Big Letdown in the Big Easy

Part of Dylan's Christmas this year was a trip to New Orleans to see the Saints play in the Superdome. He has been bugging Brandon to take him for a couple of years now, and with Saints hysteria in our household reaching an all-time high after the team's 13-0 start, they thought there was no better time to go. Ugggh, they wound up losing to Tampa Bay, who had won only 2 games this season!!!!
They found some great seats on Craigslist and went to the stadium early to take it all in. The Saints opened up a 17-0 lead and the party was on...until the second half. Tampa Bay rallied and wound up winning in overtime 20-17. Disgusting.
The boys had fun though and vow that they will return next season!

The Elf on the Shelf

Barnes and Nobles had their story time on Thursday night and they read "Elf on the Shelf". We went last year and Sutherlan loved it!! Dylan didn't go last year because he thought he wanted to stay home. When we got home and told him about it, he cried. So this year, we all went. It was a lot of fun! The kids got to hear the story again, meet with the "Elf--Snowball" and we got the kids hot chocolate and dessert from Starbucks. They got to do crafts (make bookmarks) after the story was over. The kids were begging all the way home for "Wentzel" to come see us at our house for Christmas. We told them that he would probably come after Thanksgiving....until then. (You never know where he will show up????)

Sutherlan's 4K Thanksgiving Program

Sutherlan had her Thanksgiving Program at school on Wednesday, November 18. They all looked adorable! They were little Indians. It was the 3K, 4K and 5K classes performing. I have to say, Sutherlan really got into it and I could hear her singing out of everyone!! They also had a Thanksgiving Feast on Monday. They had chicken nuggets, green beans, rolls and a "special dessert". She loved it!! Their bible verse for this month has been Psalm 106:1 "Oh! Give thanks unto the Lord for He is good."



"I've Got the Joy!"



"The Indian Child" by Cheryl Parvin



"Thank You Song"



"I'm Gonna Eat on Thanksgiving Day"



Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Future Bama QB meets former Bama QB?

Last Friday Dylan finally got to do something that he's been wanting to do for almost 2 years...meet former Alabama QB John Parker Wilson. Dylan went to several games last season and would wait outside the locker room to get players to autograph his program. He would always get some good players to sign but never was able to get his favorite player's autograph. Brandon found on the Internet where JPW, who now is a backup QB for the Atlanta Falcons, was going to be signing autographs at an Atlanta grocery store so he took Dylan up there. Dylan was really excited. He took his JPW jersey and he signed it "To Dylan" which made his day. We intend to have it framed alongside this photo Brandon took of the two of them and hang it in his room soon.

Halloween 2009

Halloween was a fun night for all of us! Dylan came up with his own costume idea, which I LOVED!! He decided to be Big AL and it turned out really cute!! Sutherlan was Strawberry Shortcake. We hunted everywhere for a red wig and finally I found some red hair extensions at the Dollar Tree, which I think turned out great! We had our usual get together with our neighbors, John and Rebecca. We had several of our other friends over there too. Brandon made homemade potato soup and Rebecca had several others things such as black bean soup, sausage balls and chips with salsa. We gave away about 300 pieces of candy this year and ran out! We had to turn kids away. They were still coming at 9:45!!



Here are all the kids before we headed out for trick-or-treating.
Top Row: Ian, Ryan, Grace and Dylan
Middle Row: Mason, Bailey and Hudson
Bottom Row: Sutherlan, Jack and Grier

They all looked adorable!



Ian (The Joker) and Dylan (Big AL)

Parties, Festivals and Pumpkin Patches

Fall has been full of pumpkin patches, Fall parties and Fall Festivals. I just love this time of year! It has been especially fun since Sutherlan has been in school this year, so I not only get to enjoy doing things with Dylan's class, but also Sutherlan's class. Sutherlan's class went to the Pumpkin Patch for story time and to pick out a pumpkin to decorate for class. We had a lot of fun and she loved going with her friends. After the pumpkin patch, we all headed to the park for a picnic lunch.



Here she is before we left for the pumpkin patch. Doesn't she look cute in her dress I found while shopping with Aunt B!



Here are both 4K classes before picking out our pumpkins. Do you know how difficult it was to get 20 something 4-year-olds to stand still long enough for a photo??? Also, here they are at story time.



Sutherlan with some of her friends, Isabelle and Madison

Next, we had class parties. Both parties were a lot of fun!! The 3rd Grade had a "Candy Swap" on Friday between all the 3rd Grade classes. They each took their candy and used them for math that day. Needless to say, all the kids were on a sugar high before school was out with class parties and candy swap!





Mable White Baptist Church had their Fall Festival Wednesday night. Sutherlan was so excited because she went with me to Dylan's Fall Festival at his school and loved it. (Sorry, no pictures from his festival...I was working the festival and didn't have my camera) When she found out that her school was having a Fall Festival she wanted Dylan to come to hers. When we got there, Dylan said he loved her Fall Festival even more than his because they had a lot more to do! We had free hot dogs, chips and drinks. The kids got to play games, play on inflatables and go for a pony ride. It was so much fun watching them come down the HUGE slide together!! Last, but not least..the best part....watching them both ride the mechanical bull!!! It was a sight!

Hello "Gumbo"

Sutherlan has been wanting a puppy for a long time now and we finally surprised her with one on Wednesday. The picture above is her first time seeing him. Brandon let him run into the house and surprise her! She was so excited and I think a little startled!! She then told Brandon, "You got me a puppy!!" "I finally got a puppy". We had told her that we would keep "Speedy" until we got a puppy and when we let Speedy go, she was really upset. We found this little guy from a breeder in Perry. Brandon liked the name "Gumbo", but we wanted to let Dylan see him first before we named him. When Dylan came home from school, he was so excited. He was a little nervous to touch the puppy at first (he's not much of a dog person), but said he was not afraid of this puppy because it was his puppy and he couldn't be afraid of his puppy. Both the kids are in love with him (me too) already! I think he really likes Brandon too. He gets so excited when Brandon comes into the room and follows him around the house.

I took him to the vet yesterday to get him checked out and he weighs 4lbs. He goes back to the vet on November 7th for his third round of shots. The breeder had already started paper and crate training him, but unfortunately he has NOT been using the paper. He is sleeping in his crate at night great! He whines for just a few minutes and then we don't hear from him until morning when we get up. He is very playful and loving! We think he is very happy to be here with us!! We all decided together that "Gumbo" was the perfect name for him!