The New Ride

Check out little man's new ride! Sam saved all his birthday money and got to pick out this new bike! (Please do not call it a trike- he knows that Maddie and Mommy and Daddy all have bikes and he knows the difference!) The little handle on the back allows us to push him and steer since his legs are still a little short for the pedals. He loves to ring the little bell- You can tell from his smile he feels like a big boy!

An Architect?

Maddie designed and built this little "castle" on her own this weekend. She was very proud of the finished product. (Troy and I thought it was very creative for a 3 year old and that maybe she was a genius- I mean come on it even has a roof!)

p.s. Before I posted this I got a spell check error on the word genius- I guess all those smarts aren't coming from me!

Check it out!

This little guy popped up in my flower garden this year! We are very excited when things bloom that we don't plant because a lot of the things that we plant on purpose die! (Please do not leave a comment that tells me this is a weed!)

Gymnastics

Madaline started gymnastics today in a "tumbling tots" class. She loves it! The teachers thought it was funny because every time she would land she would throw her hands up like she saw them do in the Olympics!

Sam's Real Birthday

We had a great time on Sam's actual birthday! Daddy made sure everything was lots of fun for little Sam even bringing home a Dairy Queen birthday cake! (That may have really been for Mommy because she is the one who keeps eating it.....)

Sam now knows when the mail truck comes and is very interested in what the mail man brings! For about a week straight he got a birthday present everyday!

Thanks to all our family and friends for making Sam's birthday super special!Maddie, Mommy and Daddy even got in on the action!
All ready to go to Toys R Us to spend the birthday money! (check out how BIG my babies look in this picture!!)

To top of the night we met the Ingram's at Pizza Hut for a special birthday dinner!

God is so Good

The kids have been learning "God is so Good" in family devotion time. They can both sing it pretty well now so they thought they would perform it for you all! They really like to 'play' the piano while they sing so just sit back and be wowed by this musical talent!

Ike

We took the kids down to the beach yesterday to see the waves that Hurricane Ike was kicking up. Earlier on Thursday some storm surges had flooded streets in Panama City and even shut down parts of HWY 98. Maddie and Sam of course didn't understand why we went to the beach if they couldn't swim, but they finally were content to play in the sand- they didn't even look twice at the waves! You can see how big the swells are in the picture of Troy walking away from the ocean. If you have ever been to Panama City you know that these are really big waves for us! I know it's a crazy dangerous storm and we are praying for everyones safety as it makes landfall.

Fall in Florida

We have been given a fire place for our porch and Maddie and Sam are very intrigued. They spent a few hours on Saturday gathering little sticks out of the yard so Daddy could build a fire! We made a mad dash to the grocery to pick up all the ingredients for s'mores and Daddy built a ragging fire in 80-90 degree weather! Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the s'mores and Maddie said she didn't like fires because "it's too hot!" and of course didn't like the s'mores because of "chocolate" Poor little Sam was running a 103.5 degree temperature at this time (He has an ear infection :-( )so he didn't enjoy the experience at all! It reminded Troy and I of home and we have plans for lots more fires on the deck! (of course we agreed we should wait until the weather turns a little bit cooler!)

Into Everything!

Maddie and Sam have spent this week getting into everything! These pictures are just a few examples. I didn't get a picture of the following story because it needed immediate action to correct, but I thought I would share it on the blog anyway (it is long, but pretty funny):

I have put on a few pounds over the summer and decided I was going to fight the bulge by getting on the treadmill. Now as anyone knows that has ever had children, it is a little difficult to make time for such a goal with 2 little ones running around especially when they both wake up around 6:15 and only one of them takes a nap, but I was determined. So I put Sam down for his nap on Monday and let Maddie pick a video to watch. I put on my running shoes and headed to the garage. When I got out to the garage I realized this was not going to be fun since it was about 100 degrees out there, but still the determination won over and I got on the treadmill. I was feeling pretty good 10 minutes into the workout when Maddie popped into the garage and wanted to know "what you doing?" I stopped the treadmill and explained to her that mommy need a little time so please watch your video. I restarted the treadmill and got back into the rhythm and was able to finish in 22 min. I was feeling great! When I got back into the house, I discovered that Maddie had been busy while I was busy and had dumped my salt shaker all over the couch, floor, rug and rocker. (She has recently developed a taste for salt, sugar and flour raw and we have been working on keeping her out of the pantry.) While I was getting this mess cleaned up, Sam woke up. So now I was nasty from working out and Troy wasn't coming home for about 3 hours. I decided to let the kids play upstairs while I took a quick shower. (of course I made sure all the doors were locked and set the house alarm) When I step out of the shower I heard some pretty horrific screams coming from upstairs. I ran upstairs and found Maddie and Sam in the upstairs bathroom. Sam was the one screaming because he had about half a bottle of hand soap smeared all over his head and face. His left eye was swollen shut and he had wet toilet paper stuck to his head. Maddie's hands were covered with hand soap, the toilet was full of soap bubbles, the plunger was wet and on the floor and an entire roll of toilet paper was wet and stuck everywhere. At first I couldn't tell what was going on, but Maddie explained the whole thing: "I'm just washing Sam's hair and I'm NOT the one in trouble because Sam unrolled the toilet paper!" Needless to say I didn't have time to take a photo since I had to wash the soap off Sam, give 2 baths and clean the bathroom. I thanked Maddie for being so willing to help, but let her know that in the future I will be in charge of Sam's hygien. I also took some time to teach a little bit about germ warfare here and the fact that toilet water is not the best cleaning agent. So I'm able to laugh about it now, but these few little pounds I have gained will just have to stay put or I'll have to lose them while I chase these 2 little monsters around because I do not see myself getting back on the treadmill anytime soon!

Sam's Party

We had a great time this weekend with family and friends celebrating Sam's 2nd birthday! He had a John Deere party and had so much fun I thought he was going to collapse! He finally did at bed time, but he was even smiling in his sleep! Two years ago we didn't know if Sam would ever be able to run around like a wild man, but God answered our prayers and has blessed his little life. He has filled our lives with so much joy for the past 2 years and we are very grateful for our son that was "asked of God".