I Won!

I really never win anything, but today I did! I ordered two shirts from my blog friend Darby a few weeks ago. If you posted a link to the shirts on your blog, she entered your name in a drawing for a free one. And I was the lucky winner! Check them out here. Thanks Darby! You made my day.

For the grandparents

Usually I am very good at remembering important dates like birthdays, anniversaries, and special holidays. I think it's a great way to remind people they are loved and remembered. However, at about 10 PM Sunday night as I was laying my head on the pillow, I said to Steven, "I think today was Grandparent's Day". And it was. And we had not spoken to a single solitary grandparent all day. This is my apology post to Elle and Grady's five wonderful grandparents: Mae, Poppey, GiGi, Grammy and Gran Gran. We really are blessed to have some of the most loving, giving and caring grandparents. Even though they all live from 1 1/2 hours to 6 hours away, they all make trips to visit several times a year. And they always bring gifts, which certainly helps the parents' pocketbooks. We just got a new playground for the backyard with birthday money from grandparents. The kids LOVE it! Sorry I missed your big day. Know you are loved and so appreciated!

The princess of the playground

Grady learning to "slide" down backwards. He was so proud of himself!

This is his usual pose lately.

Why your cell phone is not a toy

We went to Wal-Mart for the weekly grocery shopping at 8 AM this morning. It was probably not the best decision but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. By check out time--after we had stopped mid-way to sprint to the bathroom for Elle to go #2 (yes, I had her use the bathroom before we left but it seems lately she likes to save her business for Wal-Mart), after Grady had smashed every bread product in the buggy, after Elle had gotten run over by the cart 40 times, after I had held Grady and put him back in the buggy 10 times, after he had eaten a can of crescent rolls (just gnawed it to death, he didn't really eat it)--we were all done. Grady is screaming so I let him have my cell phone. I do let him play with it at the house so I knew this would keep him quiet for at least 30 seconds. I get him out of the buggy as I'm trying to pay and the cell phone drops in the cart between the groceries and the back of the cart. I think, "It's secure. I'll just get it after I load up the groceries." We finally make it back home and I unload all the bags and I realize my phone is not in my purse. This wouldn't be so bad except I don't have another phone or phone line. I load the kids back up into the car and drive rather speedily back to Wal-Mart all the while praying, "Please, Lord, let my phone be there." We pull back in to the parking lot and my phone is laying on the ground right in front of the buggy in the cart coral thing. Hallelujah! I was so thankful but this is why--even when you are desperate--your phone should not be used as a toy.

A Day in the Life

I have been doing my daily blog reading and everyone has cracked me up today. So to you I say thanks because I needed a little laughter today. I needed to be reminded that I am not the only one who thinks one of these days I just might go crazy. I needed to know your kids are hilarious and destructive at the same time too.

Yesterday was one of those days for us. And honestly, sometimes when I look back I think, "How in the world did we just manage to survive the chaos of today?". And the Lord gently reminds me, "I AM." All of His many promises to sustain me, give me grace, peace and understanding, to not give me more than I can handle, that He works all things out for my good come back to my mind and I say, "Yes, that is how."

Grady does not seem to be adjusting as well to Elle going to school as the rest of the family is. And by that I mean his morning nap has been all messed up. You would think that moving it back by a mere 15 minutes wouldn't be that big of a deal. You would be wrong. Yesterday he was asleep before we even pulled out of the neighborhood to take Elle to school (around 8:40 AM). He was out the entire trip to school and back. We get home about 9:20 and I ever so gently transfer him from car seat to crib. Not happening. He was ready to go after his 30 minute nap. Once again all the big plans I had for that time while he was napping and Elle was at school flew right out the window.

We leave a little before noon so that we can get a few groceries before picking up Elle. After we pick her up, we head to a radio place to finally get the coins out of my CD player. It has been at least two months and I could not possibly sing the Wheels on the Bus or Old MacDonald one more time. Granted it is now nap time for both children, but Grady's 12 month check-up was at 2:20 PM and it would have been pointless for me to drive all the way home, spend 30 minutes and drive all the way back up to where I was. So, we go to the radio place--who I called earlier to make sure they would be able to do this in the 40 minute time frame I had and to tell them I would be there at 1:30--and the guy says, "Well, I'm not sure I have anybody that can do that right now." I think he saw the look on my face combined with me trying to corral my two very tired children and decided that he could find someone to do it. We leave there with a working CD player and radio and head to the doctor. Elle and Grady are so delirious that they are running around the little table in the waiting room falling down and laughing hysterically. Grady had to have two shots and another finger prick at the end. As I am holding him still and trying to console him while the torture is going on, Elle begins to cry because she doesn't like what the nurse is doing to Grady. It was really sweet to see Elle be that empathetic, but once again, both of them are screaming. We finally make it to the car to head home around 3:15 and within seconds of getting them buckled in, they are making the sweetest snoring symphony. Both with mouths wide open. Needless to say, Elle's only lasted for the 15 minute ride home, but Grady snoozed for a good while. The good news was that we got some things accomplished and Grady is doing wonderfully. He did have a pretty significant growth spurt, and I was encouraged to learn that not only did he put on the pounds (which I knew he was doing) but he also grew up too.


Height: 31 inches (75%)
Weight: 22 lbs 12 oz (50%)

Some great friends of ours are coming to stay with us for the weekend and I am really looking forward to seeing them and spending some good time with my dear friend. Today is my step-mom's birthday so Happy Birthday GiGi! Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend.

**I justified the margins just for you, Steven!

Too Cool for School

Elle loved her first day of school today. And although I thought four hours would be enough for her, she still got upset when her teacher brought her to the car to go home. She didn't want to leave yet. I think it is safe to say she will thoroughly enjoy her first year of pre-school. And although I had such high hopes for what I might accomplish during those four hours, I think I managed to do less than what I get done when Elle is here. I did take a shower which could possibly be considered a minor accomplishment. Doesn't she look so grown up? I had gotten a few treats (pencils, markers, stickers, princess notebook--Steven saw the notebook and laughingly said, "what is she going to be taking notes?") and this outfit and filled her backpack with them this morning. She was so excited. Her favorite thing: "basketballs" for snack--that would be Yogos bits, those yogurt covered fruit chew things.

The old man is definitely snoring

We had such a fun, but busy people-filled weekend that I am still trying to recuperate. That combined with the three days of non-stop raining and pouring are enough to make anyone extremely tired. I did see the most gorgeous rainbow I've ever seen yesterday. It was a complete semi-circle (it even looked like I could see the end... no pot of gold though) and the colors were so incredibly bright. I'm glad I saw it because otherwise I might begin to think the Lord was flooding the earth again. Anyway, Friday morning I took the kids to the McWane Center. We met two other friends of mine with their kids and it was a blast! The kids had so much fun for THREE hours and we didn't even make it to one floor. They would have been asleep much sooner in the car had I not gotten lost trying to get back to the interstate from downtown Birmingham. I always do so well with directions to somewhere and then I just head out like I know where I'm going and end up doing u-turns and driving in places that I probably shouldn't be driving and going down one way streets away from where I need to be going. We did make it home eventually and we will definitely be going back there soon. It was well worth the time and effort!






That afternoon, some other friends were in the area and dropped by with their two boys. They ended up staying for dinner and the kids played hard. Elle was exhausted when she finally got in bed that night. After the kids were in bed, our neighbors came over and we played cards until about midnight. I hope you are getting tired just reading this. And then I slept in on Saturday. Yeah right! The kids were up and at 'em at 7 AM and Mommy had to be too. We had company again on Saturday night, one of the same friends who had gone to the McWane Center with us. Only this time, our husbands were with us. We did get some down time yesterday afternoon after church. I love being with people but it also drains me. So today we have been watching the weather (got to love how nuts we go over weather--constant TV coverage, schools closing, etc.) and hanging around the house, inside. Tomorrow is the big first day of school for Elle. That is, unless it's raining and school is cancelled.

Check this out

A friend of mine (and I say "friend" although I have never met her and only know her through her blog?! I did grow up with her husband, so it's not a total stalker situation. She is an inspiration regardless!) is making the cutest t-shirts and taking orders for a few more days. If anyone is interested, check them out here. I have ordered two of the Auburn ones for my little tigers.