This is the Day...

Every morning on the way to drop the girls off at school, we sing a song. Not just any song, though. It's the same song every passing day. I like to think that we've sang it and talked about it enough that they really understand what it means. If not, I suppose it'll come eventually. But the cherry on top is that it gives me sweet things to look back on like this when they're older and are probably making my hair turn gray...
Kidding. They'll never give us a minute's trouble as teenagers given the fact that J & I were model children. Ha!!

It Happens Every Time...

I turn my back for two seconds...

The one on the left is the culprit...the one on the right is the accomplice.
If we can only figure out how to channel this energy in a positive direction, we'll be set.

On the bright side, at least it was an easier clean up than this a year or so ago...
There's always a silver lining!

Pep Rallies, Parties & Motorcycles

Friday afternoon marked what would be Bethany's last pep rally of the football season. Decatur lost in the first round of the play-offs that night, but no one can argue their regular season was pretty amazing. I loved seeing the 9th grade cheerleaders in their long sleeve uniforms for this pep rally...Usually they've dressed up according to the theme of the week, so this was a nice change!
These two were super excited that they somewhat matched their Bebby...They were in awe of everything more so than usual for some reason...

I mean, it does look like fun so I can understand the intrigue!
The girls were all in an exceptionally good mood for picture taking, so we seized the moment...Love these three to pieces!Friday afternoon B layered herself up to get ready for the big game, and looked as cute as ever...
She spent most of the weekend on the go doing the typical teenager thing!
Saturday after a two hour gymnastics session for both Bebby and Towns, the two little ones surprised us all when they decided to help J do some work under the house. I wish you could see what he had them wearing. What made me laugh most is when he put glow bracelets around their arms so he could keep up with them in the dark. Towns is showing me hers here...
Cate was excited about doing "man's work"...B and I took advantage of everyone being confined in the crawl space of the house and set out in search of an outfit for her to wear to JUG's Fall Party that night. We didn't have much luck. I love that B has her own taste and style, and that she wouldn't just settle for any outfit. It had to be "the outfit". Too bad we didn't find that outfit. In situations like that, it's necessary to have a back-up. I think her back-up would have been my first choice, but then again she's way more stylish than me...
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!Sunday morning when we woke her up for church, she could barely move her legs. They were so sore from hitting the dance floor (and from her gymnastics class). It reminded me a little bit, ok a lot, of my life from 1998-2002. You Auburn girls know what I'm talking about. I couldn't help but tell her how proud I was. Ha! The only thing missing was a drumstick, but we'll work on that.

While B was dancing the night away, J took the rest of us to the arena cross event at the indoor arena in town. I have to admit that I wasn't super thrilled about it, given the fact that the girls could have been in bed by 6 p.m. because they were just that tired. Another minor detail: there's no heat inside the arena so we had to have ten layers of clothing. I think Towns went for one reason, and one reason alone. Nachos. You can take her anywhere and she'll be happy as long as they have a concession stand. J had been overly excited about taking us, so we bundled up, put a smile on our faces, and decided we didn't mind smelling like exhaust fumes if it made him happy!
Cate loved it while it lasted, but didn't make it very long. How she fell asleep with all the noise, I'll never know...One chick who wasn't missing a beat was this one...She was bright eyed the entire time, and once she saw this she knew exactly what she was putting on her Christmas list...
She's convinced she wants a motorcycle - a green one with a pink motocross outfit to be exact. This made J ecstatic, but the truth is that he doesn't want his girls following in his footsteps. We know all too well about motocross induced injuries at our house. We ended up having a blast, and J has already has an endless list of races he wants to take me to (so I can watch him race if I had to guess). His wheels are always turning...pun intended!
We weren't clear on how serious Towns is about wanting to race motocross until she put J's jersey on when we got home and insisted she sleep in it...
I don't know how we'd fit one more hobby, sport, extra curricular, etc. into our schedule, though. And we reminded her that you have to know how to ride a bike without training wheels before a motorcycle can even come into the picture. God love her...

I Belong in the Zoo?!

Sometimes I wonder what I'm going to do with those two monkeys in that picture. I love them with all of my heart and soul, and 99.9% of the time it seems like the feeling is reciprocated. But last night Towns made me start to wonder. Here's how it went...

I put the girls in the bath before dinner with the intention of getting ahead of the game as far as the bedtime routine is concerned. After I bathed them, I went to grab towels so I could get them out. As I was about to walk back into the bathroom, this is what I heard:
Towns: Cate-Cate would you like to hop on my train so I can take you for a ride around the zoo?
Cate: Absolut-el-y (she can make that word have 5 syllables)
Towns: Ok, here we go! (She's sitting in front of Cate pretending to be the conductor.) If you'll look this way, you'll see the giraffes. Oh, and right over there are the lions and tigers.
**I open the door and walk back in and she gestures to me with her outstretched hand**
And ladies and gentlemen, over here we have the gorilla.

Really? Gorilla? Not a pink flamingo or something cool. A gorilla.
And with that, I'll wish you all a happy weekend...

Growny

See that crib? That crib was what my cousin Mary Catherine slept in when she was a baby. When Towns was on the way, my aunt so generously asked if we'd like to use her baby furniture. We said absolutely, and have had it ever since. It's what Towns slept in until Cate came along. And it's what Cate has slept in until about a week ago. I honestly thought she'd be waking up in it on the first day of kindergarten. She's the independent type in lots of ways, and sleep is no different. She's always wanted to be right by herself with no one in her space. The crib with its rails ensured that no one could bother her! We've talked a lot over the last year about letting her sleep in a big girl bed and she's wanted no part of it. But having Towns coming into our room every night because she doesn't want to sleep by herself wasn't working, and we had to have a solution. Fast! One night last week after the little ones were asleep, we put them both in the same bed and it was like magic. They both slept all night long! Apparently Cate's over needing her space, which means blondie has a new bed fellow. Hallelujah!! Since we're getting ready to take the crib down for good, I told Cate I had to take a picture of her in it one last time. That's when she decided that she knew a few babies who might like to give it a try before it was too late...She was so attentive and made sure they had everything they needed...She's probably eying that doll's paci and thinking about how much she misses hers. That's another thing she's given up in the last week or so. But I have J to thank for that one. He told her that her paci was going to make her teeth fall out and she wouldn't be able to talk if that happened. I nearly fell out of my chair when he told me about it. So much for honesty!! If you know Cate, you know that being speechless would be a problem. Those teeth are a bit of a necessity...Sweet baby...who's not really a baby anymore!

She had to see for herself that her teeth hadn't fallen out...
She's still got her "toofs"...thank goodness!
One more that I love...
The girls and I do this thing where we'll say "I love you a million times all the ____ in the world" which is pretty sweet and funny at the same time. Cate can come up with some doozies! She got stuck on pink tree houses and horsies for at least a month straight. What makes me smile is when she gets done with telling me, she'll laugh and say "is that a lot?". In the picture above, she's telling her baby that she loves her "all da million times da pumpkin patches in da way-ld" (that's how she says world) which I fully believe is true. Last night, Towns topped it all when she told me she loved me a million times all the owls in the world. Oh, she knows me well!

Out With the Old...

In with the new...

Variety is the spice of life...or so they say.
We'll see! I've come to grips with the fact that those two will wear boots with everything. And if that's the case, we had to be prepared for upcoming holiday attire.
They were necessary. Totally necessary.

No Tricks, Only Treats!

After Saturday night's fiasco, we weren't being tricked again...

Last night it was all about the treats! Granted, the girls had already dressed up and gotten candy twice before (here and here), but it wasn't the door to door trick-or-treating we all know and love. Don't misunderstand me, we're not greedy and out to see how much candy we can hoard. Truth be told, most of it mysteriously disappears before they know what's going on. It's just about the experience. Last year Cate didn't fully grasp the concept of trick-or-treating, so this year I just knew it was going to be so much fun. If I knew our little Buggy, she would be all over it. And all over it, she was. She'd still be ringing doorbells this morning if she had her way about it! Usually J has a truck as a company car and we'll hop in the back so he can chauffeur us around the neighborhood. But he's got an SUV right now and we had to make do...
It served the same purpose!
This is always the first house we start at in the neighborhood, and this year J thought the girls should go to the doors themselves...
Cate had to have a lesson in not reaching for a handful of candy which is what she started out doing. She meant business. We had to teach her that the polite way to do it was to hold out your pumpkin and wait for the candy to be dropped in. I think she liked her method much better, but she went with ours. There were a few houses that were a little scary, and sweet Bebby took charge in those circumstances and went with them...
They don't come much sweeter!
Towns surprised me this year and went with J into a haunted maze someone had set up beside their house. Cate went too, but I'm pretty sure she had her eyes closed the entire time. B said she'd go if I went, but there was no way that was happening! How did I end up being the biggest sissy in the bunch?!
I love trick-or-treating in our neighborhood because everyone really gets into it. Most every house you go to is like this...
People sitting out on the porch waiting for kids to come up. It's sort of like one big block party, and you'll see everyone you know before the night is over. Love it!
B shared a ton of glow bracelets with the girls before we left the house, and I made them both wear several on each arm so I could keep up with them. By the end of the night, Towns and her smart daddy had found a new use for them...
They're so resourceful. Apparently glow bracelets light up a pumpkin filled with candy really well. Which makes it much easier to find the candy you're looking for and much harder for a mama to keep up with her children in the dark...
Blurry picture, but you get the idea!
A couple more pictures for good measure...
And that officially wraps up our Halloween!
Hope yours was full of treats, too!
Now it's time to get a fire going in the fireplace (despite 70 degree weather) and turn up the Christmas music...'tis the season!