Another year down.....

I haven't posted in a while - too much going on. We still have the house up for sale and are moving in the next two months. The kids are growing and the house is still a zoo, but a fun one. We have had a great Christmas at home and in Birmingham, visiting family and friends. Here are a few pics from the last couple months and a video of Kole playing the wii at Gran's. I hope everyone had an awesome holiday. Please remember us in your prayers as we make the transition to T-town and especially for the sale of our home. Thanks!!!

Stay Classy San Diego

Troy and I have been in San Diego for a few days and we are now back home. Troy spoke at a youth event for our friends' church there and so we made it a vacation as well. San Diego is one of the most beautiful cities I've been to - the weather is always sunny, slightly breezy and around 75 degrees. There is a lot to do there. We went to a historic lighthouse, the San Diego Zoo, the beach, and some good restaurants. BUT, the most fun thing we did will be posted in some videos below - laughter yoga. We were driving through a park and we saw this group of people laughing and doing strange things and the sign said "Free laughter yoga class." So, we turned the car around and Troy, Dave and I joined the class. It was hilarious. The teacher would have us pretend to be animals, talk jibberish to each other, etc. and then laugh. He made us pretend to talk on cell phones and laugh at what the people on the other line were saying. I have to say, we couldn't stop laughing and it felt pretty good. At the end, we had to lie down with our heads in a circle and just laugh without stopping (see pic in slideshow). Anyways, if you ever get the chance you should try it. We stayed with our friends whose house overlooks the harbor AND the next street over from theirs is the street Tom Cruise rode his motorcyle on in Top Gun. So that was neat to see. We had a great time, but were also looking forward to hearing southern accents again and eating country vegetables - so tonight we had hamburger steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and biscuits. Oh, and one more thing - if you ever get the chance to eat at In and Out Burger - it is worth it - they have fresh cut fries that are great.

Pumkin Patch

I went with Kole and Maci's class to the pumpkin patch and we had a really good time. Also, Maci started gymnastics this week - see pic and video below.

And now for the comical story of the week. Sunday night, we went to visit a friend's church in Mississippi. He just went on staff there and they were having an ice cream social to honor he and his wife after church. So they had all these chairs around the walls and kids were running around everywhere, so very informal. Troy was sitting to the left of me having a very serious conversation with the pastor of the church. Koby and Maci were to the right of me goofing off. The pastor's father, who was the guest preacher at the church that night and also a pastor himself in Tennessee, sits down beside Koby. Keep in mind he is an older gentlemen. Right as he sits down, I look over and Maci has turned her booty towards Koby, poked it out and pulled down her pants and panties mooning him. And of course the pastor is looking right at her. I fussed at her and it was really awkward - he didn't know what to say, neither did I. So he got up and went to throw his trash away. He came back and smiled and said "I have four two-year old grandchildren." Anyway, to sum it all up, my daughter mooned the guest preacher at the church we were visiting. To make matters worse, we ended up going out to eat with their whole family afterwards.

Random pics

Another party, a couple of minor mishaps, and a new obsession

Well, let's see.......we went to Bham for Kole's "baseball" birthday party and to catch an Alabama game. Of course DeeDee made the cute cake and Gran hosted the party. I also need to add into this that for the third time, DeeDee and Gran got the same presents for one of my kids. They have done this with all three now. I think it's so funny that out of all the millions of stuff for kids, they seem to pick out the same thing. I guess they just have great taste!

Moving right along, last week, Thing 2 (Kole) cut a snippet out of his finger with the scissors that Thing 1 (Maci) left out. Since I was cooking supper I had no idea what was going on (even though Kole was sitting at the bar right in front of me) and the thing bled for, no exaggeration, 45 minutes. Troy called a doc from the church to see what to do, but we finally got it to stop.

Two days later, while I took a five minute shower, (when I decided to do this, Kole was watching Barney and Maci was playing baby dolls), Maci evidently found an orange sharpee (from where I don't know because if you'll remember the sharpee incident from a few months ago, I put all sharpees out of reach), and started at one arm of the couch and continued writing on every cushion, finishing with the other arm of the couch. And yes, I lost my temper and went crazy. I did manage to get most of it out, but still have to work on some spots.

Finally, Kole still likes shoes, but his obsession has changed. He now likes to wear Koby's baseball helmet everywhere. He found it in the car and one day I looked back and he was sitting in his carseat wearing it on the way to school. He walks around the house in it, and this morning, I walked to the back of the house and when I got back in the kitchen, he was eating his cereal wearing his helmet. So above are the pics from all of this update.

Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall............

Well, Koby had to be Humpty Dumpty for a nursery rhyme parade at school. We asked him why he couldn't have picked something like Jack and Jill or Jack be nimble. Anyway, we figured it out at 9:00 the night before of course. Troy used an exercise ball stuffed with pillows for the fluffiness. He ended up looking like the kid from Willy Wonka, but he was the best dressed Humpty Dumpty in the class.

Happy 3rd Birthday Maci and Roll Tide!!!

Maci turned three and Gran and Papa and DeeDee and Captain came to help us celebrate. DeeDee made Maci a Hello Kitty birthday cake which was awesome. Most of the above pics are of the party - Maci got everything imaginable that was Hello Kitty. There are a couple pics of Maci's new temporary "big girl" bed. Since then, we have actually gotten her a bed, but no bedding yet - still working on that one. I figured it was time to finally take her out of the crib even though she still was fine in it. Plus, baby Reagan (Sherri's bambino to be), is going to use the crib.

There is one pic of Gran looking at a book with Koby - there is a funny story behind that. Koby came home from school one day all excited saying, "Daddy,Daddy, they took us all into the room where we usually eat and told us about this big Mega Party and all the games we could play and how much fun it will be." Troy is trying to figure out what he's talking about. Then Koby says, "If we get a certain level then Mega Man comes to the Mega Party." Then the light bulb came on and Troy said, "Koby, do you have to sell anything?" He said, "I don't know Dad, but the Mega Party is REAL!!!" Troy said his eyes were huge. So anyway, with all that said, we've been introduced to our first fundraiser. He has to sell 10 items to make it to the MEGA PARTY, so Gran and DeeDee gave him a good start.

Down below, Roll Tide!!!