Fall Blessings

Mom asked me to make her a fall door sign and I finally finished it last night. This picture really doesn't do it justice, if I do say so myself!
Each pumpkin has a tag with each grandchild's name on it.... even Campbell Grace, who won't be here until Christmas. The ribbon is leopard because I love me some animal print!

When Kam's Away.....

When Kam's away.... it's QUIET!!!!

Mike, Jodie, and the girls came down for the game on Friday night (pics are on JJ's camera) and, of course, Kam and Kamryn had to spend the night with each other. They wouldn't let Jodie and I finish a conversation until we agreed to it.

Aunt Donna came and got them Saturday morning and took them to see Kenzie cheer. They stopped back by later in the afternoon long enough to talk me and Mark into letting Kam go to LR with them for the night. Although I missed Kam, it gave me some one on one time with Cooper, which is something that I don't always get with each kid.

I'm working on a few projects for people, so Cooper helped me paint. His favorite color is orange, as you can see from his art below.
One thing I learned this weekend is that Cooper is a climbing fool and can get anything from anywhere. I usually put my cokes where he can't reach them, or so I thought.... I think the top of the refrigerator is probably the only place he can't get to now... and trust me, he tried!!!Although Cooper missed Kam too, I think he enjoyed our bonding time as much as Mark and I did. Kam came home early Sunday morning. I'm not exaggerating when I say that she was in the house for less than one minute before she started screaming and crying. We definitely know where the drama in our house comes from...

My "not so helpful" helpers...

Kamdyn had to go to time out yesterday when we got home for her sassy attitude (and she threw a pencil at me in the car). She was in there 3 minutes tops and when I went to get her out she said, "no thanks, I think I'll just think about what I've done!" Drama Queen!!!
Mark wanted a chicken pot pie so I began cooking (which is rare lately) and Cooper wanted to help. He's so into helping stir or pour lately.... I really have to watch him... he pours before it's time or into the wrong bowl. I walked into the kitchen and found him with this stool right up at the stove.
My oh-so picky son then ate boiled chicken like a mad man.. So YUCK!!! He wouldn't eat it in the pot pie or chicken enchiladas I made last week but ate it like this....
Then my even pickier daughter decided she liked it too. Notice the stuffed right cheek...
Are you kidding me? That really grosses me out! This coming from the person who will only eat chicken in a casserole to hide the taste!!

Too cool for Sunday School

I tried unsuccessfully all summer to get Cooper to wear sunglasses. On the way to church Sunday he found them and thought they were the greatest thing ever. Too bad we haven't seen the sun in 2 weeks. (Actually the sun is shining today for the first time in a long time!)

Cooper and Mark walking in to church...
The kids were singing that day and we had Children's Church so here they are practicing before they go to the sanctuary. Can you see Mark back there?
Kam loves to sing and did great practicing....
But was in one of her moods and wouldn't go sing in front of everyone! She sat with Mark on a pew and sang from there, motions and all.

Chicken Dance

The kids studied animals last week at school in conjunction with the county fair. They actually argued over these chickens. Kam's class made one first and she brought it home and that didn't sit well with Cooper. So in a few days when his class finally made one, they ran around and did a chicken dance all night long. Kam's class got to go to the fairground and see the animals. She told me she didn't like the cows but she loved all the other animals-- especially the goats. She told me first thing that a brown goat was "calling at her."

The rest of these are random pics from the week. Kam's witch's hat from 2 years ago has somehow made it's way out into the toy box now. I think she told me when she got these binoculars out that she was a "revencher"... whatever that is.

She put this MC visor on one night and decided that she wanted to play soccer.

If you know Mark, then you know how he feels about soccer. "Unamerican," he says... but we do agree that it would be a good sport for Kam. Definitely would help her coordination. She's anti-T-ball now so it will be interesting to see if she wants to do anything athletic in the future.

Reunited... and it feels so good!!!

Saturday night, Shane, Deana, and the kids came over to watch the Hogs take on Georgia. It has literally been forever since we've gotten together with them and it was so good to visit and catch up. We spent many years before kids running around and hanging out together. Busy work schedules and kids prevented us from seeing each other as much as we would like!

Mark and Shane didn't budge much from those chairs during the game....
The burgers were ready about kickoff time and as you can see, Chase and Katelyn, were trying to get a better view of the TV...
Chase ended up moving to the living room . He's a serious football fan and didn't want to miss anything!
Kamdyn and Katelyn... Kam sticks out with no Razorback red on. We spent the afternoon at the "Mal's Pals" softball tournament and she still had on her shirt from there.
Cooper and Braxton playing in the curtains, which is a big no-no of Mark's because Cooper has almost pulled the rod out of the wall on numerous occassions.... and then he'd have to fix it!
So JJ tied the curtains up so they couldn't get to them, or so she thought. They ended up being tied up and tossed over the rod. I joked that they would probably still be that way the next time they all came over.
Chase brought his Razorback helmet and Cooper absolutely loved it! He will be getting one for Christmas or for Halloween if he decides to be a football player. Chase was a good sport about letting the boys play with it.
Braxton's turn to wear the helmet...
Give it to me! I told you my child is rough...
Braxton getting ready to jump off the ottoman. My kids taught him that last week when he spent the night with us. You're welcome, Bubby and JJ! By the way, notice that Cooper's finger is up his nose even with the helmet on!
Chase and Cooper... looks like they are having a serious discussion here.
Kam and Katelyn took a break from the game to play a little dress up... don't they look beautiful?
Chase's heisman pose... When we went back to look at these pics, he didn't like any of them, but I think you look great, Chase!! Byt he way, Chase will be 8 in a few weeks and is having a Razorback party, complete with a striped lawn to look like a field. How fun is that?
Although the game didn't turn out like we wanted, we still had a great time and hope to get together again soon!

On a side note, please join us in praying for Shane and Deana and his upcoming appointment with the autonomic specialist in Dallas on September 30. It's been a rough 6 months for them and we are praying specifically for a diagnosis for Shane. Thanks for your prayers!!

Not Much to Say

I've been sitting at my desk all afternoon trying to come up with a blog topic for today and I'm not having much luck. I did take these two pics of Kamdyn this morning before we left. Isn't she beautiful? I know I'm biased.
This weekend we were at McDonald's and Mark was teasing Cooper about being a baby. I think he called him a t-baby (I just can't type that word out here...I've tried to get Mark to stop saying it). All of a sudden Kam just starts in waving her hands, tilting her head the way she does saying, "Now, Mark, listen here. You shouldn't be saying that word. It's not nice. Ashton got in trouble when he said that at school so you shouldn't be saying it."
I just wish you could see and hear her when she does this. It is the funniest thing ever! We all just died laughing. I'm pretty sure she was repeating me word for word when she said this to Mark too, which always scares me! I am so serious when I say that she doesn't forget anything!

I just know she's going to be one of those girls that just rambles on and on while no one's listening... wonder where she gets that from?

Ms. Jane

Oh, how I love this woman!!! Ms. Jane began taking care of Kamdyn when she was 6 months old. As new parents, we wanted the best care for Kam and Ms. Jane was a God-send to us! I distinctly remember her asking me what I wanted her to do about something for Kam and I just looked at her and said, "What would you do? You raised more kids than I have." It's such a blessing to know that not only are your children well taken care of, but they are loved as well. And I knew without a doubt that Ms. Jane loved my kids.
Ms. Jane also worked with the kids on their numbers, letters, phonics, etc. I think I have her to thank for Cooper's love of letters. When I received a letter from Cooper's new teacher telling us what they would be learning this year, I just smiled. He already knew it all, thanks to Ms. Jane!

Cooper has been at Ms. Mae's for almost a month now and he is doing great there, but I sure do miss Jane. I chatted and visited with this woman every morning and afternoon for over 4 years. I suffered severe withdrawal the first two weeks we were gone, although I can't even begin to tell you how much time I save each day having the kids at the same place.

We went to visit a few weeks ago and Cooper just crawled up on Jane's lap like he had never left. Even Kamdyn was excited to be there... so much so that I'm sure Jane was grateful to see us go!
Ms. Jane now keeps my nephew, Braxton, and will keep Baby C when she is born, so the tradition will continue on. I have made JJ promise that she will let me pick up the kids when she isn't able so I can visit. Thanks, Ms. Jane, for being such a blessing to our family!!!

What Was Supposed to Have Been

This post was supposed to have been called "The Sisters," but it's not. It was supposed to have been a quiet uneventful weekend, but it was not. Here's a recap:

We skipped the football game Friday night because Kamdyn got in trouble that morning and Mark told her no football game and he decided to stick to his guns about it. We're not always the best at that. I felt like I was being punished because I really wanted to go to the game. Kamdyn threw a fit when Cooper and I almost went so I stayed home... now that would have really been punishment because she was fine 5 minutes after Mark told her we weren't going. So much for sticking to your guns, Mark. Glad that I ended up not going though because I got a bad headache and ended up taking some Tylenol PM and crashing.

Some time in the middle of the night, Mark had to go to work and didn't come home until 11:00 a.m. I felt so drugged out so the kids and I laid in bed til late that morning. I would have laid there forever but I couldn't put Cooper off on breakfast any longer. He was bringing me packets of oatmeal saying, "I hungry, Mom." Poor kid. It was 10:30 a.m. after all.

After Mark came home and went to bed, the kids, JJ, and I ran to Benton to get baby Grace a new diaper bag at Smith-Caldwell. I love to shop at little places like that for gifts, although we had to watch the kids like hawks to make sure they didn't break anything.

Dad's birthday was Thursday so he invited his sisters out to grill steaks Saturday night. The kids had to get a tour of Pop's new shop that's being built behind the house. This tour ended early when Cooper and Kam began running with and arguing over a hammer.

Once inside again, Cooper quickly landed himself in time out. Not sure for what again, but Braxton kept him company. Doesn't he really look sorry for what he's done?
The boys were hungry and I think they thought the food would come sooner if they sat at the table and beat their hands on it.... Didn't work!
The kids love Aunt Sharron and do not get to see her enough. They wouldn't leave her alone and I have a feeling she slept very good that night after wrestling with them all night.
Sharron went outside for a smoke break and Kamdyn heard us say that and she asked if someone was going to go put her out. She's never seen anyone smoke before so what else was she supposed to think? We all fell out laughing!!!

Here she is with Aunt Pat...
This is where the weekend went a little crazy.... Brian kept saying he didn't feel good and he popped Rolaids and Tums all weekend long. After church yesterday, he went to work and Mom, JJ, and I went to visit Grace and Holly. He called when we were leaving the hospital to say he was very sick and on his way to the convenient care clinic. We met him there and 3 1/2 hours later found out he had appendicitis. I took this picture of him after his CAT scan. He was very sick.
I knew he was sick when he didn't respond at my attempt at humor. I told him that we decided I would have to go in with him b/c JJ's pregnant and can't be exposed to the flu and Mom's elderly and at high risk so that just left me... and I'm just crazy and that doesn't put you at any risk. We laughed, but he didn't.

It took much longer to actually find out what was wrong with him than it did to fix it. Mark kept all the kids and was great about it, but he finally called me and told me I had to come home b/c they were out of diapers. It was a wild evening! And did I mention that Cooper got out a brand new gallon of milk and dropped it on the floor? I was on the phone and couldn't stop it... My kitchen quickly became a sea of milk. I think I'm going to put a lock on the refrigerator door to keep him out of it.

Whew! I think this post turned into a full transcript of the weekend, which wasn't supposed to happen, so I'll stop here and spare you the rest of the details.

Friday Night Football Fun

It's Friday and that means football in our family. I'm just now posting these pics from last week's home opener at Magnet. There won't be much humor to this post, but I want to be able to look back one day and remember Friday night football, because it's such a big part of our lives.

This is part of the Efird crew. We have joked many times that we need our own section in the stands....you would think with connections to the AD/Head Coach and Assistant Coach, that might happen. LOL!Another joke is that if Uncle Ronnie and Brian are still coaching, they should be able to field a good team with just our family! I'll never forget when Cooper was born (remember he was huge!) and Uncle Ronnie told me he was going to have to pick up Cooper every morning and take him to MC to play football when it was time.

Brian doing his thing... whatever that is. Looks like he's praying in this pic, which could very well be true! Cooper looked up at him one time and said, "Bubby's wearing an orange skirt!"
Most of the fun for Cooper and Kam is the concession stand... Cooper just goes around drinking everyone's drinks.
Mark and Scott were making fun of me for taking pictures. This is what Mark gets for it... an unflattering pose posted on our blog for all to see!
Is Braxton really yawning? And I think he needs a football to play with rather than a baseball....although Cooper asks me every Friday morning if we can go to the baseball game that night.
Thanks to Brooke for sharing the dinosaurs. No surprise, Cooper wanted to put them on Brax's head.
Kam spent most of her time sitting further down from me. She loves Scott and you will usually find her wherever he is. Poor guy... I can't keep my kids off of him, but he's a good sport about it.
Mamaw and Papaw..... they always sit at the top of the bleachers because it's easiest for Papaw. I'm sure sometimes they look down at us and think "Is our family really acting like that?"
Cooper ran to Brian for a hug afterwards....
The pregnant girls... Brooke (due Dec. 18), Jamie (due Dec. 27), and Holly (was due 10/7, but delivered Grace yesterday!). Mom always makes us do the pregnant pictures. I'm not sure any of us were ever pregnant alone.
Brian and Braxton...
The kids always have to get on the field afterwards and run around. Then they all play in the ice after the jugs are emptied.
After this my kids usually end up crying and throwing fits because they don't want to leave and go home, which makes for a great ride home. Gotta love Friday night football!