Archive for June, 2009

Ahhh, my girls. It was so good to see everyone this weekend in Nashville! Thanks a bunch to Angela for having us all at her house: Aimee from Florida, Suzanne from Alabama, Anna from Germantown, and me, Jay, and the kids from Arkansas. Angela and Ben were great hosts, and we had such a fun time getting to know their little girl, Emma, who is 10 months old. I miss everyone already!

The first stop on our trip was Memphis, where we spent the night with my Granny and visited with her and my Meemaw and Grandaddy for a little while on Friday. Then Friday evening we arrived in Nashville, where we met some of Jay's friends for supper before heading to Angela's house. The kids, of course, took right up with my friends, telling them all about their lives and whatever else they could think of. (I've often wondered what it would be like to have shy kids. So far, it hasn't happened.) We had a lot of fun playing games, eating at a Mexican restaurant (a tradition we started at MSU), going swimming in their neighborhood pool, and talking, talking, talking (mostly by James…man, that boy can gab! And in the middle of a group of girls that haven't seen each other in a year!) James also impressed the group with his reading skills and his ability to play the game Taboo, where you try to get your team to guess a word without saying any of the 5 words listed below it. Eliza, not to be outdone, started looking over James' shoulder and sounding out the words he wasn't supposed to say (mostly to annoy her brother, I'm sure!) They also had a great time playing with Emma, who is cuter than pie (if pie was even cute!) and enjoyed the attention. If you don't believe me, check out the pictures:

Me and the girls

Emma!

Happy baby

Game time

After we left Sunday, we decided to take a detour down the Natchez Trace a little ways before heading home. We stopped several times along the way to look at pieces of the old trail and to see a waterfall that was nearby. Poor Eliza got stung by a wasp as we were heading back to the car from the waterfall, and that thing chased us several feet before we finally got away from it. It got her on the head and finger, although apparently not very badly, because she didn't swell at all. I think it might have been attracted to her yellow bow, and she reached up to see what was in her hair. She cried all the way back to the car with Jay carrying her, but she was fine after a little while. Jay took some photos of the picturesque Trace:

Overall, it was a great trip! I can't wait to do it again!

Ever since Father's Day, when Eliza's Sunday School teacher had each child say a special prayer for his or her dad, Eliza has been including a request for dads in her nightly prayers. Here is how it usually goes:

"And help our daddys to do the right thing. Help them not to say bad things, like 'dangit'."

Last night she changed it slightly: "Help them to not say bad things, like 'shoot'."

Jay doesn't even use these choice words that often, but I guess it is often enough that Eliza notices. But, she is praying for all dads here, not just her own. Mostly, I think she is looking for a way to say the bad words without being in trouble (although I don't recall getting on to her for saying them, but perhaps I have made the comment that they are not very nice words to say.) Anyway, I guess we could all use some prayers in this area to live up to the command found in Ephesians 4:29:

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Amen!

Here are some pics from Saturday:

Is it any wonder why kids love summer?

I am so excited about this weekend, because I get to see my girls! (My girls are my college girlfriends, whom I haven't seen in a few years.) These girls were my family in college: we laughed, cried, sang, and ate together. Mostly laughed. They even threw me a birthday party the second week of our freshman year. They will always be my girls, and I can't wait to see them! We are meeting up in Nashville, where my friend Angela lives. Jay and the kids are coming, too, and it will be a fun weekend! Nashville or bust!

VBS was great this week. We had a swamp theme going on, called Crocodile Dock, where fearless kids learn to shine for God (or something like that!) Everyday we had a Bible point, which whenever it was said all the kids shouted "FEAR NOT!" (So if you say something to which I respond, "FEAR NOT!", you'll know you have stumbled on one of our Bible points.) I had a great crew of 4 kids: a 6-year-old girl, two boys that just finished 4th grade, and one boy that just finished 5th grade. They hardly gave me any trouble at all! I really enjoyed the music this year, and all the motions that went along with it. So did my kids!

Thursday night the church had "Movie and a Dog", where the church provides hot dogs and popcorn and snow cones and they set up a big screen on the parking lot to watch a movie. This year's movie was "Bolt", which I had never seen. It made me cry, but it was a good movie, and the kids really enjoyed it. Before the movie, they played some of the songs from VBS, while the kids did the motions. I managed to catch a little of it on video:

They also had a balloon release, which was really neat. Here are a few more pics from the night:

I am so glad we get to participate in VBS! It is a tiring week, but so worth it!

I love softball. And I love my family. Put the two together, and I am just about in heaven! I sat out of the game tonight because of my ankle, but I was there just in case we didn't have enough to play. If I was needed, I could stand out there and try really hard not to run, although it would have taken a major effort. So I'm glad there were plenty of players. Even though it is hard for me to sit on the bench and watch. I was of some use to the team, anyway; Alayne wore my cleats, and Bridget used my glove since hers is not as broken in. And we won! It was a good game.

Family softball makes for some great memories. Today is my sister Lydia's 20th birthday. So my mom baked a cake and we sang "Happy Birthday" after the game (as well as several times during the game.) We had a little party right there at the ball field. Hey, anytime is a good time for cake! I really enjoy being close to family, and getting to share these little moments. And I love playing softball with my family! Even when I don't get to play. There is just something special about being able to share an activity that we all enjoy. And mostly not drive each other crazy while doing it! It's a good thing we are mostly laid-back people. I am so blessed!

Just a quick funny from Eliza today:

My mom and I were sitting outside with Eliza, just chatting, when the conversation turned to my grandparents. Mom had gone up in the attic for my Meemaw last time they were there, and Meemaw had made a comment about going up there to spray poison because of a wasp infestation. Mom said, "I'm a little worried about Granny and Meemaw climbing up in the attic now." Eliza turned to her and said matter-of-factly, "Mammy, you should just worry about your kids." I guess Eliza thought she had enough to worry about, without adding anybody else to the list!

Jay's grandmother, Mimi, turned 90 yesterday, so today we went and picked her up from the nursing home to take her out to dinner. I had baked a cake to eat after dinner, and the kids made cards for Mimi. James wrote his all by himself, only asking a few times how to spell something. Eventually, I had to come see what he was writing because I was curious why he needed to spell "sure" and "about". Here is what he came up with:

Front: "Happy Birthday Mimi!"
Inside: "for an old lady, you sure are (insert several princess stickers that say "Very Nice, Beautiful, Wonderful, Amazing, etc.)" Then underneath that, he wrote, "things about you".
On the other side of the card, he wrote "from James" at the top, and "It is nice to know you" at the bottom.

Eliza's card was pretty straight forward, with lots of heart stickers adorning every side and her name printed in all capitals, except for the "i", which consists of a line with a large circle covering the top half of the line. Mimi loved her cards, and was very grateful for our visit. We only manage to visit her about every other week, but to her it may as well have been half a year since our last visit. Still, she is doing pretty well for a 90-year-old!

Here is Mimi with her cake (taken with Jay's iPhone, since we didn't have a camera on us!):

We played a really good softball game tonight. We almost won, and that is saying something considering we used to get slaughtered by this team last year. Unfortunately, I got hurt toward the end of the game. I was running to second, and the ball almost beat me there. I didn't want to slow down when I got close to the bag, but I also didn't want to overrun it, so I turned my foot sideways and let it catch on the edge of the base. Kind of like a standing slide into the base. My foot stopped, but the rest of me still had some momentum, and it did something to my ankle. I was called safe, but my ankle was injured. I grimaced as I stood up and thankfully, Dad saw and called a time-out. They let Mom run for me after I hobbled around on it for a second. I could have run, but only at the expense of injuring it further. It's a little swollen and just a tad painful when I walk. Hopefully it will heal quickly, but I've had enough ankle problems in the past to realize it might be a while before I can play again. Drat!

My thumb is much better. It's still a little swollen, and it hurts when I do things like open cans with a can-opener. I guess that puts a lot of stress on your thumb! It's not totally well, but it hasn't bothered me too much lately. Now I have a new injury to attend to! I just hope I can walk for Vacation Bible School next week. I get to take a crew of kids around to the different stations, but it won't be very good if I can't keep up with them!

Summer vacation is great! We did almost nothing at all (my favorite!) all week. I let the kids play too much Wii and watch too much TV, but we were celebrating our new-found freedom! Friday I managed to get us out of the house in time to hear a story at the zoo, where we got to pet a bunny and have a close-up look at a pygmy falcon. We also watched the new bird show there, which was very entertaining. After looking around at some of the animals, we grabbed some lunch and met Jay at UALR, where he works. The kids love eating lunch with Daddy, and it was such a beautiful day!

Saturday Jay did yard work, and I helped a little. Mostly I just brought him a drink every now and then. But I also did some picking up of bush trimmings and blowing off the sidewalks. We have a corner lot, so we have a LOT of sidewalk. After I did that, I developed a really bad headache that left me feeling ill. (Maybe it was the work, or the weather, or maybe I just had it coming…who knows?) So Jay finished the yard work, came in and got cleaned up, took the kids out for some dinner, then came home and gave them a bath and put them in bed. What a man! I was feeling much better after that (what a coincidence!) but we were both exhausted.

Today we barely made it to church on time (Jay had trouble getting up, and I spilled James' chocolate milk all over the table, which took me a while to clean up because of the amount of junk that had accumulated on the table). But we were combining classes with Miss Carolyn's class next door, and she had already agreed to teach the lesson, so at least I didn't have that to worry about. After church we picked up some barbecue pork from the Whole Hog Cafe for lunch at my parents' house. That is some yummy stuff! After lunch we sat around stuffed for a little while, then decided to go out and enjoy the weather. We headed to Burns Park, where they have disc golf courses for weirdos like us who play disc golf. (We own at least 20 discs and our own disc golf basket, as well as bags made specifically for disc golf. I know, it's a little much, but we enjoy it, even though we don't play that much anymore.) The kids didn't find it all that fascinating; James kept getting very upset at his inability to throw, and Eliza couldn't stay behind whoever was throwing. Eventually, my mom and I took them to the bathroom and ended up going to the playground instead of rejoining the crowd. (We had a slew of people: Jay, me, Mom, Dad, Jon, Adrienne, Benjamin, Bridget, Gerald, James, and Eliza. Oh, and Bridget's dog, Belle.) It was really too big of a group for disc golf, but we had fun anyway. It was a hot day, and we were tuckered out afterward, so we relaxed at Mom's for a while before heading home. Actually, Jay started and finished an entire book while we were there. It was a good day…we are so blessed!

I was playing in the outfield at our softball game Monday night, and I reached up to catch a fly ball, with my right hand beside my glove. I misjudged it by an inch or so, and the ball hit right on the end of my right thumb, which was just barely sticking out above the edge of my glove. Unfortunately, the ball bounced away. I almost redeemed myself by catching the next fly ball and ending the inning. But I knew my thumb was injured. At least it didn't break my nail! :) My thumb is swollen and stiff, although it is a little better today than yesterday. You never realize how much you use your thumb until you can't use it!

That was not the only mishap that occurred to me at the ballgame. After my thumb injury, I had to bat to finish the inning. I was walked (thankfully), and with the next batter, I made it all the way to third base. The other team overthrew the ball, and Dad, who was coaching third base, sent me to home plate. I started running, but I noticed myself starting to fall forward. I almost recovered, but my body was moving faster than my legs could keep up, and finally, I fell about halfway to home. The rest seemed to happen in slow motion; I got up as fast as I could, but the ball beat me to home and they tagged me out. It was pretty embarrassing, but there was nothing I could do. I'm sure it looked quite comical. I wonder if I can blame it on my newly injured thumb somehow? Oh, well, I'm sure it wouldn't have happened if I wasn't such a fast runner. :)

I sat out the rest of the game, putting ice on my thumb and yelling encouragements from the dugout. Hopefully my thumb will be well enough to play our next game, which isn't until next Tuesday. And maybe I won't let my body get ahead of my feet next time. I really enjoy playing softball, even when I manage to make a fool out of myself! Of course, it helps when your Dad's the coach, your Mom's the pitcher, and your three sisters play on your team as well. They are used to seeing me make a fool out of myself!