New Craft

I've been working on a new craft the past few days. The women's ministry at our church is having a dessert auction and I said I would bring something. When I saw the sign up list everyone was bringing cakes and pies. I wanted to bring something different so I came up with the idea to make a cookie bouquet and put it in a decorated paint bucket (which is another craft I have been making). Never mind the fact that I have never made one. I've made sugar cookies and I've "decorated" cookies so how hard could it be right? I quickly learned that my version of decorating cookies is slapping a bunch of frosting on the cookie and putting sprinkles on it. Usually the kids help so you can see why I use "decorating" loosely. Actually decorating them is a lot harder. It's even hard to make them look nice. So I did my best and they turned out OK. Well, their done nothing fancy and definitely nothing Martha Stewart would be proud of.

What I am excited about is how the paint bucket turned out. I've been making a few decorated paint buckets to give people and I think they turn out pretty neat. Anyway, I wanted to share my creation. Please no comments on the awful cookie decorating job I did. They are supposed to be Christmas trees, angels and bells - in case you couldn't tell.

Close up of the bucket. There is a matching lid (in green) I forgot to put in the picture.

Like Squirrels

Have you ever wondered why your kids do stuff? Sometimes I think I am raising squirrels. You may be asking yourself - squirrels that's a weird thing to call your kids. But, if you knew my kids you might agree. Ever since Beckham was a baby he loved taking stuff and putting it in different places. My friend in Texas used to call it "squirreling" because he was like a squirrel who hides it's nuts. But with Beckham it was my wooden spoon, ruler, shoe, remote, etc. He would hide everything. It was like he was putting stuff away for safe keeping. He still saves everything and puts it away for "later". For instance at Disney he wanted to keep his french fry so he could remember it. Well, Monte said he could keep it thinking he would forget about it. He didn't and he still has the french fry.

Both my kids have always loved (and it drives me absolutely crazy) taking every toy, book, stuffed animal and putting it in small spaces. When Ainsley was younger and still in her crib one night I heard her crying for help. I went check on her and Beckham had put every toy in her crib and she was sitting in a small corner surrounded by stuff. (This happened more than once). Next was the bath tub. For weeks they would get all their toys and pile them in the bath tub. After this happened a few times I gave up and just left them in there for a few days. Then it was Ainsley's bed. But this time it was Ainsley putting her stuff on her bed not Beckham. The worst part about this was she has a gazillion books, animals and a lot of puzzles. She would sleep on her bed with all the "stuff" and would wake up with puzzle prints on her face. It didn't seem to bother her a bit. - drove me crazy. It must be a game that Beckham and Ainsley play. It's either called - Let's see how much stuff we can cram in a small space or let's see if we can drive mom crazy. When I start to hear the pitter patter or their feet going back and forth I know I can look forward to a pile of toys stuck somewhere. So if you ever lose something at my house it's probably hidden away for safe keeping or stuffed somewhere with all the other toys.

I thought I had a picture of them with all their toys in the tub and on Ainsley's bed but all I can find is the one of her crib. I'll keep looking and post the others if I can find them.

Church at Disney?

As we are driving to the store today and this is the conversation between Beckham and I:

B: Mom are there churches at Disney World because I didn't see any?
Me: I don't think there are Beckham.
B: Why not? There should be churches every where
Me: I agree
B: I think they should put one in Downtown Disney because church is important and Disney World should have one. It has everything else.
Me: I agree
B: It should go right next to the Princess store.
Me: Maybe when you are older you can start a church there.
B: OK, or we could move Disney by our house because we have a lot of churches here.
Me: True but that might be hard. Good idea though.

It touched my heart to hear him talk about how important church is and that he even realized there wasn't a church at Disney.

Disney Pictures

Here are a few of the pictures from our trip to Disney. We had a great time. The kids loved seeing all the characters and Beckham LOVED the rides. He went on everything he was tall enough to ride. He even went on the Haunted Mansion twice! For some reason this year Ainsley was scared of most of the rides. I don't know if it is a phase but she didn't go on as many as she did last year. She would rather see the characters. It worked out well for Beckham because he would go on a ride with Monte while we waited in line to see a character. By the time we were in the front of the line Beckham would join us. He got the best of both worlds - seeing the characters, going on rides and not having to wait in line to see the characters!!

When the park opened we ran to Dumbo to ride it first. We did a few more rides and then headed to Toon Town. (Toon Town opens a little after the rest of the park - I guess Mickey has to have time to get ready to see everyone). Anyway, we get there a few minutes before it opens and when they took down the ropes it reminded me of the Running of the Brides when they have that huge bridal gown sale in NY. People were running so fast to get to the character tents. Kids were running out of their shoes and parents were running over kids. It was unreal. We walked at a brisk pace and by the time we got to the princess tent the line for Tinker Bell and the fairies was already 90 min long!! We decided that it wasn't worth the wait to see the fairies and got in the princess line which was much shorter. I guess it was only the 2nd day the fairies had been in the park. Never before have you been able to get your picture with Tink and now that the fairies movie is out they have more fairies. Even when we found that out we still decided it wasn't worth the wait (I know all you Disney Die hards are cringing at our decision and are wondering how we could pass up a chance to meet the fairies). The first time we went to see the princesses (yes, I said first we went twice). Beckham was excited to see them but when we got there he changed his mind and didn't want to get his picture with them. So he stood back with Monte as Ainsley soaked it up. She was in heaven! She loved meeting the princesses and was so cute. Later in the day Beckham regretted his decision and asked to see the princesses. So we waited in line again and this time he met them all and was more than happy to give them each a hug. The rest of the day was spent on rides and in lines to see characters. It seemed like every time we were 2 people from the front of the line to see a character they would have to "go for a walk, go make some pies, go get a drink, or powder their nose". 10 minutes later they would be back. Ainsley loved seeing the characters - I think one day at Animal Kingdom Ainsley saw Goofy three different times. Here are some of the pictures of the kids with some of the characters.

Character Breakfast at Ohana's

Goofy and Pluto


Minnie in her Halloween Costume

Goofy in his Halloween costume. The kids figured out why Goofy is called Goofy because he was goofy.

Ainsley thought Donald Duck was so funny because she had a Mickey Mouse Pen and he would not sign her book with a Mickey Mouse pen. He threw it on the ground and stomped on it. She thought that was hilarious.

Ariel was one of Beckham's favorites

Cinderella (the second time we saw her)

Ainsley and Bell (Beckham would not get in the picture)

Ainsley's favorite princess - Sleeping Beauty

Why is she her favorite? Because she wears pink.

FSU Football Weekend

A few days after getting back from Disney we hopped in the car again and headed to my parents. Monte and I had tickets to the FSU vs. Georgia Tech football game in Atlanta and my parents graciously offered to watch the kids. It's been nice living in an area where we can get to a few FSU games even if it's not at FSU. And even nicer to live close enough to family so we don't have to take the kids!! I'm sure the kids would love going to a game but then we wouldn't get to enjoy it because we would be taking care of them.

On Saturday morning we headed to Atlanta to catch up with some friends and head to the game. We first stopped in at the Varsity and had something to eat and have a frozen O (kind of like and orange cream slush). After filling our bellies with greasy food we went to the FSU Alumni tailgate hosted by the Atlanta chapter. As we walked around looking for our friends Monte and I started to realize how old we are getting. We finally met up with our friends, chatted for awhile and then headed into the game. We got to our seats which were right next to the band. Literally right next to the band. It was so loud. We looked at each other and commented on how loud it was which made us feel even older. I don't think I've ever sat that close to the band.

The game was a lot of fun but the outcome wasn't what we wanted. If you didn't see the game FSU rallied back from behind. With less than a minute left we were on the 3 yard line and were about to score and take the lead. On third down we ran right up the middle and fumbled the ball!!! It happened right in front of us. We saw the ball come out and felt like it was moving in slow motion. GT recovered the ball and we lost the game. Even though we lost we still had a great time. It was nice to spend time together. We both really appreciate mom and dad watching the kids so we could get away. Thanks mom and dad!!

Notice the band right behind us!!

Halloween

OK, I'm going to try and play catch up this weekend. We have had a busy month but you wouldn't be able to tell from our blog. I have been neglecting to blog and am hoping to catch up soon.

I'll start off with Halloween. We were at my parents for Halloween because they were going to be watching the kids the next day when Monte and I went to Atlanta for the FSU game (another blog about that later). We knew we couldn't trick or treat in my parents neighborhood because 1. it's very hilly and 2. there are only a handful of houses built and it would take forever to walk to each one since they are so spread out. After asking around someone recommended an older neighborhood closer to Clemson. So off we went. The neighborhood was hilly - well, at least the driveways were which we had to go up and down to get to the front doors. And a lot of people weren't home or weren't answering their door. After going to a bunch of houses and only getting candy from about 10 we decided to call it quits. The kids had plenty of candy (especially since it was going to be in the house and I'm trying not to eat candy anymore). We had a lot of fun and the kids were adorable.

Originally Ainsley was going to be Sleeping Beauty which is her favorite princess because she wears pink but since it was a little chilly she decided to be a lion. Luckily I had bought a bunch of costumes after Halloween last year - they were super cheap under $5 each. I originally got them to play dress up. What better time to dress up than Halloween. So Ainsley was a friendly lion. Beckham is into space so he wanted to be a space explorer. Not an astronaut but a space explorer. I'm not exactly sure what the difference is or even what a space explorer is but Beckham corrected me every time I called him an astronaut.

Our Friendly Little Lion and Space Explorer

Give me a break

Some people in this country have their priorities so screwed up. As people complain about the long lines to vote I shake my head in disbelief. Is it that big of a sacrifice to wait in line to vote? There are men and women over seas away from family and friends for months on end putting their lives in danger so you can have the right to vote. People in line are complaining about the wait to vote all the while they happily wait in line for hours even days to get a wii or see a football game. You can wait in line for something like that but you can't wait in line to vote for our next President!?! Goodness gracious - the priorities in our country are so messed up. Yes, the lines to vote are long and yes it might not be convenient but come on it's not that big of a sacrifice. If that doesn't get you out to the polls maybe this will - if you vote you can get a free coffee at Starbucks, free donut at Krispy Kreme and even a scoop of ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. If that doesn't motivate you I don't know what will (just kidding).