Field Trips, Festivals and Funny Faces

Ansley's class from school visited a farm in Tanner Williams and they all LOVED it. The main attraction is a giant corn maze, but the teacher opted out of that activity (wisely in my opinion) and everyone had a great time. Hay ride, cow trains (see pic below), petting zoo and corn cannons - and it was wonderful weather.

Ansley's social calender has been keeping us seriously busy lately! Last Saturday was the fall festival at her school and it was a fun day. I love her little school. In fact, she is going to stay there for K5 instead of coming with me. I work at a great school, but that little caring, loving environment at Jackson Creek just can't be beat! One more year there at least; then we will re-evaluate. We were glad that Luke and Sara and Mater (or MAYMAY as Stephen calls him) could come for a visit.

Yes, that is my mom riding a horse at the fall festival. And did she do it when we were all there to watch her? NO - she waited until we went to another activity and Sara was the only one there to see and take pictures.
Ansley and 2 of her friends on the hayride.



Riding the hay ride at the fall festival (above) and Ansley riding a horse (below)

Nanny and Ansley eating lunch at the fall festival. (below)
2 funny faces:

a few recent pictures

Stephen and Babu - being silly.


Striking a pose:


From left to right: my mom, Jamey;s grandma, little man, Jamey's mom, my dad - leaving church a few weeks ago.

Much better

Stephen is much better. No fever since last night - and his mood is generally much improved. His mouth still bothers him quite a bit b/c of the blisters, but he is eating some and drinking a lot. That is one awful virus! The good news is that usually once you have it, you don't get it again.

We are looking forward to a great weekend! Tomorrow night Luke and Sara come in town and Jamey and I are going to an "arts of fall" party with a pumpkin carving contest! Sat is Ansley's fall festival and Sat night we are hosting the Alabama game party. Sunday we are going to the Dauphin Island Estuarium - fun, but busy!

Ansley got her first report card this week and we are proud to say that she did really well. She also got Perfect Attendance! (Well, with 2 parents who are teachers, you pretty much go to school every day) :-)

Stephen is staying home tomorrow with Judy. He gets to go to the airport to pick up Deej (Elizabeth) - we are not telling Ansley that though. She would not be pleased that he gets that outing while she goes to school.

Sick man update

Well, the nap seemed to help. Although his throat obviously hurts b/c he wont drink much and he is drooling b/c it hurts to swallow. Poor baby!

Fever is about the same. Jamey is staying home with him tomorrow so hopefully that will give him another day to get better.


Edited to add - fever no better and he is refusing liquids so we are off to the dr. The nurse was concerned about dehydration. I will update tonight.


10:00pm - we are back from the dr. and Stephen is not a happy little guy to say the least. He has hand and mouth disease (which means fever and a mouth full of blisters) and he also has an unrelated throat and tonsil infection - which OF COURSE is viral so we left the dr's office with NOTHING> no meds, no prescriptions - the doctor wished me luck. What the hell???

Anyway - he is resting now. Pray that his mouth heals quickly. It looks horrible and miserable. He is staying home the rest of the week.

Ornery Little Man

I am home from work today with one VERY irritable almost 2 year old. He is running fever and is just generally miserable and nothing I can do or say makes him feel any better. At the moment he is crying in his bed - and before you think, "what a great mom you are for leaving him sick and crying in bed!", he cries when I am in there too so I think a short break for both of us was a good thing. He is generally irritated at the world, and since the world is outside and unavailable, I get to be the one who takes the brunt of his grumpiness.

I am hearing silence - let me go check oh him - Please God let him fall asleep........

Yes - he is asleep. We will see how long that lasts. Last night was pretty miserable for both of us. He cried and whimpered and refused medicine for his fever. I put him to bed at 8:30 and I went to bed soon after (long day at work) but by 9:30 he was back up and grumpy to say the least! Poor baby. About 11:30 last night we were watching this very strange kids show called "oobi" and he finally calmed down. It was another hour or so before he fell asleep.

I am guessing it is just a viral thing so we are just going to ride it out at home for now.

On a different note, Jamey took Ansley to the fair last night. Just the 2 of them.

Makes me fall in love with him all over when he does things like that.

I'll update on the grumpy 2 year old in a few hours for Luke and Elizabeth.

I've been tagged!

Well, thanks to my friend Adriene, I have now been officially tagged! 6 things most people might now know about me. Here goes:

1. I love to watch shows about selling or buying houses - I know, really exciting, but it is pretty much what I watch every night before I go to bed.

2. I am actually a pretty good snow skier for a southern girl. I started at age 14 (late compared to most of my friends) and I loved it. I have not been in a few years and I would love to go again soon. I think if I had grown up around the snow, I would really have liked to have skied competitively - I love the rush of skiing!

3. The location of my honeymoon was a surprise! I didn't know where we were going after the wedding until we got to the airport, and then we flew to Dallas. Once we got to Dallas we flew to Vegas! And then woke up one morning and drove out to California! It was awesome and so special. Another reason I have a great husband.

4. I really want to adopt or foster kids one day. I have felt this calling for years. I do not need a baby necessarily - although we would love one of course - but I would also be very open to a child who needed a home or support. This is something Jamey and I want to do someday and it is exciting to think about.

5. My mom and I are really close and we get along really well. I think she is spectacular in so many ways! I am spoiled by her all the time - in a good way of course! Tonight she bathed my kids and read them a story while they "soaked" in the tub! What an awesome nanny - entertainment while taking a bath!

6. We didn't tell anyone we were pregnant with Stephen until I was 11 weeks pg because my brother was out in the woods somewhere in the frozen tundra of Kentucky with h is troops and we didn't want every else to know and not him. When he returned to civilization, we shared the news - And another interesting fact - Luke (my brother) and Elizabeth (Jamey's sister) were the first to know each time. Jamey's dad Steve always teases about us telling Elizabeth before him. :-) Sorry Steve! We can't break tradition - once we did it with Ansley, we had to stick with it for Stephen.

Those are my 6 things!

Fall Homecoming Celebration

We celebrated Homecoming at church today and it really was a good time for everyone. Here are some pictures from the day. Ansley invited our neighbor Shannon to go with her and they had a great time sliding and jumping and eating sno-cones and cotton candy.







Jamey and I worked the sno-cone and cotton candy machine - Jamey enjoyed his job as you can see.

On a side note, I am having my first ever yard sale next Sat. so any advice would be appreciated. If you have done one before, what worked for you? I am hoping to make a little extra cash for Disney World - and even if I don't make much, I am hoping to get rid of a bunch of stuff.

New Background

Thanks to my friend and blogging mentor Adrienne, I am attempting to update the look of my blog with a new background! I hope it is working - so here is a test post.

And today is my mom's birthday ---so happy birthday mom (otherwise known as Nanny)!

Well......it rained

No farm field trip for us! But they were able to book a morning party time at PumpItUp so the kids ended up having a good day. I wish I had planned to have a backup (like my mom) b/c I would have gone ahead and worked yesterday and used my off day when they go to the farm on the 30th! Oh well - we had a fun day anyway. And we both got to take an afternoon nap together which was very nice.
Here are some pictures from PumpItUp - which is a kids party place with giant inflatable slides and bouncers.


Here is Ansley with her friend Carson - I liked the motion of her arms in this picture -

Sliding down the slide - she climbed up and went down more times than I can count! And yes, I did slide with her a few times!
Pretty girl -

Stephen is - at this moment - knocking at his bedroom door. Knocking to get out actually b/c he is supposed to be in his bed asleep. I just went and opened the door and he looked up at me grinning and said, "Knocky, Knocky mommy!" How do you fuss when they are that darn cute?!?!
He sleeps in a regular bed - which makes him look so small! But he loves his bed and the crib has been up in the attic for several months now. I am going to let Melia look at it - if she wants it, it is hers and if not, we are selling it. I don't know if there are any more Duke babies in the cards, but I am in a clean out kind of mode!

Please no rain!!!

October is one of my favorite months of the year. We have decorated the front porch with mums and we are headed to the pumpkin patch soon with the kids. Tomorrow Ansley and I are going with her class to a farm in Wilmer. I think I am just as excited to go as she is. It has not rained here in WEEKS and tomorrow there is a chance it might - please no rain!

At this very moment, Jamey is on his way to the Saints game in New Orleans with a good friend of ours (who is also our pastor - I have never been "friends" with a pastor before - so far, so good) :-) I opted to stay home with the kids and really I am happy to do it. They play so well together now. At this very moment Stephen is lying on top of Ansley as they watch Yo Gabba Gabba (which is, by the way, the WEIRDEST kids show ever - If you watch The SOUP of E! they are always making fun of it). He loves to be where she is. And she does not always want him there, but usually obliges.

Stephen has started using the potty which really is a very exciting thing - those with potty trained kids will understand. He doesn't tell us when he needs to go, but if we put him on there, he usually will go! And he is so proud of himself when he does. He is such a sweet little man. I love my kids being 4 and 1 (they will soon be 5 and 2!) They are excited to see me after work, they want me to be with them and play with them and watch them swing or run or slide. I try to soak them in - these 2 little people who are so funny and smart. They love to take the crayons outside and lay in the grass with their coloring books. Stephen loves to drive his trucks around and Ansley loves her workbooks.

I will post pictures of the farm tomorrow night. Tomorrow is a busy day - Ansley has tumbling and ballet.

And please - no rain tomorrow!