summer fun

Yesterday was like old times.

the last 3 (plus 1 sibling) of the original group were"playing" together.

Although it started as a high spirited game of Monopoly,

we took a break for lunch, swam then

headed off to the zoo.

Believe me Julie, you were there with us in spirit.

We could not get those monkeys to howl...I tried.

I got 'the look' from Corinne that I should stop.

We all agreed that the wolf exhibit is pretty darned

awful coupled with the fact that the new baby elk was downwind!!

The butterfly exhibit has been turned into a bird exhibit,

complete with sticks for purchase to feed them.

Emerson was the best , though.

I asked him if he could wink..he shows me he can.

So I told he to wink at the polar bear when he swims by....off he ran.

Oh I remember those days, they were so sweet!!

pip pip

c

New Name

I was asked to change the name of the blog today and now realize I never got a suggestion of what to change it to. I've put a new one on so just let me know if you want it called something else. Keep in mind, it might be a good idea to contribute before asking for changes :)

Howdy

Old photos are great, aren't they? Post away, girlfriend. I'm going to see if I can figure out how to do it. I have a picture of Emerson's first ocean experience I'd like to share. Obviously I figured it out. Here's our outside boy loving life!!

Julie, Jim said he wants to read Parrish's speech that he didn't get to read. I'm curious....do you consider his current education a traditional classroom setting? I know you didn't do that here and wasn't sure what you had found up there. Due to financial reasons, Jim will be homeschooling Emerson this fall unless he gets a job offer in the next 6 weeks. Of course if something comes up after the school year starts, I'm sure he'd take it and we'd find something else for Emerson. I think he would really benefit from the school Carter is going to but really can't justify $7,100 for kindergarten plus the fact we don't have that just lying around anyway. Does this school issue stuff just hang around for 12 years? I think the answer is yes. We should have moved to Huntsville 5 years ago when we had the opportunity. Jim just didn't want to go. Oh well, hind sight.

Memphis moms, will there be any Saturday you guys can come over to swim? It's been almost a year since you were here. Remember the good old days when we saw each other every week?

Have a great long weekend (even though it's only Monday).

Brenda

oldies

A friend from high school has found a box of old photos.

She has started posting them on facebook.

I got a good laugh when my own daughter could not

pick me out from a group of five 9th graders.

I sent her a msg on fb that i was enjoying the oldies.

She sent me a msg back tell me she was going to post

more but was unsure if it was safe to tread there.

My first response was why not...but then I got

to thinking....well, it was in the past and foolish behavior

happens to us all.

So, if you want I will try to copy a few and post them .

A new Corinne -ism

Corinne, you need to cook rice for dinner.

ok

you need to go to Highpoint and buy it first then use

this pot. you will only need 1 cup of rice to the pot of water.

( I boil, I don't steam it)

ok

I go to work......

I call home at 3:30

How is it going with the rice?

oh i forgot to cook it.

I call back at 4

How is it going?

Well, all the water is gone.

Corinne, which pot did you use?

The one u told me to use.

er did you not put enough water.

Didn't u say use all of the rice??

No, only a cup (Lucy!!!!!)

Oh well it looks done to me.

C-taste it and then let me know.

er mom it needs to cook more what do i do?

Get out the biggest pot we have, strain the rice and put it in the new pot FULL OF WATER!!

she is the best!! trooper. as long as she can get back to her books

she will do anything.

enjoy the weekend.

Cari enjoy Paris

c

Graduation

So, P graduated from 8th grade last week.  My mom came up (the last living grandparent my children have) and it was nice.  He was in a class of eight and each child gives a short speech...except Parrish.  Of course, his was deemed to controversal and negative.  Seriously, if it had one positive thing in it, I would have fought tooth and nail for him to read it, but as it was written it was a downer.  Basically, his missive about the ineffectivness of traditional classroom education.

But...this is gonna be a picture heavy post.  Sorry about the quality, these were taken with my phone.

How we all look now

and this is my favorite picture of them all...the boys playing pool...

(just keep in mind that my child had ties all over his boxers...it was the only way I could get one on his body)

Surprises of Love

As I write this, the house is quiet...minus the sound of the dishwasher.

Corinne is back home. My sweet girl is different.

Horse camp has sparked new interests in a city

girl, mainly belts, belt buckles and 4-H.

My guess is she was with older girls by the way she walks and talks.

I am also assuming she has heard some conversations dealing with sex and maturing.

When I asked about this she said .."Who told you about that?"

er mom's intuition??

More as I discover it.

Last weekend Kevin and I had a talk about vacations.

While he is dying to get to camp, he also wants a real

vacation...somewhere.

Never mind he went to st Louis with his dad, uncle and cousin.

And he went rafting with friends.

And PLEASE not to New Orleans again!!!

Well, son, just how long has it been since you have seen Nonie, Paw-Paw and Gramps??
And remember gramps has been ill for several months.

er , I dunno. Well let me tell you...since Christmas...6 months!!!

He has a fleeting sense guilt, then the "but mom"....

I gently remind him these people are our closest family we love them very much

and they are getting older.

As they age , they are less able to get around and LOVE calls and visits

from us.

(My mom has been caring for her mother..who finally has made it a retirement/nursing

home. Both are relieved but sad that she had to do this.)

But back to Kevin, I let him mull it over....and Keith too, who happens to be in the car.

As DIVINE intervention would have it....my mother has nothing to do the weekend of

the 18-19 and would love to drive up to see us.

Also as divine intervention would have it there is a child to be picked up at

camp and a horse show to boot!!

Child 2 has 2 baseball games the same weekend.

A chance for both to show them their skills. with their friends coming

over, the grandparents get to see our real life.

Everyone loves it.

BUT...the real reason my shameless children cannot wait for them to come is the fact

that their grandmother is an exceptional cook!!!

She makes the best steak /gravy and mashed potatoes...they finished off an extra large bowl

friday night, jambalaya on saturday and Father's day is roast mashed potatoes again!!!

Oh yeah , she brought them frozen lasagna she made!!

Real love can't get better than this.

As for me , i have been wrestling with the purchase of a new vacuum that has the same problem as the one I own. Only my dad can find the simple problem with the cord and fix it for me!!

all I owe him is my love!!

I see my dad looking more frail, this you cannot tell in the phone calls.

He needs knee surgery and the trip up here is not easy for him.

My mom sees her brother get to enjoy his grandchildren...they all live in the same small town.

She misses us even more.

Love has a way helping us see what needs to be done and do it ...soon!

c

hello,

I have been busy entertaining Kevin while Corinne is away at horse camp.

So far we have managed to get a physical...shots included... go out to eat several times,

swim and take a tour of the Gibson Guitar factory, and take a raft trip with

6 other boys and their parents on the Spring River in Arkansas.

This week he is at Camp Evergreen...near Rhodes College

How's that for a busy schedule and me working some!!

Yep, despite the unruly behavior she manage rein in her anger long enough to

get out of town.

She is one of 10 girls at horse camp. She is a leader in her group.

They are planning routines to perform with the horses...she hopes to

have some of the horses walk in a diamond shape with some trailing like the end

of a kite. sweet.

We go thurs at 6p for the horse show...we are encouraged to bring

contraband foodstuff. Corinne requested Ricki's cookies and those peanut

candies that are brown stripes.

Her turn will come in mid-July when Kevin heads off to sleep away camp....

a cabin with 7 smelly 11-12 yr old boys!!!

the counselors do make them take a bath...they just do not pay attention to

what they wear. Kevin's friend cody had the same shirt on each day when they

posted pictures!!

ta-ta

c

MIA

I sent Angie and Dana another email to see if they want to join our blog. They never accepted the invitation I sent out. Cari did but guess she is just being a voyeur at this point. :) Type, Cari, Type!! If I can blog about puke, I know you can think of something!!

The wedding was very sweet.  It was a beautiful, sunny day which meant as I was running my butt off I was also sweating in my dress - this was probably primarily caused by the fact that I wear ahem....supportive undergarments to keep my chubby belly in check.  Since this is a private blog, I will add some pictures...they'll never know.

Louisa (her nickname is Weezie and just about everyone calls her that) and Chris (the groom) have been together a long time and everyone who knew them was really excited to be at the party.  I just met her last fall when she followed our new chef (Thad) from the last restaurant they had worked at together.  She is really very sweet but mainly a really tough chick - which is why she can handle being behind the line at a restaurant.  Most people commented that they had never seen her in a dress.  I was really honored to be asked to help...I could regail you with stories of the crazy that accompanied such little preparation but lets just say their married and everyone had a great time, including me.

Parrish gets back from his 8th grade trip to Maine this afternoon.  Let,s see how long we can go without arguing.  I really will have to take a picture of his room sometime.  It's like ghetto bad - like the kind of room that you see on "Cops" and wonder "how do people live like that".  But, you've got to pick your battles.  I just read "The Witch of Portobello" and there was a quote about how Mary felt about the choices Jesus made.  It was perfect for where we are right now.  But I already returned the book to the library...so y'all will just have to read it.

I am glad that the illness was purely self-inflicted and was not a virus to ruin your vacation Brenda.  Although all the laundry...And I think the reason that everyone here is so laid back is that they are stoned half the time.  I'm not kidding.  It's as common as beer.

It's gonna be a long summer for y'all - your always welcome up here.  I had a fire in the fireplace last night.

Cari?  Dana?  Angie?  what ya up too?

Home Again

Hello all.

Made it home from Key Largo. I flew home Wednesday night. I think Jim and the boys will be home sometime today based on where they stayed last night. We had a good time. It didn't start out so great......got caught in a traffic jam in Birmingham, AL, lost about 2 hours. Got to the campground late. Finally got settled into bed and Emerson complained his stomach hurt. I had him switch with Jim so he was sleeping with me. He continued to complain and I realized he was going to be sick about a 1/2 second before he let it go. How can a little boy project so much puke?? Luckily, the campground had great laundry room facilities that were open 24 hours. Jim was was washing sleeping bags at midnight. Emerson was fine after that. We think he ate too much junk on the way down. I had a bunch of snacks in the car and we weren't really paying attention to what he was eating. Live and learn. We saw a lot of neat stuff. Emerson didn't go snorkeling. It was very windy and the water was pretty choppy. I went with Carter and Jim stayed on the boat. An older couple from Nashville was on and the wife decided she didn't want to go either so the divemaster volunteered to keep Emerson while Jim buddied with the husband. There was another couple on the boat from Memphis (Mud Island) and the captain was from a small town near Nashville. Really really weird. The boat captain was asking us about Jackson and I said we really hadn't spent much time there just passed through and he had a confused look on his face. Apparently Emerson told him we lived in Jackson. Not sure what that was all about!! Saw our old house in Ft. Lauderdale, ate at our favorite diner. I missed the big beach outing last Wed night in Ormond Beach, FL but Jim said he had to drag Emerson out of the water at dusk. So glad they had a good time. We enjoyed the water in Key Largo too. Found out Carter thinks of a vacation as more of just doing nothing, sleeping, in etc. It is a lot of work taking the camper down every morning and putting it up at night. That was his job with Jim. It was good for him though. Silly as it sounds, some of the best fun we had was squirt gun fights. I think we will have to continue those here at home. Yes, I still want to move back and hope to some day when I'm old and gray (well, I'm aleady gray, but not old, right)?

I am afraid reading Julie and Carole's posts makes me think it is a preview of what is to come in about 8-10 years with Emerson. Thanks for the heads up.

Julie, I'm interested to find out what your duties were at the wedding. Apparently people up there are more laid back then we are down here, agree? That is a great way to be. I do remember the birthday parties. Mine didn't compare, but I am a Yankee after all. It is fun making cakes and planning parties. Glad you realize that is something you enjoy doing. I've always wondered if that was part of your thoughts during your "competitive mothering" blog sometime back. BTW, that is now one of Jim's favorite terms. I wish we had people over more often. I'm such a control freak though, I would wear myself out getting the house ready, etc. I need some of that laid back attitude in Vermont. It seems like everyone gets so busy in their own lives, it's hard to take the time to "just hang out". Of course working full time really cuts into my time. It puts quite a damper on everything, actually. Hoping to reprioritize soon.

Off to work now. Just got a ride. I have the spare on my car and now it is flat. Geez!!

Brenda

Heat wave upon us

Julie, missing the heat?
c'mon down!!

I am dry/wet/dry/wet... I feel like Corky's ribs.
I am amazed that the swimming pool can go
from really cool to tepid bath water with a week.

Too bad the cool nights can't hang on 7-10 more days,
corinne will be at horse camp.
sleeping outdoors with the elements and critters.

We (Keith and I) experienced the 'parents are so annoying'
tirade wed. those 2 were acting up in target, he slaps her face,
she lies in wait. I get so mad I could be in an Omen movie.

i locked them out and they proceed to bang on the door/window/ HOUSE!!!
ring the bell so long I had to disconnect it and run the hose...some of which got under the laundry room door and into the house!

Finally after doing outdoor chores they are let in.
at a pow-wow later on they tell us they don't like it here and want to leave.
i tell them go, but beware of the seedier side of life...
(also with whose $$ will they accomplish this)

Kevin says no i 'm not going now...it is too easy just to walk out the door with you watching me!! heehee
Corinne wants to be back in school...she does not like alll the rules!!!!here at Tara/Southfork/Green Acres...whatever you want to call this place.
I remind her several times they are 11 and 13.
This is getting to them in a mean way...we act older...oh yeah ...what was that crap in target!!!!!!!!!!!

I swallow my pride despite the lump in my throat and tell them I do LOVE them no matter how they behave!! they are still insisting they want to make the rules and live "their own life".

I soap opera could not write this stuff.
You should have seen the help I had today!!!
Kevin even went back to play baseball.

Did I really give birth to these two or were they invaded by aliens...zapped in the brain and taken away leaving what ever you want to call them.