Another Milestone....

I just recently posted that Maddox had a loose tooth....I am happy to announce that HE'S OFFICIALLY A SNAGGLE-TOOTH! It was was pretty loose so after he brushed his teeth (and I washed my hands) I suggested he let me try to wiggle it. He wasn't so sure, but he trusts me so completely that he let me get my fingers in his mouth to try it. Being a lefty, I had "trouble" wiggling it with my right hand, so I tried with my left...lo and behold, it came right out! There was a lot of screaming and cheering and then he took his first look in the mirror. Maddox is not a fan of blood...he doesn't like to bleed and he doesn't like to see anyone else bleeding. Of course, when you lose a tooth, there is a little "bleed" and then the hole where the tooth just came from. He stood on his stool in the bathroom and just stared with a shocked look on his face. I was suggesting we start making phone calls (Jim was at the fire station) and he was silent. Finally, after a few minutes of only Brenda and myself talking, I asked Maddox, "Buddy, you haven't spoken in the last 3 minutes, are you ok?" His response, "I wasn't sure I could speak!"

We took pictures and called Daddy and Gram and then sent him to bed with his tooth pillow under his pillow. I asked him if wanted to request to the tooth fairy that she leave his tooth or take it with her. He strongly urged me to tell her to take it away because he thought it was pretty gross. The tooth fairy came in the night and left $5. When I woke him up for school in the morning I had forgotten that we needed to check the pillow. He didn't forget. As soon as his eyes opened he peeked under his pillow and was very pleased that the $5 bill had taken the place of the gross tooth. He even double-checked that the tooth gone!

His next dental check-up just happens to be next Monday...he'll have one less tooth to be cleaned!

My 6 year old

My first born turned 6 years old! I can't believe it! The morning before he announced that he had a loose tooth. I had been doing ok with him turning 6, but the loose tooth put me over the edge. Teeth falling out (ok, maybe that's a bit dramatic) is a real sign they are growing up!! Baby teeth mixed with snaggle-tooth adult teeth....well, that is like a flashing billboard to the rest of the world that he's not a little boy any more!! Also, on the day before his birthday he had his first soccer game of the season. He played goalie in the first part of the game and was very proud of himself for "defending his goal"...no one was able to score on him even though there were many attempts! Then, he was put out in the field and he SCORED!!!! GOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!! The tears were in my eyes, I tell ya! I was a proud mama as was Jim who was on the field as assistant coach! Jim, of course, picked him up and swung him around! You would have thought he had just scored the winning goal in the World Cup!! But no, it was the first game of the season of the
U6 YMCA Lightning Strikers!

Sunday morning, September 25, 2011, Maddox woke up and announced it was HIS BIRTHDAY! He had a his waffles for breakfast with a candle in it...just for kicks we (me, Emily, Alex, and Bebe) sang Happy Birthday. He opened his gifts from the family and then went to church. They sang to him at BLASt and he brought home a little "gift" from the Sugarloaf Kids staff. When we got home from church Gram and Grandad had arrived with lunch and we ate real fast and headed to Adventure Kids!

Maddox and his party guests had a lot of fun at Adventure Kids!!! They loved the big indoor sandbox and plasma car racing! We all got in on the racing even though Jim cheated a little :) It was a great day and Maddox was very pleased with the day.

Thanks to everyone who helped make it so special. A special shout out to Aunt Emily for slaving over the homemade cupcakes!!!!!

Fireman Jim

Firefighter Jim visited Mrs. Sarno's Kindergarten class for Community Helpers week. Maddox was super proud of his daddy being the special visitor and really enjoyed being his assistant. I always love watching people (ladies especially) looking at Jim as he walks through the halls dressed in his uniform carrying his bunker gear. There is something about a man in uniform :)

The Silver Lining

In case you didn't know...aside from being a mom to 2 fabulous boys, I am also an aunt. I love my nieces and nephews as my own. Before Jim and I had kids of our own we really thought of our 1 niece (on my side) and 4 nephews (on Jim's side) as ours. This past week has been really difficult for us...however, even in the pain and suffering we have had a ton of fun! My kids were thrilled beyond their wildest dreams when "the guys" spent the night ON A SCHOOL NIGHT! Maddox and Cooper played hard right up to the last minute before bedtime. Maddox, knowing that he had to get up early to catch the bus, was able to settle himself down and get to bed close to "on-time". Cooper, however, had to do bed checks to make sure that everyone was in their proper places and asleep before he could settle in for the night!

In preparation for Loren's return to the states from Afghanistan the guys made a poster for their dad. Not to be outdone or left out, Maddox and Cooper also made signs for Jim...although their signs were welcoming Jim home from the fire station. Enjoy these pictures of our 4 "first borns"...our precious nephews and, of course, my little cuties!

No Words....

I have a lot to say, but I can't seem to find the words to express my feelings. It's been the week and 1 day from hell. The McArthurs, Teillons, Bebe, and Kelley all appreciate your prayers and sweetness during the past week. I'll close with this...hug your babies tight, tell your family you love them, and by all means, be thankful for the good people in your life. I love you all.

My baby boy started preschool! Cooper is one of Ms. Kathy and Ms. Melanie’s Merry Monsters in the 3yr old class at Johns Creek Christian Church Preschool. It was a terribly hard decision to move from Sugarloaf UMC Preschool where Maddox spent his 3 preschool years and also where we attend church, but with the driving distance, I think we made the right decision.


Cooper’s teacher is our very own Kathy Acquaviva and across the street neighbor! Cooper knows her as he sees her every afternoon at the bus stop! He was excited yesterday morning when I woke him up and told him it was his first day of school! He immediately told me he would ride the bus! Much to his dismay, I explained that his bus would be my van…he accepted that as an answer and we went on with our morning!

He was very happy and excited as we got ready to go. I walked him in to his class (carpool will start next week…woo hoo!) and he cruised right in like he had been doing this all his life! Well, I guess he has since he was 6 weeks old when Maddox started preschool, but this was his first time as the student AND at a new school! I was so proud of him. He hung his bag up on his hook and off he went in to the classroom where he found the play doh and sat right down! A quick wave and an “I wub you, too” and he didn’t give me a second look!

I spent the short morning (it’s gradual entry week so he gets out at 11:30) with Brenda checking out her new house that she will be moving into next month. After a quick trip to WalMart , it was time to pick up my sweet boy. I stood and watched him sing “head, shoulders, knees, and toes” and interact with his classmates for a few minutes before class was dismissed. I heard Kathy say to the kids “Make sure you show your mommy what you made for her” and then we were invited to enter the classroom. Cooper was happy to see me and brought me his picture…his handprint with a heart in the middle of it and a poem about the book “The Kissing Hand”….enter lump in throat now. He presented his picture to me and then promptly kissed me on the cheek! What a guy!!! He told me he had fun and answered YES to the most important question….Do you want to come back tomorrow? Woo hoo!!! We are both looking forward to a fun year of preschool!

Orange Beach 2011

The McArthurs, Gram, and Harps (minus CJ) made our annual pilgrimage to Orange Beach, AL last weekend for the long Labor Day weekend. Our boys (and Jim and myself, too) have been looking forward to this trip all summer! Maddox has talked about the waterslide and lazy river almost daily especially as we got closer to September 2. Cooper was looking forward to seeing the ocean and playing in the sand and building a sandcastle. All the excitement came to a screeching halt as we got closer to Orange Beach and the sky got darker, the winds started blowing extremely hard, and the rain was coming down sideways!




We checked in to our favorite home away from home, the Phoenix West, and quickly put our suitcases in the condo and put bathing suits on since the rain had stopped for the moment! We got down to the pool as quickly as the elevator would take us down the 23 floors and headed out into the hurricane winds! Maddox got a few good runs down the waterslide and Jim and I both took turns taking Cooper down (careful not to dunk him at the bottom at Cooper’s request). It was quite chilly when you got out of the water to stand in line at the slide so we decided a few laps around the lazy river would be a good idea! We made it around a couple of times before the rain started again and we had to get out. The boys were satisfied with their time in the water and were hungry enough that getting out wasn’t the worst thing in the world. We collected our towels (from our zipped up bag that was being held down by a stack of chairs so that it wouldn’t blow away) and headed back up the 23 floors to our perfect temperature and safe from the winds condo. Jim went out to pick up fried shrimp from the Shrimp Basket for us for dinner (I mean, what else would we have had) while I got the boys fed and in the bed.



The rains and high winds continued for the remainder of the trip thanks to tropical storm Lee. At every break (or what I considered to be a break) in the weather I would insist that the kids rush outside to “make some memories” and “have some FUN at the beach”. Usually these trips outside would result in rushing back in because the rain would start again almost immediately or because the high winds made it almost unbearably cold in the water for my boys who think pool water should be lukewarm. Some of the highlights of the time outside include making our way down to “the dirt” as Cooper called the beach and being pelted with sand that felt like razor blades, Cooper stepping on a jellyfish (or part of one), and being caught outside when the rain started and trying to protect Cooper’s bare skin from the rain that felt like someone was slapping you repeatedly as hard as they could. Poor Cooper was also the victim of some flying peanuts that got picked up by the wind and smacked him in the face! Poor little guy thought he had been shot and had welts on his face where he got smacked. That was the breaking point for me….I no longer had the patience for the crappy weather that we were having to endure. I had a mommy meltdown and cried and cussed (some under my breath and quite a bit to Jim who hadn’t even made it outside at the point that particular day). We decided that we would try leaving the condo and looking for other “beachy” things to do.



We took the boys to San Roc Cay Marina to check out some fishing boats, had lunch out with the whole fam, and then ventured over to Adventure Island for some go kart racing, arcade games, lazer tag, and ice cream. When we left Adventure Island that afternoon, Maddox told me that this had been his best Summer ever. That’s when it hit me the hardest….my kids didn’t care that we weren’t out building sandcastles and tanning on the beach. They were having fun just being together and doing things we don’t get to do at home. They enjoyed spending time with Alex and Naomi and watching movies in the condo or playing DSi. Maddox thought it was awesome to go “to the workout room” and workout with Jim and Cooper loved to stand in the hallway and hear his loud echo-y voice while he shouted “I’m King of the World” from the 23rd floor!! They didn’t care that we had driven 6 plus hours in scary weather. They weren’t concerned that Jim and I had been saving money to take them on this “BEACH” vacation. They were just having fun being with their family and enjoying life like kids do!



As we drove home in the terrible weather with tornado warnings all around us, Maddox and Cooper were still talking about how much fun they had. Maddox’s only concern was that we had forgotten to take our family picture in the sand….it was only after I reminded him that we hadn’t forgotten, but it was just too painful to stand on the beach, that he seemed to even think about the storm we had just been in. The storm didn’t even register to him as a bad thing. While I was stressed and worried, he was just bee-bopping along with life! We decided that a long weekend at the beach in a storm beats a long weekend at home any day!