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.