There Seems To Be Something Wrong With Your Porch

Have you ever been woken up at 4:00 AM on a Saturday morning to your house shaking and a loud bang? We have.

Saturday, November 21, 4:00 AM: We were all sound asleep in our beds when we heard a loud crash and felt our house shake. Bryan & I both woke up in a panic. I rushed to Andlie's room and Bryan went to the front door to find a blue Durango crashed into our house. Luckily, he hit the porch and not the house.

I called 911 and Bryan went outside with our downstairs neighbor to make sure the guy was okay. Then his wife & I joined them. Meanwhile, the guy in the car was trying to start his vehicle back up again so he could reverse and drive away. Nice try. Your car is stuck to a house, dummy.

The driver told the cops that he was coming down our street, bent down to pick up a CD, his gas petal got stuck, and he ran into our house. The cops patted him down and searched his car. The wives went back in the houses with the kids and the husbands stayed outside. I heard one of the cops ask the driver to do a sobriety test, he argued with them, and the cop said, "Either you do the test or we get a warrant and draw your blood." Bryan says he had a rough time passing the test, but somehow, he did it.

So, the cops sited him, called for a tow truck, came and talked to us while the tow truck was getting the vehicle up on the truck, and finally said, "Okay, well I think that's all I can do for you." The driver muttered an apology under his breath and started walking away down our street.

You might think this is where the story ends. No. We watched the tow truck start driving away and as he did, he noticed tire tracks on the huge soccer field by our house. He said to the cop, "Hey, did he tell you he drove across the soccer field?" The cop didn't even answer, flipped around, and went and found the driver.

Saturday, November 21, 6:00 AM: After saying a thankful prayer, Bryan & I finally relax enough to fall back to sleep.

Bryan found the stupid driver online this morning booked into jail on Careless Driving and DUI on Metabolites charges. His car is definitely toasted. Bryan says his entire engine got pushed back.

The soccer field he drove across was about 400 feet (maybe more) and he jumped two curbs (one with a huge ditch) before he hit our porch. He had to have been on the gas even through the field. We are so thankful that he hit the porch and not the windows or gas line or any other part of the house. We are especially thankful that us and our neighbors were protected!

What a crazy way to be woken up in the middle of the night!

Dragons

Dear Mandy & Tim: Thank you for teaching us that powdered sugar is extremely flamable and for showing us how to blow fire on Mom & Dad's front porch. It was fun.

If you're wondering if that is a picture of a ball of fire in front of my parent's house, you're right. If you're wondering if one of us blew the ball of fire, you're also right. Below is a glimpse of each one of us fire-breathing dragons.

Mandy: The teacher. Notice that she is, in her words, "being independent" (i.e. no one is holding her match). She did singe her hair in the process. Just a tiny bit.

Bret: Who almost died from sucking the sugar in and choking. He also almost threw up because the sugar "tasted like crap or chalk or something." Baby.

Chandi: Who almost ran into the siding on the house after getting scared and jumping around like a fool her first time.

Tim: Also the teacher. His flames always got high, but not to worry, the tree is still fine. Please note the powdered sugar on his shirt.

Bryan: Who, after a few duds, got the highest flame of all - too high to even catch on the camera!

If you're wondering what we do for fun, you just got a glimpse.

Books & Paper Towels

Two of Andlie's latest hobbies are ripping up paper towels and reading books.

1. Ripping up paper towels. I'm not talkin' rippin' up the big chunks and walking away, I'm talking ripping up the thing into teeny, tiny shreds. It makes me giggle.

2. Reading books! Andlie loves reading books. She'll get one, set it down in front of her, and talk out loud while turning the pages. Darling. Absolutely darling. And genius-like.

Andlie is getting so big and learning so many new things! I love seeing the world from her eyes! It's so bright and interesting that way!

Proud

I tried to think of a really clever way to link all of these pictures using one big long story, but I'll just tell the truth. I'm posting pictures of my daughter because she is the cutest thing in the universe and I am bragging and I'm proud of it. And proud to to be her Momma. I'm sure Daddy would agree.

She's learned to put "her" phone up to her ear when anyone says hello. So cute.

Yep, we sure do love our Andlie.

FIFTY.

"Ed Goodwin ran over the hill for his 50th birthday!"

My Dad's sisters and Mom dressed up for the big 5-0 birthday boy to cross the finish line.

My Dad finished a half marathon (that's 13.1 miles).

Wondering what all the marathon/50 talk is about? My awesome Dad finished a half marathon the day before he turned 50! FIFTY.

Some (of the oh so many) reasons why my Dad is awesomer than your Dad:
He can make me laugh about anything! Seriously.
He was at every single one of my dance competitions, piano recitals, grade school graduations, everything.
He sang beautiful songs to me & Mandy on our bedroom floor to get us to fall asleep when we were little.
He calls me in the middle of the day to say hi.
He does "TV demonstrations" with his Chop Wizard or salsa maker.
He taught me how to make a dead fish talk.
He makes me proud to be his daughter every single day.
He always finds ways to tease and play with me still - even though I'm 25.

Happy birthday, Daddy! I love you! 50 looks good on you.

Two-Six!

The Hot Birthday Boy: The Cake: (Which I made by myself! My first attempt at two layers with homemade frosting in between and on the outside! Please feel free to applaud via blog comment.)
The Helper: ("Helped" Mom wrap Dad's presents, "helped" make the cake, "helped" blow up balloons, "helped" open presents! Folks with little ones will know what the quotation marks mean.)

The Helper on Daddy's Birthday Eve: (Mostly some cute eye candy that has nothing to do with a birthday.) Someone had fun playing with food! And someone else (Mom) kept piling on the fun squishy food! Hey, I will do whatever makes Andlie make a "I'm having fun and I love this game" kinda face!
The Decorations:
The Loot:
Happy birthday, my love! Hope you had a fabulous day! Thank you for always putting us first and for getting your MBA for us and for working even though you're going to school full time and for somehow always managing to make me & Andlie feel like the most important people in the world and for being a wonderful Daddy and awesome husband and for basically just being perfect. I love you clear to the sky. And back. A million times. Plus three.

Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeen!

Andlie sported her first set of top of the head piggies for Halloween! (Please disregard the fuzziness of the this pic. She was not so set on holding still for the stupid camera. . .again.)

We had to take a picture - wait - try to take a picture of Andlie in her Halloween outfit. She doesn't love sitting still.

So Momma stood up and took her walking, which she loves!

After the camera was gone and Mom & Dad went in the kitchen to set up the carving station, Andlie quietly and quickly found the good stuff. Muah ha ha!

We carved pumpkins! Yes, it was Halloween day and yes, all of the pumpkins were gone and yes, we had to steal this pumpkin from our family. However, we did carve pumpkins! Mine meant to be really cute, but the mouth and eye somehow got connected. Patience is not a strong virture of mine.

Bryan's pumpkin turned out great! Look how mean and spooky! (The pumpkin, not Bryan. Although his face is kinda scary. Eek!)

After we were done, I let Andlie play with the pumpkin guts. No, she did not like that. Nope.

Happy Halloween!