Hi ladies! I just got an email from a siesta asking if we are okay since it had been so long since the last post. I’m so sorry! Yes, we are okay! I took a weekend road trip to my parents’ house in Houston with one of my best friends and her little girl. Needless to say, my mom is recuperating from that and so are we! We had an incredible time together at the Great Toddler Invasion of 2008. I spent three hours yesterday sorting through the pictures and preparing to make a full report. There were over 200 pictures! Janelle took most of them because my camera battery kicked the bucket upon arrival.
In case anyone is new and hasn’t heard me talk about Janelle and Ella, you should know that Janelle and I went through our entire pregnancies together and then ended up having our babies two days apart. We were right down the hall from each other in the hospital. We, along with our sweet friend Sunni and her daughter Ava, have had the craziest, most wonderful two years with our babies. They are a huge blessing in my life.
The babies, recently renamed “The Tods” by my sister, played so hard the whole weekend. I noticed that Jackson was particularly well-behaved and I think it’s because he never had one moment of boredom. He was thrilled to have a friend at his Bibby’s house. By the way, he learned to say “my” and “mine” this weekend. I can’t imagine why!
It’s been a while since I shared any pictures of Jackson and I’m going to more than make up for that here. Here you go! Hurricane Tod!
Hit the road, Jack.
We had to make a stop on the way to Houston. Can you guess where?
Amen.
When Jackson had had enough of the car ride, he took off his shoes and socks and picked fuzz out from between his toes.
At The Houston Zoo
Janelle and her Tod.
Me and my Tod.
The Goat Whisperer.
Ella enjoyed brushing the goats’ hair.
That is one intriguing animal.
The Tods looking under the fence to get the best view.
Our favorite picture of The Tods.
Amanda, Jackson, and Bibby looking at something.
Mom and Tod looking at another Mom and Tod. 
Big mom, big tod.
The Tods racing up the jungle gym stairs at the zoo.
Jackson was much happier going down the slide than brushing the goats.
Jackson jumping on the bridge, catching air under his feet. Mommy holding her breath.
In the car
Guess who wanted to ride in the back every time we got in the car?
Guess who’s faking it in this picture?
Guess who’s not faking it here? 
Ella’s hat hair.
A cookie liquefied in Ella’s mouth.
At the house
One Tod’s favorite thing is to put water on his hair and the other Tod’s most hated thing is to have water on her hair. This was an interesting time.
We like to do draw-rings.
Mexican food. What else?
The Tods dancing.
The Tods in a moment of sharing.
Ella and Bibby doing their floor exercises.
Ella imitating Bibby’s stretching moves.
The Tods trying to spy The Dogs in the backyard.
Ella being adorable.
Me and both Tods. I was the luckiest person in the room.
At the mall
Janelle and Ella at the Memorial City Mall playland. 
Jackson relaxin’.
Ella at the playland.
Ella climbing some cute stairs.
The Tods on a carousel.
Playdate
The Tods at their friend Keegan’s house.
The Tods in a tent.
The Tods thank Bibby and Pappaw for a great weekend!
Tags: Jackson
Thanks for sharing, Amanda.
I loved to see “the Tods” dancing…that photo just communicated pure joy!
Treasure these precious years…they go by so fast.
Blessings,
Susan
“The Tods” are so cute, and I love the nickname! I also love Beth’s nickname, “Bibby”, how cute! Yall are just the sweetest family and I have so enjoyed getting to know you through this blog!
TOO CUTE!!!
Bibby even got a workout in-that give’s me hope:)
katiegfromtennessee
What great pictures! Isn’t it great to have such good friends and family to enjoy. Just finished my second session of “Stepping Up” tonight (first session after the intro). I am truly being blessed by this study.
Glad you all had a great weekend!
Blessings,
Angie
PLEASE tell me that you scrapbook, AJ. I’m sure you are really busy but you MUST make time for scrapping!
Precious smiles from all the Tods!
=) Jill
There is nothing like having little one’s around. I work with big ones who I love. Then I go to my best friend’s and get to be “Aunt” for the day and be the human jungle gym. I love it. I get to see them this weekend along with the new edition that comes on Friday. I am so excited.
Thank you so much for sharing your pictures with us. I so enjoyed getting to see the tods.
Praying that Bibby and Pappaw recover quikly. Can I come play?
What a joyous delight after a LONG day at work . . . the pics are priceless . . . and thanks for touching base!
Amanda, please have Beth give we siestas an update on prayer needs for Esther if you will – is she almost done, etc. —- has been on my heart the last two days real heavy . . . AND – have been praying about the upcoming wedding —- can imagine all the last minutes being taken care of and all the extra events that are happening the next few weeks . . .
And (sorry!), our Siesta Beth was SPOT ON Tuesday night — another want to be on the floor weeping, but also jumping and praising God evenings. My car pools girls and I were just awestruck on the way home —– is it OK to say I am most engrossed in this study and as God so aptly does, it is “better” the second time around and Beth is also different —- her passion is so anointed and tangible and I pray when it is re-taped, that those viewing it via DVD will “feel” what we are “feeling” —– as it is the Holy Spirit speaking through her – times are short – we must walk in freedom.
Stay warm! God’s peace!
Tods come back! Tods come back! Bibby’s ready for round two of the Toddler Invasion!
Oh how fun! Sure was a fantastic way to end my day!! Thank you so much for sharing so m any wonderful pictures, Amanda! I can’t believe how much your “Tod” is growing up!!! Seems like yesterday that your Mom announced to all of us at LP Live that she was going to be a grandmother and shared with us about the dancing banners on her front porch! You are all blessed with a way cool family! It’s nice to be part of it in this way!
God’s blessings to you all!
much love,bunny
oh, Amanda, this post was wonderful! 😀 I love babies and some of those pictures and captions had me laughing out loud! 🙂 Your tods are beautiful! I esp. loved Ella stretching with Bibby… So precious. 🙂
Wow! That looks like some serious fun! I so wish that our mall had a playground like that.
I LOVE the picture of “The Tods” dancing. Especially since you can see Bibby in the background smiling. I know from past posts how much little “Tods” dancing in praise to Jesus means to her! Thank you for being willing to share with us!
I need some prayer, girls. If any of you happen to be looking for anything to do…
Thanks a bagillion million. 😉
Thank you for posting pictures of such a precious weekend- Beautiful children & mothers, with many memories to cherish!
We live right next door to my parents, so I am so thankful that my twins (soon to be “Tods”) can see their grandparents often. What a blessing it is to have godly grandparents in our kid’s lives:)
There is something to be said about a legacy of faith!
Thanks again for sharing- Love and prayers to you!
I am glad ya’ll had such a good time. Rest up! There is a wedding right around the corner!
Precious, precious, precious! What fun! Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Isn’t it wonderful to have such special times with family and friends? Amanda and Janelle, you are both such beautiful, slim little moms! How special that you have each other.
I loved all the pictures. I think one of my favorites is the one with the kids and Beth (really) all asleep in the car.
This past weekend my mom, my three sisters, my 25 yr. old daughter and my niece all went on a girls’ trip to celebrate one of my sister’s 50th birthday. We spent the night at a hotel and ate and shopped and had the best time laughing and talking. I think any time it’s possible to get out and enjoy times like these we need to take advantage.
Beth, you’re just about the cutest Grandma I’ve ever seen. I’m SO happy you live close enough to Jackson to get to see him often. It’s obvious he adores his Bibby.
Love,
Valerie
I just love seeing little Jackson. I have a 19 month old little boy myself and love reading other mommy stories. I feel like I am part of your family! Will be going to Jacksonville, FL in March to see Beth for the FIRST time! CAN NOT WAIT!
Blair
Florida
Amanda,
You’re such a sweetie!! Thanks for sharing your weekend with us. You made me smile on a rather challenging day–no small task, I might add.
Love in Christ,
~Cheryl
this is like a beautiful scrapbook! I LOVE IT!!!!! Thank you Amanda!!!
mariacristina
Those pics make me miss my grandchildren. I’m in NC they are in Florida. God Bless, CINDY in NC
What fun! Amanda you are so blessed to have a friend like that. Being a military spouse, by the time you have made a true friend it is time to say good bye. Treasure those moments!
God bless you!
This is a silly, non-spiritual observation – but Amanday your hair looks great! You were in the middle of a “hurricane” and still the ‘do looks fabulous!
Thank you for sharing your life. What beautiful children! Live in this moment!!! God bless!
In His Grace~Pamela
Oh how I’ve missed you, Amanda!! I have never met you in my life and knew very little of you until a year ago and now I have missed you like the dickens! So glad to see you’re doing great and had such a wonderful time at your parents this weekend. Precious pictures! Absolutely precious little ones, what a sweet time I can tell! Lisa
I’ve never seen a more beautiful group of women- Janelle , Amanda, and Beth, you are STRIKING! And the tods make me appreciate my 3 little boys even more today! Thanks,Love Shell
I’m way past the ‘Tod’, but sure did enjoy you enjoying yours. Loved ‘watching’ Bibby love the Tods! Thanks for letting us into your world.
You are wonderful and we are all so blessed to have y’all!
Because of JESUS-
Vicky
What fun pictures! Thanks for sharing them, Amanda, and for taking all that time to upload them to the blog.
Suddenly I want to go to the zoo!
Joanne
I didn’t want the pictures to end!!! They were so cute. Looks like you all had a blast. I have a 21 month old that would fit right in. Can she come play?
Amy in TN
Ya’ll are so cute!! So glad it was such a fun weekend!
Looks like a wonderfultime! Over 200 pictures, girl you need another baby!! Love it, thanks for sharing.
To Cute! I love pictures and these are awesome. What a Joy! Thanks for sharing. I love this blog, cause you never no what your gonna get. It’s fun, it’s lively and many times it is thought provoking.
This is my first time posting (not including roll call), but I have been lurking since the blog began. All of you Siestas’ are such a fun group.
Blessings,
Marita
Amanda,
What a blessing to have a sweet friend to share parenthood with! It looks like you all had a blast in Houston with family. Awesome to see that you are enjoying this time of toddlerhood! My boys 8 and 5 are now past that stage, but I am looking forward to another one on the way this summer. Children truly are a blessing from the Lord. Thanks so much for sharing, the pictures were great!
Much love,
stacie
I love the name “the tods”. My oldest son, who will be 6 the 21st of Feb, used to pick the lint from his toes when he was about Jackson’s age! So cute. Seeing that picture brought back memories of my little guy.
Love the name Bibby too. I “worried” about what names to call everyone (grandparents) and it ended up, when he was learning to talk, my son made up his own with my dad, calling him Poppy. Just looked at his picture in an album one day and pointed to him and said Poppy. It’s stuck and my dad just loves it! It’s more precious that way!
Enjoy the tods while they’re tods….it goes SOOOO fast!
Keep sharing,
Stephanie
I just love the picture of the Tods dancing. The joy on Jackson’s face is precious! Glad you had a sweet weekend of fellowship together.
Welcome back, Amanda! I missed you.
Thanks for sharing such delightful photos. My own little Tod, Emily, and I enjoyed them together. When she saw the photo of you, Jackson and Ella in the chair, Emily pointed to you and said, “She’s happy. She’s a pretty mommy.” I said, “You’re exactly right Emily…she’s happy and pretty.” Emily loves mommies.
xo
Chris
Great Pics!! My boy used to take his shoes off and pick his toe stuff too if I just stood too long at the mall and talked to someone, there he would be sitting on the floor barefeet, and diggin’ must be a boy thing, my girls never did that. LOL BTW-they do stop doing that as they get older, Thank you Jesus for saving me from the embarrassment!
Beth, Amanda, and Melissa
Thank you so much for sharing your lives with all of us.
I feel so much like a part of your family.
I have always told my husband, who is a big Auburn University football fan, if we ever move out of Alabama I want to move to Houston, Tx and go to Beth Moores’ church.
I love you all and thank you for what you do to make learning the bible so much fun.
I am starting Stepping Up next week
CANT WAIT!!!!
Janet
Wow! What a fun weekend! My daughter wants to know if Bibby can do the splits, cause she can. He he. She was not impressed with the floor exercises. I was just thinking that I think she’s more flexible than I am. Hopefully that will change since I’ve been doing yoga. I’m so glad you had a good weekend. My youngest daughter has had the flu, so I haven’t been on here for a while. In fact, I’m going to have to miss bible study today, because I have to stay home with her. Her fever seems to be gone but she was tossing and turning, feverish still at 2 in the morning, so I’m keeping her home today, so she can recoop. I have to call my ride and let her know I won’t be able to come.
I love the pictures Amanda! I particularly like the one of you, your mom and Jackson.
It’s good to see another post and know all is well for y’all!
My friend and I had ours eight days apart — I was wandering around the maternity floor (HUGE) during her delivery and people kept trying to put me in a room. Our ‘tods’ are graduating from high school this May! Enjoy every minute! They fly by!
What fun! Now that my oldest is 13, there are times I would LOVE to have the “Tod” days back! LOL With the youngest though I have perpetual “Tod” days (she has mental retardation) so that helps to remind me that all stages of child rearing can be both fun and challenging.
I am fairly new at this blog thing (have only posted a few times under anonymous before) but would love to connect with taralynn819 as I too am starting the Breaking Free study and doing it on my own. Not sure how to do it though.
Thanks for the cute pictures Amanda!
How much fun that was!!!! And both Tods are adorable! Looks like you all had a good weekend. I bet Bibby IS exhausted.
The Tods… so adorable. We have a few tods of our own roaming around North Texas – my nephew and neice as well as my cousin’s grandson! They are too much fun, but whew! So grateful that I’m through raisin’ young ‘uns… I am quite satisfied with my nearly grown up girls and my extended babies – we have two more due in the next two months! Yippee! That I can barely stand myself. I love being able to hang with them for a day or two and then know they will be home again and I can recoop until the next time we get together and PLAY! Love, Love, Love it. Anyway, I have digressed. I wanted to say that this is one “car snoozer” defending another “car snoozer” when I say no fair posting a pic of Bibby in such a state! Of course Mrs. Beth is such a good sport, I am sure she is all right with it. But I would just hate to know someone was snapping pics of me snoozing in the car – thank goodness she did not have her mouth open or that tale-tale drool coming out of her mouth (at least not that we could see anyway!) You are all blessed, and I am sure Bibby was glad for a nap before playing with the tods again at home. Oh, and my fave pics were the tods dancing! I just keep thinking about your mom’s deepest longing to do “praise dancing” with the grandbabies! I just wonder where her banners were?
Blessings,
Michelle
My favorite pictures are the bath and the dancing! How fun!
And I am so jealous of your real Mexican food. 🙂
Because I am blonde, my first thought was “Hurricane Tod! there weren’t any hurricanes last week!” Then my stupid self figured it out.
I am so glad Janelle shared this with me. When my friends and I had our babies together it was the most joyful time. The most precious memories are being with are families and having are babies grow up together.
I love you, and Jackson and Ella are soooooooooooooo precious!
Ileeta
Thanks for sharing these precious moments of your life. The pictures are like a ray of sunshine.
Annette
Amanda, I got the biggest laugh from my favorite picture of, dah dahhhhhh — drum role please,
“Jackson, the Toe Fuzz Picker” –
I have a grandson and that is so “him”. He keeps us in stiches. I don’t think I would have thought that was funny as a mom (too uptight), but now I find humor in the oddest things little boys do and say! They are plain wild.
My grandson has a new, baby sister, 1 month old. When asked by someone about his new sister, his answer was “She’s alive!”
I know your mom must love the fact that Jackson named her. Elijah got my name, “Jan”, mixed up with my dog’s name, “Ginseng”, and ended up calling us the same thing for a week or two. Somehow, my name evolved into “G”. Short and sweet.
If I get that much pleasure from my ‘naming’ by my grandchild, I can’t imagine what I will do when I hear God’s ‘new name’ for me.
“G” from B’ham.
Amanda,
What a blessing to have not just one, but two close friends to raise your Tods together in this season! I’m an older mom (39) of Tods and have prayed for that kind of friendship. As of yet, He has seen fit not to provide it, despite my taking care to follow the adage “To have a friend you must be a friend.”
It used to bug me, this lack of that type of friendship for me and my girls. And then 2 things happened: (1) He filled my life with older women with grown children who are providing Titus-type wisdom to me. And (2) He used the video from Lesson 7 of the revised A Women’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place study to remind me that the times I am going through right now are critical to achieving God’s purpose in my life in this generation. He’s given it much thought and this is best for me!
Praise Him for all His perfection and attention to detail, even when I don’t understand.
I am grateful for the e-friendships on this blog!
Faran