A Terrific Idea

I was checking email this morning and we got this great email from Warren's mom. It asked us to add another name to our Christmas card mailing list this year----a recovering American soldier at Walter Reed. I can't tell you how great I think this is!

The war in Iraq has become such a controversial topic in this country over the last few years. I, along with many other Americans, want our soldiers home and safe and with their families. But, more than that, I am so grateful that they're there, helping to defend our nation from any other terror attacks and the like. I value what they do for me, my family, and the rest of the nation. Where would we be without these selfless human beings? I know that I wouldn't be able to do it. God truly has called these special men and women to do something bigger and better than I can imagine myself doing--putting their lives in harm's way for others. Can there be anything more selfless than that?

Warren and I have a friend who went to Iraq with the National Guard. You know, seeing images and hearing news reports is one thing, but when you actually KNOW someone who is over there, it hits home a little harder. I posted recently about the homecoming assembly at my high school. They always ask an alum to give a speech at the assembly, and the guy they asked to speak served in Iraq as well. In talking with some other alums at the hamburger supper that night, it sounded like that he was in a convoy that was overtaken and that he was holding on to another soldier, trying to keep him from being dragged out of the tank/Humvee by an enemy soldier! WoW!!!! That's just too real!

So, I thought I would pass along this idea to everyone in blog land. My family sends out a fair amount of Christmas cards each year, as I'm sure most of you do as well. But, how hard will it be to add one more to our lists.....especially one more for a veteran! I feel as if whatever our personal views are on the war, we should have great respect and honor these men and women for what they do, whether we agree or disagree about our being over there.

I wasn't sure about blog etiquette/protocol, so I'm not putting the address on this post. I didn't know if that would be right or safe or whatever. So, if you're interested in taking part in this, leave a comment with your email address or you can email me (I've added that link to the side, on the left). Thanks for considering it!

BIRTHDAY WISHES!

One of my bestest friends from high school, Eric Bishop, celebrates his birthday today!! He and I were editors of our school newspaper, and we just kinda grew up together. He was (and still is) a great friend, and I love him to death! We've kinda lost touch over the last year or so. We were emailing pretty well during my pregnancy with the twins and right after they were born, but I've been really bad about keeping in touch. This blog has bascially become my way of doing that!

Anyway, Eric's birthday is always easy for me to remember. One, it's the day before my Mom's birthday, and the biggie...........HE'S A LITTLE GOBLIN! I think it's neat to be able to say that your birthday is on Halloween! He and others who have this birthday may feel differently, though.

So, E, if you're reading this-------I hope you have a FANTASTIC day and know that I'm thinking about you today. I love ya, and I miss you! Take care!

Heritage Homecoming Assembly

On Friday, I took the girls to the Homecoming Assembly at Heritage. One of the things I love most about having moved home is that I am able to go to Homecoming and football games and b'ball games at my alma mater. It's always nice to go back and see how things have changed. Although, all of the changes do make me feel a little bit old! =)

Each year at the assembly, a special group of alums are recognized. Way back in 1999, I was honored to be invited back to be recognized with other Valedictorians and Salutatorians. This year, the school honored the 1986 AA State Football Champions. My dad, affectionately known as "Bubba" to all the guys on the team, was an 'unofficial' coach. He was not on payroll or anything. My mom was cheerleader sponsor (in addition to being secretary at the 'big' school), and my dad just kinda jumped into helping. He'd go scout other teams and go to practices. He even drove the bus to all the away games!

He was asked to come back and be honored along with the rest of the team. Neither of us had seen a lot of those guys in years, and I think being back at Heritage and being together meant a lot to all of them!

The girls were so well behaved during the assembly. I was very proud of all of them. I took Reese back to the ball game that night. The guys were also being recognized at halftime, and Reese wanted to go and see PawPaw on the field. I had wanted all of us to go, but Warren stayed home with the twins. And that really did end up being the best choice. I was able to see a lot of friends that I haven't been able to see in a while, and I had a really good time. Reese had a ball running around and playing with all the kids that were there!

The BEST surprise of all though was seeing 'Miss' Sally. Her husband, Coach Wooten, was the head football coach of the championship team, and he was still the head coach and headmaster during my senior year. I haven't seen Miss Sally in almost nine years. She played the organ at our wedding, and needless to say, we weren't able to visit all that much during the wedding hoopla. These two people mean a lot to me, and I was so excited to see them both. Hopefully it won't be nine more years before we see each other again!

Saturday....

We took the girls to see my dad on Saturday for his birthday. We spent the day at his house and had a nice time. The weather was great, even if it was a little steamy for late October. We all dressed in pants/jeans that morning, but we all changed into shorts about an hour after arriving. I took tons of pictures, as I'm apt to do, and a good many of them are posted below. Enjoy!!!

Golf Cart Riding

My dad got himself a golf cart a while back to help him get around his property. He's got a good deal of land to cover, and he's not in the best shape in the world. Riding is a lot easier than walking for him.

He pulled out the golf cart pretty much as soon as we got to his house. Reese jumped on first and had a ball. Maggie and Anna were hesitant about it at first, as they usually are when it comes to 'new' things. But they warmed up to it and had a great time as well.

The only problem was that they all wanted to help me drive it, and it was hard for me to maneuver with all three of them riding. I was afraid that someone was going to fall out. Steering that wheel with the babies in my lap was tricky, too. But look at Mags' face. I don't think she could have had more fun!!

Look out! Here we come!!!

Daddy even got a chance to drive the girls around!!

Sweet Babies

Love these pictures. Wish I had known my dad had all this hay (should've figured it anyway considering he's got three horses to feed.) this would have made a fabulous fall picture backdrop! I don't have too many good fall photos of the girls. The weather here has been rainy the last few days, and we haven't been able to get outside much.



The weather was kinda warm last Saturday, so the girls were dressed more in spring colors. But I thought these turned out cute! I tried to get Reese to join in, but she wasn't having any part of it. My dreams of the perfect picture of the three of them are quickly going down the drain!

"Riding" the Horses

My dad and I were really amazed that Reese let him put her on his horses. Everytime when we've visited him before, he's tried to get her on them. She usually does if I'm on them with her, but I don't remember her ever getting on one alone. Daddy had taken her in the back to see them, and I was watching the twins out front. Anna & Maggie took off to the backyard, and I followed. These pictures show what I found when I got in the back yard.

She was having a fantastic time! She made my dad put her on one horse, then the other, then the other, and then it started all over again. I told her it wasn't very nice to the horse to play 'muscial horses,' but PawPaw didn't mind doing it one bit. I think he was having a good time, too.

Just don't think she's ready to go it alone. She got nervous when the horses started walking. Matter of fact, that's always when she asked to get on another one!

Reese and Her PawPaw

Having a serious ABC lesson. Reese sang the ABC song about 4 or 5 times during this lesson. PawPaw even joined in, but it seems as if he didn't do too well in school with the ABC's. He didn't get the letters in the correct sequence at all. This infuriated Reese; so funny to see her get mad the way she did.

Just chillin' out on the porch!

In the horse pen--after making PawPaw sit her on all three of his horses!

Popsicle Time!

After playing outside for a while Saturday afternoon, PawPaw thought it was time to come inside and get some popsicles. My dad practically lives off of those things during the summer time. He always has some ready in the freezer! Anna and Maggie haven't had too many popsicles in their two years of life, but they definitely know what to do with one. It was so funny watching them--all my girls and my dad--chowing down. They were relatively small, so I let the girls have two a piece. Well, the twins decided that they wanted yet another one, but I stood firm and said "NO." My dad doesn't do tears too well, and he doesn't do much disciplining of little fellas either. When they're at his house, they own it and basically can do no wrong. Anyway, my dad tried to talk me into leaving the room, all so that he could give the babies another treat. I told him that my brain cells may have deteriorted over the last few years due to pregnancies and staying home, but I wasn't totally stupid. I knew what he was trying to do, too.

Sweet Anna

Reese and Mags checking out a photo

Maggie:
Could she say "CHEESE" any bigger?

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

My brother, Rich, and his sweet wife, Angela, celebrate three years of marriage today! I cannot tell you how much we love Ang; she is a perfect fit in our family. She and Rich go together so well! God definitely chose the right girl for my lil' bro! She stood by family while my grandmother was suddenly ill in the hospital this summer. She stayed right 'til the end. It means so much to me, especially since I couldn't be there with my grandmother in her last moments. Knowing she was surrounded by the 'rest' of the family is comforting.

Enough melancholy.......Congrats to you both on three great years! Here's to many many many more! We love you both!!!

**I stole this picture off of Ang's blog profile. I have ZERO pictures of them together!**

Mommy Needs a Few More Arms.....

This is generally how things go in my day to day life. One of the twins wants to be picked up and of course I oblige, but then that only starts a chain reaction and the other one wants to be picked up, too. When they were babies (it's hard to not still think of them that way), I had it down to a science about picking them up simultaneously. They weighed a lot less back then! Now, even though they're only about 25 lbs or so (not quite sure of their actual weights), they feel like they weigh a TON! Especially when holding them together. Warren usually picks them up at the same time, but I'm afraid that I'm going to rip their arms out of their sockets! And what an odyssey that would turn out to be. Needless to say, whichever twin is on the short end of the stick and not on my hip takes it upon herself to make her feelings known. As evidenced in this picture! Maggie was NOT a happy camper!! What sweet blessings these two little girls are! (and their big sissy, too)

Happy Birthday.....

My dad celebrates his birthday today. The big 6-1--I think. It may be the big 6-2; I've never been able to remember how 'old' he is! =) I took the girls by to see him on our way home from school today. Reese and I made a second batch of Halloween cupcakes, and we took a few to my dad. Reese made him close his eyes and wait for his surprise. She even yelled 'surprise' to him as he was opening his eyes. So sweet! I love seeing her face when she's all excited about something. It's priceless. I had my camera in the car, all ready for a picture, but the opportunity just didn't present itself. So, sadly, there is no picture of the birthday boy to go along with this post. Maybe next year! We're also heading to his house Saturday morning to spend the day with him. Hopefully the girls will behave.....that's always a toss up! =)

Happy Birthday Dad--aka PawPaw! Love ya!

SOOOOOOOOOO Big!

Yep, that's my big girl. I am amazed everyday with how much bigger (and smarter) she is becoming. I cannot believe that in three short months (give or take a few days), she will be FIVE years old! Where have these pasty few years gone? I told Warren last night that I am NOT happy about this whole turning five deal. I do not want it to happen; it just makes me realize how my baby is really growing up. I mean, five is a big birthday milestone. Then I got to thinking, so is ten, and thirteen, and eighteen. Then I started crying and getting upset, so I stopped thinking about it...only to bring it all up again here!

Her imagination is on FIRE here lately. It's amazing to watch and listen to her playing. Her new thing is to play school. I guess she really is having a good time at school with Miss Meghan and all her friends, because at least once during the day, I'll hear her assigning the school 'jobs' to her students. She'll say, "Alex, you're the line leader. Ariana, you're the outside door holder. Logan, you're the plege leader." So cute! She even gets onto her 'students' when they're misbehaving! Funny!!! She tries to get Maggie and Anna to do what the teacher says, but they're showing signs of needing to be held back! =) (just kidding)

And, she did something yesterday that just tickled me. Some of you who keep up with us know that she really enjoys Scooby Doo cartoons. Her b'day last year was somewhat Scooby Doo in theme, and she was Daphne for Halloween last year. Anyway, all of us know that the bad guys in the cartoons wear masks so as not to be discovered. But those meddling kids (or mainly Velma--at least in the older cartoons) ALWAYS manage to figure out the mystery and 'demask' the bad guy! They say something like "let's see who the creature is" and remove his mask. Well, yesterday while I was cleaning the kitchen up, Reese was playing as usual. She had found a strectchy hat that the babies wore a while back, and she was using that as the mask. She put it over the face of this Eeyore stuffed animal we have. I was cleaning away and then I heard her say, "Let's see who the monster is......(very excitedly she squeals).....It's Eeyore!!! I just loved it. I wish I had been able to 'capture the moment' better. It was just too funny.

And, she got in the car yesterday after school, and the first thing she says to me is, "Abby throwed up." Great! Here I am, somewhat of a hypochondriac and I've been worried ever since yesterday that those nasty stomach bug germs have invaded my house. Let me just tell you, having three kids, a three year old and 8 month old twins, with the stomach bug a one time is horrendous!!!! No fun at all! I just keep telling Reese to wash her hands and just to be as 'clean' as possible. I know that we can't avoid getting sick, especially when she's around other kids. But my immune system has taken a hit since staying home. When I was teaching, I rarely ever got the viruses that the kids had. Guess I just built up a tolerance or something. Warren hardly EVER gets sick either, and that's probably because he's out and around more and gets used to being exposed to more. Hopefully Abby's bug won't get us.

**these pics were taken last week. she was helping me make Halloween cupcakes. She wanted to hold the mixer and she did a pretty darn good job of it! They were orange cake (thanks to a little red food coloring in the yellow cake batter) and had orange icing. I told her we'd make more before Halloween. And I'm excited about trying a new product I found at WalMart yesterday. I've kinda wanted to experiment with making orange cake with black icing. I know it sounds weird and will probably look even weirder, but after all, those are the classic Halloween colors, right? Anyway, I found this black food coloring type stuff while looking around yesterday. It's not really icing; I'm not really sure what you call it. But it's in this small container, and it says that you can put it in white icing. I've tried following Sandra Lee's recipie for making black coloring, but when I tried, it just kinda turned out grey. Maybe this new product will work! Stay tuned! **yeah, I know, I get excited about the most insignificant, little things.....

Confession....

For those of you who know me, who really know me, you know that I love TV! It's a terrible thing to love, I know, but I grew up on it. Some of my earliest memories of TV are being a little girl at my grandparents' house while my folks were at work, watching The Young and the Restless and Another World with my grandmother. To this day, I still love Y&R, although, I do not watch nearly as much daytime TV as I used to!

Anyway, I can't tell you how excited I've been with the new TV season...so far. Usually, Warren and I are channel surfing like crazy on some nights, trying to find something to watch. But this season, early on, I'm not having too many problems. Every night, except for Friday and Saturday, there's something on for me (us)!

Mondays and Tuesdays, I subject my poor husband to watching "Dancing with the Stars." My mother in law got me hooked on it late in its first season when she would come stay with us and help with the twins when they were babies. I didn't really become, shall we say obsessed with it until season two when Drew Lachey was paired up with pro dancer Cheryl Burke and BLEW away their competition. He really deserved to win. From that season on, we're regular watchers. Poor Warren though; guess it's another 'girl thing' that he has to deal with. All three of the girls love watching it too, and they try to dance along. Reese even has to go find one of her frilly gowns so she can look like the ladies dancing! Funny!!

As for Wednesdays, the new show "Life" has totally got us hooked. Warren enjoys this one, too, so fear not, he does get to control the remote....some of the time! =) If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. It's about a cop who did 12 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. He finally gets out, becomes a detective, and I'm pretty sure the season will lead us, as well has him, to finding who exactly set him up. It stars the guy who played Richard Winters in the Band of Brothers miniseries (another that I highly recommend watching if you have not done so already). I can't wait 'til 9 tonight!!!

Thursdays were always a great night of TV. Going way back to Family Ties, Cheers, The Cosby Show and to Friends and Frasier (I think that was on Thursday). Well, this year, we've got CSI (which we really enjoy) and ER. I must say, since most of the original cast has left ER, we don't see it continuing for much longer; plus, they don't put out too many shows per season due to cast demanding pay increases and the costs of production. We just hope that CSI won't be going anywhere anytime soon! GREAT show!!!!

Fridays and Saturdays don't offer us much, except for college football. And that's something we love watching around here, too. One of the reasons I like fall so much (besides the cooler weather) is good ol' SEC football. RRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL TIDE ROLL! And, since State is having such a much more improved season this year than in years passed, we are even saying GO DAWGS. But, my blood still and always will run crimson and white! =)

Technical Difficulty

I was looking back over the blog today and noticed that the videos weren't popping up like they were the other day. Who knows why? For those of you who are 'dying' to see my kiddos =), I've added links to the videos on the posts below. Just in case you wanna see them!