Wild Turkey (no...not what you think...)

My husband's fraternity has a alum versus new member football game every year the weekend before Thanksgiving. They call it Wild Turkey (which I'm sure you can probably figure out why...) and Dennis plays every year. Cody was very excited to be a part this year and had a blast running around like a little mad man. Dennis has managed to get hurt twice since we've been married. The first time he blew his ACL and last year broke his finger. Thank goodness he was safe this year, but I hear there was an injured shoulder and a broken finger on someone else. Full tackle football without pads=CRAZY injuries.

Praying before kick-off. I was praying we weren't going to take a trip to the emergency room!

My two football players!

Down...set....

Looking down the field to pass....

Cody was front and center. Just one of the guys already!

Playing with the boys at I.N.K.

Cody, Cooper and Marc had a "boys play date" at I.N.K. at the end of November. They had a really good time playing in all of the stores and businesses. Their favorite was the playplace and they stayed in there for at least an hour. There was an elementary school there for a while, but once they left, the boys had the run of the place. They had a great time and we decided to make it a weekly play date for the soccer boys!

All Aboard!!

So it is getting close to Christmas. Last year, Cody watched The Polar Express almost every day from Thanksgiving until New Years when I MADE him put it away. Well, it has already started this year. Since we've been home from the mountains, he has wanted to watch The Polar Express. This is now the 7th day in a row that we have watched it and he now acts it out with his own trains. There is a Polar Express train in one of his toy catalogs and I debated telling 'Santa' about it, but now I'm positive that 'Santa' will have to make sure it ends up under the tree. I'm very excited about Christmas this year and the magic that comes along with it. He is also very interested in the Reason for the Season! We have been talking about Baby Jesus and Christmas being His birthday. I'm going to pull out the Nativity soon and I'm excited about explaining the story with figures. Cindy (one of the soccer moms with me) gave me the great idea of not putting Baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas morning, so we're going to do that and make it a tradition. YAY for my FAVORITE time of the year!!!!

First Night in the Big Boy Bed!

MiMi and PaPa (along with MeeMaw, PawPaw, Karen and Jessica) brought Cody's big boy bed yesterday! The room and the bed have a lot of work to go still. His bedding is being delivered on Friday from Land of Nod (I LOVE that online store) so the dust ruffle and blanket are just temporary. I am in the process of un-babying his room and trying to figure out a 'theme' to go with. He did really well last night and slept like a rock!











To explain the below video, he is OBSESSED with calling everything a peanut butter sandwich. It cracks me up, so he continues to say it.

Trip to the Smoky Mountains with MiMi and PaPa

It has taken me FOREVER to post these pictures because there were thousands to go through! Mom is such a great photographer!
A rundown of the trip:
We arrived on Monday to snow flurries on the highest point of the mountain range. It was exciting just to see the little bit of snow, but it was FREEZING! It was down in the 20's. Tuesday morning we woke up hoping to have snow on the mountain. We drove over to Gatlinburg and ate at the Log Cabin Pancake house which is a tradition. Then we set off to drove over the range. Well, we COULDN'T! The road was closed due to the amount of snow and ice! So we decided to drive around the range and get to the entrance of the Blue Ridge Parkway but when we finally arrived there, it was also closed! We headed back to the Smokys by way of Cherokee and they had just opened the road. When we started getting higher, the snow started getting thicker and at the top, it was a beautiful winter wonderland! I had said all I wanted was to see snow on the mountains. I got my wish! On Wednesday, we went to Cades Cove and saw TONS of deer. They were everywhere! We toured a couple of the churches and the working farm which was at the half way point. When we were coming out of Cades Cove, we stopped to use the restroom and noticed we had a flat tire. So Dad changed the tire and we had to find a tire store to have it fixed. That night we went to Dixie Stampede for the Christmas Spectacular. Cody LOVED it! He danced and sang and when the horses came out, his mouth dropped and he couldn't take his eyes off the show long enough to eat anything! Thursday we headed home. We had a wonderful and fun trip!
Like I said, there were TONS of pictures, but I got them down to the best ones. Click on the picture below to go to the picasa album!

2008 smoky mountains postables

Halloween

Cody was determined to be a red Power Ranger for Halloween this year. No cute costume for him! So we made the best of it and he had a great time! We had dinner at Cooper's house and we all went trick-or-treating in his neighborhood. Next we headed up to Flowery Branch for us to be with our church. There was a hay ride (which we missed) and making smores! I think he had a great time! Enjoy the pictures! (Click the picture below to go to the gallery)

2008-10-31 postables

It is the GREAT PUMPKIN!

We went to the pumpkin patch at Washington Farms Thursday with Cooper. The boys had a BLAST and they did not want to leave!! I think their favorite part was either the cow train or the corn box. They spent at least 30 minutes in that corn box!! Enjoy the slide show!! (You can click on the slide show to view the album and the pictures larger)

Life without a computer is NO fun!

I finally have my computer back! We had to replace the hard drive so I've been installing everything back this afternoon like a mad woman! I really don't have anything else to report with the exception of boot camp is harder than EVER! She is pushing me really hard and wow...it is rough!
Oh, and prayers for our church would be AWESOME. If you don't already know, we attend a very new church and we don't have a permanent place for our church yet. We meet in a community center every Sunday and have to unload and load all of our production equipment and children's church equipment. God has given us an awesome opportunity to possibly have a permanent church home with a lot of potential and we just hope that this is God's plan for our church! SOO exciting! I hope everything works out so I can report more!!!
Other than that, I'll see if I can get some updates this evening with pictures from what has been going on this week in our little family life!

Fun with MCAG

Yes, I was hanging out with a bunch of Georgia and Alabama fans but I had my AU pin on (which I'm not sure you can see it in the pictures). We had a get together at Tara and Greg's to watch the Alabama/Georgia game and we had a great time!

Gas crunch

This was on Tuesday afternoon. We've had a huge gas shortage since Hurricane Ike came through Texas and shut off our pipelines. This morning, things are getting back to normal finally. There have been lines all over town and it has been worse in Metro Atlanta. Out here in the burbs, we haven't had a problem until this past weekend. I had filled up on Thursday of last week so I'm still at 1/2 tank, but I'm filling up today because there is gas to be found!!

Has it really been a week?

We've been really busy this past week. Soccer started and Cody and Cooper have had the BEST time! He is learning so many skills already and I'm very impressed!! The pictures I took during their class did not turn out good because of the lighting in the complex, but this was taken right before going inside.
We had our usual Wednesday playdate last week and we met at the mall. Cody and Erin rode on the carousel which was a great warm up because....
...we went to the Gwinnett County Fair that afternoon with Cooper's family. Cody and Cooper rode EVERY kid ride and had the most fun I've seen two little boys have! I took TONS of pictures, but here are a select few of the best ones.



If you can't tell, they had to ride the Speedway several times. Thank goodness it was hand stamp day so they could ride as much as they wanted!
On a personal note, I've been to boot camp now for almost 2 weeks and I can tell a HUGE difference already! I've enjoyed it and I'm continuing to go as much as I can. I've missed today because of these horrible allergies and a silly headache, but I'm back full force tomorrow!!!

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP...GOOOOOAL...VROOM!

These are the sounds we have heard in our house today!
First if you will take a look at the picture on the left. That is what I saw this morning when I heard the BEEP-BEEP-BEEP. It was time to get up for my first day of boot camp. Keep in mind I'm a stay home mommy and I'm blessed my child sleeps until between 7:30 and 8 every morning. 5:45 was WAY too early! Boot camp started at 6:30 and I had my buns worked off today. I was very glad I went even though my body hates me right now. It hates me because it has not exercised to that intensity in so long!! I never quit any of the exercises even though I thought I was going to pass out a couple of times. I'll be popping a couple of ibuprofen before going to sleep so I can get up again tomorrow morning at 5:45 and do it all over again!

GOOOOOOAL! We spent the afternoon with Gina and Laura Leigh at the Mall of Georgia looking for new tennis shoes and soccer socks. After they left, Cody and I found his socks at Dick's but they didn't carry his size shoe. SOOO...I didn't see any tennis shoes in the mall I liked, so off to Norcross and the New Balance store (a good 30 minutes away from where we were). We get there and they only have ONE shoe in his size. The ugly yellow and black shoes. So since his other tennis shoes do not fit at all anymore, we had to buy these shoes. I went ahead and got them since New Balance hold up very well. We'll find a pair of cute gray ones later. So when we got home, he wanted to put on his entire soccer uniform. He was running around and dancing in it. This was the ONLY picture I could get.
And finally...VROOM! Daddy brought home the most important thing of all. Since Cody is FINALLY potty trained and has gone over a week with NO accidents, he got what he wanted. The Lego Ferrari Racing Pit Stop. It took daddy and mommy at least 1.5 hours to put it together with stickers and all, but it was well worth it to see his excitement. He played with it for a while before going to bed and he did NOT want to go to bed. He arranged things the way he wanted them and had me take a picture. We are very proud of him and he kept saying over and over "Mommy is proud of me, Daddy is proud of me, and I'm proud of me! Thank you!" At least he was very grateful for it. Hooray for no more diapers!!!

NO HIVES!

We woke up this morning to clear skin! The hives are gone completely!!! So he was able to go to church and see his friends he has missed the past 3 weeks. He was VERY excited to be there. He had so much fun with Ms Lindsey and Ms Amy this morning. When we were packing up church (yes, we pack up church because we meet in a community center still) he was running around everywhere and I was sure he was going to have another outbreak. Nothing! Thank goodness! So this evening we went to Cooper's house for dinner and those boys did not stop even up until the second we had to go home. Cody was not happy at all to go home, but we'll see them again on Tuesday at soccer. Yeah, I'm a soccer mom now even though I swore I was not going to be a soccer mom. Oh well.
I've been having pains in my wrist the past couple of days and today it was really bad. I was talking to Amy at church about it and she said he had the same problem and it was because she was sleeping on her hand funny. I went out and got a brace to stabilize my wrist and it actually has helped. I'm going to try and sleep in it. Well, off to bed! I have to get up at 6 AM for my first day of boot camp. I am so nervous about it because, well, I think there are only 2 of us that early and I know she is going to work me to death (and I need it!!).

Little Kickers, Golf Lesson and HIVES!!

We had a LONG night last night and a busy day today! Last night, Cody's rash got much worse. I ended up calling the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta on call nurse and after about 30 minutes on the phone, she had me at ease that it was only hives and that we might not ever find out what caused them. According to WebMD they can be hereditary and Dennis has had them twice that he can remember. She did say that the red dyes in his benadryl could be causing the outbreak to be worse, so Dennis RAN to Walgreens at 9:45 (they close at 10) and got Dye Free Benadryl. Guess what...they have not been HALF as bad as they were last night. But just to be safe, Cody slept with us just in case he had breathing issues. All night legs and arms were flying all over me. Oh well.
We woke up early this morning to get him signed up for Little Kickers Soccer. We were there when the email said they were open at 10:00. There was already a huge line with kids EVERYWHERE! We got him signed up and he was able to participate in a quick 15 minute demonstration class and he had such a good time! Cooper was able to get in the same class as him, so they will be playing soccer together this fall! There will be tons of pictures to come!
He had his picture taken with Hopper the Little Kickers Bunny several times.
Listening to Coach Jason in the demonstration class.
Cody and Cooper with Hopper
They were very glad to see each other. It had been 3 weeks!!

Then it was on to his golf lesson with Mr. Peter. He actually played a par 3 hole today and did VERY good. I was so proud of how he is listening to instruction and doing what he is told. We were worried right when we pulled up. He said he didn't want to go see Mr. Peter. When we told him about playing the hole and getting a golf cart, he perked right up and was ready to go!
Mr. Peter telling him where he is aiming.
What form!!
In the golf cart. He still looks sick, poor thing!
Putting it in on the green.
And getting his ball out of the hole!!

It has been a busy weekend and it is only Saturday night! Auburn just won with the score of 3-2 so it was ugly, but hey...a win is a win! WAR EAGLE!!!

We found them!!

This morning started off with a little scare. Cody woke up with a horrible rash all over his body. I freaked out a little and called the doctor first thing. We rushed over there and the doctor looked at him. No fever, no infection anywhere. The doctor said it was an allergic reaction to something and 9 times out of 10 you never figure out what caused the break out. Well THAT didn't ease me because what if it happens again? So he said to just give Cody benadril and it will take a while for the rash to go away. We snapped the picture going across the Chattahoochee this morning on the way to the doctor since we were stopped in rush hour traffic.

We have been looking for the Rescue Heroes. They do not sell them in stores anymore, so I've seen them on ebay (but they were $10 each on there) so I have been asking people to look for any they might want to get rid of. Today we went to Little Lambs Consignment sale. I've never been to one before and wasn't sure what I would find. We ended up finding a new Tommy wind breaker, a cute Halloween t-shirt, LOTS of scrapbook supplies, and RESCUE HEROES! All of them! They were $2.50 each and he also found a Power Ranger for $1. Since he has been doing so good at the potty training lately, I was happy to buy them for him. He has been playing with them since we cleaned them up. They are in almost perfect condition. I don't think they have been played with before. Poor toys! :)

So much for Pat Pat Rocket...

We NOW want the Ferrari F1 Pit from the Lego store. It broke my heart tonight to walk out without it for him, but I have to stick to my guns. If he stays dry the rest of the week and weekend with NO accents at all, I will GLADLY go and buy it for him. Thanks to Lori and Deb he now is a Lego Maniac! Daddy loves it by the way. We couldn't go to the Lego store tonight without him. HAHA!
Update coming soon!!

We've got a mission....

We are getting closer and closer to our Pat Pat Rocket! He has successfully finally gone to the potty like he needs to! We just needed the costume magazine and the toy magazine to help him concentrate. YIPPEE! So this afternoon we're going to the Lego outlet to get a new small bucket of Lego's to celebrate finally going to the potty instead of our pants (well, we had #1 mastered for a while now, it is the #2 we are celebrating)!

I was so excited so I snapped a very nice picture today that will be perfect to show the high school girlfriends and to put in his Senior yearbook! Join with me in celebrating! YIPPEE!!!

Build-a-Bear Celebration!

Since he kept his pants dry ALL last week, I let him go to Build-a-bear and build his own bear! Little K had never been before so she had the best time. Cody was an old pro and he finally picked out Clyde the bear. Clyde even has on his own 'bear big boy undies' so he had to go potty with us everywhere.




Little K made "Big Alice" because she is an Alabama Fan. I know, I'm working on it! HAHA
Loving on his bear!!
FUN TIMES!