enough to know that if my kids aren't good at something I have no problem saying that. If you're good, you're good. If you're not, you're not.

I think the reason she liked it so much was because it was competitive. They didn't technically keep score and everyone got to play the exact same amount of time. But everyone knew who won at the end of the game. Especially Ryleigh. We had to have a few talks about good sportsmanship. I had a hard time with Ryan talking to her about that though. I have mixed feelings on it because I feel like if you are good then you should be able to celebrate that. But I guess there's a fine line and our girl needs to find it. Currently she isn't to good at that. She would celebrate when someone else on her team did well so she's not a bad sport, she just really wants to celebrate when she does well.

One of the big reasons why I think she likes soccer better than dance is because she does have such a competitive spirit. She gets that from me...I can make anything into a competition. Seriously, anything! Dance just doesn't offer her the reward of feeling like a winner and I get that now. It also doesn't give her the opportunity to show off and be the center of attention....another trait she inherited from her Mom. No one can go watch her dance on a weekly basis but everyone can and did come watch her play soccer. She likes to be recognized for her work and soccer provided that for her.

Although I am sad that I don't have a little ballerina anymore, I am excited to have a soccer All Star! (A trait she did not get from her Momma!) I glad she has found a sport that allows her to be competitive, recognized and rewarded for doing well!

We are so proud of you Ryleigh Claire!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T07:54:00.002-05:00

I'm sad that my kids are growing up and are picking their own Halloween costumes. I miss the days of Dorthy and a scarecrow and Little red riding hood and the big bad wolf. This year they completely picked their costumes on their own. At first Tanner said he wanted to be Harry Potter. I was very excited about that and I thought I would get Ry to be an owl or Hermione ( I know that is spelled so wrong but I'm to lazy to look up the correct spelling.) But One night we were in Hudson's and he saw this G I Joe Ninja costume and he was sold on it. I didn't mind to much because it was only $4. Ryleigh had decided she wanted to be a doctor. At first I wasn't crazy about that idea because it really isn't too cute but she insisted and then it also ended up working out good with a dress up day they had at school.

Even though I didn't love their costumes since they didn't match, I do have to agree that they were the cutest doctor and G I Joe Ninja ever! We went Trick or Treating in Ryan's granddad's neighborhood. They have a huge neighborhood that gets tons of trick or treaters.

The kids had a lot of fun running from house to house. Ryan had gone home from work and gotten them ready and met me. I didn't even think about bringing a wagon for them to ride in but he did and it was life saving!! He's so smart!

After Trick or Treating we went to Haven Woods Fall Festival and the kids had even more fun their than they did trick or treating! It was a fun Halloween night!

Fair

2011-11-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

There are going to be a bunch of post in the next few days...I got behind on posting things but I want to have all of these pictures in here since this is my only form of scrapbooking.

Last Monday we went to the fair and had so much fun! We went with just us and Mom and Larry but ended up meeting up with like 10 other kids and they had so much fun all riding together.

This picture is awful but the red striped shirt is Tanner riding a big ride!! I was so proud of him!!!

Ryleigh literally rode everything she could. She seemed so old that night. She was just skipping along a good 20 feet ahead of us hanging out with her friends. They were holding hands and whispering back and forth all night. She had a great time!

Tanner LOVED this ride! He literally rode it about 5 times.

Which was a huge improvement from 2 years ago....

We didn't get home until late and we were exhausted. Of course the kids were so hard to get up the next morning so they both got the spray bottle...have I ever mentioned the spray bottle on here before? I need to do a post about it. It's one of our favorite house rules!

Best Husband!

2011-10-30T13:50:00.000-05:00

Last week was a crazy week at our house...really what week isn't a crazy week at our house??

Wednesday I left to go out of town for work and I wouldn't be back until really late Thursday night. I had work Friday morning and then we had a rehearsal dinner Friday night. We had to be up and ready early Saturday morning for all the wedding activities. So anyone that knows me knows that the only way I can operate our house is with extreme organization. We literally have something to do every night of the week so I like to have all their clothes ironed and laid out for the whole week. I have all of their lunches packed and projects ready every night.

So Thursday when I was in Birmingham I was kinda freakin out about everything I had to get together and get done. So I texted Ryan a list. Everyone knows he isn't the kind of husband that doesn't help. He does just as much for the kids as I do and just as much housework as I do. But I wanted to show everyone the list because even I was surprised that he had all of this done by the time I got home Thursday night around 9:30.

Seriously??? How awesome is he!? Of course I didn't tell him that...we don't need his head to get any bigger! Lol!

On top of all of that, he helped do stuff for the wedding all day on Friday, came home and got him and both kids ready in the clothes he had ironed and had gotten together. Then had all 3 of them at the church on time Friday night! (I met them there from work).

Thanks Ryan for all you do to keep me sane and keeping our house running smoothly!

Fine Little Pumpkins

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Five llittle pumpkins sitting on a gate.

First one said, "Oh my it's getting late."

Second one said, "There are leaves in the air."

Third one said, "But we don't care."

Fourth one said. "Let's run and run and run."

Fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun."

"Oooh," went the wind.

Out went the light.

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

That's a poem that Ryleigh and Tanner both learned at ABC and Tanner says it all the time now. I thought it fit cute since we carved 5 pumpkins with friends Saturday night.

Seward Farms

2011-10-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

Saturday we went to Seward Farms. We go every year and always have so much fun. I'm not going to bore everyone with details since it's pretty much the same every year but I did want to record the pictures from the day.

Field Trip

2011-10-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

This past Monday Tan Man had his field trip to Seward Farms. ABC goes every year. This year Ryan and I neither one could get off so mom said she would take him. I think she really enjoyed getting to spend some one on one time with the cutest little boy ever. He spent the night with them on Sunday and then they went Monday morning. She gets to spend more one on one time with Ryleigh since Ryleigh loves spending the night away. Tan really enjoyed mom taking him and said he had so much fun! We are actually going again tomorrow as a family so Ry will be able to go. The weather is suppose to be beautiful and I am so looking forward to it!!

Here are some pictures from their day....

How sweet it that little smile...he's growing up WAY to fast!

This is Tanner's teacher, Mrs. Carter, who we ADORE!!!! Seriously we love everything about her!! I've had some major adjustments going from ABC where everyone knows you and knows your kids and basically everything about you to Ry's current school. Mrs. Carter was Ryleigh's teacher last year. I am going to miss her so much next year!!! I need her just to move up every year with Tanner. We know it takes a special teacher to have Tanner and she's just that teacher! We may actually keep him in ABC again next year instead of moving him to Turner. I just don't know if he's ready for a big school like that. But that's a different post for a different day.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Fun in Fairhope!

2011-10-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we I went to Fairhope with some of my friends for a Bachelorette party/lingerie shower.

My friend Megan is getting married in 2 weeks and we are so excited! Ry and Tan are her flower girl and ring bearer.

We went and ate at a really good Italian restaurant right across the street from the hotel. It was so delicious!

Then we went back to the room for her shower. Her mom had gotten these cute cookies made and some cake balls which were to die for!

We had so much fun just hanging out and goofing off! We didn't go to bed until really late.

The next morning we got up and went and had breakfast at Panini's Pete. It's in the Square in Fairhope and it's so good! I just LOVE Fairhope! I love all the little shops and streets. It reminds me of a movie!

After that we just walked around and shopped. They have some super cute stores. The only think that was really on my list was some Tom's for Tan Man for fall. Adrenaline is a store over there that is the only store in this area that carries kids size. Unfortunately they didn't have Tans size so it looks like I'll be ordering them offline.

Fisher is only 8 weeks old so he came along for the ride as well. He was so good the whole time and basically just slept.

Me and my 2 best friends.... I love these girls!

It was such a fun weekend and I'm so glad Megan invited me! Now we are just ready for the wedding to get here! Tanner has a countdown change counting down the days. I wouldn't say he's really excited about the wedding as much as he is excited about the prize he gets from Mrs. Pam afterwards!

Bless our hearts!

2011-10-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Last night we had to stay at Mom's house because Ryan was sealing our new concrete floors. I'll show y'all pictures when they are completely done. Anyway though, I was looking at pictures at moms and look at what I found...

Bless our hearts! All of our dresses look like they are made out of curtains. Ugly curtains at that. The 4 of us were the first 4 that came along (besides Josh and Luke who didn't live here) so we were all treated like brothers and sisters. I love that we still act like brothers and sisters!

I really have no idea what our parents were thinking! Wesley looks cute in this picture! Lindsey and I once again look like we are wearing curtains.

Ok, lets take a minute and look at the above picture...We have on sweatsuits. Seriously, sweatsuits! They dress us up in sweatsuits and take us to have our pictures made. I remember having our pictures made at Bag Um Up...is that right? Or am I remembering something else? Whitney looks so weird to me in the sweatsuit picture so to prove that she really was the cutest one out of all of us when we were little I found this picture...

Doesn't she just look so sweet!

Bikers Love Boobs

2011-10-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

I had this entire post wrote out and Blogger sucked it into some black hole that is the Internet and it is now nowhere to be found. So instead of actual post you get pictures only of our weekend...

yes, you are correct. That last picture is of our living room and the carpet being ripped out of it. No, we did not have a plan as to what we were going to do. Yes, we now do have a plan. No, we are not finished. Yes, my living room furniture is all over my house. And yes, that is giving me major anxiety!

2011-10-07T18:34:00.001-05:00

Dear Ryan, congratulations on your work anniversary. You have been so excited about this and for some reason it just makes me laugh. Dear Austal, thank you for employing my husband for the last 4 years and being a job that he actually likes. Here's to many more years! Dear Ryleigh, I'm so glad when you went back to school today everyone "hugged me and hugged me and hugged me. You would have thought I was gone to Africa for like ever. Everyone really missed me!" I'm glad you have so many friends and everyone at school loves you so much. Dear Tanner, from the above picture it looks like you may love cuddling with Ryleigh as much as she loves cuddling with you. Dear house, I don't think you have ever been cleaner. Dear weekend, thank you for being 3 days!! Here's to breast cancer bike rides and boat rides! Dear Whitney, I am forever indebted to you. Thanks for your help this week. Also, I would guess you smell like waffles. That's purely a guess though. Dear Jordan, here's to a speedy recovery! Hope you get to feeling better. Dear Ryan, I love you because you take Flour Girls cupcakes to your crew at work to celebrate your anniversary! I love you more than flour girl cupcakes and 3 day weekends!

2011-10-05T07:30:00.001-05:00

Ryleigh and Tanner were in trouble last night for not being good for Dawn yesterday. So as punishment when they got home from soccer practice it was dinner, bath and bed by 7:15. Even worse it was seperate beds without any TV's on. You would have thought the world was ending. They sleep together every single night and when you sperate them it isn't pretty. Espically if on top of that you make them go to sleep without the TV on. So this morning Ryleigh comes in my room and I wasn't up yet so she got in the bed with me and here was our conversation....

R-I want to snuggle I'm freezing!
Me-ok, let's snuggle!
R-You want to know why I'm so cold?
Me-Why?
R-Because you didn't let Tanner sleep with me.
Me-What does that have to do with you being cold?
R-Because Tanner is always warm and I like to snuggle up to him.
Me-Does Tanner get mad when you do that?
R-No, because he doesn't know. I wait until he's asleep and then I snuggle up close to him.
Me-I can't eblieve he doesn't know since you are a crazy sleeper.
R-I'm really careful not to kick him. Becuause if I did I think he would jump up and ninja kick me.
Me-I bet he would.
R-Mom?
Me-Yes, Ry?
R-Please don't tell Tanner I like to snuggle with him when he's alseep. I don't want him to think I really like him sleeping in my bed.
Me-Ok Ry, I won't tell him.
R-And mom please don't get him his own TV for his room.
Me-Why not?
R-Because he'll want to sleep in there and then I won't have him to snuggle with. But remember don't tell him.
Me-Ok Ry, I won't. But I bet he likes snuggling with you too.
R-probably so but he would never say that out loud!

Hello, October!

2011-10-02T20:31:00.000-05:00

I would venture to say that fall is here! It may only be here for this weekend but it was still wonderful! Friday night we went to MGM's Homecoming Game. Ryan played and did really well. Jordan still isn't able to play and is having surgery on his knee this week.

Ryleigh LOVES Azalea Trail Maids! She calls them princesses. All night she wanted to go see them. She actually ended up knowing this girl. We walked up to her and then they just started talking to each other. It's kinda strange having popular kids! She was a helper at Ryan's Aunt VBS over the Summer. She went on and on about how much she loved Ry and Tan and how good they were.

Saturday morning we got up and went and had breakfast at the Spot of Tea. Aunt Cheryl had mentioned it to Whitney Friday night at the game about them going. Well of course I invited myself along and then called and invited everyone else!

Aunt Velvet and Aunt Lisa were there to but they were on the other side of the table and I didn't get a picture. Sorry guys! We missed you Linny Lou and Mom.

After that Ry and I headed to her fall festival at her school. The boys had gotten up that morning and went to the hunting camp.

Can I just say that I LOVE her fall outfit. Seriously, all day everyone kept commenting on how cute she looked and that just makes me smile!

The boys took this golf cart to the hunting camp so when they got home Saturday afternoon the kids rode it in the yard all afternoon long. They would go around and around the yard completely by themselves. They were really good at it.

Saturday night we had friends come over to watch the game...for some reason I didn't take any pictures except these to of the cutest little baby boy, Fisher! We had like 20 people over here including 6 kids...it was pretty loud and crazy!

Tan Man loves baby Fisher! I love this picture of them two!

Everyone left at the beginning of the 4th Quarter because we all had to get up for church Sunday morning. As I closed the door when everyone was leaving I turned around and this is what I found! My crew was worn out!

Just Some Sentences

2011-09-28T20:12:00.000-05:00

We have been busy lately, but when are we not? Ryleigh got her progress report this week and had 5- 100's and 1- 95. The 95 was in number recognition 1-5. I'm fairly certain that she just was pre-occupied when she answered the question. She knows her numbers, especially 1-5. Tanner still hates school...I think this is an ongoing thing. He does however love soccer. He gets to practice with them every week. We are loving the weekends that consist of friends and football. Everyone please say a prayer for my Paw Paw. We are believing God for a miracle because we know he can work one. Also, please pray for Paw Paw Barnes, Larry's dad. He is still sick and in the hospital. Ryleigh and Tanner are currently obsessed with playing with cars. We've always had millions of matchbox size cars but now they seem to be everywhere. The rooster hates us. All of us.. He will literally chase you and try to attack you. The kids run after him with sticks, yelling like crazy people. It's pretty funny. Gus is better. I can't remember if I told ya'll he was sick. He was and it cost me a fortune. I'm obviously not happy about it. I'm almost done with redoing our living room. We haven't done anything major. Just new pictures on the walls and new throw pillows. It's funny how something small can make it look so different to me. It makes me happy! This weekend Ryleigh has her fall festival at school. Is it weird that I'm most looking forward to it because she'll be able to wear her new fall outfit? I'm sad that Tanner just has a orange polo to match. I'm ready for Christmas and apparently the kids are ready for Easter. They are currently hiding eggs in the living room for each other to find. Well I need to get them in bed. Good Night!

Soccer!

2011-09-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Ry decided this year that she did not want to take dance and she wanted to play soccer instead. So we signed her up! I along with everyone else honestly thought she would hate it. We thought she would go to a few practices and would be completely over the heat. That girl hates being hot or sweating. (Why, yes she is my child! :))

But believe it or not she actually loves it!! They have small teams (5 per team) so they all get to play a lot. I think she likes it because it keeps her interest. Her first game was this past Thursday. She was so excited that a lot of our family came. Sidenote: I love that. I love looking over and my kids always having their own personal cheering section. It's not just their parents or even parents and grandparents it's a whole crowd of people that are there to cheer on them. It makes me smile! So thanks everyone for coming!

She did so good in her game!! She actually played the entire 45 minutes while the coach swapped everyone else out. They technically don't keep score (although I do because someone has to win and lose and you need to know who it is.) (We lost) but Ryleigh's team had 3 goals and all 3 were scored by her!!

I really didn't know that she had kept up with how many she had gotten but at the end of the game she looked over at all of us and held 3 fingers up!

You guys know that I'm not one to say my kids are so good at something if they aren't. But she is SOOO good at soccer!! Believe me, no one is as surprised as I am!!

Great job, Ry! We are so proud of you!!

Fall!

2011-09-23T08:41:00.002-05:00

Happy

Fall

Y'all!

Now if only it weren't still 90 degrees outside!

Crazy kids

2011-09-22T06:00:00.000-05:00

These kids are insane!

But that's why we love them!

Sunday!

2011-09-18T19:29:00.000-05:00

Today after church Ryan was having anxiety about not putting the boat in the water the past few weekends so we made a quick Sunday afternoon boat trip.

We rode to Fish River and ate at Big Daddy's restaurant in Fairhope.

We like going there because the kids can play in the sand while we eat in peace. We went with some friends of ours so it was nice to hang out and talk while the kids played.

It was a quick fun trip and now we are laying on the couch eating reese's and watching the Emmy's, I love watching awards shows. My dad and I used to always watch them together and would always try to guess who would win each category. Watching them makes me miss him. Ryan isn't near as good at guessing!

"Have you talked to your mom yet??"

2011-09-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

Ok, so it's no secret that I have a really close, big family. It's one of my favorite things in this world.
The downside though to having such a big, close family is that something is always going on. Seriously. Sometimes I sit back and think my goodness how can so many things happen in one family. But then I stop and think...we have a lot of people for things to happen to. Not many people count their 2nd cousins as their nieces and nephews.

One thing that drives me crazy about our family is the communication system in times of emergencies. Someone always gets left off and doesn't find out. More than once that person has been me and it drives me crazy! Technically all the aunts/moms say that they should call their kids and tell them. Well for some reason my mom forgets she has me!
Since this happens often Whitney and I for some reason always look out for each other. As soon as we hear news good or bad we make sure the other one has heard. Most times the other one hasn't heard yet. What I hate though is we usually are communicating by text and the text always start with...

"Have you talked to your mom yet??"

Anytime the name Whitney Ivy and this text pops up on my screen my heart DROPS! Like last night when I'm sitting at soccer and I get that text. I immediately respond with, "No, what's wrong????" Well then Whitney takes her sweet time writing me back while I'm sitting in the grass at soccer about to have a heart attack. Finally I call her and she said, I was just about to hit send! She goes on to tell me about what had happened and who was currently hospitalized. (It was lil' Ryan and he is fine, thank goodness!)

I basically yelled at her for texting me that first sentence and said from then on out she needs to just text what happened. (She did the same thing when Evan was in the hospital click on that to read about it) The time from that sentence to finding out what happened is torture! She then pointed out when Paw Paw was in the hospital I did the same thing to her!

We need a new intro line Whit....any suggestions?

Friday's Letter

2011-09-09T21:26:00.001-05:00

Dear Ryan, Do you ever remember having these chubby faced little kids? I sure don't! They have grown up way to fat and that makes me sad. Now they are by far the tallest and by far the skinniest in their classes. Someone should really feed them. Dear Ryleigh, I don't think I'm going to be able to handle kindergarten. I really don't. Yesterday you came home with a folded note in your backpack. When I opened it it said Erica and then her phone number. I do not feel like you are old enough to be swapping notes and phone numbers with your friends at school. Dear Tanner, you still hate football and you still hate school. You told mom the only thing going good in your life right now is bowling. You are officially crazy! Dear Tammy, I told you Pininterst was the best thing ever! You're welcome! Dear drive to Birmingham, I hope I don't have to drive you for a VERY long time. 6 times in 8 days was enough for me. Dear Mom, I hope your life becomes less stressful soon. We love you. Dear Paw Paw, we are still praying for you! I hope you get to feeling better soon. Dear Whitney, I am mad at you. You know why, the end. Dear Operation Starvation, you start on Monday. 4 weeks out of town and being able to expense meals has caught up with me. Dear Courtney, Your enthusiam makes me smile, so does your love of of white trash bags, LOL!!! Dear Lindsey, we haven't seen you and Brandon in a while. Come this way soon. Dear Aunt Lisa, I can't believe you wouldn't let Ry and Tan come over and take baths at your house tonight! They come up with the weirdest request. Dear Aunt Cheryl, I am mad at your daughter and I am also mad at you. You both know why. (I'm not really mad just so everyone knows! :)) Dear Ryan, this weekend will be full of football, football and more football. It would end up being the perfect weekend if Mississippi State beats Auburn! I love you more than I love Alabama Football!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-06T21:07:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went to my sisters house in Cullman, AL. I was not looking forward to the drive but I was really looking forward to seeing her. We hadn't seen her since June when she came up for Ry's dance recital. Mom made the trip with us and it was fun to make the drive with her and spend some time with her.

Tammy got them both presents. She got Ry some canvases. Ry is really into painting and painted Tammy a huge picture to put in her house. Seriously, it's as big as Ry. She got Tanner this skateboard that he loved!! She typed up this whole letter like the skateboard was from Lightening McQueen and he was so excited about it.

I took some pictures of her house so everyone could see it. Grant it they aren't great pictures because I took them with my phone but at least you can kinda see it. This is the view out her front window in the living room. It's absolutely beautiful and you can see for miles. She doesn't have any neighbors. The have like 10 or 15 acres and their house is right in the middle of it.

Tanner loved riding Jimmy's tractor!

This is her kitchen and of course mom was cooking in it. She made Tammy a chocolate cake for her birthday that was a few weeks ago.

This is her living room. Like I said the pictures are awful. The whole house has an "old farmhouse" theme. She's decorated with a lot of re purposed stuff and antiques.

This is her breakfast area/dining room. I love the shelf on the wall. She made it from on old board.

This is a wall in her den. I love the Red Brick (you can't tell it's brick here) and I love the clock!

Another shot of the den. This is Jimmy's "Man Cave!" It's where their only TV is in the house. Tammy HATES TV.

This is Tammy office. She has like 4 of those bookcases filled with books and it looks so cool in there.

This is the view out of her office.

And this is their bedroom. I wish I would have gotten better pictures. I just snapped these real quick before we left. I didn't even think to get one of the front of the house. It's so cute with a white picket fence that goes all the way around their front and backyard. I'm so happy for her and her new beautiful house!

While we were there she took me to some really cool antique shops and I got a ton of stuff! I know this all looks kinda like junk but it's going to look so cute in our house when I'm done!

We had a great weekend! It was really nice to be out of Mobile and not in all the rain. I hope everyone else had a great Labor Day.

Friday's Letter

2011-09-02T07:00:00.001-05:00

Dear Ryan, I hope you have an awesome time white water rafting this weekend! I'm sad I couldn't go. I hope yall have a great time! Maybe when you get back we can actually hang out. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. That's probably because I haven't. Dear Aunt Lisa, Tanner is fine. I was going to make some type of smart allelic joke here but I'll spare you! :) Dear Ryleigh, I'm so glad soccer went so well this week and I'm so glad you enjoyed it. You said you didn't even get hot, which is a miracle. Dear Tanner, I'm sorry I "wasn't choosing God's way" last night when I chose to not help you clean up the mess you made. You made the mess, you clean it up. I'm sure God would agree with me. Dear Paw Paw, I'm so glad you are out of the hospital and feeling better!! We love you!! Dear Tammy, we are looking forward to seeing you this weekend! I am however not looking forward to the drive. Boo! Dear Mrs. Carter, Tanner asked me last night if I had your phone number. When I told him I did he wanted to call you so he could "call in sick to school." Dear Room Service, you were delightful this week. It was so nice to just call a number and have them deliver crazy amounts of food right to your door. Dear Tanner, I love when I told you to put on your new sunglasses so I could take your picture, the above picture is what you did instead. I also think it's crazy that you and Ryleigh both own Costa's now. Your Dad is INSANE! Dear INSANE husband of mine, Although you are insane and literally buy the kids whatever they want I still love you. I have to repeat that to myself over and over again sometimes like when you buy them insane things! :) I love you more than you like spending money.

4 1/2

2011-08-30T07:00:00.003-05:00

Guess who is officially 4 and a half...

Seriously, have you ever seen such a cute little boy? That hair is enough to melt anyone's heart! I can not believe he is half way to 5! When he starts school next year I'll officially not have any more preschoolers. Just "big kids" :(

Tanner, You make us so happy! You are so cute and loving! I love your "signature" goofy pose!

Happy half way to 5 birthday Tan Man!!

Tired

2011-08-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

We have had so much going on lately. Paw Paw and Paw Paw Barnes have both been in the hospital last week and the week before. Thankfully Paw Paw is out and doing much better. Paw Paw Barnes is still in the hospital but is doing much better than he was a few days ago.

It's taking us a few days to get back into our school routine. I will say though that it has gone much better than expected. They have been getting up in the mornings the first time I wake them up. Which is huge! I have been luring them out of bed with sugar infested cereal! (Before this year they've never really had cereal. I think I may have bought 5 boxes in all of their life. Now we go through 5 boxes a week). I know it's insanely unhealthy but it is what's working for us right now. :)

Football is in full swing and thankfully Tanner is starting to like it better. I wouldn't say he loves it but he doesn't cry all the time. Ryleigh starts soccer tomorrow and is really excited about it. She didn't want to cheer because it's too hot and she didn't want to sweat. Well I've got news for you Miss Priss, you are going to sweat in soccer too. I'm with Courtney, I give you 4 weeks until you are begging to be back in that air conditioned dance studio! (My friend Courtney, Ry's dance teacher said she wouldn't make it in the heat, Lol!)

This past week I was out of town for work in North Carolina and was involved in my first ever earthquake. It was crazy! We were completely fine but it was just crazy seeing the water in the pitchers sloshing around like crazy. This weekend we just laid low. I felt like I couldn't catch up all weekend since I was gone all last week. Ryan did a good job at holding the fort down but I came back to mountains of laundry.

Saturday night we did go out with friends. Ryan and Courtney kept the kids and they had a great time! They talked about it all day long on Sunday. Our sweet friends Leslie and Blake are moving to Enterprise, AL. He got accepted to flight school. We went to Tacky Jacks and had a great time.

I look like I am newly engaged and trying to show off my ring....not the case. But isn't it a beautiful ring! :)

Sunday we just laid low and went to my friend Paige's daughter, Pearce's birthday party. The kids had a blast. They were even more excited about the party favors. Only Paige would have full fledged presents for all the kids as "party favors!"

Well I hope everyone has a fantastic week! I know we plan too!

Friday's Letter

2011-08-19T09:58:00.001-05:00

Dear Ryan, I love how you said I'll do the dishes tonight. So I went and got in the bed to wake up to the dishes still in the sink. Not cool. You did unload the dishwasher though which is the only other thing I refuse to do in our house. (Taking the garbage out is the other one. I've never done it once and I never plan to.) Dear Ryleigh, I thought I would love you wearing uniforms I however do not like it at all. They make you look too grown up! I'm glad you've had a great week and have and have gotten a smiley face everyday. I'm also glad that you are the teachers helper everyday! You are such a sweet girl and I love you. Dear Tanner, you have 13 years of school left so learn to love it. Mrs. Carter, I love that Tanner hates school when he's at home but loves it when he's there. I loves the text that I got from you saying Tanner said "I love school 60 times around the world!" Dear Paw Paw and Paw Paw Barnes, you both need to get to feeling better and come home! Our family is to big to all fit in a hospital room! :) Dear week, you have been the death of me. Seriously. I haven't gotten home before 8 all week long. Plus it's the first week of school so we are still settling into that routine. Maybe next week will be better. Dear Weekend, I heart you. Dear Erin Condren, I need to write an entire post about my love for my planner you made. It's a deep love! Dear Ryan, I love you for many reasons. Near the top of the list is the fact that you are the official garbage man at our house. I pay all of the bills but strangely I don't pay that one, you do. :)

K4!

2011-08-16T19:00:00.002-05:00

Today was Tan Man's first day of K4! He was actually really looking forward to it and jumped right out of bed this morning and kept asking how much longer until we leave for school.

At ABC you don't walk them in you just pull through the car line. Even on the first day! That's the one thing I don't like about that school. Everything else makes it the best school ever! Anyway though we were early and had some time to kill so we went in Curves. So I ended up walking him to school and walked him into his class. He was really excited about that since we had just walked Ryleigh to her class that morning too.

He walked right in and sat down and didn't cry or whine at all! He was just happy to be there and he was happy to have Mrs. Carter as his teacher.

Tonight when I talked to him though he had changed his tune. He did not have fun at all and the only things they did that were even kinda fun were going outside and eating lunch. Everything else was "no fun at all!" He drives me crazy!! I am not looking forward to battling this all year long. Please say a prayer for us.

Tanner, Even though you said you didn't have a good first day I know you did. You always say stuff isn't fun even if it is. You even say you didn't have fun at Chuck E Cheese after the fact but while you were there you were laughing and playing the whole time. I really hope you come around to liking school because you have a heck of a long time to go!

I looked back at when he started K3 this morning and noticed that he wore the same shorts both years. That wasn't planned at all. Here is the link to K3. He has also gotten so big since last year.

Kindergarten Here We Come!!

2011-08-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

This morning was Ryleigh Claire's first day of kindergarten. It is a big change for her. She is used to her very small private preschool and now she is going to a very large public school.

She took a while last night picking out what she was going to wear today. She wanted to wear shorts and I told her she had to wear a skirt or jumper. (I'm not a fan of shorts or skirts on little girls, ever. Especially not the first day of school!) Whitney was over and said we would flip a coin for skirt or shorts. Thankfully it came up skirt. (I'm not sure if Whit rigged it or not but I won!)

She got up this morning and ate pancakes and got dress and it was off to school we went!

Ryan of course took the morning off. He takes off for their first dentist appt so I don't know why I didn't assume he would take off for school .We walked her in and met her teacher and gave her the present we bought for her. (Like I said, I'm not above bribing teachers to like my kids! :)

She walked right in and sat at her spot and started coloring. She did kiss and hug me bye but she didn't even look twice when we walked out the door.

Last night we read 2 books about starting kindergarten and afterwards we took turns praying for the upcoming school year. This was her prayer word for word.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for giving me a fun mommy and daddy. I hope at school my teacher is nice. I hope we have lunch before my stomach starts making noises. I hope I make lots of friends and look really cute in my uniform. Thank you Jesus for school and my mom. I love them both!!

It was so sweet!! I love that girl!! Good luck Ryleigh on your first day of school! I'm sure you will make lots of friends and you sure did look cute in your uniform this morning!!

The things they say...

2011-08-14T18:48:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to record a few of the crazy/funny things the kids have saved lately.

This morning at church I got to smalltown to pick the kids up a few minutes early. They were still in service so I snuck in to watch them. There were around 50 preschoolers all seated on the floor. They were talking about Jonah and the whale. Mrs. Letha asked the class "What do you think it smelled like in that whales belly?" I'm sure she was expecting them to name off some gross smells. The first answer was from Tanner. He shouted out "Gravy!!" Mrs. Letha was just like, well ok Tanner!

Ryleigh said yesterday in the car every time I get an eyelash I wish on it that you would have a new baby. That's sweet Ry but I doubt it's happening!

One of my best friends Tina had a new baby boy this week. Fisher is the cutest little baby!! I was showing Ry and Tan the picture of him and I said now Maddie (Tina's daughter) is a big sister like Ryleigh is a big sister to Tanner. Tanner said "I hope Maddie is nicer to Fisher than Ryleigh is to me!"

Today while we were getting uniforms ready for the big day tomorrow Ryleigh looked at me and said "I just really think I need to go back to ABC. I'm just really not feeling these uniforms every single day!"

I love this time in their lives. They are old enough to say whatever but sometimes it comes out in the funniest way! Can I please freeze them at 4 and 5??? I need to take a picture of them and post it. We have been at the beach all week and they are seriously so tan. Tanner looks like a little surfer with his curly blonde hair and tan body. We had a great week and are looking forward to all the craziness coming this week!

We are alive and well!

2011-08-10T18:22:00.001-05:00

Lindsey called today to make sure we haven't upped and moved to Canada! She said I hadn't updated my blog in forever. So what have we been up to??

Enjoying out last bit of summer before our baby girl starts real school and we no longer have the luxury of missing school whenever we want her too.

We've been busy with football practice, engagement parties, swimming, swimming and more swimming.

We got to the beach on Saturday and have been here since then. This week we are doing all the touristy things we usually don't do.

We've gone to the track and Waterville. They loved Waterville. We were literally there from when they opened until they closed. They both rode all the big slides and loved them. They even did the adult body slides all by themselves! They also rode the rollercoaster. Ry loved it, Tan hated it.

Ryan went back home and to work this morning so it's just me and the kids the rest of the week.

We hung out with Ryan's aunt and her crew today and stayed at the beach all day long. I normally put like SPF 70 on them but today I just put 15 and they look so cute and tan!

We are finishing up the week with a lot of the same thing and are looking forward to it!

I'll be back to blogging on Monday.

It'll be a big day at the Stokley house. I can't believe my baby girl will be in kindergarten.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures...I love this one of them. He looks so tall in it and she looks absolutely beautiful!

Football

2011-08-03T19:21:00.001-05:00

Tanner said he wanted to play. We went and got new cleats, pants, mouthpiece, chinstrap and everything else. He picked it all out and was so happy to be playing a "real" sport so he said.

Everything went so good the first 3 days of practice. They weren't in pads yet and were just running easy drills.

Insert real practice and real pads...also insert lots of tears. Lots and lots of them. He hated it. He cried the whole time. Granted he wasn't the only one but still.

Last night he did much better and was so proud of himself when he tackled someone and out ran everyone else.

So I had high hopes for tonight...major let down. He cried for the first 30 minutes of practice. Once he finally calmed down he was having fun again.

He said "before I didn't know football was fun. Now I do!" we'll see how much that changes between now and tomorrow.

But I'll sat what I always say..."he may not be the best player and he may be the biggest crybaby but he is BY FAR the cutest!!!!" :)

3 Ninjas

2011-07-31T20:43:00.001-05:00

My all time favorite movie as a kid was 3 Ninjas! Aunt Cheryl had a yard sale a few months ago and was selling the original one that was ours when we were little. Lindsey, Whitney and I would play ninjas for hours all the time! We were ninjas for like 4 years at Halloween.

I was always Rocky, Lindsey was Colt and Whitney was Tum Tum. When we got the movie and watched it for the first time with the kids I texted Whitney and Lindsey "Rocky loves Emily!" they both texted back "3 Ninjas!!!!"

Ryan, Courtney and Jordan are over tonight and Ry pulled it out. Courtney had never seen it!?!?! Ryan said they were breaking up! :)

So here we are all piled in Ryleigh's room watching it tonight. We can't watch it in the living room because it's VHS and Ry has a VHS/DVD player in her room.

If you've never seen it you have to go rent it! Well, actually I'm not sure if you can rent it anymore and you sure as heck can't borrow our copy since I'm pretty sure it's a collectors item by now!

Harry Potter

2011-07-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

Anyone that knows me knows of my intense love for Harry Potter. When I was in high school a lady that I worked with bought the books for her son and he loved them! He was a lot younger than me but she lent me the 1st one to read and see if I liked it. I LOVED it! I finished in like 1 day and was hooked!!! I immediately bought books 2-4 in paperback and read them in like 3 weeks.

The 5th book came out in June of 2003. I had just graduated high school and Ryan and I were recently engaged. We were dead broke trying to save up to get married. The 5th book was released on June 21, 2003 which was mine and Ryan's anniversary. I couldn't wait to read the book but unfortunately the waiting list at the library was 100 miles long and the book didn't come out in paperback for a while. They only had it in hardback and it was like $40. Ryan was working out of town and I remember him coming home around that time from Atlanta for the weekend and buying me all the books in hard back including the 5th one! To this day that goes down as the best present he has ever gotten me. To this day they are proudly displayed in our foyer! I want to get books 1-7 in the Britain hardback. They have different covers on them.

Book 6 and 7 Whitney and I waited in line at Books a million for the midnight release! She thought I was crazy but she loves me anyway and would go with me! :) When the 7th book came out I was really sad that it was completely over. I knew that I still had the 7th movie to look forward to though. Well 2 weekends ago it really did all end. I was heartbroken!

Jordan and I went to see it the Saturday that it came out. It was such a great movie and I loved it!! Jordan had never read the books so he really had no idea how it was going to end which was fun! Even though I had, it's amazing what you forget.

I know some people think Harry Potter is dumb or is bad since it's about magic but it will go down as my all time favorite book(s). Just this past week I have introduced the series to the kids. We are reading a chapter ever night in the first book and they have watched the whole first movie and part of the 2nd one. (We watch about 30 minutes every night before bed). It's been fun to go back and re read and re watch the movies and books I love so much!! Tanner really loves the movies...Ryleigh isn't a big TV/movie watcher but she really likes the books. I think we'll have to stop them watching the movies after the 3rd one for now...they get kinda scary after that.

The books have so many good themes in them that go way past magic...good vs. evil. Prevailing when the odds are against you, making the right choice even when it's not the easy choice....

Now, I'm really sad it's over. :(

Saturday rain :(

2011-07-24T21:52:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning we got up way to early and headed to Dauphin Island. After filling the boat up (we will never let it get that low again. It really hurt my debit card!) and meeting mom and Larry we headed out on the water. We were going fishing and just going to hang out at the beach. Well the STUPID rain had other plans. I seriously HATE rain! I think it should only be able to rain like one or two days a week. Only during the weekdays while we are at work.

Anyway so once we got the boat loaded back up the kids decided they wanted to go with mom and Larry. So that left Ryan and I with a whole Saturday afternoon to ourselves! We took a nap and then got ready to go off. We went across the bay and went to a few shops. FYI-Belk is having a big sale on Columbia. Ryan got some Columbia fishing pants for $20, regular $75.

I had a groupon to Blue Gill so we went and had dinner there. We had the best time. We sat outside right on the water at sunset. (so cheesy, I know). They had a really cool band playing outside too.

On our way home Ryan decided he wanted to go get a tattoo. He's been wanting this particular tattoo for like 3 years but we've never taken the time to go get it. We went to a place all of our friends go, Exit 13. It was so nice and clean and the owner actually did Ryan's tattoo.

Here it is this morning before church. It says Ryleigh and then when he flips his arm it says Tanner.

It looks really cool. I wasn't thrilled at first about where he got it because it isn't easily covered up but like he said, he'll never have a job where it really matters.

Friday's Letter (on Saturday)

2011-07-23T07:15:00.001-05:00

Dear Ryan, the above saying fits us exactly. We are way cooler than everyone else when we are together. Hands down. Dear Rain, I am over you, OVER YOU!!! Please don't rain today, please. Dear last night, I had a wonderful night last night at home by myself while my crew was at the Monster Truck rally. Dear Mobile Civic Center, you suck, that is all. Dear Tanner, you start football on Monday, let the crying begin! Dear Ryleigh, I'm ok with you playing soccer but you are also doing dance and/or cheerleading. Dear Bean Bags, you just flew out of the boat and onto the rode. Thank you for being ok and not like flushing $100 down the drain. Dear Pinterest, you are my new favorite website. Now if only I were crafty. Dear Facebook, I deleted the app on my phone this past Tuesday and haven't been on you since. I've actually only missed you a few times. Let's see how long I can go. I hope maybe forever. Dear rain, I'm serious about what I said earlier. Please don't rain today. Dear Ryan, watching you getting beanbags out of the road makes me love you even more. See, we are way cooler than everyone else! I love you more than Ryleigh and Tanner love marine grade bean bags!

Bridges

2011-07-18T21:23:00.001-05:00

Today was my baby girl's first day to go to Turner. They have a summer program for kindergarteners called Bridges. It's to help them bridge the gap between either pre school and kindergarten or no school and kindergarten.

It's everyday this week from 8:30-1:30. They play and tour the school and kinda get used to what real school will be like in a few weeks. Ryleigh's was most excited about not having to wear uniforms this week. She said, "At least I'll have a few days to show my teacher I know how to dress cute!" It didn't take her to long to pick out her outfit. The one pictured above is hands down her favorite thing to wear. She wasn't thrilled with the bow but the outfit itself already makes her look to old :)

This morning I was pretty nervous. She seemed fine though. I was just nervous because it was a new school with new teachers and no one she knew. By the end of the day though she said she had made friends with everyone in her class.

She's excited to go back tomorrow and already has her outfit picked out! :) I love that girl. I can't believe she will be an official kindergartener in a few short weeks. I may cry! (doubtful, but we can pretend! :))

Friday's Letter

2011-07-15T15:51:00.001-05:00

Dear Ryan, I hope you are having fun at the Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo! 3 straight days of nothing but fishing from sun up to sun down...I'll pass. Dear Ryleigh, Madison and Madisson, you 3 have got to be the prettiest girls ever. I'm so glad you are friends and I hope yall always stay friends. Dear Ryleigh and Tanner, it's just the 3 of us this weekend...what do you guys wanna do??? Dear Nana and Paw Paw, I enjoyed coming over on Tuesday night. I promise to come over more often. Dear Evan, Please get a hair cut! Please! You kinda look like Wold Man when you poof it all up like in the picture below. Poor Skylar. Dear Lunch Supplies, I bought 20 cases of Capri Suns (200 drinks) and 20 lunchables for $12 today. I know, I rock!! Dear Aunt Cheryl, The older I get the more I am turning into you! Dear Whitney, Jordan, Evan, Ryan and Lindsey, I'm so mad none of you will make time in your busy schedules to go see the new Harry Potter movie with me. This REALLY makes me sad. Dear Ward, I don't think anyone is following you on twitter because your twitter name is lame like yall's fishing team shirts. Just kidding! :) Also, would you please not let Ryan blow our life savings at the fishhing rodeo? Thanks! Dear Ryan, I hope you catch the biggest fish and win a new Contender. If you do I will take care of selling your current boat and I get to keep the profit! Love you!

Blue Angels

2011-07-13T19:46:00.001-05:00

We had a great weekend! We took the boat out on Saturday to watch the Blue Angels in Pensacola. We launched from Orange Beach and the ride over there was ROUGH!

I have no idea how Ryleigh slept like this the whole way over there but she did. Ryan thankfully ordered them marine bean bags that just came in yesterday.

I have no pictures of the actual Blue Angles but it was so cool watching them from the water. They flew right over our heads.

These people on the boat next to us gave us a whole watermelon. Everyone said it was so good! (I don't eat watermelon.)

You can't tell that much from this picture but there were boat's everywhere!

Tan Man loves the boat more than any of us. He lost his sunglasses this weekend on it though so he had to wear Ryan's. I was kinda mad because his sunglasses were polarized aviator ones and weren't cheap. (I'll give you 2 guesses on who bought them:))

On the way back it was a lot less rough which made for a much more enjoyable ride.

Hope everyone had a great weekend too! I'm already ready for the next one!!

Friday's Letter

2011-07-08T19:49:00.001-05:00

Dear Ryan, we are currently on date night. I don't think wandering around Lowes looking at stuff for the boat counts as a real date. I want a redo! Dear Blue Angels, looking forward to watching you fly over our heads tomorrow while we are in the water. Please don't crash on us. That wouldn't be good at all. Dear Aunt Velvet, you are on Ryleigh's bad list. Believe me it's not a fun list to be on. Dear Tanner, you are becoming more of a little boy everyday. This makes me sad and happy all at the same time. Dear West Mobile Football, you have a future Heisman Trophy winner playing for you this year. Dear Ryleigh, I'm sad you didn't want to cheer this year. :( I am however not sad that it saved me around $500. I literally laughed out loud when you asked if you could have that money since you weren't cheering. Ummm....I'm thinking, No! Dear Mom, I haven't wrote a letter to you in a while so I just wanted to say I Love You! Dear LindsEy, thank you for teaching my kids how to swim. I owe you and Brandon the $300 I was going to spend on private lessons! Or maybe I'll just buy you lunch one day. Dear Ryan, when you told me you had to go by Lowes my response was "You know that's one of my most hated stores! It's in the top 3, right up there with Bass Pro and Sams!" You're response, "Well looks like you got lucky tonight because we are just going to Lowes. Unless you want to go buy 1,000 rolls of toilet paper from SAMs then go to Bass Pro and eat dinner there!" Thanks for only making me go to one store I hate. I love you more than you love Bass Pro!

Since it's date night and I wrote this while following Ryan around Lowes I made him add something:

Dear Tiffany, you are the worst shopping partner ever. You hate all the good stores and never let me spend any money. I love you more than I love spending money which everyone knows is a whole heck of a lot!

Hiccups

2011-07-06T21:15:00.001-05:00

Ryleigh and Tanner believe the old wives (is it wives or wise??) tale that hiccups mean you are growing.

Anytime they have them they get so excited and tell each other. That usually results in the other one getting mad because in their mind they aren't currently growing.

Tonight Tanner had the hiccups for a long time. He kept saying how he was going to be taller than Ryleigh by the end of the night!

Once the hiccups had passed he laid on the floor and made me lay down right beside him. Our heads were side by side and he said "My goodness! I only need to get the hiccups a few more times and I'll be as tall as you!" He then wanted me to google what causes hiccups so he could make them happen!

How does he even know what Google is??? He's a mess!

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T10:10:00.001-05:00

Happy 4th of July!!

We hope everyone has a great, safe day!!

Sunday Funday!

2011-07-03T21:43:00.001-05:00

Told you...a lot of the same thing. :)

We took 3 boat loads of people out to Robinson Island and hung out for the day.

The kids had a ton of fun. We had a good bit of kids with us and they just played and played.

We took lunch with us so we just ate in the island.

I could lay on the raft in the water all day long. Seriously.

Tonight we went to dinner. Well there were like 12 of us and the waitress completely screwed up our order so the manager gave everyone their food for free! I was excited! A free dinner :)

Then we went to the Wharf and got ice-cream while we waited on the fireworks.

She's into getting her picture made lately. Tanner however is not. Look at this picture, he looks like he hates life.

We are so much alike it's scary!

She's so lucky to have me as her mom! Haha!

I love 4th of July! I love the beach, the fireworks, the too cute matching outfits of theirs. They are getting to not like matching but 4th of July they just have to deal with it! I told Ryan people who don't dress their kids in red, white and blue on the 4th of July are just unAmerican! :)

Saturday

2011-07-03T15:35:00.001-05:00

Our Saturday was spent the way I feel like most of our Summer Saturdays from now on will be spent. Early morning fishing. Minus me and Ryleigh.

Taking the boat out to some random island.

Finding pirate ships that Jack Captain Sparrow are on. (That's what Tanner calls Pirates of the Caribbean.)

Taking the boat to eat at my favorite restaurant, Hub Stacey's.

Floating on rafts.

Coming in and taking showers and getting ready to go to dinner...on the boat.

It was such a pretty night!

Dancing to live music.

And falling asleep on the boat ride home at almost midnight.

Looking forward to doing it again tomorrow!

Friday's Letter

2011-07-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

Dear Ryan, This is the first full weekend of having the boat our for more than a few hours. Why do I feel as if there is a possibility we will be broke by Monday?? Dear Aunt Lisa, The snake situation at your house is really starting to freak me out. I'm buying you guys some moth balls. Dear BB, you survived the week of VBS! Congrats! Thanks for letting Ryleigh stay all week she had a great time. Dear Circle K, your milkshakes rock my socks off!! Dear Courtney, in the past few weeks you have introduced me to Circle K milkshakes and I have introduced you to coupons. This is a wonderful friendship. Dear LindsAy, I think it is un-American that you are staying at home this weekend to work on school work instead of going to the beach. Dear Boat, you have been the cause of many problems for me lately. I'm just telling you now, you better provide years of family fun for us. Or else. Dear Larry, thank you for watching Tanner for us and taking him fishing. He slept all the way from their house in Irvington to my work then from my work to home and then an additional 2 hours at home. He finally woke up around 8:00. He was wore out! Dear Velvet, I hope you didn't get lost in Atlanta. Although that would have made a great story. Dear Whitter, my couches look great!! The Rug Doctor doctored them right up. Next time though I feel as of we should clean them together It probably would have been more fun. Dear Jordan and Evan, we will be at the beach as well this weekend so don't think you'll be able to get away with anything since your mom is out of town! :) Dear Family, Looking forward to a day at the river on Monday!! Dear Ryan, if you don't stop swiping your debit card for boat stuff I'm going to have it turned off! I love you more that you love the rush of swiping your card. Which you should know is a lot because you've been swipe happy lately.

Homebody

2011-06-28T22:19:00.001-05:00

This week the kids were suppose to stay at their BB's house for the week, including nights. Well since we thought they would be gone all week we sent Ryan's mom to the beach. Why do things never work out like you plan??

We got a text around 9 tonight and saying Tanner wanted to come home. Well that's just fine until Ryan and I both have to be at work early in the morning. Like he leaves at 5 AM and I'll have to leave at 6:30 for a meeting.

I'm kinda surprised Ryan wasn't aggravated at him when we went to pick him up. Thankfully we were already out by their house eating dinner so we didn't have to make a special trip. He said he couldn't be mad because he knows that Tanner is a homebody.

Bless his heart he really is. Well I wouldn't actually say a homebody because he could care less about actually being home. He is a "wants to be with his parents" boy. He can be gone from home for forever as long as he's with me or Ryan. It's so funny to me how completely opposite him and Ryleigh are. She could be gone for weeks and never think twice about us. She actually got upset when we went to get him thinking we were going to make her come home as well.

So now he's laying in our bed asleep and couldn't be happier. I'm going to savor these moments when he doesn't like to be away from us for more than a day or two.

Goodnight Tan Man! Love you!

Miss me?

2011-06-27T09:06:00.000-05:00

So I realize I didn't post anything last week. We had a crazy week. I was suppose to fly out of town for work on Monday but then we had some things happen at work and I ended up staying here. We had a great week though! The kids are just enjoying their Summer. Ryleigh has attend a few VBS's and Tanner has missed her greatly. This week they both get to go to VBS at Ryan's Aunt's church. They are super excited about it! They will go today and actually spend the night with her until Friday. Stop, right now and say a little prayer for her. She'll have 15 or so kids at her house all this week STAYING THE NIGHT! I know, Bless her heart! They enjoy it so much though!

This weekend we didn't do to much. Friday night the kids both had someone spend the night then Saturday morning we went to see Cars 2. It was really cute. We spent Saturday afternoon shopping and hanging out in Malbis. Ryan spent entirely to much money on boat stuff so he took the kids Saturday night to the races. Which means I got to stay home by myself! It was glorious!

We have a busy few weeks coming up and a few past things to post. So I will be back soon! I hope everyone has a great Monday!!

Friday's Letter

2011-06-17T10:22:00.000-05:00

Dear Boat Owner Husband of mine, Today is D Day with the boat. You are suppose to be getting it today. Maybe the last minute prayers I'm throwing up will work. If not I think this will go down as your favorite Father's Day ever. Dear Dad, I'm not a cliche type person so you wouldn't think that Father's Day would make me miss you more than normal but it does. I think it's all the "dad" songs they play on the radio during this time. I miss you and I wish you were here so we could celebrate Father's Day with breakfast at Sidney's! Love you! Dear Uncle Terry, I'm glad you didn't die of a heart attack this past week when you saw the above snake in your yard. I would have to say I have never seen you so scared in my life. I'm glad you killed it though. Dear Tanner, The above picture kinda grosses me out. I had nightmares all that night about this snake. It was huge. thankfully we didn't see it on our way home from aunt Lisa's and Uncle Terry's that night. I'm glad they were the ones to find him. Dear Courtney, I'm so looking forward to floating on a raft in the pool all day tomorrow with you! Dauphin Island here we come! Dear Aunts who obviously don't love me as much as I thought they did, My feelings are still hurt from last weekend but I guess I will let it go. I promise you guys would have had more fun with me, Whitney and Lindsey! Dear Lisa (Williams), it would probably be a good idea for you to make some new friends...I'm not to sure about the people you hang out with! (I guess that would include me! LOL) :) Dear Ryleigh, you said something this week that was so hilarious I literally couldn't stop laughing. I am however not going to put it on here because when your older and find out I posted it for all the world to see you would probably be pretty upset with me. Thank you for making me laugh. Dear Ryan, I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day weekend. I really do even though I hope some last minute craziness will ruin your boat deal. I love you more that you love your new boat...well actually I don't know if that is possible.

The weekend

2011-06-14T21:39:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was something rare around our house...we didn't have plans. SHOCKER!

We got up Saturday morning and decided to head to Dauphin Island for the day. Lincoln had spent the night with Dawn on Friday night so we took him along with us.

The kids had a lot of fun but Tanner was a little disappointed. They didn't have the petting tank out. It was a huge let down for him.

They played in this ship for the longest time

This was their favorite exhibit. The turtles would swim right up to the top. It had a huge sign that said do not touch the animals...oh well! They should have made the aquarium taller! :)

We saw all of these crabs at the beach. Tanner was so excited about them. He said, "Take a picture of them and Facebook it!" I think it's hilarious that he even has a concept of what Facebook is.

We then headed over to my friend Paige's house on the island to spend the afternoon. She has the cutest little girl, Pearce.

This dummy mom forgot to bring bathing suits so Ryleigh swam in Tanner's shirt and her panties and both boys swam in their underwear. It was hilarious!

The ice cream truck went right by!

And they made a huge mess eating it! Especially Pearce. She would take a lick and then give a lick to Milly, the dog. We were dying laughing!

Once they all got dressed (minus underwear for everyone) we went to dinner on the island and then headed home.

I know some of you may be waiting for me to blog about the trip everyone took to the river this weekend minus Lindsey, Whitney and I, who were not invited. Once I get over my feelings being hurt I may have a few words to say about the incident. But until then I'm just staying silent. :)

Shopping with Nana

2011-06-13T20:49:00.001-05:00

This past week Ryleigh went to VBS with Nana at her church all week. (Tanner wasn't quite old enough to go.) She had so much fun! Her friend Anna that she goes to school with was there all week. Thursday after VBS Ryleigh and Nana went shopping. One of Ryleigh's favorite things to do! Nana had picked something up for Tanner that was around $5 and told Ryleigh she would buy her something as well. Well look at what she found....

The biggest stuffed dog EVER! I took a picture of it in the ottoman so you might would be able to tell how big it is.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I can't stand stuffed animals...especially ones that are as big as my couch! When Nana told mom, mom immediately said "Tiffany is going to be so mad!" Aunt Velvet texted me and said "How do you like the newest member of your family??"

As much as I don't like the huge dog I'm glad Ryleigh loves it so much! She had a great time spending the week with you, Nana Thank you for buying her an insanely huge dog that we now have nowhere to put! :)

Love you Nana!

Dance Recital

2011-06-13T13:18:00.001-05:00

I just realized I never posted the pictures from Ryleigh's recital last Saturday. She did so good and we were so proud of her!!!

Here she is on the way to the civic center. Aunt Tammy did her make up and it looked wonderful!
Ryleigh swore we had put fake eyelashes on her but we hadn't. Her eyelashes are just that beautiful! She kept trying to pull them off. It was hilarious!

This was her hip hop costume and her favorite dance of all. She surprised us all and did really good in hip hop. Tanner said he wants to take it next year. I think we may let him.

Her she is with her trophy. She loved it! She has such a sweet dad.

Here is her tap costume. This was my favorite costume. It was so cute! My friend Christy commented how the girl behind Ryleigh looks so nervous!

Here's her acro costume. She did good in acro...except for her cartwheel. All I can say about her cartwheel is Bless Her Heart!

And lastly was Ballet. She is not the most graceful person but she did wonderful!

She had such a fun time! We were there all afternoon. From 3 until almost 8. She had the most fun at the finale. I'm so glad we decided to do it this year. She loved the balloons falling down on them.

We are so proud of how good you did at your recital Ryleigh!!! You danced so well and looked absolutely beautiful!!!!

We love you!

Rain, rain, rain

2011-06-09T07:59:00.001-05:00

One of the advantages of living on a dirt road...when it rains for 2 days you have the best mud puddles to play in!

I had put up my phone but by the time they were done they had added a slide, dump truck, garage can and a shovel to the huge "mud pond" as they called it.

Tonight was a fun night. They came in freezing cold and covered in muddy water. My laundry room is now a mess.

Aunt Tammy

2011-06-08T15:00:00.001-05:00

We were so glad that Aunt Tammy came to visit this weekend.

We missed her so much!

We were sad to see her go.

And can't wait for her to come back again!

Friday's Letter

2011-06-03T10:22:00.002-05:00

Dear Ryan, I just hung up the phone with you and was aggravated. But I'm going to write you a letter anyway. :) The otter box you just bought better NEVER come off of your new iPhone 4. EVER. You hate otter boxes so I have no idea why you would let the stupid AT&T girl talk you into one. Whatever though. Dear Ryleigh, good luck at your recital! I'm so excited about it. Dear Dance Moms, please don't freak out tomorrow if your daughter sits down in her costume or forgets a part of their dance. IT'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL! They are 5 and are there to have fun. Stop living life through your children. Dear mood, please change for the better, effective now! Dear Tammy, I'm SOOOOO excited you are coming home this weekend. It's been way to long! Dear iPhone 3G of Ryan's, you had a fight with the ocean and the ocean won. This makes me sad. Dear Aunt Lisa, Thanks for letting us use your blackberry for a few days. That thing is confusing! Dear Erin Condren Designs, your new planner I have ordered is going to make my life complete. How have I made it this long without you? So excited to get you in August. Dear Ryan, although I may be aggravated at you I have to say that you are by far the best dad in the world. Tanner received a trophy after playing TBall and Ryleigh was so upset that she didn't have one. So today, on your off day, the day before her recital you went and designed her a trophy. Thankfully the place can have it ready today. I can't wait to see her face tomorrow when you give it to her. She will carry it around proudly. The only girl at the recital with a trophy. I really think you should get an award for best dad. Don't expect it on Father's Day though. You just bought a new phone.

2011-06-01T09:11:00.001-05:00

This is what Tanner did

ALL

DAY

LONG!

I had the best day with you today

2011-05-29T23:06:00.001-05:00

We had the best day today. Seriously, at the end of the day all of us kept saying how fun of a day we had. We got up this morning and headed to the beach. The guys can't handle the beach for long, they get bored. So we made a deal to stay until 1.

After that we launched the boat and headed to lunch. We ate at my all time favorite restaurant Hub Stacey's. I love their food.

We then went boat riding and ended up at my friend Lindsey's beach house. Her whole family was out on the pier. So we stopped and the kids swam and fished.

Tonight we went to Allyson and Wesley's condo to eat dinner and hunt frogs.

Tanner was pretty good at catching them. Ryan and Wesley missed one that was literally as big as Tanner's head. I was really surprised that Ryleigh held one.

After we ate we all hung out and played games. My crew passed out on the couch. I think being in the sun and water from 9 am to 7 pm wore them out!!

I have some pictures and fun stories from Saturday at the river to share tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Friday's Letter

2011-05-27T09:51:00.002-05:00

Dear Ryan, I hope you have a good 2 days of vacation away from work and your family...is it bad that I'm really jealous??? Dear work, this has been a GREAT week!! Looking forward to many more just like this one. Dear Aunt Velvet, do you and Evan want to go see Kung Fu Panda with me and the kids tonight? I know that's one of Evan's favorite movies! Dear American Idol, I haven't watched you as much as I usually do but I love the choice of Scotty. He makes me smile. I also love Steven Tyler as a judge. The things that come out of his mouth make me laugh out loud. Dear Ryleigh, I'll admit it you are the UNO Queen. We literally have to play 10 times every night. You even beg me to invite Aunt Lisa over for dinner every night to you can rope her into playing with you. Dear4 day weekend, I heart you. Dear Lisa, contrary to what you may believe I think Ryleigh is a wonderful artist! That may fall under the same guidelines as when Tanner was a baby and I thought he was so cute when in all actuality he looked like an alien. Dear this past Sunday, you were one of my favorite days ever. Church, taking the boat out to an island, subway picnic on the island and sliding down a sand hill was the best! I love days like those. Dear Tanner, I'm glad you are feeling better. Being thrown up on at 1 am when you are dead asleep is not my idea of a good night. Dear Ryan, no Greater Love has been a great devotional book for the 2 of us. I'm looking forward to strengthening our marriage even more. Have fun scuba diving. I'm sad I won't be there to laugh at you in your scuba suit!

ABC Graduation

2011-05-24T15:00:00.002-05:00

Friday night was ABC's Graduation. It's primarily for the kindergarten class that is going to first grade at a new school. However all the kids perform at the graduation. Each grade level has a few songs they sing and normally the K4 class does the introduction, prayer and the pledge as well.
Please notice what Ryleigh's name is by in the program...yep, a song. Also please notice that her NAME IS THE ONLY ONE by the song! She had a SOLO!!!! I was a nervous wreck! I couldn't figure out how to put the video on here but it's on my facebook page. She did SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was a nervous wreck but she just walked up on stage and sang her song like a pro. Words cannot describe how proud we were of her!!!! She did amazing!!! I would also like to say that her bow was by far the biggest bow of them all. I was one proud momma!!!!

Tanner on the other hand...not so great of a performance. He stood there the whole time with his lip out and arms crossed. He wouldn't do any of the hand motions or sing at all. He's a mess. Afterwards when I asked him why he didn't participate he said, "I don't know why yall make me do things like that. It's dumb and for girls." Tanner, Tanner, Tanner, what are we going to do with you??

Congratulations Ryleigh Claire on your first solo performance!!! I'll have this video for whenever you become a famous singer and I can show it on E! as your first solo performance!!!

ABC Kindergarten

2011-05-19T15:38:00.004-05:00

I LOVE the school Ryleigh and Tanner attend. This is our second year at ABC and I love it more every year!! I'm sad that this was Ryleigh's last year there. Tuesday was their last day and they brought home some fun things.

Tanner made this book at school. It goes through every letter and has a picture of something he colored/made/painted on each page. It's really cute. I don't keep many things but I'll keep this. It's laminated and will hold up well.
Here are a few of the pictures from it. I love how cute it turned out. This must be something new they started this year because Ryleigh didn't do one in K3.
We also got end of the year report cards on Tuesday. I was so happy to see that Ryleigh had improved from S+ to all O's (Outstanding) but 1!! I was SOOOO proud of her!!!!!

Her only S was in coordination in printing. She starts writing so fast that she doesn't focus on doing a good job.
On the back of her report card there is a place for the teachers notes and here's what Mrs. Carter wrote about her:

Ryleigh is amazing! Not only is she fashion conscious and beautiful but she is also extremely smart! She is a product of love and good parenting. I have enjoyed having her in my class! Thank you for letting me be her teacher.

We also got Tanner's report card and guess what....He also got a few O's!!!! I know, you are as surprised as I am. He got a N (Needs Help) in counting. What's funny is he can count in Spanish better then English-Stupid Dora and Diego! (I can't stand those 2 shows and have no desire for my kids to learn any language but English. We don't live in Mexico!) (Sorry for the rant.)

I was surprised at how well he did in Social Adjustment and Work Habits. It's no secret that Tanner is not a fan of school!

Mrs. Parden wrote this about Tanner in December:

Sweet Tanner, I just love him! I hoped I would have Ryleigh's brother, lucky me!!

And then she wrote this in May:

I have really enjoyed Tanner this year. He is such a cutie and so full of life. I hope you guys have a terrific Summer!

Thank you so much ABC for the education you provide to my children. Especially Mrs. Parden and Mrs. Carter! We are so thankful for you 2 and the love and patience you display with every interaction with them. I know they can sometimes be difficult so I appreciate all you do!!! Mrs. Carter, FYI Tanner is nothing like Ryleigh so good luck with him next year!! :)

Curves

2011-05-16T12:01:00.002-05:00

For the past 2 years most mornings before school Ryleigh goes to Curves. I have to be at work at 8 and can't drop her off at school until 8:30. So thankfully Aunt Cheryl and Mrs. Kim let me bring her by there around 7:30 and she spends the morning with them. They then walk her to school. This is beyond helpful to me because it keeps Dawn from having to take her and then turn right back around and pick her up.

They feed her breakfast for me which is also a huge help! I used to always just take oatmeal or poptarts for her but they got to where they would buy stuff for her. Like Waffles and things like that. They normally always have a treat for her too. She loves going (most mornings) and loves how all the older ladies in there always make over whatever she is wearing that day.

This morning on the way to school I realized today is Ryleigh's last day at Curves. Tomorrow is their last day of school and on Tuesdays since they both go Dawn takes them and next year she won't be going to ABC. I just wanted to tell Aunt Cheryl and Mrs. Kim how thankful I am for them helping me with Ryleigh the past 2 years. She loves you guys and coming up there. Thanks so much!!!

Also if you need a great place to work out you should check them out!!!

Curves Fitness For Women-They offer Zumba and Toning classes as well!

Friday's Letter

2011-05-13T11:48:00.002-05:00

Dear Ryan, You and I haven't been on the same page this week. You've been working all week like crazy and I've barely seen you. I'm looking forward to quality time at the beach this weekend. Dear Aunt Cheryl, I can't wait to come home on Sunday to a CLEAN HOUSE!!! I think this is going to be the best Mother's Day present EVER!!! Dear Ryleigh and Tanner, I so enjoy our walks at night down the dirt road. It always reminds me of that song by Brooks and Dunn, Red Dirt Road. As much as the actual dirt on the road drives my car crazy that road will always have a special place in my heart. I love racing each other to the different mailboxes along the way and wishing on dandelions. Dear Ryleigh, no matter how many times you wish on a dandelion for me to have another baby it's not going to happen. Sorry Charlie. Dear Blogger, you have been down for 2 days and I'm really irritated by this. Thanks for at least working today. Dear Mrs. Parden, thank you for making water day at school on Tuesday. This was the only day in the entire school year that I didn't have to fight with Tanner about going to school. Can we talk to Mrs. Sowell about making everyday next year water day?? That would be great for me, thanks! :) Dear Ryan, Me+you+Ryleigh+Tanner+Beach+Sand+Sun=A Happy Stokley Family. I love you more than we love the beach!