Saturday night we went to Bright Lights Belhaven Nights in the neighborhood. We all had a great time. Remember Rachel Busler? Well she is Rachel Misenar now. Rachel lives a block from us and is an artist. She painted the wall in the McDades parking lot for BLBN. All of the children got to paint the wall to be there forever! So great! We also ate pizza in the street, rode on a train, jumped in the jumpy thing, got tattoos and got balloon animals from the clown. So fun!
We survived the first day of school! I took the boys to Pillow Donuts for breakfast before school. I felt bad about giving Bo too much sugar before his first day of school, but a daddy of another little boy in Bo's class was doing the same thing. I'm sure Ms. Pope had two wild boys high on chocolate covered donuts with sprinkles. These are all the pictures I took. As you know, Tuesday it rained ALL DAY! 
You've probably read this one. It was part of my devotion Friday night. For me, this hit home. We only have two real doors in our house. One is a bathroom door and the other is a closet door. Everytime I try to take a bath, I have two boys showing me which toys to play with. It may be a water gun, a boat, or the watering can. I am rarely alone and there is no privacy in our house. I wouldn't change it for the world though and wanted to share this with you.
Alone Time for Mom
By Crystal Kirgiss
All I needed this morning was a half-hour alone, thirty minutes of peace and quiet to help preserve my sanity. No "Mom, do this," "Mom, I need that," "Mom, he hit me," "Mom, I spilled juice on the couch." Just me, a hot Calgon bath, and nothingness. I shouldn't dream so big. After getting the two oldest off to school, I settled the youngest in front of the television to watch Barney and Friends and said, "Honey, listen closely. Your mommy is going to crack. She's losing her marbles. She's teetering on the edge of permanent personality damage. This is because she has children. Are you following me so far?" He nodded absently while singing, "Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination . . ." "Good. Now, if you want to be a good little boy, you'll sit right here and watch Barney while Mommy takes a nice, hot, quiet, peaceful, take-me-away bath. I don't want you to bother me. I want you to leave me alone. For thirty minutes, I don't want to see you or hear you. Got it?" Nod. "Good morning boys and girls! . . ." I heard the purple wonder say. I headed to the bathroom with my fingers crossed. I watched the water fill the tub. I watched the mirror and window steam up. I watched the water turn blue from my bath beads. I got in. I heard a knock on the door. "Mom? Mom? Are you in there, Mom?" I learned long ago that ignoring my children does not make them go away. "Yes, I'm in here. What do you want?" There was a long pause while the child tried to decide what he wanted. "Um . . . can I have a snack?" "You just had breakfast! Can't you wait a few minutes?" "No, I'm dying! I need a snack right now!" "Fine. You can have a box of raisins." I heard him pad off to the kitchen, listened as he pushed chairs and stools around trying to reach the raisin shelf, felt the floor vibrate when he jumped off the counter, and heard him run back to the TV room. "Hi, Susie! Can you tell me what color the grass is?" Barney asked from the other room. Knock, knock, knock. "Mom? Mom? Are you in there, Mom?" Sigh. "Yes, I'm still in here. What do you need now?" Pause. "Um . . . I need to take a bath, too." Right. "Honey, can't you wait until I'm done?" The door opened just a crack. "No, I really need to take one now. I'm dirty." "You're always dirty! Since when do you care?" The door opened all the way. "I really need to take a bath, Mom." "No, you don't. Go away." He stood in the middle of the bathroom and started taking off his pajamas. "I'll just get in with you and take a bath, too." "No! You will not get in with me and take a bath! I want to take my own bath! I want you to go away and leave me alone!" I began to sound like the three-year-old with whom I was arguing. He climbed onto the edge of the tub, balancing carefully, and said, "I'll just get in with you okay, Mom?" I started to shriek, "No! That is not okay! I want my own bath, all by myself! I don't want to share! I want to be alone!" He thought for a moment and said, "Okay. I'll just sit here and you can read me a book. I won't get in, Mom, until you're done." He flashed me a knockdown charming smile. So I spent my morning-alone time reading One Fish, Two Fish to a naked three-year-old who sat on the edge of the tub with his chin resting on his knees, arms wrapped around his bent legs, slight smile on his face. Why fight it? It won't be long before I have all the alone time I want. And then I'll probably feel bad about not having any more together time.
Leader of the Pack
Unhappy Buddy. All morning long he talked about running in the tot trot. When the time came to run, he cried and cried. I carried him 100 yards in the tot trot and we finished last along with the other parents holding their screaming children. As we were leaving, a sweet lady who kept Buddy last week in VIP (a Preschool vounteer) said, "John Murray did you run today. You sure were running fast last Sunday." I told her no. He did not run. He just cried. Buddy corrected me, "I not cry. I screaming." 
We went to the Mississippi Children's Museum ground breaking today. The museum is going to be wonderful! I didn't have my camera, but the boys made the news! Here is the link to see the newscast of my boys and many of their friends! The boys are in the background. Buddy is steadily digging in the sand. Bo's head pops up ever once in a while.
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=8812505 (click on the video camera on the page)
Lunch with Turner
Jordan and Saunders
Our Fair Cabin
Bo makes friends everywhere he goes.
Playing poker. Just kidding. A good ole' game of "goldfish."
Bo even makes friends with one of the little carnival boys.
Buddy on the special bus.
Buddy's favorite ride - "the dragon wagon."
Thanks Mom and Dad for a great week!
The cutest two year old at the fair!
Making ice cream with Maw.
Goldfish, again.
Listening to the political speakers.
CHEEEESE!
At the fair there are no TVs. At least not at our cabin. Next door, they have three TVs. Bo discovered they were watching Madacascar and found the perfect place on the porch to see their TV. The neighbors invited him inside to sit on the couch and watch it after they discovered how he was hanging off the porch just to see the TV.
Jason's new phone and Bo's new Blackberry (Jason's old phone).
He caught one!
Cooling off.
A FULL (of pool water) Pampers diaper. Click to enlarge this photo. I want you to get the full effect.
The best mother-in-law and Will
Buddy is not happy. Can't remember why.
Bo doesn't like to touch animals. This was a first! He was so proud that he picked up a rabbit. He gave into peer pressure in the petting zoo.
Amazed by the Ring of Fire. If Buddy was old enough, he would have gotten on it. He LOVES all of the rides. Bo does not.
Art Competition.
Bo won second place in his age division for this picture of the bumper cars.
Bo may not like to ride the rides, but he sure can win a lot of prizes.
Children's concert.
Jason finishing the triathlon.
Will and Bo wore the same shirt on Saturday. I don't think it bothered either one of them.
