Gymnastics

Yesterday Hallie and her friend Brantley started gymnastics. They had a fantastic time last night. There were about 50 girls in the gym at the same time on all of the different equipment, so it sometimes was hard for Hallie to focus but she did a really good job. They did 15 minutes on the floor, bar, beam and vault. Hallie was one of the smallest in the class, but she held her own. I think the girls are really going to enjoy it. They were busy the whole time and got to use all of the equipment. Hallie's favorite yesterday was the beam, I imagine that her favorite will be different every week. Here are some pictures of Hallie on the beam.

Shopping with Hallie

It isn't often that we all venture out to the mall together, but when we do, you can count on Hallie to keep it from being another dull shopping trip. Last weekend, we all headed to the mall to shop for some clothes for Jaime, which is even more rare. As we came off the elevator and walked past the lingerie section, there were two full mannequins in their underwear. Hallie walks right up to them, tilts her hips and head back, points at them with both index fingers, and says, "Looking good ladies". Jaime and I started laughing hysterically. Of course, that led to her saying it to every other mannequin in the store.

Well, this spot in the store has gotten Hallie's comments more than once. Several months ago, we were walking through the same store and Hallie spots a pair of leopard print underwear. She picks them up and tells Jaime that they look awesome and she should buy a pair. She then tells Jaime, "Mommy, if you had these, you could be just like a tiger. ROARRRRR!!!!!!" Jaime looked to get my reaction and I simply replied, "ROARRRRR". It was hilarious.

Later into the same shopping trip last weekend, Blake and Hallie decided that they wanted to go to the Disney Store. We say no because we knew they will want to buy something and we didn't want to have to drag crying kids out of the store. After much begging and promising that they will not ask to buy anything, we give in. As you know with everything Disney, customer service is top notch. The moment we walk in, a Disney employee walks up to us, with a big smile, and asks if she could help us today. The moment that those words left her mouth, Hallie looks up at her and says, "We aren't buying anything today. We are just looking". The employee was a little surprised, but thought it was funny. Of course, we were dying laughing and proud that she kept to her word. Blake did too. Neither asked for anything in the store.

1st Day of School

Today was Blake's first day of second grade at his new school. He was so excited he got up at 5:30 this morning ready to go. I had to drop him off at 7:15 (as soon as they opened) because he couldn't wait to get there. When I picked him up, he said he had a great day. He likes his class and really likes his teacher. He already knew 3 boys in his class from Cub Scouts and 1 girl from church. Another one of his friends from Cub Scouts is in after school care with him, which is wonderful, because he already has a friend in after school care too! He has finished his homework already and I know he will sleep good tonight.

Here is a picture of him this morning. You can tell, he was not very patient as I took his picture.

Yesterday was Hallie's first day of 5k. The first day of summer care this summer she started asking her teacher when lessons began and has asked every day since the beginning of July. So yesterday she was beyond excited when she finally got to start her lessons. Here is a picture of her yesterday, she had to wear special clothes on the first day.

And not to leave anyone out, here are some pictures of the boys playing outside this weekend. Normally they just play with the water in the buckets, but it was too hot, so they just got in the buckets! You can tell by the pictures that Daniel was the one who came up with the idea. Andrew just followed along and I'm not sure he really enjoyed it!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

. . . Take me out to the crowd. Buy me some nachos and a giant foam finger. Well that is how our version went. Blake and I went to his first major league baseball game on Tuesday night. That is one of the best father-son moments. We saw the Atlanta Braves put a whipping on the Houston Astros, 12-4, and had a blast. We got there early and was able to meet and get autographs from several of the Astros players. Two of the players that we met were centerfielder, Hunter Pence, and third basemen, Ty Wigginton. What nice guys. When we finally made it into the stadium we played a little homerun derby on an xbox 360, watched batting practice (almost caught a homerun ball), bought our foam finger, and headed to the Sky Field for a little fun. In the Sky Field, we were able to look out over the city and Blake was able to run down the base path.

After that, we got our pizza and drinks we settled into our seats at the very last row in the upper deck. When the game began, we joined in with the crowd. Although the Braves and Astros are my two favorites teams and I was unsure who to cheer for, Blake decided that we would cheer for the Braves and we cheered as loud as we could. Blake would even put on a dancing exhibition for the people in our section in between each inning. We were able to see the Braves belt 4 home runs and after a great and loud rendition of take me out to the ballgame, we headed to eat the second greatest stadium food. That is nachos for all of you amateur baseball fans. Blake played a little in Tooner Field, which is the kids play area, and then we watched the final 3 outs and the fireworks. We had a great time.

As fun as that was, there is one thing better than going to a baseball game and that is going to two baseball games. Tonight, we went to the Birmingham Barons game. Although the twins were determined to run all of the ballpark, we had a good time. Thank goodness for 25 cent hotdog nights. Blake and Hallie sat with their friends, Hunter, Brantley, Brandon, and Caleb, and cheered for the Barons. Hallie put on the foam finger and started chanting, "We're #1." Later the cheer turned to "Go Barons" and then "Biscuits are rotten", which I must give Blake the credit for coming up with that cheer. (The Barons were playing the Montgomery Biscuits.) They all had fun watching the game and eating their hotdogs, nachos, slushies, etc. Daniel sums up the night best as he says, "Baseball is #1."