Tooth #2

Savannah has had a very loose tooth. Last night I wanted to pull it and she was crying and begging me not to because she was afraid it wouId bleed and hurt. 

Today she bolted off the bus and handed me a paper from her backpack. She had written a story about how her tooth fell out on the bus that morning!!!! Her teacher had put it in a ziploc bag for her and stapled it to her story. She said the kids on the bus went crazy wanting to see it, touch it, know if it was bleeding, etc. She proudly showed me her new toothless smile, and we dashed to the house to Skype daddy so he could see too.

So, it looks like the tooth fairy is paying a visit to our house tonight!! :-)

Batcop

It's community helper week at school. 

I think his teachers did not account for his ridiculously big head when they made the back part if his hat. I had to perch it on top of his head. He asked me very seriously if I thought his badge had enough sparkles on it ;-)

Bookworm

Isn't this how everyone walks to the bus stop? Apparently this junie b book is engrossing ;-)

Nick Saban

So, football in Alabama is kind if a big deal. Okay, it's a huge deal. Adam feels lucky finagled his way into helping to recruit for the team. Leave it to him, right?!  Well, Saturdayvnigt we had the chance to go to a party at the U of AL football coach's house - nick saban. People wouId go crazy to meet him let alone go to his house. 

We pulled into his neighborhood and parked l, a golfcart zipped over to us to take us to his house. Fancy shmancy!

After we checked in, we met the coach and his wife at the door. We ate some appetizers, grabbed some drinks, wanders around and found a table to stand at with out friends. Oddly enough --- both of these couples have lived in both ohio and Clemson, sc. 

It took us a while to realize that we were standing in the driveway/garage. Hmmm..let's just say that saban's garage is nicer tha many people's houses. The garage was tiled, painted, had cabinets lining a wall..and had a small kitchen. It did not look like a garage!

This is the big man - nick saban. I wish I had taken Adam's pic with him instead if him taking my picture!

This is upstairs in his game room

And looking down from the game room at his pool and patio. It was a pretty nice house...but then again he makes something like $9 million a year it something!

You might not think that going to a football coach's house is a big deal..but in AL it is. I'm glad Adam especially had the chance to do this. 

Rainy day

It was pouring today, so we drive down to the bus stop for savannah. Let's just say...life is never interesting with gage. Is it a monkey? Nope..it's just crazy gage climbing my seats!

And...he got out of the car, looked longingly at the rain...and asked if he could go outside. Absolutely..it was a nice warm day and those puddles were begging to be jumped in...

Silly boy!!!

Easter!

Saturday was our egg coloring day. Savannah was working on the dip-it-partway to make stripes approach.

Gage was just dunking them into the dye.

And..she even did the dishes after we finished up. My guess is the novelty of dishes will wear off in the next few years and she will prefer the dishwasher like her mama ;-)

Sunday morning the bunny hid all of our eggs (both colored and the plastic kind full of candy) inside the house. Savannah was confused about that because he usually hides eggs outside...but we can't tell her that we got home at midnight so it was just easier to hide them inside ;-)

why does gage has a tattoo on his forehead, you ask. Well...let me just say that he was home with daddy while I went to the gym and running errands. This is what you get ;-)

At lunch time we had to take Adam to the airport for his Europe trip. Gage rushed off to get dressed. This is what he came up with. He said that he heard me tell savannah that she looked really nice and he wanted me to say the same thing to him. Sweet handsome boy...

president's mansion

 

Last weekend the sororities put on an an Easter egg hunt at the president's mansion on campus.  First of all, it was a gorgeous day, second...it's a gorgeous building and property, and third...all the azaleas are blooming so it was extra gorgeous!  This is one of the few buildings on campus that was not burned down during the civil war.  Across the street is Denny Chimes, the bell  tower that rings throughout the day.

 

 Since the Greeks are new to all of these American traditions, we invited them along. They immediately said yes...but then emailed me later to ask "what exactly IS an easter egg hunt".

  These sweet sorority girls spent hours putting eggs out. At one point these girls had a big box of eggs to replenish the lawn, and the kids just dug in and were takign eggs right from the box.  They started looking a little frazzled about it but didn't seem to know what to do. So, I stepped in and said they needed a mom to intervene here.  I loudly announced to all the kids that they needed to GET AWAY FROM THE BOX...I SAID GET AWAY FROM THE BOX because this was an EGG HUNT.  I'm sure the other mommies loved that ;-)

 

 

 

 Can you tell they were a little tuckered out from their egg -huntingfrenzy?!?

Egg hunt #1

It's a beautiful spring weekend here, and we have two Easter egg hunts in the agenda. Today was one put on by a moms club that I belong to which means it's not too crowded and the kids are sure to get lots of eggs. 

Savannah loaded up!

So did gage.  How do you like his shorts & cowboy boots look? 

As they were going through their eggs to see what kind of treats that got, the big bunny showed up! Gage bolted when he was the EB and was 2nd in line to give him a big hug.

Savannah informed me that she she it was a person because she saw skin...but then she began to doubt that and said that it must be the Easter bunny. I think she didn't want to believe that it wasn't the EB ;-)

And then....word came that no one had found the golden egg. It was as still out there....somewhere! The kids took off running to search. All we knew is that it was near a tree. And guess who found it?!?! Yep...mr gage!! He won a special prize for finding the golden egg!!

Sally!!

I was driving back from the post office today...and I could not believe who was ahead of me. Adam's old mustang Sally!!! 

She was heading to te car show. She must be happy..she's driving around and showing off at car shows instead of sitting in the barn under a blanket. Ride Sally ride!

Circus week

This week was all about the circus at Gage's school. On Th and F they all dressed up as someone/something that's in a circus.  Now usually, gage doesn't want to participate in these silly dress up events (like silly hair day, silly sock day, silly hat day). But, he was all jazzed up about circus day, so I had to get creative. 

The first day, he wanted to be an elephant. So, we headed to the craft store for some gray felt, I borrowed Adams hat, and I did a little sewing. Voila...and elephant. He was very excited!!

That afternoon he decided he really wanted to be a tiger the next day. Okay...back to the craft store we went (I am such a good mommy). One piece of black felt, an orange t-shirt, and a few squirts of fabric glue later we had a tiger!! Okay...I used the tiger tail we bought back when we lived in Clemson. On the way out the door he decided he needed tiger stripes on his face. So...we grabbed a washable marker and I let him stand in front of the mirror and draw his own stripes. Voila...a tiger!

Not bad for about 10 minutes worth of cutting, sewing, gluing, and a grand total of $4.92 at the craft store. 

Gage's class

Here is a picture is Gage's preschool class, with his teachers - mrs Becky and mrs. Amy. His best buddies are Rush (top row green shirt) and Brooklyn (front row, white bow in her hair).

And..the photographer threw in a fun surprise!

It's hard to believe that next year's class photo will be kindergarten!!

Bus stop

A tornado warning meant that we had a two hour delay the other day for savannah and that Gage's school was canceled. That meant gage got hang out in his pjs all day.  When it was time to get his sister from the bus, this is how he insisted he was going - barefoot and sporting a single Hulk fist that yells "hulk smash" everytime you touch it.  Let's just say that Mr. Tom, our bus driver, was amused :-)

Little chefs :-)

We decided to make some pumpkin bread the other day, and savannah happily donned her chefs coat and hat. 

Gage decided to join in, well...because anytime there is sugar or bowl-licking involved, he's interested ;-)

cavern

Cathedral Cavern is another place that has been on our AL list. It has a huge opening (25 ft high and 100 ft wide) that was much bigger than the kids expected.

You can walk about 3/4 of a mile into the cave - and it ends up at 310 feet below ground (it's under Gunner mountain). 

The cave was discovered by a guy who ended up buying it and the 160 acres around it for $4k. He named it the Bat Cave and spent 15 years putting walkways in and blasting small tunnels so people could access the more remote areas of the cave that required real spelunking to get to. There are underground rivers, and stalagmites galore. This is one they call the cave man - you can see him with his club raised toward the top.

At one point we rounded a corner and our guide stopped. All of a sudden he flipped a switch and the stalagmite forest was lit up. The pictures don't do it justice. It was spectacular. Unlike anything I have ever seen. The only thing I can compare it to is a memory of the first time I went scuba diving and saw a world I had never seed anything like - a kelp forest, huge red underwater rock formations, colorful fish, rays, eels, seals swimming around me. it was like being inside an aquarium and I will never forget the feeling of awe. I felt something similar when seeing this. It was so beautiful. Like nothing I had ever seen. The cave was probably 20-30 feet high here. It was upon seeing this that the original cave discoverers wife said it reminded her of a cathedral, and they changed the cave's name.

These two pillars of stalagmite are called the pearly gates.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

After we finished up in the cave, we did some gem mining and hung out in big rocking chairs on the porch eating ice cream. Not a bad start to the day!!