Random Stuff

1. Catelin the climber

My big girl is now officially a climber.  She has been able to climb up stairs for awhile now but it just took her a long time and she wasn’t really interested in it.  Over the past week, however, she has become obsessed…and she gets M.A.D. when I scoop her up and take her away from them.  The baby gates are back up– now the boys just have to remember to close them! 



Ms. Lisa shot a video of her going up and down the slide at the park the other day:

2. Clean those teeth!

We made our visit to the dentist last week.  MJ has been a couple of times now and was an absolute rock star – he jumped right in the chair and opened his mouth big and wide to have his teeth cleaned.  He even let them take x-rays.



This was Ty’s very first visit – I could tell he was scared but he did awesome and didn’t cry or fuss at all.  He did exactly as instructed (sometimes with a little hesitation) and was so excited to pick out a balloon at the end.




3. Vacation Bible School

You have to be four years old to do most of the Bible schools around here in the summer.  There is one that lets three year olds in as well, so I asked very nicely if they would take Ty (even though he doesn’t turn three until the fall) since MJ was going to participate.  They were kind enough to let him in – he cried almost every day we dropped him off but this was short lived and he had a blast.  Here are my little “popes”:




4. The “Honey Do” list.

I think I have only made one of these in the nine years that Steve and I have been married.  We’ve been talking about a whole bunch of things that need to be done around the house for months now, so I finally made a “Honey Do” list.  It’s amazing how much faster things get done when you have the satisfaction of crossing them off of the list…a big thank you to hubs for all he finished this weekend!  (admittedly, the list was quite long!)


5. My little hunter

Ok- so MJ looks just like Steve in this picture..



Another handsome hunter!


6. Speaking of hunting….

We spent the weekend up at my parent’s house last week.  The kids had a wonderful time as always.  (Steve was on his annual “boys only” golf trip).  There is a family of foxes that live in their neighborhood and MJ was obsessed with “hunting” them.  Thankfully, on Saturday morning one came out just across the street and we were able to watch him from the safety of the house.  MJ was beyond thrilled!





7.  The Clouded Leopard

When MJ was two, his favorite animal at the zoo was the alligator(s).  He looked forward to seeing them on the way from the petting zoo to the carousel.  Around the time he turned three, they decided to do away with the alligator exhibit and MJ was crushed.  He decided to picked out a new favorite animal: the clouded leopard.  For those of you not familiar with the Atlanta Zoo, the clouded leopard exhibit is located next to the tiger habitat.  This animal is always hard to find in between the trees and rocks, which I think is one reason MJ liked him so much.  Back in May, we took our first summer trip to the zoo and he couldn’t wait to see the clouded leopard- it was all he talked about.  When we got to the exhibit, all I saw were tigers.  Then I saw this sign:



I was so upset- how was I going to tell my four year old that his favorite animal was shipped back to Asia??  When I explained to MJ what happened, he was devastated – huge crocodile tears ran down his cheeks while he asked why they would take the leopard away.  I decided to buy him a stuffed clouded leopard at the gift shop on our way out and that seemed to heal his wounds.

That night, MJ decided that his new favorite animal at the zoo would be the Red Panda.  We went back to the zoo in early July and from the moment he woke up that morning he kept talking about how he couldn’t wait to see this “beautiful animal.”  So (I’m sure you know where this is headed by now), we get to the exhibit and I saw the dreaded yellow sign:



I almost cried while explaining to him (again) that his favorite animal was no longer at the zoo.  He was upset, but honestly I think at this point he kind of expected it.  I suggested that he not pick out any more obscure animals and stick with the normal, every day zoo animals (lion, tiger, elephant, etc).  Do you know what he picked?  The bush dog.  Have you ever heard of that??  I’m sure it won’t be there the next time we go…why couldn’t he have picked giraffe?!  You have to love that kid.


8. Growing up

On our last trip to the zoo (the one with the red panda incident), my dear friend Meg and her two daughters, Shug and Sybil, joined us.  I snapped this picture of MJ, Ty, and Shug in the wind tunnel: 

 

We talked about how much they have grown up…the following picture was taken over four years ago:

 

Shug (5 months) and MJ (3 months)

 

It really does go by fast.


9. Get your shine on

Eagle Rock is now distributing Climax Moonshine; here is a picture of Steve with Tim Smith (from the show Moonshiners on Discovery).




10.  More videos of the princess

Catelin apparently wants to try out for a role on Duck Dynasty.  She found our duck call yesterday and put it in her mouth thinking she was going to be able to use it properly.  When it didn’t make the sound she expected, she started making the noise with her mouth.  It was too funny.

Catelin is still not walking yet, but she is getting close.  My heart is not ready for her to do it but my poor back is (she is over 27 pounds- yes you read that right).  A few days ago, she decided she wasn’t scared of walking with the walker any more and now I can’t get her to stop!