The Destroyer- Hi-yah!

So Natalie's latest "skill" is to walk into a room and dump EVERY single thing out so we say that she can quickly "destroy" a room. So now on cue, we say, "Here is Natalie, the destroyer" and she will say "Hi-yah" while hitting her arms together. Too funny!

We've had Vacation Bible School this week. Melanie's teacher told me the first day when I picked her up, "Wow, she is so smart." So, maybe I'm bragging but what mom doesn't love a comment like that when they pick up their kids. At Partee about 5 years ago we began what we call a "shining star moment" where we write one great thing their kid did during the day. Even if the kid had a TERRIBLE day we searched and found that one good thing their kid did. The parents REALLY appreciated this great thing and were able to "live their kids day" for that tiny moment. I didn't realize until I was a mom how valuable finding a great part of a kids' day to brag about is. I LOVE hearing how great my kids are and I'm not going to lie- I get frustrated if a teacher at the gym, church, school, wherever, either doesn't comment or doesn't have anything good to say. I mean come on- I just trusted my child with you- come up with something good to say. Okay, that was a really long soap box- just justifying how far positive comments go and what they mean to parents. Melanie has come home with great crafts and funny stories and songs. She said her teachers "are the gray haired ladies." It is 3 grandmothers :) I've been working in the nursery with Natalie's group. She can, how can I say this nicely..."hold her own." There are definitely not any kids that mess with Natalie. She was the smallest, youngest, and only girl but she is ummmm, aggressive when she needs to be :)

Natalie had her 15 month dr appointment yesterday. She did great. It was a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGG wait (about 35 minutes) in our room without clothes on. Natalie proceeded to lick the floor, do naked forward rolls, pull books down, stick her fingers in electrical outlets, etc. But, she got a great report. She was in the 72nd% in weight, (24 lbs 11 oz) 31 inches tall (61st%) and her head actually shrunk to the 77th%. Last time it was in the 96th% so we think it was a bad last measurement. We explained her fiestiness- he was not concerned. He was happy with her eating and sleeping skills. All in all okay.

My running is progressing. I have a 17 week training program- making it through week two- a little sore but doing fine. Just praying for no injuries in the next few months and I will be fine!

Melanie comes up with the funniest words for a 3 year old. She told me yesterday, "I'm going to go draw a produce stand okay mom." What? I asked her what is a produce stand? She said, "you know the place where you sell vegetables." I asked her where she learned that and she explained Barney. She hasn't watched Barney in forever but things stick with her. She is still having her death obsession and questioning but not quite as emotionally sad for Melanie just more questioning. She asked me what made Granny die. I told her that she had a disease that made her lungs sick so she couldn't breathe. She asked me if I was sick. I told her no, that I was healthy. Then, missy pointed out, well, you have a staff infection. Yes, Melanie, I do but (hopefully) it is not going to kill me. Good grief!

Oh!!! Our high school reunion was FANTASTIC FABULOUS AMAZING FUN FUN FUN!!!! It was one of the most fun things I have done in a REALLY long time. It was great. It was a little awkward for a while when you see people that you recognize but didn't talk to in HS do you talk to them now and act fake or not talk to them. I chose not talk to them for the most part but overall AMAZING! I have to give my class props- it is a really good group of people. There were a TON of people there. I would estimate like 250. And, they were all REALLY good looking. We were quite impressed with the cuteness of everyone. We went to a post party at a guy's house who I went to 10th grade homecoming with and it was super fun. A ton of people came over and we stayed out until about 2:00. I had woken up at 4:00 am for class that day so I was so tired and called it quits at 2:00 but it was an amazing night. Thanks to Donna and Rodney for keeping the girls for a fun night out for the parents.

Holy Cow...

Well, after being bummed that I was not keeping up my running skills (and running body) as much as I thought I would I decided I needed an incentive and boy did I find it...

I signed up for a 1/2 Marathon in October.

Good grief- here I go! I ran 2x last week and 3x this week to see if I even "remembered how." I felt every step at the moment and definitely the next day but I did it and now training is completely "in session." So, here I go!

Odds and Ends

Well vacation is over :( It was wonderful but oh so very BUSY!!!! Natalie was nothing but constant. We took Melanie to climb the lighthouse and she was amazing and in great shape. I even have to give us adults props- we exercised...semi-regularly while we were down there! I ran twice and about hyperventilated when it was really hot but we did it. Melanie was so proud of the fish she caught- both a trout and a whiting. She thought she was amazing. A funny thing she said was that she told Brian that the waves were so big that she "rode" was a tsunami. Heehee- she had really been talking to my dad. Natalie had to sleep in the laundry room b/c we thought that she and Melanie could share a room but we were oh so wrong- Natalie not concerned about the laundry room at all she slept great.

A random interesting story....My cousin (my dad's youngest brother's youngest son) is good looking. Okay, judge me, whatever, he is cute. (Elizabeth you can back me up on this one- her cousin is Josh Holloway from Lost and obviously she thinks he is hot- so thinking your cousin is hot is only semi-creepy) He has moved to California to pursue his modeling/acting hotness skills. However, we just got word that he is in a boy band. WHAT? Yeah, he showed us some Micheal Jackson moves when he was a kid but I did not know he could be in a boy band. Keep your ears, but more importantly your eyes out for Josh Reed one day :)

So, I totally bribed Melanie today. She and Natalie had DESTROYED our house with toys. Any person that has a 3 year old girl knows there are pieces of things EVERYWHERE. We call her Templeton from Charlotte's Web b/c she collects things and puts them in purses and bags and likes to "pack." Well, our house was so chaotic. I set the timer for the downstairs for 10 minutes and told her whatever was left on the floor was going in toy timeout. When she heard the timer she quickly started crying, piled everything in her hands and threw it on the stairs and said it all belonged upstairs. I then bribed her to clean the playroom (which took her 2 HOURS!) with getting a pedicure. Now she can't watch the Flintstones (or any other TV) until she cleans her room. (She really wants to watch the Flintstones to better understand her vitamins) So, it has been all day of cleaning and bribing but all we have left is her room. Whew, our house is slowly being pieced together- to let you know how dirty our life had become CArnett's told Clint they would have to charge extra to clean the inside of my car b/c the leather had so many "kid" stains on it- Clint said no, came home and cleaned it himself (after they did the "normal" cleaning). These kids have made us a pigsty!

I finished my test, and think I passed but did make a 100 for sure! We'll find out in a few weeks. Anyway that is is that for now...Clint and I have our 10 year HS reunion this weekend- I'll post more vacation picks and funny HS pics soon.

The Beach So Far

Well, our trip at the beach is quickly coming to a close :( We have to leave a day early so I can take the GACE....this Grad School is almost over thank goodness! Anyway the girls are having a great time. Melanie is AMAZING! I have never seen her have such great behavior for such a long period of time. We are even taking her out for the girl's shopping day. Natalie thnks the ocean is grand. However, she gets completely worn out so she is napping a ton! But they are both little fishies swimming away and loving the sand. Here are lots of pics! More to come...

13 years...and counting

Well, today Clint and I have been married for 5 YEARS!!! Can you believe it? Our first date was in the 10th grade. Clint was 15 and I was 16- that was 13 years ago!!!! I drove on our first date and we went to Stone Mountain Festival Movie Theater and dinner. Holy Cow has time flown by. We celebrated in quite the romantic way- PACKING! BLAH! Our car is so full Clint literally had to make a hole in the back stuff to see out his rearview...what will we ever do when we move? Anyway enjoy the walk down memory lane :) These are random fun times in our relationship. If I didn't have my camera packed (or if I had a real scanner) I would post some OLD SCHOOL pics of me and Clint from highschool- maybe for a fun summer project another day.

Catch you after the trip!

When Yogurt Explodes

The girls got new sunglasses yesterday in preparation for the beach. Needless to say...they love them!

Also the other day the girls had some fun playing with rain boots. I have a classic pic of Melanie naked except for the rain boots so they keep making it around with the camera!

Enjoy the oh so funny video of what happens when you leave a 14 month old alone with 1/4 of her yogurt left. (Lately the girls have been taking FOREVER to eat and I don't have the patience to just sit at the table and watch.) So, I was checking to see if I had sold anymore textbooks (I had a HUGE collection from Undergrad, Master's and Specialist's). In less than 1 week I have made $130 on random OLD textbooks! When I looked in on her this is what I saw....

If you stay quiet...

Not too much has been going on. We're enjoying lazy days of summer filling them with gym time, playgrounds, and getting ready for the beach. We took a breakfast play date with our friends Elizabeth and Sarah to McDonald's b/c breakfast never interferes with anyone's nap. Natalie is quite the daredevil at the playground. She has no fear and attempts it all- even stuff that I decide is much to big and scary for her...no worries she is climbing up it in an instant.

I'm continuing to battle my stupid staff infection. About a month ago I had this thing appear on my face that (sorry for yuck description) got raised, hard, red, and full of ooze. The dr put me on 1 week of topical and oral antibiotics and then this week (appx 1 month later) it reappeared- gross! Right around vacation time. Last time I wasn't sure what it was and it got large enough that I had to wear a bandaid on my face for a week but this time hopefully I caught it early enough. I had our first teenage babysitter come watch the girls for an hour. The dr put me on 1 month of topical and oral antibiotic to hopefully kill the stubborn thing. The sweet teenager did great with the girls. I know Melanie kept her in line :)

Natalie has had yucky, runny, numerous poops for a few days so I also tried to nip that in bud before vacation and the phone advice nurse after listening to my description decided it seemed like some type of virus and I didn't need to worry unless she was having 8+ runny poops a day or if it lasted more than 10 days. Believe me...if either of those scenarios occurred I would most definitely be calling back.

But, the sweetest thing is Melanie's latest conversations. I've realized that if I shut up long enough to listen to her she asks very intelligent sweet questions. She has been very curious about death lately and what makes people die and what happens when you die. The only really examples she has of death are my dad's parents and Brian's and Dawn's cat, Gator. She doesn't remember Clint's grandmother so she doesn't bring her up. She is really obsessed with how unhealthy smoking is and that it can make you sick. She wants to know what kind of sickness you get from smoking and I told her cancer. Well, the smart little girl I have said, "did papa smoke because he had cancer?" I had to explain that there are different kinds of cancer and that all cancer is not caused by smoking. She wanted to know what happens to be people's bodies when they die. I didn't think it would be okay to go into cremation or anything so I just said that bodies are buried and explained tombstones and that people go to where people and pets are buried to talk to them and remember them. She said that she wants to go to my grandparent's graves to talk to them and that could she talk them at night and in church. I told her yes. So then she asked if we could talk to my grandmother right then (we were in her bed). I said yes. And, sweet Melanie began telling my granny about when it snowed this past winter how she built a snowman and then asked me to tell a story. The next night she said that she remembered eating raisins at Granny's house and asked if she could tell Granny something else. I told her of course. Then she started telling Granny the story about her preschool graduation and what she sang there. It was really sweet and I was completely getting choked up. Lately, even at dinner, she will hear something that sparks a memory or a question, and she will talk about Gator and my grandparents at least once a day. She gets nervous about me and Clint one day having to die and I try to assure her that we are healthy and young and will be around for a very long time to take care of her and Natalie. Then she asks when she dies can she see Granny, Papa, and Gator again. We tell her yes, and she just says, "ok, goodnight." It is all so sweet and innocent. It is pretty amazing to me that she is even curious. She is such a different child than Natalie and some other 3 year olds I know. She definitely wears her emotions on her sleeve and is very inquisitive. Though that can make for some serious tantrums at times it makes for a very caring girl at others. My lesson I took out of it all is I need to slow down and give her the time to really talk to me because she obviously has a lot to say.