Bragging Rights

You'll have to give me a free pass on this post. I try not to (excessively) brag on my children. I love them and think every move they make and everything they say is the greatest thing on Earth, but I realize that most other people don't. And since Bethany technically isn't mine, although I love her like my own, I think I can get away with it just this one. Deal?

Not only is she the best daughter anyone could ever ask for...

She's hands down the best step-daughter a girl could dream of...

She's also the most fabulous sister in the world to our girls...

Rarely does she ever come home from a shopping trip without a treat of some sort for them that she's bought with her own money, because she's just that thoughtful...

She plays with them with a smile on her face even though there are probably a hundred other things she'd rather be doing...


All those qualities make her such a precious person. We may be a tad bit biased, but we've always known that she's pretty special. She's been with us for almost a year now, and in a year she's consistently made all A's which is nothing new for her. But coming into a new school and being in all advanced classes is a challenge. She brought home her report card last Friday and her lowest grade was a 96!

And after being at her school for just five months, she tried out for cheerleader and was one of only two new girls to make the squad. Just wait. It gets better.

She was sick yesterday and home from school (that's not the part that's good), and yesterday afternoon several cheerleaders called after practice to tell her that they'd voted on captains for basketball season and SHE'S THE NEW CAPTAIN OF HER SQUAD!! The cheerleaders vote on who they think would be the best for the job, and then the cheer coaches make the final decision. Absolutely amazing. She's one in a million.

The bragging is almost over, but I have one more thing to say really loud....
WE LOVE YOU AND COULDN'T BE MORE PROUD OF YOU, BEBBY!!!!!

Pink is the New Black

Meet Pink...

She's the newest member of the family! Actually, she's been with us for a few weeks. But since I'm rather behind, we'll pretend that she's brand new. She's a puppy and we're having fun with her, but soon she'll start training with Jonathan to be a hunting retriever and work the field trail circuit. At that point, she becomes less of the family pet and more of J's project. But that's perfectly fine with me because she's torn our house to shreds, and I'm ready for her to be outdoors and in her element! Pink replaces Rip, the black lab we had until about a month ago. J received a phone call from a company in South Carolina contracted by the government looking to buy trained labs. Why you might ask? They train labs to find roadside bombs in Iraq. When they detect one, they lay down to signal a robot to go in and disarm it. Pretty neat stuff. It's the one and only reason we let him go...hopefully he'll be saving lives!
Back to Pink. Her name isn't overly original, but that's what you get when the girls are in charge of picking a name! We knew she'd be called Pink, but she had to have a real name (longer than just one word) for field trial purposes. Everyone gave me the job of coming up with it...lucky me. I can't be creative on the spot, and after thinking and thinking, it finally came to me. She's officially Pink is the New Black!
She instantly made herself right at home...
(Cate gave her one of her dolls!)



Before I go any further, I have to be completely honest. Don't hurl something at me through the computer, but I'm not the biggest dog person you'll ever meet. It's not that I dislike dogs. But if given the choice of having a dog, I'd probably choose not to. Maybe if I didn't have a thousand things on my plate I'd be more open to it and would enjoy it more. But I have 4 other people in my house that demand most all of my attention, and what's left over is consumed by Smitten. So if you do the math, I just can't take on anything else that requires a lot from me. And that's exactly what Pink does. But I try really hard to be patient and remind myself that this is J's passion and he has a true talent for it. There aren't many people who can train a field trial dog themselves. Most people send them to professional trainers. So the fact that J can do it and loves it all the while makes me force a smile while cleaning up after the little black devil. Towns likes her for about 5 minutes out of the day and spends the remainder of the time screaming any time Pink even thinks about coming within a 10 foot radius. Bethany loves her until she gets in her room and drags all of her stuff out and chews on it. And then there's Cate. Pink and Cate became fast friends and get along famously. You'd think after being pulled around by the neck and tail and everything else, Pink would steer clear of Cate. Nope. She keeps going back for more!

Please notice the look on Pink's face in the picture above! She's silently screaming HELP ME, WOMAN!!


Poor Pink!
These pictures are from the day we got her...






Pink's taken up a lot of our time and attention lately, but there's still time for pumpkins...

And for football games...

And let's not forget about making sure we have lots of time to get into this while Mommy isn't looking...

At least Cate's got good taste...she's quite fond of Chanel! And apparently, she was really into the Smashbox Photo Op concealer. As you can tell from this picture, she doesn't let pride get in the way when sporting a little Jane and Revlon, too...


The look says it all! She's so incredibly mischievous...but I love that girl like no other!!
And check out what came in the mail the other day...

A box full of treats from Aunt Jenn!
You made our day!!

I Heart Weekends

Do you ever have one of those weekends where you just don't want it to end? That's what ours was, but if I'm being totally honest I never want any weekend to end! Friday afternoon Jonathan called and told me to get the girls dressed because he'd found a perfect place to play. That always makes me a little nervous because with him, you never know where you'll end up and what you'll be getting into. But one thing you can count on...it'll be fun. He picked us all up and drove us to the wildlife management area where he'd found rows upon rows of hay bales just waiting to be jumped on!

In ballet flats, no less...



If you know my crew, you know jumping wasn't quite dangerous enough...

It's not a party unless you set out to break your neck!

The girls and I had lots of laughs watching Jonathan and Bethany flipping all over the place...

We had a little red-headed chauffeur to take us on a few dirt roads...shhh, don't tell anyone!

I'm kidding, Dad. Don't have a coronary just yet! She only sat like that for a few minutes while we were getting ready to leave.

Saturday morning B had the Red Ribbon March in downtown Decatur and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! She had a gallery waiting for her to come marching by in the parade...

And here she is!

We even saw Jess which made my day!

After the parade, there was a big competition and she and the cheerleaders won first place in their group! They did the 'I Wear My Sunglasses at Night' dance, naturally my personal fave! I'm not sure which was more entertaining...watching the dance or watching the judges! They were really getting into it!!
This is the beginning of the dance during that part where it's just music...

And then comes the part where they break it down...which is the part where the crowd goes wild!

B in action...

And the final pose...

LOVE IT!!!!! I would pay money to be out there! :)
After the cheerleaders performed, a high school group did a dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller which got Cate up and moving...

She copied every move the group did. The irony: Michael Jackson blaring through the speakers at a drug free rally! HA!
The girls were extremely excited to see their Bebby after it was over, and they were all glued to each other on the way to the car...

J & Towns are always laughing about something...


Saturday night we took the girls to the fair which led Towns to declare October 3rd as 'definitely the best day ever'!

Of course, the motorcycles were the first stop...

Later, Mom!

Towns rode her first little roller coaster and loved it. In this picture she's telling the girl beside her that it's going to be sooo much fun!

B & I rode the big treasure ship ride that makes you totally lose your stomach. That one took me back! Then she & J rode the Gravitron which really took me back!

Towns loved the big slide...she went up all by herself!

And was one happy chick on the way down...

Cate, however, was not so happy that her sister got to slide and she didn't because she wasn't tall enough.

But then she found this train and all was well!

When we got home these 3 were majorly loving each other...

Ahhh! I could squeeze 'em to pieces!!

After the love fest, we put Cate to bed and Bethany and Towns fell asleep watching a movie.
J started a fire (because you know in the south the second it dips below 60 you've got to have a fire!) and we watched the Auburn game right by ourselves. Sunday morning the fam went to church and to lunch at Panera, and we were lazy the rest of the rainy afternoon. And that, my friends, was the end to the best weekend ever!

WAR EAGLE!!