2012 Football Season - Weeks 7 & 8

I love the weekends we are in Auburn. I feel very lucky that we get to go to all of the home games, hang out with our friends, tailgate, have the conveniences of the RV. Even though I'm not an Auburn fan, it is still lots of fun and something I look forward to. But I will not lie... the Saturday's Auburn plays away & we get to stay home, are nice. It's nice to come home on Friday & relax, sleep in our bed, take normal showers, be able to run errands, just sit around watching the games, etc... It's a nice break and we had 2 weekends in a row with nothing planned.

 

October 13, Auburn at Ole Miss

It was a beautiful day to sit outside, have 2 TVs going at once and just hang out. We spent all day outside. I wish the weather would stay just like this all year long!

 

I let Jake pick out his Halloween costume for the first time this year. He picked Batman and is in LOVE with the costume. He was worn it every day since we got it. I'm pretty sure he is going to wear it out before Halloween even gets here. We were surprised he loved it so much, because he normally doesn't like masks or things on his face. I guess for a Batman mask, he makes an exception.

Forget a gas guzzling Batmobile, this Batman is going green with his scooter

Taking a break to play on the iPhone

October 20, Auburn at Vanderbilt

I actually did not take any pictures this weekend. I was out of town all week, so Jake got to spend the week with my parents. I spent most of Saturday with him at my in laws while I monogrammed some things. I figured we'd let Robbie watch the Auburn game in peace. Made it home in time for us to watch the Alabama game outside.

 

Nothing too exciting these past 2 weekends, but sometimes, that can be very nice!

2012 Football Season - Week 6

October 6, Auburn verses Arkansas

 

Well, you can say that this football season isn't exactly going Auburn's way. I'm not even an Auburn fan, and I can say that it's been tough to watch. But, one of the things that I love most about our tailgating group, is that they truly love Auburn. The group is still getting together, still tailgating, still watching and still supporting Auburn. Bandwagon fans they definitely are not. And I would much rather hang out with tried & true fans of the opposite team verses bandwagon fans that only support their team when they are winning. And on the bright side, at least the Toomer's Corner trees are getting a break this season from the toilet paper to recover & get stronger.

 

Daddy & Jake

 This was our Saturday to host and we did so with the Vaughan's. Lots & lots of food!

The setup

And lots of kids:) :)

Owen getting ready to tackle Robbie

Then the tackling dummy

The next generation of tailgaters. Little Robbie & Little Gary

Wrapping up another fun weekend!

WARNING!!

I gave up my hopes of Parent of the Year a long time ago. But, when I discover a mistake I am making, I like to tell others in hopes of keeping their run alive.

 

This started about a year ago. Last summer, we had let Jake play with his bath squirt toys outside in the kiddie pool. Like any good parent, I left them out there off & on throughout summer. When we moved into the new house, I decided to give them a good Clorox cleaning. I noticed that tons of dirt & leave bits were coming out of the squirt spouts. Gross, but I figured that's what I got for letting Jake play with them outside. I was satisfied with the cleaning & threw them in the bath tub.

 

He has played with them off & on in the bath tub for the last year. I noticed that even after my Clorox cleaning, the nasty gunk & leaves were still coming out. So I goggled how to remove dirt from squirt toys.

 

And that is when I realized the awful truth....

 

 That was not "dirt & leaves", it was MOLD.

 

I threw all of the toys in a mixture of 90% Clorox & 10% water. I figured if Jake survived the mold, he could survive the Clorox. (Have I mentioned that I gave up hope of being parent of the year?) I let them soak over an hour. They were still squirting out mold. 

I finally decided to just cut one open.

 

And I threw up.
 

This was the moldy inside even after an hour of soaking in Clorox.

The picture does not do it justice. It was nasty disgusting.

How disgusting is that?!?! Needless to say, I threw all of the toys in the trash (thank goodness Jake was at school or he would have had a heart attack!).

 

So what's a parent to do? This is what my Google search told me....

 

1) Don't buy bath tub squirt toys. They are a breeding ground for mold.

 

2) If you do buy them, make sure to squirt all of the water out & let them completely dry out.

 

3) Put a dab of glue in from a glue gun to close up the hole, which prevents water from entering.

 

4) Some toy manufactures are now making squirt toys that can be taken apart & cleaned, then put back together.

 

I'm sure there were more, but I was on limited time, so for now, we'll just play with cups in the bathtub. Until Jake notices that Thomas the squirt train is no longer in the bathtub.

Chuck & Judy's Birthday Party

Robbie's parents, Chuck & Judy both turn 65 this year, just a few weeks apart. Auburn had an off weekend, so it was the perfect time to throw them a party. Chuck & Judy are such very special people. I hit the in-law jackpot when I married Robbie. We (along with Robbie's sister) were happy to throw them a party, not only so we could tell them how much we love & appreciate them, but so their friends & family could too! They had college friends, work friends, neighborhood friends & Auburn friends all to celebrate them!

I love this picture of them at the end of the night

Future couple - Mary & John Gregory

You know we can't have a party without lots of kids around

 

We were trying to get a group picture of all of the kids (because nothing is easier than getting 8 kids to all look at the camera & smile). So we told them to line up to "race". All I can say is, we tried.

Madeline, Henry, John Gregory, Owen, Jackson, Mary, Jake & Cole

The Bush Family (minus Andrea's husband - Johnathan)

 

Thank you to all friends & family that came & made this party so special for Chuck & Judy.

 

The Details....

 

 

 

Preparation

 

Timeline of important events in Chuck & Judy's lives

The cupcakes were made by Robbie's amazing coworker Sharon!
Birthday Cake, Mudslide & Chocolate Chocolate

 

 

 

 Happy Birthday Chuck & Judy!!

We love you to the moon & back!

 

Quadruple-Booked Weekend

2 weekends ago, we ended up being quadruple-booked for the weekend. We really wanted to be in 4 places at one time! We decided to divide & conquer. Robbie headed to Auburn for the Auburn/LSU game, I headed to Troy for my friend Hayley's wedding reception and Jake headed to Seaside with my parents and his cousins. Unfortunately, McCallie (Robbie's high school) 15-year reunion got the short stick! Maybe we'll make it to the 20th!

Emma - TROY

I headed to Troy Saturday morning. Hayley & Bobby Jon were actually married in Jamaica a few weeks earlier and were having a reception to celebrate with their friends & family Saturday night. It was great! I hung out with my friends, caught up, stayed out late & then everyone crashed at Jessica's house. It was just like college (except no one actually owned a house in college)! I'm so happy for Hayley & Bobby Jon and had such a great time with my friends celebrating it!

Back row - Meryl, Stephanie B., me & Stephanie J. (yes I still use everyone's maiden name initial!)
Front row - Hayley, Jessica & Dori

The happy couple!

Phi Mu Sisters

Such a fun night!

 Jake - SEASIDE

My parents decided to plan a last minute weekend trip to the beach. Unfortunately Robbie & I could not go, but my parents asked if they could take Jake. Friday they took the 3 oldest grandchildren down to Seaside (my brother & sister-in-law were joining them late Friday night). We asked my parents were they SURE they wanted to take all 3 kids by themselves? They said absolutely! So off they went!

I'm sure these 2 were very well behaved

Hanging out at the condo (& why does my son have a butt-cut?)

 Mom said when they got to the beach Friday afternoon, as soon as Jake saw it he screamed with excitement. She said he LOVED it. They played & played Friday. In the sand, in water, etc... Jake can be randomly scared of things at random times, so I was really proud of him for being brave & not being scared....

...until later. Saturday, the kids were playing in the water & my mom pointed out that a small school of fish were swimming by their feet. Jake completely freaked out. He would not get back in the water. For the rest of the weekend, unless he forgot, he would not get in the water. Sometimes he would forget & start playing in the water, but if anything touched him, he freaked & ran out. Now that's the Jake I know :)  

Jake & Maddox (before the school of fish)

Marrell burying Jake



What a beach bod



Hey guys... don't forget about me

Look at those prize winning photo faces

Much better!

Bye-bye beach (& school of fish)