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!!