Paul's Debut

Mr. J. Paul Mitchell has made his debut on his firm's website ... Check him out!

Oh Mary!

Last night as Paul's putting Mary to bed she's crying -

"I need to checka my email! I need to checka my EMAIL!"

ha ...

Twilight

Definitely didn't love the movie, but sure did love some girl time out on a Friday night! 

(This would be, Amber ... Amber ... and Amber)

Next time, we skip the movie and go straight to the fun. 

The Shark's Coming

Whenever Mary's doing something that will hurt her, I always say something like 

"Mary, don't do that,  you'll get hurt ... and you'll cry". Adding that "you'll cry" part always seems to get her thinking and then she stops whatever she's doing. 

She's got the hang of this lately, because whenever I tell her not to do something, she continues with something like this -

Me-"Mary, don't touch that."

Mary -"it will fall down..."

    "and it will break..."

    "and you will cry...."

         ....

    "and the Shark will get you."

I have never threatened with a shark attack for any bad behavior - but every sequence of bad things around here has to end with "the Shark will get you." Maybe that's her own way of understanding the consequences of certain behaviors. A little extreme, but it works for her. 

Disney Pictures

Yay! I have been trying all week to get our Disney pictures uploaded - my computer and blogger have finally started working together! Here are our Disney Pictures.

We planned our Disney vacation in just about a week, and it was FABulous. Nicole - one of my favorite people on the planet, and a BFF from the high school days works for Disney and got us free tickets into the parks and a super amazing discount on Disney resorts. I'm pretty sure we couldn't have planned this trip any faster or any cheaper. We weren't Disney fanatics before the trip, but now, we LOVE that place and would gladly move there for the rest of our lives.

We did a four day trip down to Orlando, I'll post the quick version ...

Day 1 - A visit with Paul's grandparents and aunt & uncle in Ocala, FL and a late birthday party for Mary. On to Disney World to check into our resort, take a river boat ride to Downtown Disney for shopping, dinner, playing in the fountains, and Nicole. 

Day 2 - Swimming at 7:00am in the HOT November weather. Then a day at the Animal Kingdom with a safari ride, plenty of shows, and lots of animals. I love that place. We left Orlando that evening to watch the shuttle launch in Cape Canaveral. A night on the beach watching the shuttle launch = Paul's dream come true. 

Day 3 - Another early swim, and then breakfast at Chef Mickey's with all the Disney Characters. Then off the a full day at the Magic Kingdom for Paul's birthday with Aunt Nicole! We rode everything we wanted to ride and even some things we didn't (didn't know the Snow White ride is actually terrifying). Saw the Christmas decorations, the parades, the fireworks show, and were exhausted by the time the park closed at 11:00pm. I would gladly do it all again! 

Day 4 - A great breakfast and a long walk around the resort property since we were completely sad to be leaving Disney so soon. Then back to Ocala, for a birthday party for Paul! A fun visit with Nanny and Papaw and then back to Athens for a LATE night drive. 

Talk about a busy trip - we were wiped out by the end of every day, but it was really just too much fun to sit still =). We now are now in love with Disney World. 

Disney Disney Disney World

We just got back from a MOST amazing impromptu trip to Disney World. I'll post pictures as soon as I clean out the car, unpack the suitcases, catch up on laundry, and get out of my pajamas.

Birthday Loot

The days surrounding Mary's birthday brought in plenty of goods. We have a super happy two year old and LOTS of new toys!

A hippo from Aunt Jill

A Marching Band from Oma

GO Diego GO animals from Opa
(he knows Diego's popularity around here)

A SCHOOLBUS and new winter clothes from Grandma and Grandaddy

I had to face the obvious this year and come to terms with the fact that Mary is a GIRL. I have put off the pink, and the frills, and the princesses until now. Her little girlfriends have introduced her to the ways of ponies, princesses, dress up, and tea parties ... and she loves it. A LOT.

So we got her a ballerina costume.

but Devin and Becky won the birthday present of the year award with Mary's very own princess tea set and her princess shoes.

These go with us everywhere. Mary knows that once you're two, you must be prepared with heels and a tea set at all times. Now that's a Happy Birthday!

My Birthday Girl

My little girl was born two years ago today. 

 and she's still going strong! 

Happy Birthday to my Mary!

I love you!

Halloween pictures gone wild

If you've had enough Dumbo, feel free to skip this post.

I find Mary dressed as an elephant to be irresistibly cute, and would like to post it everyday.

We spent Halloween in North Georgia with Paul's family and had too much fun with all the aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews all dressed up. 

Yoda, a pirate, a cupcake, a mailman, an elephant, and a hobo, just to name a few.

We took Mary trick-or-treating with our good friends the Ward's in Chattanooga. We love that they live so close to Paul's family, so we'll always be able to keep in touch. I used to babysit their older kids when they were just little. Now they are growing up and ready to babysit Mary for us! They made the round MUCH faster than we did. Our band of toddlers was pretty pokey. But we ended the night with buckets full of candy and some tired kids!

Celeste was my trick or treating buddy. I think she's a hot mamma.  

P.S. I also think this picture of Mary is hilarious.

Just a little sad

Paul's on fabulous vacation to the Ritz in Amelia Island, Fl.

We're at home, totally bummed.

Losing My Mind

I really shouldn't be allowed to drive anymore. 

I already posted about my awesome speeding ticket and the big bucks I handed over for that one. 

The week after that, I was driving home and hit two dogs in the road. Not everyday you kill two animals at once, I get the prize for that one. It was dark and they came out of the shadows running towards my car in my lane, there was a car coming in the other lane, so my only choice was to hit them. It's entirely unsettling to look something in the face and then kill it (for me at least!), and I was pretty upset about the whole ordeal. A piece of the front of my car was broken off, and I felt guilty about killing somebody's pet, BUT I was grateful that Mary and I were both okay and didn't cause an accident because of it. 

The next week ... I turned into our neighborhood and my back right tire blew out. Luckily, I was close enough to home that I made it safe and sound into our garage where Paul could put on the spare and I could take it to buy new tires. Not that bad. UNTIL I had the back tires replaced, all the tires moved around, rotated, balanced, and aligned. A few hundred dollars later ... yuck. 

So THIS week, I went to watch a friends kids while she voted and parked behind her, completely forgetting that she would be leaving as soon as I got there. She was on a hill and couldn't see my car behind her. She backed right into it on her way out. Luckily, her car was fine, but the front of my car has just taken a beating in the last few weeks. Now it's all complicated and I'm not sure how to handle it with the insurance. 

"Umm - I did this part last week when I hit two dogs ... and the rest of this is from yesterday when I was backed into ... Feel free to discontinue my insurance, I'd like to start walking everywhere from now on." -Sarah