The Halloween version, that is!  It was so cute and so much fun, especially for Noah and the other little ones.  This was the neatest thing and I cant believe that we have never done it before.  It is a place called Wales West Railways .  It is a real steam engine.  It rides around an RV park and through the woods a bit.  This time of year it is all decked out in Halloween decorations.  We rode the train to a mini station where there was a kid safe haunted house and a pumpkin patch.  They got to pick a pumpkin and decorate it.  Then we got back on the train and rode back to the main station.  There they got a cookie, drink and a lollipop.  We went with some new friends from storytime.  They just moved here from Alaska!  Her husband is ia doctor in the Army.  We will definitely be going back at Christmas time to see ride the train and see Santa.  I cant wait to see how it is decorated for the holidays.

Noah was so cute when we started to go into the Haunted House, it was really dark.  There were a few spooky light up decorations, bats or masks and such.  I was right behind him and saw him turn around and walk back out.  He started calling me, pretty casually, 'Mom, Mooom..' .  I walked out and said 'here I am, right behind you'.  He looks at me and says, 'We can go home now.'   LOL!  It was funny, he was so serious.  Like Im not afraid, but I am ready to go.  I encourage him to walk on through, which he did and he did fine.  It was not really scary.  On the other end, though was the pumpkin patch and they had a blast rearranging the pumpkins.  Oh and we got so lucky and they squeezed us in between two huge school groups!!

Click on 'Read More' to see pics!

It was a superhero Halloween!  Noah was insistent on being Superman, so Taylor decided to be Wonderwoman.  Great, I got the costumes early and they played in them for a couple of weeks before Halloween.  They looked so cute!  Then, I decided to check out The Wizard of OZ from the library, thinking Taylor might like it.  Well, she did!  But, now she wants to be Dorothy for Halloween .  At first, I told her to wait until next year and she could be Dorothy, she was okay with that.  Then, I went to Target the day before Halloween and they already had all the Halloween stuff marked down and they had one Dorothy costume in her size.  So, I decided to get it, why not, right?  Of course, she was thrilled and put it on right when she got home from school.  Now she had to decide who she was going to be for Halloween.  She decided...BOTH!  LOL!  She wore Wonder Woman to school and then that evening she was Dorothy.  I tried so hard to convince Noah to wear the lion costume that Taylor wore when she was two, so he would be the Cowardly Lion, but nope, the boy had his mind made up.  He was going to be 'Super Man!'  He was a cute one.  We had a great time trick or treating in our neighborhood with friends and with Hudson and Baylor.  Then we all went out for dinner.  It was a great night!

How about you you you?

Clint and I took Noah to the zoo, Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo,to see the Marcan Tiger Show.  My mom met us there on a lunch break :).  I thought it was a great show.  The tigers were beautiful and amazing.  The tigers were gorgeous, they had tigers that showed all the different coats the tigers can have, like orange with black stripes, orange with light brown stripes, white with black stripes and white with light grey stripes.  The crew played with the tigers like they were little kitty cats or something.  It was the last day of the show and I am so glad we decided to go check it out.  We also got to pet a baby tiger and watch it play with the zookeepers and some lucky guests, who paid the $50 to do so.  That was one of Noahs favorite parts of the day.  But I think his and Clints, lol, FAVORITE part of the day was playing with the baby monkey.  Clint was talking with one of the zookeepes about the baby tiger and she said she had a baby monkey and that she would go get him!  She let Noah hold him and pet him and play with him.  Noah thought that was GREAT!  I did, too, actually.  I wanted to hold him, too, but I was too busy with the camera and then a crowd came around and everyone wanted to hold the monkey.  It was cool.  She was telling us how the one lady took the baby tiger home every night and she took the baby monkey home to take care of him.  All in all it was a great visit to the zoo.  We bought an annual membership so we can go anytime.

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Noah holding the monkey

Noah petting the tiger

It has taken me forever to get a moment to get on here and post about Taylor's birthday parties, yes that is plural, lol.  She had two fabulous party.  She is a very lucky little girl.  She is getting to the age where she wanted to have a friends party and since we usually do her family party with Hudson, I was afraid that inviting friends to that party would just be way too many people.  So, we heard of this new place in town, Posh Girlz, that hosts parties for little girls.  We had her friends party there and the family party at my moms house.  Both were tons of fun.

Posh Girlz was sooo neat.  Taylor had 8 friends come to her 'Fairy Princess' party.  The girls got to dress up as fairy princess, they got their hair and nails done.  They also go to make lipgloss, sparkle lotion and ice cream looking bath stuff, not sure what it was, but I do know that Taylor and several of her friends were disappointed when they found out that they did not get to eat it, lol.  They also made sandy candy and picture frames.  After all the girls were dolled up, they got to put on a fairy fashion show, each of them walking down the runway and posing for a pictures, toooo cute!  They also provided invitations, party favors, pictures and the cake!  It was yummy, too!  I thought they did a great job on the party, as Taylor's was their FIRST party and because of this and because of how beautiful she is, lol, they are putting a big picture of her on the wall, for decoration.  Taylor had a very good time with all her friends.  She got lots of goodies, too.

Here is a link to a slideshow I made of the Posh Girlz party. 

We have just made our third visit to the ER, or urgent care, with Noah and he is only 2.5!!  The first time he was 3.5wks old and had RSV.  The second time, I am sure many of you remember, was for stitches.  He was hit in the head with a wooden swing.  This time, he was knocked into the corner of our armoire, by his big sister.  He had jumped off our bed and then Taylor jumped off the bed after him and apparently he did not get out of her way quick enough.  She slammed his head into the armoire, busting it open.  I was just in my bathroom and was sooooo hoping that that was not as bad as it sounded. When I got in there his head was bleeding and I could see a hole in his head and just thought, 'Great, here we go again that is going to need stitches.'  I told Taylor to hurry up and go get Daddy, he was outside weedeating.  She walks out there and tells him, 'Come here Daddy.'  He just says, 'what?'  She says, 'Come see Noahs head.'  She was pretty casual about it, lol.  By then, I had brought Noah to him and there was blood everywhere.  We decided that he needed stitches or something.  We were really hoping for dermabond, just super glue him shut!  So, we took him to the urgent care.  Taylor went with Nana, who met us there.  When we finally got taken back. took awhile, we decided that we cleaned him up too nicely, next time we are going to leave him all bloody, because I am sure noone wants to look at a bloody faced two year old in the waiting room, maybe we would of got taken back a little quicker, lol!  The Dr. agreed that dermabond would be enough to fix it, so no stitches necessary, YAY!  He cried, but he really did a good job.  Now, he will tell you, 'I'm soo-PER gooed!'  LOL!

**PICS ADDED!!    Click on 'Read More' to see them.

I can't believe my baby girl is 5!  She has had a great day.  Clint, Noah and I walked into her room singing 'Happy Birthday' to her to wake her up, but she was already awake in her bed.  She just smiled a really big smile.  She is so excited to be 5, an official big kid now, I guess, lol, school and everything.   It also helps that she is five like all the kids in her class now and not the ONLY four year old in there.  Noah, Mom, and I went to have lunch with her at school.  I took her McDonalds and finally got to meet her friends that she talks about.  I also took cupcakes for them to eat at snack time.  She got to wear a tiara at school all day today and they sang to her THREE times, lol.  After school, Martha, aka Granny, came to visit and brought her balloons and a card.  Thanks Granny!  In the evening we went to Rafters to eat with the family and then Angie and I took the kids to Build A Bear so Taylor and Hudson could build bears together.  They had fun.  We appreciate all the calls from family and friends to wish her a happy birthday.

 We are having her 'friends' party next Sat and a family party for her and Hudson the next Sat or Sun.  She should be partied out!

Noah definitely misses his sister.  He still asks me about her a couple of times a day, wondering where she is.  But, he also LOVES his time alone with me and Clint.  He is such a silly, goofy, laughing little boy, FULL of personality.  Right now, he likes to climb his Daddy and jump off his shoulders, he likes superman and batman, he likes puzzles, playing with his sister, but his most favorite things are still books, letters, and numbers.  His nickname is still 'Crash', his little head is always finding things crash into whether on purpose or accident.  Hence, the scratch on his nose in one of the previous post that a couple of you asked about.  That particular scratch was caused by a nieghbor kid accidently dumping Noah out of the wagon, the scratches went all the way up his forehead.

Funny things Noah says...

The other night we were at a resturaunt and Noah was sitting/standing (up and down) in a regular chair. DH had him sitting there, instead of a high chair, before I came inside the resturaunt. Noah has been notorius for fighting a high chair. He used to hate them, but has gotten much better. Anyway, this night Noah was goofing off in the chair and it began to fall backwards. The look on his face was priceless, scare the bejeezes out of him, lol!! Clint caught it so he did not fall back but it was a very close call. The instant after it happened Noah says very seriously, "Noah need a highchair!" LOL! It was really funny!

Well school started off with a bang, but now that the newness has worn off and reality has set in it has begun to wear on my little girl and on mommy and daddy for that matter.   She did great the first four days, but then Friday came along and she was tired and the long week had caught up with her.  She was upset going in in the morning, got mouthy with the teacher and had to move her parrot down (on their behavior chart) and was too upset to eat her lunch.  Her parrot did get moved back up, but she was just wore out by 3 o clock and by the time we pulled into the drive way we were both in tears!  I was hoping it would be better by Monday and she had the whole weekend to relax, but nope, she did not want to go back.   So, Clint took her Monday morning, but then HE came home with a few tears  himself.  He said she was SOO sad.  She looked back at him with big crocodile tears, the most pitiful face and gave the saddest little wave to him he could ever imagine. 

I have talked to her teacher and emailed just about everyday to see how Taylor is doing.  She says that Taylor is doing 'SOOOO GREAT' academically.  She is a very smart girl :).  She has gotten sad a little here and there but for the most part she is happy and does a great job.  So, that is comforting.  Oh, and she has not had her parrot moved again, but she is quick to tell me of all those who have, lol! 

I hope the sad separation are over soon!  This morning, I took her, and as soon as we got to the school the tears welled up in her eyes and she got very sad.  I got her out, walked her to the sidewalk, hugged her and told her 'bye' and turned to get back in the car.  As I am getting in the car, she looks at me and waves her sad goodbye and then darts back toward the car running out into the car rider traffic!  She just couldnt make herself turn back around and go into class.  I walked her over to the front door where she was still refusing to go by herself, when a little angel came out of nowhere (a bigger girl, 9/10) and asked Taylor if she wanted her to walk her to class.  Yes!  Taylor nodded her head yes and her and the little girl took off to her class.  Well first they ran into another big girl, who happens to live in our neighborhood and Taylor knows to walk with them.  I could tell that Taylor really liked this.  I may ask this girls mom if I can take her to school in the morning, so she can help Taylor with this transition.

I have internet again!  Summer is slowing down, school has started, hopefully, I will get back into the routine of updating my site.  I HAVE to, because this is my little memory 'book' that happens to be very easy to share with friends and family.  Now, I have lots to catch up on.

I can just never get used to how quickly the time actually flies.  Taylor is starting 'Big Kid' school this year.  Clint and I debated for about a year as to whether or not to send her, because she just makes the cut off by a couple of days.  At first, we did not like the idea of her being the youngest in her class.  We thought we may be giving her an advantage if she were the oldest.  But, in the end, we decided that she was just too smart and too ready to hold her back.  We are at the end of day 3 right now and I have to say I believe we made the right decision.  She is doing GREAT.  Not a single tear has been shed, by either of us actually, lol.  I am sad she is gone all day, but I know she enjoys it so much that it was hard to be too sad.  Her teacher is Ms. Kara Rogers.  I really like her so far.  I like her approach and her teaching methods.  I just cant wait to get in there one day, as a volunteer, and see how the daily routine goes.  It kills me not being able to picture what she is doing all day.

The classroom is so cute.  It is decorated in a pirate theme.  The have a loft in the room where they can go up to read or play quietly.  She is so excited to get to go up there and play, but they have not been able to yet.  The school has an awesome playground, but they have not been able to play on it yet, either, thanks to the rain we have had everyday for the past 3 days.  The best thing about the school is Sea, Sand, and Stars, a 5800 gallon aquarium, planetarium, and 800ft boardwalk outside.  It is right on campus and it is awesome, click on the link and check out the video about it.  Taylor's class gets to go twice a month.  She is going to love it.  I cant wait to check it out.

At the end of the first day, I asked Ms. Rogers how she did and she said that she did great.  Taylor was her biggest helper and that she would not think that she was the youngest in her class.  I was very pleased, of course.  I asked Taylor about her day and she said that she had a good day and it was fun, but she was very disappointed that while in the gym for PE 'all they did was walk in a line'.  Apparently, the kids just lined up and walked on the lines around the gym?!  She was VERY upset about this.  She kept asking me why they would have them do that on their first day, lol.  Gym has gotten better over the next two days, though, lol.

Click on 'Read More' to see more pics.

Taylor has been taking ballet (it is now over, starts back up in the fall). She LOVED it of course. The teacher was really good with them. Click Read More below to see the pictures! Also, Noah has a new tricycle, and LOVES it! They both love riding there bikes - especially backwards down the driveway! (will try to add a movie of that). Noah thinks it is hilarious! Click Read more to see pics!! And stay tuned for the video...