One year ago today...

Yep, that's right, one year ago today the phone rang, I answered it, and my journey to poison hell and baldness began. I tried to find a photo of me getting chemo but some how (miraculously) they have disappeared. This is a photo of me and all the boys after my second chemo. Dada drove Grady, Grant and me to Lake City to meet Todd and Todd... unfortunately, after about 30 minutes into the trip I told Dada he had to stop NOW... he got the hint and did! It was certainly not an ideal exit but when the nausea kicks in, well.... Anyway, glad that is all over....

Today is a BEAUTIFUL day in Panama City... I woke up to Dat Dat opening the windows in our room... They have been open most of the day and we were able to ride around with the car windows down... we are all looking forward to football practice tonight!

Not much more to share today... for those of you who have it, enjoy the beautiful weather....

A Lesson...

... in your ABC's by Grady Joe. Remember to go down and pause the music so you can hear Grady. This is a part of our repertoire every night before we go to bed... it also includes Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, The Lord's Prayer along with the songs... Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Way Out West (with the hand motions included) and the Ipy Dipsy Spider (yes, Grady is still speaking Dutch:)

There is more football this weekend. Todd Jr has a game tomorrow afternoon... I hope it will be nice and breezy down at the beach, oh and not raining... yuck!

Even though there has been tons of rain, we were able to make it to the beach last Saturday. It was really beautiful and we had a great time... tons of fish to look at and the boys enjoyed playing in the waves... even Grant got in on the action by yelling at them... them being the waves... and well his big brothers too. The only bad part was the guy in the water smoking his stinky cigar... why does this always happen to us... GROSS!!!

Still loving Netflix, but very angry at Dat Dat... he has gotten me hooked on Fox's tv show Fringe... if you don't watch it you should... rent last season... it is really good... and if you like my FAVORITE show, LOST, you should like this... it is by JJ Abrams also... there are even hidden LOST elements in it as well. Tonight we are watching Breakfast at Tiffany's... funny thing is, the cop that got attacked on Fringe last night... his last name was Golightly... you know, like Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's... anyway...

Grammie and Dada called yesterday... I thought to pick on me... as they often do when they go to one of my very favorite restaurants, Columbia (they have the best salad on the planet), but not really yesterday, however they did ask if they should order another pitcher of Sangria (yum)... the restaurant was having a fund raiser for Moffit Cancer Center, so , technically, they had gone for me.. isn't that AWESOME... They even waited for quite a while to be seated... I just wish my boys and I could have been there too... maybe at Christmas time... gotta love that 1905 salad!!!!

Sorry it has been so long....

Needless to say, it has been busy around here... it always seems that we are coming and going all the time. Of course the biggest serving on our plate right now is FOOTBALL... you may have noticed that as the theme of the last few posts and well the new background of the blog as well... I had found some cute blue and brown graphic that I liked, but needless to say, that did not go over very well with the Dat Dat... A few days ago Grant found Todd Jr's shoulder pads and practice jersey and carried them to me with he Hulk-like strength (yes, there is a plan in the works for Grant to be the Hulk for Halloween) yelling "buttball" (that is Grant for "football")... so, here he is in big brother's pads... Go Raiders...

And not to be out done, Grady got a hold of the helmet... notice how he is also attempting to shove the mouth piece in... Yuck! Grady, do you know where that has been?!

Question for you.... How do you win the same game two times???? Well the other team forfeits because they only have 11 players on the team and 4 of them cannot make weight... and um they're not gonna... but, since the refs have already been paid and we have all made our way to the field and have been already over cooked in the hot afternoon sun... let's just have a scrimmage... and beat the h-e-double hockey sticks out of them any way... Check it out, number 75 right in front of the ref... he even got to play most of the game... This is a photo from his first game, I did not get any from his game against Callaway on Monday... it was so yucky out... lets just say that Mommy is really glad that Me Me forgot her umbrella in the van... we put it to good use... though Grady was all about playing in the rain... Needless to say, the Lynn Haven Raiders beat the Callaway Rebels pretty soundly 30-0... I don't think the Rebels ever gained any yardage and Todd's team literally had the ball the entire 3rd quarter on offense... what a mess...

Todd Jr. is doing really well in school... 100% for the first 3 weeks on all his math and spelling tests... We are working diligently on his reading skills... he is doing fine, but we are trying to get him to read as much as he can...

Dat Dat is excited that College Football and the NFL have started and well, as I always tell him, "at least you have the Gators."

As some of you know, I have gone back to work... and for those of you who don't know, I have gone back to work. I work part time for christopher and banks at the Panama City Mall. I started in mid June and I enjoy it very much. Last Friday, my manager offered me a small promotion, so, it is much like my employment before we moved, nights and weekends and now some light management duties... but that is fine with me, I enjoy the ladies I work with and it is really a lot of fun.

On another note, you know, MTV is not quite what it was in the beginning... ok, it is nothing like it was in the beginning... yes, I am old enough to remember when they only played music videos and an occasional episode of the irreverent British program "The Young Ones" in the middle of the night. However, I did happen to catch a rerun of the 2009 VMA's yesterday... and the opening transported me back to my youth... if you did not catch it, I am pretty sure there a tons of reruns over the next week and there is always you tube... Madonna was fairly eloquent and the tribute to Michael Jackson was fantastic... Yes, I had MJ posters and I think I broke our family record player (OMG... I just typed record player... google it if you are not familiar with the term) on the vinyl of Thriller... and, like Madonna our sons are very into Michael Jackson, I think his Number Ones CD is permanently stuck in the vans CD player (I even attempted a mutiny and stuck in some Duran Duran, but I was quickly over thrown) and they loved watching the Thriller video over and over again as they were replaying it on TV... Todd Jr has even been attempting the moonwalk. Grady was singing along to "Beat It" today but apparently he was channeling his inner Weird Al or his Dat Dat, who can never get the lyrics right... he was singing "just feed em..." Yeah, I don't know what he was hearing.. .maybe all those ear infections are finally taking their toll.

Sorry this was so long... if you were able to stick with me, thanks!

Go Jags! Go Gators! Go... sorry Noles... that stinks!

We hope everyone had a Great and SAFE Labor Day Weekend! Ours was FANTASTIC... warm, but fantastic. We headed to Mobile on Saturday to see the University of South Alabama Jaguars compete in their first football game. It was held near Downtown Mobile, in the not so nicest of neighborhoods... but we made it in and out safely. We were so hot making our way around the stadium when we got there... we had to exchange our tickets since we were sold student tickets through Ticketmaster... what a mess... I am still trying to get our so called "convenience fee" back! Check out MeMe and Grady Joe soaking up the rays on a hot football afternoon.

Even though it was warm, we made it through with lots of powerade and water... the game was great, they played Hargrave Military which I had never heard of... As you can see in this photo of Foe Foe and the bigger boys, there was still horseplay in the stands...

Here is the second touchdown of the game!!! Go Jags!

Check out the final score!!!!!

Also, a big hats off to the Gators... they had a big win this weekend against a team we had never heard of... and then the Seminoles... can we say "time for retirement!"

MeMe and Foe Foe came over to PC on Sunday and we tried to go to the beach yesterday but it was not very pretty, so we walked around Pier Park for a while and went to football practice later in the evening.... we also enjoyed a visit from Beeka Beeka, Rudy and cousin Patrick on Sunday evening!

But, the biggest news of the weekend... guess who is POOPING in the POTTY!!!!!! Yep, Grant... we are so proud!

Welcome to September!

First, we want to wish Grammie a Very Happy Birthday... she celebrated the Big.... well, I won't give it away here... on September 1. Hope Dada did more than just take you to Walmart Grammie! We love and miss you very much... thanks for taking such good care of all of us!


Next, last Saturday was Todd Jr.'s football Jamboree... They play two twenty minute games.... 10 minutes on defense and 10 minutes on offense for each game. During the first game, he did not see any playing time, but he played most of the second game.... offense and defense.. Todd Sr. was very excited... I was a little disappointed though, I had to go to work before the second game... oh, well.... His first official game is next Tuesday, September 8. On another football note, we are headed this upcoming Saturday to Mobile to the first University of South Alabama Football game against Hargrave Military Academy. MeMe and Foe Foe are going to join us and then head over to Panama City for a Labor Day visit.

I thought y'all might be interested in seeing these photos... This is Dat Dat and the little men at last year's Jamboree....

And here they are at this years... :)

Not only has Grant grown a bit, but he has really started talking.... He told Dat Dat to "Stop it!" the other day when he was being tickled and he pointed at me in the car yesterday when we were pulling out of the driveway and yelled "BEEKLE"... he wanted me to buckle my seat belt... ooohhh and in even bigger news... guess who has been going tinkle on the big potty!!!! Ah... another raise looming ever closer!