The Modern Day Batman...

We had another interesting encounter today with a foreign species being found in the house. By foreign I mean not usually found in the home or kept as pets. For those of you who don't know, we've found all sorts of foreign species in our house since we moved in. Some we have been able to identify and some that still mystify. There's been squirrels in our toilets and mysterious animals scratching and shaking at the storage room doors in our closets. And around 3 o'clock today the following conversation occurs:

Craig -( enters my office) " There's a bat in the garage"
Me-  ( working not really listening ) " For what, who left a bat in the garage?"
Craig- " No, Brittany, like a real bat that flys"
Me- " What do you mean" ( still not comprehending )
Craig- "Just come look"

It just didn't make sense to me that a bat would be in the garage. A) its daytime, they're nocturnal B) this is not a cave C) we have 2 large dogs to keep things like this away. But sure enough, there he was on the side of the wall. Not upside down from the ceiling ( like normal bats would do ) just hanging laying out on the wall. The kids were totally freaked out and I have to admit I was too. All I could think was that surely he's diseased and rabid and not thinking clearly or else he wouldn't be here. Being that I obviously have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to bats I decided we'd leave him alone, leave the garage door open, and when it became dark he'd fly out on his own to go find food. So what does Craig do, he closes the garage. Fast forward a few hours. We're home from the gym, pulling into the garage and the first thing Craig does is look for the bat. After a few minutes we spot him trapped between the garage door track and the bend of the door. Panic ensues. Why you ask? Because Craig, the lover of all species, can't fathom the thought that he might actually do harm to one. He runs to cut all the lights on, then decides if he rolls the door down a little bit maybe it will fly free, doesn't work. Rolls the door back up, still stuck. More panic sets in. Pretty sure he said something along the lines of " Oh God, what are we going to do" " It's not like I did it on purpose"  He runs,grabs a chair to get a closer look-(Presleigh's Tinkerbell chair-a whole 2ft tall.) No mind the ladder. This teeny tiny toddler chair should do. Mind you during this fiasco, Presleigh is still in the car screaming her head off because she didn't get a lollipop at the gym. Craig sternly asks me to take her inside, because he cannot concentrate under these circumstances. Done. So I come back out and spot blood running down the garage door track. Craig now kicks it into high gear. Standing on the baby chair, he begins to violently shake the garage door with his hands, lifting it up and down, causing to eventually come off the track. I'm standing outside when I hear " He's out!" "He's out and he's fine!" "I told you he wasn't going to die!"  and sure enough out flys the bat, with a visible small hole in his right wing, but by george he was out and he was flying. Standing there with his arms crossed, watching the bat fly off into the sunset, Craig was pretty proud of his rescue. Just another save, Dr. Dolittle can add to his repertoire. We're talking about a man who once gave a newborn puppy mouth to mouth (true story) to save its life for God's sake. One who caught a bird with an injured wing, wrapped it in a garden glove and nursed it back to health with a little dish of water ,until it too, flew away. I'm guessing today's victory makes up for the 4 tropical fish he murdered last week after only having them for a mere 8hrs. Just kidding, honey. I know it was an accident!

Spontaneous Sunday....

Who says Sunday's are the day of rest? Not us. This family is never at rest and today was no different. We woke up much later than usual, a cool 10am to be exact. We were enjoying some coffee on the porch when Presleigh got the craving for Waffle House- yes, you heard it,  the AWFUL WAFFLE. One of those meals I only tend to eat if its after a late night out or the morning after when good ol' grease is the only cure. There's no denying that Presleigh is her Daddy's daughter,  cause this child loves the Waffle House. It's her favorite restaurant, go ahead ask her. She'll point one out driving down the road no matter where we are and beg to eat there. Craig's the same way, he loves it. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, it don't matter- he's game.

After baby girl got her fix, we headed up to the outlet mall so Mommy could get hers :) I'm long over due a new Coach bag and needed a new one, ASAP. With my left over birthday loot I was able to score an amazing new bag. Bold, Blue, and Beautiful. Thanks to all of those who contributed to its greatness!

Craig took the girls next door to a little shopping while I narrowed down my purchases. They returned with brand new Disney Princess Make-up kits- fully equipped, eyeshadow and all. ( insert your best Tammy Faye Baker image here ) But Daddy had another little surprise for our P's and me, a last minute decision to head on up to Chattanooga for some fun at Lake Winnie. Lake Winnepesaukah is an amusement park that has been around for nearly 100 yrs. I spent many childhood summers here with my Grandparents and have so many fond memories of this place. To be able to take my little girls here and see them enjoy it just as much as I did at their age is priceless.

 Every Orrell received a little piece of happiness today. Whether it was a waffle or hashbrowns covered and smothered, a pretty little bag to get me through the winter months, the laughter of our girls flying high in the Dumbo ride or an ice cold icee to cool down a summer day at the amusement park our Spontaneous Sunday put a smile on all of our faces. Heaven.

A First Time for Everything...

Its been a very BIG week in the Orrell House! Lots of first time events have come and gone as we gear up for the weekend ahead.

I"ll start with your's truly and the announcement of my very FIRST blog! It's been a real pain in the a**  lot of fun diving into the blogging world and has only taken me every evening for the last 5 days to finally get it up and functioning. I've debated for months now on whether or not to start a blog. Questions like, how much of my spare time will the blog consume? Will I have enough to say? Will people really care about what I have to say? have all came to mind, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. Accompanying the anxiety brought on by the blog comes my lack of being able to make decisions when faced with too many choices. Backgrounds and Templates and Gadgets, Oh My! I know I spent a good 4 hours searching for the perfect background and then due to my IT handicap, I could never upload them correctly. Its all just too overwhelming and has caused me numerous headaches this week. Soooo here we are with an average back ground powered by Blogger, A template that I'm not sure fits my "needs" and zero gadgets on deck. But hey, the fact that I've gotten this far is an accomplishment in itself and it can only get better frome here, right? Unless of course, no one reads it or cares and then my anxiety rings true and then all the time it consumed just putting it together was a waste... B-R-E-A-T-H-E!

The peak of the week by far has been Miss Presleigh's very first day of Pre-K at Dallas First Baptist! This little girl has been counting down her sleeps until "big girl school" for weeks now. And it has finally arrived! She was so excited she jumped out of bed, immediately got dressed at my first request, couldn't eat a bite of breakfast and was the one herding the rest of the family out the door that day. She remembered exactly where her classroom was, walked right in, hung up her bag and got to work. Telling me goodbye wasnt really in the cards for her she might as well said, "Get lost Mom" followed up with a big " I got this"  I didn't shed a tear! I was so happy that she was happy that I didnt really have time to get all emotional. Next year however will be a different story. It's totally cliche what they say about time flying by, but its true, I witnessed it first hand as I watched my first born strut her stuff into class on her first day of Pre-K! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you Presleigh Grace and hope you enjoy everyday of this school year as much as you did your first day!

Last but not least Lil'Sis had a big day as well as she went into 3yr Preschool at FBK! Paisley was happy to go, not skipping meals or counting down sleeps happy to go, but was feeling the excitement in the air and had her best foot forward. One thing you must know about Paisley is that she is a homebody. She loves to be at home and is perfectly content spending every minute of every day at home. I guess in part because she's spent most of her little life at home with us or with a Nanny, so I knew her first day of school would be slightly different. All was good and fine until I attempted to make a run for it out of the classroom. She caught a glimpse of what I'm sure was my hair flying in the wind and the waterworks ensued! Then I hear, " I want my blankeeeeeey" "Tedddddyyy" in true dramatic Paisley fashion. Luckily, with the help of Mrs.Terri and a little consoling we were down to whimper and I was able to walk away quietly saying to myself " don't look back, whatever you do Brittany, dont look back!" When the day was done she was skipping out to car pool and excited to share the days masterpieces- SUCCESS! Way to go Sissy Roo, We Love You!



All of the excitement and a change in our schedules has really taken a toll on us this week. We're slap worn out and in need of afternoon naps every day but with that said I must give all 4 of us a big pat on the back for a job well done! We've yet to be tardy, forget an assignment or leave a child a tschool, I'd say that's pretty darn good for some first timers! Here's hoping we sail right through next week with ease too..... keep your fingers crossed!!