Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Macaroons and Iced Milk

Blog Land was an unusually sad place yesterday.   I read several posts that brought me to tears.  Most of them about children.  Children growing up.  Adult children moving away.  Children starting school and the death of summer.  And one grieving mama visiting her baby's grave for the first time.

And my day ended on a personally sad note because my mom told me that my great-aunt WillaNell died today.  Today my mom, my aunt and I will go up to Cleveland, Tennessee for the funeral.  I wish instead that we were going up to eat Aunt WillaNell's coconut macaroons and to wash them down with iced milk (Coca Cola for her - I don't think she ever drank anything but Coke and coffee) and to sit with her and look through her old photo albums and to hear her tell funny stories about her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.    


She was Southern Hospitality personified. She had a way of making you feel like you saw each other every week even though it had been years in between visits.  It didn't matter if you had seconds at the dinner table; to her you hadn't eaten enough.  "Here!  Take some home with you!"  Then she'd wrap up something in  aluminum foil and, as you were leaving, she'd tell you to be careful making that left turn out of the parking lot of her apartment.

Thinking about what she was like and knowing I'll see her again makes me happy and hopeful.

And that's how I want to feel today. 

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Monday, August 23, 2010

Summer Laundry vs. Winter Laundry

Monday is laundry day here.  I ran out of laundry detergent this morning.  Guess that means I won't be doing laundry today.  

I'm beginning to think nudists (or naturists, as they prefer - or so I've read) are really just people who hate doing laundry more than I do.  That might be a good enough reason to live in a naturist community - no laundry.  Except, if I was a nudist, I'd still have to have socks; I can't fall asleep if my feet are cold.  Don't nudists still have to have socks and shoes?  I mean, if they're getting "back to nature" don't they still do things like hiking - you wouldn't want to go hiking in bare feet.  So are they really "nude" if they're wearing socks and shoes?  

Back to the laundry...

There is more of it now that school is back in session.  During the summer we have lots of pajama days and the laundry piles consist almost entirely of T-shirts and shorts and hardly any socks.  During the fall and winter the laundry piles are full of jeans and long sleeves and sweaters.  And lots of socks.

The only thing I don't like about summer laundry is ... sand.

Look!  A segue!

This week's theme at I Heart Faces is the beach!


This picture was taken last fall and is one of my very favorite photos ever. I love how Landon is covered in sand.  I miss the beach.



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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Let's Go, Braves!


 Friday we went to our last Braves game for this season.  We had tickets to 4 games this year and these were the last of our tickets.  We took all 4 of the kids this time.  This was Landon's first baseball game and he did really good being still and somehow managed to stay awake through the whole thing, which is remarkable since it wasn't over until 10:30 or so.   We ate at The Varsity before the game so we missed the first 2 innings but we didn't miss any of the action.  Score was 0 - 0 until a single homerun in the 7th inning.  
Braves won 1  - 0.

 I wish this pic was in better focus but hey I'm not deleting this memory.

 Such a nut!

 Oh my gosh I'm a lucky girl!

 
 
 This is Cameron's favorite part of the game.  When the Home Depot tools race around the track.  Drill got knocked over and isn't even in the picture.  Usually Hammer is quite the bully but this time it didn't pay off because Paintbrush won the race!

7th Inning Stretch

 It rained through the last few innings but our seats were in the nosebleed section and under the awning!  
We didn't get a drop on us and the rain stopped just before it was time to go home.

 One of my favorite parts of the game is when they bring out closer Billy Wagner to finish the other team off.
Complete with fire on the screens and Metallica's Enter Sandman!  It's a great way to end the game.
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Stretched Thin

Wow!  I don't think I've ever been gone from this here blog for so long.  But remember?  School has started.  And I got so excited about what a great year it was going to be and about the 6 hours I will get to myself each week that I went and volunteered for too many things. 

Now tonight I am feeling stretched thin.  I've been helping for an hour on Mondays in Anna's class and an hour on Tuesdays in the library.  Last Wednesday I ate lunch with Anna at school.  The last few Thursdays have included an Open House at Landon's preschool, lunch with the boys and/or dance class after school for Anna.  By Friday I'm wiped out but this week I had to clean house because my family was coming over for my nephew's 1st birthday party that weekend.   

Don't you feel tired after reading that?  I'm tired just typing it out.  

And all of that is in addition to the regular house cleaning, laundry, helping with homework, corralling or shooing away the neighbor kids, planning and meeting for my trip to the equator and teaching Sunday school.

This morning while helping at the school library I discovered that I had been put on the volunteer schedule for every week!  Something that I had not volunteered to do.  At first I said that it would be fine to leave me on the list but tonight I couldn't get to sleep thinking about all the places and people I've committed myself to.  I determined that if I didn't scale back on some of those things that I would end up "committed" ... in some kind of mental institution!
So, I've sent off an e-mail to the librarian the dates that I can definitely help over the next couple of months and another e-mail to the co-room mom about us each helping every other week instead of us being in the classroom at the same time.  

Aahhhhh....  That feels much better.  

At least until I remember that I have a playdate tomorrow, a brunch for my trip Thursday morning, Anna's dance class Thursday from 4:15 - 5:00, Curriculum Night/Open House for Anna's class Thursday immediately following dance...

Okay, so maybe I won't be able to take a deep breath until this weekend.

WHAT?!  That's how many days away?!

*sigh*

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Thursday, August 5, 2010

You Capture - Summer

I think it's kind of funny and a little sad that Beth asked us to focus on summer this week considering we are finishing up our 4th day of school.  Technically, it's still summer but for us Summer Vacation is officially over.  And because we have been very busy getting "back in the groove" I haven't had time to take many pictures this week. 

Some of the only pictures I've taken are from a Mommy and Daddy date we took with Landon this morning.  He still has 10 more days before preschool starts and we had a perfect opportunity to focus on our little guy while the rest of the kids were at school.

Yesterday I asked him what he would like to do with Mommy and Daddy and he said, "I want to go to Mickey Mouse World (Disney World) and see Mickey."  I had to explain that we couldn't do that since obviously it is too far away...like 10 hours too far away.  His next suggestion still has me a little confused.  "Then I want to take Angel to the doctor's and hers can stay there."  The only explanation I can come up with for this suggestion is that we did take the dog to stay with the vet when we went to the beach a few weeks ago. So, basically, I think he's wanting to go on a road trip.  Anyhow, that was clearly not an option either.  

We ended up at the mall and rode the carousel and the $4.00 per person train.  And he was perfectly happy with that.  It's still summer for my baby and this was a nice little way to spend a hot summer afternoon.  Inside with air conditioning.

 

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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

First Day

1. My sweet-as-pie baby girl started Kindergarten on Monday!


 2. I didn't cry!  I cried when I left Cameron at school on his first day of Kindergarten.  I cried when I left Parker for his first day of Kindergarten.   And I might have cried on Monday if I didn't already know that Anna's teacher, Mrs. Houser, is the most wonderful teacher God ever created.  Parker had Mrs. Houser for Kindergarten and, let me tell you, she sets the bar VERY  HIGH for other teachers!

3. I didn't cry partly because I had already cried on Thursday when we met Mrs. Houser for Meet and Greet.  I had already gotten it out of my system, I suppose.

4. Anna is having a wonderifous time; just like I knew she would.


5. I got a nap today.

6. It's been a great week so far.
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