"I'M GONNA LIKE ME!"

Every night, before I kiss the kids "good night," I read them a book. For AJ, we have been reading a chapter book called "Jake Drake Class Clown" and I read one chapter each night. In the book there is a teacher named "Miss Bruce" who is really boring and strict, so I created a really obnoxious voice for her and the kids LOVE it! In fact last weekend I was trying to get Ansley to bed so Joe offered to read to the kids since he was home. While sitting w/ Ansley in her rocker, I overheard Joe starting to read about "Miss Bruce" and the kids stopped him and said he wasn't reading it right! They then imitated the obnoxious voice I have created for her! It was funny, Joe was laughing hysterically! Of course Joe now does her voice better than me!

Anyway, tonight I read Aleigh a book called "I'm Gonna Like Me" by Jamie Lee Curtis. It's a great book about how no matter what a person does, however silly or embarrassing, it's important to like yourself first and foremost! After I put the book down and explained to Aleigh that it's always important to be happy with who you are and believe in yourself. I also told her that when you love yourself it helps you to love others even more. Aleigh looked up at me w/ her big dimple filled grin, and said "Mommy, the best thing that ever happened to me is you and daddy! Since you and daddy love each other so much you got married, and if you didn't get married you wouldn't have me and I wouldn't have you and daddy!" My eyes teared up! I am just so proud, not just of the sweet little girl that she is, but of Joe and I for making sure our kids know how important it is to appreciate love and life!

Ansley got to go and play with her friend Hayley for a little while today! They were so cute! We are going to try and make it over to see Tammy and Hayley more! Tammy and I have always had a great friendship and it's going to be so fun to watch Hayley and Ansley grow up together! Tammy took some great pictures of our girls today. I will post them when I get copies.

Oh, I had to post this photo of Ansley completely crashed out in the shopping cart at BJ's! Remember, the shopping carts at BJ's are double seaters, so they are longer and that's how she was able to lay down. Joe fed her a bottle and she was out for almost the entire shopping trip! She was so tired!

Joe is going to be on MTV!

Last Friday night when Joe got home from work he said he wanted to share a voice mail message he received that afternoon. The voice message was from a guy named Ted who is the associate producer of the MTV show "Made." It's a reality show usually involving high school students who want to be "made" into a cheerleader, football star, prom queen..etc. For this particular episode, it's a high school student who wants to be a basketball star. Apparently he was lacking a bit of aggression so they heard about Joe through one of Joe's adult students who was training w/ the kid. Anyway, they were requesting Joe to train this kid in Krav Maga (an Israeli type of martial arts involving a lot of combatives and street fighting).
Anyway...today was filming day! Joe was able to get Bryson, Lisa, Jared and Scott (other instructors) to be a part of the class and build up this kids confidence. Once filming was over Joe called me and was so excited that it had gone so well! He said that they were able to get him (the kid) to break 3 boards! Joe said the look on the kids face was priceless when he was able to break the first one after confessing that he didn't think he could do it! Joe was really proud of him! He said that he kept up and made it through the whole 2 hour class.

The show will air in January! We will keep you posted....Bryson's in it too!

Movies Under The Stars

My mom called this morning and informed us that there was going to be a "Movies Under the Stars" at the Avenues (awesome outdoor shopping complex in Peachtree City). We packed our chairs, blankets, sweatshirts and snacks and joined my parents and The Dimmigs to watch "Horton Hears A Who." It was a lot of fun, even though I paid no attention to the movie! The kids had a blast and the babies were awesome! Ansley was SO mesmerized by the whole idea of being outside and seeing a big movie screen! In the photo below Robin is holding her while she stares at the screen. Tessa fights sleep so well and is such a trooper! She is adorable and we had a blast with her today!

The little ones just love my dad!

Robin held Ansley and started humming to her. She was in total Awe as she listened and was slowly soothed by the sound of Aunt Robin's voice!

Slowly going...

going........

GONE!

still gone and cozy in Aunt Robin's arms! It was absolutely precious!

Special Friends!

Today we had a fun and long overdue visit with Robin, Tessa and Drew! They came over this morning and spent the morning with me and Ansley (AJ was w/ Joe at Karate and Aleigh spent the night with Madrina aka Robin Dumas). We had fun watching Ansley and Tessa play for a good part of the morning, then Ansley was ready for her bottle and nap! I can't believe how grown up Drew is! What a sweet and pleasant 12 year old she is! I can't believe she is already 12! What I love is that she still enjoys spending time with us and being at our house! Hopefully she won't ever grow out of that. Like the rest of my kids, Ansley just adored Drew!

When Joe got home w/ AJ, Drew and AJ played the Wii while we waited for Ansley to wake from her nap so we could go out to lunch. After lunch at Red Robin, we went shopping at Old Navy and found the cutest costumes for Ansley and Tessa! They are different, but both ADORABLE! You have to wait and see when I post pictures for Halloween!