Great Way to End the Summer

At the beach, playing in the ocean and sand!

It was even better because we had two of our very favorite people come along...

Nana and Pop---It has been about 20 years since these two lovebirds have seen the ocean...

We were happy they came along because we actually got a date night!

Logan LOVED the water and the BIG waves this year...

Can you see his name in the sand???

Addie and Molly had a great time too...

Proud of herself for writing her name in the sand...

And here is our littlest man standing by his name in the sand...

He wasn't crazy about the BIG waves but he did love playing in the sand...

Of course, the kids also had fun crab hunting...

and swimming...

We also had a fun family night out to dinner, driving go-carts, and playing miniature golf...

Addie took this picture of Sam. He looks soooo big!

By the end of the week, I'm pretty sure we all felt just like this little boy here...

Thanks for the fun memories Orange Beach! Now...here is to the back to school season!

Good News...Great News...BEST NEWS OF THE SUMMER

MY SISTER IS HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL! After 3 long months in the hospital, my super strong, amazing, beautiful sister is home! Prayers were answered and we are praising God! She is taking it slow as she still has recovering to do but it is much sweeter recovering at home, watching her little girl play and hanging out with her husband! I'm just so happy for them! Thank you for your prayers and please keep praying as she continues to recover! We love you Jennifer!

No More Diapers...EVER!

One of my goals for the summer was to have Sam potty trained before we went back to school.
It was a bit of an adventure...

He was so excited to bring the potty seat home from his Aunt Tonya and Uncle Jon's house. He literally hugged the thing the entire car ride home. I just knew he would sit right on it and pee. However, when we got home and I sat it on the seat, he looked at me and said, "No Mommy, It my hat!" while he took it off the toilet and put it on his head. He then said, "See Mommy, It my hat!"
After a few tries, he sat on the seat, enjoyed some books, and he finally started doing his thing in the potty. At that point, I was DONE WITH DIAPERS...oh wait, except when we were at the ball field and running errands. Poor thing was confused with no diapers at home but then me smacking a diaper on his bottom to go run here and there and everywhere. After the first week, he was using the potty great at home but he was a bit confused since he was still using a diaper other places. So, I decided to take the diaper off for better or worse, no matter where we were headed or what was on the schedule. Much to my surprise, he did awesome and has had a very few accidents since then. I can count them on one hand...YAY! He is doing great but it has been interesting as he not only puts his pee and poop in the potty, he also likes to put his toys he might be playing with in the potty too!

But at least I can say...

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...NO MORE DIAPERS FOR THE DODDSQUAD...EVER!

Party Time

We made it through another week of celebrating a birthday in the Dodd house. I still can't believe I have an 8 year old but I do and I'm so proud of him!

Logan had 2 parties which meant 2 baseball birthday cakes. He wanted 2 different teams for each cake! So, I have been one busy cake decorating mommy but I just love it! Logan told me I should be a cake decorator when I grow up...now that made me laugh!

Cake #1: San Francisco Giants (this was his baseball team this year)
Cake #2: Atlanta Braves (cake was inspired by this great hat his Aunt Jenn, Uncle Dave, and sweet Claire got him for his birthday)

And this is what happens when the mommy gets so busy with the decorating. Sam had a blast licking the BLUE ICING bowl...what a fun mess...

Back to party #1 at the swimming pool celebrating...

Baby John came to help celebrate! He is a cutie!We were happy to have Claire come too! She spent the night with us which made it even sweeter!

3 Cousins and 1 Friend...

Super Sam...

Moving on to party #2...

Logan was so excited, he sat in the front yard, just like this at least 20 minutes before his friends arrived...

Friends...

Swimming again...

Happy Birthday to Logan...

Here is to a great year as a big 8 year old Logan!

Another Birthday Celebration

That's right...I took 3 months off from blogging, just after a lot of birthday celebrations, and what do you know, we are celebrating one of my favorite boy's birthday today! Logan is EIGHT!

Happy, happy birthday Logan Gregory!

Our Little Dancer

One of Addie's very favorite things to do is dance. In May, Addie danced in her 2nd dance recital. She did a tap dance. It was adorable! She danced with an umbrella and did a great job!

Way to go Addie! We are proud of our little dancer!