Prayer and Vote Request...

One of Jon's good friends at work has a daughter in Vandy Children's Hospital as they try to figure out what exactly is wrong with her. She has been sick on and off for months now. They have set up a Caring bridge account here if you want to read their story. I have to say that I am blown away by this sweet family's faith as their main prayer is that through all this they can be the hands and feet of Jesus. Any time you see a family in a valley like this you always want to know what you can do to help. They have asked for Bible verses to hang around the room so I'm going to have the kids decorate some and send them to her. They have asked for you to remember her in your prayers, but also for us to vote. She has entered her dog in a contest and is really enjoying checking how many votes it has as she lays in the hospital. So, I am asking for your help: please go here and vote for her dog EVERY day and help bring a smile to this sweet girl's face :)

You Know You're in the Terrible Twos with Two If..." #15

You are in the kitchen talking on the phone to your sister when you hear some commotion and a few "uhohs" coming from the living room. You peak around the corner to see this pencil art on your wall:

In the little stinkers defense, they had their mop and both took turns trying to scrub it off! That was the cutest part (of course, it really just smeared it).

Obviously, for the good of my blog audience I had to get pictures. As you can tell by their expressions they were really sad and ashamed of how they defamed our home:

I think me laughing in between scoldings and taking their picture might not have been the best way to discourage them from writing (or as they kept saying in their not-so-secret-twin-language "ieie" which means writing, pencils or letters) on the wall because the day after we got that off the wall they wrote again in the same place with pen this time! Amazingly I got that off. The next day Jon left the shopping bag with his deodorant in it where they could get to it. He opened it up and you could see little finger marks where they had scratched it out. When he asked Wesley where it was he pointed to the same place where he had used the deodorant to IEIE on the wall! At this point I think I am just going to embrace it and paint that part of the wall with chalkboard paint!

A Lesson Better Left Unlearned...

Wesley loves to put on Ashton's crowns which could be a post in itself I guess! I was getting ready to snap a picture of him sitting in the window when Jackson decided to show him how to pose like a princess :(

As is always the case with kids, he listened and minded when I really wished he wouldn't, see:

I'm afraid he has this princess thing down!

He has also lately learned that if he smiles for the camera Mommy will let him look at the display screen. At least I'm getting some good smiles:

Not to be left out, Will decided to do the poses big brother was demonstrating- scary, huh!

But really, really cute!

Definitely no more lessons from Jackson!

You Know You're in the Terrible Twos with Two If..." #14

You leave your shopping bag across the gate and go upstairs. You come back down to find a little arm reached through the gate and was enjoying what he found:

He even proudly showed it off to his dad with no shame:

Maybe he showed a little shame when Mommy asked what he'd done:

But not enough shame to keep him from digging right back in:

Hello, My Name Is Joy...

A few nights ago my ex-husband, Earl, and I were invited to a Tacky Wacky Wigorama and since we are tacky kind of people,we were ready. Earl even took his list with him, Dummy.

You're probably wondering why would I go somewhere with my ex when I would much rather be with Darnell? Well, it was his high school reunion and he didn't want to go alone. I don't blame him. It was scary! Some of those people looked like it was still the 80's! Besides, he promised to buy me a hot tub!

Because we like to party, we kept right on the next morning with our kids,who don't look a thing like us:

Then we had a little fun with Earl Jr. #1:

and Earl Jr. #2- notice the closed eyes. We're working on the 'stache.

Then we had a little too much fun! Notice how they are the perfect blend of us- my beautiful hair and Earl's closed eyes.

Junior Junior wasn't too happy about this. Earl should probably put this on his list.

I tell you that girl inherited my beauty (ya'll did know that I once won Little Miss Camden County didn't ya'?). Wait, that's my son???

OH SNAP!!!

Favorite Foto Friday...

This is not the best picture photographically, but it is still my favorite. I was in the kitchen and peeked around to see this happening in the living room. You have a mummy and Cleopatra dancing (who doesn't have a couple of those in your living room-right?), but the sweetest thing ever was that the twins were holding hands and dancing together. This means the world to me because for the first year of their life of their life (after 9 months of WWF in the womb) they wouldn't even look at each other! Now they are dancing!

Boo to You...

This Halloween I was really trying to be thrifty since to even buy a $25 costume would be $100! I wanted to make everyone's costume,but Ashton wouldn't hear of it! Luckily, I found hers on sale and it really was a beautiful costume. I didn't have much luck getting the twins to wear any costume so I just let them wear Jackson's old baseball uniforms because I knew they would be really excited since they are obsessed with baseball. That left me sewing a mummy costume. I put him off from being something scary for 8 Halloweens so I figured I finally needed to give in a little (plus it matched Cleopatra and I love me some matching outfits!). I was sewing the strips on him an hour before, but I think it turned out great!

This picture is so typical of "The Queen" as she rolls her beautifully make-uped eyes:

While this picture won't be on our Christmas card, it is still great because no one is crying! That doesn't happen often.

Nana and Pop reverse trick-or-treated us so we didn't have to drag kids everywhere. That is so nice.

Donnie and Grandmother got spooked too.

I love this picture in some twisted way!

Jon and I another of those "look how many kids we have" moments as they filled the porches we visited. These boys totally got the concept. They would hold out their treat bags. Will was the cutest because he said thank you a thousand times even turning around and yelling all the way down the driveway. I love that boy's heart.

Then we headed to our church's fall fest- for about 5 minutes. I just don't do crowds- especially with 2 little ones I was so afraid of loosing. So, Will ended up here as we made a quick exit. He appears happy with his quick loot anyway.
We decided we'd rather visit with cousins. We saw a beautiful princess:

a handsome knight (beneath the helmet):

and a little pumpkin who didn't seem to sure about what was going on:

Then as we were saying good-bye I was surprised to see they had a scary decoration hanging from their tree when I realized it was my son swinging!

We had a great night herding our little goblins!

Pumpkin Time...

As usual, we carved pupkins at the last minute! This is a project Daddy is totally in charge of while I stand back and take pictures.

I was glad I could standbacksince Ashton's pupkin turned out to be rotten-oops! It's not like she was likely to dig into it too much anyway! She was still happy:

This boy was thrilled because Daddy bought them a carving kit and he got to design and carve on his own this year.

Will was pretty amazed (and Luke too):

Wesley was, well...

All in all, the pumpkins turned out great. Ashton used the plastic eyes that came in the carving kit. Will is totally scared of them. Every time he gets close he says, "The eyes. The eyes." He won't go past them on the stairs unless I carry him! They are the only thing he was scared of this Halloween!

Pretty sure next year we'llbe carving 4. I guess we shouldn't wait until the last minute!

Pumpkin Patch...

This year we tried out a new pumpkin patch, Lucky Lad Farms. It's actually owned by a guy I went to school with. This was a big step for me because I am all about the tradition of going to Gentry's Farms every year. I am so glad I did though because we had a perfect day at an awesome patch. Of course, we still went with the traditional Dodd-Moore-Dickson combo. I love to see these kids together knowing they've known each other since birth and now are this big:

We were also thrilled when Nana and Pop decided to come along because what isn't more fun with them?

The boys did earn their keep by doing a little milking:

Speaking of tradition, these are probably both outfits that Jackson once wore to the pumpkin patch. I call this my "Been farming long?" picture. (You have to leave me a comment and tell me if you know the picture I'm talking about.)

Wesley was crazy about this goat. He just followed it around petting it and saying, "goat, goat".

Ashton found a goat buddy of her own- the hay helped:

Look at my boy who is well trained on his 9th pumpkin patch trip and knows to smile because it is mommy's favorite picture taking day of the year :)

I love these pictures I got of Will who loved the playset they had. Although in this picture his hair isn't sticking up from static like it did most of the time:I heart this pic:
The absolute highlight of the day was this awesome slide. I wish I could build one we had so much fun!

And by we- I mean all of us even Will and Wesley (especially Will) loved going down the slide.

What isn't fun about a huge crib full of corn to play in (except for corn getting in your diaper!):

It's fun for all ages (I would've crawled in in a second if the other parents wouldn't have minded me sitting on some kids).

Of course, we had to go on a hayride. The best part was how excited Will and Wesley were to see a tractor.

Even at such a happy place, I can't get my kids to all smile for a picture,oh well!

The owner told me they were thinking of opening it in spring when the baby animals are born. They also are thinking of renting it for birthday parties. The kids voted right then to have their birthday all together this summer at the patch- can't wait. Then maybe ya'll can see how cool I look going down that slide!