Doing Hard Time...

Ansley's Fall Festival at her school was last Sat. It is a great little school that does so much for the kids there. One of the booths was a "jail" where you could pay to have someone arrested and then someone else could pay to bail them out. As soon as Ansley figured out what it was, she couldn't wait for Steve to get there so she could have him arrested.

She giggled and laughed as she plotted with her Daddy to have Steve arrested.....All was fine and dandy until we realized Stephen had absolutely no idea it was for fun. He saw his Grandad get handcuffed (albeit by a skinny little 14 year old) and Stephen lost it. He cried and sobbed, saying" Don't take my Grandad away to the jail." I think people started to think that perhaps Steve was carted off to jail on a regular basis!

And my children seem to have this inward connection of emotion and as soon as Ansley realized Stephen as upset, she started crying too. So the kids were crying while Steve was locked into the jail. Almost immediately a cute little teenage girl bailed him out and Stephen seemed to realize that it was NOT Mobile Metro Jail, we were able to continue our fun day at the fall festival. Whew - glad that we are not bailing Steve out of jail very much. My sweet little man just could not take it.

Here are a few pics of the criminal (notice Ansley's face in the 1st pic - NOT HAPPY) and then Ansley with her friends on the hay ride. Moods were much improved by that point.




PS - This time tomorrow we will be on our way to the Magic of Disney World! (But Shhhh, my kids don't know we are going) Have a great weekend!

Some of my favorite people...

Luke and Sara were in town this past weekend which was great b/c it was also my mom's birthday. It was a busy weekend but lots of fun. We miss seeing Luke and Sara now that they live in NC! They will not be back until Christmas.
In the pic below, Ansley is not, as you might think, smoking a cigar. She is chewing on some good old fashioned raw sugar cane. And loving it. Stephen, not so much. He spent 20 minutes spitting out minuscule peices of sugar cane after taking one small taste.
Ansley helped decorate my mom's birthday dessert with Aunt Sara.

Tv TIme

Jamey and I pretty particular about what we let our kids watch on tv. We watch the Disney Channel and lots and lots of PBS. Although lots of Ansley's friends have started watching things like Hannah Montana and ICarly, she doesn't. Not yet anyway. She has not asked to watch it and I have not offered. She is 5. There is plenty of time for that later. We don't watch Spongebob in our house either. I am certainly not saying all kids should not watch it - but it just doesn't fit in our house. Things like the phrase, "duh" and crude jokes will one day inevitably sneak into my kids world, I know, but for now, this is the system that works for our family.

That being said, Jamey and I were watching Criminal Minds the other night. Both our kids know that when mom and dad say "This is not a kids show" - they have to go play in their rooms or watch a video in my room. In all honesty, this may happen once a month as our TV pretty much is on football or HGTV. The clock read 8:57 so Criminal Minds had maybe 60 seconds of show left. In walks Stephen who looks up at the TV in time to a man shoot another man right in the chest from about 6 feet away. Great.
Stephen and Jamey looked at each other.
'That was a bad man." Stephen said.
"Yep", said Jamey.
"Him has a shootin' thing." said Stephen.
"Yep, he did." said Jamey.
"When I grow up, When I grow up, When I grow up" (At this point both Jamey and I are waiting to hear that when Stephen grows up he will have a shootin thing, BUT)

"When I grow up, I will be a daddy and wear big shoes and have a tall truck." And then he runs off to find his sister for a new game.

5K is tomorrow!!!Thanks for the encouraging notes!!

Countdown to 5K

This Saturday I will run my very first "race". I put the word race in quotes, b/c I am pretty sure I will be racing no one as I drag my butt across the finish line. Nonetheless, I will be there and I hope I can finish in a somewhat decent time for a girl who has never done this before.

We have been running and doing zumba at school for weeks so I hope I am ready.

Luke and Sara are coming in town and I was REALLY hoping Luke would run it with me - but he has another commitment. But there are about 7 or 8 or us from work doing it together so I hope we can encourage each other over the hills of Langam Park.

Stephen took a field trip with the lady who keeps him today. They went to the library for storytime and then to Chickfila - I can't wait to hear about his day when he gets home.

Last night, he threw his shoe in the truck while Jamey was driving. So when we got home, he had to go straight to bed. It was late anyway, so it really wasn't much of a consequence. But in his mind, we had sentenced him to a horrible fate. As he lay in his bed (fake) crying, he wouldloudly say, "I a punished boy!" Hilarious.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Wedding weekend...

We spend most of this weekend involved in wedding activities for Jamey's cousin Amanda and her sweet new husband Alex. They are now off to enjoy beautiful fall weather in the mountains of Tennessee. Both Ansley and Stephen were a part of the wedding party. Ansley was a flower girl with her sweet little cousin Brylee and Stephen was the ring bearer. Ansley of course, loved all that being a flower girl involved - the dress, the hair, the having your picture taken a zillion times, the shoes that sounded like tap shoes on the floor in the foyer of the church. She did a great job - both little flower girls did a great job. This is actually her 4th time being a flower girl so I think she has it down pat by now.

Stephen, on the other hand, was about as oblivious as he could be about his participation in the wedding. During the rehearsal Friday night, he at one point spiked the pillow like a football on the field while he walked down the aisle. Although most of his uncles and boy cousins thought this was hilarious, I was a little concerned about a repeat "spiking" of the ring pillow during the main event on Sat. We arrived at the church at noon on Saturday for pictures and attempted to put his little 2 year old body in a tuxedo.
"Why, Mommy?" he asked me, "Do I have to wear these hard clothes?"
"Because you look handsome and you are my big boy" I told him.
"But I really like my unnerwear -can I jus wear my cars unnerwear?"

We did eventually coerce (ok, I will admit we BRIBED) him into the tux. He was not happy about it, but there was no screaming and no tears so I was taking what I could get. For every picture he took with a somewhat decent expression, he got a goldfish cracker. We also very quickly figured out that if we took off the jacket, he was a much happier participant. 30 minutes before the ceremony, he was fading fast on the back pew of the chuch - a tantrum and/or nap were clearly on the horizon. Now enters my mom into the picture who takes Stephen in her arms and while sitting with him on the back rown of the church, whispers a story about a dragon and a lost but brave little boy into the ear of my very attentive 2 year old. With music playing, guests arriving, bridesmaids rushing about - the two of them sat together in their own little world of dragons, forests, secret keys and brave little boys - and Stephen was soothed. He was happy and content and forgot that we had put him in a tie and vest and rented pants that were stiff with starch. At 3 o clock, when it was his turn, as everyone in the church turned to watch, he followed his sister and cousin down the aisle with me waiting for him at the end. He made it the whole way down the aisle swinging the pillow and with his cheeks puffed out with air - but he made it to me and was very proud of himself. I was very proud too. He walked down that aisle with no jacket and no socks ("don't like the socks touching me") - but he looked perfect.

My sweet little man, my big 5 year old Ansley, and my husband who I do actually love more today than I ever thought possible..this is my world. I am lucky.

Stephen the Pirate

Poor Jason never stood a chance....







And one of Ms. Ansley throwing confetti -

Football time

Now I am normally not a football person really. It is fine - it does not bother me, but neither does it really hold my interest. I did in fact marry a man who loves.to.watch.football. And now, college football is on every night of the week - or so it seems. But I love him and I knew this about him before I married him, so what can I say.

BUT! We bought season tickets for the first season of South Alabama football and last Sat was our first game and it was so much fun. The tailgating, the atmosphere, the game itself. It was really a great day. I am looking forward to more tailgating ahead.
Here are a few pictures of game day:

Stephen is eyeballing the jaguar -


Cute cousin Eli at his first football game. This baby is the only baby in existence that gives me a tinge (and I mean the slightest most minuscule tinge) of baby fever. Precious!
Ansley in her cheerleading outfit complete with jaguar tattoo:
After the game - Stephen was not into picture taking so much, but it is nice to have a picture of the 4 of us together -minus Stephen's face I suppose.

On a side note - Stephen is now out of daycare and staying with a lady named Ms. Debbie at her home. We loved his daycare and the people there could NOT have been any nicer. We just felt a smaller environment was better for him for several reason. One of which is cold and flu season.

Anyway - he has done really well there and loves to go.
He told me last night, " I love Ms. Debbie. Her has a big room. And her has a lap and a book. And her has raisins and pretzels and train and a slide."

Ah - the pure happiness of a two year old. :)


And on a VERY side note: Disney is calling us. Specifically, the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. :)