My Life, The Roller Coaster

By the time our children woke up Monday morning, I thing they had got pretty comfortable with the idea that we would be staying in Atlanta for the duration of our little getaway.  However, I did overhear Reese telling Uncle Shawnessey that he wasn’t sure if we were actually “there” yet, and we might be driving to a new hotel in a new city later that day.  Poor little guy, we just kind of figured that after that first stop at the aquarium he would realize we had reached our destination – unbeknownst to me, he spent the entire trip wondering if we were staying put or if our suitcases were in the car and this stop and that stop were just sights to see along the way.

For our adventure on Monday, we took the kids to Lego Discovery Center.  It is not Lego Land, I would like to stress that big time should you be considering it as a vacation stop.  It is, however, bigger than the Lego section at Target and there is an entire replica of Atlanta fashioned out of the miniature plastic bricks, which was pretty amazing.  It is in a mall, sort of out of the way and rather nondescript – the kids really thought we were pulling one over on them and trying to pass Nordstrom off as a must see family attraction.  I think they would have had more fun in there than they realize, but still I get their point.

Lego Discovery Land features a few small rides, a gigantic pirate ship to play on, a 4D theater where we watched an incredible little movie with absolutely no words but it still kept our attention just fine, and Legos everywhere.  There is an employee at Lego Discovery Center (who may hold several other responsibilities that I wasn’t privy too), whose primary duty appear to be walking around the place with this little raked broom thing and sweeping up rogue Lego pieces.  He gathers up about two handfuls worth in his little dustpan thing and just deposits them back into one of several building stations located ALL OVER THE FACILITY.  I observed my middle child watching him with an intrigued fascination.  Should we have a Career Day Spirit Day next month, I am willing to bet money on what the boy would want to dress up as…..now where to find the little broom rake thingy?

Brandon and Reese in Lego form

One of the many Lego Pods

Preparing for our ride

Stone Mountain in Lego form

Admiring Lego Mercedes Benz Stadium

I took a picture of them outside of the Lego Georgia Aquarium since I forgot to take one outside of the real thing the day before

Lego Olympic torch

Lego Varsity

Their height in Legos

Mattie’s weight in Lego Bricks

I don’t know about everyone else on earth, but I know that we own a good 4 million

I think we definitely got our moneys worth out of the whole thing and now should we have had any doubts about whether or not the kids would like Lego Land…..I think we definitely have a firm answer that they would be totally in favor of it.  Maybe next time kids……By this time, Uncle Shawnessey needed to be heading back home.  We stopped for a healthy lunch of Pink Berry frozen because…..well mainly because it was right there and we don’t have one in Memphis…..and then headed back towards the airport to take him to his car.  He was a delightful surprise and by far the highlight of the trip so far.  Thank you so much Shawn for taking a little detour from your regular life to come play tourist with us.

And then we headed to our next stop……….and probably the most expensive one.

The American Girl Store.

If you have ever had the opportunity to take a young girl (or two as was my case) then you know exactly what that hour was like.  And if you haven’t embarked on such an adventure, well I’m just going to save you the details.  It can be very special and definitely something not to be missed out on if your little girls are into that sort of thing, but it can be extremely draining on both your cognitive abilities and wallet, too.  That store is decked out with absolutely everything to make it a little girls dream shopping experience, the salon and the bistro and even the tiny toilets and sinks in the bathrooms…….but they really need a big chair or some of those fainting couches where the adult that brought the American Girl to the store can just collapse in exhaustion after the 5th circle around the store.  That would have taken our experience up from an A to an A+.

The girls left happily and on their own free will…..and completely broke.

Our day ended with one last surprise, as we were walking towards our car in the parking lot, we were met by a tall, beautiful blondie in sassy crimson scrubs.  Our dear friend Shelley, who is also a member of the Baughman Framily Network happens to live in the Atlanta area, went completely out of her way after a very long work day to meet us for dinner.  Shelley is the cousin of a dear friend of mine that I lived with in college.  She was just a youngster when I first met her, but the whole family has let me work my way in and I am an honorary member now.  I don’t know if that makes her Aunt or Cousin, but either way she is our Shelley and she was the cherry on top of a perfect little Spring Break getaway.

And just like every other good and perfect thing……it only lasts briefly.

Real life has a way of smashing back in whether it is wanted or not.

I’ve known for weeks that Poppy would be having a scheduled doctors appointment this week.  That was the main reason why we went on our little Atlanta visit at the beginning of the week rather than the end.  We figured he would be having some sort of extra procedure done and wanted to make sure and give him some time to rest before we attacked.  I called after our dinner to check in and see how things had gone.

I will always remember the night before I was told that my older brother had passed away. We had gone to Sun & Ski Expo and spent what felt like forever letting Mattie play in the canoes and tents.  I really have no idea why we were even there, I guess just being a young little family with only one kiddo.  But I took a picture of Mattie playing in the camping gear……the picture is cute but nothing spectacular.  But every time I see it, even just quickly passing through, I am immediately jarred.  That was the night before everything changed.  The next pictures on my camera would be of the same little girl, but in completely wrong places….like playing on the back patio of some good family friends who were letting us stay at their house while we made funeral arrangements in Chattanooga.

And I will always remember where I was when I learned that this was the beginning of the end with my Poppy.  I will remember sitting in the front seat of my car with downtown Atlanta passing by window listening to my mom tell me that there wasn’t anything else they can do.  The scans showed the cancer, that cancer that had just been microscopic a minute ago, that cancer we thought the fancy Cyber Knife had taken care of – that cancer had grown and was thriving in Poppy’s brain.  His blood platelets were far too low to be able to handle another round of radiation and the chemo was obviously powerless over this monster.  Take him home, keep him comfy and love him.  That was their last treatment plan.

I will always see this sweet picture of Shelley and my babies and remember that was the night that my life changed again.

 

Keeping The Spark Alive

They say to keep the spark alive in one’s marriage, you have to be spontaneous – do things on a whim and surprise your significant other once in a while.  I’m not sure how good Brandon and I are at that with one another, though I really love sneaking up on him and making him scream so I suppose that would fall into the spontaneous category.  But when it comes to our parenting, I think we are pretty incredible.  Spring Break has been just on the horizon and this past Friday at high noon it finally arrived.  The kids knew that we planned to make a journey to Arkansas in the middle of the week, but other than that I had left our family calendar suspiciously empty.  I think they were a little let down when we went for Friday After School snack and then just came home……little did they know.

That night, I laid out their church clothes just like normal.  And we got up, though a little late, and went to church just like normal.  We didn’t stay for potluck and I think that may have stirred up their excitement, thinking maybe we weren’t eating with the rest of the congregation because we were going on an adventure…….but we just ended up going home and to add insult to injury…..we ate leftovers from the night before.  Then to really let them know that this was going to be the most boring Spring Break ever, I sent them up to their rooms for a nap.

This is the part of my story where I say that my children don’t trust me.  Oh they do with the big things, like yes, Mama always comes to pick them up when I drop them off (though that’s not completely true, its not always me but I do always send someone for them).  I have never endangered them or purposefully scared them……but I have definitely taken some very generous liberties with the truth.

They were tucked up in the little rooms in their little beds and Brandon and I went to work.  Their suitcases were already packed and up in my closet, where they know not to peek.  The car was gassed and Cybill arrangements had been made.  We loaded everything up, made sure the house was in decent condition and then we went up to their rooms and told them to wake up, put on their shoes and pick to lovies…….we would be leaving in 10 minutes.  Oh, and go potty, too!

We made it to somewhere around Oxford, Mississippi when Reese asked if he could take off his shoes.  I told him probably not…..gotta keep the mystery alive.  I think after about 2 more hours he decided that has Mama was full of it and went ahead and took those shoes off.  It was good and dark when we took an exit and started through a residential area……in Birmingham.  Of course, the kids asked if we were “there” and this would have been a logical time to say, no we weren’t, but would be stopping for dinner.

That’s not what we did……

Instead, we told them that it was possible that we had made arrangements with another family (strangers) to stay at their home for a few days and we were just looking for the right address now.  My kids aren’t familiar with AirBnB, but based on their reactions to that hypothetical explanation, it would seem as though they aren’t fans. We eventually pulled into a little dive that supposedly had incredible burgers. Even as we were walking into the restaurant, they approached the tables with a certain apprehension, uncertain as to what exactly we were doing there.  We ate and continued our journey.  It was around this time that I let them in on another surprise – they each had a plastic bag with their name on it and $30.  They could do whatever they wanted with their money, but it wasn’t certain whether or not they would get to keep that money after the trip so saving it or spending it was a gamble.  This money was theirs, but should they be a poor traveling companion they would lose their money a dollar (or more) at a time.  It was heavily hinted that the confiscated money would then go into a pot that could possibly be tapped into by their other siblings should the others exhibit exemplary behavior, but I never confirmed one way or another.

Eventually, we arrived in downtown Atlanta and about as quickly as they realized where we were, we pulled into a parking garage.  They are pretty smart kids and have traveled once or twice in their lives so it didn’t take them long to figure out we were at a hotel in Atlanta and would be staying there……at least for the night.  One of the best ways to keep the mystery going is to just not answer them when they ask questions and if you do, say things like” We’ll see” or just smile at them.  We had a nice breakfast in the hotel and then I made a big deal about packing all of our things back in our suitcases.  We didn’t bring the suitcases with us, but did tell them we were going to go and drive around for just a bit.  Surprise number one of the day, the aquarium.  The Georgia Aquarium is huge and beautiful and much to my surprise, had dolphins.  I didn’t realize that and for some people, this would be a delightful surprise.  For my children who are adamantly against the capturing and “enslavement” of large ocean mammals, this was a horrific discovery.  Mattie actually asked an aquarium worker where they obtained these dolphins and what their intentions were.  When the initial discovery was made, she looked at me with this look of absolute disgust, mixed with hurt and disbelief…..I think I could have told her I developed a smoking habit when I was pregnant with her (another hot topic for Mattie Belle) and that would have gone over better then the fact that I had brought her to such a place. By the time we discovered the Beluga whales she had stopped speaking to me. A fun side note though, she had no problem purchasing a stuffed beluga whale from the gift shop.  Unfortunately, she does not understand that this gives off a bit of a mixed message and our attempts to harass her a bit about her values were just met with a confused, preteen squinty face and “I don’t get it, mom”.

Measuring our wingspan

*This is a completely random side note but get this, so we found out exactly where the Georgia Aquarium obtains their dolphins and it’s from Marineland outside of Palm Coast, Florida.  If you have been reading my blog for a bit or even since this last summer, you might recall that we vacation with Mumsey and Poppy in Palm Coast.  You might also recall me telling you about us going for a walk one sabbath afternoon and just yards from where we were standing on the beach, we stood watching the sunset and this whole pod of dolphins came surfing by.  They just sort of followed us as we walked and it was the most incredible thing ever.  I will forever hold that picture of Mattie running along the shore, with her hand reached out as if running her fingers over the waves, maybe in her little mind thinking the dolphins might come up to touch her.  And Reese walking hand in hand with Poppy, stopping every little bit to point and stare.  That was also a spontaneous adventure…..The memory continues of our favorite beach being one flanked by these incredible ocean boulders.  Poppy and Mattie liked to climb these boulders and one day, they discovered that just on the other side of our beach was a holding tank holding dolphins.  Apparently, there may have been some issues with people climbing the boulders and loudly expressing their disapproval of dolphin keeping because when a trainer spotted them, they weren’t told very sternly that they were breaking the law and were going to be arrested or bit by a rattle snake.  I don’t know if they had trained rattle snakes in the rocks or if there was an option between the two, but either way, Poppy and Mattie thought it was hilarious that they had broken the law……

Just right over those rocks are Mattie and Poppy’s inprisoned dolphins

When we found out the connection to Marineland, it kind of made their captivity of highly intelligent animals that are used to swimming hundreds of miles in a single day, just a little bit okay.  We have a good family vacation story about Marineland, though it did involve threat of arrest – so grace was given.*

We walked out of the aquarium and I then horrified my children by sitting down on the ground next to an assumed homeless man and giving him a big hug.  Mattie may have screamed a little when he hugged me back and gave me a kiss on the cheek.  Turns out our transient was actually Uncle Shawnessey, one of Brandon’s roommates in college who is now a permanent fixture in our “Framily Tree”. In their defense, he was just sitting on the ground with his back up against the aquarium and a small duffle bag cozied up against him.  He obviously wasn’t a patron of the attraction and didn’t appear to be in any kind of a hurry or heading any where.  Once they realized he wasn’t a stranger and wasn’t homeless (no offense to the homeless), they were absolutely thrilled at this surprise.

Lila, especially, loves her uncles.

Uncle Shawn had driven in from Chattanooga and parked over at the airport then taken the train into downtown to spend a little bit of time with us.  We were thrilled to have him with us for dinner at the famous Varsity and then to come back to our hotel and play in the hot tub.

I’ve said it before, but I will say it over and over again.  I may have lost my big brother, and he will never be replaced – but God has given me some incredible “adopted” brothers who are fabulous uncles to my children.  I feel so fortunate to have these men in my life, but especially in my kids’.  I don’t know of many people who have college roommates who would make that kind of an effort just to eat burgers and play by the pool for a few hours.

After the kids had been put to bed, the men went out to scavenge for cookies.  You may have already heard of this, but there is such a place called “Insomnia Cookies” and it is exactly what it sound like.  I have no idea when or if they close.  Haven’t we all had that happen though, its late and you aren’t really hungry but could definitely go for something sweet.  But you don’t have anything! And nothing else is open!  You could go to the grocery store but you’re already in your jammies and really you don’t want a whole dozen cookies, just maybe one or two.  I can totally relate to this problem but mine is typically a need for pie.  But this place is the perfect answer to these late night sweet tooth needs!  And they deliver!!!!!!!! Whoever came up with this idea was an absolute genius.  All you need is an oven and access to several rolls or tubs of that pre-made dough.  You don’t even have to make the cookies in huge bathes, just a few dozen a night to have on hand and then you wait for your orders to come in.  The dough is just chillin’ in the fridge or freezer where it will last for months and it only takes like 10 minutes for cookies to back.  If I didn’t like to sleep at night, I would totally be starting up my own middle of the night cookie business.

A perfect end to a confusing, sometimes troubling, but very exciting and memorable day.

 

At Least It’s Something

I had to take Cybill to the vet today for a routine dog maintenance visit.  She seems to grow every time we visit so I was kind of excited to see what she weighed……very contradictory to how I feel whenever it is my turn to visit the doctor.  I made a little joke to the vet tech about how she would prefer that we take her collar and leash off before getting on the scale…..very similar to how I insist on removing even my flip flops when being weighed because we all know those things add at least two pounds and the last thing I want to follow me around in my permanent doctor file is two pounds of flip flop weight.  She didn’t let me take off Cybill’s leash and collar…..this was probably wise because my dog has a reputation and last time we were there she took out a display and ate 5 antibacterial cleaning wipes.  I can maybe give you a pound Cybill, probably only about 12 ounces for pinch collar weight….but otherwise that number that flashed in large, red digital numbers is all you girlie.  My dog is gigantic!  For those of you who haven’t seen her lately, she looks a lot like this:

This might be an exaggeration….seeing as it’s a cat and all.  But other than that, the resemblance is uncanny.  She is a beast, both literally and figuratively and I am thinking that by the time she is actually full grown, I can just hitch up the Radio Flyer wagon and she can run the kids to school for me.  Brandon has been saying for forever that he would like for us to get a coffee table, but something unique and not your run of the mill coffee table.  As I sit here on the couch typing, and look out into the middle of the rug where a coffee table would sit, all I see is my enormous dog.  I think we have our unique and not run of the mill coffee table – her name is Cybill.

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So I bought this book the other day.

I have zero knowledge or experience in this area and thought that maybe if not for him, this might at least be beneficial to me to find out what’s going to be happening to my boy child.  The American Girl franchise has gently guided me through the beginning stages of these talks and such, putting out a whole line of informative literature not just about “the changing body” but also relationships with friends, starting middle school, feelings and emotions, and even great math and science tutorials.  There are also great recipes often included and you can also splurge on the matching outfit, but we usually draw the line there.  Anyway, I was beginning to fear the future with Reese, especially because there is no American Boy to guide me.  He does have a father and I am hoping to use that asset, but still……

At this point, he still sleeps with a menagerie of stuffed animals at night and I have to remind him to speak to me like a boy not a baby.  He begs me to lay with him for at least one song every night and we have an ongoing deal that should Dad snore, I am to come and sleep with him.  We have Lila’s crib mattress on the floor in our room should he have a bad dream and need to sleep close to mom and dad, but I don’t think he uses it for more than a footstool to get in my bed.  He still seems miles away from deodorant and body hair…..but it probably wouldn’t hurt to know what’s coming up…..for both of us.  But then again, ignorance is bliss.

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Today was Fake Injury Day at school.  This is the 2nd year of having this particular day as a Spirit Day and I can firmly say without any hesitation that I do not like it.  The first time it seemed a little random and slightly confusing, but whatever.  Year number two and it’s just down right annoying.  I have a lot of questions the night before “Fake Injury Day”, things like, “Is this supposed to be an injury that I got on my way to school?” So for example, do they dress like they would on any other school day, ie in their uniform and just have a huge fake wound like we had a horrific accident on the way but they still managed to make it to class? Or is it more of an injury that they falsely obtained maybe the night before and now it’s all dressed and cleaned up and they are also wearing their usual uniform?  Or are they to dress as though they are wearing what they would be wearing when the fake injury did not actually but they are pretending occurred, ie. Reese wants to wear his soccer uniform to school and wrap an ace bandage around his head or possibly see if the P.T department at his father’s clinic will but on a fake cast for his fake injury.  I feel like the guidelines aren’t really clear.  Really, they should just call it, “Wear normal clothes and wrap a body part in gauze day” because that seems to be what ends up happening.  Unless you are my kids and I make you wear your regular school uniform because I am confused.  I have decided that next year we are going to be ready for this ridiculous Spirit Day and we are doing it up good….I am going to purchase some bratwurst and place it on my children’s belly.  I will then wrap them in saran wrap and they can go to school claiming their injury has forced their intestines to come out of their body cavity.  I think they will either win first place or Fake Injury Day will finally be put to rest.  Either way it’s a win.

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Lastly, these two items arrived in my mailbox today.

It doesn’t get much better than a brand new magazine to read and box of the best chocolates ever and they are both addressed to you.  Granted, the magazine has Reese’s name on it, too but the See’s are all mine.  Not only does talking about anything and everything when you are driving in the car for 12+ hours bond you even closer with your dear friends, but sometimes it also gets you candy.  Somewhere in all that deep conversation about should we be using a wrinkle cream, our aging parents, and how to raise our children to be decent people, we may have hit on the topic of See’s candy. I adore the stuff and I never get it because it only seems to be sold out west or in airports – both of which I rarely frequent.  But that Ang, who lives out west and had to go through a few airports to return home, tucked that information away and then surprised me with this little box of happy.  It made my day so I had to share…..by share I mean the story……not my candy.

This Time Last Week

Last weekend, I went (almost by myself) on a little adventure.  My girls from my college days had thrown together an impromptu (well……it has been planned for over a month, but for some girls who like to schedule things at least 6 months in advance, this was pretty spur of the moment) reunion.  For  most of them, this would be during their kiddos spring break and it all just fell together nicely.  I wasn’t planning on going.  For one, we had just been out to North Carolina almost exactly a month before to see Mark and Steph, and the idea of driving back to North Carolina seemed a little daunting.  Especially since I would be driving by myself with Lila and she requires a lot of attention.  Being still in a normal car seat, she can’t seem to reach anything and drops everything.  Also, a happy Lila is a snacking Lila and its hard to play stewardess while you are driving.

A few pictures of last month’s North Carolina visit. This couch with this lady is probably one of my favorite places on earth

My other reason for not jumping at this chance was because it makes me feel uncomfortable to be more than a day’s journey away from Mumsey and Poppy.  With Poppy not being at his best these days, it almost feels like I would be tempting fate to go off on a little trip.  But my friend Angela started calling me and bargaining with me.  I think when she noticed I wasn’t responding to all the group planning texts, she knew something was up.  I started getting my own set of private messages – she would fly out to Memphis and drive with me (Lila and loneliness problems solved).  She would also be using airline miles so if I should have to bow out at the last minute, she could just alter her flight plans – no pressure.  I need no pressure these days.  She finally pretty much told me that she was booking her ticket to Memphis and needed to know if I would be able to pick her up at the airport.  I was pretty much out of excuses…….and I really did want to see my college ladies and their families.

Ang flew in last Wednesday night, delayed about an hour due to our crazy thunderstorms. Then Thursday we loaded up in our rain gear and set sail for The Tarheel state in the craziest monsoon I have ever driven in.  It took us over 3 hours to get to the next city over….which normally takes a bit over an hour.  As we drove, you could see the water rising on the sides of the road and the medians started filling up.  My phone buzzed regularly to warn of flash flooding.  Thank you weather app, but the animals coming out of the woods, two by two was a pretty good indicator of the dire situation that we were in.  It was so loud in that car!  You didn’t realize just how loud that rain was until we would go under an over pass and for that split second it was so still and quiet.  We never turned the radio on for our whole trip and to try to keep our minds from straying to the obvious peril that we were in, we talked about absolutely everything.  We probably would have talked about everything anyway, but it seemed like we covered a few extra 100 subjects that probably wouldn’t have come up had we not been in the car for 12 hours that day.

There was one point where all three of us needed to go to the bathroom so bad, but the rain was coming down so hard we were afraid to stop.  There was finally a window, we were ahead of the rain by mere seconds (or so it felt) and I pulled into a rest area like a crazy woman who had just robbed a bank.  Lila didn’t even have her shoes on, but we grabbed her out of the car and carried her.  In some sort of unspoken mom dance, we ran as fast as we could into the cheery rest stop and handled our business without letting Lila’s feet touch the floor.  Few words were spoken, we were on a mission to get back out to the car before the rain caught us.  Looking back, we probably looked like two crazy ladies who thought they were on The Amazing Race or something.

We talked about heavy things, we talked about silly things, we talked about our kids and are husbands and our parents.  We discovered, about 6 hours in, that we have the exact same shoes….but in different colors.  This is something that happens regularly with me and my closest friends.  Its not uncommon at all for my besties and I to discover that we have the same things.  Ang and I even bought our girls the same Easter clothes last year, down to the shoes, without realizing it. We laughed and I think we may have cried a touch and we drank caffeine.  And then when we thought we couldn’t take a minute more in the little rental car, which got incredible gas mileage by the way, we arrived.

And the best part about that day, was even after we had spent twelve hours sitting next to each other with nothing to do but drive and talk and open the occasional package of gummy snacks – that night when we were laying downstairs in the basement in April’s pullout couch, we still talked for about an hour before we finally fell asleep. I know I’m a talker, but I think that means something a little bit more.

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We woke up to a lovely, sunny day.  Quite a contrast to what our world had looked like the day before.  Our first item on the agenda for our Friday was donuts, actually it was feeding our kids because everyone knows a four-year-old needs an immediate upon waking meal before they eat their actual breakfast and our group of kids was not an exception.  Plus, it seemed like good parenting to at least put something relatively healthy into our little people before we topped it with donuts.

Gibson’s here in Memphis will always be the best that ever was……but those Vortex Donuts in Asheville were pretty tasty.

Our next stop was the Biltmore Estate.  I haven’t been there in what almost seems like a lifetime ago, but when we pulled up everything was just as I had left it some 15 years ago.  I suppose its not really the thing to do to renovate and redecorate historic house castles.

After touring through the house and then driving through the gorgeous grounds of the estate and deciding that the Vanderbilt family had entirely too much money, it was time to eat again because though they are delicious, donuts aren’t that filling.  We ate at White Duck Taco in downtown Asheville.  It was a great little spot along the main thoroughfair, our tacos were delicious and reasonably priced (I felt downright impoverished after my visit to the Biltmore Estate). But the best part was that you could eat in the main dining area or outside at picnic tables nestled in a cute little alley with steps and railings that the little people had a blast playing on.

For little kiddos that really aren’t super familiar with each other, they play together like they’ve known each other for years.  I guess that’s what happens when you are raised as “framily”.  We ate and played and then hiked up the street a little bit further to French Broad Chocolates, which if you are looking for a solid quality chocolate chip cookie and are in the area, that would be the place to go. While enjoying our dessert, we we entertained by a seemingly high young man and his wild antics atop a piece of sculpture art.  You can definitely see high/drunk people here in Memphis, but not usually engaged in such an elaborate spectacle of pretend.  Even our kids were captivated by the grown man pretending to be a beast crawling around on the city artwork.  There had been talk about going back to the Biltmore to the petting zoo, but it was getting late at this point and I don’t think anybody over 7 really wanted to do that.  Thankfully, downtown Asheville has not only sculptures that appeal to drunk adults but also preschoolers who wanted to see some animals.  The pigs and turkeys went over VERY well with our crew.

We went back to April and Tristan’s house and the kids had a great time on the incredible backyard playset, getting that last little bit of dirty and play in before baths and bed.  And right at the door before finally conceding to the shower, Lila and Tennyson got a little bit of twilight chalk art in.  A fantastic day that was definitely worth driving through a hurricane.

Our Sabbath was just as wonderful as our Friday had been.  We went to church and Lila was thrilled to be able to walk into Sabbath school and see her besties Kiki and Rosie.  They had to pause the program there for a bit and let those 3 little ladies love and hug and greet each other…..which was very similar to what happened a few minutes later upstairs when Ang and I walked into our own adult class and greeted Mark and Steph.  April fed us a delicious lunch and the kids were once again entertained by that incredible playset and yard.  The Ellis family had to head back to Florida and it was time to take one of those essential group pictures.

Honestly, I don’t think any of us have really changed all that much.

Almost 7 years ago!!!!

It was a lovely weekend, filled with all of the things that I have needed so much lately. I appreciate the hospitality of Tristan and April, showing us around their new hometown and letting us all just take over their house.  Our activities were super fun and I am still full from all the good eating.  But I think my favorite part of the whole weekend was the time us girls sat on the couch and just caught up, talking about things that just don’t come up in an email or text.  So many of our conversations happen via voice mail or birthday messages, but for just a few hours, we talked about whatever popped into our minds and it was wonderful.  We loved on each other’s little ones, learning their personalities just a little bit and sitting back watching with pride at the good mamas we have grown up to be.

Lila, Ang and I made a mad dash out to the car early Sunday morning……as it was raining again…..to begin our journey home.  It would seem as though it had finally caught up to us again and this seemed like a fitting sign that our little reunion was officially over and it was time to go back to our own corners of the world again.

I hope we don’t wait another 6 years and another 6 babies before we do it again, ladies.

 

The Week That Wasn’t

I could be wrong, you probably have some incredible stories that you could share, but I am willing to bet real money that my boss is tougher than yours.

That has nothing to do with anything.

In case you were wondering, the sandal selling season is going really well.  I am down to about 10 pairs that have yet to be listed and I have high hopes that they will be gone by the end of next week.

So I took a sick day from life this week.

Sometime in the wee hours of Monday/ early Tuesday, I woke up to that startling realization that all was not okay in my world and probably wasn’t going to go anywhere but downhill over the next few hours.  Why do stomach bugs always start that way? You are in pain, pain enough to wake you up, but your body isn’t ready to actually “do” anything yet.  So you lie there, in pain……and fear.  When is it going to hit? Just how bad is it going to be? How long is it going to last?  Each 20 minutes or so getting worse and worse but not “The worst!” I eventually moved to the bathroom floor, situating the two rugs into a makeshift pallet, and pulled my bathrobe around me.  At some point, Brandon either noticed I was gone, heard my special “nauseated lady in the bathroom noises” or maybe I started kicking the wall to get his attention – its all a blur to me now – either way, he eventually came in and brought me my pillow and another blanket and gave me what I thought was a Zofran.

It became pretty clear when the sun came up and I was still on the bathroom floor that Mama would be taking a sick day.  And I took that sick day like a Boss! My alarm went off and I had no idea where my phone even was.  From what I understand, Brandon stepped over me to take a shower and I wasn’t phased by any of it.  I have no idea what went on in my house for an entire 24 hour period.  I am highly aware, however, that sometime around 9 a.m Tuesday I learned that Brandon had not given me a Zofran, but rather Phenergan which every woman who has ever been pregnant knows is only as helpful as a Tic Tac.  That’s probably why I had a whole bottle of them dated about 8 months prior to Lila’s birth.  Anyway, Tuesday I was out of commission. Wednesday morning came though and it was either me or the kids call an uber to get them to school.  Uber doesn’t make lunches and fix ponytails though and Daddy had to be at the hospital before the rest of us were up so it looked like I was going to have to be back on the job.  I was still feeling a little woozie when I loaded the kids up and decided to pass on the coffee, but a bubble beverage might be nice.

Now, in retrospect, I realize that driving my children to school while nursing a dark brown, glass bottle may have given people the wrong idea.  The fact that I was drinking it with a little flexi straw probably didn’t help matters either.  To all of East Memphis who might be reading this and who may have witnessed something that was really nothing, it was a Cock n’ Bull Ginger Beer and for my nausea, caused by a stomach bug which I’m pretty sure I can pinpoint exactly where it came from but am choosing not to.  I do not have a drinking problem.  And ginger beer bottles, why do you have to look so much like real beer bottles?

I took this picture as I was enjoying round two on the drive back to school in the afternoon

Lila and I spent a large amount of time watching “Fuller House” on the couch yesterday.  I had graduated from my bed and bathroom upstairs and brought myself down downstairs.  I don’t think I actually got dressed until right before I had to go pick the kids up….wait a minute, that’s not true…..I did get dressed much earlier, I just kept getting so tired I had to take a rest between everything.  There was about a 30 minute recess between showering and actually getting dressed.  I think I dried my hair and then napped for about 45 minutes before actually fixing it……and even then I don’t know that you would call it fixed.  But “Fuller House” was fantastic and I would recommend it to everyone who wished they could have grown up with DJ Tanner as an older sister and had their very own Uncle Jesse that lived in the attic.

And after Couch Time, we headed to Dance class where things took a bizarre turn for this already “delicate” lady.  Turns out that public places also have fire drills.  Have you ever been in a public place when they have a fire drill…..and you have absolutely no idea what you are supposed to do?  And you are moving at sleuth speed because your body was recently erupting like Mt. Vesuvius? I don’t feel like I would have saved my family had there actually been a real emergency.  I’m still not convinced that the JCC was actually conducting a routine fire drill because we are there all the time and that has never happened before, but whatever was going on, we all eventually made it out of the building safely.  Though I had to break into the bathroom and get Reese who wasn’t completely wearing pants and Lila’s dance class frolicked outside.  It really played nicely into my already twisted and nauseated day.  When you start telling you hubby about your day and it begins with you having a beer on the way to drop off the kids and then dance class is outside because of the fire alarm, you start to feel like maybe he doesn’t believe you.

I am feeling much better today, though it feels like my entire week has been zapped and it should only be Wednesday evening.  I am still folding laundry (Monday is our laundry day) and keep filling out the kids’ homework tracker schedule things a day off.  I am hoping that after a good long nap on Saturday, I will have my days figured out again.  Because I have just decided to take things easy for the remainder of my week and that I shouldn’t be making big decisions or grocery runs, Lila and I just hung out and enjoyed the sun today.  We also planned Easter seeds.  I saw the bag of jelly beans in the pantry and it just seemed like a good idea.  Beautiful day – check, Digging tools that haven’t been used since the beach – check, flower bed that refuses to produce or maintain any sort of living flower – check, and jelly beans – check.

She got out her one, count it one, gardening glove and dug away preparing little homes for her seeds.

She counted out just the perfect amount (which happens to be 15 should you be wondering) of Easter seeds.

Three to a hole – again, these were her rules not mine and I found it very interesting that she was making the rules though she had never actually planted Easter seeds before and this was all my idea.  But nonetheless, the girl said 3 seeds to a hole so 3 seeds there were.

Later, I caught her trying to steal the rest of the seeds.

We shared some while taking a little rest on the couch.

Also, one last random bit of information about my sick week – Cybill really likes to sit in the empty bathtub.  She just hoped right in and made herself at home.

I just thought I should share because people probably think I make this stuff up. Happy almost weekend!

 

I forgot To Title This

I’m not sure who’s managing my musical selections on my running app, but this past Friday was incredible.  I probably wouldn’t have picked it on my own, but I think running through my neighborhood with “Gangsta’s Paradise” pouring through my earbuds really helped me pick up my game.  And then when “Eye of the Tiger” came on, I’m pretty sure that Cybill and I beat any records we may have previously held.  I found the Public Enemy to be a little inappropriate and I was a little concerned that should I pass out or be attacked at some point in our run, whoever found me might really question my decisions or just laugh at me.  But overall, whatever was going on I definitely hope it happens again tomorrow.  Maybe not the Olivia Newton-John, that was kind of slow, but everything else was fabulous.

Nana has been in town and it has been wonderful.  Having her around let me be a little lose on my usual parenting/house-keeping gig and I got to spend more time on what my husband affectionately refers to as my Housewife Hustle.  I have found a market on the ol’ eBay for a specific type of children’s leather sandals.  These sandals practically grow on trees around here, it’s just a matter of harvesting them from places that I will not be sharing because I enjoy being a Sun San sandal Boss.  But the rest of the country has a hunger for them and are willing to pay a pretty little penny.  Brandon calls it a hustle, but I don’t like that term.  Hustle sounds like I’m pulling something over on someone, being dishonest or something.  I like to think of this as more of mission.  I reunite children and their mothers with awesome sandals that still have a ton of life left in them…..they just may have needed a little bath.  Anyway, as funny as my spouse thinks it is, as much grief as he gives me – its a fun little hobby and I usually make a pretty good chunk of change out of it.  And since Nana was here, I got to jump right into 2016 Sun San Sandal Selling Season!

It’s a bountiful crop this year!

Just a few of my little beauties getting ready to be mailed off.

Having Nana here also meant that we ate well for almost 2 full weeks.

Everything is a little bit better when Nana’s around.

Bedtime worship includes a few more cuddles and usually one lucky kiddo a night gets a little massage.

Trips to the grocery store are just a little bit more relaxed when I’m not trying to shop and entertain the little girl.

Getting cheese samples

The kids actually smile and pose for pictures

And instead of being sad and mopey on the last day of basketball, having this awesome lady around made it a hilarious event instead of a gloomy one.

We took her to the Mid-South’s Pride, our Mega Bass Pro Shop and our fanciest ice cream establishment that has cones made out of cookies!

Brandon and I got to go on a date to wish Kobe Bryant a Happy Retirement and wish him well.

And she made it possible for me to get my hair did.

We missed you the moment you got out of the car Nana and can’t wait for you to come back.  Should you ever decide that California is not for you, I think that Memphis would suit you nicely.