Favorite Foto Friday...

Happy Birthday Jack Jack #1...

We planned a great birthday evening. Like all special Dodd Days it began at Pancho's! Ashton was proud to give him the card she made:

I was proud to give him the song writing notebook I made him. I covered a notebook with some cool rock star scrapbooking paper. He's been wanting a place to write down the songs he writes. I love his songs and am so excited he'll have a place to save them.

Then we headed to T-R-US to buy him what he's been begging for- roller blades! He was so excited about these, and I'm just hoping they aren't followed by an emergency room visit!

Perhaps the most exciting gift was that we're finally giving him what he's been asking for since he was 3: guitar lessons! Even more exciting Uncle Gary had his old guitar restrung for Jackson. This guitar traveled all over the country with Gary playing all types of places and concerts. Jackson was thrilled to be getting a "real" guitar:

Altogether it was a perfect birthday where lots of his dreams came true!

Traditions...

Every night on the kids' birthday eve I have my picture taken with them holding up their fingers for how old they are, for a few more hours anyway. Sometimes it feels like the only picture I get in during the year!

Of course, we always have the traditional cinnamon roll in the shape of their new number. I can't believe next year I'll be making double digits- wow!

Wesley had to get in on the love:

Apparently, everyone wants to love on the new 9 year old:

We started off with a fun day and are planning a lot more when Daddy gets home.

Photo Shoot, 9 Year Old Style...

I remember when photo shoots with this sweet boy were, well sweet! Now he requests this:

Help me...

Day 4 Hollywood Studios...

I was so excited to be going to Hollywood Studios because last time we went to Disney I was very surprised that it was our favorite. They had even added a lot of new stuff since we were there last. Unfortunately, the bottom fell out right when we got there. We spent our first 30 minutes huddled under the stroller rental spot. It was miserable! When it let up a little we headed straight to the Little Mermaid show because we figured it was indoors and would be dry. Pop and Jon opted out and I thought they were crazy for not jumping on a chance to be indoors. Little did we know that during the storm scene in the opening act some genius at Disney thought it would be a great idea to let it actually rain on the audience! Probably a good idea on a scorching July day, not so much on a wet, freezing day in February! We thought it was very ironic and funny that we went in to get dry and got wet. Although it was sad when the kids started whimpering when they got wet :) Then I came out to see Pop and Jon standing in the recently returned sun sipping steaming hot chocolate and realized they weren't so crazy after all!

Next, we headed for the boys to Playhouse Disney show where they could see some of their favorites, especially Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. At least here I knew it only rained bubbles! We also were excited to see their Narnia exhibit. We are all HUGE fans of Narnia. Jackson has been Narnia characters for two Halloweens. He got to see the for real Peter costume:
Ashton was Lucy two Halloweens ago and got to pose with the real one:
Then we got to visit Pixar Lane and meet the green army man from Toy Story. Their plastic feet are the coolest:
The twins were a little unsure about the faceless, green man (notice how Wesley's lulling the "if I don't look at him he can't see me" tactic):

Pop tried to steal the hand grenade!

Nana added his autograph to her growing collection:

This is what my home feels like on most days :)

The kids really got along well on the trip. Sweet big brother carried little sis on his back lots:

You have to be careful around the Acme warehouse. Pop had a close one with this ton of bricks over his head!

We enjoyed seeing all the sets although it was too cold to enjoy my favorite which is the singing in the rain light pole- complete with real rain shower so we settled for a visit to San Francisco:

We couldn't wait to head over to the garage and meet our heroes- the kids all love them and Jon and I love them that they buy us two hours of peace while the kids watch them! They did not want to have their picture made but wanted to check our McQueen and "Dadgum"- that is what they call Mater since that is what he says all the time! It is the stinkin' cutest thing to hear them say it!

We always have to eat at Pizza Planet just like Andy:

If you are going to Disney I HIGHLY recommend the meal plan where you get a drink, a meal and dessert. I can guarantee this sweet girl's parents wouldn't have paid $5 for this admittedly cool dessert:

Besides the train, Will's favorite part of Disney World was the Mickey Mouse ice cream (again thank goodness for the meal plan!):

They no longer had the Stars and Cars parade we so loved. Now they have a Pixar block party where there are floats from their movies and they stop and you can dance with them. It was OK, but you really only get to see one float well depending on where you sit. Luckily for us, we got by the Toy Story float which was our favorite so the twins got to see Buzz and "YeeHaw Cowboy"- another name that is so cute!

The big kids were chosen to go out and dance which was really neat:
From the day Pop agreed to go to Disney with us, we were all excited to take him to the car stunt show. It was really wonderful. Although, in this picture I'm not making that face due to the show but rather the fact that Wesley's diaper had leaked on me!

If you ask any of us what was the funniest thing that happened on our trip, I'm pretty sure we'd all agree it was watching Will during the stunt show. EVERY time they would do a stunt he would gasp and put his hand over his mouth like this. It.was.hilarious!

I'm not sure why, but I found the twins wearing the 3D glasses for the Toy Story ride so unbelievably cute. I love this look:

Cute might not be the word I'd use hear. It'd be more like goofball!

This ride was so fun! It is new and one of my favorites. If you go, go there first to get your fastpass because they run out in the first hour the park is open for the entire day!

That night we rode the daredevil rides. The Tower of Terror is where you free fall several stories over and over. It is my favorite ride in the world! I was floored that my daredevil son who has the nickname "Dangerous Dodd" was scared to go on it! I finally talked him and Pop into riding it with me. He was noticeably scared for the first time our entire trip (Jackson not Pop. Pop was scared the entire trip. He was traveling with 4 kids after all!). Scared or not, he did it though he said he doesn't want to do it again.

In the shocker of the trip, Ashton wanted to ride it. She loved it and rode it 3 times! I couldn't believe she wasn't scared, but boy was she proud of herself for not being scared of something big bro was! She was begging to go ride ten more times- that's my girl!

To wind down the night Jon and I were the last people allowed on the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster. In fact Jon stopped for some reason and almost got shut out of the ride. Being last we got to ride in the back seat. It is Jon's favorite ride. My chiropractor probably loves it because I will need to see him for years to recover from the damage from that rough thing! It made me feel old :(

We put in one full day at Hollywood and everyone enjoyed every minute of it (except for being peed on). I was so excited that this trip I planned two days there! We had a whole other day to explore...

Soweee...

That is as close as I can come to phonetically spelling how Will pronounces "sorry". On behalf of members of my family I have some apologies to make tonight.

1. For those 20 wonderful friends at church who frantically joined in the search for Will this morning, sorry.

I was teaching Sunday School and Jon was supposed to have been taking the kids to their classes. Unfortunately, he came upon his hunting buddy first and Jon had to tell him about the huge turkey he shot yesterday. Meanwhile, Will wandered off. I came our of my class to Ashton yelling, "We lost Will and can't find him anywhere." I saw all our friends looking everywhere. As I frantically searched I saw him being carried out of the bathroom by a man telling me he found him playing in.the.urinal!!! Yeah, good times. As I scrubbed his hands I fussed up a storm at him then took him around to apologize to everyone. Unfortunately, he's so stinking cute no one could stay mad at him, his daddy on the other hand.......

2. For those poor people who were trying to have a peaceful Sunday afternoon grocery shopping, sorry.

I am sorry for the screaming you had to listen to when Wesley bit Will. I am sorry for the further screaming you had to listen to when Will pinched Wesley. I am sorry for the additional screaming you had to hear when Will pulled Wesley's hair (no more riding together in the little car cart). I am sorry for the screaming and fussing you witnessed when Ashton ran over my foot with the cart. Mostly, I'm sorry for the fighting you had to witness between my lovely husband and I since every.single.time the children were screaming he was no where to be found! Then there was the "incident" between a really stressed mommy and a husband who has apparently never unloaded a grocery cart before and began piling our $150 worth of groceries on the conveyor belt bread and fruit first. I mean seriously? Is bananas before 4 gallons (yes, 4) ever a good idea? Next week I will be apologizing to whoever is parked next to my car in the grocery store lot because it will have 4 screaming kids and one banana bruising husband in it because I am I never taking all 4 in again!

3. For my sweet mother-in-law who came over with Pop to bring us a new mower and then helped me carry in my groceries and had to see my messy house, sorry.

My wonderfully brave mother let all 4 kids spend the night with her last night and what do Jon and I do on this rare night off? We spent 4 hours overhauling Jackson's room. We moved bookshelves. We consolidated two dressers into one. We switched over winter to summer clothes. I climbed under his bed and removed mountains of toys. But just like every project we start, cleaning one room seems to destroy the rest of the house! I have books, furniture, trash, recyclables and toys, toys, toys everywhere. Believe me Jac, I am so.sorry you or anyone had to see that :) I don't even want to see it!

So, instead of blogging I should be cleaning it, but after all the reasons to apologize I'm just going to bed and praying tomorrow will be better!

You Know You're in the Terrible Twos with Two If..." #20

you realize you have just had a major milestone- your first double spanking!!! Wow, special moment, not really. First, calm down grandmas and anti-spankers. By "spanking" I actually mean a good ole' Southern leg smacking. See, that's much better right?

It all started when I was very responsibly loading the dishwasher as you can find me doing approximately 63 times a week. I had left the little ones playing together in the living room while the big ones were upstairs avoiding loading the dishwasher. As I worked away I suddenly realized the sound I heard was Luke's nails on the hardwood at the entry. Since I had just let him out I realized someone must have let him back in. Then I realized it wasn't Jackson or Ashton and jumped the kitchen gate like the finest thoroughbred. To my horror (and yet no surprise) the front door was wide open and there were no wee ones to be found. I ran with breakneck speed just to see them playing in the driveway having the time of their lives. Unfortunately for him, Wesley was the closest and I got on my knees and gently and lovingly explained the error of his ways or I yelled "no go outside, no no no no" and smacked his little legs. Well, when you have two and the 2nd one sees what just rained down on the 1st he runs for his little life and don't let his size fool you- that Will is quick! Fortunately, I had mommy fury speeding me along so I quickly caught him and gave him some of the same medicine. As I walked back to the house holding the hands of two screaming toddlers while still "gently" repeating "no no no" I realized the entire neighborhood probably just witnessed that and were debating whether they should call human services due to the fact that my children were outside unsupervised or that I got their legs- tough decision, huh?

Then the whole double spanking set in and dozens more like it flashed before my eyes. It was another one of those weird "oh my goodness I have twins!" moments that Jon and I sometimes experience. I've never had to spank Jackson and Ashton at the same time because they are usually getting punished for what they have done to the other one. While Will and Wesley have certainly gotten punishments for what they have done to each other, they also have the terrifying ability to work together to aspire to new levels of mischief! Before these two are done with me I might have to join the ranks of the wooden spoon mommas- you know who you are! Or there is always the equally popular ping pong paddle club- decisions decisions! Which one should I pledge with? That is if the neighbors didn't decide to call me in for both offenses first which will be another thing times two. Feel free to leave me a comment telling me which implement works better- anonymously of course!