Circus

The Circus came to Pensacola. The day it arrived, we went downtown to watch the elephants get off the train. Taylor and Jordan were excited. Thanks to friend Matt, we were able to attend the circus as "celebrities". We were on the front row and actually got to ride in the circus train. We all had a blast, it was our first time to see a circus. Jordan said her favorite part was the animals, Taylor like the clowns. It was a "Bellobration". Bello the clown was featured, we got to ride in the train with our Bello hats.

Summertme Fun

We have had a fun summer so far. We went swimming at friend Aimee's and others who have pools. Taylor made the comment that we swam four days in a row all at different pools. These pictures are of our time at Aimee's. The girls had fun playing with Joshua and Luke. Taylor and Jordan really like to swim.







Our next adventure was to the beach. We rented a condo on Pensacola Beach for a week. Taylor enjoys it, Jordan hates the beach. We would walk to the beach and Jordan would start fussing, she refused to get sand on her. Jordan and I spent most of the time in the pool. We also made snow cones. You can see some pictures of them enjoying the snow cones.

Catching up..........

It has been a while since my last post. We have been extremely busy with a variety of activities and other happenings. Taylor and Jordan are officially out of school for the summer. We do have lots of things planned, mostly swimming.

In May, Danny and I traveled to Malibu, CA to Pepperdine for the annual Bible Lectures. It was a lot of fun, however my trip was interrupted by my Grandmother. The doctors called the family in to see her one last time. She hung on for two more weeks. It was a rough three weeks with her being sick and me traveling back and forth a couple of times to see her and be with my dad. She went to be with Jesus on May 19th. Jordan and I traveled to Arkansas for the funeral. I have to say that with all the traveling to Arkansas (10 hours) Jordan did extremely well. Taylor and Danny stayed in Pensacola. Taylor had her Kindergarten play and her Ballet recital that week so we thought it best she stay. Danny's best friend lost his son that week. It turned out to be a blessing that Danny didn't travel to Arkansas with me so he could be here for his friend.

Taylor was a Mule in her Kindergarten play. I think her teacher type cast her pretty well. Taylor is really stubborn. She did a wonderful job as the Mule who tells the other farm animals why the cow won't moo. "Hee haw! Hee haw! Heehaw you all! I'm here to save the day! I'm really glad to heed your call! Now listen as I say. The problem withthis cow is clear she doesn't feel part of the team! What's obvious with this cow is fear and a lack of self esteem!" She had the most lines in the play, her teacher said it was because she could speak the clearest out of everyone. I would have to agree after seeing the play. :)




Next we had her ballet recital. I had just returned from Arkansas, my friend Sarah Davis came by to help get her ready. Taylor was so beautiful. Her class was "perfect" according to her ballet instructor. The title of her ballet was "Jewel of the Sea".






After a week of funerals, plays and recitals; Danny, the girls and I headed to a house in central Alabama. A couple from church let us borrow it for the weekend. It was nice to get away as a family for some relaxing. There were two small lakes (I call them ponds) with lots of fish. Taylor loved to fish, Jordan only as long as her attention span would allow. Danny loves to fish and now has a partner in Taylor. Taylor would get up early with Danny and they would head to the fishing hole. She caught most of the fish. We mostly caught Brim, but Danny did catch a couple of Bass. We had fresh fish for dinner both nights. There was a creek that they were able to splash around in to cool off. They loved getting wet and muddy.










Jordan is now 2 1/2, she has potty trained herself. I was going to wait until school was out to potty train her, but she couldn't wait. She started taking her diapers off and bringing them to me. I got tired of this and just put some panties on her and showed her where her potty was. She has done remarkable. The weeks we were on the road were the hardest, but she seems to be getting the hang of being a big girl and not wearing diapers. I can't believe that she is growing up so fast.

Now the summer has begun. I am not use to having them both home during the day, I am going to adjust my schedule. Mostly my work will be done at night after they have gone to bed. I plan on keeping them as busy as possible during the day. We have plans to swim, there are a couple of summer camps that Taylor will attend and Vacation Bible School. Also, next week we plan on spending a week at the beach and Danny is working on a mini-vacation for the four of us. I know in August I will be saying "I can't believe the summer went by so fast" :)

Disney World

I know what all of you are thinking...it has been FOREVER. Just remember that this is my "busy season". I am doing some taxes and have stayed really busy lately. I have tried to post a couple of times, but the site shuts down on me, so I give up. If you are reading this, it worked this time.

In February we took our girls to Disney World. They loved it. Jordan was so much fun, this was her first "real" time. She was only 5 months old our last trip. Taylor still loves the roller coasters. She was going to ride the Tower of Terror, but I vetoed that. My brother David and his girlfriend Autumn went with us, he was Taylor's roller coaster friend. Jordan rode her first roller coaster too, a real small one in the Magic Kingdom.

This was our second time, it was really crowded this time, Taylor was not use to that and was impatient some. But over all, we had a lot of fun.

The pictures are my brother and Autumn with Jordan, waiting for the bus. The Dodd's all togehter, Taylor and Minnie Mouse. The last one is Jordan on her first roller coaster. Sorry about the format, my blog will be changing soon. :)

Christmas Day

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We had a really good Christmas morning. Taylor and Jordan were so much fun, especially Jordan, she didn't know what to do. They got a new kitchen to share, Jordan got a tricycle and Taylor a scooter. Taylor also got a digital camera, she has been taking pictures all morning. I will have to share her pictures sometime. My mom, sister and niece are here with us. Notice there are no pictures of Danny, he is the one in charge of the camera. He was good to me this year, I got a gift cert to my favorite store, a Johnson Bros tea set, earrings from Germany and other little stuff. He got all the books he requested. Now four are napping, Taylor is playing and Danny is reading while I update you on our day. Before Christmas, I had cleaned out the girls playroom and got rid of a lot of toys, Taylor just made the comment "Santa must have known how many toys you got rid of because he gave us a lot". That should sum up their Christmas for you.

Taylor's first Razorback game

As most of you might know I am a huge Razorback football fan. So Saturday, I was able to take my five year old daughter Taylor to her first Razorback game. It was a proud moment for me. She had a lot of fun. She had to calm me down a few times. She wanted to make sure I didn't get too crazy. But she did learn to call the Hogs! She ask lots of questions, like "when is it going to start" - this was mid-way through the 1st quarter. She learned the difference between touchdown and field goal, and she learned by the way I was acting if Arkansas scored or not. I also tried to explain downs to her, I don't think she completely understood, but she acted like she did. It was really a fund day, especially since Arkansas won 45-31. They were playing Mississippi State, which Danny likes, not his favorite, but being from Mississippi, he will always pull for one of there teams. After the game Taylor said she was "sad for Daddy", she didn't want him to be sad because his team lost. I am going to work on that with her. :)

We are still in Arkansas. Danny is in Germany visiting with our missionaries and retreating. He will return on Wednesday and we will head to Greenville, MS for Thanksgiving with his family.

I hope everyone of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Ready for the game

Calling the Hogs!

With Tusk, the Razorback mascot

Having fun!

Eating Cotton Candy

How does he look?

"I want one of these"

October Fun

The end of October was a lot of fun for the Dodd's. We had the fair and Fall Carnival at Church, and don't forget Halloween. Taylor and Jordan loved all the activities. Taylor really enjoys the fair. Since Danny gets sick on the rides, I am the one who gets to ride with them, some were fun, some not. Taylor did ride the kiddie roller coaster all by herself, I was busy on the Bumblebee's with Jordan. I also introduced Taylor to the "Scrambler"(at least that is what it was called in my day), I can't remember what it is called now. She absolutely loved it, we had to ride it twice. We would have ridden more, but Jordan had fallen asleep and Danny was cold. We want to thank our good friends Steve and Diane Peacock, we went to the fair with them and their daughter, my friend Judy. It was a lot of fun.

The Fall Carnival is always fun to see the costumes and cars decorated. I have to give the prize to the Johnson family. They were Peter Pan -we had to walk the plank, it was fun. Jordan didn't understand, but had a lot of fun. Taylor played all the games and won a lot of prizes. Needless to say, we have lots of candy.

For Halloween, we went to Judy Peacocks for dinner and trick-or-treating. Taylor and Jordan were not fun to get ready. Taylor was crying because she didn't think it was time to go, she didn't see anyone else out. Jordan did not want costume on again. When I told her "lets go get some candy", she ran to the pantry to get her pumpkin from the carnival, when she saw the pumpkin empty she was very unhappy.

Danny was gone for the last week of October. So he missed the Fall Carnival and Halloween. He was in California, near San Fransisco preaching a meeting and then to the Gulf Coast Teen Retreat. We are happy to have him back.

We are gearing up for the Holidays. Danny is horrified that I need my Christmas tree up now. :) I want to get my Christmas cards done before Thanksgiving. We will see if it happens.

Taylor and Jordan are still enjoying school. I am very thankful for my down time when they are there. Although my down time is work, but it is nice and quiet.

It took me so long to update my blog because I am having trouble figuring it out. I still don't know how to do the things I want. There fore all the pictures are first because I don't know how to change that just yet.

Thanks for checking out our blog.