More from the Mtn.

To finish up our journey to Stone Mtn, Georgia I've posted several more pictures for your enjoyment. BUT first, I know you guys are all so great about being my prayer army so I have a request for you today. My bestest friend (other than Alex) in the whole world as you should know by now is Rachel Dodson. Her mom, Kay Miller was admitted into the hospital this past Saturday. She is in essence like a second mom to me. I've known her as long as I can remember and she is one of my mom's very closest friends! The easiest way to put it is that she has a severe hernia and a bad infection right now that are making her sick. If you don't mind, please add her to your prayer list. I'll keep you updated.

Now on to more Mountain antics.....

There's a pretty decent mini-golf course there so we made an attempt to play. With 3 little ones who are very limited in their golf skills, 18 holes is a long game of mini-golf. Of coarse, not being the competitive one in the family I didn't care if we followed the "rules" or not. We skipped at least one hole. Keeping score was a joke. And one time Gracie had to climb down into the rock pit to get my ball b/c I'm apparently not that good at it either!

Let's just say that Tiger Woods talent, we Ain't got!

They have a train that goes all the way around the mountain. I think, if I remember correctly, it's about 5 miles all the way around it. It's a little bumpy but a fun ride.

And we couldn't pass up the Kodak moment from the front of our Hotel. It's such a pretty place with amazing scenery and full of Southern elegance.

The Stone Mountain Inn has been around a long time but it's still very nice and has a wonderful area in the middle where the swimming pool is. You can see part of it from this picture of me and my girls.

There is a barn on one side of the park where kids can play with air guns and such that shoot these soft rubber balls. We didn't get into that but the bottom level had activities for the smaller kidos. This was the girls favorite part. They could put the balls into a vacuum that would suck it up and then blow them back out over the top. It was a pretty cute idea.

And here is Captain Bob! He was our guide on The Duck. If ya don't know what a Duck is then there's a picture below. It is an amphibious vehicle the military use that the folks at Stone Mountain have acquired a few of. They take people on a tour of the park and then onto the lake straight from the land to the water. It is very unique and lots of fun, especially if you get Captain Bob. He is hilarious and my girls laughed with and at him the whole time!

AND here's Captain Hicks herself. She actually got to drive the Duck all by herself on the water while Captain Bob told us silly stories and some actual facts about the park.

Here's a not-so-good picture of The Duck but you can get the idea!

And Finally.... the trip home! Can you tell we wore them out?? Lots of Fun, Lots of Laughs and Lots of Memories!!

That Sunday we came home was exactly to the day, six months from the worst day of my life (the day my dad passed away). I'm so glad we took this trip. He would have loved it and would have been glad we got away and enjoyed ourselves!

Hurt Feelings.....

Yes, I have more Stone Mtn. pics for you but I had to post this before I forget it. Hurt Feelings is the title of this post b/c well, that happens a lot around here with 3 little girls and all the drama that comes with that territory. Anyway, last night CP and Gracie apparently bruised the all-too- tender feelings of Miss Maggie. I noticed she had stormed into my bedroom crying and closed the door. Within a few minutes Mags was in my lap to be sure I had seen her tears of distress. Here's the conversation that followed:
Me- "What's wrong with my Maggie?"
Maggie - (sobbing for affect) "My sisters hurt my feelings?"
Me- (Playing into the drama of it all)"Well which feeling did they hurt this time?"
Maggie- "The Second One!"
Me- laughter!!!!

Did you know that feelings were numbered?? Me either, but they apparently are and they certainly are fragile around this house. Wonder which feeling will be the next casualty? Will it be the 3rd feeling or maybe the 1st one. Who knows!!?

Stone Mountain, GA!

We took our little excursion to Stone Mountain, GA last weekend and it was lots of fun. It's not a Disney World or anything but my girls enjoyed it so much. For me (and I think Mom too) it was just enough for the girls to be entertained and laid back enough we got a little bit of a re-charge while there. Unlike some of our family trips we've made in the past this one was with-out any major catastrophes or acts of nature! Sit back and enjoy our trip as I take you through it with me....

Here is a picture of the Mountain of Pure Granite (the largest in the world I'm told) with it's amazing and magnificent carving of the Southern Generals on it. I would tell you who they are but I forgot. I do know the middle one is Robert E. Lee. You can't tell from this picture but that carving is very old and unbelievably large. It took the men that carved it a very long time to do it. It was going to have much more to it but it was never finished. Mom and I stood looking at it and wondering how people can look at such wonders and not believe in a God! I remember coming here when I was younger and being amazed by it then too! Its worth the trip just to see it.

Of coarse one of their most favorite things was the swimming pool. They probably only stayed 30 minutes or so but were tickled to get to "swim" for the first time this year. They were very brave little boogers too b/c they walked all the way down to the actual pool floor at 3 ft. That's a first for them. They were so proud and well and so was mommy even if it was a small feat.

Here we are waiting for the Lazer Light Show Spectacular! Most of us southerners are familiar with this show but if you aren't its worth the trip. They take lazers and show them up on the mountain to make moving pictures with some fireworks thrown in too. The girls favorite part was sponsored by Chick Fil A. They took the cows from the commercials and made them up like High School Musical characters. My favorite part was the PATRIOTIC part where they outline the famous generals and make them move and proceed to a very touching American tribute! Lots of folks in this country might benefit from it!
Here's Nana and her Mags huggin on each other before the "Spectacular." The girls were so good waiting to see the show I must add. They say it starts at 7:30 but well it really doesn't start until the sun goes completely down.

Here are my girlies with their glow sticks right before the sun went down. They LOVED playing with their glowing little sticks of fun. Well worth the stop to the Dollar Store Nana made!

Here's a sweet picture of my girls sitting in front of the Stone Mountain Inn where we stayed. It was so nice and very convenient.
Well, that's all for now but I have more to post and more pictures from our trip. Stay tuned......

And Finally Easter Post #3!

For my last installment on our lovely Easter weekend we will make our final stop at Meme and PawPaw's house. As you can see, my girlies got to dye eggs with their Meme. They usually do this every year.

And here's Easter morning with Mags smiling next to her goodies the Easter Bunny left for her. They were all so impressed that the Easter Bunny actually knew where to leave their stuff since we weren't at home on Easter morning. That Easter bunny sure is something.

And of coarse here are Cp and Gracie checking out all of their stuff. We're heading to the beach after school gets out so the Easter Bunny thought ahead and brought some floaties and beachy stuff this year. It went over pretty well I think.

Here's a picture of the lovely display before the girls tore into it!

And here is a picture of me and my precious girlies in Meme and PawPaw's front yard right before we left for church. Alex opted out of the picture b/c he was still in his sling.
And, well here's just a sweet ending to our fun and full filled Eater holiday this year.

Me and mom are off to Stone Mountain with the girls tomorrow so wish us well and throw a prayer or two in there somewhere if ya can. It's the first road trip with just me and mom and the girls. Alex works at Talladega so we decided to take off for a fun weekend trip. I'm sure there will be fun stories and pictures from that. Until then, have a great weekend.

Just a few Quick Happies...

Ok, so I have one more Easter post for you but today I just thought I'd tell you all I love ya.

Happy Wednesday!

Easter - Post #2

Ok so it's been a whole week since Easter! The bunnies are all put away and the celebrations are over and here I am STILL posting from last weekend and I haven't even gotten to our actual Easter Sunday! Bare with me please. I know you may be well past it but well, it's my blog and I enjoy sharing with y'all!

The Saturday before Easter we always go to my Granny's house. This my mom's side of the family and well, it's pretty big if you haven't already figured that from previous holiday posts. There's always good food and lots of family fun for all of us, at all ages. Here we are right before we headed out. Gracie was with my mom that morning so she missed out on this photo op.

Here are all the kidos (great-grandchildren) and there are lots of them. Believe me! Between me and all my cousins we've managed to add on average at least one baby a year or so to the total. The kids were all anxiously waiting to start their Easter Egg Hunting Extravaganza (with one minor delay due to JB3's potty call)!!

Sweet Abby Claire and Clara Paige waiting on the eggs to be hidden. They are only around 5 months apart.

CP collecting all her loot!!

My darling baby girls on the Hunt for the Good Eggs. You know, the ones with either $$ or better yet candy in them!

Emma and CP were serious hunters and they worked pretty good as a team.

I have just a slew of cousins. Yes, I said slew. It's a pretty good term for all of us. I'm not going to take the time to count us all but on both sides of my family it probably comes around to something like 17 cousins in all. These sweet girlies are my ONLY 2 GIRL cousins out of the whole lot of us! Courtney is on my left and Jamie on the right. Love you girls! We don't get photos of the 3 of us together very often anymore so this is special even if we aren't dressed in our beautiful Easter dresses our Granny use to make for us every year!!

Here's the first of a few of my favorite "moments" captured from the day. These may not be perfect pictures but they certainly were "Kodak" moments for me. Nana and her Mags sharing some fun time together.

And here is a quick picture stolen of my man in his body cast. Ok, ok it's just a monster sling he had to wear for 3 weeks. Praise the Lord he's in a normal sling now and improving by the day!

And one of my definite favs from the day is the expression on my Mag's face after discovering some "goods" from one of her eggs. It's what holidays, family and childhood memories are made of if you ask me.

Only one more Easter Post to come I promise, and it won't be this long.

Love to all and have a great week!

Easter - Post #1

Ok since we have the computer back and it's all nice and healthy, I'm going to attempt to get you and me all caught up!

First off, Clara Paige now has lost both of her top front teeth. She lost the second one so soon after the first one I didn't have time to even blog about the first one. Anyway, she is our adorable snaggle-tooth for now!!

For the first installment of our Easter festivities I will share a little of our Church Easter Egg Hunt! Here's CP hunting away in the bushes.


This is my Mags with her sweet friend, Miss Erica Strickland! Erica won the second prize egg.

Here's a funny picture of my Gracie. Not sure what she's doing here. Maybe she's plotting her next attempt at finding eggs. She was all about hunting those eggs. They were pretty easy to find and were all filled with candy and other goodies!

And here's a pretty decent picture of my lovely little trio of girls.

Updates and Yard Work

Well here are a few updates:

• Computer has recovered from it's virus and is back at home now. Yippee. Now I can really post again. PS- we got the virus from facebook so be careful when using it.



• Alex goes back to the doctor Thursday so cross your fingers he gets to do away with the sling. He also had a tooth pulled today. Yikes!!



• Al's dad's surgery went very well and we should know the prognosis this week hopefully.



• My brother's birthday is today. Happy Birthday Jonathan. Love you!



• I have lots of pictures to post and lots to catch you up on so stay tuned.

I did attach some pictures for you from a couple of weeks ago. The girls helped my mom and brother rake leaves in their front yard. Mom (Nana) says that my Gracie was quite the worker. The other two lasted a little while and retreated back in the house to watch TV.

Al's Dad

Just wanted to put a quick note on here that Alex's dad had one-day surgery today to remove a tumor on his bladder. He's home and recovering but please keep him and us all in your prayers that it is not cancerous and everything will be fine. Have a great Easter weekend everyone!!

Computers and Sweet Girls

OK folks you are now informed that we AGAIN have home computer problems. It looks like it has come down with a nasty virus of some kind. SO that means I'm limited to posting from Al's computer, my work (Shhhh) and Mom's computer. That also means I don't have access to my pictures. Oh the horror!! That's the most fun part. Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder about the darn thing. It's like it's wanting to be put out with trash. Oh well, when it's all better I'll post some pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt last weekend. Maybe I can get some from mom to post. That might work.

Also, I have something I want to share with you. It was a sweet moment with my twins that I just need to document so I can come back and read it when I want or need to. Last night we were snuggled on the couch watching American Idol (remember Maggie's gonna be on it someday-you just wait). Anyway, my sweet Gracie looked up at me and said, "I miss Pappy." Well you can imagine what that does to my heart. I told her that I had missed him a lot that day too. And I had missed my dad more than usual for some reason or other. Mags joined in and told me she missed him too. But then she said the most intriguing thing:

She said, "But you know what?"
I said, "What baby?"
She: "He's always with me though."
Me: "Yes, you mean he's always in your heart, right?!"
She: (pointing her finger at me and winking-no lie) "You got it Mommy!"

Wow, I'm sure she's heard that from one of us before but Wow! The forethought of a four year old to put my thoughts in perspective. Gosh I love my girls!!!

2 More Weeks

Well, Al had his post-op appointment with Dr. Davis today and since he still can't drive I got to drive him there. Everything is looking fine. He got the stitches out today. However, he gets to wear the big sling for 2 more weeks. I know you are dying to see it so maybe I'll sneak a picture of him in it soon. Two more weeks of "the Sling" means a possible two more weeks off work. He won't start therapy until he's out of the sling. (I think Dr. Davis has Alex pegged and knows he needs to keep him in it to keep his shoulder safe - right honey??!!) I will say that Alex has done everything that Dr. Davis has asked of him to this point. And can I say we really like Dr. Matt Davis. He's been great so far and easy to work with. I've been pleased with using him through this adventure. So, for those of you who may need an Orthopedic Doc in your future, I think he's a good one. I know there are the "BIG" names here in the B'ham area but Dr. Davis is close by and knows his stuff! Anyone who can handle my Alex as a patient is a good doctor to me!!!