Six Flags Over Georgia

We got the AWESOME opportunity to go to Six Flags on a Friday night.  The company Brian works for bought the entire park for their employees and friends and we were able to buy tickets at a reduced price.  It was great!!!  Brian was giddy as a school boy and oh so excited that he was rushing me the whole day.  :) 

I on the other hand was completely terrified of the idea of getting on a roller coaster.  It had been so long and I've changed a lot since I last went on one, I just wasn't sure I wanted to be riding roller coasters.

So we arrived at the park at 6:15 pm (the company had booked the park from 6pm - midnight just for the employees, family and friends - so NO LINES!!).  Brian ran right to the maps and was looking for the first coaster he could jump on.  He was pretty unhappy when it took us a good couple of minutes to FIND the first coaster.  When we did find it we jumped right on and I started to freak out.  He was stoked and I was terrified.  He kept asking me if I was okay, if I was gonna make it.  After we got off the ride he was sure I was gonna have a miserable night.  I was so scared.  I actually had tears streaming down my face (those hormones gone wild after having kids).  But I convinced myself to do just one more and then I would stop and just watch him if I didn't like it. 

Well, we headed off to Gotham City to ride "Batman".  It's one of those coasters that you are harnessed into cause you hang from the top.  Again I was sooooo scared.  But after the ride was over, I was hooked.  I LOVED it!   That's when we started running around to every coaster we could find.  The adrenaline rush was just AWESOME!  In fact I went on 8 different roller coasters that day and did 6 of them twice! 

I felt so bad for Brian though, he got a little stomach sick after about 6 rides and had to slow down.  He did make it through every coaster, but only just.  We had a BLAST (or I did and Brian enjoyed it). 

Our friends joined us at the park after about a half hour and we really enjoyed spending the night with them.  They are such fun people and cute too.  Check out their pic below.

Courtney and Brad were a blast to hang out with.  It's always funner with a large group!!!

Some of my favorite rides were Goliath (a 225 foot drop coaster that had my stomach in my throat for most of it - but hey,  I loved this one even though it was the one I was most terrified of.  They had to convince me to ride it), Superman (they harnessed you in to this one so that when you were riding it you were face down looking at the grass and ground.  It felt like I was flying and it was AWESOME!!), Batman (I just love dangling from a harness :)) and Scorcher (we actually harnessed in STANDING UP for this one, so bizarre, but totally awesome). 

I will tell you though, if you are going to go to an amusement park...... avoid the old, rickety, wooden coasters.  They are TERRIBLE!!  I was in soooo much pain from those.  It bounced us around and was so uncomfortable, I was even hollering "OU OU OU" over and over again on one because it hurt so much!  Brian and our friends of course thought that his was hilarious and proceeded to tease me, but hey, I guess I deserved it.  I was the only one on the ride yelling in pain and not having fun.  :)  Let's just say my chiropracter wasn't too happy with those coasters either.  :) 

 

Us on a coaster.

It was terribly muggy and hot till about 10 pm, but it was the best date that Brian and I have had in a long time!   Thanks awesome hubby for making life a fun ride! 

Weight Loss Update

I had what I would call a monumental break through this morning!  I weighed in at 140.8 lbs!!!  Yeah!  I haven't been this weight in years!  Slowly but surly it is coming off.  Now lets see if I can hold onto it! :)

My Goofy Kids!

Ian cracks me up!   Today while eating lunch, Ian dropped a grape on the floor.   All of a sudden it was as if I was watching a scene from a movie where something of great value is falling from the sky and someone is diving for it in slow motion to catch it before it comes crashing to the ground.  Ian screamed "NO" at Comet (our dog) as he dove from his seat at the table to get his grape!  Too funny!  

After the kids took a bath the other night Ian came into Kenya's room while Brian and I were getting her ready for bed and promptly announced (while dressed in nothing but his bath towel, hoody on his head, towel wrapped around his waist) that "Daddy,  I CUTE!"  Brian and I both burst out laughing.  I of course told him "Yes Ian, you are adorable!" and his reply was "I not adroblble, I CUTE!" 

This Kid cracks me up on a daily basis.  What a comedian! 

This little video gives you an idea of what crazy things go on in our home.  The kids are so silly but I just LOVE all of it!

Here are some pics for your enjoyment.  The kids are getting so big!

                Haha!!! I know your secret                  CHEESE!!!

You may wonder why there are so many pictures of Kenya and not as many of Ian, but my little man has become a little camera shy lately.  Most times I try to turn the camera on him I get either his hand covering his face or a hand placed in the camera's way.  But I try and sneak a few in here and there. 

Exhibit A of Ian's hand in face (he really didn't want this pic taken.  He kept telling me "no mommy, no picture!"

The kids love eating out on the porch and when the sun is out and the air is perfect how can you deny these cute little munchkins much of anything? :)



P.S.  Because I never posted the video of the house that Brian made and I just found it on my computer (it truly was lost somewhere in the depths of the cyber world) I'm now posting it.  Hope you enjoy! :)

How To....

.... Spend $150 on Visiting Teaching (Proven Method)

Step 1:  Schedule the Visiting Teaching Appointment

Step 2:  Proceed to pick up Visiting Teaching companion

Step 3:  Car dies while halfway in VT companion's driveway and halfway in the street.  (No power to car at all.

Step 4:  Ask VT companion's hubby to help with it.

Step 5:  VT Companion's hubby jumps it and moves it to halfway in the neighbors driveway and halfway in the street. 

Step 6:  Forget Visiting Teaching all together and have companion take you to Wal Mart to get a new battery for car (8:45 pm).

Step 7:  Buy $56 Battery.

Step 8:  Return home so VT Companion's hubby can replace car battery.

Step 9:  Find out that the car door is locked and won't open without power.

Step 10:  Call a locksmith.

Step 11:  Locksmith costs $94.99 to pop open the car (takes a whoppin' 5 minutes to do).

Step 12:  Roll eyes, pay locksmith, leave car, got home to sleep and deal with it tomorrow (midnight).

Trust me, it's a proven method.  I set out to do my Visiting Teaching and ended up paying $150.  The postive side of the whole ordeal:  I got to spend about 4 hours with my best friend!  :)  Life is crazy, but not to worry, so am I.  :)



Bed BE GONE

I told my son that there was a very easy way to make his bed dissappear, it's called "Bed BE GONE" and it truely does work.  Let me tell you how. 

I had told Ian many times that if he tore his bed apart and made the mattress into a trampoline or a tent that I would make it dissappear.  He didn't believe me and shortly after he and his sister started tearing it apart I came into the room and yelled "Bed BE GONE!"  Withing 5 minutes the bed was apart and down in the basement.  Vwalla!!  The bed dissappeared!  Ian didn't think it was a very great trick, but I thought it was pretty awesome.  :)

Don't worry,  he didn't sleep on it anyways.  The last 2 weeks he has preferred the floor and that is where we have found him sleeping every night.  So it's really not a big deal, it just keeps them from being monkeys on a bead.  :) 

Ribbit!

The kids and I found this cool little guy clinging to our window for dear life one morning.  Ian thought it was the coolest thing that the froggie was 'hangin out with us' at our house.  He cracks me up.  He kept telling me 'bring him inside mom, so we can play' and 'get him down from there!'  

 

The next day we found this little guy perched on the porch rail.  Don't let this picture deceive you, he was really only the size of a quarter. 

A few days later the kids were playing on the porch in the morning when I heard Kenya's squeals of joy escape her lips and turned to find the kids chasing after this little fella.

He was so tiny and cute!  Probably only about the size of a dime.  I was able to catch him and let the kids look at him before we set him back down in the back yard.  Squeals of joy were continuously coming from Kenya's lips as we watched the frog jump around my hand.  She thought it was the coolest. 

World of Color

I decided to finally tackle the job of painting the main color of the house this beautiful brown.  I got this far on the wall in one day (plus a few other areas) and realized that there was no way I was reaching the top of the ceiling without a ladder.  I have a friend I can borrow one from, but for now it looks like this.  Right now I'm not so happy that the room is an awful two-toned color, but I'm excited for what it will look like when all the UGLY cream is replaced by this beautiful brown.  :)

Labor Day Weekend

We had a BLAST together this weekend!  I love that the kids are old enough for ALL of us to really enjoy time together as a family. 

The weekend started off with a fun round of Volleyball with our friends.  We had so many people there and it was such a blast.  Brian and I love getting involved in sports wherever we can and the kids love running around playing in the sand, chasing there friends, and playing on the playground.  After 2 hours of much fun we stripped the kids down, shook off the sand, and headed home. 

After the kids went down, I head on over to my friend's house for a girls night.  There was 5 of us there and we spent the evening laugh until at 2 am we all decided it was far past time for bed.

Saturday morning was CRAZY!  At the last minute we decided we'd try and catch the DragonCon Parade.  DragonCon is Atlanta's big Sci Fi/Fantasy festival and it's pretty BIG from what I'm told.  Since the Parade was free, we went to see who we could catch a glimpse of strolling down the road.

These were some of the fun costumed people we saw while at the parade.  The kids loved it!  Ian got to see Spiderman, Superman, Batman, the Princess from Princess and the Frog and others.  We saw many Star Wars Storm Troopers, Obi-Wan, Jedi knights, Darth Maul, and of course the famed Darth Vader.  We even got to see Klingons, ferengi, and Star Trek officers up close and personal.  Harry Potter characters were also another prominent group.  It was a great, perfectly warm morning to enjoy together as a family.

Since we had run the kids out of the house so fast before the parade that none of us got breakfast, we stopped by McDonald's on the way home at lunch time.  The kids were such troopers waiting all that time to eat and when we got our food they dug in deep.  They also spent a good deal of time playing on the play place and having fun. 

At 2 pm we headed over to a beautiful park for a friends birthday party. It was such a beautiful day and the park was splendid. The kids had more fun than I think they could really handle.  :)

There's a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.  Ian was very timid to hit the pink pony, not sure why, but when Kenya got her chance the was whacking at it with vengeance.  It was quite hilarious to watch her with a bat just as tall as her swinging away with just one hand.  She was a happy little girl.  I think we might be doing a pinata for her birthday. :)

For Labor Day Monday we enjoyed the day at the beach.  Acworth Lake's offical last day open for swim was on Labor Day, so at 1 pm we headed out to play.  The kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE  the beach!  We were all enjoying it so much it was so sad when we did eventually leave.  Our kids are such water bugs, it's hilarious! 

For dinner we grilled up some hot dogs and pork steaks.  Very yummy!  Brian had the idea to make home made ice cream and it was also very yummy!  All in all and very wonderful Labor Day weekend.

(We had our very own "Joker" in the house at dinner. )

I'm sad to say that we're back to the busy family we've become.  Brian studies (almost non-stop it seems) while Ian, Kenya and I got about our business.  My guess, it's only gonna get busy from here on out.  But I guess that's life.

Funny Kids

Thank goodness the daily laughs out weigh the fit throwing and fights.  Laughs make everything worth it.

Kenya cracks me up.  Tonight I put her down to bed a little later than normal because we were out and about.  She knelt down and we said her prayers, rushing to the "Amen" cause that's her favorite part (really makes me laugh on a daily basis.  She loves to say her prayers, but Amen has got to be the best word to say according to her.)  I give her kisses and she climbs up in bed.  I tuck her in, kiss her again, and say good night.

About 10 minutes later I hear a thud up in her room.  I rush up think that she's fallen out of bed (which she's done and I'm really not sure how she accomplishes it with the rails on either side of her body, but she does).  I found her curled up on the floor next to the door.  When I walked in she hops up and runs back to her bed.  As I tried to get her tucked in again I realize that there is something hard in her bed where she normally lays.  After further scrutiny I realize that it's several stuffed animals and dolls that normally sit on her shelf.  She had actually gotten out of bed, grabbed every doll she could find in her room, and tucked them into her bed with her, but then she couldn't find a place for herself to lay down and had to get me to come back in and help her get back in bed!  It was really funny! 

So I help her back in, put the dolls on the floor and the next thing I know she's reaching for them and grunting.  I ended up putting all of them, about 8, in her small toddler bed with her.  She was happy though, cuddled up with all her stuffies and comfortable. 

What a doll of a child.  She is so funny sometimes, and so very different from Ian.  There are times though, that I wish she were more like Ian, easy going.  Today she shook her finger at me and said "NO MOM".  I was quite surprised at this and really wasn't happy that the girly attitude has already hit.  How is it she's not even two and she is back talking worse than Ian was.  I can't believe it!  Hopefully it won't last and we can come to an understanding that we don't tell mommy "no". 

Ian is also his own sort of comedian.  The things he comes up with to say to me, rather hilarious.  There are times when I just can't keep from laughing, even if I'm suppose to be disciplining.  Today was especially funny when Brian was watching a show and laughing and Ian would just copy daddy and laugh too.  So hilarious!  Or the fact that for the last week Ian has slept on the floor in his room, covering the air vent with his pillow because according to him "It's better there".  :)  Still not sure what that was about, but I convinced him back into his own bed tonight.  Brian and I didn't want people to think he had to sleep on the floor, right. :)  Ian often tells me if I've done something wrong.  Like the other day when I changed Kenya's diaper and didn't throw it away afterwards.  He brought it down and told me, "Mommy, you have to throw away!"  I went to take it from him and he stated "No, I'll do it."  :)  He marched himself down the stairs and threw that dirty diaper away.  Makes me laugh at how big he tries to be sometimes.  I just hope that he doesn't try to grow up too fast like I did.  I really hope enjoys his childhood and youth.

He's a good big brother too.  He keeps Kenya in line when needed and loves her tons.  He's gotten fairly good at sharing with Kenya and together they've built some pretty awesome train tracks. 

Today Kenya got upset at Ian twice and pushed him.  Ian didn't like that to much and of course yelled "Kenya no.  Stop it!"  I then had Kenya hug him and say sorry.  It was darling.  She puckered her little lips and leaned up on her tippy toes to kiss Ian better.  As darling as it was though, I can just see this happening with "other" boys all too soon, and that scares me.  At least for now it's innocent love between brother and sister.