Bon Bons

We have a little joke around our house.  All I ever do is sit around and eat bon bons.  If you are a stay-at-home mom, you know what I'm talking about.  Some days all I can get done is get the kids fed and keep them alive!  Then when my husband comes home and asks about my day, I have nothing to show for it but alive kids!  I'm okay with that.  I try my best to keep the house clean, but I also realize how important it is to play with my kids.  I love staying at home and wouldn't have it any other way.  I might not be productive in the world's eyes, but I'm productive in God's eyes because I'm investing in my babies!  I'm also productive in my husband's eyes and I'm so grateful for that!  The Proverbs 31 woman is a goal, but how does she do it?  I guess by starting small!  My kids will only be this age once and I don't want to miss a thing (yes, I hear Aerosmith in my head).  So, I'll stick to eating my bon bons and having a good time with my kids!

Kids in a Candy Store

This is an awesome place to take your kids for a special treat!  This is Alex's first time at MGS and he was so excited.  He woke up this morning talking about it!  Grace and Alex got to pick 2 pieces each.  They would put candy in their buckets and change their minds.  They did a great job putting the candy back in the right barrel!  Grace ended up with a moon pie and a cool sucker that squirted sour spray and Alex got a powdered sucker and a ring pop!  What fun!

Grace's Photo Shoot

When this is over, I get candy right?

I love mama's sunglasses!

Daddy and Mama love to kiss these lips!

I love taking pictures with cool backgrounds.  The kids did great!  I took these pics in five minutes.  Of course their reward was the candy store!

Lunch Date with Daddy!

It's really not hard being cute!

It's all about the hair, girls love product!

Yeah, I'm talking to you baby!

That's my mom's reflection in my shades!

Today we had a lunch date with Daddy!  First we had lunch at Tomato Head.  Yummy.  Then mom had a mini photo shoot with us.  She is always doing that!  Next we went to Mast General Store!  It was awesome!  We got candy!  I love lunch dates with Daddy!  Love, Grace

The Dump

No, we don't have trash pick up.  Yes, I grew up with it and I'm annoyed with the piles of stinky trash that outline my garage.  Yes, I nag my husband constantly about it.  No, we probably will never have trash pick up again.  If we have a truck, why waste 20 bucks on pick up (right Babe)? It's really not that bad and I appreciate the money saved.  I try not to complain, but sometimes it's hard to load the kids in the van.  However, my kids LOVE to go to the dump with Daddy.  Seriously, they do!  I hope my kids always stay this easy to entertain.  You know, when they are 16 and 14 I'm sure they will still love to ride in Daddy's big blue truck and go to the dump!  Maybe I'm living in a fantasy world, maybe one with trash pickup????

Knocked Out

Hey folks! We had a great time shooting the wedding yesterday. It was a long day, but we got great shots. My old roomie knocked it out of the ball park with her singing. I'm sure she impressed the 3 or 4 recording artists from Nashville that were there! Before the ceremony, I get cut aways of the guests right before the ceremony starts. I zoomed in on this one dude, and I was like that is Chris Rice! Sweet! He so caught me and I turned the camera away. I love his music! I was knocked out sick today. Glad it didn't happend yesterday!!!

Mommy Confessions

Yes, I admit I'm not a morning person.  I do stay up late most nights editing, but even when I'm not working, I still can't go to bed until late.  So, mornings aren't fun for me.  When Alex wakes up, he just climbs in my bed for snuggle time.  Grace joins the fun too.  I know some folks say NO KIDS in the bed, but I cherish this snuggle time.  So much so that I fall back asleep while the kids watch playhouse Disney.  Seriously, I do love that snuggle time but a mom needs her sleep.  Alex will eventually wake me back up by saying, "Mom, I want to eat."  Then I start my day.  This morning was extra sweet.  Alex leaned over to Grace and said, "I love you."  Grace said, "I love you too."  What a special moment, thank goodness I was awake!

Morning Fun

Several of our Life Group kids, yes there are lots more!

We had a fun play date life group style over at Emile's.  The funny thing about our church, we are small, but we have SO MANY young children.  The kids enjoyed hanging out and I enjoyed my girl friends!  I love this picture of Grace and Alex.  They are watching a train go by and Grace is not a fan of loud noises.  Yes, Alex is "try pooping."  Activities really stimulate him to poop!  He loved that train though!

Friends

Hide n' Seek 

We had our best friends over for dinner tonight.  Yummy food!  We won't see much of them in the fall b/c Jeff is a football coach.  Amy is going back to school, so she'll be busy.  Amy's also the PERFECT coaches wife.  She knows more about football then most guys.  Pretty cool.  Our kids love Uncle Jeff and Aunt Amy.  The kids did their best to entertain our guests.  What a fun night!

Tough Lesson

Daddy's girl!

I love this picture!  

Last Saturday night, we had a family date night.  Dinner out and then fun at the Splash Pad. However, Grace ran into a little boy that wasn't so nice.  I noticed the two arguing over one of the fountains, it was under control so I turned away.  Next thing I know, Grace is running up to me saying, "That boy called me an idiot....(long pause) he didn't know my name was Grace."  My heart sank and smiled at the same time.  My mind raced.  Here's a teachable moment, do something with it.  All I could think to say was "Grace, next time someone calls you a name, just tell them that Jesus loves me!"  The next morning at church, something hit me.  God is cool like that.  If my kids truly believe that Jesus loves them, then they can fight off any mean thing that is said to them.  God loves Grace so much that He sent His son to die for her.  God did that for us all!  He loves all of us that much.  Crazy huh?  So, if Grace believes that truth that Jesus loves her, she can totally handle a silly kid calling her a name.  She is not an idiot.  She is a child who is loved by a pretty AWESOME God and her family too!  That trumps a kid at the splash pad anyday.  

Let's Play!

Looks like we have a future vet on our hands?

Alex was busy picking up chicks!  I love Lucy!

Chicks later, trains are more important right now!

Just like Daddy!

My Pep Moms group had a playdate this morning.  The kids had a blast.  Grace loved the grocery area and the dress up/fashion show stage.  Alex liked the trains and tool stuff.  After the play, we grabbed lunch with Grace's best bud, Isaac.  Alex took a late nap!

Oh, to be cool!

My failed attempt of a cool, myspace pic

Keith's reaction to my hair rollers!

I try my best to stay hip in the world!  I don't text, but I finally did get a facebook page.  I noticed on myspace that all these "cool," folks have these self portraits.  How do they do that? Feeling froggy, I tried to snap a wacky pic of ME in rollers.  Didn't turn out as cool as I had hoped! I'm such a dork, but at least I can laugh at myself!  Keith and I went to the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame dinner that night.  It was nice and we knew several of the honorees!  

Last Swim Lesson

I didn't have to ask twice for a cheese!

She's even cute in goggles!

Grace swam from this point to the end of the pool!!

Well, my baby just wrapped up her private swim lessons on Thursday!  She did awesome!  She was swimming like a fish.  Next up, learning how to dive!  I'm so proud of you, Grace!

Teacher, Teacher

Aunt Lucy gave Grace a very educational birthday gift this year.  It's a little kit that Grace uses to teach school.  Super cool!  On this day, Grace was not only teaching her brother, but most of the Disney Princesses.  You go girl!

What to do.

Grandma's an artist even in the sand!

K:  Play structure complete. Check.  Now what to do?

I just had to put this last pic on the blog for kicks and giggles!  How many of you ladies have ever asked your husbands to move something?  I'm sure most of you.  Sometimes they will do it right away, other times they forget about it.  Well, Keith changed out our front garage's AC unit a few weeks ago.  He decided to put the old unit right by the van (inside the garage) just for a temp location.  He warned me not to scratch my legs on the AC unit.  Yes, it was practically inside the van!  Let me just tell you how many times I cut my leg on that thing!  Every time I did so, I fussed at Keith...when are you going to move that thing!!!!!!  Yesterday, I had enough. After scratching my leg once again, I threatened...if this thing isn't gone tonight, it's going outside in the yard!!!!!!  I don't think Keith took me seriously.  Well, it remained in the garage today and my sister-in-law cut herself on it.  Keith finally removed it, hence I took this picture b/c it was a big moment for me!  FYI, I'm exaggerating a bit.

It's Done!!!

It's a beauty!  Way to go Daddy!  You da man!

Seriously, what a stud husband I have!

Yes, I'm freaking out watching Alex climb HIGH!!!

Yes, he will have a spot!

This is Alex "smiling with his eyes."

This is Alex "try pooping," and christening the play set!

After a few long weekends, the play structure is complete!  I'm so proud of Keith for getting this bad boy project finished!  It was quite a task!  Thanks to Big Daddy for all his help too!  We love you, man!  What fun our kids will have with this big toy!  I'm already freakin' out a bit.  Alex fell out of the swing tonight.  Thankfully, Keith semi-caught him and protected his head.  He was so fine, thanks to Daddy breaking his fall.  Grace enjoyed making sand angels.  I'm not a big fan of the sand box, but the kids sure love it and that is all that matters!

Dollywood

A:  Aren't I so cute, I mean really?

G:  These kiddie rides are for the bees!

A:  Stop, in the name of a wedge.

A:  Speaking of a wedge, this might help me try pooping!

This might look like a great picture, but not at 6:30 p.m.

We went to Dollywood on Sunday and it was HOT!  What happened to that rain?  Now I know why I hardly used our passes last summer.  We had fun.  Can't wait unil it cools down.  We did all the normal kiddie stuff and then let the kids play in the big fountains.  Good times!