Family & Christmas Pictures

WOW! I am a little behind on posting. So sorry about that. I have been working my regular job as well as my holiday job and time has really gotten away from me. I know you are thinking, "Well, you got pictures done." Wrong! We had these taken on Veteran's Day (11/11). I realized that day what my schedule was looking like and I was afraid that we wouldn't get a chance to get them done if I didn't do them that day. So, after a whirlwind trip to find the right top for a certain blonde, and some pantyhose for me (which I proceded to ruin before pictures, hence the grey pants instead of black), we got our pictures done. I was pretty please with how they turned out. Now remember, they say that the camera adds 10 pounds, so please realize that there are about 8 cameras on me. :o) In all seriousness, I hope that everyone has a very happy and healthy holiday season, not matter what you celebrate. My love to everyone!


Laney & Lexi

Family picture. Don't ask why Lexi is sitting the way she is. We told her to sit up like in her Lil Dragon class and this is what we got. She wouldn't relax at all, even with us begging!

The girls and their daddy. They did a similar pose last year. The main difference is that Lexi has a finger in daddy's ear this year.

Todd & I

The girls looking at Polar Express

Santa Claus, 2008

As many of you know, I work a retail job during the holidays, in addition to my regular job. I have done it for many years and LOVE it. Well, today I was thinking about my schedule & how crazy it was about to get. Then, I realized that I didn't know when I would have time to take the girls to see Santa. So, I called Todd & told him to bring them to the mall to see Santa after taekwondo class. At first he didn't want to because they would be in their uniforms. I didn't care. TKD is a part of the girls lives, so who cares if they wear them to see Santa.

Lexi was very excited to see Santa, but when the time came she changed her mind. She didn't want to sit next to him or anything. Laney didn't care & sat right on his lap. After some coaxing we got Lexi to sit with him. Then, she didn't want her picture taken with him. So, Todd got on one side & I got on the other and said we would be in the picture too. Before the picture was taken we would lean in, when they got to 2 with counting we leaned back so we wouldn't be in it. Then after the picture was taken we quickly leaned in again. Lexi didn't know what happened until after we got the picture. Both girls were very sweet and only asked for 2 gifts each. Then Laney asked for 1 more gift, but it was a toy for our dog, Jack. After all was said and done Lexi ran up to Santa and gave him a big hug. So much for being afraid of him.

Pumpkin Carving

I have never claimed to be the world's greatest mom. Sometimes there is ice cream for dinner, but that is only on the summer months. There are days that I proclaim that chocolate is the breakfast of champions and let them have something chocolately in the morning. Then, there are the times that I let the days get away from me and forget to carve our pumpkins. Even with all the begging, I still forget to let them do it. So, on November 2nd (yes the date on the pictures is correct) I let them FINALLY carve a pumpkin. They had a great time, with the exception of scraping out the inside, they found that gross. Laney wanted to make it a little dog so she put the cut out eyes on top with toothpicks so they would look like ears. I didn't get a picture of that part, but it was cute. She also named it Jack O'Lantern, after our dog Jack. Here is the pre Jack pumpkin.

November 1st

Thanks to a dear, sweet friend, we were able to take the girls to see Charlotte's Web at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival last weekend. We were really looking forward to it and decided to make an evening out of it and also go to dinner. The play was much, much better than I expected. I will admit, I got teary eyed at the end. I always cry when Charlotte dies because her little spider babies won't know her. I know, it's crazy, but I can't help it. I have cried at the end of the book and movie for years, why should the play have been any different?! After the girl's got dressed I realized how grown up they looked. It really shocked me. So, here are my 'babies' before we left.

Halloween

On Halloween we went to the Fall Festival at our church. They had inflatables, games, trunk-or-treating and food. We all had a great time. As for the girl's costumes, well, let me explain. Lexi wanted to be the same thing that she was last year. Great, that's easy. I forgot about Laney's costume until the day before. So, I had her be the same thing that Lexi was. Both my girl's went as girl's from the '80's!!! You all know that I am stuck in the 80's so I couldn't pass it up. Lexi's look didn't turn out quite the way I envisioned. Her hair wouldn't get big enough and there was just something that was off. Laney's turned out better than I could have hoped. She wasn't happy & thought that her hair was "too big"!!! I told her that in the '80's there was no such thing as hair being too big. Then I showed her some friends on Facebook who have pictures from high school up. She understood then. I haven't downloaded the pictures that I took at home, but as soon as I do I will get them posted since they are better than the one's that I have.

Waiting to trunk-or-treat

Just after eating dinner, with a mouthful of candy that she had for dessert

Digging for a prize

Heck, if Laney can get one, so can I

She's a maniac, maniac, on the floor!!!

Glasses

Last month I was informed that Lexi was not doing well in school. I was told (already) that there was the possiblity of her repeating kindergarten and then I was told that it was possibly ADD or ADHD. Of course, I was a total wreck. I mean, I have one child that is extremely gifted and then I have to hear this about my other child. I know that Lexi is not Laney, and I try not to compare them, but when I heard this I started comparing them. Then, I started questioning what I was doing wrong. I talked to Lexis' K-4 teacher since we are friends to get her opinion. I even called my pediatrician and got the number for a place in Birmingham that tests for ADD & ADHD. Then, my mom asked if I had thought to have her vision checked. Of course not! Why would I do that? It was too simple! I did call the next day to make an appointment and we were able to get her in 3 days later. It turns out that my baby girl is far-sighted. I have to admit, I was very happy about this. At least we had a reason as to why she was not doing well in school, poor girl couldn't see. So, we picked out 5 pairs of frames and then narrowed it down to two. After that I let her pick her frames since she was going to be the one wearing them. Two days later, on October 22, we were able to pick up her new glasses. I think that she looks so sweet in them. The best part of everything is that there is already a change in her at school. So, I have to give credit where credit is due, great call Nana!

October 7th, Belt Rank Ceremony

As I posted before, on October 5th we found out that Laney had moved up to senior green belt in Tae Kwon Do. I am so proud of her. On the 7th she had a belt rank ceremony where she was able to get together with other students & receive her new belt. Here is a picture of her with her belt. She was so happy. She didn't think that she was going to get it because she had made a mistake in testing. I am so proud of hte progress that she is making. I can't wait to see what else she does.

More excitement on October 4th

On October 4th, after a full day of Laney testing for her senior green belt and then going to the pumpkin patch we were prepared for a quiet night at home. Well, as they say, things don't always go as planned. Laney informed me that Lexi had thrown up in the kitchen. Todd said he would clean it up & the next thing I knew he was asking me if we had any medication in the house that was blue & green!! Well, I had just flushed medicine that looked like that before we left that morning, so I freaked out. It turns out that I had missed a pill & Lexi had found it. Because of the color she thought that it was candy & tried to eat it. When she bit down the medicine in the capsule was released & since it tasted bad she spit MOST of it out. After a call to poison control we found that there is no safe dosage of this medicine for children her age, so it was off to the emergency room for Lexi & I (Todd stayed home with Laney). After 2 cups of liguid charcoal, one major throw up session, and 6.5 hours of monitoring we were finally released at 3am!!!! Of course, you all know that I am rarely without a camera and this day was no different. When we were in the exam room and she had finished some of hte liquid charcoal I decided to take a couple of pictures. I wanted to be able to show them to her when she got older. So, until that time, here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Update on testing

Just a quick update on Laney's taekwondo testing. I was able to check the website earlier and found that Laney has advanced to Senior Green Belt! I am so excited for her. I know that she had a rough time testing yesterday because of an asthma attack, but she managed to pull this out! I am so, so very proud of her. Now, it's time to concentrate on getting her ready for her tournament on October 25th!

Sunflowers

As we were taking pictures of the girls with the sunflowers today I noticed some had bees on them. I decided to take some pictures just to see how they would come out. While they are not my best work they aren't too bad, so I thought that I would share them.




No, there isn't a bee in this picture, I just thought that the flower looked pretty.

More Pumpkin Patch Pics

Here are a few more pictures that I took today. I wasn't able to add them to the other post. Maybe I am posting too many pictures?!?! NAH!!!!
Laney
Lexi. She woke up right before we got there
The girls by the teepee
Laney & Lexi with Sunflowers
Lexi and her new 'friend' Ashtyn. We ran into them at the Pumpkin Patch a couple of times. The girls (all 3) were wearing the same shirt & Lexi & Ashtyn thought that it was the neatest thing. We ran into them again when we stopped for ice cream on the way home & the girls insisted that I take a picture of them together.

Pumkin Patch

After testing we took the girls to Clanton to the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch. We were there 2 years ago with Todd's brother's family & his parents. I can say that it was more fun 2 years ago. While we had a good time today I really missed the kids being able to play. The girls got their pumpkins picked out and Laney made sure that she got a big, heavy one so Daddy would have to carry it. I just laughed. We all hads a great time & really enjoyed our day.




The girls sitting on a carriage
Todd & the girls heading out to the field
Still looking for the perfect pumpkin
My pumpkins with their pumpkins
Me & my 'pumpkins'

Testing for Senior Green Belt

Today Laney was able to test for her senior green belt. She did really well during form and board breaking, but had some problems during sparring. She is normally really good, but today she didn't seem al lthat into it. When I questioned her she told me that she was having an asthma attack! Thankfully it didn't get too bad & I was able to get her inhaler to her before board breaking. No matter what the outcome of this testing is I am so very proud of her for what she has accomplished in taekwondo. She moved to a green belt in 11 1/2 months. She has her self-confidence back & she is much more outgoing than she used to be. Of course, I have to give credit where it is due and let you all know that this would not be possible if it wasn't for her instructor, Anne Docarmo! She is the greatest and I would tell anyone that was looking to start TKD to check her out. She never says anything bad to the children. She is very positive and I feel as though that helps greatly. Here are some pictures from testing. Hopefully tomorrow I will be posting her test results.



Instructor, Anne Docarmo, explaining how testing will go.
Laney showing off her form
Sparring time! Laney sparring against her good friend, Lela.
Yes, Laney broke this board with a palm heal strike!

The girls before church

Today we actually made it to church for the first time in a month. I know, we should be doing better than that, and we are trying! Surprisingly it was a very easy morning with no fighting or yelling. Everyone picked out their own clothes and there were no arguments about not wanting to wear what mommy picked out or about not wanting to wear a certain pair of shoes. I was so excited. Things went so well that we even had some extra time this morning, so I decided to take some pictures of the girls. I thought that they looked so cute. Also, for some reason I decided to have my picture taken with them. Everyone knows that I am almost always behind the camera, so me getting in a picture was a big step. So, here we are before church today. Like I said, my girls look so darn cute!!


Laney in her skirt from Ms. Teresa & Rena
Lexi in her "new" outfit. Look how she is stylin'!
Mommy & her girls. They were tired of pictures by this point, so Lexi started doing her silly smile.

Another Lexi Interpretation

A couple of weeks ago when Gustav was making it's way into the Gulf we were watching it pretty close. The reason is that my parents are both retired and are now what we call "snow birds". They leave the cold North and head down South every year to spend January and February on Orange Beach, Alabama. While they are down there we find any reason possible to go down for a weekend. Well, since in the past our vacation has been cancelled due to hurricanes we tend to keep a close eye on them. Things with Gustav were no different. We were very relieved when we found that not only was the storm going to miss Gulf Shores, they were not going to evacuate. I had Lexi tell my mom this news on the phone. What I told her to say was "Nana, they did not evacuate Gulf Shores." Easy enough, right? WRONG! What came out was "Nana, they did not evacuate Golf Shorts." I am sure that there are hundreds of golfers out there that are very relieved to hear that they don't have to leave their shorts behind.

Here is a picture taken on one of our trips to "Golf Shorts"

Lexi's Interpretation

On Saturday we were running errands and trying to find a pair of khaki pants for Laney to wear to her gifted class. Let me tell you, it was almost impossible to find khaki pants. We had to go to 4 stores before I could even find a pair in her size!! When we were shopping it started raining. Since I am not one to take an umbrella everywhere I opted to leave it in the car. I said that "Umbrellas are for whimps, we aren't going to melt." Later as it was raining a little harder Laney started to grab the umbrella before we got out of the car. Lexi looked at her sister & said "Laney, you don't need that, umbrellas are for whips!" Todd & I laughed & corrected her. I didn't want her growing up thinking that people are whips. Fast forward to this morning. We were having more rain thanks to Tropical Storm Fay. Yes, she has more than overstayed her welcome & I am so ready for her to leave Alabama and not come back. Todd started to say something to me & I asked him to be quiet because I was watching the news and they were talking about the bad weather. Lexi looked at me with a puzzled look on her face and said "They are talking about God's bladder?" I lost it! I could not stop laughing. Todd just said "Thanks Deb, I didn't want her to know that's where rain really came from!" It was so funny. So, today during all the tornado watches and warnings I would just think back to God's bladder and laugh.

GREAT NEWS!!!!!

As many of you know, last year my mother was diagnosed with the early stages of cancer. Thanks to a wonderful, proactive doctor, my mother had surgery and has been doing great for the last year. She has had to have follow up appointments every 4 months to make sure that everything is still OK. If after a year things still looked good she was told that she would be able to go to annual appointments. Today was her last 4 month follow up appointment. The doctor said that everything looked great and she would see her in a year!! She even made the comment that she has made it one year cancer free!!! I knew deep down that everything would be OK, but getting the confirmation just makes it real. I am so excited and I just wanted to share it with everyone. Here is a picture of my parents and the girls, at our favorite place to be, Gulf Shores, Alabama!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. Laney was excited. We have known who her teacher is since May. A friend of ours from church had wanted Laney in her class and I wanted her in there, so her teacher from last year made it happen. The only downside is that she had a baby this summer so she will be out for the next 6 weeks. It's OK though, the substitute seems really nice. She is a retired teacher, so at least she knows what she is doing.

Lexi had a harder time this morning. She woke up ready for school. Things were great and she told me exactly what she wanted to wear. Todd took the girls to school with me, so she rode with her daddy while Laney rode with me. After we parked and met up at the corner we looked up and my best friend and her family were walking up! We knew they were coming to take them to school with us, but we didn't expect to meet up there. It was really special to have them there & it meant to much to me. They were only in town for the weekend, but stayed a little longer to take the girls to school. Melanie insisted on taking Laney to her first day of school from K-4 through 2nd grade. When Laney started third grade Melanie and Scott had moved to San Antonio, Texas so she wasn't able to take her. It was so fantastic for her to be here to share in taking Lexi to her first day of "big school". In one picture you will see another little girl. That is Isabella (Belle) . She is like a third daughter to us & we love her to death so when she wanted to be in the picture we didn't tell her no.

After we got to school we took Laney to her class first. Lexi insisted on walking Sissy to her room, so we let her. Then we went to Lexi's room, where things went bad, fast!! By this point I had cried twice already this morning over her starting kindergarten, but it was when she wasn't near me. So, my plan was toget in & out as quickly as possible. We got in & found he locker & put her things away. Then we found her seat & I took a couple of pictures. She was all smiles until I said I was going to work. She looked a little sad at first but I told her I loved her & walked out. Melanie glanced in & said "Let's go, she's getting upset." About that time she was heading for the door just crying her little heart out. I trie to calm her & then Todd did. When he had her I walked outside & just hugged Melanie & cried. Then she came looking for me with Todd behind her. I took her back to her room (with no tears from me) and finally her teacher took her from me & I walked out. I then cried all the way to work. At the end of the day when I picked them up she was all smiles & ready for tomorrow, so at least I know she had a good time. Here are some pictures of their big day.


Come one mom, let's get to school!!
The happy family, and Belle, before school
Melanie, Scott, Belle, Braydon and the girls before we took Laney in
MOM! PLEASE! No more pictures, you aren't the paparazzi!
Lexi in her chair at her new school

Sisterly love

Friday night Todd & I decided to let the girls fall asleep in our bed. They had been fighting most of the day, but wanted to lay together, so we let them. I was going in to take off my makeup & go to bed when I glanced over and this is what I saw. I stood there for a minute with tears in my eyes, thinking how sweet they looked. I am so glad that I captured this moment. Now, when they are fighting I have something to look at to remind myself that they really do love each other.

Lexi's First Black Eye

On July 26th Laney competed in a taekwondo tournament here in town. She did really well. She took first place in board breaking and second place in form. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of her competing or with her medals. Instead I got to deal with Lexi and her first black eye. We were sitting on the bottom steps of hte bleachers and she decided she was cold. So, she put her arms in her shirt & then pulled her legs up into her shirt. She was fine for a few minutes and then she lost her balance. I was looking the other way, so I wasn't even able to try to catch her and Todd was on the floor holding boards for board breaking. The thud when she hit was so loud that the entire room went silent. We got ice on her and got her calmed down. Since this was her first black eye I decided to document it for the first few days. Here is how she looked.