Should I Be Worried?

My friend Darby's post prompted me to share a couple of things that have gone on in our house in just the last week alone. Let it be said that I'm not the one who comes up with this stuff, nor do I entertain my children in this manner when I'm the only one at home with them.

Here's what I saw the other night when J said "hey, see if you can find Towns".

(Please excuse my cluttered fridge. That falls under my list of things I'd like to tackle as soon as I get a chance....which means it will look like that this time next year.)

No explanation needed here...this is what Towns and her Daddy do for laughs on a daily basis. (Not sure how your computer is, but I have to click the play button twice for the video to work.)

My dilemma: Not knowing whether to be more concerned over Jonathan's ability to come up with stuff or Towns' sheer delight in all things dangerous!!

Sweet!

Thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures of Towns and Cate from the last few weeks. When I look at these, the image of Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye singing the "Sisters" song in the movie White Christmas immediately pops into my head. Know which one I'm talking about?!

GNO

If you're an avid Miley Cyrus fan, as am I, you'll know GNO. If you've been under a rock for the last year or so, it stands for Girls Night Out. Which is what I had last night, thanks to my sweet hubby who is always great about keeping the girls to let me get out for a bit. This is for you, Amy J, who was on me last night about my lack of blogging the last couple of weeks! Do I need to come give you a tutorial as to how to start your own?! It's about time your cuties made their debut on the blogging circuit! After our whirlwind of a day yesterday it was nice to have a fun, relaxing dinner with two good friends. It all started yesterday when school let out early and I headed to Chick Fil A with my friend Amy and her son Hart and my other friend Amy and her daughter Gray. Our run at Chick Fil A was short lived when we'd had all we could take (which totalled 30 minutes) of that madhouse. It was a zoo in there, which is what happens when every kid in Morgan County and their mom try to squeeze in such a tiny place. Insanity is what it was, actually. So we went straight to the mall and let the kids play at Chuck E Cheese for a while - aka the Kiddie Casino. It's crazy how much you can sink into tokens. And then when it's time to cash in your tickets all you can get from the $20 you've spent in tokens is 10 Tootsie Rolls. I was smart enough yesterday not to even go the token route. Towns is still at the age where she doesn't really get the concept that you have to have tokens to really play the games. She, Gray and Hart had a blast, so our mission was accomplished. Since Chuck E Cheese is in the mall, naturally we left there and went straight for the cookie store. The kids could hardly contain themselves....as if they needed any help in the hyper department, we filled them full of cookies and Coke. By the time it was all said and done they'd covered every square foot of that mall at mock speed, thrown all of our money into the fountain, completely crashed the toy store, ridden the carousel, and torn Dillard's to pieces from top to bottom. We were those moms, if you know what I mean. Towns really has never known her feet could touch the ground at the mall because I rarely give her the freedom of walking around. That gives her reason to believe she has the reserved right to pick all the fanciest things off the shelves and take clothes off the racks. Wild kids in places like that is one of my pet peeves. And low and behold, I caved under the pressure and let my child run as fast as she wanted and do whatever she pleased. I think I was ok with it since I had two other moms with me so I all eyes weren't solely on me. It was one of those "well if she'll let her kid do it, then so will I" moments. Amy, Amy and I had just as much fun watching them as they had being complete wild indians. The best part was Gray and Towns hiding under the granny panty rack in Dillard's hoarding all the lingerie they'd found. Heaven forbid we try to get it all and put them back where it belonged. By this time they were all in dire need of a nap so you can only imagine how it went down hill from there. We finally got all the risque undergarments away from the girls and thought we were clear to head for the car. Not so. Cut to us being almost out of the store thinking Gray and Towns are right behind us. When we stop to look for them all we hear is giggling. Amy and I made our way to try to find them, and let me tell you, they're fast little things. Between the two of them they had two large handbags, an umbrella, a pair of earrings, three wallets, and I can't even remember what else. All we could do is laugh at this point. Us finally gathering our brood and getting out of the store was probably followed by loud applause by all of the sales women who'd been eyeing us the entire time. Oh, and let me not leave out how all three of the kids tried on every last shoe Dillard's carries. The ladies in the shoe department kept commenting on how cute they were, but I could see right through it. It's one of those times where you know what they're thinking. "Get those shoes off your kid's feet and out of their hands and GET OUT." That's probably the nice version. I think we said "if we only had a camera" about fifty times. The cutest part was the three amigos walking hand in hand out of Dillard's and to the car acting like the perfect angels that they are. HA! Anyway, we all made our way home just to meet up a few hours later and ride over to Huntsville for dinner at Rosie's. We got there before 7:00 and by the time we'd had dinner and talked about everything and everyone under the sun it was almost 10:00 - which is usually way past my bedtime! It was well worth it, and time flies when you're having fun! Thanks for a fun night, ladies! Can't wait to do it again SOON!!!

5 Happy Months!

Tomorrow Cate will be 5 months old, and I know I say this every time she's officially a month older, but I just can't get over how fast these past months have gone by. She continues to make me smile all day long and is the sweetest little thing ever! Instead of posting a current picture, I decided to add this one of her from when she was a week or so old. She's laying next to one of Towns' baby dolls and I took this picture so I'd always have a way to remember how small she was. Happy 5 Month Birthday, Cate Bug!

No Fear

A couple of weekends ago while we were visiting J's parents, I took these pictures of Bethany. The child is really not scared of anything....see exhibit A below.

We'd put the tent up in the backyard for the kids and were in the process of finding wood with which to build a fire to roast marshmellows when Jonathan found this little guy. Actually, there was nothing little about him. I ran like a crazy person straight to the house when I heard the first mention of the word "snake"...but Bethany obviously wasn't the least bit scared. After her daddy killed it, she decided it would be a good idea to have her picture taken holding it. I'm so terrified of snakes it takes my breath away, literally. So for me to even get close enough to her while she was holding that thing to even take this picture...well, let's just say my heart was in my throat. Towns even touched it and afterwards I scrubbed her hands for five solid minutes. I think I'm OCD...

Exhibit B...

Pop fixed a rope swing on the big oak tree in the backyard last summer and the kids have a blast on it. Jonathan decided it would be a good idea to let Bethany go off the corner of the roof (you can see it in the right side of this picture) on the swing. She climbed up there all by herself and swung off the roof (standing up, I might add) and when I saw it for the first time I nearly had a massive coronary. You couldn't have paid me money to do it, but Bethany didn't think twice about it! Thank God for some strong rope holding that swing up and no broken bones!!

Next up, the tree stand episode...keep in mind all of these pictures were taken in less than a 24 hour period. So you can only imagine what it's like at our house...never a dull moment!! Jonathan has a special gift of coming up with crazy things like this. He's really creative at finding way to entertain the kids, but most of them could land us in the ER. Thankfully, that's never happened. Almost 4 years of being married to him has taught me one thing...NEVER say never!!!

J's dad is an avid deer hunter and this contraption is his tree stand. Bethany got all the way up there by herself and I'd venture to say that she was at least 10 feet off the ground. In this next picture it's just her, the tree, the stand, and that pretty blue sky! This is the point where I'd be entering panic mode BEGGING someone to get me down...not her though. Please note the big smile on her face!

Love you, BBMac! You never cease to amaze me!! :)

Happy Heart Day...A Week Late!

Poor little Cate and Towns sure didn't feel good on Valentine's Day (as you can probably tell by how rough they look!)...but naturally they sported their coordinating outfits like true champs. I am out of the running for the Mother of the Year Award for making them endure all this picture taking...but it was their first Valentine's Day together so I couldn't NOT capture the moment!

Towns has gotten into the habit of thinking Cate does things to her on purpose. For example, in the picture above Cate had her fingers in Towns' hair so Towns told me that she was pulling her hair. And if Cate's foot accidentally touches her, Cate's kicking her. And if her hands or arms touch her, Cate's pushing her. It really is quite funny the way she over dramatizes it, and I can't seem to get through to her the fact that Cate's not really old enough to push or kick her intentionally. That day will come soon enough....

I've never once in almost three years gotten Towns to smile for the camera. It just doesn't happen. Until now, and this is the face she gives me. When I ask her to smile she closes her eyes and gives me this crooked grin. I guess I should take what I can get...

This one is a little better!

Not sure what these looks are about, but I think it just about captures the mood because neither one of them felt good at all and you could tell it on their faces.

Here Towns is asking me if it's ok to dig into her Valentine's mailbox...the deal was when she cooperated long enough for the pictures, she could then have her stash of chocolate!

I gave her a little flowerpot that came with strawberry seeds and we're trying our luck at getting them to grow. I could kill a fake plant, so it's highly unlikely that anything will come of our strawberries! I was not blessed with a green thumb...

Here's how Towns spent most of Valentine's Day....

So Cate and I played together in the floor...one of her favorite things ever!

We decided Towns had slept long enough so Cate got the job of being her wake up call...Cate LOVES to crawl all over Towns. It's fun to her for about two seconds and then she's begging me to get her off of her!

I'm Confused...

Two things have me puzzled today...

1. Can someone please tell me how I missed STIRRUP PANTS coming back in???? I filed those away back in 1990 and have vowed ever since to never, ever relive that fashion nightmare. Sorry if any of you are wearing stirrups today. I'm sure you can really pull them off, but me, not so much. Nor do I want to.

2. How is it that I have five glorious days all to myself and I can't seem to find any overwhelming enjoyment in it? My children are in very capable hands which leaves me no reason whatsoever to worry about them and their well being. It's not like I have any doubt that they're not being taken care of. In fact, they're probably having more fun at Ya Ya and Poppy's playing with Max and Anna Grace than they'd have here. Towns literally walked out the door yesterday and didn't look back until I MADE her come back and at least give me a hug. I wasn't really expecting her to fall out in the floor in protest of me sending her off. But at least a hug and a kiss...I mean, come on. I can't blame her though. That girl loves to stay on the road, and she gets it so honestly from me. Back to the point...I had all these grand plans and high hopes of doing things around here that I've been wanting to do, but never have had the time. Namely, tackling that huge Rubbermaid full of super fun fabric and making the girls matching outfits for spring and summer. I'd also love to get my closets cleaned out and organized. And I have canvases screaming "paint me, paint me". But somehow, I can't get it together enough to make any headway. I walk around in circles not knowing what to do next. Here's the conclusion I've come to: I'm completely lost without my kiddos. Our daily routine is so engrained in me and when I shy away the least bit from the norm, I don't know what to do! Good or bad, I suppose that makes me a creature of habit. The one nice thing that's come of my empty house is that J and I are reliving our pre-baby days. It's wild how once you have children it completely changes everything. For whatever reason, I've always had a tinge of guilt run through me for halfway enjoying anything that doesn't involve them. I'd almost forgotten how much fun we could have when the kids aren't around. And that's not such a bad thing. Even if it is watching Viva La Bam re-runs until midnight because they make us laugh like schoolgirls (and now I'm wondering why I just admitted that I like that show...disclaimer: I don't really like the people in it or how they talk or the message they convey, but it is pretty hysterical). It's Tuesday and I've got two and a half more days of trying to find something with which to fill my time. Any suggestions to make the time go by faster???