Sweet Baby!

It isn't often that Greg is home and can hold Olivia before I put her to bed. Doesn't she look cozy?

Picture of the Day!

Poor Greg! Yes, this is a horrible picture. This is Greg's hand.

Before you cringe, let me tell you the story . . .

Ahem, Greg was at the station and ran 37 calls in a 24-hour period. He was just a TAD tired the next day and came home from his part time job early so he could sleep. I tried to wake him up at one point in the day but he didn't budge. So I did what any good wife would do . . . I painted his fingernails! It has been a long time since I have painted his nails while he was knocked out. I thought it was time to relive the "good ole days". ha ha ha!

Now, if I were really creative I would hide the nail polish remover before he wakes up!

Calvin our Climber

Actually, he got stuck in the tree so I had to rescue him . . . but not before I took a picture!

F-L-E-X-I-B-L-I-T-Y!





This was taken a few months ago.

This video doesn't show it very well, but Olivia used to rock herself. She would just go back and and forth . . . she grew out of it, but it was cute while it lasted.

Schoolhouse Rock

These Saturday-Morning Cartoon vignets were a little before my time, but right in the middle of Greg's. He has turned our family on to these little jewels. I thought I would share some of our favorites for your viewing pleasure!
SHOT HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD

NO MORE KINGS

THE PREAMBLE

INTERJECTIONS!


For more information or to see the lyrics, visit http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/
For those who want to buy this, get it from WalMart - they have free shipping "site to Store".

What flavor are you?

Mint chocolate chip ice cream wakes up people's taste buds, and you do the same thing when you walk into a room. The chocolatey bits represent your sweet, flirtatious side, and the minty flavor represents your high energy level. You are smart, witty, and you make a great first impression. Your friends value your advice, because you tend to see things from a fresh new perspective.


I got this from a friend's blog. What a fun deal - I would like to think that is me. :) Check it out.

Thanks, HN!

REEAACCCHH!

Reach!
Got it!
Now for a little TV!

Olivia's Smile

I just had to show you all how happy Liv is! She is VERY good-natured . . . until she is tired. Boy, can she really "show her stuff" when she is mad. Poor thing. :)

Braves Game!

These are a little late in posting, but I just re-found them and thought I should put them up. They are self-explanitory . . . though I will say that these tickets were given to Greg. And it is a good thing, too, because we would never have paid that much money for such good seats. :)

Amicalola Falls

We were listening to the brook"let" as it went by. What a calming sound - we closed our eyes and just listened. I could have stayed there all day!

I had the boys put their cheeks on the rocks to feel how cool they were. I don't think Josh was all that interested in the feel - Calvin, on the other hand . . . :)

I know this picture is crooked, but what beautiful trees!

We took a day trip to Amicalola Falls. With our severe drought, there wasn't much water spilling over the top, but we had a good time anyway. The boys thought it was a grand adventure - Liv slept on the way back down from the falls. Greg carried her the whole way - - boy, am I grateful for his strong arms!!

Halloween

So, this was our Halloween this year. The boys were cowboys (costume materials cost less than $15 for both - we are on a budget, people). Greg did their "faces" and I did the vests . . . good thing the camera doesn't catch my HAND-SEWN work. lol, it was pretty pathetic. FYI - I know that cowboys don't carry machine guns or Star Wards blasters, but we pulled from what we had at home. :)
Olivia was a Bumble bee - my sister found the costume at a garage sale for $3. The kid was able to sleep at or church Fall Festival - lucky thing.

Yup, This is MY Husband!

Just thought some of you might appreciate this. It is an exceptional photograph. Lighting at fires for photography is awesome. This structure had a metal roof which prevented the firefighters from being able to get the fire under control . . . they just had to let it burn and fight it from the outside the best they could.

CALVIN FOR MAYOR!

HE WON!
So, get this - Several of the third grade classes at Calvin's school had elections to run their own "KidNation" (based on a TV show . . . haven't seen the show). The students could elect a President, VP, Governor and Mayor. Each class has one Governor and two Mayors. Calvin ran for Mayor this week and WON!
We made little flyers to pass out and taped Tootsie pops to them (we did the assembling over dinner). We also made stickers with Calvin's photo on them. We even campaigned on his lunch bags. It was tons of fun. Anyway, he gets to name his "city" within the classroom.
Our little family needed this excitement. Enjoy the photos.

Josh's Slideshow

Calvin's slideshow

Fire!

Don't get too excited . . . this isn't our fire, Thanks Goodness! Greg has started a collection of some of his fires.
I have included just a few here for your viewing pleasure. For my cousin, TA . . . yep, being a firefighter can be pretty cool sometimes. :)

**While viewing this slideshow, I could SMELL the fires. I know that has to be some kind of psychological something . . . right? When Greg comes home from a shift, I always know if he had a fire and what kind (woods or house). That smell is one that lingers for a while. It gets into his hair folicles of all places, and even though he really tries to shampoo it out, it stays. If he brings his gear into the house for any reason after a fire, we can hardly breathe. lol. I think only a firefighter's wife can appreciate that laundry headache.

Olivia's Slideshow

Here are the highlights of Olivia's life so far. You can see the photos on Picasa by clicking on the little yellow man icon in the bottom left corner and then clicking on "Olivia". You can turn the captions on and off by clicking on the call out box in the bottom left corner. Thanks for watching. :)

Our Dating Story

For those who are interested

Sparing some of our details, I will share the more interesting parts of our dating story. :)

As you read, we were set up on a blind date. May I say that Greg was the perfect gentleman. Things went very slowly at first - in fact, it was a comfortable slow. I remember talking with him by his car one night and I saw a shooting star! Now, I am not superstitious like that, but thought I would make a wish anyway. I wished that if things were "going to happen" that they would happen naturally. Well, they did - everything just seem to fit. Just a month after we started dating, Greg asked me to marry him . . . actually, what he said was, "Marry me." So, it really wasn't a question as much as a statement. lol I simply said, "No. I can't." I explained that I wanted to marry someone of my faith. A few weeks later he asked again. And, again I told him that I couldn't. I did like the poor guy, so I kept seeing him. **Note: I am not above giving Greg grief over his "romantic" proposal. **

In fact, I liked him so much I decided to have some fun with him. Now, my cousins (KJ, AJ, and VJ) taught us about short-sheeting a bed and making cute dance invitations and such - - thanks for the lessons! We had a New Year's Eve dance coming up at church and so I thought I would invite Greg (the non-dancer). I got permission from his mom and spread Hershey Kisses all over his bedroom floor (yes, he was living at home) and make a big card that said "Now that I have "kissed" the ground you walk upon, will you go to the dance with me?"

Well, that got rave reviews, so I decided to go a little further . . . with rice! Now, as a brief history: my mom had a friend who cleaned Greg's house. On occasion, she would ask my mom to help her. On one of their cleaning days, I gave my mom a bag of rice and asked her to empty it in Greg's bed. Keep in mind that all the parents were excited about their little love match - so my mom was eager to comply. I can almost hear her and K giggling as they carefully poured the rice across the foot of Greg's bed and then unassumingly made the bed up! To this day Greg grinds his teeth when he recalls his night . . . he had late ball games and came home exhausted. He crawls into bed just aching for sleep . . . only to find a whole bag of rice on his feet! I suppose Greg didn't quite know how to use the vacuum because he wakes his mom up to show her the mess and they both go to work vacuuming the good stuff up. I think it was a great idea and would do it again if I didn't have to clean it up myself. LOL

Okay, moving on . . . a few months after we meet, with Greg still talking about marriage, I ask him if he wanted to know why I was so set on marrying someone of my faith . . . he agreed to take lessons and it wasn't long before he wanted to be baptized and join the church. Wow - I can say that I didn't see that one coming! A month after that, it occurred to me that I really did want to marry him. He hadn't asked in a while, so I thought I should just take it upon myself to answer him on my own. I wrote the word "YES" on his car windshield with soap. Meanwhile, my mom kept him in the house talking while I worked. I finished my job, and told him that I was tired and he needed to go home. The smug guy thought he knew what was going on when I disappeared and my mom kept him talking. As we were walking out, he was expecting me to say something . . . don't' know what. We get to the door and I send him off . . . still no word. He walks to his car looking at the moon thinking he has misread the whole situation. It isn't until after he starts the car that he sees the soap writing. I think the guy just about cried when he jumped out and ran back to give me a hug. FINALLY, he had won his girl. lol

He later tells me that I have to now ask him to marry me! No problem there, I buy some flowers from our favorite florist and tape them to his shower head with a note that read, "Now that i have "showered" you with flowers, will you marry me?"

A few days later we get the ring (yup, I got to pick my own) and showed his mom. I can still hear her . . . "Are you engaged?!" Anyone who knows his mom can picture that excitement and the tears. It was great.

Now, Greg did fun things too - I think he deserves some credit.

He took me on a well-planned treasure hunt around town. He had gone ahead of time and taped clues all over town (behind stores, on the side of the road, etc) and drove me around to find them. At the very end were 2 dozen red roses! This all came about b/c I had been in a minor car accident (not my car and no injuries). I can only imagine what I would have gotten with a broken arm or something. ha ha.

He totally won my heart over food! Growing up, money was more than tight. If my mom bought a pack of gum at the store, we had to share the pieces by breaking them in half . . . even then it was a treat! If we ever ate out, we always ordered water (to this day I still order water with my food). Well, on one date to McDonald's, I couldn't decide between two sandwiches. I told Greg my dilemma and he told me that I should just get both! What?! This was a concept so foreign to me that I was totally excited to try it. Those who know me will have no trouble believing that I ate both sandwiches just fine. I decided then and there that Greg was a keeper. He also made a comic book of "our story" - drew the pictures, typed it up and everything.

Well, I think I have covered the highlights. If I am missing something, let me know.

Whew, so that was a long entry - thanks for reading!

Children's laughter is the best!

This is one of our favorite videos. I just re-found it and thought the grandparents especially would get a kick out of this.

As you can see, Josh is in the hall outside the bathroom door. Calvin is inside shouting at Josh. Who knows what he is saying. Josh is throwing a marble at the door while Calvin shouts. Calvin used to sit in the bathroom for the longest time while Josh played through the door. Now Josh is the one that stays in the bathroom singing . . . and singing . . . and singing. I will get him on video one of these days. :)

This one is MY favorite video clip! I will sometimes just watch and watch. I laugh just as hard each time I see it. Again, Calvin has just opened the door to the bathroom (you can see that he is still holding his shirt up). They had been screaming through the door, though Josh thought that his scream was a whistle. You can see Josh straining to get his last scream out before Calvin scares the mess out of the poor little guy! Oh, brotherly love. :)