Have You Ever Seen Such a Sight in Your Life?

Today was Nursery Rhyme Character Day at Harrison's Pre-school. They have been singing and learning nursery rhymes for about 2 weeks, and this was their culminating activity. The Nursery Rhyme cd has gotten a LOT of playtime around our house lately! We have been asking Harrison who he wanted to be, but he kept saying he didn't know yet. I wondered when he would know, and it was Tuesday when he decided to be "One Blind Mouse." So off we went in search of mouse paraphernalia while singing Three Blind Mice. :) Here is the cutest blind mouse you've ever seen...
Harrison was very anxious to get to school to see what his teacher and classmates would be dressed up as--thus the frowning face at Mommy taking picture after picture!

And here is Little Boy Blue and Little Bo Peep alongside that cute blind mouse. All the kids looked so adorable! There were several Marys with Little Lambs and Jacks (not Gjesvold, but with Jill).

A Very Happy Thursday

Have I mentioned that Randy coaches for Monrovia Middle? He is the Defensive Coordinator for the 7th Grade Team. Just to let you in on a little history--they are usually pretty good. In fact a few years ago, they went undefeated! However, this season is a completely different story. They are not having their best year to say the least! But even through all the gray and gloomy days we have been having lately, the 7th graders managed to pull a win out of their hats yesterday!! Even in all the mud and muck they and their coaches had to run through! A few pics of the fabulous game....

"Hut, hut...."

And he scores...again!!!!

"Way to go!!! That's what I'm talking about!"

The final score

"Daddy, we are so proud of you!"

We Will Miss You!

My dear, sweet Uncle Joe passed away yesterday morning in his sleep! He will be missed desperately by all of our family. But what a wonderful wake-up call--to the trumpets in Heaven! I only hope that I can influence as many lives as my Uncle Joe did in his long and eventful life. We will miss you, Uncle Joe!

My Uncle Joe and Aunt Bobbie at my Daddy's 70th birthday party in March of this year.

It's Raining Meat!

Last night the 4th grade classes at Monrovia Elementary sponsored a movie night at Monaco Pictures. We got to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs together in one theatre for matinee prices. Since we are a "movie family," we jumped at the chance to go see a family movie together. It was also fun for Caitlin to get to see her classmates and teacher outside of school. We loved this movie! It had a great storyline (but we have read the book over and over and over!) and was very, very funny. Caitlin and Harrison were laughing so hard at one point that I thought they were going to fall out of their seats!

Roll Tide Roll!

While Harrison and I were bonding over at Mother/Son Survivor 2009, Randy took Caitlin on a road trip. Guess where they went?

To Tuscaloosa, of course!! They spent a Daddy/Daughter Day bonding over Bama hot dogs, the Walk of Champions, and lots of peanuts, I'm told.

They met up with some North Alabama friends while there. Don't you love my girly-girl who has to have the pink jersey?!?

Caitlin got to joust--although it didn't turn out so well for her!

And they got to yell "Rooooooooollllllll Tide" so many times, they were a little hoarse when they got home!

What a great sight to see! Let's hope that the Mighty Crimson Tide can keep it up!

And I'll Go Tally The Votes...

Harrison and I participated in our church's "Mom and Son Survivor 2009" event today. We had so much fun!! This was our first time participating, so we didn't know what to expect other than it was going to be a lot of fun. And boy, were we right!
First we were placed into a Tribe with some other mothers and sons. We were in Tribe 1, but we renamed it the "Reigning Rhinos." The first thing we did was to tie-dye our t-shirts and make our family name plaque. The plaques went on our tribal pole.

Here is the "Reigning Rhinos" tribe with their tribal pole. Becky and Boone Ramsey are on the left and Allison, Joshua, and Dylan Lingo are on the right.
Next game the "Challenges." There was a Food Challenge where the Moms fed their blindfolded sons "worms." (It was really noodles and pop rocks!) Then we had to do the obstacle course.

Swinging across the "water", pulling water balloons through the poles, and Army-crawling through a tent were part of the course. Moms had to go through the course too! Sorry, no pictures of that!

We then played tug-of-war.

After that, we got to launch the water balloons together.

Next came a Scavenger Hunt. We had to follow the clues, grab the pieces, and put together a puzzle with the rest of our tribe. The puzzle formed a Bible verse--Romans 10:13--which we had to say together.

Finally...we made it to Tribal Council. Thankfully no one was voted off!

We had a devotion by PastorJohn Ryberg and then....

...we handed long sticks to the boys and roasted marshmallows for s'mores!!!

It was such a fun evening, and I am so proud I got to spend the time with my little man! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Do You Remember?

I remember exactly where I was when I heard about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. My Kindergarten class was in the gym for P.E., and I was in the Teacher Workroom with my friend, Mandy. Mrs. McGahee came in and shouted, "We're under attack! A plane just hit the World Trade Center in New York!" Mandy and I looked at each other and hurried to the TV in her classroom. We watched in horror as the second plane hit the second tower. It was so hard to believe that this was really happening! I immediately called Randy to make sure he was okay, and then I called my Mom. She had already been trying to call my Aunt Pat to find out about my cousin Paige. Paige lived in New York City right behind the World Trade Center. No one could get her on the phone or find her! The rest of my day I tried to hold it together for my little Kindergartners, but it was hard! I left early that day and hurried to my parents' house and got to squeeze Caitlin as hard as I could (she was only a year old). We finally found out that Paige and her boyfriend, Christian, were okay. They had to run out of their apartment with only a few personal items. They walked all the way across the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey and found a hotel to stay at for a few nights. When they finally were allowed back into their apartment, it was extremely unstable and covered in ashes. They were able to salvage a few things but left most of their life's possessions there to be destroyed when the apartment building was demolished a few weeks later. I still get tears in my eyes thinking about that day and how scared I was for me, my family, and our country.

Labor Day Weekend

Where did the LONG Labor Day weekend go?!? Well, here are the highlights....
Randy was recovering from a football injury.

OUCH!!!
We cheered our team onto victory!

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

GO BAMA!!!!

We also cleaned up the backyard. Although some of us had a little too much fun with the hose.

Can you tell what a big help Harrison was?!?

Then Randy and I went out on a date here...

And to top it off, we hung out with our friends, the Mayers and Aronsons, on Monday evening. It was a good, but lazy weekend that went by WAY too fast! Only 24 more days till Fall Break!

The Incident

I got the phone call this afternoon that every parent dreads..."There's been a little accident at school." Thankfully it was nothing serious, but it still caused my heart to skip a beat! Apparently it was basketball time in the gym, and Caitlin was standing behind a boy who did not know she was there. When he rared the ball back to throw it in...BAM! It hit her square in the eye! It was purely an accident, but one that makes my beautiful baby girl look so sad.

She's really fine. But to make sure, she requested a meal from Burger King tonight along with dessert! It didn't break her glasses, thank goodness. When I got to the school, it was pretty swollen. But with lots of ice packs, it has gone down a lot. I am sure it will be very, very purple in the morning. Her daddy told her to tell people, "You should see the other guy!"