Brunch!

As you know, a few of my summer camp counselors are students at Auburn. Thanks to football season, we get a handful of extras in town every so often. This past weekend, Colin came to town on his Auburn leg of his college tour, and Kellie came to visit her friends. With Hunter and Luke already here, I figured we had a big enough group for a mid- morning brunch. So, I cooked up a couple of casseroles, cut up some fresh fruit, Joe made a mess of grits and bacon (when making grits and bacon, one must be sure to make a mess of them), and the kids came to eat and visit and tell stories and enjoy.

They did pick the time - 11 am - but they still managed to be late . Ahhh, youth.

(except for Kellie - she is always on time)

My boy is four!!!

My first born has turned four years old. Sniff, sniff - pardon me while I bawl uncontrollably at the fact that my boy is growing up! He has declared himself a big boy who can make his own decisions and do anything that he wants. Of course, that's not true, but he does a really good job of making sure he's spoiled rotten. And I'm not all that helpful at deterring that mind set, mostly because I'm a sucker.
Did I mention my baby - my sweet, tiny little baby who I clung to for the first three months of his life like I would possibly never let go - is FOUR?
Please enjoy a few pics from his birthday party - the second tumbling party he has had in a row. He loves Mr. Frank, his tumbling teacher, and he refused to consider any other party options. It was a Mr. Frank party or nothing. Well, I'm sure he wouldn't have stood for nothing, but still....
The cake was a Toy Story theme, since all things Toy Story are awesome and amazing at our house. Didn't Mandi do a fabulous job? Check out her blog, Cakeapotomous, in the blog roll to your right. Nealy was ALL ABOUT TUMBLING. That child did not stop running for the entire party, even when she got to tired that she turned into a crazy kitten, clawing and batting at everything in her way. Come her 2nd birthday, tumbling will be her new world. I can already see how much she loves it.
And, for my favorite group shot. None of them really turned out, but this one really captures the morale of this group of kiddos.

Taking A Break

Even Wonder Woman and Batman deserve a little "me" time.

Some books I've read

I'm not the best at reading books lately, although I have managed to read a few books in the past month or so. It is my intention to get better about my book completion frequency, but if I didn't procrastinate then I just wouldn't be me.

The first selection is The Tattoo Artist by Jill Ciment. I chose this book because the author is a friend of my sister's in Gainesville, and Carrie speaks highly of Jill as a friend. Here is the book cover:

I really loved this book, and it wasn't what I expected. Although, I don't think I could really tell you what I expected. Jill has created this epic myth of a once mildly famous artist who mysteriously disappeared, and it was through her disappearance and her tattooed state when she reappeared that became the root of her ultimate but unexpected fame. I highly recommend this book. The historical aspect of the story gives the Great Depression a level of reality that is easier understood, and almost felt, than the explanations given in history books, and the imaginative way in which our characters attempt to recover from their financial and creative depression only begins this difficult and amazing life journey for our hero.

I also read Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, who also wrote The Time Traveler's Wife. I LOVED The Time Traveler's Wife, and if you merely saw the movie without reading the book, stop what you're doing now and go get a copy. The romantic chick-flick appear of the movie is not at all what I got from that book, not to say that the book is not a romance story. Okay, this isn't a review of Time Traveler's......
Back to Her Fearful Symmetry. This is a story of twin sisters torn apart over a well kept secret. When one twin passes away and leaves her nieces her entire estate, the story truly begins. The nieces are twins as well, and they were not aware of their mother's twin sister's existence. The twins are left to unravel the mysteries of their mother and aunt while living as ex-pats in London.

I will say that I didn't love this book. It was not Time Traveler's, but from my gushing review above, you probably knew I would say that. Although, Time Traveler's has a supernatural element that is so out of the ordinary, and that supernatural aspect of TTW didn't occur to me until I discovered the author's apparent penchant for the macabre in Her Fearful Symmetry. Even though I didn't love this book, it was a pretty entertaining read and I don't feel like I completely wasted my time.

And that's what I've been reading! I'm clearly no book reviewer.

One more note- my mother declared that my last post was the blog equivalent of a hissy fit. I must apologize for the inclination. I'm just trying to appeal to you, dear readers, to open up the lines of communication a little bit.

Many, many years ago, I had my first job interview with an assistant superintendent who responded to my answers and witticisms with nothing - no smile, no nod, no comment, no response, not even an eye brow raise. I found myself rambling incoherently like a comedian in the middle of a bombed show in front of this woman who returned everything I said with the blankest stare I have ever seen on a person who has not gone on to his or her reward. I learned, that day, that I thrive on conversation. The back and forth helps me continue. Without it I start losing my way.

So it seems inevitable that after nearly 250 posts, and only about 5 total that yielded more than 1 or 2 comments, that I would appeal to the blogosphere to give back just a little. And you have!! I adore you, blog readers. Keep visiting and checking in with me.

Much love and War Eagle!

p.s. that job interview was NOT with Auburn City Schools. :)

10 followers!!!

This post is for you, my faithful followers.

It recently came to my attention that you are out there. And my lazy self had not blogged in nearly 6 weeks until the other day when I spit out four or five posts.

Ten of you have gone to the trouble to follow me, and I only manage to post once every six weeks? That is unacceptable of me. I need to be better than that for my followers. Miraculously, none of you are my Dad or my friend Ashley (who lives in Sydney - g'day, mate), who I've been so sure are my only readers for years now. There are ten other people outside of my long time readership of 2 who actually read my blog! That's amazing!

So, here's what I need from you, my faithful, loyal, terribly good looking followers. Please leave me a comment every once in a while. It makes me feel good, and it might give me ideas for other posts. Anything you want to hear more about? Anything I talk about that you wish I'd talk about more? Any characters from my life whose story lines need developing? Tell me. I'd love to oblige.

Want more recipes, cooking tips, recommendations on brands and stuff? I can get better about remembering the things I like! I promise. How about books I've read? Movies I've seen? I'd love to tell you more.

Sometimes, bloggers like me can get a little down about things. We continue to write post after post, and I check for comments only to find 0 comments over and over again. It's terribly discouraging.

(BTW - big shout out to Meredith and Jamie for leaving me comments on my last post! So sweet and encouraging!)

Want to know where I got my shoes? What my kids are wearing? I'll tell you, I'm not shy.

So please, if you wouldn't mind and it's not too much trouble, leave me some comments every now and then. It will help me to go on with this blog, which I consider shutting down every so often due to poor readership. But I keep it up for Dad and Ashley, of course. They'd be destroyed without my witty repartee about carnies and poopy diapers.

And just to leave you a little teaser for the next week, Jacks is going to be Batman (store-bought) for Halloween, and Nealy is going to be Wonder Woman (home made by my sister, the real Wonder Woman). I know you can't wait to get a load of that. Here's a preview......
I know you're excited, now!

Couch to 5K

Well, it finally happened. I started running.

After all the baby weight that I've gained over the years, not to mention the excessive eating weight, it was time for something to give after several months of no weight loss to speak of. At Nealy's first birthday last spring, it became apparent to me that my extra weight wasn't going anywhere on it's own, and since it had been a year since childbirth, it was time for me to take some serious action. I began a boot camp last March, and I've spent time in and out of different exercise classes ever since. Overall, I've lost maybe 20 pounds, give or take a few. But mostly I successfully moved my status from overweight to healthy, so that's pretty good.

At the end of the summer, I was at a loss for what kind of workout regimen I would pursue with school starting soon. I knew we wouldn't have the money for a gym membership, nor would I actually use it even if we were members. I've never been much of a gym rat. And most other options I might have had were limiting due to time constraints and short funds.

So, my friend Summer had this grand plan that we would start to run. Not only would we run, but we would train for a 5K race.

Okay, I have NEVER been a runner. Not even as a child. I preferred not to. I was the kid who always walked at the back of the group on the day when we had to run the mile in PE class. I have famously referred to myself as a non-athletic who does not involve myself in any sort of sporty recreation of any kind, and if you ever saw me running then it would incorporate some sort of a life or death chase situation in which I would probably lose.

Even though I knew all of this about myself, I also knew that there are lots of really cute clothes out there that look a whole lot better on a smaller, less fat body. Not to mention the health benefits, blah, blah, blah...... And so I ran.

We began our training by walking then running for a few minutes at a time. Two, then three, then four, and so on. I dreaded every move up a minute and never felt like I could make it another second. I truly hate running. I'm not good at it and I hate the monotony. But it seems to be helping, and so I ran.

All of our hard work paid off yesterday when we ran in our first official 5K run. It was on Auburn's campus, it was sponsored by the SGA, it was hot, it was sweaty, and it was kind of miserable. I didn't manage to run every step of the distance, but I finished in under 40 minutes, and I am still kind of proud of myself despite my inability to run the whole time.

My entire running group finished, as well, and we are planning to keep going! Not on to a 10K, just on to more 5K's. And for me, that's going to be okay. I don't think I'll ever have that drive to keep going to longer and longer distances. I'm satisfied with what we're doing for now. I'm hoping I can actually run that 5K for the whole time sometime soon.

Joe and the kids greeted me at the finish line with smiles and a sign, and fun was had by all. Except for me, actually, who was gasping for breath at the finish line and begging for water.

Tailgating

I generally avoid the east side of the stadium on game day. We live west of the stadium, our tail gate is on that side, and once we get that far into campus we tend to avoid going down the hill to the other side. But given our special game day circumstances with Luke, we were going to be on that side of the stadium for the morning anyway. And being as lazy as I am, I decided that if we were already on the east side that we'd just go ahead and stay over there. No need to traverse campus when I never really feel like it.

So, we stayed down the hill for the day enjoying my friend Bev's fabulous, shady, centrally located tail gate spot. We intended to visit other friends who tail gate on that side of campus, but I already mentioned how lazy I am, didn't I? Well, there ya go.

Being on that side of the stadium for game day was eye opening. Things are so different over there. Tiger Walk happens on that side of campus, as well as the entrance of the marching band, the cheerleaders, and all sorts of other football stadium folks. It was like a constant ticker tape parade over there, and we saw Aubie at least 3 times.

We will likely return to our familiar, quiet west side for our next tail gating party with our good friends, but it was fun to shake things up by finally venturing over to the other side of the world....er, I mean, campus, for the day.

Tiger Host Family

One of the perks of my summer job is that two of my counselors, Luke and Hunter, are college kids here at Auburn. Since the school year has started, I have made a point of having a meal prepared each and every Sunday evening to be enjoyed by one or both of them, and anyone else who wants to join us for family dinner. Luke has been here every week.

We adore our new Sunday dinners. It gets Joe and I working in the kitchen together, as well as planning menus and grocery visits throughout the week. And more than that, it makes our house more of a home by extending our Auburn family to include Luke, Hunter, and anyone else who wants to enjoy family dinner on Sunday.

Luke wanted to return the favor by inviting us for a weekend of family fun. He is involved in the Tiger Hosts and Tigerettes program here at Auburn, which basically means he attends all the football games and represents Auburn for the football recruits. This past weekend was family weekend for the Tiger Hosts and Tigerettes, and since Luke's parents weren't able to make it for the festivities, he asked us to be his stand in family for the weekend. We, of course, were thrilled to be asked, and we happily accepted the invitation.

We were treated to a lovely dinner in the ballroom of the new Student Union on campus on the Friday night before the Arkansas game, then we got to tour the stadium the next morning prior to kick off. The entire event was so much fun and a great way to celebrate Auburn football. We loved spending the weekend as Luke's stand in family.

Enjoy some pictures of our game day tour!

Jacks was kind of overwhelmed by the whole day, and he didn't pose for pictures as we would have liked. Joe said at one point, "Jacks, you're going to be grateful for these pictures one day, so smile!"

We had a WONDERFUL weekend with Luke. After our stadium tour, Luke had to go to work doing his Tiger Host duties, and we headed across the street to enjoy friends at a lovely, shaded tail gate spot. Pictures of the rest of the day to follow.

County Fair

Fall is my favorite time of year. In addition to the weather finally turning slightly cooler, which is to say that it isn't really cool, it just isn't totally oppressive and horribly hot outside, the season brings football and tailgating, pumpkin patches, and of course, the county fair comes to town.

I don't know this to be fact, but I believe that every town across America has a vast, sandy expanse of land somewhere on the outskirts of town dedicated as the Fairgrounds. Generally, it's an old school kind of a spot, with a sign that could use replacing, a couple of buildings for housing livestock and crafts, and plenty of power resources for the impending arrival of rides, games, and food vendors.

I don't know this to be fact, either, but I'm fairly certain that all carnival workers are surly and awful people who smoke heavily, have terrible hygiene, suffer from a lack of a good dental plan, and generally don't like children or most people. It's good to know that some things never change.

Also, the fair is wicked expensive. It seems like it should be cheap for so many reasons, but interestingly it's not. Everything costs money, and when you have a small child bouncing from one ride to the next, a $20 can melt before your very eyes at the fair. I think that most people actually leave the fair due to loss of available folding money, since everything to do at the fair costs money. When your money runs out, ain't nuthin' to do except count your change and see if you have anything left for a corn dog.

Despite having this knowledge about the fair, we still went, ready to happily part with at least sixty bucks, inhale plenty of fair dust and second hand smoke, and chase our children around hoping that they don't get picked up by one of the ex-cons running the ferris wheel.

Enjoy the pictures!

Time to catch up

Every teacher will tell you that the first two months and the last two months of the school year are the hardest. The school year has been in session a little over two months at this point in time, but life has been hectic. So, I'm going to attempt to catch you all up on the events of the long expanse of time since my last post in a series of little posts to follow.

As of right now, we've made it through the first 9 weeks of school and we are trudging through a wonderfully successful Auburn football season (which consists of 8 home games - that's A LOT). Jacks celebrated his 4th birthday, although his party won't happen until this upcoming weekend. Nealy is talking more and more everyday. Joe is working on several art pieces that will hopefully be finished soon. I have trained for and run in my first 5K race. Overall, things have been kind of hectic and busy in our normal day to day. Stay tuned for some highlights.....