A Day At The Pool

Today has been quite nice. We went spent most of the day at the pool with Sam, Evan and Gigi. As usual not many people were there, which is so nice because at times it feels like your own personal pool. We really like it!

The kids had a blast as usual. They were playing around the pool when Sam discovered in one of the filters a frog. Lela, Lacey and Evan got so excited. Sam reached into the filter and retrieved the poor little thing. Surprisingly he was still alive.....YUCK!!! I wish you could have seen Lacey, though, she was beside herself; talking about how she was gonna tell her daddy about how she saw a frog, etc. (She is so animated at times it just cracks me up.) They all took the frog to the back of the pool area to release him. I'm sure that frog was glad to get out of that situation.

Then they all went on a "filter hunt" to see what else they could find in the filters. Thank goodness that was pretty much it. I honestly don't think I could take anything else. As far as reptiles go I'm at my personal limit for the year, thank you very much.

Bacon Girl

Last night for dinner, we had bacon, eggs and biscuits. Kevin cooked six pieces of bacon. Lacey ate four of the six pieces he cooked. Do you think she likes bacon or what???

Can't Keep A Secret

Lacey is so funny. We call her our "monkey" because she is funny, climbs on everything, and just has such a cute little personality with lots and lots of energy. Last night when I got home from teaching both the girls were standing in the door to great me. They were all smiles, jumping up and down, pushing one another out of the way to get to me. (It must be nice to get this kind of welcome, at least I'm getting a little of taste of what Daddy gets to experience when he comes home everyday.)

I had barely gotten out of the car and in the house, when Lacey starts telling me, "We got your present, Mommy. We got your present. I go get it." She starts up the stairs to the bonus room. I said something to Kevin and he said that she had no idea where he had put it. Lacey then comes back all excited but of course no present, while Lela is telling her, "No, Lacey don't tell Mommy it's a surprise." I about cracked up laughing because Lacey was so sweet about everything. She just couldn't understand why she couldn't give me my present.

New Obsession

The girls' have a new obsession, well Lela more so than Lacey. Last Friday night, Disney aired a new movie called Camp Rock starring the Jonas Brothers. As of today I think the girls have watched it at least a 100 times (TiVo.) When it's on I ask Lacey who is in that movie and she says "the Jonas Brothers!" We even have the CD, which is found a permanent place in my CD player. (Anytime we're in the car we are having to listen to it - yeah!)

Well, today Lela took it one step further. She was watching the movie and I noticed her leave the room only to return with her baseball cap. She was watching one of the dancing/singing scenes and was mimicking everything they were doing - it was too cute. Now she is showing me how she dances and even sings. I wonder if Disney is looking for new talent?

Jokes On Me

Today, I thought I'd be smart and take the girls to the pool today and wear them out. How wrong I was! I promised the girls if they would let me get somethings done around the house I would take them to the pool. So, after lunch we gathered up floats, packed the beach bag, slathered on sunscreen, etc. and left for the pool. When we finally arrived at the pool around 1:00 p.m. I had decided that hopefully we would stay there until at least 3:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. if I was lucky.)

Well.....at around 2:00 p.m. they decided they wanted to get out and go over to the park that was right by the neighborhood pool. (Mind you now we had only been there an hour and now they want to play on the playground equipment.) Are you kidding me? I dried myself off and proceed to follow the girls to the playground and asked them if they were threw swimming for the day. They answered with "Yes, we're done." I walked back over to the pool, while they played and gathered up all our stuff. By the time I had everything packed up, they were ready to head home.

When we arrived at home, Lela then tells me she wants to ride her scooter. Why????? (Where does all this energy come from?) We went inside changed clothes and headed outside. I got a chair out and grabbed a couple of magazines to read while we were out there. I'm sitting in the chair with the girls running around the yard, playing soccer, hopscotch, riding bikes and I'm literally falling asleep. I felt absolutely horrible because I was so tired and I couldn't hardly keep my eyes open. Wait a minute . . . . . I was trying to wear them out not the other way around!! Jokes on me.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Taking it easy is exactly what we have done today. After I cleaned up the kitchen from lunch, I headed into our room to watch TV and work on my Jazzercise set for the week. Lacey had climbed up on the sofa and was sound asleep within seconds. Kevin set Lela up on her new favorite website (http://www.pbskids.org) to play, while he watched TV in the great room.

About an hour or so later I emerged from our room only to find Kevin asleep in the chair, Lacey still on the sofa sleeping and Lela was asleep face down at the table in front of the computer with her thumb in her mouth. I about died laughing because she had fallen asleep while playing some game. Talk about needing a nap.....

Lacey's Independence

Well, now that summer is officially here I have to try and be creative when it comes to finding things for the girls to do. I will say somedays are easier than others. This week hasn't been too bad, since Lela has been in Science Camp. Everyday she comes home telling us all the things they did for that day. Today, they touched worms, planted a flower and did something in regards to the life cycle of a frog?

Lacey and I went to my Wednesday morning bible study group, today. There she gets to play with her friends while I have some much needed "mommy time." Lacey is going through this stage of wanting to do everything and I mean everything by herself. It is funny and frustrating all at the same time. The one thing she is big on is dressing herself. She will let me pick the outfit, but putting it on is her job. If I try ever so slightly to help she yells "NO! I DO IT!" And if she puts something on backwards you can basically forget getting her to change it. It is kind of funny her walking around with her shorts on backwards. We are making progress though, because she has figured out what feet her shoes go on, if I could only get her to understand that the tag goes in back. Today, when I was explaining that her tag went in back she said "In back where my poop comes out?"

The other thing she has found is the step stool. I have decided that I don't like them period. Every time I turn around she is carrying one with her to the bathroom, the kitchen, my room, etc. She has discovered that with a step stool she can get and do whatever she needs ALL BY HERSELF!! Her favorite thing is getting ice from the refrigerator and just plain getting into the refrigerator. If I could I so would put a padlock on it, but then what are we to do???? Oh well, like every stage this too will pass (but when?)

Religion

Last night the girls were saying their prayers before they went sleep. Kevin and I were listening as they prayed for different people. (That is the most innocent thing in the world listening to my girls pray and what they ask God to do.) Right in the middle of their prayers Lela said something about loving Jesus. Lacey then said "I love Jesus so much!" Lela then replied with "Yeah, Lacey everybody loves Jesus!" I had to cover my mouth because it was the funniest thing listening to the two of them discussing "religion."

Science Camp

Today, Lela started her first day of Science Camp. She seemed very excited about going, especially since it is at the school across the street. The school is so close it only made sense for us to walk. It was a very nice way to start our day but by lunch time, it was a little hot. On the way home all she did was talk about bubbles? And stuff they did with bubbles.

Her friend, Katharine, came home with her today as well. They had so much fun playing together. Lacey was funny because she keep doing stuff trying to show off to the "big girls." They could have cared less but I guess Lacey thought they were impressed.

We had lunch and then proceed to the pool to swim for a couple of hours before Katharine's mom came. The girls had so much fun swimming and playing around. In fact so much fun that when they got home they were both asleep with 10 minutes after Katharine leaving. (Hey maybe this could be a daily thing? I wonder if her mom would mind if we borrowed her for the rest of the summer? Ha,ha, ha. A mom can wish can't she.)

Happy Father's Day

Today, we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens (at Kevin's suggestion) and out to lunch for Father's Day. The girls had a blast!!! It was lots of fun. They rode a train, made frog hats, got their face painted. Well, I take that back - Lela got her face painted but Lacey would have no part of it. Go figure this is the child who draws all over herself from head to toe with a marker?

We had never been to the Botanical Gardens before today, it was a pretty neat place. Lots of things for the kids to do which surprised me. In the Children's Garden they had a water fountain for the kids to play in (that was a very popular place I must say) and a "tree house" for them to climb around in. Poor little Lacey was so worn out that by the time we got back to the car she was asleep. Lela, of course, was still going strong.

We Made It - VBS Is Over!!!

Yeah! Friday is finally here and we made it through any year of Vacation Bible School. We are all exhausted plain and simple. Last night everyone was asleep within 5 minutes of their heads hitting the pillows including myself. We had a fun time this week. All the kids had a little program yesterday for the finale where they sang the songs they learned this week - some new and some old ones. (I personally like the old: Deep And Wide, This Little Light Of Mine, B-I-B-L-E.)

Today will be low key, plain and simple.

Uninvited Guest

Talk about exciting morning....we'll at least that is what Lela and Lacey will tell you. We were getting ready to leave for VBS. I let the garage up right before we were going to get in the car. I came back inside to fix Lacey's milk. Lela had walked down the driveway to get the morning paper. When she came back in, she told me we had a little problem. I was like what are you talking about? "No, Mom just come out to the garage." I went into the garage, having no idea what the "little problem" was going to be when out of no where she said there's a turtle in the garage. I honestly thought Lela probably had no idea what she was saying....how wrong was I. I walked around my car and in the middle of my garage is a turtle crawling towards me. OK! Now what I'm I suppose to do, because I don't touch frogs, turtles, snakes, lizards....basically anything living that lives outdoors so to speak.

In my mind I was freaking out, but I didn't want the girls to see me acting this way. So, I went inside to get a broom to sweep the poor turtle outside. Well here's some advice, turtles don't sweep up very easily if at all. Next idea....didn't have any. So, I took a deep breath and proceed to pick the thing up, which I mind you I have never and I repeat never touched a turtle in all my 36 years until now!!! As I was picking the turtle up I had to convince myself it was a rock, so I kept telling myself it's just a rock, just a rock... a LIVING AND BREATHING ROCK!!!

I got the turtle out and placed him in the yard. Lela was so excited because she decided that she wanted to touch it since she had seen me do it. All the way home from Bible School, the girls talked about the turtle and how they hoped he was still in the yard, etc. Needless to say he left (smart guy.) Now I'm just praying that we have no more visitors to the garage, I just don't think I can handle anymore excitement.

Surfin' Through The Scriptures - VBS

Today, we started our first day of VBS. I've been anxious about my class even though I have done this before. I just didn't know what my class would be like this year. Last year I had a little boy that basically didn't want to participate, tried running from the group, etc. and I was afraid that might happen again this year. Well, boy I couldn't have dreamed my class would be what it is....11 little girls, not a single boy in the class. Obviously, the Lord has been listening to my prayers. It is so different just having girls. They are very much into their crafts and singing. I love it!!!! I'm definitely a girls' mom.

Lela is in my class (of course) with her friend Katharine - so she seems to be enjoying herself. You get those two together and you never know what is gonna happen next. They are a mess the two of them. They are so cute because they are so opposite of each other. Katharine has very curly long blonde hair and then there is Lela with her long straight dark brown hair. They both are in the same class at school, as well as dance together. They definitely had fun today.

Lacey on the other hand, who knows about her. She didn't seem real happy about going this morning. When we dropped her off at her class, she was crying and pitching a fit. (Hopefully, tomorrow will be better - let's cross our fingers.) Lacey hasn't done that in a long time. I'm hoping that she was just putting on a show for me. When I picked her up she was sitting in one of the girls laps watching a movie.....typical Lacey. (This fall will be interesting when school starts back up.)

All in all we had a good day. It's been a long one, but a fun one. And it doesn't help matters that I have teach Jazzercise this afternoon.....oh, well maybe we'll sleep really good tonight!

Lela's Dance Recital

Well, today we have been non-stop. Needless to say we are all tired and worn out, Lela's Dance Recital was this afternoon. She has been so excited. All she has talked about is how she is going to dance on the "big stage" in front of lots of people and wear red lipstick. (Personally, I think that is what she really enjoys is the makeup part.)

We're so proud of her, she really seems to enjoy it and her class did really good. So, for at least a few weeks we have no dance. She is attending dance camp for a week this summer, where she will be a rodeo cowgirl. Then when August rolls around, we will start back up. This year will be interesting because Lacey will be now dancing as well....I can't imagine what that will be like. She is such a loose cannon, you just never know with her.

I was not allowed to photograph or record the recital because the studio has it copyrighted,(you know more money for them) but I did make pictures before and after. The recital was entitled Four Seasons. Her class was Fourth of July, where they danced to Grand 'Ole Flag. And like all ballerinas she received flowers after her performance.

Child For Sale???

I went to take a shower and left Lela and Lacey to color. This is what Lacey found to color.....herself? Why me?

Recovering From Six Flags.....

Yes, we went to Six Flags yesterday and now today I'm suffering. I'm totally exhausted!!! (Maybe that's why for the short entry.) The girls had a blast. Lela rode just about everything she could for her height, which included the Mindbender, the Mine Train, and Splash Water Falls just to name a few. The lines were great. For the most part we walked up to every ride and just got on. It wasn't bad at all.

What Are The Odds????

Talk about a long and eventful day, well yesterday was it!!! We all got up and went to church and Sunday school. Our lesson in our Sunday school class was on perseverance (little did we know that would come in to play during the coarse of the day.) After church, Kevin and Lacey headed to a family reunion at Lake Acworth and Lela and I stayed down here since she had dress rehearsal for her dance recital.

Lela and I started our afternoon off by going and getting pedicures. It was Lela's first time. We had them paint flowers on our toes - that was really fun. Aunt Laura even went with us. Afterwards, we made a quick trip to Michael's and Target. Then we headed home to get ready for the dress rehearsal. As we were headed out the door around 3:00, I got a phone call from Kevin. He told me I wasn't gonna believe what had happened. A large tree had fallen on his truck. What? What did you say? Yes, a very large tree had fallen on his truck. Uh? He thought the truck might be totaled but wasn't sure. He then proceeded to tell me no one was hurt and everybody was OK. (Alright, now I can breath.) I asked him what I needed to do and he said just sit tight. How am I suppose to sit tight? I guess it was a good thing Lela had her rehearsal, because we had to be there. (Her recital is next Sunday.)

Lela's rehearsal time was from 3:30 - 4:30, with her class being last. Of course, by the time we got to her class it almost 5:00. They ran through their dance twice and we headed out the door. As soon as I hit the parking lot I called Kevin. He told me they were cutting the tree up and his mom was there helping with Lacey. He would call me later and give some type of game plan.

Lela then decided she was hungry. So, I talked her out of McDonald's and we headed to our favorite pizza place - Johnny's. It was really fun just hanging out with my five year old. I had forgotten how much fun she and I have together. Since Lacey has been born, there is really no "Lela and me time" because we usually have "sissy" with us. (I think Lela liked having all the attention as well.) After dinner, Lela wanted to walk next door and get some Italian ice. Tell me this child still isn't hungry? So, we walked next door to Rita's and Lela got a child size Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Italian ice. Yuck! I had a bite. Didn't care for it, but what ever floats your boat. She ate the whole thing....how? The child isn't that big.

Then around 6:45 or so, Kevin said the wrecker had the truck and it was on its way to Newnan. About 8:15 we finally hooked with Kevin, Lacey, Jan and Earl. My poor little baby, she had to have been just exhausted. She was so excited to see me and Lela. She kept telling us a big tree went boom and fell on daddy's car, we ran, I saw some ducks. Talk about the never ending day.

We finally got home around 9:30 and you talk about excitement, what are the odds???