Ka-Chow! Ka-Chow!

To say Buddy loves cars, tractors, trucks, anything with wheels is an understatement. I cannot even tell you how many he has or even where they all are. They are like little surprises hidden all over the house! I find some hidden in the plants, on the table, in our bed, in Sister's closet, in my shoes, on the stairs. You just never know.

Every morning he wakes up and picks out about 6 from the 100 he has in his bed with him. He will carry those 6 around all day plus BeBe~like the picture above. They are dropped about a million times, rolled off the table, crashed into each other, thrown off the couch-you name it, he's done it. He even puts them in the stroller and takes them for a walk outside. He knows every car he has and when there is one missing! I don't even know how he keeps up!

His favorite car by far is Lightening McQueen. We are on McQueen #3 right now...and I keep a back up just in case it gets lost. It's not even worth the heartbreak that comes along with not having McQueen in his hands. A few months ago, he got a McQueen tattoo, which eventually came off in the bathtub. That poor baby cried about it for about 2 months...every night! We went to Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and found a LM stamp. Buddy saw it first and when I handed it to him from the shelf, he hugged it and said, 'I wub it Mommy!' So, I bought it. And, every night after bath, he gets a new one on each arm. It is so sweet to hear how he giggles with pure excitement each time I put that "big, big wite'nin queen tamp" on.  

It's the little things that make him happy, for now.   

My Daddy

Daddy's 60th birthday is today! We celebrated at the lake this past weekend and had the most redneck cake ever! It was suppose to be a lake scene...but turned out to be lots of bright blue icing with 40 plastic fish stuck all over it!  Guess who thought she needed to take 3 of those fish home to add to her collection?

My daddy is the cream of the crop, the best of the best. There is no imitating and no one better! He is a husband, father, son, brother,deacon, farmer, fixer, good listener, the list could go on and on. I think his favorite title is Papa! So, for his birthday, I have compiled a list ~

Things I LOVE about my Daddy!

1. I love that he loves my momma! And has provided Bub and I with a stable family. Together they have shown us what true love is and what working at a marriage is like. Thank you!
2. I love that he is a great dancer and dances in the kitchen with me and momma.
3. I love that he created some kind of fear in me from when I was young(in a loving way)...I have never wanted to let him down!
4. I love that he can say my name in a certain tone and I know exactly what it means. WB tried this once after we were married...it didn't work for him!
5. I love that he trusts God so much that he banks his livelihood on his faith every year. That's what being a farmer means. He works the ground and plants a crop each year and then waits on God to make it a good one. Even though the good ones don't come that often, his faith doesn't waiver and he turns right around and does it again.
6. I love that his lap is still big enough for me to climb in when I want to. He's a great girl daddy!
7. I love that he is respected by every person that has ever come in contact with him.
8. I love that he gave every kid he coached equal playing time~even if they weren't that good. And didn't care when parents didn't like it.
9. I love that he always knows where everything is...anytime I need directions, I always call him!
10. I love that he makes Chex Mix every holiday.
11. I love that he would walk down the hallway beating on the walls to wake us up for school. And if we didn't wake up, he would come in our rooms and sit on us!
12. I love that he picked me up from elementary school and always had a coke and peanuts in the truck. Then, when he picked me up from middle school, he didn't mind that I thought coke & peanuts was too fattening.
13. I love that he picked me up from high school in the most beat up, oldest farm truck he owned. I didn't really love that, but we are totally doing that to Sister one day!
14. I love that when my first date came to the door to get me, he opened it and said "What are you doing here?" I made him answer the door for every other date I ever had.
15. I love that he called me Chelsea Clinton when I got a perm in the 9th grade. I had a straightener put in it twice after that.
16. I love that he was a very strict parent and didn't allow me to do things that I am now grateful for!
17. I love that when tucking me in at night, he would push all the covers under me so I was locked in like a mummy. I still like my sheets to be tight and tucked in.
18. I love that he gave me my diploma on stage when I graduated high school.
19. I love that he still has my senior picture in his wallet and always puts everything behind it.
20. I love that he always pumped my gas until I went off to college. I had to learn then because my brother refused to do it.
21. I love that he tried to bribe me to stay home for college by buying me a new car. Then he didn't get mad when I decided a month before Fall Quarter that I wanted to go to Auburn!
22. I love that when WB asked him if he could marry me after only 2 months, he gave his blessing. I also love that they had a private conversation and I still don't know what was said.
23. I love that we had booked a harpist for our wedding but daddy said no, that he wanted violins. I really wanted the violins too.
24. I love that when I got a bad haircut (right after WB and I were married) he advised WB just to sit down and shut up that nothing he could do would make it better. I think he remembers #15 too.
25. I love that I remind him of his mother.
26. I love that he showed us that owning your own business is risky and very hard work, but worth it in the end.
27. I love that my husband has a lot of his same characteristics.
28. I love that he loves our kids and loves to spoil them.
29. I love that he respects us enough as parents to honor the rules we have for our kids.
30. I love that Buddy's middle name is his first name.
31. I love that his legacy will never be matched.
32. I love that even though our time together here is short, we will be living in eternity together one day!

Happy 60th Daddy! I will always be your little girl!

The logistics of getting to Heaven~according to Sister

The following conversation took place in the car today:

Sister~"Mommy, how are we going to get to Heaven? I mean, I know God's gonna come pick us up in his truck, but how are we going to get on the clouds?" as she is gazing in the sky.

Me~"Do you think there is a road in the sky that we can't see?"

Sister~"Yes! I think that's it! And, I think he is going to give us a treat on the way since we've been good!"

Me~"What kind of treat?"

Sister~"I bet it's a lollipop! And it's going to be a really big one because it's a long way to get there!"

I LoVe that girl!

My Sweet Sunshine Girl

Sister's Pre-K started today! She was so excited about it yesterday that she was in my room at 6:45 am wanting to know if it was school day! She couldn't wait to start! Especially after going to Drop-in last Friday and meeting her teachers. This is her sitting at her table, where she sat most of the time. She wanted to stay the whole hour, so we did.

Then we met Mimae for the rest of our Girl's Day of shopping, eating lunch, and having ice cream.

She actually tried on clothes, but not before being bribed with the pajamas she picked out. :) She talked about school all weekend and just couldn't wait for it!

This morning, her brother went in her room and said "Wake up sunshine girl! You go school!"

Here she with her Hello Kitty lunch box all ready to go! There were absolutely NO tears shed today!!  What a huge difference from last year! It is amazing how far this little girl has come in a year!

I am including a few scans of some of the art she has been drawing this summer. Anyone who knows Sister, knows that she is the craft queen. She is serious about some art.  For my birthday a few weeks ago, she made me 3 birthday bags FULL of crafts. There were over 37 different envelopes with things she had made. Some envelopes were tripple stuffed and then wrapped with wrapping paper (another thing she loves to do).  I opened envelopes, bags & presents, for over 30 minutes. No exaggeration. At one point, she even said, "Mommy, I will help you. I know you are tired!"

Here are just a few of my favorites...

This is an M&M wearing 4 party hats.

This says Happy Birthday Mommy and is a cake with 3 candles

This is me flying a helicopter.

This is an elephant turning on a light switch.

This is a giraffe (drawn by me), but colored by her. I had to fold it down to scan it, but if you will notice, there is an extra blue thing there in the middle of the giraffe's legs. She says this is the baby giraffe's milk coming out.

I am so so very proud of my sweet Sunshine Girl! I can't believe she is growing so fast! I know she is going to have such a great year at school! Buddy and I will miss her, but with all of his little antics lately, he is going to keep me on my toes!

Hold Yous Bu-fwy!

Kacey, Anna, and I took the kids to the aquarium last week~where we saw 6 little ones making fishie faces and one Buddy looking at everyone like they were crazy.

2 parrots fighting over the end of the stick.

A butterfly with a broken wing (the left one).

And that Martina McBride song was in my head for the next hour.

Sister holding another injured butterfly.

Buddy saying "My turn'd, my turn'd!", finally getting the turn and LOVING it, then screaming because he had to give it back! "Hold yous bu-fwy, hold yous bu-fwy! NOOO Buddy turn'd!"

Sister's reflection in the jellyfish tank.

Five 4 year olds in a shark cage...with 3 mommies wondering where we can purchase one of those!

2 little friends

One more group shot!

And, trying to fit as many in the bubble as possible!

We took a break for a late lunch and decided to head over to Coolidge Park for a little splashing.

This is where Sister decided to give herself an enema.

And buddy needed to clean out his nose.

Luckily they all passed out in the car...well, except Anna's kids. She was probably wishing she had bought the cage afterall.

I have to say, I think I am ready for school to start so that we are on a routine. I know that sounds crazy, but summer has been a little insane with swimming lessons, gymnastics, playtimes, and all the other things that I can't even remember. We really haven't had many days without something going on...I want one of those please.

For the 4th, we took off to the lake for a few days. My brother's family was in town for the weekend and WB was, let's all say it together, ON CALL. (I am really hoping with all the other holidays he's pulled this year that someone else gets Christmas.)

I think this little boy is gonna be my river rat. He LOVES being in the water. When we first started going to the lake, he would say "Mommy, Baaaaffff" (calling the water a bath and saying he wanted in it!) Now he just says "Wader, Wader, Waderrrr!" 

This ones was climbing out of the boat, or trying to. Zackie is a little monkey for sure.

Sister liked the jet skis. The other day she said she wasn't going to ride them anymore because they were too much fun. She did get on the tube again! So proud of her!! See that smile? We never get that on camera!!

We don't get Coco's smile much either.

This is what happens when it takes too long to get the boat out. The 2 little ones decide they need to take matters in their own hands.

We watched a great fireworks show put on by Double Head Resort. Buddy and Coco kept calling out the colors in the sky. I am sure everyone around us enjoyed that!

We went over to the Splash Pad at the Renaissance too. I love this picture.

And this is what an 8 year old thinks is funny!

~up next~the aquarium~

Father's Day, more cousin time, and the most anticipated birthday present

I am about to start out blogging about something that happened last week and end it with something that happened today. Today. I don't think I have ever blogged about something that happened the day I am blogging! It probably will never happen again!

Father's Day was last weekend...and we spent it rushing around like most people do. Church, lunch, home for nap, back to church, over to the inlaws, home for bed. In the middle of all of that I was trying to catch up from VBS the previous week for being out of town the next week. And I have decided that someone comes in when I am not looking and puts their family's laundry in my laundry room.  There is no way all of it is ours. I can't keep my baskets empty for more than 2 hours.

Anyway, this was a very eventful Father's Day because WB and I took our picture together. This never happens because I am usually the one taking all of the pictures. So, kids, this is what your parents looked like on Father's Day 2010...daddy-31 and mommy almost 31. or are we 32? Whatever, you can do the math.

There will be more a longer post on the man in the middle soon...it will be his 60th this September. If I start now, it will take me til September to tell you what a wonderful man he is. If you think your daddy is great, multiply him by 1000 and that's my daddy. He's one in a million!

And, if he will be 60, then I will be 32~also known as too old to remember how old you are.

We stopped by to see PopPa Honey later that afternoon and took a little spin on the golf cart. And, as usual, Buddy had to check out the cows and throw a little Moo their way. They really look forward to him coming around, you know.

See that big bruise on Sister's shoulder? Courtesy of her big cousin, Jay. He only knows how to swing for the fence when playing baseball and she got pegged in the shoulder. She said "But mommy, I was standing next to Papa so I wouldn't get hit and I still got hit!"

On the Monday following Father's Day, I took the kids to Ol' Montgomery (as Sister says) to stay a few days with my brother's family. We had a lot of fun taking the kids to the Y, hanging out and playing, and I even got to ride over to Auburn to see my friend Jamie and her new baby.

(There is a funny story about the Y that will be told at a later date)

CoCo and Buddy

These two have so much fun together! They would sit and line up their cars together for hours and then count them over and over. It was so sweet! You would have thought they were the only 2 there if it weren't for the constant yelling of Sister and Jay. Both of them are the first born, both are stubborn, both like to control all situations, both only like their own ideas. You can imagine.

One other stop we made was to the Bass Pro Shops. Since Christmas, Sister has been asking for a hot pink BB gun. I am not sure how she knew they existed, but she did and couldn't quit talking about them.  I wished I had my camera on her when she saw them at the store. She had the biggest smile on her face!

Here she is kissing the box!

She actually spotted the hot pink 4-wheeler before she saw the gun. But, she informed us that just the gun was ok this time, but next time we could get the 4-wheeler. I hate to inform her that they next motor vehicle purchased will be for me.

She couldn't wait to get home to show her daddy and shoot it. Then it started raining so we had to let her bring it out in the house. Without BBs of course. Bless her heart, she has been asking everyday to go to the shop so she could shoot it. And, we were able to finally go this afternoon. WB is on call, so you can guess what happened. As soon as we got over there he got called in. But, he did let her shoot it 4 times.

And, she hit the green bottle (see it laying down over on the right hand side?) with her first shot.

Oh, please don't think we are careless with our guns and allow Buddy to stand that close when someone else is shooting. Buddy and I were over checking on the watermelons and missed the actual shooting of the BB. So, I made them pretend to be shooting again for documentation.

Which reminds me...I had better go get the gun out of the car before I get pulled over and cuffed for carrying a firearm.