Mumsey is Coming, Mumsey is Coming!

My mom is coming!  I’m so excited that my mom is on her way.  I have no real plans while she is here, except for her to use her sewing magic and help me clothe the naked windows in the kids rooms.  That and help me recover the chairs in the dining room, but those aren’t really plans….more like projects.  But when Mumsey comes for a visit it just makes me happy.  It means that Brandon can go ahead and  work late, cranking out those reports that result in insurance claims being submitted which means getting paid for us.  It means that while Brandon is doing that, I still have help with the kiddos here at home and that help usually makes dinner.  It means shopping and browsing with mums and walks around the neighborhood in the evening after the kids are in bed.  And it usually means watching HGTV on the couch, but since the couch isn’t here at home yet, that old favorite might not work so well.  Either way, I am still excited nonetheless.

This will be mom’s first visit to our new house.  She saw it before we moved in, but this will be her first real stay here and I bet I know exactly what her first comment is going to be. “I see you haven’t done anything about covering up that front window yet.”  My front door is the type that is made up of several little plates of glass and as of right now, we have just left it.  From the road, with all of our foliage you really can’t get a good look into the house during the day at all and at night, unless the foyer lights are on, you can’t see at all.  And we are hardly the only house with doors like that.  I catch myself wanting to say, “but mom! none of the other houses are having to cover up their windowed front door!” Like she’s telling me my skirt is too short or something.  I guess after living in a house that felt like a cave for the past 4 years, I just can’t get enough of all the natural light even if that means that its might be possible for the neighbors to see us going up and down the stairs.

Speaking of absolutely nothing, but I have watched the same irrigation service van drive by 4 times now.  I think it’s about time they put that van in park and call up their customers and ask for directions.

Back to mom and the naked front door.  I find it especially funny that she is so concerned with our privacy/ safety because this is the same woman who NEVER locks her car doors no matter where she is or what is in the car and whose house you can see completely through when driving by because of her lack of blinds on the windows.  Seriously, I can see if they are sitting on the back patio and I think that’s way worse than being able to see if I am standing at my front door.  I’m a good girl and usually always follow whatever helpful hints my mother offers me, so it will be interesting to see what the status of our front door is when mom goes back to Arkansas next week.

In other news, is anyone else just incredibly inspired by the Olympics?  I like sports well enough, but don’t usually spend a whole lot of time watching things like water polo on a regular basis.  But when its the Olympics, suddenly it just feels right.  I also get inspired to wear workout clothing and think how I really need to start spending more time exercising because obviously this is what muscles were created for and I haven’t been utilizing mine.  So I put on stretchy pants and then speed walk, careful not to go out-of-bounds to the kitchen and get a bowl of ice cream.  That’s probably not what my muscles really had in mind.  Maybe tonight after Mumsey gets here, she will feel like going for a late night walk.  That’s a start right?

The Power of a Coat of Paint

We have a guy, his name is Clyde.  He’s not really ours in the sense that we own him or he lives with us or anything like that.  No, really he has only been in our lives for a very short time and most of that wasn’t even spent directly with us.  But I have still grown attached to him.  So what has Mr. Clyde done and why is he our guy? Technically, I guess he is our friends’ the Halls guy first since they recommended him to us, but he is our painter.

When we first looked at this house, one of the reasons that I wanted nothing to do with is was that everything was white.  Everything!  And white might be okay, but nothing was the exact same shade of white.  So the house looked blah, but even worse, mismatched blah.  I wasn’t sold.  It may not have been so bad, but our little rental house happens to suffer from a case of horrible paint and I am now highly sensitive to it.  Brandon assured me that it would all be okay and he would find a reasonable guy to come in and make it all better.  I have never hired out anyone to do much of anything, but it needed done and there was no way that with his work schedule, Brandon and I were going to be able to do it.  That and those 3 cherubs that live in our house……no, it just made more sense to pay more and have it done quickly and correctly by someone else.

So we asked around, the Halls said Clyde was great.  We interviewed him, he was fair and he could do it immediately so we hired him.  After the first night, Brandon and I came over to check the place out, to check up on Clyde.  I have to admit, I was a little discouraged.  Its not that Clyde had made a mess of things, its just that you couldn’t really tell that anything had been done yet.  I saw their supplies, evidence that there had been someone in the house and Brandon pointed out the holes that had been spackled.  But I wasn’t completely convinced that this house was going to be ready by the time he said it would be.  The next night, I left the house feeling the same way.  More holes were filled and this time there was what looked like “cutting in” done all around.  But there wasn’t any tape.  Don’t you need tape so that you don’t get paint all over everything?  They must not be to that point yet, but time was running out.

I didn’t go back the next night and the following night, though it still looked like there was a lot of work that needed to be done, I was still keeping hope alive that Clyde was going to come through.  I was still a little curious why there was none of that blue painters tape anywhere, but whatever.  The next day, my family was in town and we were anxious to take them by the new house, just to see.  I knew that Clyde and crew were probably in the middle of painting seeing as it looked like they had a whole days worth to do (and probably late into the night), but that was okay, we wanted them to see anyway.  So I was shocked when we arrived to the house and the painter men were all just sitting in the garage.  Taking a break I suppose.  I smiled at them all and prepared to start telling my parents what we were envisioning the rooms to look like, since the painting wasn’t going to be finished and they might not be able to tell from the half done work.  But to my shock and happiness, when I walked in, the house was spotless.  No evidence that anyone had been there at all and the walls, well the walls were just beautiful.  Not only had they finished, but they had cleaned up and were waiting for us to arrive to approve it all.  I still have no idea how they completed everything so fast and so precisely.  Forget about painters tape, turns out Clyde is just that good that he doesn’t need it.  I was so, so happy! This house, which I have been on the fence about, looked like a whole new place, my place and I was simply thrilled with everything.  In my happiness, I went back to Clyde who was standing in the kitchen waiting to get the okay, and just gave him a big hug.  I don’t think he gets that very often and he seemed a little taken back by the whole thing.  I also went out and told the group of strange men gathered in my garage how lovely it was and how much I appreciated all their hard work.  They smiled and waved and none of them really said very much.  I think I made them even blush a little bit.  Its just walls for Pete’s sake, Kaylee!

But for some reason it seemed like so much more.  Not only had they made my house feel beautiful and fresh and lovely, and like someplace that I really maybe wanted to live.  But they had done it so quickly and efficiently and almost before my very eyes, yet I had still not really seen it happening until it was complete.  That’s when I had my “aha”moment, when I just had to smile at the little lesson, little objet lesson I had been taught through the painting of my house.  Raising children isn’t something that you get instant results with.  From what I have heard, its more of a lifelong thing that you kind of have to wait till the very end to see how you’ve done, if even then.  Sure, every night when you tuck them in, you take with you the satisfaction of knowing that you made it through another day.  But you can’t really see what lessons you have taught, how that little person is growing and changing and evolving.  Its all this prep work that we are doing, the modeling and the molding.  Catching those little ones in teachable moments.  Giving them props when they are caught doing the right thing and making good choices and trying to redirect them in a patient and gentle way when they are doing otherwise.  But from what I understand, the story goes that before you know it, childhood is up and you walk in one day and see that they house is completely painted and beautiful almost over night.  And you did it all free-hand…no tape, because you are better than you think you are.

And not just in parenting, but God does the same thing for us too when we let him into our lives.  He starts small, filling up all the old holes.  Working almost from the inside out.  At from the outside, to the rest of the world, they might not see the work that’s going on.  But there is precision to His work and when the job is finished, your old self will be left unrecognizable.  Where holes, stains and mismatched pieces once were, there will be a work of art.  He makes beauty from ashes.

So we have a guy, Clyde, whom I have grown attached too.  He made my house beautiful and me want to live here.  He is also funny and is willing to come and make any touch ups that we might need, not from mistakes he made but from dents and dings that we may have caused when we move in.  And even though he paints houses, he has offered to repaint a desk and a train table for my kids.  He knows my kids names and even sat down and played cars for a bit with Reese this evening.  He even helped me get Lila out of the car with her cumbersome car seat.  He knows where all the light switches are in our house.  And now, after living here for a week, I still have yet to hang anything up on my lovely walls.

The Week the Women Went

After returning home last night from a school board meeting and finding the children all pajama’ed and in bed….I felt like a spoiled woman.  I had been allowed 3 hours of quiet time (hey even if it comes in the form of a board meeting I will take it) and then didn’t even have to come back and take part in the nightly chaos that is the winding down of our day.  I would have sat down on the couch and enjoyed some bon bons, but we don’t have either one of those things in our house.  That’s not entirely true, we do have a couch but it is now living in the playroom and that room doesn’t induce feelings of rest and relaxation to me.  So I did the next best thing and sat in a wicker chair with a bowl of leftovers from the kids dinner and watched some Project Runway.  I have a fairly decent imagination, but the things that those designers dream up are just crazy sometimes!  And this time the challenge was that they had to use candy and make their outfits not look ridiculous.  I feel like I always get a good dose of entertainment when I watch Project Runway.

But the point I am trying to get at and its taken me a whole paragraph of nonsense to get to is that I saw a new show advertised and boy does it intrigue me.  I am all for watching other people conduct social experiments and this special is about a week where all the women leave town for a week.  Its called, “The Week the Women Went” and I just can’t imagine what that would be like.  Your first thought goes to the “mommies”, thinking of the men who are going to have to jump into the role of single parent.  But there won’t be grandmothers around for them to ask for help should they need it, either.  No aunts or sisters.  I’m not sure at what age they deem the girl children women and they are required to leave as well.  But every time this commercial came on, I found myself thinking about it more and more and having just all sorts of questions.  Is it so much having the women gone or just a persons partner that is going to make it so tough. You know, I don’t know if its me as a woman who is so important or just that Brandon and I have a partnership here in this family thing and if I was gone, who would do my portion?  Then I got to thinking about what if other groups of people left for a week?  What if for a week all the nurses left – even the retired ones and those in nursing school, the school nurses the hospital floor nurses, the home health nurses – all of them gone for a week.  What would we do?  In just a regular old week, I don’t really feel like I require a nurse all that often (except that both my mom and stepmom are nurses and I like having them around), but I am sure there are some that rely very heavily on nurses and had that week come during January when I was having Lila, I would have felt absolutely panicky at not having any nurses in the city of Memphis.  I thought about other jobs picking up and leaving for a week, like say all the sanitation worker guys.  I know how much trash we have generated this particular week with our move and it would have been nice if we had had trash pick up a few times this week.  So for them to ALL be gone for the whole city for a whole week – that would be disastrous! Or all the secretaries, the firemen, the teachers, well I kind of feel like they have up and left on me for a little longer than a week this summer.  This family will be so happy when Mattie is back spending her days under the tutelage of Ms. Nkana in 2nd grade!  Anyway, my point is that though I don’t require a tow truck driver or a fireman or even a waitress every single day or every single week – I am glad to know that they are there should I need them.  And I was about to put policeman up there because I am not in contact with them every week or day, but I don’t have a clue how them doing their job indirectly affects me.  Maybe I wasn’t the one that got the speeding ticket, but I would have been the one that got hit yesterday had that ticket not been given.

My mind, being the wanderer that it is, went all sorts of places with these thoughts of “If one group all had to leave for a week”.  I tried to come up with one group of people or jobs or  that it would be okay if they were gone and it’s not easy.  Because there is always that one exception where you say, oh but that would mean so and so was gone.  Except clowns, I personally couldn’t come up with any reason why it would be bad if clowns were gone for a week, but that’s just me.  But really, what it boiled down to in my little head was a lesson that we are taught early on in life, even before Kindergarten, that everyone is important and special and needed in their own way.  No one is better than anyone else or of greater value.  To the trash man I am just another house, but to my children I am their keeper and to me, that trash man makes me smile on Monday mornings when he whisks away our garbage.  We each have a role and though we may not affect each other directly or on a daily basis or even individually, but we are part of something and our absence would be greatly felt.

There is a little saying that to the world, you are just one person.  But to one person, you just might be their world and I believe that’s true.  I have 3 little people who my world revolves around right now and one not so little person who is kind of like our oxygen supply or gravity.  I’m not sure how they would describe me, what cute little analogy they would use to express just how much they need me and rely on me.  Fact is, I am pretty sure that they take me for granted most of them time.  But if asked, I think they would say, “she’s our mommy of course” and that’s a pretty fabulous way of expressing their feelings about me.

So my closing thought today is this, men – think about if all the women were forced to leave town for a week…every last one of us.  And women, what if we were forced to leave.  And after marinating on that for a while, remind yourself how lucky you are that we have each other and immediately let the significant others in your life know how much you value them.

Are We Home Yet?

So, things have been a little crazy here lately.  Last week was officially open season for the great Baughman migration of 2012 (hopefully of 20everything because I do not want to move again for a very long time).  As of last Thursday, the house was painted, cleaned and ready for us to start moving in….and that we did.  So did some sort of viral illness into Reese and it has continued to wreak havoc on all of our lives ever since.  The weekend of a great move isn’t the best time to have a sick 4-year-old on your hands.  But from past experiences, it seems that one of us must be out of commission during our relocations and I guess if it had to be anyone, Reese was a pretty good pick.  The baby would have required much more of my attention, we needed Brandon to both help move and to continue to work so that we could pay for things, I helped and continued all my typical mommy duties and Mattie actually was a pretty large help as well, especially with tending to Lila and carrying things.  She makes a great gopher that Mattie.

The big move, where we actually had furniture leave our home was on Sunday.  We were so blessed to have several friends come over and help without us really even asking.  I am so grateful to them because I just don’t know how we would have tackled it all without them.  The fact that I didn’t have to fight Mattie’s closet still makes me let out a huge sigh of relief.  The goal was to have us moved out enough so that we could sleep in our new house Sunday night and that sleep to actually take place on beds, not just in a tent in the back yard or in the car.  And that we did, but I have to say, waking up I didn’t immediately feel really excited about my new surroundings.  Too be honest, up until this morning living in my current house feels a little like living in the early stages of a house from “Hoarders”.  Everywhere you looked, there would be boxes with random things inside piled up.  We didn’t exactly have a really precise packing method and kind of went with the “fill the box with whatever is close by until is starts spilling out” method.  It worked for getting things from point a to point b, but has made putting things away in the new home a little more time-consuming.

We have been planning to move since we arrived in Memphis 4 years ago.  Not that we don’t like living here, but when we first settled in this fine area it was only certain that we would be here for 2 years.  After that, we had no idea because by that point Brandon was supposed to have a for-real, paying the bills, wear a white coat with your name on it, job. And because not just every town in America needs an in-house neuropsychologist, we figured we would be moving to wherever he got offered a job.  To our happy surprise, he got offered one here and we were so thankful we didn’t have to up and move.  Our little rental house has been nice, but again, from the beginning of our stay in it I knew that it was only temporary.  I never felt it was truly “ours” (probably because it wasn’t and had it actually been, we could have painted it the colors that we liked using washable paint that wouldn’t rub off like chalk when you tried to wash the spaghetti sauce off the wall.) and because I tend to be overly sentimental and have been known to have a hard time with change, I refused to get attached.  I have plenty of emotions to try to keep in check on any given day as it is and really didn’t want to have to deal with a “dark cloud” of moving sadness when we left.  So when the time came to leave and we spent that first night here at new home, I was feeling pretty proud of myself and a little surprised at house easy the transition was.  New home didn’t really feel like home yet, but it wasn’t uncomfortable or anything.  But the next day, when we went back to our old house to get another load of things, I was shocked at how foreign even the neighborhood felt.  We had only been gone for a matter of hours, but already it just felt like we didn’t belong there anymore.  We have had a day or two of feeling a little bit homeless, the old house apparently hadn’t viewed us as long-term either and this new house hasn’t really embraced us quite yet.  But as I walked around this morning, trying out different rooms to see which made me feel the coziest for drinking my morning coffee, (am I the only one who likes to have their coffee in a particular room, usually in a particular chair?) I had a thought about just what makes a place feel like its home.

Home to me as a little girl was  Route 7 Box 416 Claremore, OK.  A red brick, one-story house with dark gray trim and white columns in the front.  That’s where my special things were, where my bed was and where my pets were.  But my home was also in the back seat of our car after a long day of school, where I always ALWAYS sat behind the driver’s seat.  Home could also be at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  As an older girl, home was both a dorm in Collegedale, TN and my brother’s house nearby in Chattanooga.  And even now, as an adult, there is the “home” that I pay for and is full of my possessions and the “home” that my parents dwell in.  While we were on our Great Summer Adventure to California, every night as we would travel, Reese would ask us when we were going to be at our “home”.  By the second day of travel, Brandon and I had figured out that to him, “home” was wherever our journey ended for the day – whether that be a hotel, Nana’s house, our house, Mumsey’s or even the side of the road should that have happened.  Home is where you and your flock start your adventure and end the journey every day.

The old house wasn’t the start of our adventure anymore and our new one, well…..it’s where my flock is now, so let the adventures and journeys begin.

I’m Movin’ Honey Boo Boo Child!

The packing has officially begun.  I guess technically, it started a few weeks ago when Brandon and I went through the house and took down everything off the walls.  But yesterday, items began to actually leave our house.  I decided to start packing up the kitchen first because I figured if I removed our food source, it would be the equivalent of lighting a fire under us.  People don’t hang out in a “home” where there is no food.  I would like to say that I was able to clear out all the cabinets, fridge and pantry.  That would have been nice, but lets not forget that I also had 3 little people hanging out at home with me as well.  One of those little people is fighting a war with a tooth that is trying to erupt through her little gums.  So it wasn’t exactly ideal packing/moving conditions.  I just had to laugh at one point as I had packed my car up really good and then I had to load up the 3 kids in their car seats.  Who moves while taking care of three kids?  I do.  I have also been known to do several other ridiculous things, too so this really shouldn’t come as a big surprise to anyone.

Today’s big goal is to finish the kitchen, pack up the books in the living room and clear out the closet and under the sink in the bathroom.  That’s the goal – we shall see how it goes.   Last night, Reese woke up crying for me and complaining of having a bad headache.  I gave him some Tylenol, discovered he also had a fever and spent the night with him in his bat cave.  Here at 9:15, he still isn’t awake.  This is kind of unheard of around here because Reese is usually the person who wakes the sun up in the morning to tell it to rise.

 

In a totally unrelated note, its confession time.  I enjoy watching Toddlers and Tiaras.  I don’t let Mattie watch it because so many of those little girls have such crazy, sassy attitudes.  I’m afraid she might decide to try out some of their material and she already has plenty of sass as it is.  A while back, there was an episode featuring a little girl who was just a mess.  And her mama was even more of a mess.  She was 6 years old and you could hardly understand her speech, but one thing that she said that you heard perfectly was this catchy phrase, “A dolla makes me holla honey boo boo child.”  Who says something like that?  And who is okay with letting their child say something like that.  I don’t even know what that means.  Its one of those shows that you watch and are both horrified and fascinated all at the same time.  And I would like to be the first one to let you know that TLC is now making an entire show based on “Honey Boo Boo Child’s” family.  I think it might be just too much for me to handle.  And this is coming from the person who has been known to watch marathons of “600 lb man”.  I just felt that it was my duty to inform you of this upcoming tv show so that you can make sure and tune in if this is the type of thing that you enjoy.  I say it might be too much, but I will probably be watching it on the night it premieres.

 

Well, the kids are awake.  Its time to get this show on the road and hopefully while packing things up, I will find a few items that have been MIA for a bit now.  One being my baby bjorn carrier which seems to have run away and has been hiding from me ever since we returned from our California trip.  Have a great Friday everyone.

Race Cars and Water Balloons

I have a funny experience to share that just happened.  I just put Mattie to bed, Lila was asleep as well and Brandon was putting Reese down, so I decided to sit down and have a little tv time.  I turned it on and there was a Disney show just starting.  I’m not usually a follower of the Disney channel’s tween television selections, but this particular show caught my attention and I have to admit, I was enjoying it.  About halfway through, Brandon came down stairs and just shook his head at me and said something snarky like, “Really Kaylee…..the Disney channel?”  He then picked up the remote control and turned the channel to Lifetime (television for women) so that we could catch the last part of Dance Moms.  Dance Moms…..hmmmm….anyway.

I have made three new discoveries that I feel like I need to share with the rest of the world.  The first is the new black bean burrito at Taco Bell.  We aren’t big Taco Bell goers in our house, so it’s possible that this burrito has been around for a while, but we just discovered it.  So tasty!  It has black beans and rice and just seems like a touch better for you than the regular old bean burrito.  That could be completely untrue, it might not be good for you in the least, but its tasty and seems like a better choice.  The next discovery is ‘Smores Goldfish.  This little treat is just wonderful, think chocolate goldfish, graham cracker goldfish and these little tiny marshmallow goldfish that are similar to the marshmallows found in lucky charms.  Again, I have to make a confession, my kids haven’t had any of these ‘Smore Goldfish – I have kept the bag all to myself.  I believe that they were purchased for the kids, but they don’t seem to require the same midday “sweet fix” that their mother does.  And my last little discovery, the GirlScout Thin Mint Crunch Bar snacks.  Go get some – that’s all I can say.  And get a bunch because they are only around for a limited time.  That is at the top of my list for tomorrow, meet with  the air conditioner man, the landscape guy, go to a farewell dinner for friend, line my cabinets at the new house and before all of that, get more GirlScout Crunch Bars.

Now to share a bit about Reese’s birthday party.  Originally, we had planned on having the party at the Chevy dealership amongst all the Corvettes.  This plan was falling into place nicely, but the dealer never could give me a for sure answer about how many cars would be there and whether or not we had to bring our own chairs or not.  Chairs are kind of an important detail so I just decided that we would go a different route and we instead had the party with a NASCAR theme at our new house.  Let me just say that an empty house is the best place to have a party!  You don’t have to worry about anything getting broken or dirty and there is hardly any prep work to do.  This was great seeing as I ran out of gas on my way to the new house and when I finally did arrive, all the guests were already there waiting on the front porch.  I have to say, that’s a really embarrassing way to host a party.  Having your guests arrive and not only are you not there yet (which is terrible), but nothing is set up yet.  At least I had a funny excuse.  Its interesting how if you have a funny explanation, people are much more willing to let things slide.  Running out of gas and coasting on fumes to a side street was pretty humorous.

We began the party with pizza.  I felt like we should jump right into eating to maybe take the guests minds off of my tardiness.  After everyone seemed good and full, it was time for the Nationwide race in the Baughman 400.  The Nationwide race was for our little guys – the 5 and under set.  The kiddos ran two laps and then had a pit stop where their pit crew did a tire change.  Then it was more laps and then they pitted for hydration.  The plan was to do two more laps and then have a pit stop again and then two more laps, but they were dragging after the first 3 laps.  They tried so hard though and it was just hilarious watching them race around the back yard in their little race car boxes.  So cute and if nothing else, we the parents were thoroughly entertained.

Racers, start your engines!

Landon is his “Go Daddy” car. Little guy is a speedy little runner

Ella “pitting” for hydration

Ben Dale Earnhardt Jr

Jimmie Johnson didn’t win this race, but he gave it a good effort

Next up was the Sprint race  – the bigger kids.  Mattie decided at the last minute that she didn’t want to race, but instead because her buddy Luke’s pit crew chief.  That was probably for the best anyway.  But the boys did great and got into it just as much or more than the little guys did.

The big guys

All of our little racers…..and Brian who just happens to have a broken leg and can’t move really fast. He was already on the deck and we just decided rather than kick him out, we would decorate him.

Following the race, we did our adapted piñata.  Last year, the kids had a rough time breaking the piñata and kind of lost interest after a while.  This time, instead of having to hit it, the idea was to pull a string and one of the strings would actually break the whole thing and the others would just fall out.  I still need to work on it, my design was still flawed, but I think the idea was a good one and the kids liked it.

Next was the Reesetian Water Balloon Invitational.  It was a tough competition this year.  Our dear friend Jessica is the reigning water balloon champion.  She has won ever year, undefeated.  This competition is hers and its even been part of the invitation to the party, ” Come celebrate Reese’s birthday and try to beat Jessica.” This year we changed it to a partner event due to some accusations regarding cheating, and I think that worked much better.  And I have to say, nothing makes a backyard feel like home quite like seeing several of your friends scattered all over the yard, tossing water balloons to one another.  Like I said, it was a fierce competition, but this was the year that Jess had to step down and the Thomas’s began their reign.  I need to get a special trophy made or a plaque that we pass around every year.

Tossing with Dad

Adam and Jason focused

Good catch Robert

Sara was very excited when she and Robert won their round

Very close call

The Winners – Congratulations Adam and Neely, you get bragging rights for a year

 

The last event was cake and ice cream.  Reese got a little shy about the full choir singing to him, but handled it well.  We had forgotten matches, so he didn’t actually blow out any candles, but it didn’t seem to bother him one bit.  I have another confession to make – the birthday song always makes me feel uncomfortable.  I never know what to do with myself when people are singing to me, looking at me and smiling.  Should I sing along with them? Do I just sit and smile?  Its always very awkward to me.  But having a bunch of people singing to one of my children, it always makes me tear up.  Every single time – that song plus their little face and knowing that they are another year older, how much they have grown and changed, and changed me.  Plus, there is something just magical about being surrounded by people who for that moment are celebrating your child just as much as you do.  It just always gets me.

Birthday Boy

Overall, Reese has a wonderful birthday party.  There were a few funny hiccups, but it just added to the fun of the day.  Here in Memphis, we don’t have any local relatives.  Nene and Papa are always great about making the trip from Nashville for big events, but we don’t have any relatives just around the corner or anything.  However, we were shown once again, that we have a family of friends that love us dearly.  The presents were nice and I know Reese appreciated them, but what meant the most was having a house full of laughter, people coming up and asking how they could help, the hugs and kisses that Reese received, and watching people take turns cuddling Lila.  Hearing Mattie squeal with delight as Mr. Sam played hide n seek with the kids.  Knowing that we have a wonderful support system here  that has embraced us and should we need anything, is ready to help whether we ask for it or not is a gift that we will forever be grateful for.

Angels in Middle-Aged Women’s Clothing

We had a good day today.  I think after being away from home for about 3 weeks has had a large impact on my children.  I think they have had an incredible summer, but are exhausted.  After our crazy trip to California, they probably would have been fine to never set foot in the car again.  Then a few weeks later, after the dust had settled and they had finally got back into a routine, they went with Mumsey and Poppy to Florida (where we later met up with them).  That too was a fun trip, but another long one – 10 days.  Then they were home for about 2 and a half days, just long enough for me to repack their suitcases, and I sent them off to Nene and Papa’s where they went on a Gatlinburg adventure.  We are now gearing up to move them into a new home and I think they are slightly scared that Brandon and I might not be moving with them.  Today Reese told me several times how much he loved me and how he had missed my kisses.  He asked to hold my hand everywhere we walked and kept saying to Mattie, “Let’s be good.  Are you being your goodest?” I think that after traveling all over the world (or at least North America) and having the time of their lives, they have still come to the conclusion that the best place to be is in mama’s lap.  I give it about another day before they are being nuts again, but I greatly enjoyed my little cherubs today.

So even though the kids were behaving great today, I still had my hands full.  While at Mattie’s gymnastics class today, I had to fill our her enrollment paperwork for this fall.  Reese happily sorted the gymnastics leotards by color, I know that’s kind of odd but it keeps him occupied.  Lila, on the other hand, was trying to eat her feet and my hands and the paper I was filling out.  She was happy as a little clam and shrieking with delight, but making it impossible to fill out the paperwork.  After watching me try and fail, to fill out the forms and hold Lila, a lovely woman offered to hold her for me.  Lila was perfectly fine with going to woman and just squealed with delight as they played several rounds of this little piggie.  And I got Mattie’s papers filled out without looking like she did it herself.  Thank you middle-aged great-aunt of the little girl wearing the pink sequined leotard for helping me out and being so nice about it and not making me feel like I was being a bad mother or couldn’t handle my kids.  A bit later, I was at the grocery store returning a watermelon that turned out to be a little diseased looking inside.  I had Lila in her car seat in one arm and a bag with a watermelon in it in the other.  I also had kids 1 and 2 with me as well.  The very kind woman who was next in line not only offered me her spot, but also offered to hold Lila (in her 50 lb car seat) for me while I handled my business.  I have offered to let people go in front of me in lines, I have picked things up for people or even given them the change that they didn’t have – but I have never offered to hold someone’s kid.  But I was so grateful to her and quickly handed Lila and her seat right on over.  She was standing right next to me in a crowded line so I didn’t much think she was going to run off with my child, that and Reese and Mattie flanked her so she would have had to take them out too in her getaway.  But it was just so helpful and it made me think how often I have seen a person struggling.  And their struggles could have been easily aided if they just had one more arm or hand, but I didn’t step forward because I didn’t want to offend them or create an awkward moment.  But had these woman not just stepped forward and insisted that I let them help me, I may have created a real mess.

It also really made me appreciate other women.  These ladies have been in the trenches before me and knew exactly what I was trying to juggle.  They also knew that we as moms rarely speak up and say we need help, so they just did it and in a way that didn’t make me feel like I was a failure.  I hope I will be brave enough to step up and help out without being asked next time I see another mom or just person in general who really needs an extra hand.

And back to that hour at gymnastics, I would like to take a minute to applaud my kid number 1.  After several weeks of teasing us with almost independently throwing her back hand-spring, after the promise of ice cream if she did it, Mattie all by her little self, finally did it.  I was so proud.  And there was a trip to YoLo for frozen yogurt and 5 count them 5 toppings this evening after dinner.  Birthday cake frozen yogurt with skittles, m&m’s, caramel, whipped cream and cookie dough pieces seems more like a punishment to me, but to her, it was her feast of victory.

I will leave you with a video of her performing her back hand-spring.  She’s not olympics bound by any means, but we are still very proud.  Make sure and watch it all the way through, the first attempt isn’t really very successful.

And come back tomorrow when we will talk about the fun that was Reese’s 4th birthday this Sunday.

New Old Clothes

So it’s a few days away from Reese’s birthday party.  We are in the process of moving ( I don’t know why I bother to mention that as we will be in this process for the next month), have a house that depserately needed cleaned out and like I said, this party to get ready for. The big kids are away for the week and only having the one, well, she doesn’t even feel like there’s a kid around so it seemed like the perfect week for being extra productive.  With so much on my to-do list, it was only logical that I would spend my morning doing what every pressed for time woman does, I went to the big twice annual consignemtn sale at the agricenter here in town.  Let me just tell you, Memphis TN loves them some new used clothes!  

 

There were women walking around with strollers – minus that baby – filled with tons of outfits.  Some of these women even brought along a shopping partner who might do the pushing and blocking of other loaded up strollers, while the mom looked through all the clothes.  Then when it was time to check out, the helper held a place in the line.  It was quite the system.  I would like to know if these woman were doing their entire next season’s shopping at this one spot, because those were some huge piles of clothes!.  Now, don’t get me wrong….I enjoy a good deal, but I don’t really think its necessary to purchase 14 different smocked outfits for my child.  Is that little kiddo really going to wear all those fancy little outfits?  And there weren’t just a few women with overlaoded strollers and the like, there were tons of women and every once in a while there would be a little squabble over who had seen the outfit first.  It was intense.  There was one moment where I overheard a woman say to another one, “But your baby hasn’t even been born yet?  You never know, it could actually turn out to be a boy!” I guess its really poor huge consignment sale etiquette to shop for clothing for an age or gender of a child that you don’t have physically with you as proof.  I felt like I needed to have a sign that said, Mom of 3. Girl age 7 and Boy age 4 on my back.  

 

But more so than enjoying the hunt, Memphis mamas love their clothes.  Some of the prices on these previously used little numbers were CRAZY!  Again, I completely agree that clothes often get grown out of way before their life is over and still have tons of wear left in them.  I have had to take clothing out of my kids closet many times that still looked like new, maybe even was new, because it was now too little.  So I compltely understand how one might want to get a litle bit of  money out of the clothes that they probably spent quite a bit on.  But that’s just sort of part of the life of buying clothes for kids, the gamble that we as parents take and the lesson you learn fairly early on that its best not to go nuts buying kids clothes.  Clothing isn’t like a house, it really doesn’t have much resale value and don’t even think about improving its value. Anyway, back to my point, and I realy do have one.  I found a darling pair of pajamas that were in pretty great condition still, these would have been wonderful for Mattie Moo and of course the next step was to see how much they were.  Twelve dollars for a pair of used jammie!  I’m sorry, but unless these pajamas are going to help Mattie brush her teeth, read her a story and ensure that she won’t get up until morning – I am not paying $12 for a pair of used pajamas!  I know that a lot of times clothes have sentimental meaning to us and its hard to retire them, especially things that belonged to our little ones early on in their baby days.  But people are going to make their own memories with those little cute outfits, they don’t need to pay for yours.

 

I left with a velvet dress for Mattie for church that I only paid $10 for.  And getting that darling little dress for that darling little price, was worth the rest of the crazy.

So waht else have we been up to with the big kids gone?  Tuesday night Brandon and I had a very romantic evening alone….just the two of us…..sorting through all the boxes of papers that moved with us when we first came to Memphis 4 years ago that have none been touched since they were stacked so nicely in the attic.  I decided that it really didn’t make much sense for us to drag around unopened boxes of papers for the rest of our lives and now was as good of time as any to toss what we (and by we I mean Brandon) no longer need from his undergrad and grad school days.  Then last night, we had another romantic date night of taking all the paper to the recycling center because it was too heavy for me to lift in and out of the car.  You are all extremely jealous of the life with live aren’t you?  I know, its pretty fabulous and I have a hard time believing its mine sometimes.

 

And here before I go to do more fabulous living, let me leave you with an admition of something that I am not proud of.  Those happy hour trips to Sonic have become less of a fun spur of the moment thing and more of a necessary habit.  I have found myself at Sonic 3 days in a row now and yesterday, I almost missed happy hour and caught myself feeling just a wee bit panicky at the thought that I wouldn’t get to have drink my weight in sweet tea if that car in front of me didn’t hurry itself up.  I have deiced that today, I am going to purprosefully miss Sonic Happy Hour just to see what happens.

 

On and one more little thing, there is a place here on wordpress where I can go and see from which countries people have been reading this blog from.  Typically, its just the U.S that’s all lit up, but for some reason, Alaska is considered seperate from the rest of America and it gets its own color and I have seen that it gets lit up too.  I don’t think I know anyone in Alaska, but for who ever is reading and is from Alaska, thank you so much for joining me!  I like feeling like I am making new friends even if I have no idea who you are.  Please keep checking in on me.  And the other day I saw that there had been a few views from South Africa!  Other than Dave Matthews and Charlize Theron, both of whom I do not know personally  – I don’t know anyone from there.  So to whoever you are and if you ever read again, thanks so much!  I did see that I have had a reader from Spain and that one just warmed my heart a little because I know exactly who it was.  It made my heart happy to know that even while that person is on a fabulous cruise in Europe, they were checking in on me.  I am so ready for you to come home Spain Reader!

 

Okay, well I have NASCARs to paint for an upcoming birthday party.  You have a great Thursday!

No Bama Boys And Losing a Loved One

I’m not really sure what’s going on.  This is my 2nd attempt at typing this post today.  I’m not sure what I may have written about that was so controversial that the blogosphere found it necessary to delete.  I am known though for my hot topics and confrontational attitude.  It may have had something to do with my admitting that my new lazy hair style of choice has become a french braid.  No, not one of those cute, trendy types that you see celebrities ( or teenagers ) wearing.  I’m talkin’ the good old-fashioned, sort of Little House on the prairie type.  I was beginning to think that maybe my high-ponytail-bun was a bit too young for me now, but still wanted a way to wear my hair that didn’t involve me actually fixing it.  So the other morning after quickly braiding Mattie’s in pigtails, I gave my head a twist too.  I’m pretty sure I look like a sister-wife from one of those fundamentalist polygamy groups you hear about living in compounds and being married off at age 12 minus the ankle length jumper, but hey….I’m all for a non-fixing hairstyle.  Maybe it wasn’t the controversial content of that post, but the boringness of it……..

 

So our travels back home brought us some interesting information about our dear Mattie.  We weren’t trying to conduct any sort of research with her, but after two bouts of the vomits while traveling in the car and both of them taking place in Alabama, we are beginning to think there is some sort of correlations between nausea and this particular state.  She traveled from Memphis to California and had no problems.  We drive back and forth to Arkansas all the time and I don’t recall her every throwing up on those trips.  But she threw up on the way to Florida (in Alabama) and on the way back (just inside Alabama).  I told her that maybe she would be better off not ever dating any young men from Alabama, because should they want to take her home to meet their mama, it doesn’t really make a very ladylike impression to get sick all over one’s hostess.  I’m not sure if that would mean all boys who ever lived in Alabama, or just those that currently reside there when she is of dating age.  I also told her it was a good thing we discovered this now when she’s just 7.  Hopefully, we can find some sort of Alabamadramamine though because I like that place.

 

In other news, Reese spend his last night being 3 Saturday.  And I spent it a crying mess.  On the even of my children’s’ birthdays, I often get a little sentimental thinking about what happened years ago and how much has happened since those little ones came along.  I often end up slipping up into their rooms and laying with them as they sleep, when they are super cuddly because they don’t know I am there.  But I don’t usually cry like I did this particular birthday eve night.  No, there was something else going on.  When we arrived home earlier that evening, we were clearing all the things out of the two rental cars that my parents and Brandon and I had rented (our cars do NOT need the extra miles) and I noticed that we didn’t have Reese’s little lovey Soft.  He had ridden with Mom and Jerry on Saturday and never had it in their car and I remembered him having it in our car the day before because he dropped it and was really worried it might fall out.  But I couldn’t remember having seen it since Friday.  And then the panic started.  Reese handled it all quite well, especially after I let him open a birthday present a few hours early.  I did not handle it quite as gracefully.  Not only does it take a mom out of the running for Mom of the Year when they lose their child’s favorite possession on the eve of their birthday, (pretty sure I wasn’t going to get this year’s award anyway).  But even if he could handle it and move on, I don’t know that I was ready to.  That little tattered piece of pastel yarn, woven together with love by his Nene just represents Reese’s childhood to me.  It smells like him to me, kind of gross and sweaty yet slightly like fabric softener.  He has me tie Soft around his neck as a cape almost daily and next to me, it’s about the only thing that he asks for when he’s sick or hurting.  Soft was going to go in his box of little boy treasures that I have been saving since he was born and now suddenly without my being able to prepare myself, it was gone.  I know I say I was upset for him, but I will be honest, it was just as much for me too.  I don’t really enjoy change or moving on, especially if it signifies and end of something.  I have no problem getting rid of my clothes or buying a new favorite pair of shoes, but when Lila grows out of a little gown and I know that it’s the last time I will have a person that small living here in my house.  Those are tough times.  I love that they are growing up and becoming little people, and I really don’t think I would want to jump back in time and start all over again with any of them.  I just wish maybe they wouldn’t grow up quite so fast.  And that unraveling piece rectangle of yarn was just a little souvenir of this amazing journey my Reese and I will have traveled.  He went to sleep fine, but I cried…..and prayed.  And then did a little more crying.  Especially after I called the hotel and they told me they hadn’t seen it.

 

Reese had birthday donuts for breakfast and to try to get my mind off of the death of Soft and to do something Reese loves, we went to Lowes.  We needed to pick out paint colors for the new house and Reese just hadn’t been there in over two weeks.  So it was a win-win for everyone.  I kept harassing Brandon about calling the hotel again because the housekeeping staff may have done the laundry and found it after the drying cycle and I needed to know whether or not I needed to break the news that Soft really was gone.  He kept putting me off.  It wasn’t until we came home and I was filling Brandon in on the latest gossip I had heard while reading People on-line that he told me in the calmest, most nonchalant way that Lila needed changing and they found Soft.  Oh, I can’t tell you how thrilled I was at that news.  And anyone who says that God doesn’t care about the little things in our lives, well, there is a boy and his mama here in Memphis who would beg to differ.  I am very aware that God sometimes answers no to things that we request of him.  I am also aware that there are some things we make a big deal about and in the end, they don’t really matter a hill of beans.  But I also know that it never hurts to ask and just like things that concern my children are important to me, things they weigh heavily in my heart matter to my Heavenly Father.  Sometimes he answers my silly requests….I can’t even count how many times I have found my keys and I know that’s not where I put them.  And sometimes nothing happens and that item is lost forever, but usually something better eventually comes along or I realize I didn’t really need it after all.  And sometimes I just have to learn a lesson that might not be a fair lesson but makes me a stronger person for it.  Either way, He hears my requests big or small, silly or serious and He never tires of me calling out to Him.

 

More than returning Soft to us, I think that lesson is a much bigger gift to have been given.  So with that, I will leave you with a few pictures of Reese and his buddy Soft.

Bedtime with Soft,  Big Blue Whale and a few other guests

Reese, Soft and Mommy meeting Mickey Mouse a while ago

Reese, Soft and Aunt Shannie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Magic Kingdom

I know what you are thinking, I’m writing a post all about our adventures to Disney World on Tuesday.  That, or you are thinking that we went back for day 2.  Those would both be fun guesses, but incorrect.

Our day began just as most of our others here have.  Reese woke up as soon as the sun barely peeked through his window and let us all know that the sun was out and it was time to get up.  As we sat about, leisurely enjoying our morning coffee and trying to decide what to do, we tossed about ideas like going to Down Town Disney.  Lila’s mickey ears melted funny after being left in the car part of the day yesterday and I was hoping to find replacements.  A visit to the ear store and a day at the pool was pretty much settled on until Mumsey threw a wrench in the plan and suggested the beach.  We had planned to do the beach on Friday as we start our journey back to Memphis, but hey, if its close, why not go twice.  So then the internet search began to find the nearest beach and wouldn’t you know it, Daytona was only 70 miles away.  And wouldn’t you also know it, there is a NASCAR race in Daytona this weekend.  And we happen to have a few NASCAR fans here.  That settled it.  Sorry Lila, your mouse ears will be forever ruined, but Poppy and Reesie felt the need for some speed.

 

I feel like now would be a great time to give some history about our little NASCAR fan, seeing as most of you probably don’t recall ever hearing Brandon talk about being a race fan.  He is not, this love is original and has not been handed down by anyone else.  It is pure and true.  Reese adores Lowes, the home improvement store.  He can spend hours there just perusing the aisles.  He loves to touch the tools and see the washers and dryers.  He likes the paint chips and the lawn mowers.  There really isn’t anything about that store that doesn’t make him happy.  He also likes cars.  Right now he is especially fond of Chevys, primarily Corvettes and Cameroes.  So when we stumbled upon the Lowes NASCAR toy car at the store while checking out all the other Hot Wheels, he was immediately hooked.  He had to have that car and when we casually mentioned to him that his new favorite car was actually a real car and you could watch it race on tv, well that was just magic.  Shortly after that little toy car was purchased, he and I sat down to watch our first race together one Sunday.  We started probably on lap 250 or so, a little late in the game, but it was fine for Mr. Short Attention Span.  Watching our race, we learned about who drove the number 48 Lowes car.  And from that point on Jimmie Johnson has been a part of our family.  Every night when Reese says his prayers, he prays for safety for Jimmie Johnson.  Only, he refers to him as “my friend Jimmie Johnson”.  Reese asked me recently to please make sure and invite his friend to our upcoming birthday party (Reese turns 4 on Sunday).  I told him that I would make sure and send an email to his fan club and let them know.  Jimmie is a little busy on Sundays, so Reese wasn’t really surprised when I told him that there would be no race car drivers at his party.  But you can imagine his excitement when I was able to tell him today that Jimmie felt really bad about not being able to make it, so he came to the closest speedway that he could find to Reese so that he could do his practicing and maybe, just maybe, Reese would come to see him.

 

So it was off to Daytona for us.  Poppy was probably just as excited as Reese, Brandon was a little unsure of the whole situation – not exactly being educated on all things NASCAR, Mattie was completely uninterested, Lila asleep, Mumsey was going with the flow and I was getting really excited, but trying to keep the expectations in check.  But pretty much not matter what happened, Reese was going to get to see some NASCARs and that is about the biggest dream he has right now.  So to get to grant my little guys wish, well, that’s the kind of thing that makes a mommy tear up.

 

We arrived in Daytona, found a mall right across the street from the track which was perfect so that Mumsey could take the girls there.  Mattie had absolutely no desire to go and the last thing you ever want to do is take Mattie somewhere that she doesn’t want to go if you don’t have to.  And taking Lila would have been just plan stupid.  We sun screened up and went in search of tickets and ear protection.  I would like to take a second here to say that those speedways are gigantic!  They are like small towns inside.  There are full on campgrounds in the oval where people have set up their own little villages to last for days.  I assume since they were there today for practice that they intend to stay through the actual race.  And not only are they equipped with motorhomes and such, probably the majority of them had above ground pools set up as well.  And I’m not talking little wading, kiddie pools.  I mean those 4 ft deep things that can cost a pretty penny.  That’s camping to a whole new level and I was impressed!  It was incredible.

About this time, as I was gawking at the innovative camping skills of the tailgaters, we started to enter in a restricted area.  The security guard let us know that yes, we were headed in the right direction to the fan center, but we didn’t have the appropriate passes – however, since we would probably be stopped and sent back by someone else, he would go ahead and let us give it a try.  I’m not really sure about any of the reasoning here, but since we really didn’t know what we were doing anyway, we just kept going in the direction that we had previously been told would take us to the drivers garages (which we did have passes for).  So we are walking along and start to notice that the motorhomes and above ground pools have been replaced very nice, what I imagine important people travel in, tour buses.  You know the kinds, the ones you see driving on the interstate and they don’t say anything on them but they are so grand and stately and the windows are all so blacked out that you just know someone who’s kind of a big deal is in there.  Yeah, we started into a lot full of them.  And just about that time, a light-colored Chevy Tahoe pulled up right next to one of those lovely buses and this man got out.

If you zoom in, you can see much better

This man probably doesn’t look the least important to you, but you probably don’t hear about Jimmie Johnson 50 million times a day either.  But sure enough, there he was and unfortunately, Reese wasn’t with me.  But I got very excited for him and took the poor man’s photo (which if I had planned ahead at all, I would have brought a different lens, but I don’t usually feel like there might be a chance celebrity sighting).  I have only seen one other famous person and that was Tammy Faye Baker back at Disney World ions ago and I don’t really know that it even counts.  So to see someone who is not only famous, but also the one person you were kind of hoping to see, well that’s just incredible.

 

Reese and Poppy (and I think Brandon, too) had a great time watching the cars all get inspected and then watching the Lowes pit crew get number 48 all spruced up.  Sure we were separated from the car by a plate of glass, but Reese (and Poppy and Brandon) didn’t seem to care.  Reese would turn around and just beam at me as he pointed out that Jimmie’s helmet was in the car and that NASCARs don’t really have tail and headlights, but instead those are just stickers.  And for a boy who wants to look at the engine in everyone’s car who comes to our house.  (I’m not kidding, if you arrived by car, he will ask to go see your engine), to get to see the Lowes car’s engine, that was just fabulous.  They had a whole little kiddie area set up with games and bouncy things that he could have played on and when I asked him about those things later, he said he didn’t know what I was talking about.  That’s pretty impressive for a 4-year-old to not even see the huge inflatable race car bounce house because he was so taken by the real race car.

Number 48

Watching atop daddy as they inspect the cars before they practice, but keeping tabs on Poppy, too

 

And then came the moment that we had been waiting for.  We rode the little tram from the fan area over to turn number 1, where we would climb the mountain up to our seats.  We walked out of the tunnel out into the sun again and I heard the loudest noise that I have ever in my life heard.  This wasn’t a noise, this was a whole experience and it had only been two cars.  These were just some of the little guys before the big boys came out, but still.  We immediately suited up in our ear plugs and got Reese’s muffs on before another car came by and made the earth shake again.  That feeling was like having one of those big boom fireworks go off in your rib cage or something.  And Reese loved it!  His headset didn’t come off even once, fact is, it stayed on until we had left the speedway and were back in the mall parking lot across the street. He loved every second of it and when number 48 went speeding past us going 160 miles an hour that first lap, Reese waved as hard as he could, truly believing that Jimmie Johnson wanted him to be there.  That Reese was actually making his day.

We were sitting under the first A of Daytona

His windows are tinted, otherwise I am positive you would see Jimmie Johnson waving at Reese, just sure of it.

As a parent we don’t get many days like that.  We get small victories and even on the worst of days, we usually get a hug and a kiss good-night.  At least for now while they are still little.  But very rarely do we get to say, “give me you biggest wish, the one you dream about the hardest and the one that seems the furthest away”, and then get to hand it to them.  My mom said that she thought I was just about as excited about seeing the practice session and Jimmie Johnson by his tour bus as Reese was.  And I was.  Because even though he tells me all about them, I am not privy to his little boy dreams that dance around in his head at night.  But for today, his dream was on display for all of us to watch and I have never seen my little guy so happy.  And I guess that makes it my dream coming true as well.

So this is not a post about Disney’s Magic Kingdom, because that really wasn’t one of the best times in any of our lives.  But rather about the day that we went to see some cars go really fast in a little beach town in Florida.  I wonder what Reese is dreaming about tonight?