I smell a blog!

We've really tried to spend a lot of good quality time together this Christmas.  We've had to struggle over the past year to find time together with school, kid's activities and having twin 2 year olds.  One night we took the kids to see a light display set to music at a friend's house.  He has put up the display for a couple of years and adds something new each year.  It lasts about 20 minutes long and is really neat.  We decide to stop by Starbucks and get refreshment for everyone.  Hot cocoa for the kids, a Caramel Apple Spice for me and of course, coffee for Ben.  Off we go.  You really need a spot in front of the house to get the "whole" show, but because of other "bonding families" we had to settle for around the side.  I can sense that the kids aren't really getting into it.  Ben is able to move around to the front and we let the kids out of their seats.  About 30 minutes later, after the girls have continuously argued over 2 inches of additional window space and one of the boys has tinkled from the front seat into the neighbors yard, we decide we can successfully mark this off the list of family bonding ideas.  The next morning we have the bright idea to go shopping as a family.  Thankfully, the mall wasn't crowded.  We enter, pay for a rental stroller, which by the way, if you haven't been to the mall lately, only seats one child in the "fun" car part and one up in the front of the cart.  Ally keys in on Santa.  I know Hayden isn't really interested, Ben is certainly not interested and the boys are most definitely not interested.  But in fairness to Ally, we get in line to see Santa.  I'm not really hearing anybody complain or cry so I'm thinking we might get everybody under 10 to sit with Santa.  Not so.  It's a family event.  Yep, Santa wanted me right on his knee.  You asked for it buddy, take Ben too.  We are able to successfully navigate the mall and walk away unscathed and our purchases made.  Especially good for Hayden who has been very adamant about getting her shopping done.  We tried to be very low key Christmas eve.  Christmas day was exciting.  The kids really liked what Santa brought them and even liked most of the clothes we picked out for them.  Yeah!!  We spent the afternoon at Nina's house opening presents from Pop pop, Nina and Nanny.  Robin's family was there too.  With eight kids ripping through presents it was a wild afternoon.  The kids also did a performance of the birth of Jesus.  Poor Caleb was so disappointed to find out the shepherds didn't wear Mardi Gras beads to visit Jesus . . . at least I don't think they did????  We celebrated Christmas with Ben's family on Friday.  We pretty much trashed GG's house by the end of the day.  I was sorry I didn't prepare the French Silk pie, it being her birthday and all.  If she would release that recipe, I would gladly give it my best effort!!  Saturday we washed and washed and washed and washed and packed to go to Kentucky.  We aimed for leaving around 9 and needless to say didn't make it.  We did get to our hotel and change clothes in 42 minutes from check-in to leaving for Ronnie and Lenore's house.  What a record for us!  Sunday we went to Rod and Terry's house and visited for a couple of hours.  Nothing like eating lunch with a cat also eating his fresh kill lunch.  Thank you Hayden for the continuous updates on his progress.  We headed out and after a 45 minute stop for Ally to potty and pick out a snack, we were able to make our way home.  We stopped in Nashville to eat dinner at a little pizza place that was really kid oriented but the pizza wasn't all that great.  We did get to see some kids act worse than ours though.  We've been hanging out at the house for the past 2 days.  We spent yesterday morning getting the upstairs organized.  I think we were so stunned at our progress that we haven't really tackled any other areas.  Hopefully, we can get the decorations put up before Ben starts back to school this weekend.  It has been a good Christmas, a little wild at times, but filled with lots of together time.  Hayden continues to show a greater desire to give than receive,  Ally makes note of how Jesus would feel about different actions she has seen others display and the boys are making great strides in saying Baby Jesus.  We are truly blessed.  

A star is born.

They couldn't do it without her. They need her. They are begging for her. Please Ally, please be in our play. We goofed, we meant to call your name. We were so distracted by your wonderful performance. Ladies and gentlemen, Ally will be making her debut performance in The Miracle Worker as a blind student at Perkins Institute for the Blind in the Spring of 2009. We can't wait to tell her when she wakes up tomorrow!

And Happy Birthday to the newest member of our family's 60 and above group - We love you Pop Pop Ralph.

Ally's "Crikemis" or Crismice" list

Ally is a middle child in a big way.  Stuck between a pre-puberty older sister and terrible-two twin brothers she has to fight for attention.  Don't feel too bad for her, she knows how to get my attention(she can really send Ben into orbit!) and yet she is quite clever at laying low and doing her own thing.  I give you all this information about her so that when I tell you she came home with all 100's, not just A's, no red marks anywhere, no backward letters or numbers, straight 100's, you will understand.  I don't work with her on her spelling or her math.  She reads to me her circle 7 and books for her web log.  That's it.  Yesterday was "bring home graded papers day" and there they were, all 100's, again.  So as I was looking through the rest of her folder, I came across a Santa letter she wrote in class.  I am going to write it exactly as she had it:

Dear Santa.  fer Crikemis I wunt Hiscoolmuscal Bobeblols Becus my Sicedr has thum.  and i wunt fer Crismice a Big tedeber to slepe with.  and i wut a Lab Dog webcis so I can log it in to webkis.  Love Ally

My interpretation:

Dear Santa, For Christmas I want High school musical barbie dolls because my sister has them.  I want for Christmas a big teddy bear to sleep with.  And I want a Lab dog webkins so I can log it into webkins.

love, Ally

I don't know why I found it so funny, but I did.  I hope you see the humor as well.  By the way,  I have it from a good source that the elves have only made 1 of the 3 items for Ally so far.  They better get their act together.  Let's just hope she doesn't come home with a different list today.  Also, Ally has shown interest in drama.  Ok, we've noticed she is very good at acting so we are pursuing it.  There were auditions for The Miracle Worker Monday night.  She and I went.  I had no idea what to expect.  We went into a big "practice" room with bleachers with people from Ally's age up to early 50's maybe.  You fill out an audition form and select the character(s) you are trying out for.  I put "blind girls".  Let's start small.  They called up the only other girl near Ally's age (she was 8) and let her try to be Helen.  The lady in charge told her what to do and the girl acted it out.  They called Ally's name next.  They wanted to know if she wanted to try for Helen.  I told her we were starting small since this was our first time.  They asked Ally, "do you want to try out for Helen?"  Yes, I do.  So she went out in front of all these people and acted out the scene the lady gave her.  No hesitation, no fear.  She did great.  I thought she did just a good as the other girl.  They moved on to some other scenes and then asked if the girls would take turns being Helen and let those trying out for Anne Sullivan work with them.  So Ally and Marley took turns.  Again, I think she did great.  So they announced 2 of the characters and some of the blind students.  The lady in charge let all the "children" those aged 10-15 go.  To end a long story (and late night) we were there until 9:30.  They used Ally and Marley in a couple of other scenes and them announced the cast.  Marley was given the part of the littlest blind student and a girl from the previous night was given the part of Helen.  Ally's name was not called.  She was a little disappointed, as was I, but once she realized we could go see the play, she was once again the happy go lucky Ally we all know and love.  

Black Friday

I love to go out into the madness on Black Friday.  I'm not typically "after" anything in particular, I just like the craziness of finding stuff.  Plus, since Ben has absolutely NO desire to have anything to do with it, he is willing to stay home with the kids while I save us money.  My sister Robin(whom I've written about several times cause she is so news worthy!) invited Mom and Dad to join us for breakfast. We never thought Dad would show up.  However, he was there, Mom, being an early bird, was there, and of course, Robin and I were late.  I was just late.  Robin had already been shopping and was held up waiting in line.  After a little nourishment, Mom headed for Nashville(she's already been through Huntsville, she was on to new territory!)  and we headed to Game Stop.  After being in the very small store for an hour, we all walked away with a purchase.  We put our packages in the car and headed for Dick's and Target.  Again, success in both stores.  We returned to our cars and set out for Toys R Us.  A little side note: My Father is very particular in what he eats.  Fast food is almost always out of the question, unless he gets a wild hair.  Another side note:  Robin and I cherish any free time to shop without little helpers.  Back to the story.  We were headed to Toys R Us with Dad driving.  The Target shopping area is a zoo.  I suggested he drive around behind the stores and out through Research Park.  He eyes Burger King.  Hey, how about a drink?  Sure, I'm a little parched.  He pulls in and parks.  Wait a minute, what's wrong with the drive-thru?  Of course, I question what's going on.  He explains and I verify, "You want to go in and sit down to drink a coke?"  Hmmm.  Does he realize we are losing valuable shopping time?  Once inside, he decides a whopper sounds good.  Who are you and what did you do with my Father?  Not only are we at Burger King, it is only 10:45.  I'm guessing the looks on our faces pretty much showed our disapproval and he settled for a coke.  SEVERAL minutes later, we move on .  Toys R Us is a mess.  People with small children and carts everywhere.  Again, we are able to find stuff to buy.  We head out to K-mart.  As we are entering the store, this very scary, but short man and child push their way in front of us.  Dad makes a comment about him and his general rudeness in a louder than I would like tone.  I don't think he realizes that if this guy turns to fight, I'm out of there.  I'm a "flight" kind of person in these situations.  We again make some purchases and leave.  Dad is officially hungry.  We head down to Surin and have lunch.  We return to our cars and our families.  Another successful Black Friday Shopping day.  Next year maybe Mom and Jackie will join us after reading about all our fun!  Besides, we could use some backup if Dad is going to continue to voice his opinion about other shoppers.  

Turkey Trot

We made it!!!  Hayden and I ran the Turkey Trot 5K.  Yep, over 3 miles of Mother, Daughter bonding.  Our goal was to finish in 1 hour.  We made it in a little over 46 minutes.  Of course, I have a funny.  The run took place at UAH, our old stomping grounds.  The course was up around the school and down past the duck pond , turn around and go back the way you came.  There is a small incline at the start and then a hill at about mile 1.  We ran off and on without much "discussion" until the return trip about mile 2.5.  Many of the speed walkers were starting to catch us and being the competitive person I tend to be in certain situations, I just couldn't let that happen.  And there was another Mother, Daughter team that was doing about the same as us, but maybe not the seasoned athletes I thought we should be.  I could sense a little resistance and was trying to motivate my partner to keep it going we were almost finished.  Perhaps, I was "motivating" a little to aggressively.  So a nice old lady was speed walking past me, Hayden was about 10 steps behind me and I'm walking backwards so I can make sure she hears me encouraging her.  The lady says(in a very defensive tone), "Has she ever done 3 miles before".  My reply, "Nope.  But she is today."  No further discussion.  I was very proud of Hayden's big sprint to the finish.  If you recall from previous blogs this is how I like to finish and unlike my previous running partner, I did discuss how we should finish this race.  Hayden even beat me to the finish and has won a free room cleaning and clothes washing!  I'll be signing us(some combination of me, Hayden and Ally) up for the Rudolph run in December.  Anybody else want to join in?

Mommy's Birthday

Today was my b-day.  I am older than my husband, once again, for the next 8 months.  I see it as a positive.  The day started with a birthday breakfast at Burger King.  Then we headed downtown to the Veteran's Day parade . . . Hayden was in the parade.  Her K-kids group at school raised over $6500 for the Veteran's so they were asked to be in the parade.  Parents were asked to walk with the group as chaperones, so for my Birthday present from Hayden, I was to march in the parade.  However, due to the tremendous turnout of parent volunteers, we were all booted from the parade.  So, Hayden went with her group and we found a nice spot to watch the festivities.  We had to be there 1 hour early for Hayden, so needless to say the boys got restless fast.  Ben took them walking and Ally and I bonded.  Part of bonding included getting yelled at.  We had been given 3 little flags to wave and some candy.  I had put the flags down so I could assist Ally in opening the candy.  A man walked up behind me and demanded I pick up the flags from the ground.  Ok, buddy, I'll pick up the flags.  Wanna guess where those flags are right now?  Yep, in the floor of my van, trampled by 8 little feet.  They were safer on the ground!!  So the parade finally gets started and thank goodness Hayden's group is #4.  They pass us and we get her attention for a great photo.  Right behind her group is the A & M Band, including dance team and flag twirlers.  I noticed a certain 6 year old very attentive at this point.  Here is my interpretation of parade entry #5:  The dance team is wearing silver heels, nude tights, white bloomers and a white over one shoulder halter.  They walk with a shake that I'm pretty sure Ally will at some point add to her own walk.  The band itself is great, loud drums and peppy moves.  The flag twirlers are in the back, wearing pretty much the same getup as the dance team, except covered in sequins.  You need to have a good mental picture of this for later. 

 We make it through more of the parade to include a million corvettes and motorcycles.  We decide I need to head over to the ending area to get Hayden.  I call Ben to let him know that I think they are coming and he has decided to gather everybody up and head my way.  We all meet up in the gravel parking lot designated the "ending" zone for parade entries.  While we are waiting to get Hayden, Ally notices the A & M band.  "Mommy, Mommy, can I go tell those girls they did a good job?"  "Uh, yea, I guess" At this point Ben has spotted the car and is making a bee line. . . until he hears our conversation.  "What did she say?"  "She wants to tell the twirlers they did a good job"  Silence.  He is however making a face that I will show you if you ask.  "Ok, honey, we'll go this way and you and Hayden and the boys head to the car".  We walk over to the twirler girls and Ally runs over to them and gives them her complement.  They smile and say thank you.  Ok, let's head to the car.  Oh, no, we didn't tell the dance team how good they did.  So, to the front we go and Ally runs over and tells them.  They again say Thanks and smile.  When we get to the car, our curious 9 year old must now what Ally did.  I explain that she wanted to let the dancers and twirlers know they did a good job.  "Well, they didn't have much clothing on."  Really, I don't think Daddy and I noticed.   I think that was the fastest Ben has ever loaded the kids, the stroller and himself in the car.  

We went back home to recover and get Ally ready for gymnastics.  She left and I got to take a 30 minute nap while Hayden and Ben did homework.  I did notice the paddle was out when I woke up.  Yep, and that was only math.  Ally returned and we headed out for dinner at Red Robin burgers.  We had a good time, even if there were more kids than adults, and we returned home for bath time and bed time.

I had a great b-day but I must admit it ended abruptly with 4 cranky, snotty, coughing kids this morning!!  

Halloween

We made it through Halloween.  Hayden created her own costume(with Ben's help) and was a hobo.  She wore a pair of Ben's old blue jeans, an old white under shirt, rope belt, 2 different colored crocks and a toboggan.  She explained to me exactly how to draw on a beard and make "dirty" spots on her face.  She did a great job and looked really good.  Ally was Wonder Woman.  Her makeup was probably a little too heavy in blue, but she loved it.  She can pretty much make herself into whatever character she wants.  The boys were supposed to be "the man in the yellow hat" that takes care of Curious George.  They didn't care for the hats and really, the hats were too small for their big Goode heads.  Caleb wore his just long enough for a picture.  They carried 2 George's for a while and then I carried them and the hats.  We went up to church for a Trunk-r-Treat.  The girls got a lot of comments on their costumes and most people had no clue who the boys were but thought they were cute.  We left church with enough candy to feed the starving children in Africa, but because I can't stop when it comes to activities and the kids, we went to Mom's neighborhood for another Trunk-r-Treat.  By this time, the boys have each eaten 4 lollipops and the girls . . . who knows what was going on back there.  I'll figure it out tomorrow when I clean out the car and come across all the wrappers!!  We picked up Nina and went to her neighborhood church.  After coming close to being run over by a grouchy old man, we made our way through the trunks.  We let the kids try to blow up slide, but after one trip down we decided their were too many unruly kids on it and left.  We are home and the kids are asleep.  Time for me to check out the loot!!  Too bad for you Ben, the good stuff will be gone by tomorrow.  

Fun Run

As most of you know based on a phone call you received begging for pledges, the girls participated in a fun run at school.  As much as I dislike fundraising, this is a really good fundraiser.  The kids actually have to work for the money.  The run itself is really fun to watch and the kids have a great time.  They play music and have "themed" laps.  Hayden's run was at 8:30, when it was still a little chilly outside.  Most of the kids were breathing heavy, had pink cheeks and were holding their chests by the third lap.  She did great, running/walking/skipping/swimming/flying/etc.  31 laps.  The max was 35.  Ally ran at 9:30.  I must admit she gets one thing from me:  she is an adrenaline junky.  Any other time when you need her to move quickly, your lucky to get a fast walk.  But line her up at a race and she is off.  I don't think she stopped running the entire time.  (Except maybe to "play" at the water station).  There was even a Mom there that had a little girl in Ally's class that made note of Ally running the whole time.  It bothered her so bad that when her daughter walked around for the third time, the Mom gently explained it was a fun RUN, not fun WALK.  Hee Hee.  I'm so glad I don't ever act like that.  Ally completed 33 laps.  She was very proud of how much money she earned.  I had to break it to her that her teacher got all the money.  She took it well and told her teacher several times while I was there, how much money she had earned her.  She also wanted to know what she was going to buy for the class.  Ally's watching . . . don't ever think she isn't!  Here are the best shots of the day.

Carving Pumpkins

We finally carved the pumpkins.  The kids all drew their faces(or attempted to draw faces) and Ben cut them out.  He had them clean out the pumpkin guts.  It took the girls a while to get theirs clean and the boys didn't really enjoy the feel of the insides.  I think the girls now have an understanding of size of pumpkin to amount of guts ratio.  Ben's abilities were challenged this year, as Hayden has become more creative in her jack-o-lantern designing.  He was able to successfully carve each face without a mis-cut or a boo boo on his hands.  Quite a feat with my knives . . . just ask Pop Pop Ed.  They are in order of youngest to oldest.

Our family of pumpkins

We finally took some pictures of our "finds" from the pumpkin patch.  Ben's policy was, "if you can carry it, you can get it."  So $0.40 per pound and our total was $36.00.  I'm hoping the girls come into a dainty phase in life, where bigger is not always better in everything they do!!  The boys, well, I'm sure we are in for some interesting pumpkin finds in the future.  I'm just sorry poor Caleb can't find his "handle" on his pumpkin like the others have.  

Pickin' Punkins

We made it this year . . .  and it is only the 9th of October.  We knew we needed to be sure and get there this year because Hayden has not let us forget that we didn't get there last year.  We have been to Tate Farms for several years now to pick out pumpkins.  They have really expanded and added a lot of new stuff since our first trip.  You'll see what I mean when you pay your admission!!!  The kids did great.  No fighting, no lost children, no screaming parents, no bites from animals and no begging for junk to eat!!!  We were able to pet some animals, play on the "toys", take a wagon ride to get our pumpkins, jump in the corn bins and let the kids ride the corn train.  I think we got some really cute photos from our trip.  I just wish I could have recorded the laughter from Caleb holding the bunny, Joshua riding the roundabout bicycle thing, Hayden picking corn from her underwear and Ally doing just about everything.  

A fun night at the Goode home.

We needed to get a family picture for our Sunday school class, so instead of dragging the family to a photography studio, we created a studio in our living room.  A little stressful, but we got some pretty funny shots, and 1 good one.

Liz Hurley Ribbon Run

I am entering another race.  This one is to raise money for breast cancer awareness and research.  If you would like to make a donation, go to www.lizhurleyribbonrun.org/mypage.php?id=1279.  Thanks.

All for the free t-shirt!

I love "entering" races, programs, workout contests, etc.  I love them because usually you get a "free" t-shirt that says you were there and participated.  Bragging rights of sorts.  I'm rubbing off on the girls.  I took them to Huntsville Hospital's Autumn Chase one mile fun run.  It is a crazy, crowded, mass of nutty, over-protective, competitive parents like me.  This is our third year.  The first year we didn't have the boys and Nanny went with us.  I carried Ally on my back the entire mile.  And I ran.  We missed the next year because of the birth of the boys.  (Nobody else volunteered to take the girls . . . wimps!!) Last year, I loaded up everybody and off we went.  I ran along side Ally and Hayden did her own thing.  The boys rode in the stroller.   This year Ben kept the boys at home and Nina went to see all the fun.  Did I mention my Mother has a lower tolerance for rude, ignorant people than I do?  Yep, almost a fight in the parking lot.  Good thing I didn't wear my Capshaw Baptist VBS shirt!!  The car beside us was in a BIG hurry and felt the need to aggressively merge in front of me.  I let her just because I was laughing too hard at her waving her hands and, I believe, talking ugly to me.  Anyways, we get up to the race and decide that Hayden will go ahead and run with Ally's group so we don't have to stick around for another 1 1/2 hours until her time.  She is thrilled.  I guess I should let you know she had already run a mile at school with the running club before this.  Not the best of plans.  The girls take off and Ally shows a surprising bit of competitive spirit and runs.  She ended up finishing in 12 minutes and she ran the whole thing.  Hayden did great and ran most of it.  We immediately head to the t-shirt table to collect.  The girls got some ice cream and after working for about 30 minutes to find the free bags and frisbees only to find out they had run out, we left.  There was a small incident in the ice cream line.  Yep, somebody cut in line.  Nina gave the rest of their group a dirty look and they backed away.  Don't mess with us.

I am the champion!!

Yep, team relays today.  I had no team.  It was all me.  Four laps around the parking lot.  I paced myself knowing that those ahead of me would slow.  On the third lap it was me and some guy.  I smoked him.  Fourth lap was my big finish.  A sprint.  And you ask, "what did you win?" Nothing. . . . except being able to write about it here!!

Not too much to report here.

We're still here, just not too much "excitement" to report.  The girls are both doing well at school and the boys are tolerating Mothers Morning Out.  Ally has gone back into her "it bothers my bottom" phase with clothing.  Even the workers at Limited Too got to hear about Ally's issues.  Hayden is in the running club and trying out for Monkey Mail.  She is making super grades even though working to get there can sometimes be a family battle.  The boys are starting to say more words.  My favorite of course is "no".  Joshua says it best and most often.  Caleb is more focused on annoying his brother and drawing out the "no's" than saying them.  Ben is busy and has allergies.  Nothing to report on me.  I'm perfect.  I did hear a funny story about my brother in law making a purchase at Walgreens and three (3) workers having to do a price check.  If you know Stephen, you should ask him about it.  Oh, to be a fly on the wall!!!

Special day for Ally

Today was Ally's baptism.  She was sooooo excited!!!  We met with Pastor Chip before the service and he went over with Ally how things would go.  She's been really checking out all the baptisms in the past couple of months so she pretty much knew what to do.  She did ask if they would be serving the Lord's Supper today.  She is very eager to participate and they assured her they would have it next Sunday night.  Guess where we'll be?  You think Ally isn't really listening but I guarantee you she is.  I can say with 99.9% accuracy she will make sure we know she needs to be at church next Sunday night for the Lord's Supper.  Once up in the dressing room she also asked if she could doggie paddle over to Pastor Chip instead of walk.  No . . . and no diving either.  She did great.  Her smile could be seen for miles.  We are so proud of her and how mature she can be at times.  Two down, two to go.

It's on again.

I'm back at at the gym and have just enrolled in another contest.  Holiday Hotties.  It is 10 weeks of team relays, resistance training and nutrition classes.  This time there is a little extra excitement as one of GG's favorite Huntsville people is enrolling as well.  Let's just say she is an old aquaintance.  Today was just the intro class and measurements were taken to get a fat count. It was a rough day at the gym.  I'm hoping to maintain my "most winningest" individual in the team relay challenges.  Who cares about the grand prize.

Girls on their 6th day of school!

Guess who was in charge this morning.  Since we missed the bus, we had a little time to kill.  Well, Ally really didn't, but I "encouraged" her to get outside!

Boys and their Backpacks

Today was Caleb and Joshua's first day of "school".   I had been talking up "going to big school" so they were ready to go this morning with their backpacks.  I was thinking dropping them off would be a piece of cake.  No crying.  Well, on our way to Mommy's Day Out I realized my "big school" and their "big school" were not the same.  They thought they were going to Hayden and Ally's school.  As we passed Legacy, they both starting pointing and grunting.  Sorry guys, for now you'll have to settle for "little, big school".  They did really well when I dropped them off.  They went right in and started playing.  Here are some pictures of them this morning.  You notice I have no pictures of the girls on their first day.  Ben took the girls to school on their first day . . . talk to him.

Our Vacation

We took a couple of days this summer to make a circle of the South.  We travelled to Birmingham to see the zoo, down to Auburn to see our newest family member, Ava, over to Atlanta for White Water and up to Chattanooga for 

the Aquarium and Children's Museum.  It's been so long since we took the trip (and so much has happened since) that I really can't think of anything funny that took place.  Here are some pictures from our adventure.

You never know where you'll find a smile!

I wish I had a camera in the boys room.  I can only imagine what goes on in there.  So this morning the boys found our potty training stickers and wanted to wear the smiley faces on their shirts.  No problem.  They also wanted to take Ally's Dora the Explorer bag into church.  Problem.  So this afternoon we put them down for naps in their shirts from church, pull ups(we call them nap nap pants) and shorts.  They typically run around their room for about an hour then either settle down and go to sleep or get into something that demands my attention thus ending nap time.  Today they went to sleep.  When I hear them get quiet I go check on them just to make sure they haven't climbed out the window.  Just kidding, I just feel better seeing them asleep.  In the past, they have pulled off their pants and sometimes their pull ups.  Today they were bottomless.  That would make 3 nudists in my home.  I'm so glad they are following in Ally's footsteps!  So when they wake up, they have tinkled in their beds and Joshua has pooped on the floor.  We clean them up and move on.  We notice however, that Caleb keeps grabbing his bottom.  He isn't really give the "potty" signal, but what could he be doing?  He does manage to go potty, #2 and he seems to be ok, for a while.  We finally get everybody heading for bed.  Ben starts to get Caleb dressed and as he lifts up his bottom, guess what he finds?  Yep, one of the smiley stickers from his shirt right inside his little cheeks.  Poor guy, I'm sure that was what was bothering him.  Do you think his brother put it there?  I can only imagine!!

We're still here.

I'm sure everybody's wondering where we've been.  Two words: potty training.  OK, maybe that doesn't really mean anything special, so how about three words: potty training twins.  Still not impressed? How about four words: potty training twin boys.  Never fear, we are trained . . . for the most part.  Since the boys still don't feel the need to talk, I have to interpret grunts.  Sometimes the "I've gotta go" grunt sounds very similar to the "I want what he has" grunt.  If I'm right there with them it is easy because the grunt always accompanies the hand holding the privates stance.  However, if I'm in another room, not so easy.  Probably more of a visual than you needed this morning.  Since I always seem to stir up some kind of "incident" here is what we concocted yesterday.  We (kids and I) went to run errands for Ben's Birthday and to find backpacks, lunch boxes, etc. for school.  We stopped at Target and, after a lengthy process of getting the kids out of the car(if you don't understand, take Ally and the boys out someplace) we had a decent shopping experience.  We dropped by Mom's house for some leftover hamburgers and hotdogs and let the kids hang out a little.  We left(and should have gone home for naps) and went over to Bridge Street.  We walked  around a little and then decided everybody was hot and maybe a little cranky, so we headed to Barnes and Noble.  The girls headed to the kids area and after a quick review of the Goode safety policy concerning strangers, I went to get a drink.  I got a Venti(large) Strawberries and Creme Frappacino.  It was so good.  The boys and I made our way back to the Thomas train play area and Joshua needed to go potty.  Hayden watched Caleb and we went and came back.  While we had been out looking around at the stores, some workers gave us 4 water bottles.  I didn't realize it until our trip to the potty, but Joshua had dumped half of his down his back and his wet shorts and underwear were bothering him.  So back at the stroller, I decided to change his clothes.  I set the Venti drink on the arm of a chair close to us and began stripping Joshua.  In the middle of getting his clothes on, he fell a little and I slung my arm out to catch him and knocked the Venti drink all over the floor.  I asked Hayden to run to the potty and get some paper towels.  Not sure what went through her mind at this point but she returned with 2 paper towels.  Maybe she didn't see the whole spill or maybe she thought these were the super deluxe towels that clean up major spills with 1 towel.  I asked her to return to the bathroom and she returned with plenty of towels.  You might be wondering where Ally is at this point.  I was too.  So there I am, blue jean skirt, sweating like a pig, cleaning up this Venti pink drink.  The security guy was surely getting a good laugh watching the cameras in the kids area.  I am most positive I showed my underwear several times in getting up to help Caleb reattach the trains and then returning down to my mess.  I mean I couldn't let the little guy scream in frustration while other patrons were trying to read and relax.   Meantime Hayden is having difficulty finding any books she would like to read.  I make several suggestions, each met with a definitive No.  Oh, yeah, where is Ally?  She is on the other side of the kids area, leisurely sitting in a chair, reading 20 or so books.  I told her it was time to join the rest of the family.  We only made it another 5 minutes and I decided we needed to go.  On a positive note, we made it to the car before the rain hit.  Another bit of important information, this is the Barnes and Noble that Ben frequents for his coffee.  He was quite concerned about his reputation after I told him our story.  Don't worry Honey, I didn't wear my monogrammed underwear yesterday!!

Boys Party.

Our wild week ended with a bang as we celebrated Caleb and Joshua's 2nd Birthday.  We invited everybody over for an afternoon cookout.  But first, Ben had to wash his truck.  I realized early Saturday morning that it was driving him crazy that his truck was sitting there, dirty.  I gave him 30 minutes ALONE, just him and his truck, to bond.  You might be wondering if 30 minutes was enough to wash his truck and my van.  No.  Guess which didn't get washed.  And yes, it took him more than his allotted time limit.  Back to the story.  We had a race car theme since the boys seem so drawn to cars and trucks.  I made the cakes.  They were race tracks with 2 little hot wheels racing around each.  Yes Dad they were giant eights, figure eights, and no, the little white candies were the lines in the road, not the cars.  The cars were the cars.  We had hotdogs, hamburgers and all the fixings, opened presents and ate cake.  It looked like Christmas with all the gifts, but they still fight over everything.  You'd think there would be plenty to play with . . . who was it that said they would share?  So our family has officially entered the terrible twos times two.  Pray for us.  Soon it will be potty training times two!

CRAZY week.

Our crazy week continues as it is Vacation Bible School for our church.  I am teaching 3rd grade which is Hayden's class.   We have 30 in our group and the majority is boys.  You would think this could lead to a very wild class, but they are a great group.  They play hard at recreation time and listen well during Bible study.  I need to note here that even though I am an old lady with 4 kids, I can still smoke 9 year olds in a running race!  Go me!  We also had one incident where a kid in my class got hurt at recreation yesterday.  I had left the kids at the rec. field to go put my bag in the Bible study room.  On my way, I ran into a girl in our class that was running late.  I took her to join the rest of the class.  As I approached the field, I noticed a boy laying in the field with 3 youth "leaders" hovering over him.  I started trotting towards them and asked," Is he hurt?"  Yes.  I picked him up and saw that he was sobbing and had chipped his front tooth.  We got him over to the VBS nurse and ride for the week.  His Mom came and took him to the dentist and he was able to return today.  I'm just thankful I came back to the field and found him or he could possibly still be laying there today with the 3 youth still looking at him!  

I have prayed for this group many times before this week.  I really felt that I needed to concentrate on the lessons instead of the "fluff" that sometimes goes along with it.  I think we have several that are searching for the answers and don't really have guidance at home to help them find what they are looking for.  I pray that Capshaw will keep contact with these kids and their families.  

I've had a good time so far at VBS and hope that next year I won't get in trouble with the other workers like I have this year.   Who knew that sitting with my class makes a bigger impression on them than standing beside them?  Can we say "chill out?"  I think my kids had a good time and I may have found a potential babysitter for the boys.  A young girl that helped in their class has fallen in love with them and she really impresses me each day I pick up the boys.  She is so calm and organized . . . unlike some of the adults in the room.

Tokyo . . . again.

We have a family tradition that on your Birthday, you pick where we all go eat to celebrate.  Hayden loves Tokyo.  We have been there(or similar restaurant) for the past 4 years.  It is the kind of place that cooks in front of you, with some knife slinging and humor.  Thanks family for "enjoying" the celebration one more time at Tokyo.  I wish the boys had liked it more . . . I'm guessing  in coming years, when fire is one of the joys of boyhood, they will like it a whole lot.  Right now, not so much.  Hayden had a great time and it is fun to see her excitement each year.  I know some of you may have had some digestion issues after dinner, but again I say thanks and when it is your Birthday, you can pick where ever your little heart desires!