This is what I call fate!

Ok, so maybe fate isn't the right word for it, but I still feel it's meant to be. I've told Keith that if I peel off a 30%, then I'm going shopping. You can't pass that up, right?! I know I have at least one friend that agrees with me, because I was with her when she peeled off a 30%! I also know that she didn't get to use it that week, so here's an invitation to come shopping with me sometime between Oct.1-11. I'll be waiting to here from you Kathrin!! :)

Brady

As I've said before, Brady is playing up a league this year so both boys are on the same team. It seems like every game Brady gets matched up with the biggest player on the other team. I'm just glad that I got a picture of it. Brady plays harder than most of the kids on the team. Most of the teams have two extra players, but we only have one, and we're lucky if everyone is there. It's kind of unfair to our kids because they don't ever have a chance to rest. I think the boys are enjoying it, and I know that it's been much easier for us having only one team to worry about.

Avery's a happy camper!

Avery is very happy, as you can see. He got his braces off yesterday, but more importantly, he got his expander out. The braces were only on the bottom front four teeth, so they weren't that big a deal. The expander has been in his mouth for over a year. He can actually touch the roof of his mouth now. He can also stop making weird noises when he eats! (ok, maybe that last one is more exciting for the rest of us!) He's been such a good sport with all that junk in his mouth. I keep trying to convince him that one day he'll be glad he went through all this while he's young. He still has quite a bit to go. The braces he had were just to bring those bottom teeth together while we wait on all his permanent teeth to come in. Once they're all in, he'll need braces on all his teeth. We aren't focusing on that right now though. We're going to just let him enjoy this! And of course, he is enjoying chewing gum again!!

Funny story

Last night at about 2:30 a.m., Chloe woke up screaming. She's had bad dreams before, but this was different. She was yelling at Avery because he took her puppy!! She was really pitiful, and she was crying about it. Keith went to her and then had to look all over the house for her puppy with the black tail. She wouldn't settle down until he found it and gave it to her. Then she said, "Oh, thank you!" After that she was fine, until she had to potty about an hour later. I asked her about it this morning, and she thought I was making it up. She didn't remember it at all.

Star Student

Chloe is the star student at preschool this week. She was very excited about putting all her favorite things on her star. We had tons of pictures to choose from, so it was hard to narrow it down. She slowly got rid of all pictures that had anyone else in it. I had some with family and friends to put on her star, but she liked all the ones of herself! Oh well, I guess her star should be all about her!! We also had a paper to fill out about all her favorite things. She was so funny answering the questions because her favorites were all the things she could see at the time.

favorites:
toy - her dishes
food - noodles
book - The Little Mermaid (this one she thought of without seeing it)
t.v. show - Jimmy Neutron (thought for sure it would be Dora)
thing to do at home - take care of and feed her stuffed animals (they were sitting at the table with us, eating lunch)
color - pink

Guard

Most of you know that Keith is in the national guard. Normally he only has guard one weekend a month, and two weeks out of the year. Well, he has been on orders for the past two weeks because of all the hurricane stuff, so he's been spending every other night at guard. I have a love/hate relationship with guard. That weekend always seems to come faster than any other, but it also allows us to make it on one income. Anyway, I'm writing this to celebrate because last night was the end of the two weeks. I just don't sleep well when Keith's away. I don't know how I ever made it when he regularly worked different shifts. The one thing I was spoiled with last week, was having him work from home most days. :) The boys are going to be very happy that he's done. They've really missed him in the evenings, and the mornings when he usually takes them to school. Chloe, on the other hand, will have to get used to not having him at home with her all day!

Miller's Grocery

When we first started telling people that we were moving over here, everyone said we had to try Miller's Grocery. Seriously, everyone! Keith and I aren't really good about trying new places to eat, but we finally got around to going. It was delicious!! Now I'm going to be one of those people talking about it all the time. As you can see from the picture, the atmosphere is pretty cool. You have to get a reservation on the weekends, and they had a bluegrass band! It was so fun. We'll definitely be going back. It really seems like one of those places that you would see featured on the Food Network. Oh, and I can tell you that their snickers cake is yummy!

Playin' in the rain.

This is Chloe checking to see how hard it's raining.


Here she's very excited about taking her shoes off to play in the rain.





We were playing outside last night when it started to rain. The boys were very excited about it, but Chloe wasn't at first. It was raining kind of hard, and she did not like that at all. Then it was just a little mist, so she joined in the fun. You can see in the last picture that she had a little too much fun. Apparently she didn't think she should stop playing to go to the bathroom. I guess she figured she was already wet, so it wouldn't matter!

How did I end up with a girly girl?!

These are some of Chloe's new shoes. The first picture is of her new school shoes. She really only has crocs and sandals, so I thought maybe we should get some shoes that would be better for preschool. I decided to let her pick out what she wanted, and this is what she picked. We looked at a couple other pairs, but she fell in love with these and didn't even want to try on anything else.
The second picture is of her new flip flops. This is something she's been wanting for quite a while. We were in the mall this weekend, so I decided I would look and see if anyone had some flip flops on sale. We were in luck!! These were only a few dollars. I didn't tell her that I was looking for them, so when I showed them to her, she was so excited. She can be very dramatic about the simplest things. She's been wearing them around the house since we got them.

How did I end up with this little girl?? I remember the day we found out we were having a girl. I was in total shock all day. And terrified. What was I going to do with a little girl? Well, the answer is... have fun. (not that the boys weren't fun, but it's just totally different) She's a nice balance to our predominantly male household. She comes in a little package, but she packs a big punch! She's so girly girl, that sometimes I wonder where she came from. I was never like that. In first or second grade the school shoes I picked out were from the boys' department. I had to have turf shoes. My mom tried so hard to get me to get these cute pink shoes that said sweetheart on the side, and had hearts on the bottom. I wouldn't do it. Chloe, on the other hand, would love those shoes. She loves all things girly. She loves to wear dresses, put on makeup, brush her hair, stand in front of the mirror for way too long just to look at herself, have her nails painted, change shoes all day, etc. I think you get the point. But she does have two big brothers, so she also loves to play with legos, dig in the dirt, play ball, play cars, get dirty, anything they like to do. Somehow she maintains her girly image while doing those things.

Chloe's first day of preschool!

Chloe went to her first day of preschool today! She has been so excited for weeks now. I was worried that once we finally got there she wouldn't be as excited, but that didn't happen. She walked in, sat down and didn't look back. I'm so glad that she wasn't crying or unhappy. She had a great day, and is ready to go back on Thursday.
Keith and I did great as well. We didn't cry either!! It was very weird to have all three kids gone during the day. I'll admit that I didn't really get much done today, but hopefully I'll get better about that! I guess I just wanted to enjoy today! :)