The Hole

We are enclosing our screen porch to make more living space in our house. I get stressed about these types of things, especially when a jack hammer is involved. Allan is very proud of his hole and wanted me to post the picture (the hole is there to be able to run the air conditioning and heating ducts into the room from under the house because the rest of the house in on crawl space and the new room is cement). To me, the hole symbolizes stress that has passed and only more to come!

More of the Weekend

Here some pictures of the kids playing with Grandma and Pa. Grandma and Abigail (who are big buddies) were playing 3 Little Pigs, and Abigail is the wolf "huffing and puffing." A.J. and Pa (who are even bigger buds) were playing "Broadside," a war board game too difficult for me to understand.When we got back that night, A.J. FINALLY let us pull his front loose tooth (after a lecture about how a Jedi would be tough). Here he is calling Pa to tell him the big news.

Thomasville Photo Session

We were in Thomasville this past weekend, and A.J. had Brennan over for some playtime. Brennan and A.J. have been friends since they were only a few months old, and always love spending time together. I took this opportunity to take some pictures of them (especially since Brennan and Abigail had on the same dress).

Just so I remember this when they are teens (and I can use it to embarrass them), I must share one of their conversations. AJ told Brennan, "When I am older, I am going to take you as my wife" (which I think he learned that wording from Bible stories). Brennan responded at a later time with, "AJ, I will never forget you. I may end up with a different guy when I am older, but I will never forget you!" I guess A.J. is experiencing his first heartbreak!

Playdate with Anna

Abigail LOVES Anna, a friend in her preschool class. The funny thing is they are less than a week apart in age, look quite similar, and seem to act fairly similar as well. Today, Anna came home with us after preschool, joined later by her mom and her brother, Josh. Abigail is already asking when can she come back.

RA Derby

Our church let the boys (the RAs) race their derby cars last night at church. Of course, I was there with the camera. Make sure to notice the picture of the cars racing. A.J.'s is the black one, coming in second. He was quite excited!

This is Emma Grace, holding her hands up while her mom said "I don't know." Now, Abigail is trying to teach Ruby (our dog) the same trick. It isn't going so well. Poor Ruby.

And... this is Susan... trust me... I owed her this picture being displayed in a public way. She gave my kids recorders (the loud horns) and LOUD cow bells for Christmas. Thanks Susan. Enjoy your debut on my blog!

The Montgomery Zoo

The last day of spring break, we headed to the Montgomery Zoo with the children's department from church. You may be like me... I like pictures of people on trips. You may be like Allan... he likes scenery and animal shots from the trip. I have to remind him to take pictures of the people! (It really is funny because when we watch Survivor, he hates all the animal shots, and look at him... a million pictures of animals at the zoo).


Here are my pictures from the day:

A.J. and his partner for the day, Wade.

Abigail with her partner, Jane.

Here are Allan's pictures from the day:

Now, you tell me... which do you prefer???

Day at the Park

During spring break, we (along with everyone else in Opelika) decided to spend an afternoon at Monkey Park. It is our favorite park here, and the weather was so beautiful, we ended up staying several hours. We went with a bunch of our friends, and here are a few pictures (Anna was also there to play with Abigail, but I never got them to be still enough for a picture).

Abigail, Amelia, and Heath. And, if you look close... Chase in the background.
Girls... so sweet together.

Does it look like A.J. is hiding something in his mouth? Cookies, if I remember right.

I would still love if anyone can give me pointers on how to get Abigail to smile without folding her lip tucked under. Any suggestions???

Abigail, the teacher

Abigail loves to come home and recreate whatever they did at school. Often times, she will line her babies up down the hallway and have "school" with them. Today, she was reading to us. I just had to video her "reading" the book.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Grandma!

Pa and Grandma are on a cruise this week... but the kids wanted to say Happy St. Patrick's Day to Grandma (who LOVES this day even though she hates the color green). And Mom... you will be happy to know I married well. Allan made my milk in my cereal green this morning. You would be so proud!

(Translation)

AJ: Happy St. Patrick's Day. I hope you are having fun. I want you to know that we love you. Bye.

Abigail: Um... Happy St. Patrick's Day. I hope you have fun (um). I hope you um, I hope you um, (then something about Grandma that I couldn't understand) Bye.

Training the Dog

Abigail and Ruby have a very special connection. Pretty much, Abigail tortures here all day long, and then at night... Ruby sleeps in her bed. I am not sure why Ruby always comes back for more, but she does. Now, she is even learning to be obedient to Abigail. Here is a video of her telling Ruby to sit and stay. Then, she goes into another room and calls her. She will do it even for further distances. She doesn't move until Abigail calls her. Maybe we have a show dog here!

On the Couch

A few nights ago, while we were supposed to be watching American Idol as a family (something we do each week).... A.J. and Allan just couldn't keep awake. And, apparently... neither could Ruby!Then, Abigail (who was no where near sleep thanks to a 4:00 nap) decided to pretend she was asleep, too, so I would take her picture.
P.S. Ashley F. - do you recognize this shirt? You gave it to me my first year at Cross Creek to use on a bulletin board! Do you want it back???

March 1st and it is SNOWING!

It is funny how weather can change so fast. Yesterday morning, we spent quite some time in the hallway because of the tornadoes that were touching down around us. The weather was a nice 70. Today, however... quite different.... SNOW!

When we left for church, it had already been snowing for almost 3 hours. Because of the warm weather yesterday, it hadn't starting sticking much yet, but by the time we got home... the ground was covered! Amazing!

Before church.....
After church.....

Before church.....

After church....

We started measuring in various spots around the yard (thanks to the free promotional ruler I got at work). The highest we found was 6 inches, but here is the ruler at one of the lower measurements: There were snow angels....There were snowball fights.... (Listen closely to this video... at the end you will hear Abigail screaming that Ruby is going potty. You know what they say... don't eat yellow snow!)

There was Ruby (who enjoyed eating the snow)...

There was a snowman.... or snow woman, since Abigail named her Abigail...

Abigail decided to have a talk with Abigail the Snow Woman after we were done with the pictures. It is a little hard to hear her here, but she is telling Abigail how pretty of a snowman she is. It think it is very sweet.

And, there was the southern man's sled (yes, that is a beach raft). I would call it the redneck sled, but Allan already coined that title when he sledded on toilet bowl seats in college (true story, I promise).

Here are the videos of the kids sledding. First was A.J. (our test run). Then, it was Abigail. At the end, you will notice A.J. tries to help her out, but when he can't push her, he resorts to what all good brothers do... just watch. (And by the way, we ended up taking them to the park to a bigger hill).

Allan went riding around town to get some more pictures (while the kids and I had a rest time). Here are few shots from around town, but some of the snow had started to melt by then.

Our street: