Purple Marker

(2011) I walked into the kitchen this evening to find that Lily had drawn a big flower right on the refridgerator with a purple marker!!!! Thankfully I only buy washable markers! When I said, "Lily Claire, Don't draw on Mommy's refridgerator with marker!" Liily answered sincerely, "I didn't do it, Mommy ... the marker did it." Reminded me of a time Dylan drew all over my CAR with a black Sharpie pen and then told me that a bunch of ants had drawn it! Uh huh. Three year olds!

Best Friend

(2015) Lily just told me, "Mom, you can come to my birthday party because you're my best friend."  Sniff. Sniff.  Love that little girl!

Obscure

(2014) Bran wasn't sure if I could help him with his Language Arts homework last night because it was about some obscure, little known book called "To Kill A Mockingbird" ... had I ever heard of it?  Ummm ... yes, Bran.  I've heard of that "new" book.

Perks

(2014) Bran thinks he has hit the BIG TIME being on his highschool baseball team.  Why?  Because he gets FREE sweet tea AND lemonade at practices and games!  WHOA!!!!  Who needs the major leagues with these kinds of perks?!!  You gotta love 14 year old boys!

Round Here

While riding with Bran in his truck today, he turned to me and said, "Hank Williams Jr. A Country Boy Can Survive.  Best. Song. EVER."  Yup.  He's from around here.

Mother of the Year

(2014) I have to share my "Mother of the Year" story from this week ... I have been crowned once again.   I noticed that Dylan's tennis shoes were full of holes and completely raggedy, so I threw them away, thinking, "Gosh, this poor kid.  We'll get him a nice, new pair this weekend."  The next morning, while rushing to get to school because I had a parent conference waiting, Dylan was in a panic because he couldn't find his shoes.  I told him to wear another pair because I had thrown away the other ones. Well, of COURSE, he went nuts, saying they were his all- time favorite shoes, etc, etc.  I caved, and said in frustration, "Well get them out of the trash for today, but hurry up!!! We are going to be late!!!"  Dylan fished them out of the trash and when I walked in the kitchen, he was hobbling all over the kitchen shouting in distress,  "Mom!  Something is all over my favorite shoes!" I turn and see that his shoes are COVERED and dripping with spaghetti sauce!!?  What on earth??!   Turns out, UNBEKNOWNST to me, Bran had come down in the middle of the night and made himself a big bowl of noodles with spaghetti sauce and thrown out the leftovers in the very same trash can ... all over Dylan's "sacred" shoes. So, I did what any great mother would do.  I screamed, "BRING THEM TO ME!" I turned on the kitchen faucet , slopped water all over them, and handed them back to Dylan dripping wet saying, "Put them on FAST and get in the car!!! We are going to be late!!!"  What a lucky kid.  He arrived at school that day with shoes not only full of holes, but now stained with spaghetti sauce, smelling like tomatoes, AND squeaking and dripping wet  So glad I made the whole shoe situation so much better for him.  Yes, once again, I am Mother of the Year!  What can you do but laugh?!

Worst Mistake Of My Life

Those who know me will attest to the fact that I'm adventurous and will try just about anything once (exempting anything illegal  or immoral! 😉).  However, I am NOT AT ALL adventurous when it comes to food, especially any kind of weird meat.  I can't stand those TV shows where they go to some foreign place and eat a lot of "local delicacies."  I get nauseous within the first five minutes. SOOOO, considering that, I made the ABSOLUTE WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE tonight when I stopped in a food store near my house in the name of expediency that I've never been to before  (store name withheld so I don't hurt anyone's feelings). Y'all .... I should have trusted my instincts when my stomach lurched the moment  we walked In the door. The smells and atmosphere were horrendous, and I didn't recognize even one brand name or food item I'd ever seen before in my life.  As I intrepidly headed toward the meat section to find some simple meatloaf Ingredients, I kept getting queasier and queasier.  I was desperately scanning for ANY  meat I could even identify!  I am not kidding when I say that there were packages of huge wrapped hooves that looked like they were from a big cow or buffalo or something, and big slabs of grayish looking meat wrapped in strings that made my stomach churn. The capper was when I peered down into a refrigerated bin and staring back at me were about six frozen WHOLE lambs heads still with frozen fuzzy wool on them, wrapped in some yellowish cling wrap!  I seriously had to grab Lily's hand and run out of the store before I was completely ILL.  What a nightmare!!  What on earth possessed me to go into a sketchy meat shop to begin with?!  I got OUT OF THERE as fast as I could. Remind me next time to PLEASE take the extra turn into Kroger where I can rest assured that some big frozen animal face won't be greeting me from the meat counter and we won't have to stir-fry giant horse hooves for dinner. I am scarred for life, and Skeet can't quit laughing at my horrible ordeal!

Parent Conference

I had a parent say the nicest thing today that I've ever been told at a parent- teacher conference in 20 years of teaching. She said that her daughter came home the other day after school and told her, "Mrs. Taylor teaches us so many things beyond just Language Arts. She teaches us about kindness and how to treat each other the right way. Secretly, Mom, I know she's a Christian.  She can't say it, but I can see it."  I teared up on the spot ... One of the most meaningful compliments I've ever gotten from a student, and so kind of her sweet mom to share it with me!

Coupons

(2012) Having a Mom for a teacher often means drinking "Dr Thunder" instead of "Dr Pepper",  eating "Whales" instead of "Goldfish", buying "Hydrox Cremes" instead of "Oreos" and having conversations like this one today after school ...
Bran: Mom, can we drive through Sonic? I'm starving.
Me:  No, Sonic is too expensive and I don't have any coupons.  I'll have to go where there's a $1 menu.
Bran: Coupons?!  But you have a twenty dollar bill in your wallet!
Me: Yeah, but it has to last me to the end of the month.
Bran:  It's ok, Mom, that's what DAD is for. (loved that logic!)
Me:  Um, don't tell Dad, but this IS his 20 dollar bill!
Bran (after long pause): Well then ...bring on the $1 menu!

Imagination

(2015) I love imagination. I spent my whole childhood completely immersed in mine ... Still do, really.  I love seeing the same thing in Lily ... She is so much like me as a little girl! Came downstairs tonight and found her in the dark living room with a flashlight "deep in the jungle" exploring and  "having an adventure," in her words.  These are some pictures of the amazing sights on her harrowing jungle expedition ...

Grading

(2015) Must. stop. grading. informational. writing. papers.  My brain hurts.  45 down, 15 to go.... must finish these before the 60 narrative papers are turned in for grading tomorrow. I hope nobody wrote War and Peace.  I'm on a nightmare grading circle of life ... Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

CrossFit

I'm pretty sure I just completed an entire CrossFit routine trying to get on my black tights to wear with my dress tonight. I'm exhausted now.

Dinnertime

(2014) Lily Claire set the table and made dinner tonight .... too bad it wasn't for us!

Sleep

(2008) Oh my heart. My little Dyl. He never slept, but when he did, it was where ever he landed. ❤ So love this boy. 

Alaskan Bushmen

I am watching some show called Alaskan Bush Men and on this episode they are going to town to find girls at the "Grizzly Pizza" hangout. Their names are Bear and BamBam, to name a few of the five guys, and they just washed up to go "hunt women" (their words) with a plastic pitcher of rain water poured over their heads and a pocket knife to clean their nails. Poor Bear's pick up line with the "ladies" was "Who likes to climb trees?!"  One asked for a girl's number but then remembered he didn't have a phone since they live on the ground in the forest.  Oh dear. Surprisingly they didn't have a lot of success, and no woman wanted to come back home with them to their one room "trappershack" that they all five share with their elderly parents. Not sure why!!?  :). In Alaska, there is one woman to every seven men, but as the saying goes, "The odds are good, but the goods are odd."  Definitely.