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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

THE HAMRICKS; CHEER CAMP

We had some special guests last week - the Hamricks. We only get to see them about once a year (maybe twice if we're lucky), and we enjoy each visit more than the last. Kevin, Chris' brother, and his three precious children, Anna, Sophie and Jackson, made it down for a couple of days of culture-shock. The kids live in Chicago, and they are in awe every time they're here of how different things are in the South. Sophie (she's the middle one so you know I'm kinda partial) is a doll. She absolutely loves that we can buy sweet tea by the gallon, that we have pink hot dogs, and that Winn Dixie stores are real. :) Anna is the oldest and wise beyond her years. She's an all-around beautiful person. She loves how we say "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" and "yes sir" and "no sir" and that's it's considered disrespectful if you don't. She also discovered she likes fried green tomatoes. And Jackson, well I think Jackson is just fine no matter where he is. He's easy-going, happy-go-lucky and a joy to be around. I love catching up with Kevin when I get to spend some time with him, but Chris likes to steal him for himself. I can't blame him, though. I could not imagine seeing one of my sisters only once a year.

We had some really good laughs. Visits with them are so easy, lovely, and pleasant. We're already looking forward to the next one.









This picture cracks me up. It was Anna's first time to drive a four-wheeler. She was definitely a little green behind the wheel, and Sophie was a nervous wreck:


Everything was okay until she had a minor collision with one of Chris' trailers. It was oh-so minor, and we all got a good laugh out of it. But if you know Grant (who his RaRa calls The Professor because he's always so serious), you know he was already biting his nails. Well, after the trailer incident, he decided this was how it should be:

And she was perfectly okay with it. As was Jackson.



CHEER CAMP:

My baby girl has been in Auburn this week at cheer camp. Monday night was their home pom competition. Me, the boys and Meems headed to, in Martha's words, "God's Country" :) where we met up with Martha and the girls, Sandra and Anna. I was so impressed with their squad. I knew they would be good, but I didn't realize just how good. Obviously I'm a bit partial, but they really do deserve to win. They've worked their tails off getting ready for this. It paid off because they were awesome. And the Varsity squad, oh my! They too deserve to win. I'm anxious for Thursday to get here to see if they do.

Bethany has had a little taste of freedom this week, and she is living it up! This is her very first time away for something like this. In her own words, "Mom, I'm not gonna wanna leave this place!" :)

She's going to kill me for this one, but I thought it was cute how she and Country Girl were so excited as they were walking in:






Almost immediately after the competition, all the cheerleaders had to meet center-court to review what they learned that day.


Might we one day hear the words "War Eagle" cross her lips??

So proud of you, baby girl! Much love!

Friday, June 25, 2010

I'M IN HEEE

This one's for me. The way Reid says "here" is hilarious to me. And when he's playing in his room or Grant's room or taking a bath and you ask where he is or call his name, he responds with "I'M IN HEEE." Only I can't write it phonetically to do it justice. He usually doesn't tell you exactly where "here" is which makes it even funnier. I had to capture it on video because I know I will blink and he won't be saying it like that anymore. If you've been around us you know how he says it because I get him to say it all the time. I FIND ways for him to say it at least 10 times a day every day, and it makes me giggle. As you can tell from his voice on the video he gets a little aggravated that I keep calling his name which makes the "heee" more pronounced. All the video shows is the doorway to Grant's room so just listen. And I apologize in advance for my loud mouth. :) I couldn't make it obvious I was recording him or he wouldn't have said it.



TGIF!!!!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

A VISIT FROM MAYREE; MAC: FUTURE BARBER??

We had a short but sweet visit from Mary Carter, or Mayree as she's affectionately known to me. Or, if you ask Reid, her name sounds something like Maywwy Cah-too. My boys absolutely adore her as do I.

















It was refreshing to spend time with someone so real, genuine and good-hearted. She's a mess that girl. And she cracks me up. We also cracked her up with our country, redneck ways. She found it quite amusing that we can't wait for evenings when we can coat ourselves with bug repellant and ALL get in the garden to pick tomatoes and vegetables. And that I really do have a lot of fun picking blackberries. She said corn was her favorite vegetable so of course we had corn with dinner. She again thought it was amusing when she saw me shucking some corn. :) She said, "Y'all even shuck your own corn?" Well, we grow it so if you wanna eat it, you gotta shuck it first. :) The icing on the cake for her was that we even make our own peanut butter (well, kind of - the Blendtec is a wonderful machine). She's a city girl, that MC. 


We even got introduced to a new bug:  the click beetle. 






Chris found it in the garden. It was a strange creature, and we're both a bit bug-phobic so we were not going to be satisfied until we knew exactly what kind of thing this was. I do love Google. And Google did not disappoint.  I think we both slept better.




Mayree, you are welcome back any time! 






MAC:  FUTURE BARBER?????


I think not. 


Do you ever have those times when you're busy cleaning house and think your kids are busy actually playing nicely with each other because you don't hear them fighting? Then you stop in a panic and think, "The kids are quiet - THIS CANNOT BE GOOD." It also can't be good when your three-year-old son runs downstairs from playing with his older brother proclaiming with excitement, "Mommy, wook at my hair."  


Well last week was one of those times. And it wasn't. Good I mean. 


At first this is all I thought it was. 




Which was bad enough. But then I started investigating and slowly started getting more and more parts to the story. It all lead to me finding out it was Mac's idea to play host to a game of "Let's Get a Haircut" where Reid was the contestant. 






That's a lot of hair. 




And there's not much you can do with it. It's cut up to the crown in three places.  Do you see it? You really can't miss it. 















Oh that beautiful hair. I THOUGHT (famous last words) first of all that Mac knew better. And he does. Secondly I thought all the scissors were put up. Except for the blue pair in the picture above which came home in Grant's school supplies and which I had obviously forgotten about. I know it's just hair and it will grow. I saved the hair and put it in his baby book. :) I'm weird like that. I'm sure when they're older it's something we'll look back on and laugh about. But I was one upset mama at the time. And I bet Mac won't do it again!

Monday, June 21, 2010

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS PICTURE MEANS?



It means my baby Reid is growing up and wants to dress himself in the mornings. They're just play clothes to wear outside tomorrow, but he likes to get dressed as soon as he wakes up, as do Grant and Mac. So I have to lay his clothes out like I do for his big brothers. Makes a mama sad.

Yet as fast as he's growing up, he still likes a fun game of peekaboo. He still gets so excited. Just look at that smile and those laughs! Sometimes I wish I could freeze time.












Friday, June 18, 2010

KIDS HAVE THEIR DAYS TOO

Reid got his new teeth last week. The other day I grabbed Big Nas' for an impromptu photo session with he and Sissy so as to get a few pictures of those new snags. As usual Mac jumped in and happily obliged. 




This is the reaction I got from an already-agitated Reid when I turned the camera on him:


If you know me and Umby, you know we laughed uncontrollably. Which of course added fuel to his fire.

Especially when I told him I was still able to get a picture of his teeth. :)  

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

CATCHING UP - I'VE BEEN A BAD BLOGGER

And I'm sure I'm going to kick myself for it later. Or maybe not because the reason I haven't been blogging is because it's summertime. Which should mean we have more time than ever only it seems we're busier than ever. I absolutely love this time of year. It could be spring or summer every day (because in Alabama spring pretty much IS summer) and I would be one happy mama! Days are spent by the pool with the smell of sunscreen everywhere, playing in the sandbox, eating sno cones or homemade popsicles (or both), water gun fights, and we've been known to have some fun with water balloons. And with three boys, this time of year also means bugs, and with rain some frogs so of course they've had fun with that, especially being that I'm frog and bug phobic!


Evenings are spent with everyone smelling like Off, picking blackberries,



Chris and I "playing" in the garden, :)



It's our baby and we love it! And it's done quite well so far, especially the tomatoes,



so yesterday was the first of many evenings spent canning tomatoes, and of course grilling out, more swimming and naturally more cool treats. Throw in the mix a gymnastics class for the boys (which C was so not into until someone told him it would help with strength and coordination in sports - now he's a bit more enthusiastic) :) and some swimming lessons, and we have ourselves one jam-packed summer. We are enjoying every minute of it. So you'll understand if the blogging takes a backseat.

I will say, though, it has been bugging me. There's been so much I've wanted to post so I decided today to MAKE time to play catch-up. Just warning you that this may be a long one.


DESTINATION DANCE:

By day she's a preschool teacher, mom, wife and all that goes along with that. By night she's a dance teacher. Four years ago (after much prayer and thought) Rachel opened up her own dance studio. It's grown each and every year, and I have no doubt it will continue to do so as she goes into her 5th year this fall. Not that I expected anything different, but she's done an amazing job. I truly don't see how she does it all and does it all so well. Her theme this year was Destination Dance. I wish I had an abundance of pictures to show you from the recital, but even if she allowed flash photography during the performances (which she doesn't), I would never allow myself to be distracted with a camera. Her recital is like Christmas to me. I wait and wait with so much anticipation, it's great in a way that is indescribable, then it's all over way too fast. Then it's a WHOLE YEAR to wait again. I've put a plug in about a Christmas recital too. She threatens to hurt me. :) Her recitals are great every year but this is the best one yet. I think I say that every year but they really do just keep getting better. It was like a well-oiled machine. It went off without a hitch. If you know anything about dancing you know that a recital isn't just dancing, it's a production. Martha was born to do this. She truly has a God-given talent. And so many are blessed because she's using that talent.

I did manage to get a few pictures during the finale and when she was giving out trophies.


Grace during the finale:


Mayree and Claire doing their "booty dance" when Claire got her trophy.



Mayree and my loves:


Martha and Annie:




"AINT" DAWNIE:

The weekend of Martha's recital was doubly special. It was also the first weekend we had gotten to spend at home with Dawnie in 5 months. I'm going to post a few of my favorite pictures from our weekend with "Aint" Dawnie (as she calls herself). I think the pictures speak for themselves. We didn't want our time with her to end. It was an awesome weekend, and we look forward to many, many more weekends like that to come. God is good.



Naturally with my Dawnie there were A LOT of laughs!!


WATER BALLOON FIGHT:





















Thin Mint wasn't the only one to have a recital as of late. So did my baby girl. With everything she has going on, she decided to only take a jazz class this year. Cheering is really where her heart is, but she does love to get on that stage come recital time. :) She gets it honest. I'll take what I can get because dance is my heart, and it does my heart good to see my baby girl do what I did and loved for so many years. You did me proud, Umby!





As always, RaRa made the trek north with us:




Meems was there too, only she somehow escaped Big Nas'. She seems to have gotten good at that lately. Hmm, gotta find a way to fix that.

And after hours in the car as well as a full day of eating, shopping, and eating again along with fighting the heat and humidity in the midst of all that all the while knowing we have three or more hours to go from that point, I think Bethany's expression sums up how we ALL felt!



Ok, well maybe Martha's sums it up best:



Yep, pretty much! :)  Happy Hump Day!