The Fire Station

Today we went to the Fire Station. Abram LOVES LOVES LOVES fire trucks. This is one of the things I have always wanted to do with him. Today we got a tour of the fire house and got to sit in the truck!!! I don't know who was more excited!!! I have never seen a yellow firetruck before, but according to the lieutenant they can come in any color. He said he has seen pink, black, yellow, and red (of course). They had a fire chief a while back that picked yellow, and when he retired they wanted to paint the trucks red, but it's really expensive and you can see a yellow truck coming more clearly. I got so excited I made iron-ons for the kids. The boys shirts say "Fire trucks rule" and the girls say "I heart Firefighters". I didn't get a good pic of the girls shirts, but you can see them on the slides. It was really hot and muggy today, but we had a lot of fun. Abram and I went through the Chick-fil-a drive-thru for lunch. I tried to let him drink his chocolate milk by himself (instead of getting into a wreck). He soon found out that you don't tip this like a sippy cup. It was a great morning. I am so grateful for the fire department and the brave men and women who protect our community. I am using a different slide program, so hopefully everyone will be able to access this one!!

BFF

Obi puts up with so much.....and Kris never puts Abram's pants back on after he changes his diaper-is that a daddy thing? We went on another "field trip" today pictures coming soon!!!!

Mama's Game Face

I know that I have posted soo many zoo pics this summer, but really, how many times can a toddler enjoy the zoo? Well, today is a bit of a story. Our playgroup was taking a field trip to the zoo. It was going to be perfect-we made t-shirts for the kids, it was half price day, we were going to go in the late afternoon to avoid excess heat and crowds, could it get any better? The forecast all week has been for scattered thunderstorms. This doesn't mean a lot here in Alabama. I mean, it rains or it doesn't. There is crazy lightening and thunder, and sometimes there's a sprinkle, and sometimes there is a torrential downpour. So there we were looking at the monkeys and excited to ride the train, oh, even through the thick humidity this would be the best fieldtrip ever. Then we heard thunder. We all kinda smiled and blew it off. Then came the lightening. Still it wasn't too bad.....until it thundered so loud that we and the kids all jumped. Picture this-as we are heading for the train we see it. You know I have never (until today) ever seen lightening strike all the way to the ground beside the trees next to the train. But I must say, although it is quite fascinating, it will scare the crap out of you. You know when you are supposed to count in between the lightening and the thunder to see how many miles? Well I can honestly say there was no counting needed, it was here, and it was scary. It all happened so fast. The four of us went in to "mom game face mode" in no time at all. (If you are a mother, or work with children you know what I am talking about-the everything is going to be just fine face on the outside, the HOLY CRAP reacion kept on the inside) All of the kids are bulging eyes, looking to us to know how to react. And then almost in sync we smile and say it's time to go and power walk our strollers to the entrance amongst the hysterical people running for their lives. I might add that the people running for their lives in front of us could not run very fast and almost got taken out by two strollers. We had the calm no reaction face as we were all praying to not get struck by lightening. Seriously, it was way scary, I don't know when I have been that scared. I must admit I was a bit bitter as I sat in traffic FOREVER in rush hour that 20 minutes later the sun was shining and the storm had made it a bit cooler. Abram was just chillin with his Cookie Monster car like it had been any other day. I am so grateful for being protected today in the storm and for great friends I have that I can laugh about this with.....now that we are safe and sound :)

Can I just say....

8 MORE DAYS UNTIL 'BREAKING DAWN' COMES OUT!!!!!! I am contemplating being one of the geeks at the midnight release party....okay that's a lie, I am in the midst of making it a girls night out!!! I am so excited!!!!

It's almost ......

.......as if someone doesn't like to get their picture taken.......


......as if he might be a little burnt out after the week of family paparazzi....


C'mon, one little smile...pleeeeaase???


Yep, he still loves me!

In No Particular Order......

Here are a few of the events from the past week including the zoo, the pool, a Braves game, the van being towed b/c it wouldn't start, the wildlife refuge center, the park, a different park, 30th birthday celebrations, hanging out in pj's, watching Elmo's World, high fives, kissing cousins, torturing Obi-toddler tag team style, unfortunately we don't have pics of mountain biking, paintball, and the "bmx jump incident"-but maybe that's a good thing. All in all it was an awesome week and we were really sad to see them go. WE MISS YOU ALREADY-COME BACK!!!!!!

Swings and a Haircut.....

The kiddos look so nervous , I think they were holding on for dear life......


I have a lot of catching up to do. Sadly, my family is leaving tomorrow. We are compiling our pics of the week tonight, soooo I should have some cute ones on the blog before the weekend is over. By the way, I am not sure if I like my haircut or not.......time will tell, don'tcha hate that? I know you can't really tell what it looks like.....it's almost as if I did that on purpose.....huh :).

Day 30: Hallelujah!!!!!!

I did it!!!!! Time to celebrate and take a break (don't worry, not for long).

Day 29: The Zoo

Cute little monkeys.....


The carousel.....

The train....




....and a picnic lunch

Day 28: A Day of Sharing and New Adventures

Sharing Dump trucks....

Making new "friends".....


Looking at baby foxes...

New tricks in the pool....

Having fun in the pool for the first time.....

Day 27: Today I Am Grateful....

for paper plates (sorry for those of you who are "going green", but if you want to come over and do the dishes for 8 people i will invite you) and Rachael Ray recipes.....

I know, it's sad that this is my pic, but I am tired.....so tired. Three days left!!!!

Day 26: Let the Cuteness Begin....

My cousins are finally here!!!!!! They are visiting from Ohio for a week, and we are so excited!! Abram and Kate were born 12 days apart. We love getting these cuties together. There was a lot of grocery shopping to do and these are some of the highlights...

Day 25: A Little Piece of Heaven

I need to tell you that this was one of the funnest evenings I have had in a long time. My friend Windy invited us to go with her family and pick sunflowers (kind of a long story-that's the very summarized version) tonight. She has no idea how much sunflowers mean to me. They remind me of my Grandpa. When I was little, we use to walk round and round my grandparents huge garden, and in the very back of the garden were sunflowers-they are my absolute favorite. Although my Grandpa passed away many years ago, whenever I see this particular flower it comforts me and takes me back to good memories of my childhood. We had a great night, sunflower picking, and then out to eat. Thank you guys SO MUCH for inviting us, we had so much fun.

**Please let me know if you are unable to see the slideshow, and I will try to send you some pics we took.

Please Bare With

I am obviously trying to makeover my blog. It may change a few times before I figure out.....so stay tuned.

Day 25: When Daddy's In Charge.....

Here is our conversation this morning.....

Kris: "Beth, I am going to go in late and you can take a shower while I feed Abram breakfast. What do you want me to feed him?"

Me: "Oh, oatmeal or cherrios, whatever."

I take my shower, yes, a long shower, and not a power shower-sooo nice, what a great husband. I am getting ready and Kris comes in the bedroom and is putting something in the closet.

Me: "Where's Abram?" (By the way, it's around 7:15a.m.)

Kris: "Oh he is in the living room, eating a sucker."

Me: (Thinking "My child who is not even 2 yrs old is alone with a sucker in the living room and it's 7:15 in the morning!!") "A sucker?"

Kris: "He did a good job eating breakfast, so I gave him a sucker."

We walk into the living room, Abram is happy as a clam with sucker drool all down the front of his shirt.

Me: "Why did you put him in the shorts he had on yesterday?"

Kris: "Because I like them."

Me: "Oh." Then I take a couple pics.

Kris: "You're going to blog about this, aren't you?"

Day 24 Part 2: Battle Wound

We went for a playdate today at a friend's house. All was fine and wonderful until Abram fell down the stairs. We had put a opened suitcase at the top as a "gate" and I think he pushed on the suitcase and flew over top and rolled down. I was chatting away and then we heard it. My heart stopped, I don't think I have ever been so scared. He fell all the way to the floor and then got up (as I was running down) and cried for 5 minutes or so, snotted all over my shirt, got a million kisses,......and then tried climbing back up the stairs again. He is such a boy. So here are pics of his first black eye. After that fall, this is all he's got to show for it. It's a little bit darker than in the picture. And he is eating grapes, so no his cheeks didn't swell or anything :). The way he played his little heart out the rest of the time (along with going up and down the stairs some more without falling) you would have never known it happened. I am so grateful that angels watch over my little boy!

Day 24: Nat's Wedding

My sister got married in May and I have been a slacker at putting pics on my blog. We just started to get the pics back. My cousin Josie has recently started going out on her own in photography. She did the pictures and they are awesome from what I have seen so far. This is one of my favorites. I will definately be ordering it:


P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE SUE!!!!!!!

Day 23: How Bizarre.....

On the way home from the park, we saw these...."birds". SO this is my question-is this what happens when you breed a chicken and a duck????

Somethin' bout the Southland......

Crape Myrtles-I love them. I had always wondered what they were, and my friend Lu told me. I have a friend who is moving to Idaho (where she is from) and she was telling me how she will miss them because they aren't in Idaho-sad.

Day 21: Memories?

Tonight Abram was carrying around this star and saying "What's that?" Well it cracked me up because I have this picture (if I knew how to use a scanner I would show you) of me when I was little in a Christmas play. I guess I was the star of Bethlehem because I am holding a star (in the exact pose that Abram is in)and speaking into the microphone. The only memory I have of that day is that I didn't want to get down from the microphone. But, I could totally be making that up, Mom-do you remember what I am talking about? And for those of you saying, "That boy needs a haircut!" I know, so I gave him one tonight. I don't know what to do about the "wing" parts. I guess that's part of his natural curl he's inherited from both of us, I think it's pretty cute. I will admit, I am a bit biast. I cropped the pic, but now I am laughing because it totally looks like he is posing for Toddler GQ magazine!

Day 20: Some of our Favorites......

So maybe I almost forgot to post tonight and I totally made up a picture. These are some of our favorite stories. Only 10 more days until the challange is over!!

Happy Fourth of July!!!

We started off today with "patriotic pancakes"


Some goofin' around while folding laundry.....

A little bit of sidewalk paint AND chalk......


A little swimming action (sorry no pics, we were having too much fun)...
A little cookout at a friend's house-with a little bit of jumping on the trampoline...


A little bit of playing Steve Irwin with a cat (you can see the poor cat if you look closely).....


And after a bath, courtesy of some neighbors...a little bit of fireworks (Abram's first fireworks and he loved them!).


All in all, I would say it was a pretty awesome 4th of July, I hope you and yours had as much fun as we did!!