At the Barn

These were taken a couple of weeks ago. I can't even tell you how great Darla is riding. She has finally learned to loap on Barbie! I still remember the day Tony took off in a loap with me and what it felt like. I'm so proud of her.

"Fall has Fallen" as Brent said today

Today was the first day in a long time that it was nice outside and stayed below 80 degrees. It felt GREAT! I love cool weather. It also made me realize that another summer has gone by and all the fun things my kids have done/are doing and that I need to write about them.

Darla has started 2nd grade without a hitch. Her teacher is Mrs. Tillery. I asked Darla, "how long do you think it will take Mrs. Tillery to love you?". She answered "2 days". I think she was right. She was picked as Hound of the Week first this year! She was soo excited! After school, we're doing Hip Hop and gymnastics. No vollyeball this fall...Taylor didn't want to play so Darla wasn't set on playing either. She's definitely more into her friends right now and wants to have someone over to play or go play somewhere all the time. I can remember my friends from 2nd grade! Her Christmas list: an iphone, a real, real, very real, 6 week old white schnauzer puppy, and a laptop. I hope she has a backup plan for all those.

Bo is getting ready to turn 3 and that means I'm having a hard time dealing with all the changes I need to make. First, potty training. Bo has NO desire to teetee in the potty. He can do it, but he doesn't necessarily feel the need to do it. He's very content with his pull-up. This summer, a very familiar sight was me spraying him off with a water hose after he pooped in his pull-up in the pool. Happened almost every time we went swimming...seriously?!? Another change I need to make is the big boy bed. I have put this off as long as I can for 2 reasons. One, SLEEP. I need peaceful, uniterrupted, wonderful sleep and when your toddler is in a cage, I mean crib, you get it. Once they are loose, anything can happen. But, I know it's time. Luckily, he hasn't crawled out yet. I have actually talked myself into believing he LIKES his crib and gets a good night's sleep in there. The second reason, I don't want to put my crib away. I love that crib. I picked that crib out years before Darla was even born. I just knew that would be my babies' crib. It's a lot harder than I thought I would be to put it away. Maybe I can get Mugsy to sleep in it???

Bo is so funny. His hair is curlier than ever. He needs a haircut but I don't want to cut the curls off but yet I don't want it short on top/long in the back (aka a mullett) so I'm taking him to Lauren Tuesday to let her figure it out. He is obsessed with Thomas the Train. His birthday list is just a list of trains; that's it, no other toys, just trains. And the list changes daily depending on which trains he watches on TV that day. He answers almost every sentence with "uh-huh" but his voice goes up at the end. He also likes to "coughy" (copy) Darla which she can't stand. He speaks so cleary now that it almost makes me sad he doesn't have more words that are wrong. He's just too smart! Other favorite words... burella (umbrella), Egg-ward (Edward, one of the trains), To-vee (Toby), ba-sgetti, grey sprite (the spritezero bottle is white?), Supper Target. He used to always make this "cuh" sound - it's hard to explain. It's almost like the beginning of a laugh but he wasn't laughing; but he doesn't do it as much anymore. He seems to like his Older 2's class at school - mainly because when I drop him off they get to watch TV! He is supposed to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween but also said he wants to be a "bampire" like Darla. Guess we'll see how that turns out!

7 years old!

What a fun weekend! Darla turned 7 on Friday. She always asks me if she can do anything she wants on her birthday and I say yes...so Friday morning she started off the day with an ice cream cone in bed. She had my cell phone and the home phone next to her waiting to take her birthday calls!

Darla had the whole day planned out. She went to Whistle Stop for a little bit, and then her Daddy picked her up and they went to eat pizza at Pizza Inn. She said she wanted to go to Baskin Robbins before AND after Pizza Inn, but I think after she had lunch she changed her mind.

After I got home, we headed to Build a Bear. Darla picked a blue bear with peace signs all over it and named her Prissy. Bo got a Zhu Zhu pet named Num Nums but he calls him Donuts. After Build A Bear we went to see Toy Story 3!! It was opening day and we knew it would be crowded so we got there pretty early. The movie was great and it was Bo's first trip to the movie theater. I don't think any other movie could have kept his attention but he just loves Woody (Dee-Dah as he used to call him) and Buzz. He got pretty restless during the last half hour but other than that he did pretty good.

On Saturday, Darla had her party at Thunderbird Roller Rink. Luckily Nanaw & Papaw got her skates for Christmas and they are nice enough to let her skate around their house, so Darla is getting pretty good on the skates. She had a bunch of friends from her class (NO BOYS!) and lots of family there. She got a new scooter, PJ's, a swimsuit, zhu zhu pets and accessories, a DS game, jewelry, her first pair of spurs & spur straps and an itouch! Bo really likes all the zhuzhu pets too and Darla has been VERY patient letting Bo play with her new stuff.

Today is Father's Day so this morning we gave Brent his presents and I tried to make a blackberry cobbler...it tasted good but it was pretty runny. If you put enough ice cream on it you couldn't tell!! I've got to work on my recipe. We went to swim at Granddad's and Bo has no fear of the water. He doesn't really like to wear his ring anymore, just his floaties. He also loves to go underwater which scares me to death. Today his new trick was jumping in by himself and he would hold out his hand and say "Don't catch me Mommy". He also liked to sit on a float in the pool and tell everyone "watch how I fall" and then fall off. I love that he tries new things and all, but he just doesn't need to grow up so fast!

the end of 1st Grade

Today was Darla's last day of 1st Grade. Ms. Garner has been so impressed with Darla's writing, so I thought I would share a couple of her writing assignments.

1-11-10:
Dear Mom,
Around Valentine's day will you take me to Academy to by a squishy heart pen please? I would pay you, help you cook, I would help you fold laundry to.
Your smart and only daughter,
Darla

5-24-10:
My Dance Recital
Last Friday I had a Hip-Hop dance recital. I had so much family there. I had to wait like an hour to get on stage. I wasn’t even nervous. Once I got on stage my Uncle Andy shouted…GO DARLA! Sometimes I can’t stand my Uncle Andy. He is so frustrating sometimes. (More like always) When I got off the stage I mean there was hugs and kisses and good jobs. And of course Uncle Andy was doing my dance and doing it very badly. I got 3 packs of flowers. We put all the real flowers in vases at home. I had a really great time at my dance recital.

The Baby Possum

This weekend the kids spent the night with Memaw. While they were there, Greta & Bella (the Schnauzer's) brought a baby possum in the house!!! Darla said she was freaking out and screamed and ran outside and of course Bo did exactly the same thing she did. It is sooo funny to hear Bo tell the story..."Baby Possum came in the house and it laid there and looked around and pooped." I can't even imagine what I would have done if I had been there or had a possum run in our house.

Darla is still playing volleyball with the Lucky Stars. We haven't won a game yet, but Darla is getting a lot better. She gets a dollar every time the ball goes over the net so she stays pretty motivated.

I hope I never, ever forget this...Brent was playing the "I've got your nose" game with Bo. Well, Bo did the same thing back to his Daddy but to hold his "nose" in his fingers, he sticks his pointer finger out and wiggles it up and down. I know it is really hard to describe and doesn't sound that funny, but trust me, it's hilarious!

Bo started saying "Darla" instead of "Da-wah" about 2 weeks ago; he even corrected Jakob at Easter last weekend. It is so bittersweet - I know he has to learn how to say his words the right way, but it's just another sign that he's growing up way too fast. I refuse to correct him on "Ay-yoe" (yellow) or "People" (purple). He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Chuggington and Krypto-Dog...he's growing out of the Dora phase I think. And the big shocker is, he eats SALAD!!!

Volleyball?

I know I need to write about Christmas, the fact that it snowed (crazy!), and all the other great holiday things. But I just have to record that today, my daughter went to her very first volleyball practice! The only time I nearly failed a class was PE in 7th grade and it was because I couldn't serve the volleyball over the net. Let's hope Darla can change the family tree in this sport. She actually did great! After a few tries, she was even getting the ball over the net. Her first game is Saturday.

This is all Jodi's fault by the way...she called and told us there was one spot left on Taylor's team. Jodi told me that when a college signs Darla on a full scholarship, she can thank Jodi in her acceptance speech.

I'm just excited Darla is learning something new and getting to spend time with Taylor.

GO LUCKY STARS!