Football and Friends and Adenoids, OH MY!

It's been another week of rainy weather here in Georgia, so what better way to keep from getting cabin fever? Do a little traveling! And traveling we did. Chad started practice almost 3 weeks ago, but we have about 2 more weeks before games start, so we took advantage of a less-crazy schedule. As an early birthday present, Chad surprised me with tickets to the Georgia/ Tennessee game in Knoxville. It's been a tradition of ours' to go to this game since we were engaged (as it's usually the last one we can attend before our season starts.) We had a great time, regardless of the loss!


Our good friends from Virginia, the Smiths, now live in Sewanee, TN. Chad's team was having a retreat at the school Monday night and Tuesday so the girls and I tagged along and stayed with the Smiths and their FOUR kids! Cortney is one of my closest friends, so I try to take advantage of spending even a little time with her. When we first met the Smiths, they had one child and we had none; over the years, the kids have increased, the ability to carry on sane conversations has decreased, but we love them more and more!

Late-night ice cream cones

Smiling for the camera

And out with the old, in with the new... Caroline had her surgery today to remove her old (no longer effective!) ear tubes, replace them, and remove her adenoids. The poor girl has been sick since July, so hopefully this will give her some relief. The doctor said that one of her eardrums was about to rupture and her adenoids were enormous...so I guess that it was worth it...again!!

Pre-surgery pose (this is always her face in pictures because she says "cheesburger" everytime the camera comes out...I think I always catch in mid "urger"

This next picture is after she received her "happy medicine", before taking her away for her IV--she kept thinking there was something on the wall! And then she would use both hands to open my mouth and ask, "Is dat Baby Jack?" over and over! Bless her bones!

We told the girls last night that we would be going to the fair tonight, and they have looked so forward to it (calling it everything from 'the circus' to 'the zoo'!) that they have asked when we were going from that moment on! We finally made it, and we had a great time. Chad and I knew that one of the girls would be brave and the other scared...However, we could have never guessed that it would be the careful, cautious Aly who wanted to ride even the fastest, highest rides while Caroline, who usually considers the consequences only after running through the wall, would be absolutely frightened! But she did finally decide to ride the Ferris Wheel and laughed and screamed the whole time. The highlight of Aly's night was riding the very fast Himalaya with Chad. I took a picture of her standing on tiptoes while the Carney measured her!
Many rides, empty pockets, tummies full of fair food, and a tearful good-bye later, we can't wait to go back next year!

Don't let the smile fool you: the Carney had to stop the ride to let the crying Caroline off!

The Surprise Dare-Devil

Atop the Ferris Wheel (this IS a real smile!)

Boarding the Himalaya...
...and riding it!

Sick Days at the Sick Bay

I know that I've posted about this before, but I really feel like we get sick a lot around here. Someone is sick every week! We went to get flu shots on Thursday and the receptionist checked us in by name, and double-checked our address and insurance information- all without having to ask me a single question, then followed it by, "I feel like I know y'all well!" Aly has a high fever, her second bout with this in a month. And poor Caroline lost the tube out of one of her ears this summer and has had 4 straight ear infections...in just that ear! She is getting a second set of tubes in and her adenoids out in two weeks; hopefully that will get her through the winter! Just as a footnote, Caroline also started running a fever before bed! I really am not complaining- I just hate it for these kids! Here is a picture of our pitiful patient tonight:



But, all is not fevers and earaches... here are a few pictures from our past week or two:

Daddy and the girls before "Daddy's Dessert" night at school

Face painting at Alumni Weekend (for Chad's 15 year high school reunion!!)

Posing with cousins William and Warner in front of a HUGE dump truck

The Prayers of the Righteous

Oh, how I wish I could video tape the girls saying prayers at night. Since I know that wouldn't work (as they either freeze up or totally perform when the camera is on them), I've got to record our most recent nightly prayer:

First, Caroline (imagine a huge, shy grin on her face with an accent that adds an extra two syllables to each word):
"Dear God. Thank you for Mama. Thank you for Daddy. Thank you for Aly-Boo. Thank you for Taro-yine. Amen"

Then Aly (eyes closed, speaking with all the drama of an evangelist preacher):
"Dear God and Jesus. Please take care of my animals. Please don't make us sick. Please let us have pink medicine and not red medicine. Please let me have super-powers. Thank you for the Bible so I can learn about Jesus. Amen."

There is nothing more sweet than the faith of a child!

Wet days, dry pants

So, I mentioned in my last post that I enjoy a good rainy day every now and then as a welcomed break from steamy hot September days. Well, I think that I can speak for all of Northwest Georgia (and much of the southeast!) right now when I say that we are sick of rain! We in Rome have been fortunate enough to have not experienced the tremendous flooding taking place in Atlanta, but how much rain can sun-loving folks like us take?! Surely the crisp blue fall skies are out there and arriving to us soon, right?! We saw sunlight this afternoon, so I feel a little optimism creeping in!

Thanks to a fever virus, Aly missed the first official dance class, but got to go last week. She loved it and was very proud of herself. Because she wears the outfit almost daily, my new ambition is to keep it somewhat clean and presentable for the actual class. When I asked her recently what she wanted to be for Halloween, it was no surprise when she answered, "A ballerina." Done, darlin'!



And thanks to the rain, we decided to buckle down and get serious about potty-training. I say (with a little nervous trepidation!) that Caroline is trained! We picked out her big-girl panties (I feel a little weird typing "panties" over the Internet!) on Monday, as she is proudly displaying below. She's done a great job!

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY, COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY!

The week-in-review

We've had a week of rain here in Rome, therefore a week of indoor activities. It's honestly been kind of nice to hunker-down inside and give the outside fun a bit of a break. Here are just a few pictures from the week:

A picnic-party with all of the fixin's. The girls' favorite activity lately is getting ALL the kitchen pieces out and making parties. The funny thing is that because Aly is just a little type-A, she also enjoys cleaning it up afterward. They say they are doing their 'chores' (like Cinderella!)


I haven't totally gone all-out with potty training Caroline, but she did use her potty twice on Monday! I just couldn't resist a little diaper-free-bottom shot!


The girls have a new obsession: Batman (Caroline) and Superman (Aly). We received a catalog in the mail about a week ago with Halloween costumes, and the girls have been smitten ever since. Aly has a MAJOR crush on the superhero (she laughs giddily every time we say his name), and Caroline follows right along!



Speaking of crushes... this season, each Tuesday night is "Family Night" with the team. We go up to the cafeteria and eat with the basketball boys. The girls L-O-V-E love the basketball boys, and the guys are so sweet to them. When I tell them that it's 'basketball-boy-dinner-night', they run to the dress-up clothes and load on the jewelry and accessories. I just had a Bible study last night with senior girls in which we talked about how our image and identity of ourselves is formed early and we build this identity based on what elicits praise from others when we're young. I couldn't help but think of my own girls knowing already that dressing up 'pretty' elicits attention from the boys they want to impress... (Gulp!) I guess there is always something to worry about. For now, we'll just enjoy Tuesday Family Nights!!

Baby BLUE!!

We had a doctor's appointment today; our wonderful doctor gave us an early Ultrasound and we found out that we are having A BOY!! A little more blue to mix in with our very pink household! Chad and I are ecstatic and were a little on the obnoxious side in the Ultrasound room-- I was laughing so hard with excitement the technician could barely see a picture! Chad said through tears, "I didn't want to tell you this, but I really wanted one!" We told the girls and Aly's only response was, "Can I still call him Lily?" (Not ever a name in the running, but sure!) Here are a few pictures from our exciting morning: