Collins Clan

Changes...

2011-07-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Before I start updating the blog, I want to take a minute to say I am such a slacker! Well, not really, but in the blogging world I am! I have not even updated my pictures or headers or anything since the arrival of Kirby! Actually, the pictures on our header are sooo old too! I am not apologizing anymore for lack of posts, but just excusing it with the simple statement that I am now a mom of 3 kiddos and I work (well, officially I go back to work August 1)! Enough said!

Now on to the good stuff, but I promise not to bore anyone. In a quick summation of what has been going on in our world since the arrival of Kirby, I will do a quick list because it's too much to detail:

1)school got out and I stayed home (for the most part) with the kids for the summer - what was I thinking? I have learned that I am definitely NOT a stay-at-home mom! The girls have driven each other and me crazy!

2)signed the girls up for all kinds of camps and activities for the first part of the summer while I tried to get adjusted to life with 3 - little did I realize that when I scheduled all of these activities, I would be running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to drop off and pick up and keep Kirby on some sort of schedule. The poor baby had many a bottle in the car and many a nap in his car seat!

3)spent some awesome quality family time at the lake house - and got a few good, full nights sleep while my parents got up with Kirby at night!

4)took a last minute trip to the beach for 5 days - it was a much needed/deserved break from the monotony of staying at home!

5)started Crossfit (and eventually the Paleo diet) to get this body back in shape once and for all after having babies! Man, I didn't realize how out of shape I really was until I started Crossfit. Back in the cheering days, I was used to doing hundreds of crunches/sit-ups a day - it was a HUGE blow to my ego when I could hardly do 10 sit-ups those first couple of weeks! Yes, I realize that I was just 6 weeks out from my 3rd C-section, but still...UGH!

6)now we are all sooooo ready for school to start back. I've decided that this is the true reason for summer break - the kids (and parents) are so excited to not have to be up and out the door on a schedule for a little while and then we all get bored and tired of each other and tired of all things summer (the heat mostly) AND then that's when it's time to get back in the groove of school days again! It's a welcome relief! Mary Mac starts 1st grade in a couple of weeks, Anna starts her first day of her last year in preschool on August 1, and Kirby starts his first day ever of preschool on August 1!

All of that being said, and I know it sounds like I've not enjoyed my summer with my kids, it has been a GREAT summer with lots of great memories and times! The girls have gotten so big and mature and Kirby is growing leaps and bounds! For him to have been so sick in those first couple of days of his life, he has just progressed and grown so much so fast! And he LOVES his big sisters! They make him laugh already all the time! We have been most surprised at how good and involved Mary Mac has been with him. She has never been much of a baby-lover, but she wants to do everything with him AND she's very good with him! I'll post pictures later, but for now, I'm out!

Welcome to the World, Kirby

2011-04-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Well, let's just go ahead a proclaim that my body is just not meant to carry babies to full term and in a "routine" manner - they call it the curse of the nurse, even though I haven't practiced in years! So this past Saturday, after a birthday party and an Easter Egg Hunt, I was exhausted and laid down with Anna to take a nap. About an hour later, I woke up and had a major contraction that was the most painful one I'd ever had then had another one right after that and was really hurting. I called Sam (who was out at the lake) and called my doctor who told me to go ahead and come on in and he would check me out. As soon as they put me on the monitor, it was obvious that I was contracting about every 1-2 minutes and the baby was also having some heart decelerations when I contracted. My doctor was not excited about what he saw on the monitor but couldn't figure out what had changed since my weekly check-up on Tuesday (I was having to go in for weekly non-stress tests on the monitor due to my history). After watching this go on for several hours, he made the decision that even though I was only 35 weeks along, it was going to be better for the baby to be born than to continue to be put under the stress of the contractions. My parents had the girls with them and they were so excited about possibly meeting their new baby brother, that they had not gone to sleep yet and it was 10:30pm so I told them to just go ahead and all come to the hospital to await his arrival. These first couple of pictures were from the waiting on his arrival (yes, they are in their PJ's). They took me back to the OR and Samuel "Kirby" Collins was born on April 16, 2011 at 11:43 pm weighing 5lbs 13 oz. As they delivered him, my doctor found why he was struggling so much and why I was hurting so much - my placenta had started to abrupt (separate) and was only halfway functioning, but it was in a place that had not allowed for any of the blood (the cardinal sign of an abruption) to escape. He came out screaming and was looking great, until they got him back to the nursery. They ended up having to admit him into the NICU and eventually put him on a ventilator. He had a rough first night and next day and gave us all a little scare, but it looks like he's turned the corner for now. As we know all too well, the adventures in the NICU is usually never a smooth ride - there are almost always bumps along the way, so we are praying that we are over that bumpy road and on the road to coming home very soon. He is so sweet and we cannot wait to be able to hold him and cuddle him. The girls are so proud of their baby brother and have been very brave little girls when going to see him with all of the tubes and wires connected to him. We are hoping to have him weaned off the ventilator within the next 24 hours! I should get to go home tomorrow, but we don't really know when he will be able to come home yet.

Waiting patiently with Daddy

Watching through the cracks in the nursery

Happy Belated Ash Wednesday!

2011-03-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

While we did not make it to our church's Ash Wednesday service this year (they only held one at 6:15 this year for some reason), I would like to wish everyone a Happy Ash Wednesday, a day later. Are you giving something up or taking on something new? This year, I've decided to give up all thing iPhone-app-related!!! I know that sounds crazy, but Sam has declared that I am officially addicted, and I think he may be right to some extent. So, this includes Facebook and I'm hoping that, at least for the next 40 days, I can devote the time I've spent on Facebook to our blog to document these last weeks before we move from a family of 4 to a family of 5! I'm actually kind of looking forward to not being directly connected to my phone for a little while - it may be refreshing, which is what would be a nice change in our hectic lives these days!

As for Samuel Kirby Collins, we are doing great and moving right along on target for a May delivery - fingers crossed! He is measuring much larger than both of the girls, so I am anxious to see how big he is at birth. Right now, the earliest my doctor would schedule my C-section is for Friday, May 13!!!!! Yikes! He said he would consider taking a tiny bit earlier, but we would have to wait and see! I guess, in one way, all of our kids would have a unique birthday - Mary Mac shares her day with Sam's dad and Anna is an April Fool's baby, so why not have Friday the 13th baby!!! Sam highly disagrees! Last night, while at the dinner table, Sam told the girls that we really needed to settle on what we are going to call this little man. And as it's been for a while now, we were still a house divided. So, Sam suggested we let the dog make the final decision - crazy, I agree! And the dog chose Kirby (YEA!), but only time will tell if this sticks or if Sam goes back on his word and says that the dog shouldn't be the deciding factor - which would totally be MY argument if Kirby had NOT won the vote!!!! We are about 95% ready for the baby already - clothes washed and hung up, room almost ready, bottles washed, new car seat ready, etc. Oh, and next week we get to have our 4D ultrasound while the girls are out of school for Spring Break! I will be sure to post pictures!

Mary Mac is playing her first team sport this year and believe it or not she's playing SOCCER! Sam nor I know NOTHING about soccer, but she is pumped and so excited, especially since she is on the same team as 2 of her best little friends! Her first game was supposed to Tuesday night, but got rained out so tonight is the makeup night. And, it would only be right that she picked out the #7 jersey to wear! She is actually really good at soccer in practice, but we'll know tonight how she is during a game! I will have my camera ready!

And last, but not least, Mary Mac's school celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday last week with a Book Character Parade. It was so cute to see all of the kids all dressed in full costume of their favorite book character. And of course, Mary Mac's favorite book is Every Cowgirls Needs A Horse, so luckily we already had a costume for that character and we made a big poster for her to carry. She also took a horse, but said she didn't have enough hands to carry the poster and the horse in the parade. Here are some pictures from the parade. The principal and the librarian even got in on the fun dressed as Cat In The Hat and their were 2 kids (twins no less) that dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2! Sorry the pictures aren't great - they were moving pretty fast through the halls!

More Fall Pictures

2011-02-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

Our Little Cinderella

My Little Pony - of course!

School Birthday Party - her teacher makes their Birthday such a Big Deal! And the cookie cake is a unicorn!

The real Party!

Silly Girls!

Our "famous" pumpkins!

Our Little Indian Performer - Thanksgiving Program. She obeyed our instructions of making sure she was front and center!

Ahaha! I'm out from the behind the camera for a change! After the program.

Christmas Pictures

2011-02-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

My grandfather, cousin, and Anna

Some of the great grandchildren

My mom's siblings and spouses

Our family (minus my brother's family)

Almost all (except my brother) of my cousins

Fall Pictures

2011-02-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

Here we go AGAIN...

2011-02-09T09:02:00.000-08:00

Before I get too carried away - no, I still haven't had time to make any collages of fall pictures, but if I feel froggy I may try and add a few pictures to this post (fingers crossed).

So, now on to more exciting things! Since my last post, the weather here has been totally crazy! Mary Mac finally started back to school, at least for only 2 days before we were out for another 2 days with snow/ice (more ice than snow in our neighborhood). Then she went back to school on that next Wednesday to only be called by the school nurse Thursday to tell me that she was running fever! GREAT! So she was out half of Thursday and all day Friday. Then Monday was MLK day so another day out! You can only imagine out crazy I was by the time she finally was able to go back to school. AND add to that - this is one of my most crazy times of year at work so she was BORED to tears sitting with me at the office for all this time! And since then we've had snow flurries and sleet several more times and another snow storm expected to come tonight! I do not remember a time in my life that we had this much "winter" weather in Tuscaloosa!

Another exciting moment - Mary Mac has lost her 2nd tooth! The toothfairy has surprised her with gold dollar coins for each tooth so far! She thinks that is so cool and Sam and I think it's pretty nice too since it's still money, but a little harder to spend than dollars or change! The first tooth, she pulled on her own (I know, we were shocked too)! She just kept wiggling and playing with it until one day it just popped out in her hand! Thank goodness - Sam NOR I are really big fans of being "Teeth Pullers!" It pretty much grosses us both out! So with the 2nd tooth, it has been really loose for a while but she had a little more hestitation with this one. The first one didn't hurt, but I think she just wasn't convinced that this one wouldn't either. Anyway, it was getting pretty loose and she wouldn't let me mess with or Sam. So one night, I told Sam I was just going to leave them alone for a little while and see what he could convince her to do. He tends to be able to "talk her down", so to speak, better than I can - I guess it's b/c they have similar personalities and he knows what works! Unfortunately, he came downstairs without success, but he was able to get it really loose. He was afraid that he would hurt her and then she wouldn't trust him anymore (such an awesome Dad!)! The next night, we had a babysitter and Sam and I went to the Alabama basketball game. Well, when we got home, we had a missing tooth! I'm not sure if it was the threat of having a dentist appointment the next day or what, but whatever, it worked! She pulled it herself, AGAIN! Now the only issue we have is her new permanent teeth that are coming in! YIKES! That's about all I can say. She has no room for her permanent teeth and they are HUGE! One is turned totally sideways and the other is coming in so far back in her mouth. Braces are definitely in our future!!!

Now, on the title of this post: Here we go AGAIN... this pertains to my pregnancy! I've been doing really good so far, but I really think he's going to be BIG! Right after my last post, we learned that one of Mary Mac's little best friends was diagnosed with Fifth's Disease which is NOT a good thing for an expecting mother to be exposed to. We were keeping our fingers crossed that none of us would get it, but I'll reference my above comments about Mary Mac having fever and you can guess that, unfortunately, after the fever came a rash and then last weekend she had the typical "slapped cheeks." So that being said, as soon as I confirmed that her friend had Fifth's Disease, I called my doctor immediately and was told to come in for some blood work to check to see if I was already immune to it or not. Well, I got the results yesterday at my check-up and it showed that, yes I was immune, BUT, that I had just recently been exposed and/or infected within the last month! The risks with this to the baby is possible fetal anemia. So for now (and I'm guessing the rest of the pregnancy), we are having to have ultrasounds and check-ups every 2 weeks to make sure he is ok and not developing anemia or other issues. So, any extra prayers will be greatly appreciated that everything remains good! Oh and we had an ultrasound yesterday that showed him already weighing about 2 lbs!!!!!! And I'm measuring 30 weeks even though I'm only 25 weeks! And I failed my first glucose test! As you can imagine, it was NOT the best check-ups for us! I just have to keep telling myself that this was all meant to be and that God does not give me anything that I cannot handle! And as my doctor said - I wouldn't have expected anything different from you Leigh! (Meaning, I've had some kind of crazy issues with each pregnancy!) So here we go AGAIN...

The girls and 2 of mour neices at the Pumpkin Patch in September

Sister Love - ha! Notice Anna is not sure what to do with MM hugging on her!

Mary Mac finding her prized pumpkin - she looked long and hard for hers!

Anna found hers - she didn't look so hard and long - she picked the first one she saw!

The weather could not have been better that day!

OMG! It's been way too long!!!

2011-01-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

Yikes - it's really been almost 3 months since my last post???? Ok, so for months now I've been trying to figure out how to update the blog on what all has been going on in our crazy lives and everytime I think about it I start to cringe because I KNOW how long it's been and it will take sooooo long and too much information and pictures to post to catch everyone up. So, part of my New Years Resolutions (no, I actually do not make any because I feel that they set you up for failure and we have enough of that in life as it is - so my "resolutions" only serve as a "guide" for me to try and live by, but if I don't then NO SWEAT!) is that I would just start from a clean slate on the blog this year instead of trying to play catch-up! That way I'm not so overwhelmed with what I haven't blogged about and can focus more on the HERE and NOW (which is also one of my "resolutions")! And just maybe, if the mood strikes me and I have the time, I will digress back to some of important events of the past year and slowly get caught up. So, just know what that if you start reading one day and it sounds like I'm living in the past, don't be confused - I'm just catching you up!

So, to start this year of 2011 off better (blogging-wise), I am starting from what has gone on this past week! I am officially halfway through my pregnancy with Baby Collins #3...

**Oh yeah, I just realized that since my last post was in October (announcing Baby #3's arrival), some of you may not know that we were lucky enough to have an early ultrasound from a friend when I was 14 weeks and found out that we are having a BOY!!!!!! Sam is still awaiting more confirmation on this (I have another ultrasound this week) before he gets toooooo excited, but we've pretty much wrapped our brains around having a baby boy in the house by May!**

...and I'm finally feeling really good, for the most part! Everyone has gotten to feel him kick a little bit and he seems to already be a very active baby! We are pretty set on the name although we haven't settled on what we will call him - Samuel Kirby Collins! After much deliberation, thought, and conversations, we decided to stick with the tradition of using a family name (as we've done with both girls). Some of other considerations that were eliminated were Lane, Colt or Colton, Henry, etc.

We have had a FABULOUS Christmas and New Years - it has definitely been the best ones yet! I am usually the one that is quickly packing up Christmas decorations and getting my house back to normal (like Christmas day or day after), but this year was very different! I'm not sure if it was hormones or just growing up. The day after Christmas, the girls were playing at my in-laws with their cousins, and Sam and I had the house to ourselves until he left to go hunting, but I just couldn't bring myself to put it all away yet! I kept tearing up and when Sam asked why I was crying, all I could say was that I wanted the girls to stay this age forever because we had had such a fun year with them and that packing it all up made me feel like I was closing that chapter of our lives! I know - it sounds ridiculous, but I'm so afraid of them growing up too fast and not being able to enjoy the mystery and fun of Christmas! But, then Sam reminded me that we still had another baby coming along and that unfortunately the kids all have to grow up! He's such the realists!

Then we left last week for the beach to celebrate New Years with my parents and Sam's parents! We had a ball!!!! The weather was not bad at all down there - just really windy! We shopped at the outlets (great sales!), ate lots of yummy food (too much), watched lots of football (Roll Tide! Even Sam and Dad said they had had enough football for a while), and rang in the New Years! It was so fun this year though because this was the first New Years that we felt the girls could actually "stay up" to see 2011 - well, at least we stayed up to see the Eastern time zone ring it in, but don't tell the girls! We had a yummy home cooked dinner (by my mom), fabulous dessert (by yours truly), sparklers, and even some sparkling grape juice in plastic champagne glasses! Needless to say, we all napped the next day! We came home Sunday and it was back to the grind today (except for Mary Mac). Mary Mac does not start back to school again until Thursday, but it was nice to get the rest of us back on a normal routine. She told me when she got out of school for Christmas break that she would just rather not go back to school again (we were all ready for a break!)! I'm pretty sure that by Thursday, Mary Mac will be more than happy to go back to school after spending the week at the office with us!

So, that's where we are for this week! Like I said, just starting from NOW! I have my 21 week check-up Thursday and another ultrasound. So far so good with this pregnancy. We are praying for an uneventful pregnancy and birth for this special baby! I'll keep you posted as much as possible!

Oh, and YES, I did finally get the Christmas decorations all put away, but it wasn't until last week right before we left for the beach! The thought of having to come home and get it all done before getting back into the work week was all it took to get me over that little emotional attachment to the decorations! Also, I plan on finally posting more pictures on the next post. I may try and do a little collage of pictures from the fall and Christmas instead of overloading you with tons of pictures! Happy New Year to all you Bloggers - and even though I wasn't blogging, I was still keeping up with you!

SURPRISE!!!

2010-10-13T09:52:00.001-07:00

img001
Originally uploaded by Leigh Collins

Yes, you're eyes are not deceiving you! We are pleasantly surprised to announce that we will be adding to our sweet little family! I say surprised because we had decided that we were done and happy with our 2 sweet girls, but God had a different plan for us. As a matter of fact, we had already had a consultation and appointment set for Sam to have a vasectomy, BUT, the weekend before he was to have his procedure, we received the shocking news that we were expecting! After the shock wore off (finally), we are really excited and the girls are beyond excited! They have already come up with many many names - some, not so great! The good news we found out today was that it is only 1! Yea - although Anna will be so sad - she really wanted twins!

We are only almost 9 weeks along, so we are continually praying for a healthy pregnancy (and first trimester)! And, just so you know, this pregnancy has already wreaked havoc on my body - could this mean it's a boy, OR, does it just mean that my body is OLD! Our family has mixed feelings on this one! As Sam has said, there are advantages to both - if it's a girl, we already have anything she could want or need, BUT, if it's a boy, well simply, it's a boy! So, stay tuned...

School Days

2010-09-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

No pictures with this post, but a couple of funny stories of the girls and their first days of school:

Anna: Her class in preschool is working on learning to write the letters of the alphabet. Each week those focus on that one letter and everything they do that week involves that letter somehow. So a couple of weeks ago, she was just singing and playing around the house and I heard her saying this one thing over and over and I couldn't figure it out. So I asked her, "Anna, what are saying?" And her reply was, " Mommy, we are learning the letter B this week. And my teachers told us that to learn to write it, all you do is straight line down, belly on the top, belly on the bottom!" I mean, how cute and creative is that! I am so blessed that we have such a wonderful preschool that prepares our kids both spiritually AND educationally!

Mary Mac: Well, her favorite part of school is lunch and PE! Go figure - I think she gets that honestly from Sam and I both! Fortunately, we just had our parent-teacher conference and were told that she was waaaay beyond the majority of the class in all areas (which we already suspected)! So proud! Again, thanks to such a wonderful preschool experience! Anyway, the other day they were supposed to be serving Beefaroni (yuck in my book) for lunch. Our rule when we started school was that she had to "try" everything in the lunchroom and if she found something she really did not like then I would pack her lunch - so far I have only packed 2 lunches! Woohoo! She had been looking forward to the Beefaroni day all weekend, so when she got home, I asked her how the lunch was. Her reply: "Mom, we DID NOT have Beefaroni today - it was FISH!" My reply: "Well, how was the fish?" MM: "What is the word that ryhmes with "ducky"? Me: (thinking she was searching for the right word) "Um, I don't know, yucky?" She pointed her finger at me and said "You got it!" I almost pee'd in my pants laughing so hard. She is such a funny girl and the older she gets, the funnier she gets!

Random Summer Fun Pictures

2010-09-07T18:08:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our fun summer we had! Hope you enjoy!

Lake Nights!

First Lessons in hooking a cricket to fish with!

Waiting patiently!

Yea - our first fish caught at the lake! (learning how to hold it)

OOPPSSS! Yea that little dark spot at the bottom is a the fish! We let it go!

Bowling With Gran!

Playing in the rain at the lake house!

There is no better saying, according to our families! Just FYI... may parents lake house and Sam's parents lake house is only about 2 minutes from each other - it has made for a really FUN summer for all of us!

Anna on the Dancing Porch (that's what she calls one of the porches at the lake house).

All of the summer fun has caught up with Anna - we found her like this in the playroom at the lake!

Sophie - our lake dog!

One of the few times we actually got all cleaned up for church this summer - we took a sabbatical with Dr. Durham!

Redneck (backyard) version of a waterslide! I came home from the grocery store to find this little amusement park in our backyard!

Anna's New Class

2010-09-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I realize that Anna's first day of preschool occurred a week before Mary Mac's, but here are Anna's pictures from her first day as a Friendly Frog! Her favorite thing about being a Friendly Frog is being able to play on the "big kids" playground instead of the baby one.

New Adventures In The Collins Clan

2010-09-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, again, I am waaayyyyy behind in posting this, but Mary Mac started kindergarten back in August and it was a huge month for our house! On top of starting "real" school, Mary Mac also has her first loose tooth! Wow, I really can't believe that I have a child in the same school that I went to and with our first loose tooth! It seems like seconds ago that I Sam and I were married and that we were delightfully (after the shock wore off) surprised by that positive pregnancy test after only 7 months of married life!

Not only has it been a huge adjustment for Mary Mac (which, by the way, she LOVES kindergarten), but it's been a HUGE adjustment for me and Anna too! Anna is having to adjust to being at preschool without her Big Sis there to comfort her when she's having a rough morning. And I am having to adjust to EARLY MORNINGS, early pick-up times, and homework (a little). Man, I didn't realize that 2:30 pm came so fast until this year! I have had to set my phone to alarm at 2:20 just so I don't forget to go get her! She LOVES her teachers, PE, Lunch, and Extended Day (although she doesn't get to go as much as she'd like)!

Since the first day of school, we've already experienced PTA night and a hugely successful school-wide fundraiser for Promethean Smart Boards for every classroom in the school. This is HUGE because at the start of school (4 weeks prior), only 7 boards existed in the school and the parents would have to raise the money for the remaining boards because we are not federally funded school (those of which already have one in every room - go figure - we basically have paid with taxes and donations for our school PLUS the other schools!). In 4 short weeks, the amazing parents, donors, and grand-parents were able to raise $63,000 for every class to have a board! I am SOOOO proud to be a part of this amazing public school (and alma mater) Verner Elementary! I have never seen a public school rally around and become almost like our very own private school!

Dinner With Old Friends

2010-09-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago (sorry Mary and Jay it's taken so long to post this), we had some friends in town and they came over for dinner with their 3 sweet kids who are close to the age of our 2 girls. We had many laughs at old times and laughs at what our lives have become - none of us ever imagined we would be where we are now when we were all single and college-aged, but I think we've all done pretty well! Our oldest girls were born about 5 days apart and we all got a big kick out of taking their pictures on this night and that hopefully this would be a great picture to hang on the wall of their dorm room at Alabama as freshmen! Ha - you think we're a little ahead of ourselves? They all had a great time playing together and making homemade mini-pizza's for themselves. You should have seen the way they decorated them all! It was a great night and hopefully something we can do again real soon!

Wow Time Flies!

2010-08-18T15:23:00.001-07:00

Well here I am again apologizing for no posts in over a month! We have had so much going on and I really should not have any excuses except that WE WERE BUSY!!!! Since my last post (yes, over a month ago), we decided to take a last minute family vacation to the beach. And when I say last minute, literally, last minute! On Sunday night as we were getting in bed, Sam looks at me (he's just gotten home from a trade show) and says, "So do we have any plans this weekend?" "Well, of course not! Why?" was my reply. Sam:"Why don't we go down to the beach?"Me:"Ok, so like when do you wanna go?" Sam:"Well, I can be ready Wednesday." Me: (internally)YIKES! "Ok, well let me see what all I get done over the next day or so at work!"

So, being the beach-lover that I am and the endless begging each and every night from the girls, I was a mad-woman at work getting tons of work accomplished in a few short hours and getting all of our clothes washed and packed. Before you knew it, we loaded the car on Wednesday afternoon (after Sam came home to cut the grass first) and were on our way! This was the first trip that we made with both girls where we left in the afternoon and drove into the night, arriving about 10:00 pm. Keep in mind that I have a HUGE show that was coming up in August (another reason I've been really busy).

Very rarely do we get away on vacation where NONE of our family is with us. Ok, I realize that we are VERY spoiled in that way, but on the other hand (and we LOVE our families - don't get me wrong) it was sooooo nice to have just the 4 of us! Needless to say, our last minute family vacation was the BEST EVER!!!! We spent 5 days at my parent's condo (ah...the luxury of family owning a place down there). While we packed, the girls energy was out the roof, so I sent them into the playroom to illustrate (i.e. draw, which is MM's favorite activity) all of the things that they wanted to do at the beach! It was so cute and we made sure to do all of the illustrated activities!

***Ok, quick funny sidenote...as I type Anna is totally torturing MM in the playroom. I can hardly stop laughing! Anna keeps blowing on this deer whistle thingy and MM screams every time she blows it. Of course, Anna continues to blow it just to make her scream! Is that cruel that I think that's kinda funny? (Molli, I can read your mind and I know that you are on MM's side on this)***

Ok, so back to the original post! At the beach, we had picnics on the beach, swam (BTW, no oil), built sand castles, hunted for shells, hunted for crabs, and went out to dinner (yes, I claimed I was on vacation from cooking!). So, here are some of my fave pics:

There were many more pics that I cherish from that much-needed vacation so if you are interested, click here!

Another Girl Day

2010-07-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

Two Words...Mission Accomplished! I made another last minute decision this morning (after my tennis was cancelled) that I would go ahead and make today Anna's school supply shopping day. Like I said yesterday, I had already scoped everything out, so her trips were a much quicker (and fewer). And, even better, she opted for Wal-Mart instead of Target - you think that says anything as to what she will be like as an adult - I mean I've already designated her as the best money saver between the two girls! And, since I had already checked out the school supply section at Target, I agreed that we would do her shopping at Wal-Mart, especially considering most of her "supplies" were things like paper towels, plates, utensils, tissues, etc. and you can definitely get those much cheaper at Wal-Mart! We then ventured on to buy her 2 new outifts - it was a really tough choice for her though since she loves clothes. She was so funny and kept pulling out stuff and saying, "Oh, Mommy, isn't this so cute?" And, yes, she was right, but I had a limit of only 2 new outifts (not to mention she has more hand-me-downs than we can fit in her closet)!!! After her day (or half day) of shopping, we met Gran at Ruby Tuesday (that's a little more along the lines of what I consider a "nice big girls lunch" than a deli) and she had her favorite, fried cheese sticks! YUMMY! Not very healthy, but then again, it was "her" day! It was another GREAT girl day with my youngest! I do have to admit that it is soooo nice that I can finally do things that like for both girls (separately and together) and actually enjoy our time together!

So, as I said in the first line...mission accomplished! All of our supplies are bought and ready for the first days of school!

Man, though, I really wish these years would SLOW down! I feel like I'm on a treadmill of life watching my girls lives fly by me as I'm just casually jogging along, all the while, huffing and puffing to keep up with them!!!! I really have to remind myself to just STOP and take it all in because it all goes soooo fast! I cannot really grasp that my first-born baby is starting kindergarten. In a weepy sort of way, I feel like our "fun times" are over because once real school starts, it's just another rat race to help her get to her ultimate dream, whatever that may be, even though she is only 5! Sorry for the sappy-ness, but it's just the plain and honest truth!

Mid Summer Fun

2010-07-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

While the summer is totally flying by, I realize that I have not really been keeping with up with the girls are doing this summer (aside from the BIG stuff). As many of you know, I decided to keep the girls home this summer in hopes of creating some really great memories of her last summer before starting kindergarten (maybe that was a pipe-dream on my part). I had arranged for several activities and camps and trips for June and then we have 2 incredibly sweet college-age girls (twins actually) that babysit for us and agreed to keep them everyday during July (which, by now, I'm sure they are rethinking this decision) so that I can work. I know this probably makes little sense, but MY thinking was that at least the twins could take them to the pool, movies, playground, etc. and not have to be contained in a classroom! At the end of June, I realized that maybe I had been daydreaming about how "wonderful" this time would be and that I AM DEFINITELY NOT MADE TO STAY HOME!!! And some of those feelings could stem from the fact that while I was not at the office everyday, I still had to get some work done somehow someway - which usually meant taking the girls with me to the office - UGH! I guess I shouldn't complain b/c at least I do have that option. At one point, I looked at Sam and said, "So who's bright idea was this to keep the girls home for the summer?" ~ Well that would be me!

With all that said, July could not come fast enough...and the girls have had a ball with the twins so far this summer! They have gone swimming (a lot), gone to the playground (in this scorching heat), gone to the movies, gone to the bookstore, played on the Slip N Slide DAILY (no joke), and who knows what else! And, their favorite part of the week is Friday b/c the twins take them to get a "treat" (i.e. toys) if they've been good all week.

Even with all of the fun things the girls have done, they are both getting on each other's nerves and are craving their friends. They can drive us all crazy with copying each other (yep, I remember doing that as a kid and I now realize how annoying it is), making loud noises just to annoy the other sibling, sit in each other's desginated chairs - you name it, they have fought over it! But, I guess that's what being a sibling is all about and, in fact, that's a lot of what I remember as a kid during the summer - getting on my brother's nerves ALL.THE.TIME!

But as the summer is quickly drawing near, I decided that I wanted to do our school supply shopping done BEFORE the mass crowds. And, since the girls are craving alone time with Mommy, I decided I would take them both separately and have their own "day"! So today was Mary Mac's day and she was sooooo excited - so much so that she was up at 6:30 am and ready to get dressed (in "cute" clothes which was our deal - she did not fight it this time)! So we made our way to Starbucks (because all "girl days" MUST begin with a coffee/chocolate milk trip) and then to Target, where I allowed her (against my inner dialogue) to pick out all of her supplies, including her lunchbox which, of course, she chose iCarly (ugh!). We also visited a local clothing store and she picked out 2 "cute" outfits that she wanted for school. Luckily, since we live in the deep south, it is still so hot during the beginning of school that we can wear summer stuff and this particular store was having a 50% summer clothes sale - so we got 2 for the price of 1! I had already ordered her backback (horse-themed of course) from a catalog so we didn't have to look for that AND I have to confess that once I got back to the office, I did order a "regular" lunchbox in hopes of her changing her mind on the iCarly one. Fingers crossed on that one!!!! The funniest part was that I promised her a Big Girls Lunch whereever she wanted (thinking DePalmas or somewhere kind of nice), but she insisted on Momma Goldberg's Deli - yep, sandwiches! But it was well worth it - while we ate, she looked at me with this silly grin and exclaimed that this had been the best girl day EVER!!! AHHHH - now that's what I want to remember about this summer!

Now, Anna's day is next! This should be interesting! Although, again I must confess, that while out today shopping with Mary Mac, I was scoping the stores out for the items that I think we need to purchase and I can "gently encourage" her - fingers crossed again! She definitely has her OWN IDEA about EVERYTHING! I now know what stores to visit and which ones we will not!

I do admit (and you can ask my mom), there is something about school supply shopping that I LOVE!!!! I always have and I always will and now I'm creating little school supply shopping lovers in the girls too! So fun!!!

Happy 4th of July 2010

2010-07-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

This year, Sam's entire immediate family decided to spend the 4th weekend at the lake and between our new lake house and his parent's lake house...well, let's just say we had a "full house!" Lots of cooking, lots of eating, lots of laughs, lots of swimming (interpretation: too much sun and TIRED kids), lots of boat rides and tube rides, but it was a great weekend all in all! And since we were all going to be together (which is rare these days), we decided to put my new camera (and my beginner photography skills) to the test and take family pictures. Surprisingly, we got a lot of good ones (and a lot of out-takes which are funny) considering we had 8 kids under the age of 9 and 8 adults. Obviously, we coordinated and all wore white shirts. I have to admit, I was impressed with myself! I am experimenting with a trial of Aperture and editing, but here are a few that did not really need much editing.

Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame

2010-06-30T19:48:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, Sam got a call that he had been the selected as one of the youngest athletes to be inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame. Here are a few pictures from the ceremony. Congrats Sam - you were always a "Star" in our eyes!

Disney Do Da

2010-06-30T19:41:00.001-07:00

DSC_0515
Originally uploaded by Leigh Collins

Here was our final picture from our day at Disney. We were all pooped! And in case you're wondering, this is a test to figure out how to post my Flickr picture directly on our blog. Hopefully this works b/c I have TONS of great pictures that I've taken with my new camera but have not been able to post them yet.

Making Salsa

2010-06-22T17:28:00.001-07:00

DSC_0315
Originally uploaded by Leigh Collins

So as you can tell, I love to make homemade salsa! It's a bit of a large task so I have to be sure I have time to do it, but it is well worth the time. So yummy, even if I do brag on myself! And if you're wondering why the lack pictures lately -well, simply put, Blogger says I've used all of my storage space so I'm exploring other options (which is the reason for this random post - experiment!).

This picture is my new sauce maker (we actually sell this stuff). It works like a charm to seed and skin tomatoes and other foods. Hopefully I can figure out how to add more than 1 picture per post via Flickr - if you have any ideas, I would greatly appreciate the advice!

Summer Time

2010-06-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

Did I really say that I was looking forward to Summer? Well, maybe that was a little delusional on my part. I think I had visions of everyone sleeping late, no school, no where to be, playing in the backyard in the sprinklers (happily and together), spending hours at the pool, etc. NO WAY! Let's just say that nothing really has changed except that I am trying to fit in a few hours of work in the morning and trying to keep the girls entertained and happy (and getting along) the rest of the day.

This week we've had Vacation Bible School for MM (which she has loved) and I put Anna in school (her old class) for the week so that I could have a little time to get stuff done. It was a much needed break for all of us! The girls had been on each other's nerves from too much time together and they got to see and play with their friends. Next week MM has tennis camp and A will have a ballet camp in July. This weekend we have a family reunion so we have not slowed down AT ALL!

I may have forgotten (in my absence of blogging) to tell everyone that we (meaning my parents and Sam and I) have just become rightful owners to a little lake house here in T-town. It is nothing special but very SPECIAL to us as we are so looking forward to the memories we will surely create in this little peace of HEAVEN ON EARTH. We all love the beach, but it's just getting harder and harder to get to the beach as much as we would like. So now we have a refuge much closer to home! We have spent many nights there already and will spend many more over the summer (and year around, I'm sure). In addition to the house, Sam and I surprised the girls and my parents last weekend with another toy for the lake - a SeaDoo! It is so fun and we have all enjoyed it so far (except for Mom who is NOT a water-lover by any means!).

And I almost forgot...I am posting this blog via our new Mac computer. I am so pumped to finally have a computer at home that works! Up until this point, I've only been able to use my "work" computer to post. I cannot wait to upload my pictures (yes, that means more posts to come) when I have more time to upload them to Blogger.

My next mission this summer is to learn to sew. You may remember that my parents gave me a sewing machine for my birthday 2 YEARS AGO!!! It has collected dust until now...I am determined to learn how to at least fix the girls clothes, and maybe a few more things! I'll keep you posted on those projects too!

Missing in Action (literally)

2010-05-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

Just a fair warning: LONG POST AHEAD!!!! You may want to save this posting until you have time to read it.

Well I never got to finish uploading some of my favorites when I was last posting (yes, several weeks ago) because I kept getting an error message from blogger and, well, I just gave up that day and have not had time to try it again (can you hear my frustration?). We have had so much going on here. I always thought that as the girls got older, life would get much easier too! Man, was I wrong! It seems that the older they've gotten, the busier we've gotten and there does not seem to be a light at the end of this tunnel that we're stuck in! I would not trade it for the world because we are doing so much FUN stuff now and the only thing that's gotten easier is just that they are much indepedent and do not require our 24 hour constant hands-on attention. It is so nice to get home in the afternoon and just let them "loose" in the backyard to play and "get their wiggles out!" And my favorite part is getting to hear their sweet (most of the time) sisterly chatter and conversations - so cute!

So back to the point of this post:

As I write, we (me, the girls, and my mom) are all in Palm Harbor, FL (close to Tampa) visiting my brother and his family for a week. My nephew is still in school, but this was the best time for all of us. We decided (for the first time) to drive down here with the girls, but it is such a long haul. We broke up the drive by leaving Sunday and staying at our condo in Destin for the night and making the remainder of the drive Monday. It does add several hours to the total trip, but it works better for the girls. We plan to leave here this Sunday and do the same return trip except to stay until after Memorial Day in Destin (with the addition of my dad - wish us all luck - he's used to traveling solo and not making stops every hour).
Side Note: We have just discovered that Anna seems to have inherited Sam's family's car sickness tendencies! And instead of relying on a hope and a prayer that we could drive 12 hours without a vomit-laced car, we opted for a little Dramamine - worked like a dream! I hate how it makes her so drousy, but then again, it does make for at least a few minutes of a quiet drive (since Anna talks NONE.STOP).

In the weeks leading up to this trip, Sam was traveling with work for about a month straight (home on the weekends, but I was still a C.R.A.Z.Y. momma that probably needed mental assistance), we had the ballet recital, swimming lessons (I will save this tragic story for another post - poor Anna), horseback riding (of course), tennis (my sanity and stress relief), hiring a few new people in our office, WORKING, a few crafty things (saving for another post) I was dying to create, PRESCHOOL GRADUATION (yikes!), preschool graduation party at the playground, and my college pledge class 10 reunion weekend(again, yikes!). Oh, and I can't forget Mother's Day and mine and my mother-in-law's birthday (May 19) and then packing for this trip in between all of this! Wow, no wonder I'm exhausted!

While here in Florida, we are celebrating my nephew's 7th birthday (party is Saturday) and we took a very-much anticipated trip to Magic Kingdom yesterday. Does it make any sense to say that it was the longest, shortest trip to Magic Kingdom? This was Anna's first trip to Disney and she got to do and see everything she asked for! We left here at 7:30 am and did not get home until 11:00 pm! Blake got to skip school (shhhh) for this Birthday trip to Disney so he was NOT complaining about having to do all of the "girly" stuff. We met several princesses (Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Tiana), watched the parade, watched the show at the castle, rode rides, saw lots of fun stuff (and people too, I might add)! We then headed to LegoLand (wow what a place) and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (another really cool place). Needless to say, we have ALL been worthless today and just chilled out! Our favorite memory of Anna's first time meeting the princess' was when she walked up to Belle, she curtsied to her!!!!! I mean, where would she have seen that to know that you are supposed to bow to royalty (even if it is just Disney's royalty)?! She then blew her a kiss as she left the room. And at the parade, as Cinderella "waved" to her she was yelling, "Hey, Cinderella, It's Me, Anna!" as if she remembered her from all of the thousands of kids they meet in a day! So fun and cute! Both she and Mary Mac told us that yesterday was the BEST day of their lives! We are so fortunate to be able to give our girls these experiences - thank you Dad and Sam for working so hard for us! And THANK YOU Gran for being such a trooper and helping Molli and I corral the kids around Disney! It was a trip to remember for sure!!!!!

We decided that we would give Anna 1/4 of a Dramamine for the Disney trip b/c of the car ride, as well as any other possible ride she may want to experience. We all got so tickled on the way there b/c she was sound asleep and I said I was having visions of her sleeping (drug-induced) through her first trip to Disney and us just holding her up next to everything (still sleeping) and taking her picture with captions (and commentary) of, "Look how much fun Anna had at Disney!" "And here she is with Cinderella (asleep)", etc... That would have been a hilarious childhood story, but, don't worry, she was wide awake for the WHOLE day (yes, that means, NO NAP AT DISNEY). She was such a trooper though and did not whine or complain hardly at all. That's not exactly how our recovery day has gone, but it was worth it!

Another funny conversation was Tuesday with Mary Mac. Blake asked to go to Macaroni Grill for his birthday dinner and she was curious to know what they had there (since we don't have one). Molli asked her if she like pasta with spaghetti sauce or the white sauce, which she explained was Alfredo sauce. Mary Mac's reply to her explanation was priceless: "I'm not afraid of no sauce!" How funny!

And of course, I have taken TONS of pictures, but have not loaded any of them...stay tuned. I'm also waiting on my brother to give me a "tutorial" on how to use my fabulous new camera!

So far, we have had a blast, but I'm not going to lie - I am really looking forward to the summer! The girls will not be in school, but will just be doing some camps, Vacation Bible School, and just hanging out at lake/pool/home (that is, if Anna learns to swim)! Hopefully, it will be a nice break for Mary Mac before she starts Kindergarten in the fall. I still cannot believe that I have one child already starting real school in the fall!

Pictures Update

2010-05-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

My new favorite dress for MM

Utter Exhaustion - she fell asleep in her chair playing in the playroom!

Dress Rehearsal

The Mr. Sun group on stage

Watching MM ride horses!

I have not had time to really "learn" how to use my new camera OR to do any editing, but these will have to do for now!

Crazy Week

2010-05-10T19:56:00.001-07:00

Last week was another busy week in our house. Between Anna's ballet recital with 2 rehearsals, swimming lessons, horseback riding, a tennis tournament, my grandparents coming for the weekend, Mothers Day, oh and add to that list work and Sam being out of town for the 3rd week in a row!!!! I know, it's exhausting just reading this. What would we do with more than 2 kids? I'll post pictures later (of course), but this will have to do for now. By the way, did I mention that Anna just basically stood on stage and never danced? Figures!!! She was so cute, but she told her Poppy (Sam's dad) that she wanted to trade her ballet shoes in for cowgirl boots! And when everyone asked her if she had fun, she just quietly shook her head "NO!"

My New Toy

2010-05-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've thinking and researching it for a while now and finally bit the bullet and bought a new camera. My old camera (a Kodak EasyShare that I've had since before MM was born) had been a great one, taken incredible pics for a point and shoot, and had "held up" to kids and me not being so kind to it.

So I finally settled on this Nikon D5000. I got a really good deal on it and it came with anything and everything I could need for it (camera body, 2 lens {18-55 and 55-200 for you camera buffs}, a mono/tripod, 2 bags, memory card, hi-speed card reader, 2 UV lens filters, 1 hour "lessons"). Although I have a LOT to learn about how to take full advantage of all of the features, I have already fallen in love with it. I don't have any pictures to post today (sorry) b/c I left the camera at home, but I promise to post some of my faves tomorrow. I took some at a local tennis charity event I participated in Friday to Cystic Fibrosis, as well as some of Anna and MM at MM's riding lesson Friday and over the weekend. My brother (who is an incredible photographer in his "free" time when he's not out trying to treat/heal/cure this ugly world of female cancers) is going to give me some lessons when we go down there to visit for a week at the end of the month.

On a side note (since this blog is also my scrapbook), we got so tickled last night at the girls. They had been playing so nicely all day in the playroom while Sam and I washed clothes, ironed, cleaned out drawers, etc. So when we heard the giggles and cackles coming from the playroom, I just had to check it out. What I found was Anna covered in makeup powder all over her face and legs and arms (I mean, she was white) and lipstick all over her lips, cheeks, nose, forehead! And she was dressed in dress-up clothes! MM had decided to "do" this Anna and they were so funny! Anna was just thrilled to have MM's undivided attention. Unfortunately, after Anna and I had both told MM "no more" and she didn't obey, Sam decided that the best punishment was to let Anna do the same to her. As most of you know how MM is not girly, MM was NOT HAPPY! We made her keep it all on until bath time (a total of 10 minutes)! It was really funny and they were having a blast, but enough was enough, especially since Anna tends to have reactions to makeup and get little hives everywhere. I have pictures of our little makeup artist and her "customer" (that's what she called Anna), but those will have to come later.

Hope you all have a great week! We will be busy this week with Anna's ballet recital. She has 2 rehearsals at the theater and then the recital is Saturday. Fun Fun!

Funny Anna Talk

2010-04-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

I had to get this documented for our memories before she learns to say it right. Anytime she uses the word "right", she says it really funny and it sounds like she's saying "yet". It is so cute and we just love hearing her say it and we are going to be so sad when the day comes that she doesn't say it anymore. We've had lots of other things going on and I will post pictures and stories when I get a few minutes to download them all.

Yard Pictures

2010-04-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, so these pictures REALLY don't do it justice - I took them with my phone this morning, but here are the promised pictures of our yard work (or at least some of it).

Obviously, this is the front yard - the only work we did here was refreshing the mulch in all the flower/tree beds and grass cut. I've still got to go get a plants for the planters on the porch.

This is one of the 2 large beds we planted stuff in. You can't really see all the plants from here or the tulips and hyacinths that I planted over the winter that have looked gorgeous until this week.

Again, not a good picture, but in the very back corner you can see a new bed that we made and planted the hydrangeas in. This was where I had planted tomotoes last summer that killed the grass and then the dog has just made it worse over the fall and winter. Hopefully, we can keep the dog out of all of the new flower beds this year, thanks to a shock collar!

A Weekend of Work

2010-04-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Sam and I joined the whole neighborhood Saturday in deciding to get some of our spring cleaning in the yard completed. It was such a great day - sunny but just cool enough that you didn't get too hot. The whole family (smoothies in tow) loaded up in Sam's truck and headed to Lowe's to get a few things. Well, a few things turned into 3 hydrangeas, 7 euonymus, 5 (I think) indian hawthorns, 10 bags of top soil, and 1 confederate jasmine. And the worst part is that was only the first of 4 trips to Lowe's that day.

The girls (Sophie included) had a ball playing in the yard and "helping" us. We started by Sam digging all of the holes and me planting them. Once everything was all planted, I headed back to Lowe's and loaded (or had loaded) 15 bags of mulch while Sam cut the grass. We finally called it a day at 6:00 pm and we could hardly stand on our 2 feet. Sam was up at 7 the next morning and at Lowe's to get our last load of mulch. We finally finished everything around lunchtime Sunday. It was a lot of work, but the end result was so worth it. I'll have to take pictures and post later. Last night I thought, we finally have a yard that I am proud of! It looks amazing! Only 1 1/2 days, 16 plants, and 60 (yes, that's right) bags of mulch! Now, I'm just waiting on the end of the pollen so I can clean our porch and furniture and it will be perfect!

Let's just say that after almost 4 hours of tennis (1 1/2 cardio-tennis plus 2 hours playing after) on Friday, a full day of yard work Saturday, and half a day of yard work Sunday, I AM SO SORE! I definitely got my workout in this weekend!

Wow It's Been A Crazy Couple Of Months

2010-04-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Well, judging by the title of this post, you quickly have realized that I have fully and completely failed in my New Years Resolution to post more often! I thought I was doing better than I actually was until I realized this morning that I had not uploaded pictures from my camera since the big snow here back who knows how long ago. If I can get Blogger to work the way I want it to, I will try and post pictures in the order in which they occurred (fingers crossed). Because so much as happened in just a few months, I will try and limit the captions of all the photos. Sorry for the overload in pictures - there's your warning - there are a lot of posts to come!

Easter 2010

2010-04-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

Man, Easter came upon us so fast this year! These are the only pictures I have from this Easter. With all of the birthdays in the last month, I was just not prepared! The girls both had parties and hunts at school, but I forgot my camera (of course). Mary Mac also had her annual Music Recital at school and she surprised us all by being the "Star" of the show. She got to play the big instrument-thingy (obviously, I am not musically inclined) and got to play it for the whole program and all classes. She was the one keeping the beat for the rest of the kids. I couldn't believe it! She did so good! I definitely know that she is our "artsy" and creative child, but I'm still not 100% where it comes from. With Anna's birthday party on Saturday we missed our church hunt, but we had one at home Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon at the lake.

Who remembers those sponge rollers? Although they did nothing for my hair as a child, my mom always insisted on me sleeping in them before special occassions. I hated them and vowed to never to do that to my children, but as I have many times before, I've eaten my words! But, in my defense, Anna has already wavy hair so I thought I would try it. It turned out pretty cute!

Our family Easter picture

And of course, it would not be Easter without the afternoon at the lake. Since the water is too cold to get in to "potty", I decided to take along our little portable potty. It was a great idea! And it was a beautiful day on the lake - Anna napped on the boat, and me and MM got a little too much sun!

Anna's 3rd Birthday

2010-04-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

I really cannot believe that my baby is already 3! She is the funniest, cutest little (and I mean that literally) thing! She was the first to tell everyone that she is an April Fool's baby! We had her party on the Saturday before Easter at the Fun Factory (like a Pump It Up). I really didn't want to do it there (yes, my fear of germs was tested), but she loves bouncy houses so much that I just bit the bullet. Her Aunt Molli was the first one to take her down a bouncy slide at the ripe old age of 1 and she's loved them ever since! She (and her little friends) had so much fun and with it being mostly little ones they didn't have to worry about the "big" kids being too rough or hurting them. I think they went down the big slide 1 thousand times!

A few things about Anna at the age of 3:

-thinks she is as big as Mary Mac

-tries just about anything MeMac (what she calls Mary Mac) does

-loves to be girly, but also likes to dress like her sister (who is anything but girly)

-weighs only about 23 lbs on a good day

-height 3"

-is very mischievous but knows how to "play" everyone

-loves candy (suckers mostly) but is not a big fan of "real" food unless it's Daddy or Pop's steak (expensive taste already)

-is taking ballet (her first recital is coming up - pictures to come) and swimming lessons (not crazy about the water yet)

-loves PEOPLE! She would rather hang out with the adults than play

-has the sweetest little voice, but her "baby talk" is starting to fade and I am very sad - she is quick to correct me now if I try and get her to say some of her sayings in her baby talk

-oh and how could I leave this off? She talks non-stop! Literally! She was so late in saying her first words, but she is making up for it now! Sometimes we have to ask her for just 3 minutes of silence just to clear your head!

-loves her Sophie girl - getting that puppy has made a world of difference in our child that was terrified of anything of the non-human kind!

-she and Mary Mac have nicknamed each other and have continued to call each other by their nicknames for months now - I think it may stick! Anna is Strawberry Shortcake and MM is Lemon Meringue and they will tell anyone that if you just ask them what their name is!

-finally and most importantly, she had her cardiology checkup last month and she is doing amazingly FANTASTIC! He officially diagnosed her defect as mild and does not want to see her back for 2 years!!! Woohoo!

All her friends

Blowing out the candles

The cake - it was not only so cute, but very YUMMY!

Mary Mac sliding

The Birthday Girl

Sam's Actual Birth-Day

2010-04-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

Birthday Dinner

Giving Daddy a Big Birthday Bear Hug - you don't think these are Daddy's Girls, do you?

The Cupcakes we made for Daddy - no I am not very crafty!

The girls insisted that Sam's cupcake needed a race car on it since that was his birthday present so this was my attempt at drawing a race car with icing - hehehe!

Sam's 30th Bday (continued)

2010-04-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

We had no plans once we finished at the race track, so I decided to ask around with some of the others there to see what we needed to do the rest of the day. They all said that we could not leave without going to the Stockyards in Ft. Worth to get a "real" Texas experience. This is like an old western town right in the smack middle of Ft. Worth. Every weekend they have a cattle drive down the cobblestone streets and a Rodeo every Friday and Saturday night (yes, we stayed for that). And if you've read our blog before and/or know us, you know that we felt right at home at the Stockyards. We kept saying that we felt like we were at home in Fayette!

It was also St. Patty's day weekend and they had a parade also. It was so much fun and we vowed that we would definitely have to bring Mary Mac back there, but next time we would stay at the old hotel right in the heart of the Stockyards (it is still a real working Stockyard/Auction town). Instead, this trip we stayed at the Grand Hyatt at the airport - it was FABULOUS which surprised us both being that it was at the airport.

I had to take a picture of these stud horses mainly for Mary Mac, but also to tell that this woman had these ponies on a leash at the parade like a pet! Oh, and one pooped and it splattered on Sam's boots (thank goodness he had his boots on!)

The cattle drive - Sam kept having to correct me because I kept calling them Steers - they are actually Longhorns!

My "seat" (a saddle) at the bar at one of the restaurants

The actual auction building

The rodeo arena

And of course I couldn't go to the Stockyards and not get a real Stetson cowgirl hat!

The main drag

Sam's 30th Bday Weekend

2010-04-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

As you remember from an older post, we surprised Sam for his 30th birthday and took a trip to Dallas for the weekend (kid-free) and he got to participate in a Ride and Drive day at the Texas Motor Speedway. Other than the trip out there, we had a great, well-needed, weekend break! It was so nice to just "be" together without any distractions. Our trip out was horrible - our flight was scheduled to depart Bham at 11:30 am and arrive in Dallas at 3:30 with a connection in Memphis, but a line of storms roared through the night before and had most flights cancelled. Delta tried to get us on another flight, but the only option ended up taking us to Atlanta via a bus to then only find out once we got to Atlanta that our "new" flight was delayed. We sat in the Atlanta aiport from 2 until almost 8 and did not get into Dallas until almost 10 that night! Gotta love flying!!!!

Sam driving his car

Before the ride

A Day at the Park

2010-04-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

Tire Swing Together!

I love this pic of MM - it was just a random picture from under the tire swing!

Hanging on the monkey bars

Sweet Angel (ignore the red stains on her face)

We skipped church that Sunday and had a picnic at the park. It was the first somewhat nice day in a long time!

A-Club BBQ Cook-Off

2010-04-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Anna enjoyed the bouncy obstacle course

Shocking, I know, but MM wanted to stay and hold the animals

Sorry for the over-exposure (I'm not a photographer).

It was freezing that day and had snowed the day before, but we were determined to go out and enjoy the day at the stadium. It was way crowded and kind of a chaotic mess of people trying to eat the yummy BBQ. They let the A-Club member's families come early and enjoy the activities before the public was let in so we did get to do it all and left early!

Snow Day

2010-04-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

They played for a total of 15 minutes in the snow then wanted to come inside, sit by the fire, drink hot chocolate (which they don't really like), and watch Hanna Montana.

Dressed and ready for the snow. Obviously, we have no "snow" clothes!

My newest obsession - arent' these the cutest shirts? I made them! Ha!

I'm Back...For Now!

2010-03-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted, but then again, I have been practically tied to my desk working on our bi-annual trade show that I've discussed many times before. So, since my last post, we have had soooo much going on, so I won't bore you with all of the details, but the pictures below are from another horse show that MM won 5 ribbons (can't remember what places right now), but she looked sooo cute in the show! It was so cold that day and we all froze, but she was a tough little cookie!

Anna has her annual cardiology check-up tomorrow, so any prayers are greatly appreciated, specifically that nothing has changed and that she is good-to-go for another year or better!

Sam and I are headed to Dallas for the weekend to celebrate his 30th birthday (next week) while my parents are taking the girls to the beach. Pictures to come later!

We had to register MM for kindergarten a couple of weeks ago. I can't believe she really is THAT old! Man, how time flies! She is ultra excited! With this being her last summer before she starts "real" school, we have decided to not have them enrolled in preschool this summer. The plan is to spend the month of June at the beach through the 4th of July and then we have twin college age babysitters that are going to tag-team babysit during the mornings of July until they start school. I am really looking forward to this summer with the girls and making the most of this precious and rapidly moving time!

We have attended quite a few parties and events in the last month, too, that were so fun (maybe too much fun for me!). The best of those being my Mardi Gras club's Les Krewe Redneck Riviera - as you can imagine by the name, it was quite a riot! Sam and I looked like we came right off the farm - really bad spray tan included! Sorry, you'll have to look on Facebook for those pictures since I forgot to take pictures (which should tell you the "state" I was in)! I haven't been on stage to perform in YEARS and I needed a little liquid courage!

Hopefully, this cold/wet weather is finally over and we can get outside and enjoy nature! Not to mention, I am really antsy to get back on the tennis court!

That's all I can think of right now that you fellow bloggers have missed! Have a great rest of the week!

Thorn in my side

2010-02-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

This post is primarily for a fellow blogger who was having a breakdown moment over the mess in her kitchen. This is what a mess really looks like!!!! Sadly, this is after the girls spent well over an hour "cleaning" it - ha! Obviously, I've missed the mark on what cleaning up actually entails. I try to get them to help me clean it up (the way I like it) about once a week, but it returns to this glorious sight within minutes! As my post title states, this is the thorn in my side daily, but I've come to the conclusion that I would rather enjoy spending this precious time with my girls, regardless of the mess! Welcome to my chaos!!!!

MM had her first "real" horse show last weekend, so stay tuned for pictures from that day! It was a beautiful (but freezing) day and she did AWESOME!

More Pics

2010-01-29T14:22:00.001-08:00

Anna in her new ballet/tap outfit - she starts next week!

MM with her new favorite pony (Clay) getting ready for a horse show this weekend.
Anna at the allergy doctor getting skin testing after a bout with random welps for a week. Good news - one child with no allergies (yet)! She was not too pleased with the skin test, but we survived. We take MM for her re-check next month and we'll see if she has developed any more or less allergies!

Then this is a picture of Uncle Sam seeing Tripp for the first time. . .doesn't he look like natural? Man, those were the easy days!

Brownies and More

2010-01-29T13:53:00.000-08:00

So while in a weekend get-a-away to our local Wal-Mart (can you hear my sarcasm?), I fell for an impulse buy (imagine that) for The Perfect Brownie Pan Kit. The girls and I were so excited and could not wait to make some brownies that night. I thought I had a box of brownie mix at home, but quickly realized that I had made those several weeks ago. So instead of getting back out with the girls on our relaxing weekend (Sam was out of town on business), I searched my pantry and found all of the ingredients to make homemade Blondies using the recipe book that came with the kit. Here are the scrumptious results (again, can you hear the sarcasm?). P.S. I still don't know how they get the commercials to look so easy and much better than these. Although, it didn't stop myself and the girls from picking around the mess.
Also, a couple of weeks ago I surprised Sam with his early birthday present. This picture is of him opening it. Needless to say, he was very surprised!!! He turns the big 3-0 in March and I really wanted to do something very special that he would remember forever. I always feel so bad because everyone kind of ignores his birthday (not intentionally)and we've never really done anything really special before for his birthday. So, since he is a huge race car fan and especially a Corvette fan, I decided to book a trip (just the 2 of us) to Dallas for the weekend before his birthday AND book him a day of driving race cars and riding with professional drivers around the Texas Motor Speedway. We cannot wait for this trip. It is sure to be a birthday to remember!

In my last post, we were going to the AL vs GA Gymnastics meet with my mom. Here are a couple of pics from the night. We took the girls to DePalma's for dinner before the meet and this was them being silly at the table. Then, as we were coming out of the meet, we just happened to look up at the football facility and saw this glorious site (and I didn't have to fight the rednecks at Wal-Mart to see it)! My mom had read in the paper that morning that they were "unveiling" it in its rightful place that morning. It really is beautiful - especially at night with the way they have the lights on it! div>

Shocking...but not as in a surprise

2010-01-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, so before I begin this post, I do realize that my header is still from Thanksgiving, but hopefully you all are reading this through Google Reader (b/c that's what I do mostly) and can't see the old header. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to change it yet, so it will have to stay for now. Heck, I'm just proud of myself for following through with my promise to post more often. Keeping my header and background up to date? Sorry! No time!

Now, for the true reason for this post. It is this time of year that I really wish it was safe to bathe in Static Guard! Seriously, I have the most extreme aversion for static and shocking things and people! The thought of the sound of static on your clothes makes my skin crawl! So, Anna has figured out that the recliner in our den is the Mecca of all static! She thinks it is hilarious to roll around in the chair and then chase after someone to shock them. UUGGHHH, is my reaction! And poor Sophie has now become the prime target for her. Sam got her to shock Sophie on her tail and now this is where she aims every time! Sophie is so starved for attention, though, that she loves it. Poor dog!

Yesterday, after spending most of the morning cleaning up the playroom -oh, if you could have only seen it; I should have taken a picture, but then again, I'm not sure I would want to continue to see it in that shape ever again - we had a full day of running around.We checked in on Kate and Tripp and lended a helping hand to the breastfeeding process (which we were successful). Since I don't have a sister, I feel so fortunate that she feels as close to me as her own sister and sincerely wanted my help and was comfortable enough to ask and let me help! Although I was not very successful with the breastfeeding process, I am VERY passionate about it and want it to work so badly for her! Then, I picked MM up for her riding lesson and watched her for a little while before heading back to the preschool to get A. Then back to the barn to help MM un-tack her horse. We then we headed over to a friends house who was having 2 kids trunk shows in 1 place (her house). It was like a little playgroup for both girls. There were several of their little friends there while their mom's shopped. They had a ball. It was so funny too b/c all of the little girls were running around in the sample clothes - swim suits, sundresses, etc. - even though it was still FREEZING outside. But it did make me start wishing for the warm weather to return seeing all of the cute summer-y clothes! We didn't get home until 7:00 and I had not even cooked dinner yet.

That's it for today - sorry no pictures today! We are taking the girls to the AL Gymnastics meet against GA tonight and I cannot wait to see what A thinks! This will be her first! Stay tuned - maybe I will take some pictures!

I'm an Aunt Again!!!

2010-01-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to announce that we have a new addition to the Collins family - well Kate is a Hardy now, but let's not get technical! Early this morning, Kate (Sam's sister) gave birth to Tripp Hardy at 3:52 am. She went into labor last night and went to the hospital around 9-ish. She was fully dilated by 1:30 am (I'm telling ya, she must be made to have babies!) and pushed for about 2 hours (he was turned wrong:()) before delivering this precious miracle weighing in at 7 lbs 7 oz and 20.5 inches long! He is sooo beautiful - yes, boys can be beautiful as infants! For those of you following our blog, Kate is the one that was struggling with infertility for several years and finally concceived last spring! He ended up being a little smaller than we all had predicted due to his "genes", but he and Kate are both doing great! Our girls were so excited and could not wait to go see him (well, me too), so we went first thing this morning to just "peek" into the nursery for a quick glimpse (hoping that Kate was resting). Kate was NOT resting and we were able to see them both up close personal! Enjoy the pictures!

Also, I forgot this in my last post: Obviously, as some of you know, I am a little bit of a germaphobe and always have hand sanitizer with me! But, instead of calling it hand sanitizer, the girls call it my "hani-tizer". Guess that's close enough, huh? Wouldn't you know what they were trying to say?

Translations from Anna and other stuff

2010-01-11T07:05:00.000-08:00

We had such a great weekend, aside from it being FRIGID! It was so nice to have a weekend that we actually had absolutely nothing to do for the entire weekend. With that said, I was able to get a lot of things done around the house. I cleaned the house, cleaned out the refrigerator, cleaned out the pantry, made another travel size wipes case for my SIL (who is about to deliver our newest addition, Tripp, any day), cooked, and just took it easy! The girls were actually REALLY good too, which makes for a much more peaceful time. They played so well together - major step towards the right direction. I think that the threat of them both getting in trouble, whether you are the culprit or tattle-tale must have sunk in! The only downside to all of this, you ask? The playroom looks like a tornado hit it!

With it being so cold AND having a husband that is a hunter, you can guess where Sam was all weekend. But, a couple weeks ago we put out some corn in the empty lots across from our house to see if we could see the same monster derr we saw last year. We have seen lots and deer, but not the big one (someone probably shot it already). The girls have really enjoyed waiting and watching the deer from the shadows in Sam's men's den every night. Anna keeps telling Sam that she is going hunting with him! I'm not sure she really "gets" what hunting is all about, but he said he would take them both as long as they were quiet (which will be challenge for Anna)AND after it warms up some.

Anna's funny words and personality these days:

~chipmunks = chill bumps

~kia = care

~t-jamas = pajamas (actually she starts a lot of words with a t, even if it does not have a t in it)

~nikka hiney = naked hiney, kind of sounds like she is saying something else

~when she gets a wedgie, she tells you that her panties are "stuck to her hiney"

~I wanna tell you "somp-in" (something)

~she puts her hand on her head and says, "not again!!!

~I wanna hold u = she wants to be held"

~walks around singing the song "Jimmy Crack Corn" except her words are "Jimmy Corn and I don't 'kia'" - not really sure where she heard this song OR why she likes it so much!

~TALKS 24 HOURS A DAY!!!!! Seriously, I'm not kidding - the only time she's quiet is when she is asleep!

~She can't wait to meet her soon-to-be nephew Baby Tree-up (as she pronounces it). The poor baby isn't even here yet and she's already driving him crazy!!! But, I do have to say that his coming arrival is what prompted her to potty train - we told her that only big girls who used the potty could hold him! Tada - the secret to our success!!! LOL!

~she has the most sensitive nose EVER! She gets this from Sam, but it is still pretty funny because some smells really bother her and she will just keep her nose pinched, just in case!

Finally, since I resolved (not officially) to be better about posting this year and showing pictures, here is one from last night. I made some Jello yesterday for the girls to eat if they ate a good dinner. I guess it's just been a really long time since I made Jello and they were soooo excited! So after dinner Sam got it out and we tried to make Jigglers but it wasn't firm enough so he put it in little ice cream sundae cups. The both finished off their cups so fast that we just let them dig into the dish. Before I could even look, Sam brings me a spoon and says that if I wanted a taste I better hurry - it's almost GONE! GONE??? Really?? Well, yep! Take a look at the dish in the background! This was only minutes after getting it out! It was such a sweet sound - sweet little innocent happy giggles over the simplicity of Jello! And, yes, I'm sure Sophie was able to get in a lick or two! BTW, she already weighs 50 lbs and is only 7 months old!!!!

The travel-size wipes case I made yesterday! Pretty darn cute if I do say so myself! I added some ribbon to the spine of it and made a little handle for carrying (it's hard to see in this pic).

Sorry...

2010-01-07T12:50:00.001-08:00

I was trying so hard to post these in a certain order and of course, Blogger chose to do them differently! So, it's all backwards (I think!). Oh well, that's what I get for waiting so long to upload pictures and post updates.

And finally, Christmas!

2010-01-07T12:35:00.000-08:00

As many of you probably remember, we lost my grandmother on Christmas Day last year, so with the economy being in the dumps and really just wanting to spend time with our family and take it easy, we opted to not have our annual Christmas Eve party that we have been doing since I was in about 6th grade. In the last several years, we have done it at our house and it is always such a rush to get everything ready for the party AND get ready for Santa. I also really wanted to cherish this season with the girls and be able to enjoy the magic of the season since they are 5 and almost 3. So instead of the party, we went to our usual afternoon church service for the kids, then came home and got comfortable and enjoyed our family in front of the fireplace. We ate chili, watched football, talked, baked cookies, and (my favorite part) got the girls in bed early waiting for Santa. The weather was yucky here so our neighborhood could not light the luminaries that line every street. But I have to give props to the best Daddy ever! He was outside ringing bells (sleigh bells:) in the pooring rain, barefoot, on a ladder, with an umbrella! It was hilarious!!! Wish I could have gotten pictures!!! Regardless, the trick worked! MM heard the bells and made me get out of her room so that she could go to sleep for Santa to come! It was sooooo cute and such a fun year with them. We then went to the beach for the week of New Years and had a great time (aside from the bickering between the girls) just relaxing for a change! I can't wait to see what 2010 holds for our family!!! Happy New Year to you and your family!!!!

Surprise Girl Trip

2010-01-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

I'm having issues moving pictures around on Blogger today, so these pictures are backwards in order. The week of Christmas, my mom and I decided to surprise the girls with a trip to Atlanta to see this show called Cavalia. In short, it's a mix between Cirque du Soleil and a horse show. So, it was only fitting that we take MM to see this incredible show. It was only going to be in Atlanta from the end of November until January 3, so we loaded up and went for an overnight girl trip to Atlanta. The show was absolutely amazing and if you are ever able to see it (I think it's in Miami right now), it is worth the money if you love horses like we do. Check out the website to see what it's about (http://www.cavalia.net/)! The show was at 8:00 pm EST so we drove over, checked into our hotel, and then went to Atlantic Station to eat dinner, walk around and then on to the show. By the way, if you haven't been to Atlantic Station, it is a MUST SEE area! Great shopping and food! The next morning, we made a last minute decision to take the girls to the Georgia Aquarium. We figured, why not? We are already in Atlanta, have nothing else to do, and are only blocks away from it! These pictures, while not great quality, are of the Shark Tank that has 3 of the largest species of sharks in it, the whale shark (which you can see above MM's head in the 2nd picture). Just to give you an idea of the size, the walls of the tank were made of 2 feet thick plexiglass in order to hold the pressure of the water! Wow! It was an incredible trip with my mom and my girls and something that I hope can become a tradition for many years to come!!! We love you Gran and thanks for helping to make the trip AWESOME (as MM said)!

Snowflake and Potty's

2010-01-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

Our silly elf made his debut on after the SEC Championship (RTR!) and this is what we came home to find. MM decided that maybe Snowflake was trying to find the BEST outfit to watch the game and just couldn't decide! You know, my closet looks kind of like that sometime when I can't decide what to wear! Every piece of Alabama clothing that was in both girls closet was scattered all over the kitchen!

And here he is tangled in a strand of colored lights on our tree (pre-decorated)!I know it's hard to see in this picture, but if you look really close to A's backside, you will notice that she has on big girls panties!!!! Yep, you guessed it, we started the potty training process. She had been showing the "signs" of being ready for a while, but I really needed to wait until we had time to really focus on it and make sure we were able to be consistent with it. The Christmas break was this time and I was determined to be successful by the time they went back to school after the new year. So, the Sunday before Christmas was P-Day! We had been talking it up for a couple of weeks so that she would be ready! And I do have to say that there is something to be said about them having to be ready in order for it to be successful. To this day, we have only had 4 accidents!!!! Yea!!! And this includes a road trip to Atlanta and back and to the beach and back! I can't believe it! Our house is diaper-free for the first time in over 5 years (well, except for bedtime and naptime, but I'm not counting those)! We did have a little issue with going #2 in the big potty which resulted in resorting to using a little saline suppository, but we've finally overcome that obstacle (I know, that's a little TMI, but this is my "baby book"). We started with putting the "little" potty in the kitchen, more for our convenience since she would want to try and "go" every 30 minutes, which can be a little disruptive to the usual goings-on in the house. But, we have now put the little potty away and are using the big potty 100% of the time. Wow - I never thought this day would come!

Thanksgiving Weekend and Lessons Learned

2010-01-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

You might be a redneck if you put your platter of turkey out in the storage room on top of the tool box until it's time for dinner!!! Yes, it was cool here and we had run out of room in both of my refrigerators. Enough said!

After putting the girls to bed on Thanksgiving night, I found this in the playroom bathroom trash can while cleaning up. Huuummm, why is there all this "fur" in the trash can? Better yet, where did that chunk of blond hair come from? And even further, why didn't any of the 21 adults in attendance notice that MM's hair was missing a chunk out of it? After confronting her, she insisted on it being an accident that she cut her hair while making a project. We gave her the choice of either cutting her hair off to match what she cut or throwing ALL of her scissors away - she opted for the scissor to be thrown away, which was a huge sacrifice for the child that lives for art projects!!! Our biggest problem with the whole thing was that she went and cut several of her horses tails to "mix in" with her hair to cover it up. Why is it that kids think no one will notice that huge chunk of hair is missing???? Sam and I did have a little laugh over her creativity of how to hide it! I have to admit that she gets it honestly because I did the same thing at her age and stuffed it all in a play purse while my mom had company over for a party! By the way, if you see her please don't mention this little incident - she is mortified by it and will only scream out, "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!!!"

And speaking of art projects, this was my little project that I made for Sam's sister's baby shower that a few of us gave for her before Thanksgiving. I have to admit, it looks just like the ones you see in boutiques that cost about $40. But I only spent a few dollars on this one! What a great way to re-use wipe containers AND they are much cuter than the plain ones. These colors and fabrics coordinate with her nursery! If anyone wants me to make one (either for themselves or for a gift) let me know! It was really fun and easy! I'm also going to make one of the travel size wipes cases for her too!

More to come. . .

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2010-01-07T11:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm not going to say it (again), but my New Years resolution (even though I don't really believe in them because I think it is just a set-up for failure, personally) is to do a better job of updating this blog and keeping up with our girls' milestones and accomplishments. I haven't had a chance to upload pictures from my camera until today so I apologize ahead of time for the overload in pictures. I will try and keep the posts and captions of the pictures short and sweet! Oh and before I forget - ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!! We got our A-Club tickets, but opted for making a little money instead of going out there . . .not that I didn't argue the case for going! So instead we will be watching it at the lake house with my parents and Sam's parents and anyone else who wants to brave this awful weather and drive out to the lake!

Christmas Card

2009-12-11T09:09:00.000-08:00

Here is our Christmas Card - sorry for it being so tiny, but this was the only way I could get it on here for some reason! Thanks to Rachel for the gorgeous pictures of the girls! One of these days I'm going to change my background and header to reflect Christmas instead of Thanksgiving!

ROLL TIDE and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

2009-12-11T08:32:00.000-08:00

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record so I won't say it, except to state the obvious that I am playing catchup! Bare with me as I try and quickly post the "big" moments in our house lately:

~Our new puppy now weighs a whopping 50 lbs (as of last night) and you can almost watch her grow
~Our elf, Snowflake, is back in action (more on that at the end)
~Sam and I and my parents were fortunate enough to get to go to the SEC Championship Game and celebrate the big win for the weekend (thank you Aunt Kate and Big Will for keeping the girls for us especially being almost 8 months pregnant!)
~My niece shot her first deer (yes, we live in the South and girls hunt!)
~I've been slowly getting my Christmas decorations up - I normally have everything out and completed by Sunday night after Thanksgiving, but have been very slacking this year.
~Cut WAY back on our decorations AND Christmas presents this year!
~Let the girls totally decorate our tree (with Daddy's help of course for the high spots) and have resisted the urge to rearrange" it the way I want it - I mean, who cares that the 1 string of colored lights is only on one side of our totally white light tree? And who cares that there are more ornaments in one spot than any other? That's where they wanted it and that's where it will stay this year!
~Finished my Christmas shopping - ALL ONLINE! I totally took advantage of "Cyber Monday" and got some really awesome deals!!! Don't have the time or patience this year to go to the stores!
~Made a huge decision regarding how we celebrate Christmas this year - after losing my grandmother on Christmas Day last year and with the money situation being a little tight, we decided to forgo our annual Christmas Eve Chili and Cheer that my family has been hosting as long as I can remember! Instead, this year we will be attending church, making cookies for Santa, riding around our neighborhood to enjoy the luminaries that we never get to see because we are too busy getting ready for the party, eating Chili (can't quick that tradition), watching Chirstmas movies in our PJ's, going to bed early so that Santa can get back to the North Pole early, enjoying the excitement of our girls at this magical age, and hopefully creating some NEW traditions until the girls get older and don't believe anymore!
~Crossing my fingers that we MAY get to go to Pasadena - Sam got his tickets, now I just have to talk Sam into going instead of selling the tickets!
~Booked tickets to take the girls to see Cavalia - it's a horse show that's created by the people that create Cirque du Soleil - MM is sooooo excited. I will definitely post pics of that!

SNOWFLAKE:

So, as I said above, Snowflake is back!!! He ~~accidentally~~ showed up in one of our boxes of decorations (oops, forgot that's where I stored him last year) and MM found him! So far Snowflake has gotten himself tangled in the colored lights while trying to "help" us decorate since it was taking so long. Then, while we were at the SEC game, he got into the girls closets and had strewn every piece of Alabama clothing they had all over the kitchen table. MM said he must have been trying to find something to wear to watch the game! Then, he made a mess with pinecones in the den. Then, he and the Grinch had a "snowball fight" in our pantry with marshmallows. And today, he magically got into MM's school bag and is "watching" her at school! I will post pictures of some of these later, but for now, this is all you get!!!!

Slacker!!!

2009-11-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

Just call me Slacker!! I cannot believe that it is almost Thanksgiving and my last post was about Halloween! Yikes! I guess it just shows how busy we've been with the daily stuff! Nothing much has really been going on here, hence the lack of posts! But don't worry, although I've not posted anything new, I have been keeping up with everyone else! We did have some awesome pics taken by Rachel a couple of weekends ago and I still have not decided which ones I will use for Christmas Cards so I will not be showing them yet, but trust me, we got some realllllly good ones! I was so shocked at how well they did (with a little incentive). I had to bribe them with going to have a picnic at the big horse show in town (yes, Anna was just as excited) and that they could wear whatever they wanted to AFTER the pictures! A huge thanks to Rachel and Karlley for the gorgeous pictures! I'm having a hard time choosing!

This past weekend officially commenced the busy holiday time of year! I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR, but it wears me out! Sam's sister and her family came in town Friday and we had a baby shower at my house for this younger sister. My SIL and nephew flew in yesterday, but we will not see them until tomorrow probably, but in the meantime, we have already eaten several wonderful family meals at the lake and will continue every night until the weekend is over! The rest of my family will be coming in on Thursday and staying through the weekend.

Saturday is also my Dad's 60th Birthday and while he insisted on NO PARTY!!!, we are still on a mission to celebrate this wonderful day (more to come on that later!).

Today was the girls' annual Thanksgiving Program at school. They were so cute, but it made me really sad for 2 reasons: 1) this is the last year that MM would be in it and 2) it is the only year that both girls would be in it together! A's class were little turkeys and they sang 3 songs. I video'd it because Sam had a meeting out of town and I will post it later. She was hard to see since she's so little, but she performed exactly like they practiced it (only sticking her fingers up her nose just once!). MM's class were the Pilgrim's and they had several speaking parts and some songs and she got to do a special part. As some of you know, she is not very fond of performing in front of crowds, but she did great!

That's all for now, but I just can't resist posting at least one great picture!

Halloween!!!

2009-11-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

Obviously, I am a little behind in announcing the winning pumpkin! Congratulations to my sweet husband (who thinks I am little nutty) for carving the best Alabama Elephant pumpkin this year. I have to admit that the last 2 years I have not been creative in my own sense and have used a template for my pumpkins (the easy way out), but stay tuned because next year I will create a masterpiece of my own creation! I better start working on ideas now!

We had a fabulous Halloween this year. It was so nice being on a Saturday because it gave us all day to prepare and slowly get ready for the night. The weekend started out with a date night for Sam and I. We went out to dinner, then shopped a little bit, and then went to see Couples Retreat. It was so nice and like the old days (before kiddos) to just walk around the stores, taking our time, without any meltdowns or whining to tend to. We stayed out until midnigh, but both agreed that we had the most fun that night and should take advantage of more nights like those. The next morning, Sam went to help his sister and her husband move while me and the girls just messed around the house. The horse barn was having a costume contest and party at 2:00, so I took MM to that while Sam let Anna finish her nap. MM got to dress up one of the horses she has riden (Jimmy) and then "show" him for the contest. Unfortunately we did not win, but she had a great time seeing all the other horses dressed up.

Halloween continued that night with our annual neighborhood parade and pizza party. This parade is infamous in our town and people come from all over town to participate in it and see it. We have a huge neighborhood so people also come here to get as much candy as possible in 1 neighborhood! We loaded our family on the golf cart in our costumes and blankets (it was COLD) and adult beverages and headed to the parade! All the kids have so much fun running around the streets with their friends and trying to figure out what everyone is dressed as. We then grouped up with some of neighbors/friends and began the trick-or-treating together. We managed to cover about 3 full streets before heading home with baskets overflowing with candy and all of our appendages frozen solid! This was the first year that both girls really "got it"! The funny thing about them at first was that MM and her little friends would run up to the door and start yelling "Trick-or-Treat" over and over again until we realized that they had not knocked on the door nor rang the doorbell. We died laughing! Thank goodness that Emily remembered glow sticks (I am usually loaded down with them, but that item slipped my mind this year) because we eventually had to tie different colored sticks to their baskets so that we could keep up with them and know who was who - they were running from door to door faster than we could keep up with them. And poor Anna and Ellen only got to about half the houses because they were having a hard time keeping up the pace of the older kids!

We finally made it back to the house, ran inside, put on our warmest fleece PJ's, started a fire, turned off the porch lights, turned on the football games, and ate soup and enjoyed the rest of the evening on the couch cuddling with everyone! It couldn't have been a better weekend! We normally have people over for soup after trick-or-tricking, but we opted not to do so this year and it was kind of nice for a change! So here come some pics from the week. . .

Anna - Flower Gnome

I was dressed up as a 60's housewife - curler, glasses, and wine!

MM and her cute little friends!

Sweet Sisters ready for the parade

MM with Carly and Jimmy

Silly Face

Hannah Montana Cowgirl!

Fall Is In The Air

2009-10-26T14:17:00.001-07:00

****I just realized that this post never got posted! Is this any indication as to how crazy our lives are this time of year? So I apologize that this is so late, but I must record it for my personal reasons!****

You know what Fall means to the Collins Family?

Fall in our house only means it's time for our Annual Pumpkin Carving contest. It's a sort of new tradition in our house that started last year - some of you should remember! We had such a fun time and the girls loved it so much, that we could not wait to carve our pumpkins this year!

So with no further avail, PLEASE VOTE for your favorite pumpkin in our poll on the sidebar! Just like last year, I will not tell who carved which pumpkin - to keep it fair, since Sam claims I stacked the votes last year! We will keep the poll going until Halloween night - so what are you waiting for? VOTE, VOTE VOTE!!!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to the Pumpkin Patch Saturday after all the rain, the cold, the church group canceling the trip. We were supposed to be going with my SIL's church group, but they decided to cancel the trip Friday morning. So, me being the determined Mommy that I am (knowing the disappointment my girls would experience after talking about it ALL week), I called the farm myself and asked if they would be open or not since it was so wet and muddy. You know, a little persisitence goes a long way, because the owner of the farm said that they would indeed be open to the public. Yipeee! It was hopefully going to be a great day for the Pumpkin Patch, just a little wet and muddy! A little mud never stopped us Collins's! So, we continued on with our plans to pick the girls up from school and drive to Fayette to spend the night with Sam's brother and family. Sam and Matt had planned a long day of putting out 1300 lbs of fertilizer and rye grass (and who knows what else) to get ready for deer season that is rapidly approaching (BOO!). And we were planning on getting up and out the door to the Pumpkin Patch since it was about an hour away from Fayette (in Tremont, MS). So, we layered clothes, loaded blankets and coats, packed a picnic lunch and headed off to MS. We had a ball and they had so much to do at the Pumpkin Patch - we could have stayed all day, but Heather and I had had enough after about 3 hours. Not to mention it was COLD!!!! So after giving up after 10 minutes in the corn maze (a little hard with young kids and especially since Anna would not walk), a hayride, picking our pumpkins, playing on the HUGE slide, playing in the corn box (like a sand box, only full of corn), climbing on the hay bales, and eating lunch, we were DONE!!! It was so much fun and I'm sure we will go back next year! I'll be glad to give anyone the name and address if you're interested - it was well worth the drive! With no further ado. . .

That is MM and my niece at the top - yikes!

All the girls (minus Anna, of course) climbing hay bales

MM making "corn angels" in the corn box

My Sweet Girls!

Meredith's "Prized" Pumpkin

MM's "Medium" Pumpkin

This one totally cracks me up!

Anna's Outlook on the whole day - she hates cold, hates getting dirty, hates being outdoors which equals NOT A FUN DAY FOR ANNA!

MM hunting for the perfect pumpkin

The beginning of the Corn Maze

Group Shot - See Ya Next Year!

Birthdays and Makeovers

2009-10-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

Anna's room BEFORE

Anna's Room AFTER

I found a precious hot pink chandelier thing that will be over the chair in the corner.MM's Room AFTER

Last week was a very busy and fun week for us. It all started on Sunday when we got to attend and celebrate our neice's baptism at their church in Fayette. I can't believe how old she is and so grown up. I remember her 1st birthday which was not long after Sam and I started dating. She is so good with our girls and it is so nice to be able to let her "watch" them both (mostly Anna) when we are all together. She always lets me know that she is going to babysit for us! It won't be long before she really can babysit, FOR REAL! That night, Anna started running a fever. She had had a runny nose and all week so I was not really surprised. Long story short, after being up all night trying to get her fever to break and listening to her cough (or bark - yep, croup!) and MM waking up with fever on Tuesday with fever, I took them to be tested for the flu. Thank goodness it was negative. Both girls ran fever off and on all week. I finally let them go back to school Friday - mainly so that I could get ready for MM's birthday party.

On Thursday, we scheduled to have Anna's new "big girl" furniture delivered. We have been prepping her for this day for a while because she really liked her baby bed and REALLY still loves to be rocked at night before being put down (she calls it Rock-Rock). We really built it up that she was getting her new princess bed and she was the first to tell anyone and everyone about her new "pwincess" bed that Daddy was building (or so she thought). I had spent the whole week before painting her room to get it ready for the furniture and it turned out perfect! I included a picture of MM's room too because I couldn't remember if I ever posted the completed room.

Saturday was the MM's big Horsey Gymnastics party. Yes, I was not sure how to incorporate horses into a gymnastics party, but we had the decorations, cake, etc. with horses. It was just what she dreamed of (that's what she said). We had a huge turnout for the party. We invited both 4 year old classes at her school and then a few extra friends that don't go to school with her. A total of 29 kids showed up and ran around having a ball at the gym.

Saturday night (after opening presents, napping, and watching the Bama game, we had planned a surprise birthday party for Sam's dad's 60th birthday. We had it at the lake house and it ended up not really being much of a surprise, especially after PawPaw called him to ask what time they were supposed to be there for the party -OOPPS! All of Sam's siblings and children and spouses were all able to come as well as several friends and extended family. He is not much of "party" kind of person, but he told us later that night that this was the best birthday ever!

This week has been a little more low key, but we may go to a Pumpkin Patch in MS this weekend so I will be sure to post pictures if we make it.

Happy 5th Birthday Mary Mac

2009-10-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that our first born is 5!!! Wow how things have changed in 5 years. It feels like it was yesterday and at the same time a million years ago.

To Mary Mac:

You are our little ray a sunshine and our Little Sweet Pea. You have grown up so quickly in the last year.

This day 5 years ago is a bit of a blur to me because Mommy had been so sick for the past couple of weeks. After being sick for 2 weeks, you decided that you may want to make your Grand Entrance a little early. I guess you were tired of fighting in there. After trying to stop you from coming for several days, the doctors finally figured out what was wrong with Mommy and decided that the best thing for both you and Mommy was for you to be born, even though you were 6 weeks early. So late the night before your birthday, they gave Mommy medicine that would help my body along in your delivery. We, and I mean the whole family (Gran, Pop, Nanny, Pop, Daddy, Uncle Tyler, etc.), were all VERY scared. We did not know what was going to happen to you or Mommy. After several hours of trying to deliver you, the doctor decided that we needed to get you out NOW! After lots of tears and hugs and prayers with our family, they rushed me to the operating room with Uncle Tyler in tow (thank goodness for Mommy. . .Tyler will never know how much that meant to Mommy and the comfort he brought me) and you were born 27 minutes later at 1:37 am at a tiny 4 lbs 4 oz!!!

I was not able to see you for the first time until the next afternoon and it was a feeling you will only know when you become a Mommy. It was Wonderful! Daddy was so sweet and was so in love with you as soon as he met you! I remember him just staring into your sweet little eyes and smiling with pride from ear to ear. You had to stay in the NICU for 8 days. You were such a little fighter and determined to prove everyone wrong. They just wanted you to gain a little weight before you went home - that's a battle we still fight daily with you. You are such a gift to Mommy and Daddy and have made life such a joy!

Today, you are so sweet and kind, but with a little spunky side that keeps us on our toes at all times. You are already so independent and have always been able to entertain yourself anywhere and anytime (unlike your baby sister). You may be tiny (you only weigh 33 lbs), but you are the strongest little thing I've ever seen. You are easy-going most of the time, but get really irritated if someone disturbs your territory. I also call you my little tornado. You can turn your playroom upside down in minutes and then complain that it takes too long to clean up. It has been so much fun playing with you and learning with you. You are starting to enjoy things that "big girls" enjoy and it is so much fun! I cannot wait to see who you will become!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!!!

Texting and Driving

2009-10-07T08:35:00.001-07:00

I confess!!!! I am a habitual (no, not just casual) texter while driving addict!!! Ah, I feel so much better admitting this! Seriously, though, I have realized that this really is a problem. I know that I use this blog to keep a "journal" of our girls' lives, but I am using it today as a sort of accountability, so please feel free to ask me anytime you see me or comment anytime on the blog to ask how I am doing in this area of my life.

So here it is . . . AS OF TODAY, I AM GOING COLD-TURKEY AND WILL NOT TEXT WHILE DRIVING ANYMORE!!!

What made me come to this admission? Well, let's just say that after all the studies and reports and news stories of people having tragic accidents while texting, I have decided that it is definitely in the best interest of my children (and others on the road) to stop this ridiculousness immediately! My family's lives are WAY more important than texting with my friends and family. For those of you know me personally know that I am not a phone talker, so texting is a perfect means of communication for me. This is will be a huge challenge for me and I've already tried to "test" it the last couple of days. I know I can do it! So, if you are trying to get in touch with me via text, just know that from here on out, you may not get an immediate reply if I am driving! Ok, if it's an emergency (such as trying to get a tennis match together for the next morning - just kidding!) and I feel that it requires an immediate reply, I will be pulling over FIRST! So, if you see me swerving off the roads here in town every couple of miles, now you know why! I know I'm being humorous, but I am seriously committed to this change in my life!

Fall Weather

2009-09-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to brag about how wonderful it feels here today. Hopefully Fall has finally arrived and the long, hot, humid dog days of summer are behind us. As a matter of fact, I think I may take the girls to the barn to ride a little this afternoon since it is so nice.

Also, I almost forgot to post about my tennis team's trip to the state tournament last weekend in Gulf Shores. We took 8 people down there, but Jennifer and I had to play every match for our level because we were the only ones down there. Jennifer have definitely had better days on the court than this past weekend, but I will say that I think we ended up 3rd in our flight despite the fact that we (Jen and I) only won 1 match out of 5. We should have (and could have) won more, but just couldn't get it together. Thanks to our team for the other wins! Regardless of the results, we all a FABULOUS time and it was a great girls weekend with lot of laughs and memories!

Painful Learning Experiences

2009-09-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lengthy post, but this one is priceless!

I'm sure we are not the only parents that battle the cleanup issue with young children! Let me just say that this little lesson MM learned this past week was almost as difficult on Mom as it was on her. I call her my tornado because she can come home to a perfectly clean room and within minutes she has pulled everything out and scattered it all over the floor. For those of you who have never been to our house, we have a great playroom, I mean a fabulous playroom that is huge and full of anything and everything that any child could possibly want. To say we have been over-indulgent when it comes to toys is a huge understatement. It is actually embarrassing to me! But, with grandparents who buy them whatever they want (and if they buy one child something, they have to buy the other child something as well), a daddy who travels a good bit (and always promises to bring a surprise - I keep telling him that they would be happy with a pack of gum or candy, no need for extravagant gifts), and well, yes I admit it, a mom who loves to buy stuff (anything!). Our playroom is strategically located off to the side of our kitchen so that I can keep an eye on them and continue my job as a referee without being too far away. With that location, it is really hard for me to NOT complain about the mess because I do have to look at it EVERYDAY.ALL DAY! I always said that I could just close the door and ignore it, BUT WHO REALLY DOES THAT ANYWAY?

So, with all of that said, I have been threatening my oldest ~~tornado~~ MM that if she didn't start keeping the play room clean that I was going to throw anything and everything away if it was not in its place, at a moments notice! Now picture this, I've made a deal with MM that she could wait and clean up after dinner: 1) so that Anna can help because she was napping and 2) she thought it would take FOREVER! (her words). Dinner comes and goes and I remind them both that it is time to clean the playroom. You would have thought that I had just sentenced them to solitary confinement for life! I go and get a huge yard size trash bag and go in the playroom instructing them to put anything that is on the floor in the bag. Ok, so I may have lost my cool a tiny bit, but I was determined to make a point here. MM breaks down into a total meltdown complete with real tears, sobbing, etc. She tells me (between sobs) that I was throwing away her favorite Hanna Montana doll and Miley Cyrus doll and Bluejeans the horse. . .oh my! After making a clean sweep of the toys on the floor, I marched that trash bag right outside to the . . . third garage! It broke my heart watching her have to throw away her truly fave toys - I actually got a little teary-eyed watching her so distraught. I know, we/she shouldn't be that attached to "stuff" and I try not to make a big deal.

Anna, on the other hand, thought it was just great fun to throw all of the toys away. She actually got waaayy too much joy out of it. I'm not sure why: 1)she is a tiny bit of a clean freak and likes to have things neat and tidy 2)none of the toys being thrown away were hers or 3)she just enjoyed watching the torture that her big sister was experiencing. I'll let you decide that one, but I'm leaning more towards the 3rd option.

You ask, how long did I let this charade go on before giving all the toys back? Oh, a whole day. I know that doesn't sound like a long time, but if you could have seen my normally happy-go-lucky child moping around, you would have done the same. But, I did turn it into a learning experience and one that we can always refer back to as a threat for future issues with a clean playroom. I betcha she never forgets this one! It was quite traumatizing for her, but if you could have seen the smiles when she walked in from school the next day and all of her thrown-away toys were on the kitchen table! And, you better believe she was more than happy to take all of her toys and carefully put them in their place in the playroom - one at a time! She was so cute later that night. She looked at me out of the blue with her little grin and said, "mom, you were just pretending when you threw my toys away, weren't you?"I sweetly replied, "Yes ma'm, but next time I really will let the garbage man take them away!"

Happy Parenting!

Roll Tide Roll!

2009-09-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we took both girls to the AL game. Granted, it was a night game and I was not sure how long we would make it, but we forged on regardless, knowing that if we had to leave early, this would be an ok game to leave early from. So we dressed in our loyal colors and the excitement was gradually building as the day went on. Sam was busy that morning working in the deer fields (yes, it's that time again!) so we were a little late getting to campus and did not have time to let the girls play on the Quad or take them to the A Club room. We did, however, get a chance to see the new "look" of the Alpha Chi house and it looks FAB! We loaded up the double stroller and left it at the sorority house while we walked into the stadium. Both of our girls have a "thing" about loud noises (must be genetic) so I packed our headphones in my bag, just in case it got loud - thank goodness I was thinking ahead because they were used the whole game and they fit right in with all the crazies who are at the game but still feel it necessary to listen to the radio broadcast! We finally got to our seats, Dip N Dots in hand, and of course MM had to go to the potty - never fails! So back down the stairs we go and the video below is what we found when we got back to our seats: Anna loving every minute of the game, the people, the music, etc. Hope you enjoy! Sorry for the poor quality - this was taken with Sam's phone.

Sad To See Summer Come And Go

2009-09-10T08:48:00.001-07:00

Summer is one of my favorite times of the year. It should be a time to relax, unwind, sit on the porch watching the girls play, grilling out, going to the lake, going to the beach, etc. etc. etc. It seems though that lately, summer is just as busy as the rest of the year and it FLIES by in the blink of an eye. So here we are, getting back to the daily grind and our usual fall activities. . .school, gymnastics, and FOOTBALL of course! I was certainly excited to see Tide roll over Va Tech this past weekend and really looking forward to our first home game this weekend.

As for last week, thanks for all the prayers! We made it smooth sailing with no sickness and with everyone being out of town and having to come up with hundreds of ideas to keep a 2 year old and 4 year old entertained for 5 days while it rained outside! I have to admit that I got really creative and we all had a blast! Saturday, my SIL and I took all 4 of our girls to McWane Center in Bham. They all had so much fun and I'm not sure if we even got to do everything that was available. Considering that both my SIL and I are a tad bit germaphobes, we carried around hand sanitizer in our hands the whole time and just laughed at how ridiculous we were. I really don't care what people thougt about us, but we did make out of there without Swine Flu! Another fun part of the weekend was getting to watch the new Hannah Montana Movie about 5 times! I had purposely saved watching this until Sam was gone. So Friday night, I bought mini pizza crust and all the "makings" of pizza (or at least what I knew the girls would eat). They both got to make their own pizza and then we watching the movie on a pallet (for those of you not from the South, this is just several layers of blankets on the floor) and watched the movie together and ate our pizzas! I have to admit that I even really enjoyed the movie too! Yes, it's one of those things I said I would never do or watch, but we had such a fun "Girls Night" and it was all worth it!

Monday was the last day that the Country Club pool was open for the season and the girls were very sad, but we certainly took advantage of the last day and swam until we just couldn't swim anymore (and the water was freezing from the rain all weekend!). All the kids were having a ball having a water fight and running around screaming and I guess the lifeguards (and parents for that matter) just let all the rules go out the window since it was the last day!

A funny Anna story (well, maybe it shoudn't be funny, but I just couldn't help it): with Sam out of town during the game Saturday, the girls "tried" to watch it with me, but it was kind of late and it had been a long day already. So I was watching the game and apparently I had made several comments like "Ugh!" and "Geez!" when the team was struggling a bit. Not really thinking about it, I took Anna upstairs to rock her and put her down for bed and turned on the game in her room while I rocked her. Well, something happened in the game and I just kind of moaned out of frustration and Anna sits straight up and yells, "Jesus!" I laughed so hard (I know I should not have laughed because now she thinks its funny to do) I was crying. I guess I really need to watch what I say, even though I was only saying Geez.

Oh, and sorry for the poor quality of the picture, Sam took my camera on his trip and I was camera-less all last week so this was with my iPhone. This was on Friday - they have Fan Day every Friday at school during football season. BTW, MM was not excited (contrary to her smiling face), that she was having to wear a dress! Also, please ignore the lovely tennis shoes MM has on with her dress. We no longer have a kids shoe store in town and she has outgrown her Keds. Anna, on the other hand, only loves dresses!

What are we up to?

2009-09-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

So, you ask, what are the Collins Clan up to these days? Well, let's just say that I am enjoying this little bit of a break between shows. I am taking full advantage of not being tied to my desk and able to go get the girls early from school and spend some quality time with them. We have played at the park, played with the puppy, cooked yummy goodies, taken our first (first for Anna) gymnastics class, etc. etc.

On the subject of gymnastics: I had signed both girls up for the preschool class at the same time to save me only trip. From past experience in this class with MM, I thought that they would break the class up into age groups so that they wouldn't actually "be" in the same class, but when we got there, they had put them both in the same group. Poor MM was so much older and bigger than the other little girls (who were all Anna's age); I kind of felt bad for her, but she seemed to enjoy the class none the less. Well, being the tiny bit competitive mom and watching the other classes going on at the same time, I decided to go and have a talk with ladies up front about moving her. Well, of course, as I suspected, her teacher told us after the class that she DEFINITELY needed to move up to Level 1 because she could already do most of the things that the girls in Level 1 are learning! Yea! MM was so excited and so was this Proud Momma!

Anna had the time of her life in gymnastics. Everytime she would do something, she would look to the see if we were watching and just grin from ear to ear! I think the part she loved most about gymnastics was her sparkly leotard! She was so proud of it that when I was picking her up from school, she would not let me put anything over it so that she could "show" everyone! She is such the girly-girl! I'm not so sure about her athletic ability, but she likes to "look" the part for sure!

Wish me luck and prayers for patience this week. As you all know, I am very fortunate to have so much family close by to help me anytime I am in a pinch. BUT, this week may be the test for me. Sam left this morning to go to Texas on his annual hunting trip with his dad, brother, and uncles. My parents are leaving today to go see Tyler, Molli, and Blake for the weekend. And Sam's mom is supposed to be going to Baton Rouge to help Sam's sister with the triplets while my BIL moves his office. So, yes, that leaves me and the girls for 5 days - they have already planned the whole week and weekend. And you better believe that a couple of those items on that list is to watch the Hannah Montana movie, have a pizza party, and sleep in Mommy's bed! I'm just praying that none of us get sick this week. I know, I'm spoiled to have so much help and to be worried about our week alone! I'm really looking forward to having this "girl" time with my girls!

Another Trip

2009-08-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

This past week, Sam and I had to go to Boston on a business trip for a week and Sam's parents, once again, were so generous to keep them both the whole week. They had a fabulous time and got to do all of the things that Mommy and Daddy don't normally let them do. Needless to say, they have had a hard time this week getting back to Our rules, but we're getting there.

When we got home Sunday afternoon, the girls were so excited to see us, and the feelings were mutual! We missed them so much! Anyway, that night while at the dinner table, we were telling them both how much they had grown while we were gone. Anna really did mature a lot while we were gone. She is trying to be so big. Maybe I will try again on the potty training? oh, maybe not! Then I looked at MM and told her "I think you have grown, like, a whole foot!" Yes, I realize that the "like" is very confusing to an almost 5 year old! Well, she starts laughing and tells me, "Mom, I don't look like a foot!" How funny! We laughed forever about that one.

Last night, while playing with the puppy in the backyard, MM had been playing with the puppy's tennis ball. She was throwing it up as high as she could and then letting it hit whereever it landed. Well, you guessed it, one of those times she threw it in the air and WHAM! right on the forehead! Again, we laughed forever on that one. I mean, what are the chances of a 5 year old throwing a ball high in the air and (while watching it the whole way down) it smacking you right in the head!

Our Family Prayers and Yoga

2009-08-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

I have a few funny stories that I have forgotten to tell on the blog this summer and I'm afraid I'm going to forget them, so here goes. . .

Back earlier in the summer, Mary Mac spent the night at the lake house with Sam's brother and his wife and girls. That night, our neices were saying their prayers and they told MM it was her turn. She proceeds to tell them and my SIL that her parents would not LET her say her prayers! What?!!! Well, to preface this "story" of hers, the night before we had forgotten to say her prayers, so in an effort to postpone bedtime, she hollers down the stairs (an hour later, no less) that we forgot her prayers. Sam hollers back at her that she can just say them herself and does not need us to do it. Now, back to the lake house. . .Isabella (our oldest neice) is so upset and worried that we won't "LET" MM her prayers. Of course, my SIL thinks it is hilarious and cannot wait to tell us the story. Fast forward to the next night. . .I am determined to make it an obvious point of saying our prayers and MM helping me so that she will "know how to" next time if we are not there. So I begin, "Now I lay me down to sleep. . . " I get to the part where you say "If I should die before I wake" and MM sits straight up in her bed, eyes wide open, with a death-grip (no pun intended) on my arm - "Mom, I don't want to DIE!" I almost fell off the bed laughing so hard. I realize that was probably not the best reaction, but after telling her it was just part of the prayer and that I would improvise (with the part about the angels instead), she was ok with it and is now learning the prayer all by herself! Yea - mission accomplished!

YOGA, you ask? What does this have to do with prayers? Well, we are in the process of potty training Anna and she is just NOT HAVING IT! She told us she really just wants to stay a baby and not tee-tee on the potty. Who can blame her?! Anyway, one night I was just determined to get her to go on the potty ONLY because she had been dry since her nap and all afternoon. Perfect chance to have a little "success" since I know she was about to pop! So I sit her on the potty while MM is taking a bath. We sit there and sit there and sit there for 45 minutes!I have tried everything I can think of and I could see it on her face when she was about to start "going" and then she would tense up and start whining. It was like the sensation was just freaking her out. Then the Aha moment - what can I do to help her relax? YOGA!!! Picture this, me on the floor, Anna on the potty, breathing deep breaths with our arms going up and down like a bird. In my attempts to help her relax, I then start saying (while breathing our), "Let the tee-tee out!" She got a total kick out this AND it WORKED! Well, I should say it only worked that one night - NO success since then. But, it has provided her teachers and our friends countless laughs and giggles! Oh my, Anna! What will we do with you girl?

Baby Collins #3. . .

2009-08-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

I thought that would be a great (and funny) lead in to this post today. Admit it, how many of you gasped and thought, "Oh my goodness! After her last post about taking a break from diapers and babies?!" Ha Ha - joke's on you! Scroll down for pictures of our newest addition . . . Sophie. We just picked her up yesterday afternoon and I don't think her big puppy paws have touched the floor for more than 30 seconds since we have been home. Mary Mac is in awe of her and will not let her out of her sight. Anna, you ask? Well, let's just say it is going to take some getting used to for her. It is evident that she is not in favor of being a middle child at this point. She has always been timid of dogs and Sam has been on me about getting a pet/puppy for the girls so that Anna would hoefully get over this fear of four legged friends! We shall see! Sophie is the sweetest puppy and so cute. If you couldn't tell, she is a Blue Weimeraner. My family had one when I was in high school and my parents had to give her up several years ago due to her age and declining health, so this new puppy is bitter sweet for my parents, but (I think) they have already fallen in love with her. I know we certainly have fallen in love!

StingRay City

2009-08-05T11:32:00.001-07:00

As Cayman myths go, 7 years of good luck for kissing a stingray on the nose! Let's hope it works!

Nurse Shark (we did not actually see this one, it was a picture that our guide had taken earlier in the same location that we were snorkeling.

Green Morey Eel

Iguana

As promised, picture from StingRay City in Grand Cayman. Yes, iguanas run around the island as commonly as we see dogs and cats and birds. It was really cool and the pictures turned out great too. When we first got in the water with the stingrays, you could hear people (mainly women) screaming like little girls. We quickly realized why they were screaming. Although these animals are very large, they can sneak up on you so easily. You will be standing there and then all of a sudden you feel this soft slimy thing brush against your legs from behind you out of nowhere. It is crazy feeling, but so awesome! In an attempt to cool our Croc Hunter fears, our guide held on up and put the stinger barb in his mouth to prove that they were not dangerous and that the only reason Steve Irwin was killed by one was that he was holding it from behind (where the barb is) and the camerman was in front of it. The stingray was trying to get away from both of them and swatted its tale and the barb caught the Croc Hunter right in the heart and he pulled it out which left a nice whole in his heart.

Now that everyone is jealous of our adventures. . . go ahead and book a trip. . .well worth it!

Back to School

2009-08-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

The girls started back to school for the new year this week. Mary Mac (due to her October birthday) still had one more year of preschool. I have mixed feelings about this. The group of kids starting kindergarten this year are so cute and fun and I would love for her to be with them, but on the otherhand, I am soooo not ready to have a child old enough to be in kindergarten. I think with one more year, I will be ready. . .maybe! ;) Please notice that I was able to talk MM into wearing a dress. Unfortunately, it's one of those cute dresses that most little girls want to wear at this age, but it is a dress no less! At this point, I am not being picky. My mom bought this for her while we were out of town last week and we have laughed because this is the only one of many, many dresses that she has loved and wanted to wear. . .it comes straight off the K-Mart racks with the label Nickelodeon - iCarly! Yes, it is an iCarly dress, but at least it's a dress.

Anna, on the other hand, would rather wear a dress everyday and loves being "cute." It is amazing that just by moving her into a "big girl" room at school how much that has changed her. She actually tee-tee'd on the potty last night!! Yea! We have been putting her on the potty every night before her bath for months and no success - ever! They are already working on it in her class too, so hopefully we are on the road to having a diaper-less house!!!! Oh I cannot wait - no diapers to buy, no diapers to change (esp poopy), no wipes, no diaper pails (oh the horrendous smell). Aaahhhh! Should we be thinking about baby #3? OH, NO!!!! I am really looking forward to a break from diapers - almost 5 consecutive years!

A funny Anna story. . . Sam and I went to get her out of bed yesterday morning before school and Sam was loving on her in her bed and tickling and kissing her neck. I laughed and said, "Look Anna, you got chill bumps on your legs!" She immediately sat up and looked at her legs and started wiping them and saying, "Shoo 'chipmunks', go away!" So funny, Sam and I laughed so hard. Chipmunks?

Oh, I almost forgot about a MM story. Before we went on our trip, I was getting MM dressed for the day and she had a total melt down fit over the clothes I was making her put on. And it was only a pair of cotton capri play pants and a sleeveless swing top - not too fancy, huh? Well, not according to her. All she could get out of her mouth was that she did not want people telling her that she looked CUTE!!!!! Can you believe this child? UGH! I mean, who wouldn't love someone, anyone, telling you you looked cute? She said, " Mom, people are come by my class and say, 'Mary Mac, you look so cute' and I don't want them to!" What do ya do? Sorry, my dear child, but you were born with great genes and you will always be CUTE! Well, at least in our opinion!

And just a random picture from this last weekend at the lake. We took a break from riding on the boat and took a dip in the water. MM loves jumping (doing a canonball, or so she says) off the boat, swimming around to the ladder, then doing it all over again. Anna is not so fond of the water, so this is pretty much where she stays in the water - on me or Sam. Hey, Rachel, that green life jacket is the one I was talking about, but it's not a great picture of it.

Cruisin' Pictures

2009-08-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

Sam and I had a wonderful time on our cruise last week. Thanks to my parents and Sam's parents for keeping all of our kids so that we could have some much appreciated time together. Sam and I were talking the other night about how much that trip really brought us back closer together as a couple. It is so hard with 2 little ones to keep your marriage at the front and center of our lives, not to mention our relationship with God, and work, and all of the other distractions that we live with on a daily basis. This trip just really reminded me of why I love my wonderful husband so much and appreciate our bond with each other. I would love to make this an annual event - maybe not to the extent of a cruise, but at least a trip to the beach or somewhere close. It was good for Sam and I and even better for our girls to see that connection between mom and dad rekindled. We missed the girls soooo much and could not wait to see them, but had to wait until Friday morning because we could not get an earlier flight out and then we had weather delays in Atlanta. Friday was the first morning in a long time that I can remember waking up early and being so anxious for the girls to wake up - I even committed the #1 mom sin - I woke a sleeping baby! Gasp!! I just couldn't wait any longer to see Anna and hear her sweet little voice. I swear, though, that she missed saying our names so much that week that she made up for lost time. I think she talked ALL.DAY.LONG!

Sam and I enjoyed relaxing on the boat and got plenty of sun. We went to Sting Ray City and snorkeling on a coral reef in Grand Cayman. We rode 4-wheelers through the Cozumel jungle and Mayan Ruins and got nasty dirty. We shopped - we both bought really nice watches in Grand Cayman for much less than here in the states. We made an effort to do all types of adventurous things that we normally would not have done with kids and succeeded 100%. It was so much fun and Sam's sister and BIL could not believe that I was that brave and adventurous - they obviously didn't know me in my younger days! One of the best compliments was when we were boarding the boat, a man commented that we looked like we were a glwoing couple that were celebrating our honeymoon! Huh? Do we look that young or are people just waiting so long to get married these days? We had lots of laughs and lots of rest and relaxation. Here are a few pictures from our trip. Hope you enjoy. BTW, don't the helmets and goggles make us look like part of Hitler's army? And, yes, that is dirt covering us from head to toe! I'll post pictures from StingRay City when I remember to bring the disk with me to work.

Swinging with Daddy

2009-08-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

I don't know how anyone else feels, but for some reason, I have been so much slower in ~~pushing~~ encouraging Anna to do some of the things that I could not wait for Mary Mac to do, such as swing in a real swing. She is totally content with being our baby and is quick to tell you that she loves being a baby. So the other night, we were out swinging and decided it was time for Anna to be a big girl -as far as swinging goes! She loved it! And Mary Mac has really taken on the role of such an encouraging big sister. She just cheers Anna on and gets so excited when she does something "Big." Here she is swinging her big girl swing. And check out MM hair below - too funny! The last picture is of all of them swinging together, and Sam in the Baby Swing!

Bon Voyage. . .

2009-07-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

So obviously judging by the title, we are going on yet another trip. I shouldn't say that as if I dread trips because this trip is one that we have been looking forward to and planning for a while. With 2 little ones running around and our crazy busy work schedule these days, it has been really hard to plan. So, with no further ado, Sam and I are leaving early (and I mean, VERY early) Saturday morning and flying to Ft. Lauderdale to board a 5 day cruise in the Caribbean. WOOHOO is all we can say right now. Not that we don't love our girls and we spend just about every moment we can with them, but this adult-only (Sam and I and his sister and her husband), non-business related trip is LONG overdue! It's the first of this kind since I was pregnant with MM, just over 5 years ago! So wish us luck and prayers for a safe and relaxing trip - or should we be wishing my mom and Sam's mom all the luck and prayers while keeping our 2 girls and our triplet nieces/nephew? Thank you sooooooo much to my parents and to Sam's parents for taking our children for almost a full week while we get some much needed relaxation and adult time!

I have been better at taking pictures (sorry for none to show today) and will posting them as well as ones from our trip when we get back next week.

Revenge

2009-07-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

So in revenge of Sam "hi-jacking" the blog and posting the hilarious (can you hear the sarcasm?) video of me playing Wii, it is my turn to embarrass him. This picture, my friends, is Sam at his greatest. Most people don't realize how much of a joke-ster Sam is. He fools everyone with his quiet, humble personality, but he really is funny. Let me set the scene for you. . .I'm laying in bed reading a book and watching TV. Sam has been in the shower and starts walking into the room from the bathroom saying,

"Man, that Volumizing Shampoo you use REALLY works!"

Ok, so anyone who knows Sam knows that he has hair that any woman could hate. It is thick, shiny, full, and straight. He has to keep it cut fairly short because the longer it is, the higher it is, seriously! P.S. I now know where MM got her sticky-uppy hair as a baby. Anyway, this is what I look up to find. . .

I laughed until I was literally crying streams down my face! I mean, who's hair can do that! That is NOT normal! And he was so proud of it! Also, he said he wanted to prove to his older brother that he DOES NOT have a receding hair line like the rest of the men in his family! This picture should do the job!

Summer Fun

2009-07-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I guess I must lump myself into what seems like is the "norm" for everyone's blogging during these crazy summer days and admit that I have totally been slacking! Not only have I bee slacking on blogging, but also on housework, cooking, and even taking pictures of the girls. I hate to admit that I didn't even take pictures of us during the weekend of the 4th OR while at the beach last week with my SIL and nephew OR in Mobile while visting my grandparents and celebrating the wedding of my cousin! I know, I cannot believe myself! So, now that you have a brief glimpse of what we have done the past weeks, it's on to more important stuff.

My love for blogging really came to me out of neccessity. I do not scrapbook, nor do I have the time, so this is my way of tracking major milestones of the girls lives. I have not been very good at this lately so here goes. . .

One of my favorite things Anna says (and it's hard to narrow it down since she is a motor-mouth and is never quiet) is when she really needs me, she refers to me as "Ms. Mommy". As if adding the "Ms." will make me answer any faster! Well, I guess it has been working for her because it just makes me laugh! She is soooo opposite of her big sister. She is loud, talkative, social, bubbly, loves attention, and girly! She loves clothes, makeup, shoes, jewelry! I'm not sure if we should consider this good manners or an insult to me that she only thinks of me on the same level as her teachers and sitters??? Oh well, it's still cute!

Two nights ago we made a HUGE step - we turned her baby bed into a toddler bed. I'm just not ready to totally move her into a big bed, but, as Sam said, "It's time!" I really knew it was time when he was the one that brought it up. So, we got out the little conversion kit and and made the move. She was really excited about the whole idea until it was bedtime. Then, the doubts started to creep in and she was a little insecure without her normal bed. She slept great the first night, aside from getting up WAY earlier than normal. Last night, she fell out (which wasn't a long fall) and Sam went upstairs to calm her and get her back down. Then again, she was up early, except that Sam went up there and told her it was too early and to lie down and go back to sleep - and she did (something she probably would not have done had I gone up there). So hopefully, we are past that little obstacle and she will sleep later tomorrow. She was so funny this morning, though. She told me in Anna-ese, " Mommy, Daddy come upstairs, told Anna 'Lie Down and Go Sleep!" (with hand motions included) She just makes me laugh, even when she is doing something wrong.

We had another first for both girls this past weekend also. It never dawned on me because Sam and I travel so much, but our girls have never spent the night in a hotel. . . until now! My cousin got married in Mobile. Anytime we go to Mobile, we stay at my grandparents house. But with Molli and Blake, us, and my parents all going, we decided it would be better to stay at a hotel. It was quite an experience for the girls and Mommy. Luckily all of our rooms were together so we could help each other out (mainly help me out since Sam didn't come until Saturday). It was so funny though watching them walk in the room for the first time. It was such a new and exciting thing to them. They immediately hopped on the beds, opened the mini-frig, turned on all the lights, opened the curtains to see "the view" (ha), and Anna could not resist cooking her babydoll in the microwave (over and over). Baby was the best "cooking" alternative to the plastic cups she was attempting to "cook". Speaking of bouncing on the beds, don't we all really want to bounce on hotel beds deep down in our inner child self? I mean that is the one thing that our moms always would get on to us for doing. So why not in a hotel where it's not Mom's furniture or Mom's bedding? Yea, well, it sounds like I jumped right in to join them, but that inner Gran voice emerged and before I knew it I was sounding just like my mom when I was a kid. "Girls, no jumping on the bed! Someone is going to get hurt and I really don't want to spend the night in the Emergency Room getting stitches!" Yikes! As much as I try not to, I am starting to hear myself use all of those sayings that my mom used on us! Again, Oh Well! This will just be another one of those things that our girls can laugh at themselves about when they have kids.

MM started a Pre-Reader class a couple of weeks ago that is being done through the University of Alabama. So far, she is doing great - as I expected! She is one of the youngest in the class, but she knows as much if not more than some of the kids that will actually start Kindergarten in August. The funny part about this class is that she actually has homework! Homework! I just hope her excitement over homework will continue into her older years! She wants to do her homework all at one time.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but hopefully I will have some soon!

Muhammad A-Leigh

2009-07-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is Sam, by the way. We recently purchased a Wii for the kids, both big and small, and Leigh and I played the boxing game for the first time last night. We had a ball and let me tell you, it's a work out! I was able to capture this video of Muhammad A-Leigh in action. I didn't see much floating like a butterfly, but did see some stinging like a bee! As you will see, she's pretty quick and she doesn't fight fair with the low blows she tends to throw. I'll thin twice before going rounds with her.

Another Genius Moment

2009-06-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

I promise not to constantly brag on how smart I think my child is, but I am so proud and very impressed! The other day after picking the girls up from preschool, I was listening to Fox News on XM radio. Yes, I am a news dork - can't get enough! I guess I get it honestly since all of my family is the same way! Anyway, the girls were watching a DVD on their TV in the backseat with their headphones on - I can only listen to kids movies for a short amount of time before I start to go crazy! By the way, if you have not gotten into the headphone thing, I highly recommend it! It keeps me sane, especially on roadtrips. Back to the story. So all of a sudden, MM says, "Hey, Mom, I see fox." Not really understanding what she was talking about and wondering if she was talking about a fox on the movie, or on the side of the road (hope not), I asked, "What fox?" She pointed her long, skinny finger at the screen on my radio and said, "right there, f-o-x, spells fox!" I think I almost swerved off the road in shock. I started screaming and yelling about how proud I was of her that she was reading all by herself. She was so proud! I mean, we read books, work on words and letters and sounding them out, but that was the first time she (unprovoked) saw a word and sounded it out in her head and then read it! WOW! And I have her signed up for a reading class that starts next week - maybe I should ask for a refund! Ha - just a joke! We have a ways to go, but that is definitely a start in the right direction!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

I know this is just a bit belated, but oh well! I want to wish my dad, Sam's dad, and Sam a VERY happy father's day! These 3 men are the most special men in our lives and we are so grateful to have them in our lives. The girls love their Pop's - yes, they are both called Pop - more than anything in the world, well aside from Daddy! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful, loving, kind, patient (VERY), giving, fun, laid-back, and all the adjectives that can be used to describe a great person in Sam. Not only is he the man of my dreams, my prince charming, but he is also THE BEST Daddy I could ever wish for my girls. He is so sweet with his girls and I just swell with pride and love watching him interact with them. In their eyes, Daddy can do no wrong! He has some great examples though to follow! Thank you Dad, Tommy, and Sam for being such a positive and loving part of our lives! We (myself, MM, Anna) love you all very, very much!

Horse Show and Flowers

2009-06-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the long stretches between posts the past several weeks. I only thought that we would be able to slow down during the summer, but between tennis camp, beach trips, horse camp, get-togethers,and work, we have been on-the-go non-stop! It is so sad to say that we have not even been swimming at the pool yet this summer!

This past weekend, as a conclusion to the horse camp, the barn hosted a Mini Horse Show for all of the little kids so that they could see how a real show would go, but without the hectic-ness (is that a word?) and chaos of a real show. They showed in 5 classes and they all got ribbons (whew!) and they all got 1st place in at least one class! I was so afraid of a meltdown if MM did not place, but thankfully that was taken care of (by suggestion of the parents). Oh, and let me just say that it HOT, not just hot, but miserably HOT! MM and I had to be at the barn at 8:00 that morning to shine up her horse. She had a ball! We were drenched with sweat and stinky and smelly, but MM was in heaven. She did so good and we were so proud of her! Here are the pictures with her ribbons and then with all the girls from camp. The video is of her actually showing in a class.

And a little sidenote, here is the final product of my hydrangeas that I was so excited about blooming. This was taken several weeks ago, so they are even bigger now.

Math 101

2009-06-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

Sam decided a couple of weeks ago that he was going to start giving MM lessons in math (or at least addition) to give her a head start in school. Hre is a video of one of their lessons this week. She has really got the hang of it! I just love seeing her enthusiasm for learning! Hopefully she will always have that fire to learn. Our choice of math tools? Rocks! One of her favorite things to play with! Maybe Sam does have the same "teacher" genes as his mom and sister! He is a really good teacher and so patient with her.

More Tennis and Horse Camp and Movies

2009-06-17T07:50:00.001-07:00

Tennis Star - check out that form!

3 Generations of Tennis Players

As you all know from a previous post, MM took her first official tennis lessons before we left for the beach. Well, SHE LOVED IT! I was so glad to see her enthusiasm for the game that I have loved for most of my life! I certainly didn't want to push her into it, but I just wanted her to learn how to play so that if she ever wanted to play as adult she would already have an idea of it.
While we were at the beach last week, the tennis courts held a kids clinic for her age group on Tuesday and Thursday. She was so pumped about playing tennis that she could not wait until Tuesday, so I took her out to the courts several days before hand. She is amazing! I know I maybe a little biased, but even the Pro's at the beach could not believe how good she was to have only had 3 lessons in her life and only be 4 years old. She has great coordination and hand-eye coordination too! It was really HOT on the courts too, but she wanted to stay out there for hours! We finally had to say "Time Out"! She asked me, "Mommy, when I get big like you, can we play tennis together?" So cute, how could I resist! She is really looking forward to more tennis, but in the meantime. . .

Horse Camp started this week! It is pretty intense for this age group, but they are having a blast. It is Monday - Friday from 8-12. Everyday when I pick her up at 12, she is exhausted and can barely stay awake to eat lunch. I asked her yesterday which was her favorite and she told me that she loved tennis AND horseback riding - they are both my favorite! Who knows which one she will land on! But for now we are enjoying them both. And this weekend the farm is holding a mini-show for the little kids so that they can see what it's like to do a show without it being so hectic and serious. MM is so excited and looking forward to her first show which I am thrilled about considering our first experience with horse shows (that she did not do). Wish us luck!

Then to add to all the excitement of the current summer fun, we (along with friends/neighbors) are hosting a Movie Night Under the Stars (i.e. in our backyard). We have rented an inflatable screen and sound system and a popcorn machine. Guests are supposed to bring a blanket and it's BYOB for the parents. We cannot wait and it's going to be so much fun - I will post pictures next week. We have not been able to decide which movie to play though so any feedback would be great! We are looking for a movie that is not gender specific (princesses), good for all ages, clean, not scary, etc. We have narrowed it down to 3: Hotel 4 Dogs, Bolt, and Bedtime Stories. Any suggestions?

Long Over Due

2009-06-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

Anna's Silly Face
Mary Mac's Silly Face

The best family picture we've taken in a while!

The Ultimate Crab Hunter! LOL!

I just to warn you that up front that this may be one VERY long post or many posts to catch up from our week long beach trip. I have to brag on myself and say that aside from having to check a few things that were work-related on my computer, I did not get on my computer not once the whole week. So needless to say, I am WAY behind on reading everyone's posts and on posting what all we did. We went to my parents beach house last Friday with myself and the girls and Gran in my car, Sam in his truck, and Pop in his truck. Why so many vehicles in this wonderful economy? Well, simply put, Sam was planning on coming home either Tuesday or Wednesday, I was coming home on Friday and my parents were staying until Sunday (I'm sure they needed a couple of days of quiet relaxing beach time sans kids- I know I would!). The weather was absoultely gorgeous! None of us could remember a time that we were at the beach in mid-June and not a single drop of rain fell on us. And, there was a wonderful breeze most days. That being said, and the fact that we were having so much fun lead to us talking Sam into staying the whole time with us - that is the nice thing about a family business! We did everything (and I mean EVERYTHING, on MM's agenda). We beached it (a lot), played tennis (me and MM), went to Baytown, ate out, cooked in, swam at the pool, went to Big Kahuna's, played the Wii, etc, etc, etc. You name it, we did it! This year was the first time we felt MM was big enough to go to Big Kahuna's and we made an afternoon of it (while Anna napped). She is definitely our little dare devil. She rode every slide she was allowed to. She would have done more if they had let her. As exhausting as it was, it was soooo worth it. Sam and I got to have some amazing one-on-one time with her which is rare these days! She cannot wait to go back (although it may be next year considering it cost almost as much as Disney). This was also the first summer that we actually could enjoy hours on the beach without someone having a meltdown, having to eat (bottles), naps (took them on the beach). We got smart this year though because instead of hauling our baby pool down to the beach, we rented one with our chairs - what a relief! We still had plenty to bring down, but that was a saviour! We had many picnics on the beach, found lots of shells, caught little fish, and just enjoyed it all! And it seems like Anna's vocabulary just exploded this week at the beach! It is amazing what all she knows and comprehends that we had no idea! Sorry for the lack of pictures from the beach - my camera battery was dead and then I ran out of memory on my card. BTW, can anyone use a SDHC card? I picked this up and did not realize it was an HC which my camera cannot use. It was $40 down the drain! Now, we are back in our regular routine and trying to "wean" the girls from being so spoiled having Pop, Gran, Mommy, Daddy, Nanny, and Pancake (Sam's sister, Kate).

Tennis Camp, Horseback Riding, and More

2009-06-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

All I have to say is thank goodness we only have 2 kids right now and Anna is not even involved in activities yet! This week has been so chaotic and fun and busy and it's only the first week of summer (as far as our school schedule)! I signed MM up for a tennis camp at our club for 4-5 year olds. I don't know if I would really call it a "camp" per say, because it is only 3 days this week for 30 minutes. At first, I thought, "Wow, only 30 minutes?" But after the first day, I realized it was perfect for them - it is long enough that they get a "taste" of tennis, but just short enough that they don't lose focus and get bored and THAT leaves them wanting to come back for more! I don't think I have seen one child that has not liked it and wanted to keep playing this week! Then, because of the lovely southern warm days already amongst us, our horse trainer is trying to rearrange her schedule so that the kids do not scorch suring their lessons! So instead of an afternoon lesson, we had a morning lesson. It was still warm, but not dreadful. She did so great too - she was having a lesson with little girls that are little older and she was able to follow their lead and do exactly what they did. The only issue we had was that those girls trot a little faster than MM is used to and her pony was keeping up with the other ponies at the faster pace, but MM just held on and went right along.

So, now I am trying to get everything taken care of at work, get clothes washed, etc. because we are leaving Friday for a much anticipated trip to the beach. The girls are literally counting down the days until we leave! We will be there for a week, but we have to get back by next Friday because the Rodeo is back in Fayette and we CERTAINLY cannot miss that event! I just hope we have more funny stories from the rodeo this year.

I will be taking my computer to the beach so you may get some updates, but then again, who knows! I hope I get to spend most days on the beach or by the pool!

And for those of you who could not find my instructions for "putting up" fresh veggies or just need a refresher . . .ENJOY!

On a final (and very sad) note, please pray for some family friends of ours that lost a baby yesterday at 28 weeks. The dad has always been like a big brother to me and his wife just fits right in as well. Here's the brief story: this would have been their 4th child due in August; while at the beach with the family she didn't feel so great, called her doc, was told to go to the hospital to just get checked out; they got there and couldn't find the heartbeat; they are supposed to have her induced this morning. I just ask you prayer warriors to pray for comfort, healing, and anything else that you feel this precious family needs right now, including the right words to tell the other 3 children about their baby brother! My heart is just breaking for them right now.

Rainy Weekend Fun

2009-05-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was another rainy weekend and when it was not actually raining, it looked like it would rain at any moment. So, you ask, what does the Collins Clan do on rainy days? Here you go. . .

1) Picked up my Organic Quarter Cow: I've been talking about doing this now for a year and I finally bit the bullet and made my purchase! I'll let you know my reviews! Check it out for yourself - it supports our local farmers and it's organic!

The 4 full boxes = 1/4 cow!

2) Made a trip to the local produce stand and here is my purchase(s): I love this time of year when you can get fresh, local, yummy fruits and veggies! Beans, peas, corn, onions, peanuts, etc.

3) Began my annual freezer stashes of fresh veggies. I do this gradually throughout the summer so as not to make it such a huge project and expense. This weekend I put about 6 quarts of peas up and another quart of beans and several ears of corn. This year I had a great "little helper" (Anna). I would have taken a picture of her but our hands were a mess and didn't want to risk leaving a 2 year alone with a table full of peas! She loves keeping things orderly and cleaned up so her job was to collect as many peas as she could in my measuring cup and then we would pour it into the bag. We only had a few peas to hit the floor, but once they are cooked, no one will ever know the difference (hopefully, haha!).

Drying the peas on the kitchen table

The finished product! Headed to join my cow in the freezer!!!

Work Work Work

2009-05-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well, sorry for the lack of posts lately, but if you read my eariler post about our change of plans at work and if you have read my post of what we "do" at work then you can probably imagine what I have been doing the last couple of weeks. I am just now starting to feel like my brain is wrapped around what all I have to do before August 17. It has been pretty tough trying to manage my time with my new responsibilities and still keeping up with my previous duties - Sorry, mom, I've not been very good at it at all so far! I promise that I can do it and WILL do it! It will help when the girls start going to school full time on June 1. As much as I am sad about not being able to spend that extra time with them in the afternoons, I know that this is a sacrifice I have to make - that's what a family business is all about. I am so fortunate to have a wonderful dad that allows me to do all that we do and wants us to spend as much time with our family that we can! He and Sam work sooooo hard and I am forever grateful that they make this sacrifice for all of our families!

Anyway, other than work, we survived the 3 week stretch that Sam was out of town - Whew! I think the girls sensed my stress and they were so good and played so nicely together that whole week with very few fights - it was so nice - I pray everyday that they will be the best of friends one day and learn to love to be together. I have no idea what it is like since I do not have a sister so it's so hard to help them understand. They are so different, which I am so glad for, but their differences are what make them argue - all.the.time!!! I keep telling myself, "this too will pass!"

This week has been a big week for the girls too. First, MM had a great week at horseback riding and is loving it again - it is so wonderful to see her comfortable with the horses that she loves so much. I think she was really struggling internally (and therefore, it was being exhibited externally in other ways - pitching fits, being ugly to friends, etc.) with how to handle being a little afraid and hesitant of the animal (horses) that she loved so much and to learn to respect that they can be unpredictable. This week she finally loosened up and rode just like she was doing before her fall and I could see it written all over her face how proud she was of herself and that her confidence in herself had been restored! Praise God! I was struggling too - only I was struggling with how to help her through her own struggle! It was such a fine line of being too overbearing and making her ride every week and just letting her give it up, which in Sam's book was out of the question until she got over her fear! Also, the pool opened Thursday at the club and we had planned on going until the weather looked a little "ify" and Anna was diagnosed with Roseola. She was not contagious anymore, but I can just imagine the look on parent's faces as I let my little rash-infested child into the ~~sess-pool~~ baby pool! Oh, we would be the talk of the town! "Can you believe her? Exposing our children to whatever that little girl has?"

The last big thing is that the long-awaited playground at the school that backs up to our neighborhood finally opened this week!!!! YAY!!! It is also a community playground when school is not in session and it has been PACKED all week in the afternoons! You would think that there is not a playground anywhere in our town just by seeing the crowds out there. We have been so deprived - just kidding! These are pics of the girls on the playground - sorry for the quality - it was on my phone and it was about to rain.

2009-05-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

So you like my signature? This is just a test to see if it looks ok and is right. I will probably tweek more later, but I'm exhausted and have been working on this for a while now!

Up To No Good

2009-05-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying our time together as a family the past couple of weeks. Sam has been out of town during the week for the past 3 weeks, so to say that I am exhausted is an understatement. I don't realize and probably don't appreciate how much he really helps out at home until he has a stretch of traveling such as the last several weeks. He has been to North Caroline on a business golf trip, then to Las Vegas for a show, and now he is working another show in Gatlinburg. He will be home Thursday and I'm not sure who is more excited - me, him, or the girls! With him being gone during the week, we have spent as much family time together on the weekends.

As for Mother's Day. . . woke up normal time, did our normal morning routine, took MM took horse back riding lesson (had to makeup for the rainy day), and then were going to have a picnic at the park to celebrate Mother's Day before Sam had to hit the road. Unfortunately, the weather did not hold out for the picnic - right after we decided to forego the park and just have a picnic at home, the bottom fell out! It was still fun and a great time with my family.

As for work. . .we've had a bit of a change of plans at work. Samantha (who has been with us since she was still in college) turned in her notice to go back to school this summer and fall. And you ask, what's the big deal? Well, the big deal is that I get to take over most of her responsibilities in addition to what I already do! She has a HUGE job of getting all of "stuff" together and coordinate our biggest trade show of the year. While I am a little nervous having to take this on, I am comforted by the fact that I did this same job prior to her being hired - we have only quadrupled the size of the company since then!!! So wish me luck! The girls are having to start back to school full time in a couple of weeks though so that I can have the time I need to get it all done. I just hope that I am able to take some half days like I've been doing so that I can take the girls to the pool!

2009-05-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the post overload, but as you can see we have been pretty busy around here and I wanted to make sure I documented it all for my own memory!

Fuller Festival

2009-05-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Nothing like pure blue sugar swirled onto a stick!

Here in T-town this past weekend, was a wonderful festival called Fuller Festival, in honor of a little boy (same age as MM) that was diagnosed with Leukemia 2 years ago. He is doing great now and so his parents wanted to host a festival that raise money for Children's Hospital in B'ham to show them how appreciative they were for everything that was done for them. It was a huge success and a great turnout. They had all the wonderful bouncy things, slides, carnival games, carousel, little "rides", music, food, etc. all day long. ALL of their friends, our friends, neighbors, etc. were out in full stride! It was total mass kid chaos, but they were having a ball! All you could see was children running around in sheer glee playing on all the fun stuff. The key for the parents was to kind of stay in the middle so you could just watch them from place to place. It was also exhausting! As you can tell by the pictures, Anna pretty much just stayed with us (eating junk) and MM was on and off every ride and activity with her friends - you think this is any prediction of how they will be when they are teenagers? The pirate ship ride was so funny. All the kids were really wanting to ride and as you can see on their faces they were not sure they really liked it once they were moving. Well, it finally stopped and they all got off and I asked, "So, that maybe wasn't your favorite ride, was it?" They all just screamed and shouted, "IT WAS SO FUN AND OUR FAVORITE!!!" Oh, sorry, I couldn't have been able to tell judging by the looks on your faces!

Spring is Here!

2009-05-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

You see those cute little yellow specs? Ah yes, blooms!
My 3 plants that have grown so much!

And you ask, "why is she posting pictures of plants on her blog?" Well, quite simply, this is my sure sign that Spring really is here. These are my Hydrangea bushes that I had planted as a "trial". I have always loved Hydrangeas (guess I get that from my late grandmother), but always heard that they were very hard to grow and take care of. Well, for those of you that know me, know that I have a brown thumb but strive (and it's paying off) to be the avid gardener! So this is year 3 with my hydrangeas and I am obsessed with them - they have done so well so far and I cannot wait for the first blooms to erupt. As I said above, these were also my grandmothers favorite flowers to grow and enjoy, so I cannot wait for the first blooms to pop so that I can take them to her grave in honor or her life and legacy! Her gardending motto was that she rarely cut her flowers because she wanted to "share" them with the world and people around her. So, even though this is soooo against her motto, SHE will be the one I honor with these first blooms because I would not have formed my love for them without her.

Quick Beach Trip

2009-05-04T07:41:00.001-07:00

MM claimed she was King of the Mountain!
Little Miss Priss - what are we going to do with her?

Picking flowers (not sure if this was ok or not, but we did anyway)

MM Showing off her flower

How can you not love that smiling free-spirited sweet girl?

After the brief visit in Mobile, we decided that since we were so close, why not just make a quick drive over to the condo for a couple of days. Mary Mac was so excited becuase that meant that we got to through a tunnel - the same tunnel that she

has previously SCREAMED going through in the past. I guess she really is growing up! The pictures are from a day that we spent at Destin Commons and let the girls play on the coolest playground in the world (according to Mary Mac). It has all these toys to climb on that are squishy and the ground is squishy (no other way to describe it)and then there is a water pad fountain to play in. The girls had a ball, no doubt! It was a quick trip, but we were able to do just about everything on the girls list of favorites. . . go to Baytown, play on the coolest playground, swim, look for shells, go to the "shark store" (that would be Bass Pro Shops), shop, and just hang out!

Art Show 2009

2009-05-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

Last week was also the Annual Art Show at school. I've talked about it before, but it is really amazing how they do this and it makes you realize how much your child has improved and learned throughout the year. They collect tons of art projects that they work on all year and fill the Family Life Center walls (literally every inch of every wall is covered in art). The teachers make a mad dash to "reserve" how much space they need for their class once the director gives them the go-ahead. I have taken pictures each year of every single piece of artwork from the girls, but I will save you from that misery and just post these pictures.

60 Years!

2009-05-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my mom and I took the girls down to Mobile for a quick trip to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and more AND (more importantly) to celebrate my grandparents 60th, yes you read that right, wedding anniversary. We had the best time and my aunt and uncles put a lot of hard work into making this party so perfect. They invited family and friends from all over and put together a slide show of old (and I mean old photos) and a video of their 50th anniversary party. It was bitter sweet watching this because it brought back so many wonderful memories of growing up and seeing how much has changed in just 10 years. In the video my grandparents (mainly my Mimi) was up and cutting a rug to the music and now she is not able to do that anymore. 10 years ago, I was single, in college, and only dreaming of the life that I have now - a wonderful husband and 2 very special healthy girls! It is amazing how in one quick vidoe clip you realize how quick those 10 years went by and it makes me cringe to think that another 10 years will go by just as fast and I can do nothing to make it slow down. I say this all the time, but I just wish I could scoop up the girls and squeeze them so tight just to try and see if it will slow the time I have with them at this age slow, even for just a second! Being able to celebrate 60 years of marriage is so rare these days and I pray that Sam and I have my grandparents "little secret", whatever that may be, to carry us through at least that many years together! The Happy Couple

Mimi and Papa and all the grandkids (minus Tyler) and great grandkids

Keeping Up

2009-04-24T07:11:00.001-07:00

I don't if I've even mentioned this on my blog, but have all you fellow bloggers discovered Google Reader yet? It is so easy and so nice. I know many of you are probably still trying to keep up with all of your favorite blogs by going to your blog, then clicking on each of your "friends" and then back to yours then on to the next one, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, on Google Reader, you just add each of your "friends" blog address to your subscription (it's all FREE btw). Each day, you just log in to Google Reader and it updates each blog that has had a post added since you're last session. You can scan through all of your friends very quickly. The only thing you can't do (or at least I haven't figured it out yet) is to comment directly from the Reader site. You have to click on the blog post you want to comment on and it takes you directly to the post. So, all in all, this does save lots of time and it allows you to keep up with all of your blogger friends on a daily basis.

AHHHH, Sweet Southern Days

2009-04-23T12:35:00.001-07:00

As I type I am sitting in my swimsuit on a quilt that my great-grandmother made in my backyard soaking in every ray of glorious sunshine that I can! No joke! Thank goodness our backyard is not visible to anyone. I can tell it has been a really long time since I've actually been able to sit and do nothing in the sun because I'm feeling a little guilty and antsy that I should be doing something around the house. But, you know what? It can all wait while I take a few minutes to myself! Anna is napping and MM is playing quietly in the playroom. I can vivdly remember doing this for hours and days at a time back in college. Man, why did I ever quit doing that? Oh yea, that's right, mom and dad wouldn't pay for it anymore, I met the man of my dreams, have a beautiful family that I always dreamed of, and am living a wonderful life!!!!! Perfectly great reasons! Although, I could get used to doing a little more of this now that the girls are getting older. I found myself at the country club pool last summer being so jealous watching those moms whose kids were older and could manage themselves at the pool while they just relax in the sun reading a book, all the while I am chasing my 2 young ones around the baby pool trying to keep them from falling in or just falling in general. Gosh, I didn't realize how quickly we would be getting to that place.

On another note, we have big news . . .no we're not pregnant! ANNA TEE-TEE'D ON THE POTTY LAST NIGHT!!! She is just barely 2 and much further along in the potty training area than MM. We all made a HUGE deal of it. MM said the sweetest thing to her. She said, "Anna, I can't believe you are getting to be such a big girl and tee-tee'd on the potty!" It was in the sweetest little angel voice she could muster. I soak up moments like these because lately all I hear between the 2 of them is fussing and arguing! Well, that's all from this part of the world. Hope everyone else is able to take a little time to themselves and enjoy the nice weather that it seems we are all getting right now. Before we can even blink, we will all be complaining about how hot and humid it is!

Totally Tuesday Randomness

2009-04-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry Susie, but I had to do it. . .a little girl's mother in Anna's class brought this to me at preschool drop-off the other day. Wow, I don't think we've changed one bit - yea right!!!! Well I can always "think" that, right? That was actually the cover of the the national AXO magazine when we were Freshmen (Summer, 1997 - ouch, that was more than 10 years ago).

And these are my favorite most recent purchase! No, I am not auditioning for the sequel to Gladiator! I have been eyeing several pairs of these awesome gladiator flat sandals and I finally found a pair yesterday that I just couldn't live without (and that did not require a loan). I actually got these on sale for $20! They were originally $74.99, on sale for $49.99, and then that price was reduced - what a bargain???!!! Well, at least in my book that is a bargain! I think that these will probably be my "go-to" shoes for the summer and you will probably see them a lot in future pictures posted!

Wow Me?

2009-04-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so since I was awarded this by 2 fellow blogger friends, April and Kellie, I guess I will take a little credit for our Blog. I love (oops, that will be one of my loves below) blogging and documenting our trials and triumphs in our family, so thanks for the award girls!

This is what you do to share the award:
1. Post the award on your blog, and link to the person who gave you the award.
2. List seven things you love.
3. List seven blogs you love.
4. E-mail or comment on those blogs to let the people know you've given them the award.

So my 7 loves are:

1) My faith

2) My husband - could not have dreamed anyone better for me

3) My kids - cannot imagine life without them and who make me a better person

4) Our family - whom we do EVERYTHING with

5) Blogging, of course

6) Enjoying the world around us and watching my children explore it

7) Anything water related - beach, lake, pool, etc.

8) FOOD - yes, I am a foody - love shopping for it, preparing it, cooking it, EATING IT, talking about it

7 Blogs I Love:

1) Jamie

2) Molli (mainly b/c they live so far away that this is one of the ways we keep up)

3) Heidi

4) Lindsey

5) Susie

6) Rachel

7) Sarah

Ok, I know some of you have already received this award, but you are still ones I love to read and therefore I wanted to acknowledge that!

A-Day 2009

2009-04-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was A-Day here in T-Town and the excitement is already building for the upcoming season! This year they held the First Annual Alumni 7 on 7 Flag Football game and Sam decided to play! He had a lot of fun and it was great to see several of the guys that he played with and some that I cheered for back in the day! And, no, I did not make my come back in uniform!!!! Not a chance!!! The link below (you may have to copy and paste it into you browser b/c I can't get the "&" sign to be part of the link) are pictures from the day. If you click on the 7 on 7 gallery, you will find a great picture of Sam on one of his catches in the game(it's the 10th image in the gallery). He should have scored twice, but was robbed! But, his team (the white team, and definitely the "underdogs" on paper) won! Sam was able to show off that he was actually still in pretty good shape (unlike many others) and still has his skills and speed!

These are also some pictures of the girls at the game. They really don't "get" that they are very privileged to get to go on the field to watch, but they preferred sitting with Nanny, Pop, and cousins (the triplets were here for Spring Break) in the stands. Oh well, maybe one day!

http://www.rolltide.com/photogallery/gallery_index.html?school=alab&sport=m-footbl&

Waiting outside the locker room while Daddy changed clothes - this is the same place I used to stand to wait on him when he played

You can tell they are really excited to be there! Anna just kept saying, "Too Loud, Mommy"

Player Introductions

On the line of scrimmage - I think I have several similar pictures of this, only he was in uniform!

Clarification for Sam's Sake

2009-04-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

Sam wants everyone to know that our yard nornally looks much better than it does in the pictures of the trampoline! We had a few holes in our grass so he filled them with sand to help the grass grow - so, no, those brown spots are NOT DEAD, it is just sand. Our yard looking perfect is his a thorn in his side, so I just wanted to make sure I made that clarification!

Anyone Seen The Trampoline?

2009-04-13T08:10:00.001-07:00

After such a beautiful day yesterday, we had some really fierce weather last night that kept Sam and I both awake for several hours. I kept thinking that any minute a tree or limb was coming through a window! It was worse than the winds that have come through with the hurricanes in the last few years. I kept getting up and checking everything out making sure everything was intact. So, I get up this morning to Sam texting me (he gets up WAY earlier than I do to workout - yes, he has much more motivation than I do) asking me "Who decided to move the trampoline?" Not knowing what he was talking about I go to look out the back porch and this is what I find. . .

Yes, that round, kind of dead looking spot is where our trampoline has always resided. Take notice of the fence (untouched), the tiki torch (still standing), the furniture (in place), the plant on the table (in place). . .
And this is where we found it!!!!!! You think our neighbors will be excited that we decided to "share" our trampoline with them? Surely they won't mind! I cannot believe this!!! It's like the trampoline fairy just picked it right up and dropped it on the other side of the fence! And all in one piece and the fence in one piece too! I can attest to how dad-gum heavy that thing is too because I helped put it together (what little I could do). The only damage to it or the fence is one of the net rails is bent and the top of one board in the fence is broken! How in the world!!!!????? Wow, I knew it was strong winds, and suspected that we may lose the net, but never imagined this! I'm just glad it didn't get carried into any of our neighbors houses! NOW, the question is, "How the heck are we gonna get that back inside the fence????"

Also, on another totally different point, I forgot to update everyone on the horse back riding!

After her 2 falls on the previous Friday, we took MMC back to her lesson on Wednesday and she was eager to get back on Jimmy. We let her kind of do what she wanted on him and let her trot around and walk around and go over the ground poles and just take it easy to help build her confidence back up. She was so proud of herself (and so was her Mom and Dad and Carly) and just beamed the rest of the afternoon! So, I guess, she truly is going to be a horse rider and she proved to us just how ~~stubborn~~ tough as nails she really is! She was a little hestitant and nervous, but who wouldn't be! The first thing she told Sam was, "Daddy, I rode Jimmy today and I didn't fall off!" Awe, how cute!!!!