Best Friend

(2010) Lily Claire's teacher told me today that her little two year old classmates were on the floor at circle time and each child in the class was telling about his/her "best friend."  The other kids were naming children in the class as their best friends, but when they got to Lily Claire and asked her who was her best friend, she said "Mama" ... you KNOW I loved that!!!!!!

Skunk

(2013) Dylan came home all dirty and sweaty from his batting practice then played outside until dark.  When he came in, Lily took one step toward him and said sternly, "Dylan, you better go get a bath or your friends will think you're a skunk."  No one loves you like your sibilings!!!  Hahahaha!!

Grass

(2014) Bran was recounting to me a recent dinner he had at an Italian restaurant.  He said the waitress came and asked him if he wanted a Caesar salad or mixed greens.  He said he knew he didn't like Caesar so he order the mixed greens, not really knowing what it was.  He said in shock, "Mom, when they brought the salad, the leaves were ALL PURPLE!!!!  And then I asked for ranch dressing and they said the dressing was already on it and I couldn't see ANYTHING.  I felt like I was eating grass, like some cow, but I didn't want to say anything and seem rude."  CRACKED me up!!!

Manners

One of the hallmarks of being a Southern mother .... reminding your kids of every rule of good manners ever known to man while taking them to any event away from home  ... a birthday party, a sleepover, whatever.  The poor kid is trapped in the back seat of the car all the way to their friend's house while you repeat the same age-old list ... "Don't ask for a bunch of food, wait until it's offered ... don't grunt when an adult speaks to you, say Yes M'am and No M'am ... be SURE and say thank you and please ... don't run in their house and wipe your feet on the mat when you go in ... don't act like a buffoon or you'll never be invited again ..."  The kid just nods automatically at every rule you throw out there, like one of Pavlov's dogs hearing a bell for the millionth time.  By the time you pull into the driveway, they can't get out of the car fast enough and the only thing they are thinking is that they sure wish DAD had given them a ride instead of Mom!!!  :)

Apps

(2013) I am cracking up ... Grammie is asking Dylan which apps/games he doesn't need on her Ipad anymore.  After looking over a bunch of racing games and baseball games, etc, he said, "We could delete this one called dictionary."  Guess that one doesn't rank high on the cool apps list for nine year old boys!!!

Wrong Room

 Deb and I were coming back up from the pool at our hotel one evening and realized we didn't have a key to our room.  The kids were in the room so we knocked and when no one answered, we started banging on the door over and over and over and shouting, "OPEN THE DOOR" and "COME ON" and yelling all the kids names real loud and annoyed through the door.  Finally we heard someone inside the room talking in a voice we totally didn't recognize and we noticed that instead of being at room 904 (our room) we were at room 704!!!!!  We had been talking and laughing on the elevator and we had gotten off at the WRONG floor by accident!!!  So we did what any grown 40+ year old women would do when we heard someone coming to the door after all our banging and screaming .... WE RAN!!! (with our two huge bags of beach buckets and toys and snacks AND beach mats and towels and sunscreen cans clanging all the way down the hall!)

Wrong Customer

I am cracking up that beside my $10.01 balance in my savings account, Wells Fargo posted a big red-flag notice that says IT’S TIME TO INVEST! In what??? Some items from the Dollar Store?! 😂😂😂 #wrongcustomer

Scouting

(2015) Oh lord. Dylan just came over to me at the pool and I said, "What are you doing?"
He answers, "I'm scouting."
"Scouting what?" I ask.
"Girls," he answers with a huge grin.
Here we go again with son #2!

Sanctuary

My backyard is quickly becoming a sanctuary for me. It’s so peaceful and quiet, and I’m so happy there. Today I sat in the covered swing surrounded by daffodils and purple azaleas while the cherry blossoms floated in the breeze like pink snow. Birds chirped and darted back and forth from the feeders, while Buddy contently lay nearby in a little patch of sunshine chewing his bright orange ball. For that short while, it was truly a little piece of heaven on earth.

Bubbles

(2012) Dylan is shedding his "cool guy-ness" for a little while this morning to play whatever Lily wants to play in the pool. At the moment he is having to be a baby sea turtle named Bubbles.

Marshmallows

(2011) Skeet bought Dylan a big bag of mini-marshmallows and now he's the new George Washington Carver of marshmallows!  So far he's had peanut butter, jelly, and marshmallow sandwiches, marshmallow cinammon toast, marshmallow and Cocoa Puffs cereal, marshmallow milk ... you name it and Dylan has put marshamallows on it!

Translation

(2015) Lily said to me today, "I am sooo glad this combo had a frequency!!!"  Translation: "I am so glad this condo had a vacancy!!!"

The South

You know you're in the south when you pass a restaurant called Big D's BBQ Trough situated amongst a trailer park, a baptist church, and Sharky's Firework and Moccasin Emporium.  Now to find that roadside stand of boiled peanuts....

Hero

I single handedly saved the family from a big, gross jellyfish that washed up beside us on the beach today! No one else would get rid of it, so I bravely scooped it up with our purple shovel and threw it out to sea. I am a hero. 😂

Pan

Lily just saw this picture of the day she was born and asked, "Why was I in a pan?"  Hahahaa!