Abby's 1st Birthday

Musical Inspiration

Cody is very creative when making his make-shift drum set. Here is a short video of him giving Abby a private concert...she doesn't seem very thrilled by it. (Disclaimer: He was wailing on the drums right before I got the camera out...so I apologize if it's not very exciting.) In case you were wondering where Cody gets his musical ability, here is another video of Clay playing a homemade Didgeridoo. Want to learn how to make or how to play one yourself? Just want to see what a real Didgeridoo looks & sounds like? Click here.

Pool, pigtail, pirates, and more!

Another fun weekend and its not even over yet! Here are a few pictures from the pool today. We met up with Grandad, Mamaw, Willow & Heath (who now wants to be known as "Spike" for some reason). Cody borrowed Willow's goggles and learned to go underwater. He was very nervous about doing it, but after a few times of getting used to it...he loved it! Yeah Cody! Clay gave Heath, oops, I mean Spike, and Willow some pointers on cannonballs.













Abby's hair is starting to grow out now so I decided to try a pigtail on top. Here is Abby's first official pigtail. Clay says it makes her look like a Teletubby...hmmm, I'll let you decide.





Chick-fil-A is one of Cody's most favorite places to eat and pirates are some of his favorite things to pretend to be. So, when Chick-fil-A had a Pirate Theme Night....Cody was in heaven! He got a big bag of "pirate booty" to bring home....you can see all of his coins laid out next to his food. Here are a couple of pictures from the event. One is of Cody dipping his fries in the ice cream and the other is of Cody with one of the pirates there. It looks like Cody has a pirate goatee, but it is actually chocolate milk running down his chin. Arrrgh!

And one last little video that I thought was funny....
Cody went and got the tube of Balmex (it's butt cream, for those of you who don't have babies) and was trying to put it on the cat...here is where I happen to see him pulling the cat toward him by her tail. He explains that he has medicine for the cat's butt....don't ask me why - I have no idea where he thought of that! Enjoy...

Glenn Beck '08

WARNING: This post reflects my personal thoughts and opinions ...oh wait, that's my 1st Amendment right! : )



Last night, I went to see Glenn Beck on the big screen. No, he wasn't in "Dark Knight". It was a live simulcast from Texas to 350 theaters throughout the U.S. We showed up right as it was starting and the only open seats were in the front row. Ahhh man! I was sure that it would make the whole show miserable, but it was actually not too bad. Once we got over how INCREDIBLY HUGE he was up close on a big screen...and in high-def! I think we could have felt the sweat fling off of his face if we had our 3-D glasses on.

Who's Glenn Beck, you ask? Well, I'll tell you, but first you have to come out from under that rock! (Ok, that's better.) Glenn Beck is a radio/television host and conservative political commentator to over 7 million listeners. He has also written a few books - one of which I am currently reading called "An Inconvenient Book".

So now that you know who Glenn Beck is...the show was his way of exposing the craziness of politics. He highlighted politics-at-work by reading a list of laws that have passed throughout the states (most of the crazy ones were from California...hmmm). Some of those included:

• making the sale of illegal weapons illegal (Philadelphia I think?)
  
• mandating that you need a hunting license in order to set a mouse trap (California)
• banning the use of used underwear to wash a car at a car wash (San Francisco)
• A city ordinance states that a $500 fine will be given to anyone who detonates a nuclear device within city limits. (California)

Some of his other "punny" commentary included answers to some of our country's biggest issues.

• Drilling for oil in ANWR - if we can put a man on the moon, why can't we figure out how to get the oil out form under the polar bear's butt?
• Mexican border - wait them out. Let them all sneak over and then when they aren't looking, we can sneak over THEIR border and move to Mexico..we get Cancun & they get Detroit
• Gun Control - Give us our right to carry guns and the bad guys can have the right to carry our bullets (in their chest)
• Edjukayshun - implement the "dumb child left behind" act...if they don't get their GED or diploma, then no government support for you

One of the highlights of the evening was when he got emotional talking about how he wants a better America for his daughter than what we currently have. (Not just "hope for change" like BO talks about, but real change) He said that "it's not going to come from our government....it's not going to come from you or me....it's going to have to come from GOD!" He actually voiced the things that America wished that our next president would say...it was truth, it was common sense, it was sincere. I would vote for Glenn Beck for president that's for sure...unfortunately, we don't have that option. So, all we have left to do is educate ourselves on what's really going on in the world, use our brains, speak up (loudly), vote and do our part to make a difference.

Fun night with Kenzie

We had another fun night with Mackenzie visiting. Cody & Kenzie played fire dept for a while and they used the vacuum hose to put out the fire. Later, we made paper bag puppets of Dora the Explorer and Swiper. On the show, Swiper always try to take Dora's stuff and she has to say, "Swiper, no swiping! Swiper, no swiping!" Then Swiper feeling defeated says, "Ahhh Man!" There is a cute video of Cody acting out this scene below.

Nerve2Serve:Missions Week

Big Boy Cody

Cody is growing up so fast. He is starting to get the hang of the big potty and loves to let us know when he needs to go. He is such a performer...making up funny scenarios and acting them out for us. He is full of fun, adventure, and entertainment. There is never a dull moment with Cody around!

Million Dollar Idea

Clay was getting frustrated with feeding Abby her green beans tonight. She was flinging her arms around and sort of slobbering her food out of her mouth....there was definitely more food on her face and hands than in her mouth. So Clay said, "I should get a syringe and just pump it into her mouth".
Next thing I know, he has a syringe in the green beans and gives it to Abby. She loved it! I'm not sure how we can market this, but I bet dads around the world would love this "baby feeding tool".

4th of July Fun

We went to the Vickers' Fourth of July Parade again this year. Last year, I was super pregnant with Abby and Clay had the job of carrying Cody around the whole time. This year, we borrowed a wagon and loaded up the kids for a roll around the block...much better! The Evangelistas joined us and Cody was happy that Mackenzie was able to be with him during the parade.














After the parade around the neighborhood, we played games in the backyard. Tracy and I did a two-man balloon race and another balloon game with fly swatters. We sat out on the water balloon toss and the blueberry contest. Abby participated in the watermelon eating contest. She did pretty good, but couldn't finish it all.














We also made a quick visit with Granddad and Mamaw. Heath and Willow were visiting, so we tried to get some pictures of all of the cousins together. Martha Ann & I took turns taking pictures and holding the kids...then we got Lee involved. After several attempts, we realized that the likelihood of getting all of the kids to sit still long enough for a picture, wasn't going to happen. Willow was posing pretty well, but Heath was making faces, Cody wanted to play with a dog statue, Abby just wanted to go for a walk. Lee tried to wrangle them, but it was like herding cats. I included one of the outtakes below.



















One last stop before going home....we went by our friend Pam's house for a quick visit. Cody & Abby had a great time and I got to finally see inside her new home. Yeah Hourihans!!!