This post is way past over due. Sage's birthday was April 26th. All week long, I had told the kids that we would fill up the little pools and they could swim in them for the birthday party. They were so excited...then, on her birthday, it was overcast and windy. Not cold but it was not all that warm. It is April that should be enough said. Sage begged me to fill the pools. I told her if she played in the hose for a few minutes and still wanted the pools, I would fill them up. So Cole, Sage, McKelle and Dempsey played in the hose and a few minutes later, we pulled out the pools. I put in some bubble bath (because I am so cool) and they played out in the water for quite a while.
When the pool party was over, we ate and then did presents. Victoria did the cake (thank you Victoria). When she said she wanted to give it a shot, she didn't have to ask twice. Cake decorating is not my favorite thing but it is worth it when I see how excited my kids get.
For her birthday Sage got a princess dress, gloves and purse, and we gave her a tiara. I didn't coordinate but I don't know if the other people did. She loved it. She looked and felt just like a princess. She also got fingernail polish (that picture is Will painting her nails. I love it.)
Happy 3rd birthday to you Sage. I love you like crazy.

Family Visits

A couple of weeks ago, John and Chelsea and their kids and my Mom came to visit. It was really fun. None of them stayed long enough. John (his family) and Victoria (her family) went to a Braves game in Atlanta. We went to Coolidge park and played in the water and walked over the bridge. John got my kids their very first Hawaiian Ice (which they loved and I keep meaning to get them more but haven't yet.) We debated how an ending would be if someone jumped off the bridge. One man was working the park area and I asked him. He said not too good because there are the cement pillars and the concrete isn't too far below. I don't really know how much he knows though. I don't think I will be trying it anytime soon though. We had a birthday party for Zeke. We went swimming in Billy's pool. When I say "we" I really mean Zeke and Dempsey. That water was soooo COLD bum tingling cold (as Serena would say). John didn't buy a Braves hat at the game and he was kicking himself for it. So we went do some sports store and bought him one. It is from Georgia so it is authentic (even if it was made in Taiwan).

John and Chelsea left on Sat. and then we had our usual Sunday. Monday was Zeke's baptism and then the world show case. The advanced kids get to lean about a certain country and then present it to family and the other school kids. It was pretty fun. The baptism was nice. It has made Cole decide that one day he will get baptized "but not today". It was nice to have help with the baby for the first few weeks of his life. I'm sure he liked it too. He didn't realize that them leaving would result in him not having enough people to hold him all day long. That gets made up in kisses though. Every time Sage walks by him, she has to stop and kiss him at least 6 times. McKelle has a similar story. I can't help myself, he is so cute. I did get a few pictures of the kids and my Mom. Short photo session due to a few unhappy kids.



Victoria drove back to Ut. and Mom took Zeke and Dempsey on the plane home with her. I think that all went well with both parties. Sage is still convinced that "Grandma, Zeke and Dempsey are at the airport. I want to go see them." But if you ask where they live it is in Utah. It is nice to have our home to ourselves but we all miss our house mates. They are talked about on a daily basis and sometimes we just pretend they are still here. "I am Mama cat, you are brother cat, McKelle is sister cat, Dempsey is baby cat and Zeke is Daddy cat." We love you Tatum family and are so glad we were able to spend a few months with you!

Rossvegas

Okay, Rossvegas is such a dumb name and I never knew why people would say it. Then Will told me that it is because Rossville is such a small town and just an oxy-moron. Whatever. Now how many of you have ever heard of Rossville GA? I wouldn't be surprised if most of you have but if I had asked you a year ago, it would be like asking someone from Michigan if they have ever heard of Hurricane Ut.
I must say that this year, Rossville has been put on the map. Has anyone heard of Lauren Alaina? She is possibly the next American Idol. Okay, I really have never seen a full episode of that show but it just so happened that I wanted to watch the end of one of the audition days (I really like Stephen Tyler and wanted to see how he was on the show). It just so happened to be the day she tried out. I thought she was really good. I have not seen it since then but I do know she is one of the final two. I also know, this area is a buzz with excitement for her. You can't turn into a local station with out hearing about her if you listen for more than 5 minutes. Okay so I don't know Lauren myself but I do know about 5 people who do know her very well and one girl went to Hollywood to see her. Does that count for anything? Not really I know and maybe that is why I haven't been watching. Good luck Lauren. Maybe I will vote tonight, oh wait, my phone is broken, I will just cross my fingers for you.
Do any of you watch Extreme Make Over home edition? I don't but once again, my town was a buzz with excitement as the Extreme team was camped out at Patricks home to do a makeover. I didn't think much but "that's cool". Then one day I was watching the local news (I very seldom watch the local news) and they were showing the new home and interviewing the family. Lo and behold, I actually know the kid. He goes to story time with us. Because I knew him, I was planning on watching that episode but I missed it. It was on last Sun. or the Sun. before...actually, I don't even know for sure if it is on, on Sunday. It's the thought that counts right? Okay not really. But because of his celebrity status, I decided not to mention any of it when we saw him at story time. You know how celebrities hate that. Fans, how annoying.
Last media coverage is the crazy tornado's we had. Will called me up one morning and told me to keep an eye on the weather and if it got bad to go into the basement. We have tornado warnings every year but nothing ever happens. I turn on the news and there is nonstop coverage. It was headed toward Rossville, Ringgold, Flinstone, Lookout Mtn. and a few other places. I kept a watch out and nothing happened but we had some strong wind for about 2 minutes. So a couple of hours later, I decide to take the kids to story time (in Rossville) thinking they had misjudges where the storm was headed. No, they got hit pretty good. The library wasn't even opened and we had so many detours due to power lines on the ground and trees down everywhere. The storm had hit just a mile or so from my house and one subdivision about 5 minutes from my house was really bad. I took John, Chelsea, and my Mom to look at it and I was stunned. I had no idea it was that bad. (Will and I had tried to go through a few days before but the police wasn't letting anyone in that didn't live there and they were checking licenses to make sure you lived there. It was pretty crazy.
I have been terrible about taking pictures because I am always out of batteries.

ARG!

I don't know what happened to my blog settings or how to fix it but I can not post pictures anymore. If anyone knows how to fix this problem, please help me out. I guess I will just have to have John and Chelsea help me when they get here.

On a brighter note, I had Scott on April 17th at 2:30ish. He was 8 lbs and 10 oz. HE was 20 inches. He is a great baby and sleeps at night very well. I am very thankful for that. He is super sweet and the kids all love him so much. They are always kissing him and fighting to hold him. He is a trooper about it. Especially when McKelle is "patting" his head. She is so rough. I guess she feels like it is okay because Sage was that way with her. Dempsey loves to hold him. The other kids are done when he starts to cry but Dempsey doesn't even seem to notice the screaming. She is so sad when I take him to calm him down. It is kind of funny. Sage could hold him for an hour (as long as he isn't crying) and Mckelle is good for a few minutes. She prefers quantity over length of time. Cole is so excited to get him in his room as a roommate. I am excited to see what color his eyes will be. I don't know why but that is always so much fun for me to guess and find out months later. Babies just keep bringing on surprises.








This is the Atlanta Temple open house. Sage and McKelle loved the chandeliers in the celestrial and sealing rooms. They were in complete awe. It was so beautiful and fun to take the kids to see the inside of the temple. Cole liked the cookies at the end. He told me he liked the baptistery the best but he doesn't want to be baptised. I told him it was okay to feel that way right now because he is perfect and doesn't need to be baptised just yet.

Easter was fun. We had an Easter Egg hunt on Wed. at story time, Fri. we went to the open house for the Atlanta Temple, Sat was a church Easter egg hunt, Sun. the Easter Bunny came to our house and then after church we had an Easter party at Will's Aunts house. The kids started getting good at looking for eggs. On Sat. night, Cole told me to sleep by my window and watch for the Easter Bunny. If I saw him, I was to immediately go into his room and wake him up. Sun. morning, he ran into my room and told me he had to show me something. The Easter Bunny had left him a basket on his dresser. I told him that I didn't even see him come in or hear him. Cole told me, "I heard him open the door but I didn't want to open my eyes."










Sage had her birthday party on Tues. The week before, the weather was so nice and I told my kids I would put out the kid pools and we could have a swimming party. Then, on her birthday, it was not warm. The sun wasn't shining, the wind was blowing and the temp was in the 60's. The kids were begging me all day to put out the pools. I told them it was too cold but if they played in the hose for a few minutes and still wanted to pools, I would do it. Well, they did. I washed out the pools, put in some bubble bath to make them a little more fun and let them play. They stayed in there for about an hour. I don't know why kids are so crazy. I was too or maybe I am just a baby now. They had a blast though. Sage loved her party she had an Ariel cake and got a pink dress, pink gloves, a pink purse and a sparkly and pink tiarra. She felt and looked just like a princess. She was in 7th heaven. I told her she could stay up as late as she wanted because it was her birthday but she just wanted to sleep in McKelles bed with her. Which she did for about 10 min. and then retreated to her own bed. We only had a family party because that is what she wanted. My kids love to play with their friends but they just want to party with their family. I guess that way, they don't have to play games? I asked Sage if she wanted to play any games and she said she just wanted her cake. Okay, easy enough.


We had a crazy week last week with the weather. There were about 4 or so tornadoes that hit the area. Some places were hit really hard but my house just got some heavy wind. I had been watching it on the news and all around us were in the red on the Doppler radar but I just wasn't seeing it. then, I took the kids out to story time, about 1/2 mile from our house, power lines were down, trees were down road everywhere were closed, the library wasn't even open. Later that day, 2 more tornadoes came through and we just got bad wind again and a little bit of rain. The power went off for a couple of hours but all around us, people were hit hard. The last I heard, the death count in the Chat. area was 27. Cole was pretty nervous and kept shutting the doors (I had them open for air circulation and just to cool the house down). He seemed to feel a little better when Will got home. But Sage, she was fine until she fell asleep that night. She must have had some crazy nightmares or something because she woke up screaming bloody murder and ended up in bed with us. Zeke was out of school at 12 on Thurs. and then Fri. it was cancelled. I am curious if they are going to make them make those days up or not. They already had to make up some snow days. There are other schools that might be closed tomorrow too.

Well, that is the wrap up of our last two weeks. Sorry no pictures. :(