We met the Wiggles...again!

I know, everyone was fairly excited the first time we met the Wiggles, not much noise was made the second time we met them, so I'm not sure if anyone cares anymore that we just met them a third time. The difference now is that Devon was finally old enough to come with us. I was determined to go at least one more time so that we had a picture of us with the Wiggles with Devon in it. They normally come to Atlanta in November, so when I heard they were coming in August I knew that it would be a good way to surprise Bailey. We made our shirts the night before while I pretended that we were just getting ready for the concert really early. I didn't tell them where we were going, and when we pulled up Bailey about died! She had decided that she wanted to be the fifth Wiggle, who is a different kid every day before the show, because it can be a bog or a girl. That's why she's wearing a green shirt. We showed up early for the meet and greet the kids were really excited!



They brought us out into the arena this time, and they sat us in the fold down seats. The Wiggles then came out into the arena and lined up behind our seats in the row above us for the picture. Now we finally have a picture with Devon in it!


Anthony's head was shaved and we never did learn why. Bailey said "Anthony, where's your hair?" and he said "I don't know, it's gone!" which is what he's saying here.


They always take the time to stop and talk to Landon for a minute before they move on, so this is Anthony and Murray chatting with him a little bit about his shirt.


He actually tapped them on the back and got to talk to them more than his share once they had moved on to other families, but I don't think it hurt anything. They're really nice guys and acted glad to turn around and say hello to him again.


I'm glad that Landon acted like he knew who they were, because that's the main reason I keep letting myself get drug back to these concerts. It just seems like he is more and more aware of what's really going on, and I want him to fully understand that he is really meeting the Wiggles that he watches every day. So the more aware he gets the more I want to take him. So after the Wiggles went backstage again, we moved on down to the floor of the arena to our seats. We were in the second row this time, which was neither easy or cheap to obtain, so Devon had a good view his first concert.

I kept trying to get pictures of them with the concert going on behind them, but I mostly just ended up with pictures of the back of their heads.


They all three acted like they had a great time, so I'm glad that we got to go, but honestly I'm ready to retire. I love the Wiggles and think that they're really fun and super nice guys, but going to the concerts is starting to get to be exhausting! Poor Devon has only gone once, but I can't even count how many Bailey has gone to. We'll have to see how I feel the next time they come through.

Back to school!

Oh man, I have been so nervous about this day for a long time! I started getting really nervous Sunday night while I was getting clothes set out and prepacking the lunches. I've been letting images of all the horrible ways that Landon could react to this new school and situation, and most of them were too graphic to mention here, and they all made my stomach queazy! He has always known it as Bailey's school and I just knew that he was going to be confused and want to know why he's not riding his bus to his beloved preschool, and it could escalate to quite a scene if he got upset enough. He is in a regular kindergarten class this year, and just has an extra special ed teacher in there to watch him and help him if he needs it. I just don't want him to get upset and disrupt the whole class and make everyone think he's crazy!
Another problem is that he has been wearing the same dingy, stretched out, horrible yellow Wiggles shirt all summer, and it simply can't be worn to school!
It's been well loved, and I didn't fight him about wearing it every day over the summer because, well, I just didn't feel like it, and I didn't see the harm. He is so well behaved when he wears his shirt! We would have him take it off at night and put it in the washer, and if it wasn't moved into the drier so that he could put it on the minute he got up, well, he didn't wait for it very patiently.
This is Landon in the shirt at the beginning of the summer while Bailey was in Arizona and the boys had just had their hair cut.

This is Landon in the shirt in early July once Bailey had come back,

and this is the shirt in early August during Katherine's visit.

Making him wear a different shirt to school was definately going to make him mad, which I was afraid would have him give me even more of a fight about leaving him at a school he didn't know. Ben took off work that day to help out and to go to a meeting with the people at his soon to be new Peachtree City job, so Ben coaxed him out of the yellow shirt and told him he could put it right back on when he got home. We hung it on the back of the chair to wait for him, and everyone got on the golf cart to head over. We live too close to the school to have the bus come, but it's way too far to walk, so we always cart it over. When we pulled up, Landon kept saying "Bye Bailey!" and didn't want to get off. We tried to tell him it was his school now too, and one of his new teachers came over to talk to him, but he got frustrated and kicked his feet and started to cry. Then Bailey came over, put her arm around him, talked quietly and reassuring to him, and just walked him into the building. We saw through the door that she took him right to his room and handed him off to his teacher and then made her way down the hall to her own class. I'm not sure why she was the one able to calm him down, but I'm so happy he has her to help him!
I calmed down after that, but we did watch the clock all day wondering if he was being upset at school and disrupting his whole class. Everyone has been so sweet to him and about having him in the class, and I don't want them to get frustrated with him and wish he wasn't there. He's so very inteligent, and when he's cumfortable he'll show them how much he really knows, and I hope he falls into that soon. Devon and I headed over the get in the carpool line later that day, and his teachers that were out there said that he's done really well for it being his first day at a new school, and I took that to mean that he could have been better. I know he will be as soon as he learns the routine and gets familiar with everything. So I showed them my new card with both of my kids' names on it, they called them out, and they ran out together to wait for me to pull around.

Here they are climbing in after I pulled up.


Here, Bailey is holding up our new card with both of their names on it, and if you look at her front tooth, it's so loose it's sticking stright out.

This tooth has been loose for a long time but she just wasn't wanting anyone to pull it. It was sticking out at such a right angle that I really wanted it out before her first day of school, but any time we messed with it, she would yell and it would start to bleed so we left it alone. We were eating together later after school and she was complaining that it was bothering her, so I talked her into letting me give it a pull. I got a good grip on it and it came right out with a single tug!

So Bailey lost her front tooth on the first day of school, and we had a visit from the tooth fairy last night. Bailey said "I'll put the tooth over to the side so that you don't wake me up trying to find it." so I guess we're done pretending the tooth fairy is real.
We had another good morning this morning, although Landon really wanted to wear the yellow shirt, so I think that things will be fine and we'll all be back into our routines very soon!

Devon is saved!

A few days ago, one of Bailey's little friends invited her to go swimming with her, and when she came downstairs in her bathing suit, the boys went crazy and starting searching for their bathing suits, too. They weren't invited to go with her, so after she left they got pretty upset. Ben and I decided to just put them in the golf cart and drive them over to the lake here and just let them swim for a bit and it wouldn't be a big deal. Ben and I found a really nice little clearing for them to swim that was nice and shady and away from everyone launching their boats so we parked the golf cart and sat and watched them. It really is a really nice little spot and the boys had a really fun time swimming around. Landon is a good bit taller than Devon and he goes out up to his chest, so I think that it looked a little bit deceiving to Devon. In any case, Devon ended up going out a bit too deep and found himself standing next to Landon, but with his face under the water! I looked at him and all that was visable were two wide eyes staring over the top of the water. I jumped up and said "Oh, no! Get him!" more to myself than to Ben, but as soon as Ben noticed him, he streaked past me and dove straight into the lake fully clothed to retrieve Devon. He grabbed him in a matter of seconds, and Devon just coughed a little bit, and was more scared than anything.

I got my phone out to take a picture of Ben "saving Devon's life" and I snapped this one just as he was realizing that his cell phone was in his pocket!

We went and got my sister's dry jar that she uses to get get water out of her hearing aid, and we took his battery out and left it in the dry jar over night. The next day, Ben called me from his cell from work! I really thought that lake water would be the death of a smart phone! So, Devon is safe, although not as relaxed around water as he used to be, but Ben realized about an hour later that he had hit his face on the bottom of the lake and his nose was sore for about a week. I pulled my phone out once the excitement was over so we could see the pictures, and we about died laughing when we saw this picture! Classic.

Six Flags and the log ride

It's been really hot and humid here but we got adventurous enough to try to to hit up Six Flags the other day. We were sweating by the time the tram dropped us off at the front of the park, so we went ahead and got right in line for the log ride. We were soaked with sweat by the time we got to the front! Devon got a little upset as we were getting on, and I figured he would have fun as we got going. He did calm down, but this was his face as we went over the waterfall.

He was completely fine after we got to the bottom, but it still made me feel bad. They have Wiggles dolls and toys at Six Flags there so we have to always stop and look (and buy more often than not), so when they saw these huge suckers they got really excited and wanted them. I knew they wouldn't really eat much of them so we got some just for fun. They look like the munchkins from the lolipop guild.


Landon had been wearing his yellow Wiggles shirt every day all summer so I was really excited when he picked this one out! We did end up having to leave around 11:00 because it got just unbearably hot. It was the first time we went out all together the whole summer because Bailey has been a travelor all summer long. We have just a few weeks left before the older kids go back to school so we keep trying to push through he heat and have fun! If we didn't have the golf cart we would probably go stir crazy! We definately are ready for it to start cooling down!

Bailey at Disney World

Bailey has had an eventful summer so far! She just got off the plane from Arizona, but before that, she and I had a weekend away at Disney World! My friend Crystal and her boyfriend Gerome, who works in the France section at Epcot, got us some amazing deals! Bailey and I drove down together, and even though we tried to keep each other company, we were really glad to see the sign for Florida!

We spent the first night with Crystal, and the next day we met Gerome at the gates of Epcot where he walked us in and got us free park hopper passes! We spent the morning at Epcot
and met Crystal and Gerome in the French section for lunch, where Gerome got us all French food and tried to get Bailey to try it. This is her trying to decide if she likes chocolate mousse.

It got really hot so Gerome got us a super discount at a Disney resort on the Disney property, so we rode the bus over to it and went for a swim until it cooled down later in the evening.
We went to the Disney World after that and watched the night parade and rode rides until the park closed. Bailey even got some light up wings like the fairies in the parade wore!

The next day was blistering hot but Bailey toughed it out so that she could watch the shows and the day parade.
We went back to the hotel to take naps after that because that night the park was staying open until 2:00am for guests of the Disney resorts! It was nice and cool then and the lines were extremely short, so Baily pushed through and stayed all the way until 1:30am.

The next day, Gerome told me how to get into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter before it had been opened to the public, so I had to at least stop and look at it! It looked so amazing!
We drove home after that and the drive was much harder after all that we did! We were exhausted, but it was an amazing time! It certainly makes your trip a lot nicer when you know a Disney cast member! Thanks Crystal and Gerome (aka Gui Gui)!

The Men's room

I have gotten so busy with summer that I haven't blogged at all! I have some awesome pictures of Bailey from when she and I went down to Orlando for the weekend, and I'll get them uploaded and posted in the near future. There have been tons of things that I had intended to blog about, and I even took pictures to make sure that I could have visuals to go along with the story, but things just fall through the cracks. I have so far been successful with my summer classes and keeping the kids entertained at the same time, and that probably has a lot to do with why my bogging is lacking. I'm just stretched kinda thin.


So let me get to the story. This did involve Landon, but for once, it wasn't his fault. I took Landon and Devon up to Whole Foods with me (Bailey is still in Arizona/California), and I had only grabbed a few things when Landon said he had to use the bathroom. I left my cart and followed after him back to the bathrooms and found that he had already run into the men's room. He prefers the men's room because he loves to use the urinal. I stood there outside the door listening for him and I heard him say he was going to wash his hands, and I asked through the door if he was okay. The lady that was cleaning the bathrooms said to me "You can go on in with him. There's no one in there." I looked inside and saw that it was indeed empty so I went in to help Landon wash his hands and try to hurry him up. I had just said to him "We need to hurry up before someone else comes in here." when I noticed that there was already some man standing at the urinal right next to me going to the bathroom! I guess I didn't hear him come in, but I was mortified that a stranger was standing at the urinal using it right next to me, so I ran right out of the bathroom! Landon and Devon didn't follow me so I stood outside yelling at them (admittedly too crazily) to get out of the bathroom! I was so embarrassed that I just paid for the groceries that I had in my cart and ran out of the store. I got to thinking about it, and I just want to know what the heck that guy was thinking! When he walked in and saw a woman helping her kids wash their hands, why did he go ahead and just start using the urinal right next to that woman? He was wearing a suit, so he wasn't some random bum off the street. I thought "Maybe he just really had to go, and I was in the men's room after all" but he could have used the toilet! The whole situation was just too weird. I'm going to have to start making Landon go to the women's room just so that I can help him and not get walked in on again. Jeez. Using public bathrooms is so stressful!

Ben's Birthday

I finally got the videos uploaded to YouTube so I thought I would go ahead and post them! Ben's actual birthday was a quiet affair, which is the way he wanted it. He didn't even tell his co-workers that it was his birthday. He and I just watched a movie at home together and didn't make too big of a big deal about it. That weekend, though, Ben took his birthday money and got himself an adult sized razor scooter! It's a lot like Landon's but it has bigger wheels and goes faster. He spent hours riding down crazy fast hills with Landon, and Landon was excited to have someone brave enough to hang with him! This is a video of the two of them riding down the golf cart path right behind our house together. It has a pretty good hill and there aren't any cars to worry about so it was their favorite "run" of the day.


Bailey was in Charleston at the beach so don't feel bad that she isn't included in the scootering. The boys had a great time together, and it made me think about how nice it must be to be a kid with such a fun dad! I wonder if the kids even know how much fun he is, or if they just take it for granted? I just wanted to include some other videos that have been taken recently that show what fun and silly things the kids get to do because Ben is such a silly boy!
This is a new swing trick that Ben came up with at the park the other day. Landon was the only one brave (and trusting) enough to actually do it.



This video was taken by Ben himself as he was driving the golf cart with the kids. This is their new "thing" and the kids get mad at me when I won't do it. This is in the parking lot of Bailey's school, and the kids start asking for it every time we drive by. I'm too embarrassed to do it when Ben isn't with me, so they only get to do it when he is around. (You might want to turn down your speakers for this one because it gets a bit loud when the kids are all screaming)



This is the last one, I promise! I took this the other day because I was downstairs while Ben was upstairs bathing kids and I kept hearing the kids howling with laughter. I grabbed the camera and went to investigate, and this is what I saw. Ben didn't even know I was behind him.


The kids are constantly slamming the bathroom door into their heads now, but it was funny initially! Its true that we both have to buckle down and study a lot these days, but its nice to take a break now and then and watch Ben come up with some new form of entertainment! Happy Birthday Ben!