brother and sister

Although there are days when I wonder if they love each other, there are other days when it is clear they do.

Elephant appreciation day at CHOM

Elephant appreciation day may not mean much in other places, but here in Alabama, it is celebrated! At the Children's Museum, Big Al (the Univ of AL mascot) appeared for pictures with the kids, and they had balloons,  cookies, and all kinds of fun. The best part was when Big Al surprised the kids by hanging out with the kids in the animal room - Savannah gave him big hugs, the kids launched themselves onto him, and he pretended to chomp the kids with a big stuffed alligator. 

a trip to the Alabama coast

We spent a few days at Gulf Shores, AL for an end of summer beach trip. Beautiful beaches, warm & humid weather (although Savannah was cold on the breezy warm mornings!), a little fishing, a trip to the Little Zoo That Could. Who knew Alabama had such beautiful white sandy beaches!?

Who can blame him...Mommy makes a good pizza!!!

A visit from Grandma & Grandpa!

We had a great visit with Grandma & Grandpa Rapp last week!!

The Hideaway

This used to be a plain white "storage area" under the stairs in our house...but abracadabra...Mommy turned it into a super cool kid hangout complete with chalkboards, magnetic paint squares, a beanbag and pillows tucked around the corner, glowing stars on the ceiling, and some fun polka-dots. Now, despite the stink of the magnetic paint...the kiddos dig hanging out in there!

Why hello, Gigi's cupcakes :-)

surprise surprise...Gigi's opened near us!  Fridays are cupcake days at our house...and these were well-received - except by Daddy who thought they had too much frosting....pshawww..what does he know?!?!

gonna have to face it, you're addicted to superheroes!

Daddy decided to have the kids watch an old Spiderman episode with him and that was IT. Suddenly, the kids are crazy over superheroes. Gage is obsessed. If I try to put a NON-Spiderman shirt on him, he throws himself on the floor and screams forever. So, he's been wearing spiderman jammies and t-shirts every day for a few weeks now. His whole class is supposed to wear yellow this week and I expect a fight because we don't own any yellow spiderman shirts. Dear Santa....we need Spiderman stuff, Love, Gage ;-)  p.s. we know this isn't a spiderman costume, it just happened to be a batman kind of day that day...

Loving the kittens

Let's just say these kittens are getting a lot of love from the kids...

first allowance!

Savannah just got her first allowance of one dollar for doing all of her chores for the week -- feed the cats, set the table, make her bed, and clean her room -- every day. She's saving up for something special!

back to school time

This past Monday, the kids started back to school -- yeah!!!  Savannah is going 5 mornings a week, and Gage is going 3 mornings. Savannah happily immersed herself in her class right away and has already made a new friend named Maggie. Gage was very proud to put his backpack on, and happy the first day until Mommy left his classroom, and then the tears started. Forty minutes later he was still sobbing and crying for mama...and when I peaked through the window it was heartbreaking to watch him cry.  He stopped crying and had a good day, but day 2 was also a tear festival at drop-off time. Let's see if the 3rd time is a charm tomorrow..... Their teachers seem wonderful so we are hoping for a great year for both of them. Getting them both to stand in front of the sign that morning proved to be a bit challenging -- it's like herding cats sometimes with those two!

dancing dancing dancing!

Savannah started tap and ballet dance classes at The Dance Centre here in Tuscaloosa.  She LOVES her tap teacher Ms. Morgan and thinks that her ballet teacher Ms. Jennifer makes the silliest faces (she does!). Gage loves to wear Savannah's tap shoes in the hallway while she is doing ballet. This dance school is more technical, so she is learning all of the ballet positions and moves instead of doing just fun silly dances like she did in SC. She seems to LOVE tap.

"It is impossible to keep a straight face in the presence of one or more kittens" - Cynthia E. Varnado

Zoe never came home, and Smidge seemed lonely, so went decided to get a kitten. There were 2 left in the litter we looked at, and Savannah immediately picked up one and pronounced it "the one".  But...after we all got into the car, some kitten craziness took over and we ended up going back for the other one. So, we came home with 2 kittens -- brother (Stash - who looks like he has a mustache) and sister (Lola). The kids love them, and they are just a ball of fun. Smidge is getting used to them - I caught her licking them today, so I think they are growing on her.  Stash is a trouble maker - always in the plants, always running around halloween-cat style -- Lola is a playful but sweet - she gets that purring motor running as soon someone pets her. If they survive all the "love" from the kids -- it will be amazing!

random fun at grammy's house

We got to spend time with great grandma rooney - who was looking great after having major surgery. When we went to pick out some mums for her at The Garden, we found a fun head to sit with. We used up some extra party hats and wrapping paper to make wings & a crazy beak -- presto -- instant macaws (all Savannah's idea). And let's not forget that we gave Al some love -- he is about the same size as the munchkins!