Boo Ya'll!

Thanks to the Dawsons for having us over! We enjoyed it!

AAA was a witch, my little man was a Georgia football player (he had to yell "War Eagle" a few times before anyone would give him any candy), KitKat was Gabriella (the star of the show...but of course), and Sunshine was Monique (HSM cheerleader). They were darlin'! Weather was perfect...maybe a little too chilly. Company was great ...nothing like old neighbors who have watched your children grow up from the time they were born. Candy was yummy...anything chocolate. Neighborhood was amazing...trick-or-treating in Asheton Park is too much!
Somehow the children came home, brushed their teeth, and went straight to bed. Yeah , we skipped the baths tonight! That's alright...we give them a bath once a week whether they need it or not. There's always tomorrow or Saturday...as long as we get it in before church on Sunday. I was so glad that they went to sleep. They kept asking M if they could have"this candy" or "that candy" and he kept telling them "no." Now normally I try really hard not to undermine his authority (and he better not undermine mine like I did his!), but it's Halloween and they are kids and it is candy ,for goodness sake. So, with a smile on my face, I told them to ignore their dad and eat all the candy they wanted. M. just looked at me like I'd lost my mind and explained that they would never get to bed because of all the sugar, it's a school night, they have to be up early, yada yada yada. So I'm really thankful that my little darlin's fell fast asleep. I didn't want to hear "I told you so" and I really didn't want to have to put 4 hyped-up kids to bed by myself as I'm sure M. wouldv'e signed off on that one. Sunshine didn't even make it home before she had passed out in her car seat in her little High School Musical cheerleading outfit and size 3T white tights with velcro Keds (I could eat her up!).

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday, Sistuh!

(Must read comment from last post to understand this)

Ode to Holley:
To the tune of the song that Woody (Cheers!) sang to Kelly:

Holley Holley Holley Holley

Holley Holley Holley Holley

Holley Holley Holley Holley
Holley Holley Holley Holley

Holley Holley Holley Holley Holley Holley Holley !!!!!!!!


Happy Birthday! I love you! I'm so glad you're getting older like me! 29, right?

You're the best (but don't tell MM and Ash)

I have three fun, pretty, talented, creative sisters. When I'm with them, I am literally laughing the entire time. We have a blast! I think that they are all three funnier than me. (And their breasts are bigger. One of them has even had a reduction. Go figure. )
I spoke with one of my younger sisters, Holley, today. I laughed my head off. She has the wittiest sense of humor- love her. As she was talking and making me laugh, I said, "Holley, you should write a blog. You'd be hilarious." She said, "Whatever. I don't have any stories like yours. Nothing like that ever happens to me. It's like you're an airhead, but you're not. You're a fake dim-wit. Like Ellen."
Gee thanks.
I think that was supposed to be a compliment.
My friend, Carrie, told me that her sister, whom I think I've only met once, called to tell her that she had a "Tiffany story." I couldn't wait to hear it. It was about a friend of hers chasing a chicken down the street in Montgomery.
Go ahead. Laugh.
Why am I putting myslef out here like this?!? For your enjoyment?!?! Apparently.

Ya'll have a great day!!
** I haven't had many comments lately and I'm in need of an ego boost. I know you're out there. I can see you on my sitemeter. I just don't know who you are.
Comments are fun!

Busy Weekend!

Greetings from the Arnalls

Busy weekend on the home front. Between movie premieres (HSM 3), soccer games, birthday parties, Halloween parties, a Chili cookout, the Emmaus Walk, and football games, it was a busy weekend! Nothing especially blog-worthy, unless I include the conversation from breakfast morning. While we were eating breakfast (it's Sunday...so ya'll know what we had!), M. says, "Look at all the squirrels in the yard." Sunshine says, "That's why I want a real gun." Hmmmm. My delicate, dainty flower.

And oh yeah - speaking of football games...How 'bout them dogs! And Roll Tide, too!
Eagerly awaiting the Bama/Auburn game and Auburn/Georgia!


Thanking God today for busy weekends that end on Sunday so we can all take a rest!

Hellooo?!?

I realize I haven't posted a blog since Monday. Not a whole lot has been going on around here. Teacher/Parent conferences were this week. I had an ENT appointment because I've had an ear-ache (for 3 years - I finally made the appointment). Anyway...actually now that I'm thinking about it there is a lot going on this week that has kept me distracted, but it's not anything I can blog about. So...I started re-reading some of my older posts in hopes that they would inspire me to come up with something to blog about today. After reading my old posts, I realized that I owe ya'll two stories. The first is about the second greatest thing I've ever done (which I may have changed my mind about so I'm not going to share it today), and the second is a story about my darling little babysitter, Little Lauren. For a while I had two babysitters named Lauren. One was older and had "brownish skin" (as the kids would say), and the other was Little Lauren, younger and has "white skin like mine." When I would tell the kids that "Lauren" was going to babysit, they'd always ask, "Which one? Big or Little?" I loved that they didn't see color! We still see Big Lauren occasionally, but it's usually for lunch. She's an official grown-up now and has a real job. I miss her - she's the most fun person I've ever been around!

Anyway...about Little Lauren. I had hired her one summer to babysit the younger two while I took the older two kids to swim lessons. The first day of swim lessons was going to be a busy day because I had also made an unofficial appointment with my realtor friend who was going to come by the house and give us some pointers on listing the house (this was three years ago). So I had to clean! Well...the phone rang that morning around 7:30. It was the realtor calling to say that she would be unable to come over because she was throwing up. She sounded terrible - not like herself at all. I knew that she and her husband had been trying to have another baby, so I asked her if she was pregnant. She assured me that she wasn't. I told her I was sorry and that I hoped she felt better.

An hour later, I was waiting on Lauren to show up so that I could take the kids to their swimming lessons. Lauren never came. I called her cell and her home - no answer. Then I remembered that her mom was teaching summer school and probably left before she was able to wake Lauren up. I left lauren a message on her land line and on her cell to CALL ME BACK! By this time, we were already running late for swimming, which only last for 25 minutes anyway (so now we're down to 15 minutes). I drove by Lauren's house on my way to swim lessons and saw Lauren's car. I didn't have time to stop because we were already late. Now this was really out of character for Lauren. She had been babysitting for 3 and a half years and had never even been a minute late. On the way back from swimmimg, we stopped by her house. AA jumped out the car and knocked on her door ( I stayed in the car with the other 3, but I rolled down my window so that I could talk to her). She came to the door and just stood there. I asked her what had happened and she said that she didn't feel good. I yelled back, "Well I hope you feel better" , but I was really disappointed in her for not having called me earlier to tell me.
Her mom, who is a friend of mine, called later and said that Lauren was throwing up. I told her that there must be something going around because my realtor friend was also sick. Lauren's mom said, "She said you asked her if she was pregnant."

Poor Lauren. It was HER who had called me at 7:30 in the morning to tell me that she was sick! AND I ASKED MY 15 YEAR OLD BABYSITTER IF SHE WAS PREGNANT! And then I had the nerve to drive by her house and let my 5 year old tun up to the door to find out what was going on. I'm sure she felt like she was in the Twilight Zone!

I hung up with Lauren's mom and ran down to Lauren's house to apologize to her. She was great! She said that she heard my messages and started second - guessing herself about having called me. She told her mom, "See? Her name and number is on my list of placed calls. If I didn't talk to Miss Tiffany then I sure talked to someone that sounded just like her!" The funniest part of all was that I really thought to myself after I hung up with whom I thought was my realtor,"Man, she doesn't sound like herself!"

Hello?!?

Thanking God today for sweet Little Lauren (who isn't so little anymore! - she's still tiny, but she's 18 years old - almost 19!). Love you, Lauren!

I told you!

Remember how on my last post I told you that my brothers could not be any more different? Well I have proof. You'll notice that I only have a picture of ONE of my brothers. That is because the other one was at home while we were out celebrating ONE of their birthdays. Yes - they are twins ans share the same birthday. But only one wanted a surprise birthday party. He told my mom that he wanted a surprise birthday party, he wanted it to be at Wings & Things, he gave her the invitation list, and he told her to call Jared and tell Jared to call the friends on the invitation list. SURPRISE!!
The other brother told my mom that he did NOT - under ANY circumstances- want a birthday party. So while we were all at Wings& Things, he was at home on the couch (probably pouting because we took him seriously and didn't throw him a surprise party). Hence the reason that I only have a picture of ONE of my brothers (with one of his nieces...isn't she cute, too?!)
Like I said in my last post, Rett likes to spend quality time with his family. It was pretty endearing that his party included his ten friends AND his ten nieces and nephews ( and much older sisters!). After we sang "Happy Birthday" , we also sang the "Clean Plate Club" song to him (yes, at Wings and Things!) Because my parents usually have one of their grandchildren at their house on the weekends, Bo's and Rett's friends have met most of the grandchildren and sing along with my parents to the one's who have eaten all of their dinner (and it's rarely to KitKat, BTW - my dad refuses to sing to her for finishing her pb & j while the other kids art eating vegetables and drinking milk. "He doesn't know," she says while rolling her eyes.) So it somehow seemed only fitting that we sing it to Rett on his (and Bo's) 18th Birthday.

One of my sweet sisters called Bo after Rett's birthday party and took him to get ice cream and gave him a large sum of money! So the night wasn't a total loss for Bo!

Anyway, picture a boy with dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, olive-colored skin, and equally as cute as Rett ... that would be Bo!

Thanking God for a great weekend with family!

Happy Birthday Brothers!

Yesterday my twin brothers turned eighteen! Yes, you read that correctly. I am 38 years old and I have brothers who are seniors in high school! They are awesome! They are not only the best brothers, but by far the best uncles ever. My children adore them - BOTH of them! They are about as different as you two people can possibly be - in every way. They don't even look like brothers, much less twins. But they are a ton of fun and both so unique.
I have always had an extra-special love for them. I was 21 years old when they were born. I was certainly old enough to be their mom! And I always felt like my age when they were born had something to do with the way that I loved them. I couldn't stand being away from them when they were little! I would love it when my mom would call with updates on their milestones. As they grew up a little, my mom would call to tell me the funny things that they had said or done (she still does, by the way) They have certainly kept my parents young (although they'd probably argue the exact opposite!). One of my favorite stories was when Bo was in Kindergarten and my parents were called because Bo hit another little kid on the playground. When my parents asked him why he hit the little boy, Bo calmly replied that ,"He needed an attitude adjustment." One of my other favorites was when Rett, in kindergarten, told my mom that someone at school (probably Bo) said the "A" word , as in "A-S-S." When my mom asked him how he knew it was the "A" word, he said, "A a a apple. A a a a--hole." Unfortunately, the majority of the stories can't be repeated on this family-friendly blog. But just ask me the next time you see me - I'll have you rolling with laughter!
Because I was 21 years old when you they were born, we have never experienced the sibling rivalry that most siblings have at one time or another. I have LOVED watching them grow up. I love that they were the ring-bearers in my wedding. I love that they have become the best uncles in the world and that you are such a HUGE part of my children's lives. M kids adore them! I adore them! As different as the two of them are, I love both of them the very same (although at times one of them may be easier to love than the other!). Just kidding! They are both awesome! I love watching them with my kids. They are going to be great dads one day (one day in the VERY distant future!). They've certainly had enough practice with little kids! One thing I have learned from watching the two of them is that personalities are present at birth! Rett has always been such an affectionate,loving, "people-person". When the phone rings and a guy's voice answers, I know it's him . Dad and Bo have no interest in talking on the phone or even answering the phone. And I love that he is not too cool to say "I love you" even now when we're hanging up the phone. And I love that he usually say it first! And I even love it that Bo is too cool to say "I love you" ( even if I say it first!). And I love that they both play along with my children when they certainly don't have to! For example, on April Fool's Day, KitKat called to tell Bo that he had a snake on his shoulder and then she yelled, "April Fools!" He yelled and threw the phone down and pretended to basically have a heart attack because "she really fooled" him!. It just made her day!
And if there are any younger ladies (LAUREN!) out there reading this, remember...they will be great dads! And Bo likes to give gifts! And Rett likes to spend quality time with his family!
Anyway, here's to the best brothers in the world! Happy Birthday, Bo and Rett! You guys are the greatest!

(I don't have a recent picture of them that I'm able to upload, but I'll see them tomorrow and I'll take a picture. They're TOO cute!)

Thanking God today for my two brothers! What a blessing they are!

I can't even think of a title

Ladies, I'm not sure I can keep this up. For some reason, when I don't write a post every single day, it stresses me out and is on the back of my mind all day long. And then I feel like I have to have a cute, fun, interesting story to tell. But life isn't always fun and games, and there are days I just can't think of a funny story to write! And sometimes I have something funny to tell, but I get writer's block! Add to that the fact that my 4 year old called me "Computer Face" because I spent two straight hours on the computer one day while trying to write "the perfect post." Whew! So....that's my story for today. Hope ya'll have a great one!

Thanking God today for my sweet, precious, healthy family!

Operator? There's someone at my door!

While my sister was here this past weekend, she kept commenting on how old my dog, Belle, looks. I realized that she is almost 12 years old, but I think she still has a youthful look, despite her graying fur! I began to wonder if it was time to get a new pup. Belle may not be much of a watch-dog, but no one really knows that. I'm hoping that anyone looking for a place to rob will see her in my yard and assume that she is a ferocious beast and therefore just pass-by my house. It seems to have worked so far. But if Belle died and I didn't have a watch-dog in place, I would be unable to sleep at night!! I count on her to keep me safe. Our alarm system doesn't give me a great sense of peace, because I've seen the guys who installed it. They looked just like the kind of guys you would imagine would break into your house! And they KNOW my password! (Of course I'm not that creative - anyone could probably figure it out!). I've only called 911 ONE time in the past 8 years. ONE time! Before I married M., I called 911 once a week. I still panic when he's on-call, but after 3 Benadryl, I'm usually out for the night!

I think the last time I called 911, was about 3 or 4 years ago. We had been at the lake with Mark's family on July 4th. Each year we have a family reunion at the cabin right around the 4th of July. Since my children are the 15th,16th,17th, and 18th grandchildren , you can imagine that there are lots of cousins running around and lots of sleeping bags on the floor. When KitKat and Sunshine were both sleeping in cribs (which we didn't have at the lake)., it was easier for me to drive 30 minutes back to our house with KitKat and Sunshine than to try to get two babies to sleep on the floor in a back bedroom with 14 other cousins running outside of the room. I tried everything and finally decided that I didn't care if I appeared to be a high-maintenance kind of wife who couldn't handle the cabin like everyone else! I was headed home! And I was taking my babies! So there!
Well because it was July 4th, Belle was especially "on-edge". She barked every three or four minutes - all night long. Every time she heard a firework explosion, she barked. Well when Belle's on-edge, Mama's on- edge. Every time she barked, I jumped. I could not get to sleep. I locked all the doors, put the kids to bed, and even locked my bedroom door. (I guess the babies were on their own!) All of a sudden, I thought I heard a door shut. I grabbed the phone to make sure the line had not been cut. All was good. Then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I dialed 911 as fast as I could. THEN...my doorknob was being jiggled by whomever was on the other side of the door. I had never been so terrified in all my life. I had the 911 operator on the line and I yelled to the intruder on the other side of my door, "What do you want?!?" He calmly replied, "I want into my bedroom." Apparently M. had decided he was as high-maintenance as me and needed to sleep in his own bed. I was so mad at him for not calling to tell me that he was coming home! He said he just didn't want to wake me up because he knew I had a hard time getting to sleep when he wasn't home. Then the embarrassment set-in as I explained to the operator that it was "just my husband wanting into his bedroom". But that wasn't nearly as embarrassing as trying to explain to my husband, the father of those two babies on the other side of my bedroom door, why I locked my door. He thought it looked like "survival of the fittest" and that I was looking out for #1! I assured him that I locked my door just in case the imaginary intruder came upstairs - trying to unlock the door would buy me a few minutes to call 911. "See?", I said, "It worked."

Facebook???

Are any of you familiar with Facebook? I have twin brothers who are seniors in high school. They have become friends with my sweet,precious, darling babysitter, LL. LL is 18 years old and has been babysitting for us every week since she was 12 (this reminds me of a story - I'll post it tomorrow). One night, while she was at our house, she was chatting with my nrothers on Facebook. I wanted to chat with them too, but I had to have a Facebook account, which I didn't have. I quickly set one up, but then realized that they would have to accept my invitation to be their "friend". Then I felt bad. What 17 year old boy wants their 38 year old sister to be his friend on Facebook?! That meant that I would be able to read everything on their wall. I'm sure that they don't want me reading everything on their wall!! Anyhoo... I set up the account and only one of my brothers accepted my invitation to be his friend (bless him!)Well since then, my sister who is 3 years younger than me, has fallen in love with Facebook. She says it's a real ego-booster - her number of "friends" multiplied quickly! ( A friend of hers told her that Facebook was a glorified "Popularity Contest" to see who could have the most friends. She said she agreed and thought it was great!)She has been bugging me to communicate with her through Facebook, but I have been unable to remember my password. I couldn't even get the "Forgot Password?" approach to work for me! She even tried! Finally, yesterday, I figured out how to re-set my password. And all of a sudden I had lots of friends! I was able to pull up some photos of high school and college friends, and even see who is friends with whom. I realized that one of my old college roommates is friends with my ex-boyfriend. The only thing they had in common was me. Which made me wonder, "What in the world are they saying about me?" It was kind of driving me crazy! And then I began to wonder, "Do I really want to go there?" Do I really want to re-visit my high-school and college days? Those were some of the best days of my life, but also some of the worst! LOTS of regrets!
It has been fun re-connecting with some old friends, but some things are better left the way we left them! Our parents didn't have this opportunity to re-connect with past friends/flames via the Internet. Maybe it's a good thing. What do you think?

(On a side note, there is also an alumni sight for one of the high schools that I went to in 9th grade. I've been able to read what these people have written about their lives. Most of the time it's depressing, and the pictures that they post make them look old and tired. I told my husband that I felt depressed after being on that site because so many people seemed so sad. Hes quickly replied, "The happy ones aren't getting on the site." There's probably a lot of truth in that!)

And the winner is...........

Drum roll, please.......Emmy!
Emmy, I'll come by today or tomorrow and put your autographed copy of "Same Kind of Different as Me" in your mailbox. You're going to love it! Thanks for entering! I told you your chances of winning were very high because only 7 people entered the give away! But I'm so happy to be giving it to you! I'm surprised you haven't read it because I know what an avid reader you are. Have a great day!!

What is it about cousins?!

What is is about cousins?! Why are young cousins so attracted to each other? How do they know to love each other like that? Do they see a resemblance? Do they feel a special connection? I've never seen anything like it! (Although I was the same way with my own cousins when I was little. ) My children's cousins on both sides of our family are their very best friends! They love each other through and through. In fact, Sunshine even wants to be one of her cousins!


I bet we can all agree that the relationship between our children and their cousins is something rather magical and even mysterious. When they are together - oh, it melts my heart! Li'l Man has a special cousin and I am so thankful for that relationship because Li'l Man has 3 sisters and no brothers! And boy does he want a brother! I'd give him one if there was a guarantee that it would be a boy . But there are no guarantees. And it's not that I don't want another girl - well, actually, it is. Honestly, I don't want a boy or a girl, but I'd be willing to have another child if I knew it would be a boy. And then I would love it as much as I love the rest of these little ones, but at this point, the desire just isn't there! Anyway...back to the cousins! It is such a rare, magical, special relationship! My sister just spent the weekend here with her three little ones. There were lots of tears and even some wailing when they left today. I LOVED watching those kids play together! It reminded me of my own childhood. The boys (ages 8,6, and 5) played tackle football in the front yard. The girls (ages 3, 4, and 5) played barbies and babies in their bedrooms upstairs. The girls were like teenagers! Within minutes of AL's arrival, they had thrown open her suitcase and tried on all of her clothes. AL only wore KitKat's and Sunshine's outfits while she was here, and KitKat only wore AL's clothes - down to the panties. KK loved AL's Dora panties, and AL loved KK's Barbie panties!

The pictures were taken this past weekend while my sister was here. Can you believe I only took ONE picture of the boys?!? However, this ONE picture says a thousand words. For those of you who know SJ, you know that he doesn't do germs. But there he is, in the middle of his brother and cousin, sharing out of the same drink! I'm telling you...it's a cousin thing!

My sister has already called today. We're trying to plan our next "cousin-fix."
In fact, we're trying to plan it for this coming weekend!

Thanking God today for our cousins! What a blessing!

How 'bout Them Dawgs?!?

Dear Mom 's friends ,
I just wanted to say how Georgia beat Tennessee.( So bad!) It was awesome because last year we got creamed!( and yes I know we got creamed by Alabama) But any way this year who is crying like a baby? Huh? I know Tennessee is! The score was 26 to 14 .I mean we rock! After the game was over and we won you would not like to be there!There was a lot of screaming and yelling Go Dawgs , yes we won and stuff like that so you know what I got to do now! Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Dawgs sick'm Woof Woof! Posted by AAA

I don't know why people in Alabama are perceived as being Rednecks! Do tell!
My older sister visited this weekend with her three children. Originally, we were just going to tailgate, then walk to the downtown area and eat at Cheeburger Cheeburger. However, once the children were caught up in the excitement of tailgating, they decided that that wanted to go to the game. But we didn't have tickets! So what's a girl to do? We needed to make a sign. Sunshine said she wanted a sign on her tummy, and it sounded like a good idea to me! Within ten minutes of displaying their messages, we had 9 FREE tickets! War Eagle!!

My First Give Away!

On Tuesday of this week, a dear friend of mine and I were honored and privileged to attend a luncheon in Mobile benefiting the Waterfront Mission (homeless). The guest were speakers wee Ron Hall and Denver Moore. Ron and Denver are the two authors of one of my all-time favorite books, Same Kind of Different as Me, which I blogged about several weeks ago. Reading their story was incredible, but hearing it first hand from these two men was phenomenal and beautiful . It's mind boggling to think about where they were just 5 or 6 years ago and where they are now. And you realize that one person can make a difference. My friend and I both left the luncheon wondering what we could do to change the world and how soon could we get started. Our town doesn't have a lot of homeless people, so we'll have to be creative!

In honor of Tuesday's event, I'm having my first give away! Your chance on winning an autographed copy of "Same Kind of Different as Me" (still can't underline)is VERY good because you aren't competing against very many people! Just leave a comment in the comment section and I will use the random number generator to pick a winner. Your comment doesn't have to say anything clever. Just, "Enter me!" will be fine. I know there are a few (4, I think :)) of you who read the blog but don't leave comments. Well today, leave a comment! And if we don't know each other and you've somehow stumbled upon this blog, leave a comment! I'd love to send this book to someone I don't know well, or someone I don't know at all! If you've already read the book and you have your own copy, enter anyway. You can give this copy to someone else as a Christmas gift. Okay, MMN, JW, HE, AT?, LP?, AC, here's your chance! I'll "draw" the winner Sunday evening and e-mail you afterwards. If you don't win, I urge you to get your hands on a copy of this book. After you've read it, call me if you have any ideas on how we can change the world! I'll be thinking and praying about it, too!

Thanking God today for the opportunity that B.S. (yes, that's my friend's initials) and I had on Tuesday to hear these incredible men , and praying for a way to make a difference in this world.