China

 (2014) Life with Dylan 101. 

He was assigned a project in his Social Studies class to learn about China. His task was to bring in a Chinese artifact of some sort and explain about it to the class. 

Me: "How did your Social Studies sharing go today? What did you take in for your Chinese artifact?"

Dylan: (whipping out a John Cena wrestling action figure). "This."

Me: (dumbfounded) What? Why?!!  John Cena has NOTHING to do with China!!

Dylan (emphatically): "Yes he does, Mom!  It says right here on his foot, 'Made In China'!"

Great. Can't wait to see the stellar grade we get on that one.

Easter

 (2011) Life with Dylan:  This morning we were talking about Easter and I said, "Jesus died for us then rose from the grave three days later!"  Dylan:  "Cool!  So Jesus is a skeleton now?"  Sigh.  "No Dyl, Jesus is not a skeleton!"

Book

(2012) I gave Lily a new Berenstain Bears book this morning and she gasped real big and said, "Wow! This is my most favoritest book I never seen!" 

Nehi Peach & Boiled Peanuts

Nehi Peach and boiled peanuts.  Takes me back to our dating days when Skeet and I stopped along the roadside in the mountains to buy boiled peanuts. He told me I was the only girl he’d ever met who liked boiled peanuts, and I told him he obviously hadn’t been meeting the right girls! Pretty sure those boiled peanuts are how this Georgia girl captured the heart of one very handsome Georgia boy. 

Useless

 (2016) Helping Bran with a paper for his British Lit class tonight that is about how the Victorian ideals of the time were portrayed in Dickens' Oliver Twist and how he used the novel to attack the Poor Laws of the time, etc.  I am all enthused and loving every second of it and remembering how much I LOVE everything about this time period and topic. Meanwhile, Bran is miserable writing this paper and says to me,"Seriously ...  This is completely useless and and no normal person cares about a bunch of poems that make no sense and all these long, confusing stories ....What kind of weird person would go to college and get a whole degree in this stuff!!?"  Long awkward pause.  "Um.  That would be me, son."  Nice backpedalling, Bran. Yes, he is definitely his father's son.  

Rag A Muffin

 (2011) Whenever Lily Claire has been outside playing and she looks a mess, I tell her she looks like a little "rag-a-muffin."  Today she had a checkup at the doctor and I told her we needed to brush her hair, to which she replie, "Why?  Am I a "mag -a -ruffin?"  

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 siblings!!! 

Rules

 (2013) 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!!!  

Marshmallows

 (2010) 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!

Scratches

I had a sweet memory today. I was cleaning the master bathroom this morning, and as I was scrubbing the sink on Skeet’s side, I noticed all sorts of scratches in the sink. It reminded me that when Brandon was little I used to let him play “car wash” in that sink with his Hot Wheels. He would take all his cars outside and get them real dirty running them through the dirt and grass and then we would line them all up to go into the car wash in sink in the bathroom. He would zoom the cars all around in the bubbles and water and play for hours! Yes, I have scratches all in the marble sink, but I’m glad I do. ❤️

Senior Citizen

 (2021) One of my students asked me today if I was a senior citizen!😂😂😂 Ummm ... no, but at this point I certainly feel like one, but with none of the discounts! 😂😂

Cheering

 (2013) Guess I was cheering too loudly for Dyl at his ballgame because Lily turned to me and said, “Sshhhh, Mom! You’re making my ears go blind!!” 

Brawl

 Today’s Blog Highlight …

Brawl

It's a pretty sure sign that the world is in a serious downward spiral when the news headline of the day is "The Easter Bunny brawls with shoppers at a NJ mall."  Seriously, what is happening to society?!! Or should I say "HOP-pening ..." Hahaaa!!'

BSOL

 (2016) 

 Those of you who know me are aware that I'm not really known for having extensive baseball knowledge (ok, none), and I've been known to erroneously scream "good cut" from time to time when Bran catches a ball in the outfield. I basically sit at the games asking Skeet "What happened?" after each play  and just clap for whatever Bran does. HOWEVER, I was never fully aware of my complete and utter lack of baseball knowledge until the other evening Brandon Taylor and Robert Skeet Taylor were on either side of me  rehashing a recent game. Believe me when I say that they talked for over twenty minutes saying stuff I'd never even heard of IN MY LIFE that apparently did or didn't happen in the game. Y'all, I literally had NO IDEA what they were even saying! It was like a weird, secret "baseball code" that I'd never been privy to until now!

Here's what the conversation sounded like to me ..., "The southpaw dinger brushback pickle set-up-man with the seeing-eye-single shoestring catch in the hole flashed some leather on the hot corner who had a safety squeeze on a sacrifice bunt with a slice foul sinker in the backdoor breaking ball bad hop balk for the closer in the clutch and the mop up with the BABIP ERA WHIP, don't you agree?"

Ummmm .... yes??  .... 

I've now decided that instead of being ESOL, (English as a Second or Other Language), I am what you would call BSOL,.. (BASEBALL as a Second or Other Language).  And after hearing all their jibberish, it will be a PERMANENT condition for me, I am quite sure. Unless maybe there is some Rosetta Stone software that could help me out. 🙂  #lifewiththeTaylormen

Birdseed

 (2018) Today's free springtime advice .... never coat all your birdseed with "Coles Flaming Squirrell Repellant Sauce" and then hang your feeder from a very high branch on a super windy day.  Though it sounds unlikely, a big piece of flaming seed WILL fall out of the feeder right into your eye.  Unfortunately I am speaking from painful experience.