S is for Snow

Amazing

Snow Angel

This Girl Keeps Us Laughing

Almost time to leave...

Jessica's being induced tonight...

Hope to have some pics of baby Benton soon.

Grandma's Birthday

Family of Five

Scorched

Setting the scene:

Jamie and Dana sitting at our dining room table.

(visiting a bit before they head back to Kansas after Tabby's wedding)

There's a thunderstorm outside.  The thunder has made Alli run and climb into her mommy's arms.

We continue chatting, enjoying the sound of the rain, reassuring the kids that it's just a little thunderstorm.

And then

BOOM!

The. LOUDEST. thunder. I. have. ever. experienced.

in. my. life.

Dana, sitting next to the window, had a blue glow around her as the lightening lit up the sky outside.

Literally, blue light surrounded her like a halo.

The lights went out.

The kids began crying.

We began running to the kids. In the dark.  "Don't move kids! WE'LL find YOU!"

Lights come back on.

Candles come out as a precaution, but the evening goes right back to normal.  Chatting.  Kids playing.  Good times.

And then it's time for the Maizes to head home.

We walk out the front door and see this:

Our grass is completely scorched.

That lightening was a little closer than we thought!

(So close, in fact, that my car wouldn't start the next morning...we had to replace the battery!)

Now I'm just very thankful that replacing a battery is the extent of the issues caused by the electrical storm.

(Although I do wonder if Dana has superpowers now.)

The Girls

Georgia Aquarium

Click on the images to view them larger.

One of my favorite blogs

I am seriously just loving the blog "It's Almost Naptime" right now.  Missy is the mom at the Naptime household and her posts are hilarious or thoughtful - and sometimes both.

In this post, she states:

"...after reading 2736 books on parenting, I have learned 90% of my best tips from other mommies."

Soooo, in this post she listed the following bit of "mommy advice" that has stuck with her the most.


"The way they treat you at 3 is the way they will treat you at 13."



She explained it further like this.  It is VERY insightful and so very very very true!!


"Maggie is in her Terrible Threes. And Maggie is also about the cutest thing on the planet. So when Mags crosses her arms, sticks out her lower lip, closes her eyes, looks upward, stamps her size 7 foot and says, "NO!" I want to laugh. It's just cute, that's all there is to it.


Then this phrase runs through my mind and I have an image of a 15 year old Maggie, looking like a Bratz doll, looking me right in the face and saying "NO!" and you know what? Not. Cute. Not even a little bit cute.


Would I ignore backtalk from a twelve year old? Nope. Then I can not ignore it from a two year old. I'd rather nip it in the bud with a toddler than try and change a ten year habit with a teenager. And end up on SuperNanny.


This phrase has given me the strength to discipline one of my children many a time when the urge to blow it off ran deep."

Another mom listed her favorite bit of advice in the comments section:

"We can do the (parenting) work now or we can pay later."

One mom even quoted the movie Evan Almighty!!

"This advice, believe it or not, from the movie 'Evan Almighty.' Morgan Freeman plays God and at one point says to Evan’s wife:


'Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?'

And another mom's advice?

"Stop folding underwear."


If you've got some advice that really spoke to you, please feel free to share it.  Or hop on over to Missy's blog for some laughs and thoughtful insights.  =)

Chad & Tabby's wedding - Here comes the bride

Dancing at the wedding

Here's Lydia "dancing" with Nathan.  We had to have a little chat about not being so physical in her demands requests.  And David dancing with Rebekah. (They started dancing while I was videoing Nathan and Lydia.)






And here's Bekah cutting a rug as well.  She was really getting into it.  Can you spot the dance move that David calls "Doin' the Ace bandage?"  Ha ha!



Here's Lydia dancing with David.

Package from Mammy & Pappy

The girls got a package from Mammy & Pappy on Thursday.  They couldn't wait to open it when they got home from karate class!

In the pack, they each got these cool lizards/bugs that grow in water! 

It can take up to 72 hours to grow,

so we took some more pics while they're growing!  They are getting huge!

Mammy also made the girls hair bands to match the flip flops that they made while they were visiting.

And a little spending money never hurt either!  =)

Bekah also received her payment for her shipment of Bekah's Bands to Arkansas.  She was pleasantly surprised with the bonus Mammy, Mamaw, and Aunt Brenda included in there for her!

Plus Mammy (her first investor) sent more supplies to make more bands!!  Bekah is on cloud nine!

Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting!!

The girls got their gis (pronounced geez - with a hard g) tonight.

They were so excited!

They looks so cute in them!  I know they look a little big, but they are a size ZERO!!

Lydia practiced a few stances for me.

And Bekah did a couple of kicks for me.

I got a couple of Lydia during class. (Bekah was behind someone else, so I couldn't see her during class.)

And I had a good view of the sexiest dad there!

Lydia was hilarious doing the exercises.

These are her push-ups.

These are her crunches.

We're working on it!

Video of Bekah's cooking class

Rebekah's Cooking Class

My friend Stephanie sent me a link to a Groupon for Young Chef's Academy - a cooking school for kids.

Bekah's been asking for cooking lessons, and anyone that knows me knows that I can't really offer her much in that department, so we jumped on the deal!  A $35 class for only $15.  Bekah agreed to pay half and we paid half, so we were good to go!

Last night she went to her class and she LOVED it!

They got outfitted with aprons, washed their hands, and then they were off and running.

Bekah and Clare were up first, cracking eggs to make the waffle cone batter for the choco taco they were making for dessert.

Each child got to do a task, and then got to take turns mixing the batter.

After that, they put the batter on the skillet

and then hung it over a rack to cool in the shape of a taco shell.

While the shells were cooling in the freezer, the kids set to work making their other dish, omelet biscuits.

Bekah got to grate the cheese.

After the ingredients were ready for the omelet, they set to work on the chocolate coating for the choco taco.

The coating keeps the waffle cone from getting soggy.

They coated the cone taco with chocolate and then put back in the freezer to harden.

Then they played a little game while the omelets were cooking.  They got to see a tray full of kitchen gadgets for 30 seconds and then had a few minutes to write down as many as they could remember.

After that, it was time to add icecream and toppings to their choco taco.

Then it went back in the freezer while they dished up the omelet biscuits.

Bekah's masterpiece!

Checking it out?  Will she eat it?  It has onions in it!!

And she loves it!!

After that, she got her sweet reward...

...the delicious choco taco!!