Pumpkin and a Book 2010

This year's Pumpkin and a Book is in the books! And guess what?......

WE WON!!!!!

By "we", of course I mean Carlie's 3rd grade class!

This year the class chose the book "The Old Willis Place". If you've never read it, you should! It is a great read....even for adults! It's definitely not a book for little children.

The book is about an old estate that is said to be haunted by the ghost of Miss Lillian Willis who died in the parlor of the house. She left the estate to the county. The county hires caretaker after caretaker to live in a trailer on the property behind the house. The story starts with a new caretaker, Mr. Morrison and his 12 year old daughter, Lissa, moving onto the property.

The story is told from the perspective of a young girl named Diana who lives on the property with her brother Georgie. You learn that Diana and Georgie are orphans who live in a small shed in the woods.......but that's not all........

Of course I'm not going to spoil the story! You'll have to read it!!!

The class voted to do a pumpkin to look like "Georgie". We narrowed it down to doing Georgie from a scene where he comes running out of the woods wearing nothing but a loincloth, with red and yellow mud from the creek as war paint on his face and body. He had wild tangled dirty hair, with leaves, mud, and hawk feathers sticking out. We also created his bear, Alfie, out of two small pumpkins and foam sheets.

Here's a look.....

We used two pumpkins for each of the characters. For Georgie (the boy) we mixed a few colors to come up with his pale skin tone, and the war paint colors. The kids painted the war paint on him with their fingers. I cut the loincloth our of a suede fabric scrap I had already. For Alfie (the stuffed bear), we used two small pumpkins, and traced his arms and legs, and ears out of brown foam sheets. We used a toothpick dipped in white paint to make "stitching" around his "seams". Everything is held together with hot glue!

A view of Georgie's hair. Lawd, we spent most of ourtime on this wig! It was originally a girl's long curly white Halloween costume wig. I cut it off to look like a long haired boy. But we took this wig out on the playground and scrubbed it in 3 different types of dirt! We teased it with a comb to make tangles. Then we stuck hay, grass, sticks, and fallen leaves all in it! To top it off we added real chicken feathers to the top!!

His face was drawn by hand. Googly eyes. And to give him some dimension we used crinkled up newspaper molded in the shape of a nose and painted it.

We were all very proud of our creation! When the secretary announced the winners over the PA system, our class yelled so loud and so long, they could be heard outside! Then the teacher had to call another teacher to find out who else placed. The class had yelled through the entire 3rd grade announcement!

Pumpkin and a Book is always our favorite contest! We had a great time working on it!

Oh, and our school auctions these pumpkins off at our Fall Festival! The festival was last night. Carlie was determined to have it. So we bid on him. And WE WON!!!

So Georgie is coming home today to live with us! And Carlie says we are making his sister "Diana" over Fall Break.....which starts TODAY!!!!

WooHoo!!!!!!!! No school for 9 days!!!! I love it!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Little Girl Lost

Today there was laughter in my house. Giggles and deep belly laughs. My silly girl had us all laughing.

I cooked a big lunch today. The whole time I was cooking dinner, Carlie was helping in the kitchen. She was laughing and making up jokes. She was dancing and being silly. And every once in awhile she would hug me and say "I love you, mama!"

Today was the best day.

You see, we haven't had many.....actually we haven't had ANY days like today. Not in the last 2 weeks, anyway.....

Carlie started 3rd grade this year. It didn't take long for her to start falling behind on her schoolwork. She wasn't finishing assignments on time. Her teacher began sending several worksheets home each day that Carlie didn't complete for classwork. Worksheets that added to our already frustrating homework workload!

When Carlie was a few years old, maybe 2 or 3, my sister in law (who has a Early Childhood degree) noticed how Carlie would "hyperfocus" on activities sometimes. Especially activities that involves creativity or imaginative play.

As Carlie got older she had trouble completing many tasks at once. If I said, take your dirty clothes down stairs, get the basket and your shoes, and bring them back up to your room. She may take the dirty clothes downstairs, but I'd find her playing or doing something else rather than completing the instructions I gave.

We've always had to call her name several times before we can jar her from whatever currently holds her attention.

We've known for years that Carlie has ADHD tendencies. I guess we hoped it would "get better" or maybe we were just in denial....

But as third grade started it became evident that we had to do something.

So.....we took her to our family doctor who then diagnosed her with ADHD. He put her on a prescription medication. Vyvanse 30mg daily. She takes it once in the morning and that's it. It time releases over 12 hours.

The improvement at school was noticeable immediately. She began staying in her seat and paying attention the very first day. She is doing a better job of completing her assignments on time, and she doesn't cry and fuss over her homework anymore either.

We were thrilled with the progress, and were prepared for the usual side effects. They too, were noticeable immediately.

She had NO appetite for the first few days. And I searched for ways to get her to eat, or to get calories in her body atleast. One night I was scrambling eggs and slicing a banana at MIDNIGHT! That's the other big symptom. She wasn't sleepy. The medication, being a stimulant, kept her up. But that night...she was hungry....and I was anxious for her to eat! She asked for eggs. So I scrambled two. I added a banana, sliced with toothpicks in them for "fun" eating. It worked....she ate every bite. The next day.....same ol' "I'm not hungry". :(

Like I said, at first those were our two BIG side effects. We kept hoping as she adjusted to medication that the side effects would ease. Those side effects have improved. She's not "normal", but much closer.

As the days turned into a couple of weeks, we began to notice our BIG side effect wasn't eating or sleeping. The big problem was how reserved Carlie had become. She doesn't laugh, or act silly. She doesn't run and jump into her daddy's arms every afternoon when he comes home. She doesn't stop to hug me every 20 minutes and say "I love you, mama!" Our once boisterous, spirited, loving little girl is now quiet and reserved.

It breaks my heart to pieces. My husband's too. Carlie's funny personality is one of our lifes' treasures. She is such a joy to be around. We miss her hugging us, and telling us silly jokes. We miss her asking probing questions that exhaust us. We miss her talking about random things that we never would've considered. We miss our precious little girl.

So we are at a crossroads. We are praying HARD for guidance. Do we take her off the meds and homeschool? It's a possibility. I'm a stay at home mom. Do we keep her in school on the meds and hope that her personality slowly comes back to us? Do we take her off the meds and keep her in public school with behavioral training. Or get her an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) and keep her in public school. We see a psychologist in November and it's possible. Or go to private school for smaller classes? Or just try another medication?

*sigh*

We just want our girl back. It makes this even worse that we are the ones doing it! We're causing her to be hidden inside herself.....

Miley Cyrus Concert

This post is also known as "Our LAST Miley Cyrus Concert" or "What the heck happened to Miley Cyrus".......

A couple weeks ago Britt and I took Carlie and her friend to the Miley concert in Birmingham. I had bought tickets back in June. Carlie had been looking forward to the show for months! We had planned on taking Cam, but he bailed on the last day. Britt was a trooper and suffered through for his little princess.

This is Carlie and Lindsey before the show started

I was excited, because we had GREAT seats! By the looks of TicketMaster's diagram, we were right at the stage.

Little did I know that I would be wishing we were on the back row and the back of the arena before it was all said and done!

Then the week of the concert arrived. About two days before the show I saw the video to Miley's "Party in the USA" on Disney Channel. Now, my kids have been listening to that song for a month. It's pretty cute. Talking about her transition to Hollywood, how nervous she was. It's all in all a wholesome song about a girl from Nashville making it big. THEN I saw the video! OH MY GOODNESS! Can someone explain to me the connection between small town girl going to LA and trampy looking girls, scantily clothed, dancing in the bed of a pickup truck? I fail to see the connection.

I guess seeing that should have been my warning. But because we had been so excited about it...not to mention the $400 I dropped on tickets. (Britt was appalled saying "I didn't pay that much to see The Rolling Stones!")

Oh, did I mention this concert was "ticketless"?? Because of the outrageous markups on her last tour, Miley's company did a ticketless ticket. You have to bring the credit card you purchased the ticket with, and all members of your party must enter together. All to prevent ticket scalping. I was afraid it would be a nightmare to get in. But it went surprisingly smoothly. I imagine we will be seeing much more of this in the future. Regardless, I couldn't have sold my tickets if I wanted to.

So....we headed to Birmingham. Now, we had seen Miley on her first tour, two years ago. We went to Memphis to see her in her "Best of Both Worlds Tour". She did half the show as Hannah, and half as Miley. It was a really cute concert. Well choreographed, very entertaining. It almost made up for her lack of talent. She managed to keep both me and my husband and my then 7 year old son interested. Carlie.....was thrilled from start to finish.

We got to the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center (we locals call it the BJCC). But we were purposely late. See, Miley's brother's band MetroStation was opening for her. I didn't know but one song they sing. That "Shake it" song, and I knew that would be last. So when we got there Metro had already started their set. We went down to find out seats. Sure enough. Right at the corner of the stage. They were the best seats I've ever had at a concert. I hate that we wasted that good fortune on this concert however!

Metro Station weren't quite as far into their set as I had hoped, but I decided to grin and bear it. Britt however, volunteered to go get us snacks and t-shirts! ha! Then MS started their next song, there was a long drawn out dedication then the song started with the lyrics "I like to get high and play" and of course Miley's brother Trace had to pretend he was holding a joint to his lip when he said "get high". I told the girls I needed to go to the restroom, and quickly ushered them out of the arena!

And as a parent of a 7 year old girl I just couldn't, in good conscience, sit in there allowing her to hear that. We took just short of forever in the restroom then slowly meandered back to our seats. Much to my chagrin MetroStation was STILL on the stage. They were doing their last song when we sat back down. I was relieved that the horror was over, or so I thought. Then, Trace pulled his shirt off revealing his millions of tattoos.....

Now my girls may not have heard the "get high" song, but they definitely SAW this! I could hear mothers sitting around me commenting about him and this band. Needless to say, I wasn't the only one shocked and appalled! After MetroStation finished people all around us were talking about "Why in the world did they let THEM open for her!" I couldn't agree more! Right now, Miley's target market is 6-12 year old girls! MetroStation's target couldn't be further from that demographic!!! It was absolutely disgusting.

The only thing I can figure out is that Miley and her dancers' trashy clothing and suggestive dancing doesn't seem quite as revolting after you've subjected yourself to a nearly naked, tattoo covered, strung out looking, guy who is singing about smoking pot!!

Then Miley came out after several minutes of shrill screams and girls chanting her name...

Here's Carlie either screaming for Miley or showing me what I looked like on the inside while MetroStation performed.

Miley's entrance was full of drama. The screen let us know that we were supposedly on the moon. Then Miley appeared frozen in a chunk of ice. But we all know that isn't real, because she would've died of hypothermia within seconds considering she was nearly naked.

Oh wait...she did have on a shawl.

The show was highly entertaining. Miley rarely, if ever, had more than a tanktop and panties. I didn't want Carlie thinking it was ok, or that teenagers should dress like that so I told Carlie it was like her ballet leotard. "Miley had to wear outfits like that so she could dance. Miley wouldn't never have on anything that short if she was going somewhere, because it's not ok to dress like that." I hope she bought it.

Miley at the front of the stage. The first of many times she would squat toward the audience. Atleast this time she kept her legs together......I think this was the only time.

The back up dancers looked like absolute trash the whole time. I wish I could say that nicer, but I just can't. It's one thing to wear leotard-esque clothing so you can dance and move, but when did it become necessary to wear torn fishnets or lingerie at a concert targeting children?

Each of The Wiggles may as well start wearing nothing but a red, purple, yellow, or blue thong!

Miley's shorter version of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" dress.
See the back up dancers' costumes?

This was the one costume that left something to the imagination. I was thrilled when afterward Carlie said this was her favorite!

As bad as the costumes were, they were not the worst part. The suggestive dancing done by Miley and her dancers was shocking! If Miley squatted like a pole dancer once, she did it two dozen times. It was revolting. She is a 16 year old child!! The back up dancers were as bad if not worse! At one point, Miley sang a slow song I didn't know. A boy and girl dancer did a somewhat ballet number behind Miley. During that song a friend of mine, who was also at the concert with her 9 year old, text me and said "HIDE THEIR EYES!" The dancing was overtly sexual. And just completely unnecessary.

This was taken as Miley was about to sing a cover of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock n' Roll".

She sat on a Harley and was lifted up and circled the audience.

The low point came during the song G.N.O (Girls Night Out). Miley and the girl dancers had on construction worker gear. They were each carrying saw horses. When they got to the front stage they danced around the saw horses, leaning over them and each doing the equivalent of a lap dance. It was more than disturbing. Then when you thought it couldn't get any sleazier, they went back to the main stage and ropes dropped from the ceiling. Each girl and Miley proceeded to do a full out pole dance, grinding up and down the ropes. There is no picture for that. I was too far into shock to take a picture.

I was so glad when the show finally ended. Apparently many other parents were too. The general consensus of chatter as we left the arena was disappointment and disgust. People were talking about her dancing and wardrobe as we were walking out of the arena, and as we walked to the parking deck, and in the elevator, and in the parking garage. Everywhere we went someone had something negative to say about her.

Then day after the concert I talked to several of my friends who took their daughters. Each and every one of them regretted taking their children to see it. I joked and said "I don't remember Debbie Gibson or Tiffany being this trampy!" But it's true.

It's really sad that Miley has gone this route, and so quickly. We saw her in concert in November 2007 in Memphis. She had just turned 15. Her concert was excellent. And full of screaming, adoring young girls, who looked to her as a role model. Now she dresses like a streetwalker and performs like an exotic dancer. I would be willing to bet that more than half of the people who were at this concert won't go to another one. My guess is that Miley is trying to get away from the tween idol persona. I'm sure she wants to be seen as "a serious artist", but why bite the hand that feeds you?

So be warned if you have tickets to her show in your city. This ain't no episode of Hannah Montana you are going to see. She puts on a show that you would expect to see from "P!nk" or maybe Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. Artists you would expect to have more mature audiences. Artists I doubt people would drag their kindergartners to see.

The bottom line is this....had this concert been a movie, you would have to be atleast 17 years old to see it. Unfortunately, the arena was packed with girls under the age of 12. And one of them was mine.

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth

But it probably would have been easier to fall off the face of the earth than it has been to be sick, while taking care of a sick little girl!

It started Sunday night. The kids had spent Saturday night and most of Sunday with my mom. Mother lives about an hour from here, just across the Georgia line. So I met her halfway to get the kids back. As Carlie was getting out of mother's car she asked for a tissue. And, oh my! That child was surely getting sick! Mom said that she had been fine ALL day. It just came on Carlie all of a sudden. That was around 5:30PM. By 8:00PM, my girl was running a fever.

My first cousin is an MD. She started Carlie on Tamiflu. Mostly as a precaution because she did have flu-like symptoms. So Miss Carlie has missed school all week. Now, don't go telling her....but I kinda like her being home with me.....and then I got sick. I still liked her being here with me. I just wasn't near as much fun as I had been earlier in the week!

Monday and Tuesday we enjoyed lots of mother/daughter time.

We made waffles in the waffle iron she insisted her daddy buy me last Christmas. She finds every opportunity for us to use it!


We lined up all her Littlest Pet Shops across the balcony in our great room. They watched the movie Eloise at the Plaza with us.

And we rolled her hair in sponge rollers.

Then Wednesday hit and I woke up dog-sick. So that's where the pictures end. Like I said....I just wasn't much fun!

My girl started feeling better yesterday, but she was still weak from running fever all week long. So she stayed home yesterday too. Her fabulous teacher Mrs. F had sent all her work home, so we kept up with what was going on in her class. Albeit not as much fun as her class, but we got the work done!

She went back to school today. Feeling much better! I, on the other hand, still a little under the weather. Nothing a little SEC football can't fix though!!!!

I CANNOT WAIT for tomorrow to get here!!! I am NOT leaving my house all day! We had talked about going to the Alabama/Virginia Tech game in Atlanta, but I am sooo glad we decided against it. I certainly do not feel like going. But I can't wait to watch it! We will be having hot wings and chicken fingers delivered (I live in a college town, you can have just about anything delivered!) I do not eat wings....or anything else on a bone (Ewww!) for that matter. But that's another post entirely.

Ok. I've rambled long enough. I blame the cold medicine.

Have a good weekend.

and

ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!

That's why I don't go to the zoo

I found these yesterday. My signature item for all those solid black sweater and blue jean outfits in my near future. I've never owned a pair of zebra print footwear. I've veered away from the safari-esque flip flops. But these. These spoke to me.

I bought them at this new boutique in town. It's next door to the shop where Cam gets his hair cut. Every three weeks, during his appointment I usually pop into the boutique just to see what's new. Yesterday, Carlie walked over with me. I was drawn like a moth to a faux fur zebra clog flame. I slipped the display onto my foot as I voraciously moved the stack of yellow shoe boxes searching for my size. Carlie was kneeling in the floor, looking into a display case of costume jewelry.
My child is fashionably mature beyond her 7 years, so I asked her if she liked my new found precious clogs.

"You can wear them to the zoo." was her answer.

The three ladies working in the shop started giggling. The woman behind the counter attempted to make conversation with Carlie as I handed my size 6 to the woman helping me with the shoes.

"Do you like going to the zoo?" she asked Carlie.

"Yes, ma'am. I love the zoo! Especially the time I saw a monkey eating its own poop!"

At that very moment. I died.

I somehow managed to pay for the shoes and make a beeline for the door before the embarrassment literally killed me. I can only imagine how red my face was! Those poor women tried desperately not to roar with laughter. It was all in vain. Bless their hearts! The woman helping me bit her tongue and snickered quietly. The older lady sitting in the office area had the door open and heard the whole thing. She cackled loudly behind us. But atleast I didn't have to face her! They are probably still laughing. And I may never have to courage to go in there again.

But these were worth it.

Almost.

My daughter Carlie, otherwise known as Patricia

UPDATE:

Here is a picture of Carlie...er....."Patricia" after school today. In her polka dot pants, and Patricia Polacco braids........


Carlie has started 2nd grade, and LOVES it! Her teacher is FAB.U.LOUS! We are looking forward to such a great year! But currently they are doing an author study on Patricia Polacco.

And that is where our story begins....

Carlie seems to be infatuated with Mrs. Polacco. Carlie comes home every day telling me about Patricia and her brother "Rotten Richie". I think she really relates to Patricia Polacco because Patricia did not learn to read until she was in 4th grade. While Carlie is nowhere near 4th grade she has struggled learning to read. She is on her grade level, but last year was hard for her. I think hearing about Mrs. Polacco's own struggles encouraged Carlie.

I'm glad Carlie is loving the study, but she is getting carried away. She perused through her drawers and closets before finding a pair of polka dot capri pants that I classify as "play clothes". She is determined to wear them. She also asked if I could braid her hair. Not french braids, though. "Braids like Patricia".

Not only that....she also wants us to call her "Patricia"!!!!

It's hilariously frustrating!!!

At least now we have a new book series to read throughout the year!!

First Day of School

Another school year is upon us. My babies are not babies anymore. Cam is now a fourth grader. Carlie has moved up to second grade. They are both really excited about this year!

My sweet yahoos!

They picked their clothes out individually. I noticed they "kinda" matched. But I didn't dare say anything. One of them would have surely gone back upstairs and changed clothes! It's not cool to match your little sister/big brother on the first day of school!

My princess in pigtails.
Her idea.
Which was unusual.
But I liked it.
Makes her look like a little girl.
She usually tries to look older.
Which I do not like!

My little man.
He loves to dress like his dad.
He was thrilled to find this Polo shirt.
Britt has the same color!
I love that his eyes pop in this shirt.
I love that he is smiling in this picture.

The kids came back inside for a couple of pictures with our "baby".

Of course, it's nearly impossible to get all 3 of them to look at the camera!

Carlie and her beautiful teacher!
Her teacher was named Alabama's Elementary Teacher of the Year last year!
Mrs. F is quite fabulous!

Look at that precious girl at her desk!

My peanut sitting at his desk. I can't believe he let me take this (not that I asked permission). Probably my last photo of Cam at his desk on the first day.
He's such a cutie.
He was a nervous wreck about his class!

When I picked them up yesterday afternoon they were both bursting with excitement! They had a great day! Both of them really enjoyed their teachers. They each had a few friends in their classes.
Such an answer to prayer!

Much love,

Are all a dog's teeth called "canine teeth"?

This morning, while getting ready for her first day back to school, Carlie was lying on the couch watching "Phineas and Ferb". Britt was still trying to wrestle the bear (otherwise known as Cam around these parts) from his slumber.

I was in my usual bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, cheerful stumbling down the stairs, eyes-half-open-until-I-get-to-the-bottom-of-this-diet-coke mood. But even I had to laugh at my girl this morning.
Carlie was lying there minding her very own business. Bentley was super excited about us being awake with him at such a horrendous I mean, early hour. He jumped up a couple of times to get Carlie's attention. She gave him none. So he jumped up and nipped at her. She flipped out. Given her propensity for drama. I expected no less.
She was hysterical. Obviously, I wasn't sympathetic enough. (I could not even see a scratch, mind you) Through her crocodile tears she managed to say. "Mama you don't even care! And it really hurt! Bentley got me with his cani (she pronounced it cay-nye) teeth!".
I guess the dog's "cay-nye" teeth are sharper.

But aren't all dog's teeth called canine?

A hectic day is worthy of planning.....

Last night, Carlie was quietly playing in her room. Instances such as those are usually cause for alarm...

I called for her up the stairs. No answer.

Sound the alarm!!

I went up to check on her. Expecting the worst......

Instead, she was sitting on her bed, working intently. I asked what she was up to. She was busily writing on a chalk board. She paused, gave an agitated sigh, and explained "Mama, I have so much to do tomorrow I have to write it all down, or I'll forget!"

Well then.

Who am I to impede a fellow list maker's progress?

"Good idea, sister." I told her. "Come downstairs when you finish, so I can see your list."

Five or so minutes later she came bouncing down the staircase.

"Here it is, Mama! My list!"

Y'all. This may be the cutest to-do list the world has ever seen!

That'll bless a mama's heart! My sweet girl and her phonetic spelling!

Y'all, it is darn hard for a Southern child to spell using phonics!!!! Notice how she spells "get"? Just like we say it "git"! She has the hardest time with words like ten, pen, lens. Carlie always spells those with an i instead of e. Just like she says them. Also with words like ton, son, from, love. She spells those with a "u" instead of an o. Sometimes she struggles words that end with an "a". For instance, they call my mother "Gramma". Carlie and Cam both spelled it "Grammu". We lazy tongued southerners don't say Gramm-ah, we say Gramm-uh! Eventually she'll remember how the correct spelling looks! Until then, I'll treasure every piece of her southern phonetic writing!

An in-depth look at her plans.

Sorry for the poor photo quality. I'm stuck using my BlackBerry until I can buy another camera. Both of mine were in my stolen car! = (

Here is Carlie's "very important" to do list for today:

• wayk up
  
• eat
• GitDreest
• Bruhsteeteth
• GitLiNDeyandLoLo
• GitRaGiN
• AdskLiNDey
• Go to seep

An Engish translation:

• wake up
  
• eat
• get dressed
• brush teeth
• get Lindsey and Lolo (our neighbors, The Johnsons, Lindsey and Logan--Carlie has called him "LoLo" since she was 2. He was only 1.)
• get Reagan (another neighbor)
• ask Lindsey (Carlie further explained she meant "ask Lindsey to spend the night". But apparently that would take up too much space.
• go to sleep

If that ain't a hectic day worthy of planning, then I don't know what is!

Much Love,
Courtney

Being dead is no excuse......

So the kids and I were having a conversation in the car yesterday. I don't even know how we got on the subject of funerals. With my two kids you never know what turns the conversation may take! I told the kids that I would rather be cremated. My entire family has been cremated. The whole idea of being buried really freaks me out.

Funerals in particular give me the creeps!! At visitation, all these people stand around like there is not a body in the room. Saying things like "Doesn't she look good?" and "They did a really good job on him. Looks like he always did." Um.....no. Look closely people!

Anyway.

I tried to explain to my 7 and 9 year olds that I wanted to donate any organs that could be donated and cremate the rest. And that I did not want a funeral. Mainly because funerals are sad, and hard on the family, and I just don't want them to have to do that. Heck, I'll have my wings and be sitting at the feet of Jesus by then, so don't shed any tears!!

But like any good Southern gal, Carlie was appalled at the idea of no funeral! So she said "Mama, if you are not going to have a funeral then nobody is going to come visit us and eat! Nobody is going to have any cake!!!!"

The girl is right! I mean seriously? How dare I die and deny people an excuse get together and eat fried chicken and peach cobbler??


Then she told me she had some news for me. Apparently I'm not going to know it anyway, so she is definitely have me a funeral!

At least I know I am passing on the tradition of Southern hospitality to my little lady!

I don't know why I expected any less. Since she was 4 years old Carlie has stayed up late on nights before a party helping me decide which serving dishes to use, and where to put the food. That girl has helped me arrange centerpieces since before she could pronounce the word "centerpieces"!!

I hope it is a very long time from now, but if you are still around, and hear about my funeral, make it a point to attend. You can rest assured it will be one of the best parties you've ever attended!!!

Hank Parker and Sally

Cam and Britt went to the lake this morning to do a little fishing. Cam has been on this kick about Bass fishing. He has told me all week that he needs a "spinner bait". I think that's what he's been saying, anyway. He describes it as "like a jig, with a little spoon-looking thing on it". Well why didn't you say so, son? That clears it right up!
Does he realize that I don't have a clue as to what a "jig" is???? Apparently not.
Nevertheless, Dad to the rescue. I am told that they stopped at a tackle store on the way to the lake house this morning and bought said "spinner bait". Obviously, Cam was onto something with this "jig with a little spoon-looking thing on it". Because this is the picture they emailed me......Looks like Bass really do bite on these "spinner baits"........He's a regular Hank Parker, isn't he now?

In other news.....
Carlie would like to go to the "name changing place" next week. Apparently, she is not as fond of the name "Carlie" as her dad and I are. She would prefer to be called "Sally". And while we are there could we please change Cam's name to "Conrad"?

She's been watching "The Cat in the Hat" movie again......

But what's new?

It's been a busy weekend around here. But what's new?

Cam's baseball team moved to 6-1 last night. We had a skating party to celebrate Carlie's upcoming 7th birthday yesterday. We had 4 little girls spend the night with us Friday night. Again, in celebration of Carlie's upcoming birthday.
Also, I started Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred after reading this post from Big Mama. She is right. It's terrible. And it's wonderful....in a psychotic exercise kinda way! It's definitely a challenge! I'll let you know how it goes. If I stop posting altogether, it's likely I have died from it!!!

Carlie woke up with a low grade fever this morning. So we stayed home from church. Actually, we haven't left the house ALL day! She still has a slight fever, so I guess we will just watch and see.

But here is my post within a post: CARLIE HAS BEEN ON THE PHONE AGAIN!

Thursday night Cam asked me to come upstairs to play Guitar Hero with him. He had unlocked a new song and insisted that I come play it. So I did.
Carlie came upstairs after a few minutes. She asked what our zip code was. I told her. And promptly went back to The Beastie Boys' "No Sleep til Brooklyn"! A few more minutes passed. Carlie returned. "Mama, where is your purse?" I told her. And went back to R.E.M's "The One I Love". After that song ended I decided I needed to know what Miss Priss was up to. I walked down into the kitchen. Carlie had my check card out and was typing the numbers into the telephone!!!!!!!!!! I said "WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?????" In my calmest possible voice, of course. Carlie looked at me like, "what are you so upset about" then said matter-of-factly, "I was ordering Bugville Butterflies." I hung up the phone. Carlie....somewhat irritated....said "What are you doing? I was almost finished with that lady???" I was stunned! What's worse, the child (6 year old child, at that) had used the TiVo to rewind the Bugville Butterfly commercial. Then she paused it when it showed the phone number!!!!
When B got home I told him what happened. We both thought we had YEARS before we had to have that don't-take-money-or-credit cards-out-of-our-wallets-without-asking talk!!
Looks like we were wrong!

We had it Thursday night!!!!

Like I said, it's been a busy weekend. But what's new?

She is absolutely a stinker. But isn't she precious????