Cure

 (2011) There are some sad boys at my house tonight ... they lost the championship game 12-0.   What to do?  I'm baking them some cookies, which is the "mom" cure for all life's disappointments.

Doorbell

 (2011) I am losing my mind!  Lily Claire has rung the doorbell about 1000 times now and keeps screaming "Trick or Treat!"  She's not quite understanding that today is NOT Halloween!!!!  AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Behave

 (2011) Lily had to sit in time out for hitting her brother.  I told her not come back in our room until she could be nice and BEHAVE.  When she came back in the room a little while later she said, "Sorry, Mama ... I'm 'being hay-ved' now." 

Fortune

 (2014) We went to our favorite Chinese restaurant tonight and when it came time to read the fortune cookies, we had a hilarious faux pas!  Lily asked to read Skeet's fortune out loud to all of us and, without any help, proceeded to read, "You will have good-looking personal affairs."  WHAT?!!!  Skeet was LOVING that fortune, until I snatched it and said, "Sorry mister.  It actually says, 'You will have good LUCK in your personal affairs!"   Oops ... letting a first grader read your fortune may alter your fate quite a bit, apparently!!

News Flash

 (2014) News flash for the family ... Lilly Claire informed me that she has changed her name to "Fluffy Belle."  Just FYI!

Halloween

 (2014) Sooooo much work ahead of me to make Bran into decent husband material one day ... case in point:  Tonight I walk into his room with all this highlighting product goop in my hair, my head covered with a huge plastic bag, moisturizer cream on my face, my pink robe on, and my black glasses.  My husband is smart enough not to comment (years of training).  My teenage son, however, says, "What the heck, Mom?!  Is that your Halloween costume?!!!"  Yes, I did swat him!  :)  Brandon Taylor

Old

 (2018) Today I was sitting outside on a bench at recess and had my ankles crossed.  One of my students was talking to me and then looked down at my ankle and said, Oh no, Mrs. Taylor, what happened?!”  She had seen an unsightly spider vein on my leg and thought I had been injured.  “Oh it’s nothing,” I said, “It’s OK. I’m  not hurt or anything.” Another student who was standing nearby overhearing the conversation rushed over to reassure me. “Don’t worry, Mrs Taylor! That just happens because of oldness.” Wow.  I felt much better thanks to that encouraging diagnosis! 😂😂😂😂

Vacation

 (2013) I think Lily has been misunderstanding all these weeks when I tell her that Skeet is out of town.  He's gone on business trips a few days of each week, but today in the car Lily asked me, "Why does Daddy take so much vacations?!"  Cracked me up!!!

Pajamas

 (2016) Guess Lily was giving me a hint that I've been cleaning the house too long today in my raggy PJs with my hair a wreck when she said in a very sweet voice, "Mom, are you going to get dressed soon?  You always look lovely when you're not in pajamas."  

Purgatory

 (2014) I'm pretty sure there is a level of Dante's purgatory called "Doing book reports with Middle School boys."  Shoot me now.

Lullaby

 (2011)Lily was singing real sweetly to her baby doll tonight ... "Rock A Bye Baby, the tree falls, bye Mr. Baby, when the tree falls."  I think her babydoll may be too terrorized  to go to sleep after that rendition!

Grits

 (2011) I have succeeded in raising my kids as true Southerners!  I told Lily I was going to go order pizza for supper and she said, "No, Mom, let's order grits!"  That's my girl!

Five

 (2015) I love five year olds.  I showed Lily an online picture of the baby panda cubs from the Atlanta zoo and she stood by the computer petting them (on the screen) and talking to them in a soft, high, sweet voice for about five minutes.  Precious.  Wish she could stay little forever.

Evaporation

 (2015) I am amazed at the apparent rapid rate of tater tot evaporation ... Anytime I send Brandon Taylor to Sonic to get some for me, half the pack is somehow gone by the time it gets home to me!!!!!  Hmmmmmm......  

Homework

 (2018) Lily complaining while doing a page of math out of her math book tonight ...

“What is WRONG with this McGrawHill person?! Does he just WANT us to be bored??!!”  I’m cracking up!!! 😂😂😂

Chipmunk

 (2019) I was doing some yard work today and found this buried in the yard. It was a grave marker Lily made several years ago when a little chipmunk had died in our lawn, and Skeet buried it. She gave it a beautiful “service” that day then made this notecard to say “rest in peace little chipmunk Dave.” Truly made me smile today and gave me a good laugh! Oh, that girl of mine!!! 😂😂😂

Old School

 (2018) I am an old school elementary school teacher and proud of it!  I am pleased to say that tonight I rummaged out my "candy corn" earrings and my pumpkin vests for the upcoming season!  Now all I need to find are those cute socks with ghosts and black cats on them!!! Eat your hearts out, you young whippersnappers!!

Crime

 (2013) Lily loves to make crafts, but tonight she came to me looking completely dejected with some sort of foam ball drenched in Elmer's glue and moaned dramatically, "OH NOOOO!!! Mom .. I am a GLUE GLOBBER." It is apparently a TERRIBLE crime. I just can't believe my sweet baby girl has turned to a life of glue globbing villainy at such a young age.

Waffle House

 (2018) So I’m going to make a confession. Waffle House grosses me out, and I hate to go there.  My husband knows this, so he was in shock today when I texted him that I took the kids to Waffle House for breakfast because the boys LOVE it! One of those sacrificial mom moments, I guess. 😂 Anyway everything went fine, it was SORT OF clean, we ate our food (though they only have cold syrup and serve hashbrowns with everything, even a hamburger) and I was starting to think, “Ok, this wasn’t so bad...”.  Just as I was entertaining this positive thought, the waiter next to me dumped an entire gigantic bucket of bleach water on the floor right next to where I was eating. Classy. Couldn’t quite swallow down anymore waffle with the bleach fumes floating over the greasy floor by my feet.  Check, please.  😂😂

Text

 (2012) I signed Bran up a few years back for text messages from a Youth Group at one of our local churches.  They text Bible verses, etc.  Anyway, his phone went off right in the middle of class today and the teacher looked mad.  Bran said, "Sorry, church is texting me" and the teacher said, "Oh ... ok then, go ahead and answer."  That cracked me up!!!!  Guess when God texts, by george, you ANSWER!

Crazy

 (2016) You know you've been raised by a Southern mama when .... your husband rehires the cleaning service to help you around the house and you are frantically cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen so they won't be dirty when the cleaning lady shows up!!! 😂😂😂 As we say around here, "Your crazy is showing .. better tuck it back in!!!"