I Am Ready For Thanksgiving

My house has wet, muddy paw prints all over the floor from a dog who insists on walking through the flower bed every time he goes outside to do his thing.  The shower downstairs is currently flooded, probably due to all the grass I tried to wash down the drain while I was showering off the dog house.  That probably deserves an explanation……………..And my pantry is pretty sparse.  But we have toilet paper now, so come on over family….mi casa su casa.

I think the only bathroom that had adequate paper was the master bath upstairs, and this makes sense because that is the most private bathroom, which of course never gets used around here.  Privacy is not really something my children practice at the moment.  They are all going to follow me wherever I go anyway, may as well keep it convenient.  So the upstairs bathroom is well-stocked while the others ……….well, lets just say I kind of saved the day with my late night Target run yesterday.

We are in full festive mood around here.  We’ve been doing a few little Thanksgiving crafts – primarily activities that involve handprints as turkey renderings – and have pulled out the Little People Thanksgiving play set, which of course has had Noah and a zoo keeper added to the mix.  Mattie let me know that they didn’t have any other plans and Thanksgiving is all about inviting people over.  Today, we have big plans to make a turkey wreath, but as of 9:30 this morning, there has been absolutely no progress on that.

We did make these though last week and I have to say, I adore them:

I have these little plate hanger things and I like to change out the plates every little bit, especially for particular seasons.  I realized that I dodn’t have anything for fall and had the grand idea that the whole family could go and spend an afternoon ( and about $300) at the pottery painting place making adorable hand turkey plates.  That is pretty grand isn’t it?  Pretty only in your dreams grand really.  It’s right up there with having perfect family photos  or Mattie riding her pet unicorn to school.  So I figured I needed to come up with a plan B.  Surprisingly, it came pretty easily.  Instead of $14 a piece ceramic plates that we would only have one shot at, what about paper plates!  So I bought the fanciest paper plates I could find, which is kind of a contradiction right there in itself, and we set to work.  It worked out perfectly because if there was a mistake, we just chucked the plate and tried again.  No tears (me, usually) and the whole craft only cost about $5.  From a distance, they don’t look like they are just Chinet plates and it’s not like we were actually going to eat off of them anyway.

We are still anxiously awaiting the decorating of Brandon’s plate.  He has been living, eating, breathing and sleeping Boards for the past 3 months so we are giving him a little bit of an extension on his crafting.  Frankly, I am thankful just to have his hand up there at all.

And to really kick the season off, we celebrated Friend Family Thanksgiving this past Sunday.  That’s a little something we Memphis transplants started a few years ago, those of us who don’t really have family here in the Bluff City.  There are a few of us families who have just decided that since we don’t have our actual families nearby, we will become our own little family unit.  And part of being a family is celebrating the holidays.  So every year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we get together, each of us pretty much knowing what we will be bringing now, and for about 8 hours we eat and lounge and eat some more.  We like to think of it as preparation for the actual big day, stomach stretching if you will.

You know dessert is good when you have to strip to eat it

There is football watching, a little bit of gossip (those silly boys), a whole lot of eating, and usually some napping with some wild children thrown in for good measure. It’s not a great picture by any means, but I had to share that this year the kids table grew almost doubly as we had 2 little friends who are now “Big Girls” and could sit and eat by themselves.

The kids table is starting to fill up!

There was reading

Uncle Ronnie reading to the “L’s”

“Cousins” I’d like to say they were reading, but I’m pretty sure they were blowing something up on the ipad

And coloring

Coloring with Aunt Shannie

And lounging

J getting the couch warmed up for lounge time

And watching Lila dance to her jam

You can’t tell but Lila was dancing, the men appear to be more focused on the game

And a whole lot of being thankful.  Our “Family” has had some pretty tragic losses this year, but even in the midst of those loses, I have been amazed at the love, the selflessness and the grace that I have seen poured out.  My Friend Family has jumped right in, without being told or even asked, and taken on roles and responsibilities all the while making it look easy.  Keeping up their regular life while adding this new crazy one too it all.  Their love for each other has been displayed over and over, usually without a word being spoken – but that’s what friends do.  That’s what family does.

Sibling posing – minus the angry one….maybe next time

And we have had huge praises this year, as well.  New little people have joined the ranks and our already present little people have grown and are continuing to bloom.

We have so much to be thankful for, and those 15 people sitting around me on Sunday, are some of the blessings that I treasure the most.

Now, I have to go and tackle a festive turkey wreath with a blessing I loving like to refer to as #2.  Have a productive, jolly, and grateful Tuesday.

I Have A Problem

The Season is over.  I suppose some of you are crinkling up your brows, trying to figure out what I am talking about because clearly, the holiday season has just begun.  And if that’s not what I’m referring to, what in the world am I talking about.  Football season still has a ways to go and basketball is just getting started, I have never mentioned hockey so that probably isn’t it and baseball ended a bit ago.  I am hoping that after reading this for a bit, at least one of you knows which season I am referring to, and maybe you even watched all the ending celebrations on Sports Center.  I am of course referring to the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and let me tell you, it is was easier to say good-bye to a season and my favorite Sunday past time when your team has won.  Last year was TOUGH!

Anyway, I suppose this Sunday instead of wearing what has become my regular first day of the week shirt and Reese sporting his 48 fashions, we can focus in on our 49ers gear.  I will be the first to admit, I do not fully commit to the Family Football Team until after NASCAR season.

But my Jimmie Johnson whirlie gig will still twirl proudly in the front yard and Reese and I are already keeping track of which new cars we will be needing to invest in for the next season.  Paint schemes change you know and we want to be up to date when we do our starting line-up come February when it all starts up again.

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Now that my Sunday’s are free….er…….this gives me more time to enjoy my latest pasttime…….shoplifting.  I have never been one to take something without paying for it, but now that I have had kids, I have to be honest it has happened more than once.  When Mattie was about 2, we were strolling through Target and I had picked out a tube of lipstick.  She was sitting in the cart, along with the lipstick, and as I went through the store picking out other things that we needed she stowed away the lipstick in my purse.  I guess she thought she was being helpful and securing mommy’s lipstick….she just didn’t realize that it was still the property of Target.  I don’t think I realized that one for a good 2 weeks or so.  When I got to the register to pay for my things, I couldn’t find the lipstick and just figured it had fallen out somewhere and by that time, my toddler was very over shopping and I figured we would just get some another time.  My deathly pale lips look just fine without lipstick.

Over the years, the kids have swiped a few other things from Target.  Things like shoes that I forgot that I had put on their little feet to try on and then they liked them so much and started to throw a fit when it came time to take them off that I just decided to leave them.  I have been known to take items back to Target and tell the folks at the Customer Service center that I had not paid for them and was coming back to do so.  One time I even found a package of diapers and wipes left in a cart that had been returned to the corral.  I took them back in the store and since they had already been paid for and taken out of their system, they couldn’t restock them…..without giving me a store credit.  That was a weird one.

My heart went out to the poor parent who had probably forgot them in a rush and then got home and made the terrible discovery that they were now up a very messy creek.

There has even been occasion that something has been tucked into the basket under the stroller while on vacation, the stroller changed hands at some point and then when it was folded up to be put back in the truck, the item was long forgotten about…………until we were back home.  I have 3 pairs of socks from a Banana Republic outlet store in Las Vegas that I feel guilty about every time I wear them.

So the stroller is the method with which I robbed my latest victim…..The Gap.  Really though, with all that I have purchased from them over the last 2 decades……I kind of feel like they owe many any way.

So I had taken my gaggle of children for a quickie run to the Gap.  Lila was riding in the stroller, M (my extra baby) was being carried around, and Reese was being my muscle and pushing Lila around.  We were on a mission, we had a gift card and there was a huge sale and we only had so much time until lunch meltdown.  I had been methodically picking up my items and placing them over the hood of the stroller.  And then, I spotted something, I got distracted, and placed the white button-up shirt on the side of the stroller handle……not with everything else across the hood.  Mistake number 1.

A few strides later, Lila dropped June, her blanket, on the floor.  It got all tangled up and dirty in the wheels and again without thinking, I just tossed it up over the handles.

Mistake number 2

It was time to pay and I took my loot up to the counter, proud of myself for keeping it all just at what my gift card amount was, and that it was so carefully splayed out on the stroller canopy for easy transfer to the counter. I walked out to the car, feeling proud of myself for the treasures that I had found as well as the fact that none of the 3 little people who were with me had lost it.

Success

And then we got to the car.  It is no easy task to load children into the car.  Even one somehow takes all your arms and legs working together in an exhausting dance.  In the time that it takes 7 men to change 4 tires and fill up a car with gas (little NASCAR reference here) I can get one half of the body of a squirming toddler into her car seat.  And doing it with 3……well, that right there is reason enough that I do not use the gym facilities at the JCC.  I get my aerobic workout from car seat wrangling and stroller storing.  By the time I had everyone in and buckled and properly snacking, I started on the stroller only to discover that I had hidden that silly white shirt from myself under Lila’s blanket and now I was going to have to get everyone out and loaded back up just to go pay.

UGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH

Plan b

I continued to fold up the stroller, put my sack of Gap Goodness into the seat beside me and pulled out my receipt.  The phone number to the store is on the receipt and I called it from the comfortable seat of my car.  I explained what had happened and then offered them my card number over the phone.  I guess they figured that everyone deserves a little grace once in a while and the kind lady told me that this one was on the house.

I appreciate it big time Gap.  However, had I known that I was going to get a free gift with purchase, I may have picked something a bit more exciting than the $10.99 on clearance blouse that came home with me.

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I guess I can put that $10.99 towards new bows for Mattie.  Somehow, two of the most commonly used hairbows have jumped ship unnoticed until just this morning.  It’s driving me crazy because I know they are here somewhere, and probably somewhere very strange and completely where they should not be, but where that place is I cannot figure out.  I have looked in all the purses, backpacks and other little bags that Lila likes to carry around.  I have looked behind the toilets where Reese tends to stow things when he doesn’t want to take the time to carry them to the location that I have specified.  Strange hiding place, but it works because I rarely take the time to check to see if anything is hidden behind the downstairs guest bathroom.  I have looked in the toy bins and even in a couple of arks ( we have a really large amount of Noah’s Ark toys around here).  I even checked in Mattie’s dolls clothes, the legos and in her piano bag.  Nothing.  But I know they are here somewhere.  I could probably just as easily go out and buy some others, but I loved these.  They were the perfect size and had the best little clips that are kind of hard to find.  And they were only about a dollar.

Maybe they were too good to be true.  Unicorn hair bows if you will.  Either way, it’s driving me batty trying to find them.

What To Do About Christmas?

I have been thinking for a while that this was the year that I was going to be on top of Christmas.  This was also going to be the year that I simplified.  That we got down to the heart of things and left all the stress that so frequently seems to accompany the holiday season behind.  Mainly, I think that in my head, that meant I was going to get my Christmas shopping done early.  And Brandon and I were going to finally come up with the best plan that allows our children to still feel like they are getting Christmas, without us going nuts trying to buy (and tell others what to buy) things that they really don’t need in the least.

I love my children and I LOVE the get them things that I know they will enjoy.  And trust me, I remember the excitement and anticipation of what mysteries were in those wrapped packages under the tree.  I loved every bit of it, from the chapstick in my stocking, the new outfit perfectly folded just so in a Sears box, the new socks…………and there was always that one…..that extra special gift.  One year it was a My Little Pony nursery complete without baby ponies that wore diapers and all their gear.  They even smelled like baby powder.  I played with that little set for a very, very long time.  Another year, it was my Barbie kitchen set.  That one actually showed up at Grandma’s and mom got me really good because I had asked only for that kitchen set and was more than a little thrown off when it didn’t show up Christmas morning under our tree.

And then there was the year of the cd player radio and the soundtrack to The Body Guard starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.  Pretty sure that year changed me life, and that even now, though I haven’t listened to any of the songs on that cd for at least 5 years, I could probably sing it word for word.  That year and that gift held that bar for quite some time…..until I received my Discman and also the soundtrack to Romeo and Juliet, starring Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio.  That my friends……..thankfully, all of my young teenage friends received the exact same gift that year and we listened to it, on our discmen, not even with cool ear buds but the hard, cheapie headphones, for at least 3 months solid.

I remember the awesome gifts.  And even more than the gifts themselves, I remember feeling how special they each were.  How long awaited these treasures were and how carefully they needed to be treated.  Unfortunately, I had my birthday relatively close to Christmas and I knew that after December 26th, there would be no large gift giving and receiving for quite some time so I better savour this.

But things are different now.  I will be the first to admit that I don’t feel like my kids have to wait for things.  I blame my own self pretty much 100%, okay maybe 95%.  One of the reasons that they don’t wait for things is because there are so many of them..kids I mean.  There is a very high chance that anything they see that they might want to give a go at playing with, we probably already have one.  This is very true for Lila, having 2 older siblings who have been gifted pretty heartily for the last 8 years or so.  We might not have the exact item, but if you dig around long enough, I am pretty secure in my feelings that you will run along something that does just about the same thing.

Another reason why they want for nothing is because I have a standing date every spring and fall with about 15 different consignment sales that always have last years Christmas toys that are no longer being played with.  It’s very easy to say yes to a huge HotWheels track that would have made an awesome Christmas present and would have cost about $75 if I bought it in the store.  But instead, I paid $6 for it in April and who wants to wait 8 months? It’s hard knowing how to handle those situations.  On the one hand, if they change their mind and don’t think its the most incredible toy ever, you aren’t out a whole lot of money and you don’t feel like you’ve wasted the Christmas magic.  But then when Christmas comes along, you have no ideas for that one magical gift.

And between you and me, I really don’t want my kids to grow up thinking that Christmas is about a magical gift that can be bought at a store.

So for the past 5 years, I have been trying to come up with other things to bring sparkle to our holiday.  Things to get them in the spirit and excited.  Things to let them be part of the sparkle and magic for someone else, because their lives are already pretty soaked with glitter.  We got to plays and shows, Zoolightful and The Living Christmas Tree.  We make cards and cookies and other things with hands, glue and my bounty of construction paper.  We make gifts for the grandparents who seem to have everything and I pick out the perfect Christmas pajamas for the big Christmas Eve opening.  We usually throw ourselves into whatever Mattie’s school Christmas project is, and I talk up how awesome it is to be able to give the magic to someone else.  That there are so many other people who wouldn’t have any  kind of Christmas, if others didn’t help them and how this is our chance to do something really big.  And they get into it, but I don’t think they really understand it all.  And they certainly don’t understand that the money we take to make Christmas for another family is the money that we would have used for them.  They are still in a warm and fuzzy part of childhood that believes money just grows on trees and everyone gets everything their little hearts desire at Christmas time.  I don’t know how to explain to them that we won’t be doing much for ourselves, without them thinking they did something wrong.

How do you find the medium?

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet and already, at the post office the other day, a very kind and well-meaning clerk asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas.  I don’t think the kids had really thought about it yet, and part of me wanted to cover their ears and say to all around, “No, don’t ask them that yet.  Don’t encourage them to be greedy.  Don’t remind them that they haven’t checked out the Big Book from Toys R Us yet and that they need to go home and do inventory of what they are missing from their already copious collections.” Not yet, let me hang on to their thankful little hearts for at least another 24 hours.  That is until we go into the grocery store and it’s already decked out in holiday flare, ringing little Pavlovian bells in my well-trained children’s ears that it’s time to start making lists.

How do I do it?  Mold them into gracious gift receivers who are happy just be thought of. That don’t expect huge things and don’t look to Christmas as their time to “clean up”.  But yet still get excited at the idea of being generous to someone else? I don’t want them to look back and say to each other how their parents totally jipped them.  All this time, their friends were getting all these things and we gave them only new pj’s and some lip smackers chapstick.

And for that I am still waiting.  Waiting for the idea to hit me.  The way to make Christmas real and magical in a way that they need most.  I was hoping to get a head start, that this would be the year that I finally knew the most awesome gift to give to each of them.  The gift that would make them feel loved and that they would treasure.  That they would remember forever and that they would want to recreate for their own children one day.  But I don’t think that gift is one that can be bought.  And I don’t think that it’s one that can just be given at once.  Maybe that’s why I have the other 364 days between each Christmas.  And maybe this isn’t the year that they come to me and say, “Mother, let’s not give any gifts to each other, but instead find a family that wouldn’t have anything.  I don’t need anything at all and if you give me any Legos, I will cry.”

That will probably never happen.

But maybe this will be the year that before I say a thing about it, they will come to me with an idea of at least one thing they would like to do or give to someone else.

Maybe

Absolutely Positively Nothing

I have been waiting for IT.  Something of any interest at all that I might write about here…..but so far I have absolutely nothing.  If there was sound on here, you would be listening to the gentle hum of crickets right about now because that is what I’ve got for you.

There have been a few great opportunities for blog material, for example, Mattie had her flu shot yesterday.  That one looked like it had the makings for a real good read, but then she ended up being a big girl and taking a huge lesson from her brother.  The whole experience took about 3 minutes and there was absolutely no drama.  For all that, I am quite thankful……but I could have used a good story…………………………………………..

I went to the dentist today.  My darling hygienist is still pregnant.  She was pregnant when I went right before Thanksgiving last year, too.  Actually, this is baby number 2, but I’m beginning to just get used to thinking of her as perpetually pregnant.  It might be a little alarming when she isn’t, this time next year.  I have grown very accustomed to the preggers Dana.

We had a nice little conversation as she chiseled off 6 months of coffee stains from my teeth.  I was beaming with pride that I had finally had those silly wisdom teeth taken out and I wanted so badly to ask her if she wasn’t really proud of me, too.

I refrained.

I like to think that I am a favorite patient at my dentist’s office and they keep the schedule clear on my days so that they can be very accommodating to me and my “special needs” i.e. my children.  Truth be told, I think they try to get me in as early as possible and don’t schedule anyone else while I’m there because they don’t want to scare anyone away.  And they do this for me because Mattie almost always has a cavity or 3 and we pay our dental bills quickly.  That and my  dentist is one of my best friends in the world and she has to be nice to me or I would tell her mother.

As a side note, should you be looking for a fantastic dental practice in the Memphis area, let me know and I will put you in touch with the best.

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I bought Reese a package of t-shirts yesterday, the nice, sleeveless “wife-beaters” as they are so delightfully nicknamed.  You would have thought I purchased him his very own block of gold.  He loves them and even stripped in the car to put one on.  It was also 36 degrees outside when he did this.  He also didn’t even have the shirt yet, but rather stripped in anticipation.  They seem to make him feel very strong and athletic and I keep catching him doing random cal esthetics.  While I was making lunch, he was doing crunches next to Baby M on the floor.  He did a few wind sprints up the stairs and during what was supposed to be nap time, I had to go in his room and in a very firm voice remind him that burpees are not acceptable rest time activities.

I am not sure where he gets his workout inspiration from, but who ever it is must wear an undershirt while getting their fitness on.

He also refers to his attire in a really funny manner.  He calls it his “tank top” (enunciating the beginning t and ending k and p sounds) and his “get exercising” shorts.  Again, I have no idea where this is coming from.

But I like it

On that note, I am going to get my shoes on and grab a handful of Hershey’s kisses, the cookies and cream kind, and head out the door to get kid  number 1, who has just recently become obsessed with the Holocaust.

More on that one later.

Let’s Play Pretend

Today was a redo.  In September, I had a birthday and on the weekend following that birthday my parents came for a visit.  They were coming to celebrate with me, their child, of course.  But they were also coming for another, pretty fantastic reason.  And that reason would be that my dear husband had seen a Groupon coupon for The Rusty Wallace Driving Experience at the Memphis International Speedway…..and knowing me so well, he jumped right on that coupon.  And knowing my people, he had me immediately call the parents and see if the wanted to get in on it, as well.  Mom, oh she loves her some NASCAR, but she really has no desire to ‘Live the Dream” if you will.  Poppy, on the other hand, felt the need for speed.  So we bought two coupons, one for a ride-along drive (me) and one for an actual “qualifying experience” where you would be the driver (Poppy).  And what better time to do it then on my birthday.  We were super excited.  To the point that I really don’t think Poppy slept that much the night before (back in September).  I sleep whenever I get the chance so I think I just had very exciting dreams, but I was still very pumped nonetheless.

And then it rained that Sunday morning.

I know not everyone is as into NASCAR as I am so you might not realize this, but races or even the cars at all, can’t be running in the rain.  These cars don’t really have the same breaking/ tire systems that normal cars do and the tracks get extremely slippery when they are wet.  So early that morning, we were called and told ever so gently that we would have to reschedule our NASCAR Experience for a later date.  This was fine and dandy for me, seeing as I live only a short 30 minute drive away from the track, but Poppy had come from Northwest Arkansas and it wouldn’t be quite so simple.

To say we were disappointed would be an understatement.

I think it was really actually a good thing though because as I recall that day now, Poppy and the boy had a really great time together doing things that only Poppy’s and grandsons can do.  I suppose some things are even more once in a lifetime than getting to drive a racecar.  You are only 5 for 365 days, so you may as well take full advantage of it.  Also, even though Reese is still completely unaware of it all, thanks to Poppy’s cancer, we look at every trip to the hobby store and every romp through the hardware store as a treasure.  Moments that we are socking away as memories.  Time is more precious than gold around here these days.

But back to the present!

So the driving experience was rescheduled for this weekend.  Today!  Things had been moved around and juggled to make a Memphis weekend getaway possible and we were once again bursting with excitement.

And the weather was perfect.

We left the house around 11 this morning so that we would arrive at our destination promptly 30 minutes prior to our “appointment” at noon.  I wasn’t too sure how firm the staff of the Rusty Wallace Driving Experience was regarding punctuality and I didn’t want to get us in trouble or run any risk of not getting our full track time.  That and I knew that Poppy would start running or possibly take my bike if we didn’t leave well ahead of time.  Poppy has a thing for being on time.

We drove for what seemed like forever.  Way further than what my GPS had said I should be going.  I was pretty sure that I had got us lost until I finally saw the street I was supposed to be turning left onto.  I also saw the gigantic grandstands and was pretty certain I had found the place.

I parked the car.

Took a deep breath…..

…….and walked towards my destiny………

That sounds terribly cheesy doesn’t it?  Oh yes, it does.  But for just a moment, with my ridiculous grin plastered on my face…..I think I kinda had an inner monologue going on in my head saying really corny things like that.  There was probably even some music from Days of Thunder accompanying it all.  Just as a little side note, the Memphis International Speedway isn’t exactly the most hip and modern raceway and the theme from Days of Thunder circa 1990, is really quite fitting.

We found the office, handed over our paperwork and stood back waiting for the magic to begin.

Let’s just say that while the staff of the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience is super nice and quite organized….I don’t think that we had a thing in the world to worry about as far as punctuality goes.

We had plenty of time to do some checking out of the “race cars”.  I use that term rather facetiously because I don’t really think these particular cars have been raced in an actual NASCAR competition.  Probably not in any competition other than when two of the worker guys said “hey, wanna race…..” Yes, they had very big and loud engines.  They also went considerably faster than I think my Accord or Acadia will go and they have 5 point harness seatbelts and no speedometers and rollcages….which does give them several pluses for authenticity.  But I am not buying it for a minute that these are “retired” NASCARs.

Walking hand in hand to yet another adventure

Especially since one of the cars was that belonging to a certain driver named Cole Trickle……who is Tom Cruise’s character in Days of Thunder, that movie I mentioned earlier…….that is fiction.

The very not realistic 48 car

Poppy then headed off to his class to learn everything there is about driving in NASCAR in 45 minutes.  Who knew it took so little time!

The grandstands

While he was in his class, we enjoyed watching others go for their ride-alongs or get their own chance at being a driver. It was so fun watching so many middle-aged and above men get to live out their dreams, as their children and wives smiled and waved, clicking away pictures on their phones and cameras.  I am completely certain that when they got behind the wheel of their own cars, these men felt about 2 inches taller and drove like they were 16 again.  That drive home was probably more fun than driving has been in a very long time.  And who doesn’t enjoy their family fawning over them just a little bit?  I think everyone should treat their dad to an afternoon at the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience and let him feel like your hero for the day.

Class was finally out and it was time to suit up.

The staff was very kind to let me wait and take my riding turn when Poppy was out and could watch.  I wasn’t going to be driving, but it’s probably something similar to watching your child on a merry-go-round at the fair.  I knew he wouldn’t actually be able to see much of me and wouldn’t be in the car with me, but Pops would want to stand there and wave.  So I waited…….

We got into our suits

I looked absolutely ridiculous

Poppy looked sorta like an astronaut

Doesn’t he look just like an astronaut?

I looked much like the astronaut monkey that sometimes accompanies them.

That fire suit is exquisite isn’t it?

Poppy got the 48 car and we were thrilled.  We are #48 people, after all and this felt like a very positive thing.  Nothing says your driver is going to do well in his very own for-real race with a for-real race car, like you getting to drive one too.  Secretly, deep inside, I was afraid we might be jinxing Jimmie Johnson.  But Reese thought it was awesome

Reese also thought it was awesome that there were real GoodYear tires and a real jack just laying out so he could touch them.  And touch them he did

Sitting amongst the Goodyears

Jackman Reese

Our cheering section

Poppy drove and we cheered

Sliding on in Dukes of Hazzard style

Putting that 45 minutes of education to good use and figuring out how to drive

There he goes!

And he climbed out and walked taller, in his astronaut fire suit with his helmet at his side and his boy’s hand in his, taller than I have ever seen.

Then it was my turn

I felt very silly posing with half my body in a car, perched on the window with a strange man in the driver’s seat.  He knew nothing of me except what my feet looked like, but sat there for 5 minutes while I posed for photos that the racing experience people would then try to sell me on a very official looking plaque.  When I slid in to the passenger seat with a quick flop, he mentioned that I was significantly smaller than most of his regular passengers.  I have no idea what that meant, but he was smiling and I think he meant it in a kind way….I think.

Posing

And then the car started up

And I started grinning….though it was hidden because my helmet was too big for my small head. (Next time I will take my own NASCAR helmet and have my own fire suit made…..next time).

Cheesy grinning waiting for my helmet

We were off!  And I loved it!

I couldn’t see a thing in my peripheral vision due to my neck protection and because my helmet was like a fence I was trying to peer over.  But I loved it.  Who needs to see anything when you aren’t the one driving and it makes it so much easier to close your eyes and pretend that this is all the real deal.

I giggled and pretended, as I sat there knowing that on the outside I looked completely ridiculous because I was a grown up person wearing a stupid, bright red entirely too big jump suit with a helmet that weighed more than my oldest child riding in a car that was very banged up and not for a minute passing as the real number #14 Office Depot car, but on the inside……oh, on the inside I reconnected with a me that I haven’t really seen since I was Mattie’s age.  The me version of Peter Pan I suppose.

Watching his kid go around in circles

And I got out to the cheering and clapping of my little group of people and you know what……I’m pretty sure that even though I was just along for the ride, I too felt just a smidge taller and I too drove my family vehicle feeling just a teeny tiny bit like a race car driver.

My triumphant return

Thank you husband for my favorite birthday present ever, and thank you parents for joining me and making it magical….and Reesie, thank you for introducing me to NASCAR and sharing it with me.  It is our little secret language, just you and me……and the millions of others that attend the church of NASCAR every Sunday…….but mainly just you and me. 🙂

This just makes me laugh…I love this picture

P.S – Poppy is doing fantastic and I am so appreciative for all of the thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes that we have received on his behalf.  To be completely honest, there was a day in February when I mourned the loss of this moment, this experience that is captured in this picture.  This is a day and a memory I was terrified I would never get to make.  But I did.  God is good.

I am selfish and hope for a life-time with Poppy, but right here and right now, if this is all I have,my cup runneth over.

Coffee and a Friend

I was just looking at my email and there was a little something letting me know about the Memphis Ugly Sweater Run.  I’m not really much of a runner.  As my dad always says, “If something is chasing us, it’s not about being the fastest person, it’s just making sure that you’re not the slowest.” That’s kind of how I feel about running…..maybe if I’m being chased, I might consider it…..but even then, it really depends on what’s going to happen to me if I get caught.  So, on that note, running isn’t exactly my bliss.  However, I am all about an Ugly Sweater anything and should I ever decide to do a 5K….this is the one that I would do.  I hope someone I know who lives here in Memphis will do it and we can go and cheer them on.  We will cheer by also wearing ugly sweaters.  Hmmmm……………any takers Memphis running friends?

Yesterday while at Target I remembered that we needed some coffee.  I like to buy 2 bags at a time and when I start in on bag number 2, that lets me know that I better get reinforcements soon.  There have been far too many times where we ran out on a morning that it was especially important to be caffeinated.  I like to be prepared, though this is an area that I struggle with and I often find myself in dicey situations.  Friday, I went to get Lila out of her car seat and realized that she was horribly soaked. I went to change her and the only diaper that I had in the bag was one for M, my niece that I keep during the day.  Well, we made it work but at almost 2, Lila really has no business wearing size 1 diapers.  We also live on the edge with toilet paper, too.  It has become my  mom’s sign off to me when we hang up the phone, “Love you, do you have diapers in your bag? Talk to you later. Bye-bye.”

Anyway, back to my point…..I was buying more coffee trying to be prepared.  I was headed towards the Target brand Market Pantry, which was on sale, and then I saw this:

It’s made for people just like ME!

I am not usually one that is swayed by packaging.  That would be Brandon.  He buys things simply based on their packaging.  It might be something we don’t need in the least….like conditioing cream for african american hair….but if it has cool packaging…….it’s coming home with us.  But this packaging completely sold me.  I of course bought two packages.  I will let you know tomorrow if it was even worth my blogging about.

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On a final note for today, this girl has been here visiting us for the past few days.  This is AuntieJessicaWiththeBrownHair (all one word) or Auntie Tulsa Jessica (we have another one here in Memphis so we have to differentiate).  I met Jessica at my very first grown-up, need a degree to work here job back when I was 22.  Back when I was newly christened a Baughman and Duke the silver Accord was something to be proud of.  She was the Kindergarten teacher (I taught 2nd) at the very first school that trusted me with their children and about halfway through the year we bonded one day in the teacher’s lounge talking about The Bachelor and realized that we lived right down the road from each other.  We also both really felt like the dress code for us teachers was a little unfair.  We felt that it catered a little to the more seasoned teachers, for example we couldn’t wear any sort of pants with rivets on the pockets because they were considered jeans.  Even a pair of khaki colored corduroy pants was completely out of the question.  I was once called into the office because my pants looked like the same types that some of the students were wearing (the kids wore uniforms).  It’s quite possible that they were the exact same kind, probably both were purchased at The Gap.  I was never really sure what to make of that trip to the office, being in trouble for wearing student-esque pants…………………………

Snuggles

Baby Reese, JessicaWithTheBrownHair, and a cow

Anyway, I met one of my dearest friends that year and I will take being harassed about my pants any day of the week if it meant gaining her.

Going for a dip in the fountains

Years ago

In our short 11 years as friends, we have shared a lot.  And it’s been incredible that even with my moving all the way to the land of Elvis, we seem to have only become closer.  She is my prayer warrior, my friend, my rememberer of special people (I remember her daddy and she remembers my brother on their special days), an incredible celebrator of all our families birthdays, and she even delivers flowers to my grandma on her birthday for me.  GRandma likes Jessica better than some random delivery person showing up at her house.  She loves my children and me, and we love her very much.

Meeting Lila

A visit to our other friends, Ben and Jerry

She is also an expert Early Childhood Educator, which is not a bad card to have in your back pocket.

Putting that early childhood educator business to good use

First visit to Memphis, we took her to Graceland of course

 

Anyway, AuntieJessicaWithTheBrownHair left this afternoon and though the sun came out, our little corner of the woods seems a little darker.  We will miss you friend, and your willingness to play for hours, for your many songs and rhymes, and how you never, ever tired of being loved on by one of the little Baughman.  Even little M seemed to take up with you right away.  Have a safe trip home to the Sooner State and come back soon.

We miss you already!

Monday Then Back To Thursday

What a fantastic way to start a week!  Monday, so what if there’s been a time change and I have to take kids #2 and #3 to get flu shots.  So what if I ran out of laundry detergent midway through laundry day, which meant I would have to take the angry for having received shots children out in a public place.  So what Monday, that my 20 month pictures of Lila arrived in the mail and they are significantly darker in person than they appeared on my computer screen.  Bring it on Monday.

Because my NASCAR driver won yesterday and is currently in the points lead.

I know many of you reading were expecting something far more exciting there, weren’t you?  Like that I was writing this pos from Hawaii or that husband had just announced he would be taking me to Hawaii or that I had been the 500th customer at Target and got free merchandise for a year.

But just for today, and just for me……I will take Jimmie Johnson winning over a trip to Hawaii…..just for today, though.

I hope that some of you have grown fond of NASCAR since starting to follow this and are also celebrating Jimmie.  But no love lost if that hasn’t happened.:)

So today was flu shot day, just for things 2 and 3.  I will be honest, it could have gone better.

Reese has always been a champion shot getter.  Not that I would go so far as to say that he liked them, but he usually didn’t cause a big fuss about them.  There might be a few tears, possibly a tiny cry out….but then it was over and done with.  He has even been known to sit and hold Mattie’s hand and try to console her as we have driven to her doctor’s appointments.  Reminding her that she is way bigger than the needle and it is going to hurt that needle way more than it will hurt Mattie.  He also thinks he’s sorta like Batman, and I’m pretty sure that the Dark Knight doesn’t even flinch when he receives his flu shot.  I was really expecting Reese shine at this shot getting experience.  Based on his previous episodes, and the fact that Lila is still pretty easy to hold down and gets over things rather quickly while not expecting any sort of reward for her shot tolerance….I thought they would be easy enough to do together.  Mattie is like taking 15 children to get a shot…that or trying to shave a large dog.  There is much crying and bargaining.  She gets downright angry and mad, once in a while even spitting.  She kicks and screams and I am always given a lollipop when we leave for having to have put up with such an ordeal.  I figured the two younger ones would just about equal a Mattie.  I could not do all 3 in one sitting, but this would break it up fairly.

It seems as though sometime between his last vaccination and now, Reese has turned.  Gone is his courage and instead…..well, he may have kicked the nurse.  In his defense, I told him that we were going right to the dr where he would be getting his shot.  He was all psyched up for it and then we ended up hanging out in the waiting room for 35 minutes where he completely forgot why we were there.  Upon arriving in the exam room, the nurse was in a bit of a hurry (which I completely understand because the place was packed) and asked if he wanted his shot in his arm or his leg.  He answered her in a rather babyish tone that he didn’t want a shot at all.  Again, not the best response, but not completely unreasonable.  She responded back that in the leg it would be and began to pick him up to put him on the table.  I think this may have been where things went down the dark alley of terrible.  Reese turned into a feral animal and our dear nurse friend I believe was a little frazzled from the copious amounts of pain and tears she had been having to inflict on children all day.

I could be wrong but I am pretty sure we aren’t their favorite patients anymore.  The fact that he wasn’t offered a lollipop or his usual sticker/ stamp option speaks volumes.

Lila cried and did some pretty good yelling, but nothing like Reese.

Our nurse told us that she hoped she wouldn’t be seeing us again until January (when the girls have their next Well-Child exams) and I don’t think she was just being funny.  Unfortunately, we go back next week for Mattie’s flu shot and I know it will be at least as bad…..if not 10 times worse.

Reese is making our nurse an “I’m sorry card” and I am thinking we may as well have Mattie make one in advance.

But hey, bring it on Monday.  Team 48 is 7 points ahead.

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On another note, I never posted pictures of the kids from Halloween.  The ones that were taken on the actual night were horribly blurry so I had the kids dress up again on Friday and reenact the whole thing.  These turned out much better.

The best of the worst from Halloween night

For someone who was about to gather a neighborhoodful of candy, he sure looks forlorn

After the little turtle went to sleep

My little old lady dressed as a turtle and carrying her purse

Also a fun little Halloween night story.  So as is our custom, Uncle Chris and Aunt Shannie joined us for Trick or Treating.  They are always really good about dressing up and though Brandon and I did have one good year, we usually don’t.

The Krispy Kreme Family

 

This year, we both did make a slight attempt at being festive and each grabbed a hat….Brandon wore a Batman mask and I sported Reese’s big pirate hat.  Uncle Chris and Aunt Shannie came dressed as baseball players.  It wasn’t until about an hour in to our candy gathering, that Shannie and I realized that the team name on her baseball jersey was the pirates and here I was wearing this pirate hat.  We looked like we had tried to be an ironic couple or something and here it was completely by accident.  We were being clever and didn’t even realize it!  And then there was Brandon walking around with his Batman mask actually holding a baseball bat making him literal bat man.  We are a witty bunch, we are!

Pirates