3 Ninjas

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

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 :(

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy 4th of July!!












We hope everyone has a great, safe day!!

Sunday Funday!

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

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

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.