how could i forget?

I forgot to post my favorite picture of the little boy yesterday!

family photos

The lovely Sara Wheeler took awesome photos of us last weekend. Not only is she a talented photographer, but also a dear, dear friend of mine.

Now I can't wait to see what Sissy Bird cooks up for our family Christmas card this year... I mean, look at these great images she has to work with!

Tony's Tigers

John Mark played his first soccer game on Saturday.
The term "played" is, of course, relative...



His team, Tony's Tigers, is a bunch of kids from church.
You've got Carmine, who just wants to play with the flags on the sidelines...
Rhett, who has more athletic ability in his 3-year-old body than ME...
Sweet Leslie, whose older sister has taught her a thing or two...
Coach Tony, who tried so very hard to pitch the concept of soccer to this motley crue...
John Mark- we'll get there later...
Cassady, who enjoys picking her nose and scoring for the other team...
Haley, who also has it going on...
And sweet Logan- who just wanted to kick the ball.

John Mark started out promising- he was kicking the ball so well... Although, he didn't quite grasp the concepts of: A- not using his hands and B- chasing the ball post kick...

He took a time-out from playing to do the hot-dog dance...

And when it was his turn to sit-out, he walked over and said:

"Coach Tony said I'm done...

Can I get my donut now?"

But he stayed with it...

and had fun- which I suppose is the point of Tiny Tot soccer.

John Mark even comes with his very own cheering crew-

Reminds me of my glory days playing basketball...

The whole fam out to watch.

John Mark is a blessed, blessed little boy and he doesn't even know it!

Stay tuned for more soccer updates.

This can only get better!

favorite bible verse night

Last night was "dress like your favorite bible verse" night at Pre-Stomp. Since I forgot about this unitl 10:00 the night before, I had to come up with something quick and easy. John Mark loves the verse: "I'm the apple of His eye..." so, may I present:

i may or may not have...

*bought Party in the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus last night

*danced to an unnamed Miley Cyrus song while running

*enjoyed a braum's frozen yogurt while watching The Biggest Loser

*cried when Abby got to call her mom during TBL

*forgotten until 10 PM that I have to dress JM up as his favorite bible verse tonight for church

*become obsessed with "Payday Mix"- candy corn & peanuts- and eaten 2 or 3 or 10 handfuls

*been excited that a blog reader saw me around town and recognized me... i feel so famous!

family photos

My sweet, sweet friend Sara took family photos of us this afternoon.
Check us out on her blog-
I can't wait to see the rest of them!

a lesson in snuggling

Last night, we were putting John Mark to bed per usual.
After singing and praying and saying Bible verses,
he looked at me and Micah and said-
"I want you to snuggle me...
Daddy- little bit (insert thumb, finger close together)
Mommy- WHOLE LOT (two hands stretched out)
little bit (fingers to micah)
whole lot (hands to me)
little bit... whole lot...
Got it?"

Seriously- funniest kid ever.

this would happen

So, my life has a way of always being strange...
or strange things happening to me...
Jamie calls it my "beacon."
It's so true... I'm like that 1% of everything.

This morning, I decided I wanted a smoothie.
Now would probably be a good time to point out-
I haven't wanted a smoothie in about a year...
That means the blender has been in the cabinet-
for about a year.

I pull everything out, dust out the inside-
Take a peek and then pour in my milk.
I add a handful a peaches...
And then I see it.
Something brown and crunchy-
with antennaes...
FLOATING in my milk.

Immediately I start screaming.
I'm yelling for Micah...
"There's a bug in the blender...
A BUG is in the BLENDER...
PLEASE GET THE BLENDER..."

John Mark is dancing around singing
"Mommy's blending a bug...
Blend the bug mommy"

Micah is laughing hysterically,
"It's just extra protein...
What's the big deal?"

And I am dry heaving in the corner.

Welcome to my life, friends.
Welcome to my life.

look mommy, i dressed myself

process of a haircut

Saturday was haircut day for the Rigdons.
Well, really just for John Mark-
He needed his "first day of school" haircut.

Now if you remember, JM's not a huge fan of haircuts.
After this lovely little incident, we bought clippers.
I decided it would be better for us to inflict this trauma.

So Saturday morning, we laid out a sheet,
turned on Phineas and Ferb,
and went to town.

The first part of the haircut went off without incident.
He sat still, watched TV and even laughed a little.
I thought we were going to make it.



But then Micah had to switch sides...
And do the bottom of his neck...
And trim around his ears...
And all peace and calm flew right out the window.
There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.



But then it was over.
And all was well.
John Mark was happy with his new hair-
"I love my hew haircut, mommy."
He was also happy with his ice cream.
Mommy, however wasn't happy with the cleanup.
Can you believe this crazy amount of hair???


Thank goodness for vacuums...

first day of school

John Mark starts preschool today.
I'm excited for him- he has awesome teachers.
But I'm also sad.
PRESCHOOL???
It just sounds so grown up...

He was excited to wear his new "wolverine" shirt.
And show off his new haircut.
He was not excited when I told him they don't get a snack.
I'm not too thrilled with that either,
but that's another story.

A sweet college freshman, Haleigh, watches him for an hour each morning,

Then brings him to me to walk over to school.

It's a nice system, and JM loves Haleigh.

Unfortunately, today I forgot to have her bring his bag-

which has his lunch...

Fortunately we don't live far.

And Micah is at the eye doctor.

So he's bringing the bag to him.

This is John Mark with his teacher, Ms. Casey.
She is awesome.

I know her from my brief year at CLC.

I'm excited he gets to be a part of her class.

Here he is, playing puzzles with his friend Leslie.

I was trying to be sneaky when I took this,

but he obviously sees me.

So to sum it up, I'm excited for John Mark's year of preschool.

I know he will learn a TON,

and hopefully make some new friends.

I'm not excited that he's big enough to be doing this.

He should still be a baby...