Enjoying First Days of Fall

We have thoroughly enjoyed the first days of fall! We are sorry Alex got sick, but it led to some unexpected family time on Friday and we carried over into Saturday! We just enjoyed each other and played and laughed a lot! Good for the soul! ENJOY!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly...

I don't have any photos with my blog post today. As you read, you will find out we are not very photo interested today! So, we are going with the funnies, followed by the basics...

The Good--
We have two hilarious children! I don't know if everyone thinks that of their kids, but I have been around LOTS of kids in my life as a babysitter and teacher and I find ours to be some of the funniest around!
Ever since Alexander finally decided to talk around age 2, people have said, "Are you writing all of this down?". And honestly, I haven't and if I had, we would be renting a storage building for the books of funnies to his credit. But here are two from the last little while...
Recently, when I took the kids to the park, I let Alex sit in the front passenger seat (buckled in, of course) when we were leaving and I took him on a tour of the perimeter of the large park to see where the RVs hook up and to look for boats on the water. At one dead end, as I turned around, he asked what all the stuff hanging from the trees was called. I said, "Spanish Moss". Without thinking for even a second, he said, "Cool! If you put some on your head, can you speak Spanish?" Now, I don't know about you but I have quite a bit of spanish moss in my life and I have never stopped to wonder that! HA!
Reagan was playing with her friend Jon Daniel one day last week. When he tried to take the doll stroller from her, she pushed him down (not hard enough to hurt, but we are teaching her to say she is sorry when she is the instigator). I said, "Reagan, you pushed your friend. What do you tell him?" She looked him square in the eye (still laying on the floor) and said, "NO! STOP!" HA! Not what I meant and we fixed it, but it is hard to keep a straight face sometimes!
**No babies were injured in the making of this story**
Last Friday night, we put blankets and large pillows on the den floor and had our first "movie night" with Alex after Reagan went to bed. We chose Snow White because it is a wholesome classic that he had not seen. Near the beginning, the evil queen is leaving her palace and she passes a skeleton reaching through some bars. He asked why she had a skeleton down there and I said (thinking I was offering a super explanation), "Just so you will know that Snow White isn't the first person she has been mean to" and under his breath he said, "Oh, she's the second!" Oh, to be so creative by day and yet still such a concrete thinker! HA!

The Bad--
All that humor has been put on hold the last few days as Alex has battled fevers and really bad headaches that have made him nauseous. Today, I took him to the doctor and he had a positive strep test! Poor guy! He had not complained once of his throat hurting, but when she asked him if he was having any trouble with his throat he said, "Hurts like crazy!" I asked him why he hadn't told me and he said, "The medicine you were giving me for my head was helping it (Motrin) and I needed it for my head more!" Isn't he sweet? Anyway, the headaches had me worried since he is so young, so we were glad to get an answer that had a quick remedy!

The Ugly--
Tonight when I went to put away clean clothes in Alex's room, I began to hear laughter from the kids in the living room (not unusual with our two and I was glad Alex felt good enough to laugh again). Reagan kept saying, Boing, Boing, Boing and I thought he was entertaining her on the Hippity Hop ball. All of a sudden, the laughter stopped and she began screaming! I ran to the rescue and Alex began crying harder than her. She had blood dripping from her mouth and it really frightened me! Turned out, Boing Boing was her copying her big brother and jumping on the couch and she fell off and bit all the way through her bottom lip. She let me hold a towel and ice on it for about a half hour and it stopped bleeding, but it is UGLY and fat now! When I settled her down, he kept crying and I asked if he got hurt too (although I knew he didn't). He said, "I didn't mean to teach her something dangerous! I want her to be big like me so we can play. No, I want to be a BAAAAAAA-BYYYYYYYYYY!" I told him I was glad he realized it was dangerous for her and hoped that her injury would teach him not to show her new tricks without asking us if it was a good idea, in the future. He is very cautious and was still asking how long it would take her lip to heal, after she had already gone to bed. What a great, caring big bro! I pray he always will be! And never fear, fat lip and all, she has already tried to Boing Boing again! I guess I will only be alone when she is sleeping for a while!

Goodnight! ENJOY! I love my babies!

Future in TV documentaries...

Reagan may seem like the next American Idol contestant (drama and all, according to one friend), but Alexander LOVES a captive audience for his creativity! On this particular day, he had a friend over. Eric had cleaned out a box from his younger days and found his Grissom Mortar Board (something every 29 year old needs!). We got him to part with the cap, but agreed to keep the tassel! Alex turned it into a dangerous jellyfish, changed his voice and everything, and appeared to be hosting a documentary on this specimen! I snuck in for some video footage! Of course, anything about the 97 is in reference to the graduation year hanging from the tassel. His friend, Caleb, just watched without a word, which is exactly the response the TV host had hoped for! HA! ENJOY!

And for those of you who were disappointed that I missed Flashback Friday, check out this sweet little video! Alexander was 19, almost 20 months old. He had less words than Reagan does at this point, but a very similar sweet little voice! Made me cry to see him so young, but I laughed to see him in tub with no tub ring! She is too busy for that for sure!

Sweet Singer...

Reagan is such a sweet singer. Even when she doesn't know the words, she carries a great tune! Here is a portion of her obsession with the ABC song. She stops and says All Done and I try to help her finish it, but she is focused on wanting to hear Barney sing it instead! You hear a short portion of the Barney theme song, which she sings as "I love me, You love me..." When we tell her "I Love You", she says "Love Me". Be sure to note the unattended friends in the background. Trent disappears and Jon Daniel picks up my cell phone and calls DaDa at the end! Never a dull moment! ENJOY!

We had a busy, FUN week! ENJOY!

Fun Weekend...

We had such a fun weekend together! Friday night, we smoked chicken wings and just stayed home and enjoyed each other's company! Saturday, I took the kids to Foscue Park, a wonderful shady place to play! Alexander climbed more than ever before, Reagan finally let me push her in a swing, they dug together in the dirt for the longest time discovering acorns and sweet gum balls galore, and we all laughed a LOT! We followed that with some serious napping for all four of us, then went to celebrate Jon Daniel's 1st birthday (couldn't take pics b/c there was a photographer there), then had some of our senior high students over for wings and Alabama football(they didn't want to be photographed)!


Sunday was our wonderful church's 50th anniversary! I learned some things about the history of Fairhaven that I didn't know and was so thrilled to celebrate the love we have found there, meet former pastors and families and see some folks who have moved away during our time there and just reconnect! May God continue to bless Fairhaven for 50+ more years!

Busy week...

This week was so busy that I never found time to post the happenings! Here is the week in a nutshell...

Alex had his friend Caleb over for a play date and they got so dirty and sweaty that they needed baths before church!




Jon Daniel grew some hair!



We had our Jr. High students over for some Alabama Football and a cookout!


Eric and I had a getaway to Birmingham for Refuge 2008, a free 2 day conference for youth ministers and their spouses done by Student Life ministries. We had a chance to worship under the leadership of Chris Tomlin and Kristian Stanfill and sit under the teachings of the Word from Louie Giglio, Randy Hall, and David Platt. Awesome time of worship and study, as well as a good bit of free time together and with friends that was such fun! We came back feeling like we had surely had "REFUGE"!



Reagan's eyes turned green for sure and her hair started curling well!

Alexander and Reagan began playing together more...



Both kids actually posed for photos for me on the same day! Best recent photos I know of...ENJOY!


Alexander took some tests...a "spelling" test, although we didn't have the words at home to practice for a week. He had to listen to his teacher sound out a word and spell it from that, practice test Thursday, real thing Friday. All words right both times, backward "p" in pig on Thursday, but corrected on Friday! Also had a test on the back of sheet where teacher said a two-letter sound and he had to write it down, plus add a letter to the end to make a real word. Ex: she said, "ne" and he added a k. HA! Did you wash you "nek" today? Got them all right, but teacher wrote in the vital "c" on that one without counting it wrong. He was the only one in his class who did not have to go to time out today, too. Hence the tattoos! He also got a toy from surprise box and 2 Oreo cookies from his teacher and she bragged on him. There are only four kids in his class, but he was proud of himself for obeying! Came home from hard days work to be ALL BOY outside and get dirty enough to leave a ring around the tub, but went to bed HAPPY!


Have a great weekend! Enjoy your family and praise God for each blessing!

FLASHBACK FRIDAY...

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19 Months Ago Today...Our precious Reagan Hope made her debut into our lives. What a joy she is to us! God taught us SO much while we waited for her, especially when we grieved our baby losses in 2004! Through the tough times, God continually led each of us, in separate quiet times, to Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future..." We held tight to that promise and felt the gift of Reagan was part of the "hope and future" he promised our family! Hence the middle name. We also believe and know that God healed Reagan's heart while she was still in my womb and her head once she arrived. She is truly a miracle and we praise God for her health and life! We pray she will come to know God personally and celebrate/share the fact that her testimony began so early! Praise be to God for our blessings of Alexander and Reagan!

Wordless Wednesday!

We had a lot of fun at Moms Morning Out this week! The tunnel was a big hit and all four babies were in great moods and played so well together! My first slide show...enjoy!

Flashback Friday...

Got this idea from friends with blogs,
for the Wordless Wednesdays
and Flashback Fridays! ENJOY!
These are photos of when Alexander
was the same age Reagan is now...he
got his first hair cut and she is getting her first hair!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY!

Weekend Fun...

Roll Tide Roll!

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Labor Day Cousin Adventures