Sense and Sensibility

Reluctant has done a fabulous job starting off the book club. If you read the book head over and tell her what you think about it. If you didn't read it, head over and read her summary of it. She did a great job breaking it down. I really enjoyed reading the book and am ready to start our next book. After you are done over at Reluctant's blog, pull out Pride and Prejudice and dive in. I can't wait.

A Picture with Santa

I've been stingy with my memories of Laura. I think I thought that if I shared them, then I would lose the bond I had with her. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but I do know that everyone handles grief differently and that's how I have handled mine.

For those of you who may not know what I am talking about, my husband's sister, Laura, was 25 when she was killed in a car accident last March. Our family has struggled an incomprehensible amount with this tragedy. We have all dealt with it in our own ways. My way has been to not talk about it very much. One thing that the whole family has been similar in wanting is a piece of what was hers. Josh asked his mom for a particular piece of art she had done. I wanted a picture that she had taken with Jackson and Santa. I searched for that picture all over Pat's house. I have been asking people about it for months. The last time I talked about the picture, I decided that I didn't really remember everything correctly and that there must not really be a picture. I was starting to put it out of my mind.

Then the other day, Pat called and said, 'Santa's sitting in the chair and Laura looks the most beautiful I ever saw her and Jackson is sitting on her lap.' I swear I'm not being dramatic when I say that I screamed. I don't know if I was more excited to know I wasn't going crazy or to know that I was going to get to keep the picture.

Here's the story behind the picture. Laura called and asked if she could come get Jackson. She loved Jackson like crazy. I told her that was fine and when she got to the house he had a t-shirt and those sweats on. She said she could not have him wearing that while he was with her and we grabbed a polo for him to put on. Then they left and spent the day together. She bought him a pair of shoes and took their picture with Santa. She showed me the picture when they got back and I asked if I could have it. Nope. She was keeping it. That was Laura.

Laura was 15 when Josh and I got married. She helped me get into a wreck in a funeral procession where my husband was supposed to be a pall barrer. She taught Jackson how to eat ice while I sat watching, a nervous wreck that he would choke on it. She thought Josh was the perfect man. I was jealous of her when my husband left one night at 10:15 to pick up some medicine and take it to her house. (jealous because he has never once gone anywhere for me at 10:15pm and I birthed 4 children for him) She wouldn't change a stinky diaper for the world. I always tried to set her up with anyone I could. Very often it would be one of the missionaries for our church. We finally had a conversation, and she told me that she might be getting a little too old for them, since they were usually 19-22.

She was beautiful. My baby girl is the spitting image of her. She was frugal with her own money but enjoyed other people's money very much. She was affectionate. She loved to have her hair brushed. She was honest, sometimes brutally, especially about clothes. She would even tell me, 'you're not wearing that? right?'. She was Josh's baby sister and she was a loving (and very cool) aunt to my kids.

What was she to me? I was the baby in my family. I have an older sister. I never had a younger sister. Then I married Josh and gained what I feel like are the younger sisters I never had. Laura and Courtney are my baby sisters. I have loved them and worried for them (even if they didn't always know it) like they were my sisters for years.

She was a friend, sister in law and a blessing to my life. I'm thankful to have had her in it.

The Dress

This weekend I went through the girls' closet to clean out all of the clothes that didn't fit them anymore. I came across this dress. I think about this dress every time Madi moves up a size. I go back and check to see if it is her size yet. She has just moved up to a size 4 and this dress will be the perfect Easter dress for her next year.

The dress was bought before Madi was born.

Have I ever told you that I cried when I found out Jonathon was a boy? The xray tech lady thought it was so sweet that I was crying. If she only knew. I have always been a girly girl so I just thought I would be totally clueless about having a boy. Then I had a boy and adored everything about him. When I found out that Jackson was going to be a boy, I was excited for a brother for Jonathon and was very excited for a boy. Then I got pregnant again. At this point, it didn't really matter. Honestly. I adored my boys and if I was going to have a house full of boys, fine by me. But she wasn't a boy at all. She was a girl. She would be something completely new and very foreign to me. I think I may have gone shopping the day I found out she was a she. Madi had more clothes than any child should ever need when she was born. Including the dress. Her grandma Pat got that dress for her on her first shopping trip after we found out our lives would be blessed with a little girl. But it was a size 4. I would look at it in the back of the closet and think, 'man, have I got a long way to go before she wears that dress.'

It seems like all of that was just yesterday. It wasn't. It was almost 4 years ago. My baby girl is growing up and next March (God willing and the creek don't rise) I'll show you pictures of her in it on Easter Sunday.

Kennedy Space Center

Another perk to selling all of that popcorn was the opportunity to go to Kennedy Space Center. Josh and Jonathon went this weekend. They got to camp out under a shuttle. And although the men in my immediate family never tell me about anything, I think they had a blast. The only information I was able to, very painfully, extract from Jonathon was that there were some cool rides. So, what I'm trying to say is that I have no idea what these pictures are that I'm going to share.

'Houston, we have a problem.' That's just what I thought when I saw that pic.

Here's a giant rocket.

Not 100% sure, but I think that's the mars rover. Very cool, Josh. Good pic choice.

The only info extracted from Josh was that he opted to not sleep under the shuttle. I asked if he thought it would fall on him and he said the thought had entered his mind. He said he couldn't get Jonathon to sleep with him away from the shuttle, so the latter (that's Jane Austen coming out in me. start reading today, if you haven't yet) went to sleep with friends over under the shuttle. I asked why Josh didn't get a picture of the thing they slept under and he said, 'I did'. That was it.

They met an astronaut. This was the only picture that I thought could have been the astronaut. Again, not 100% but I think you're looking at an astronaut.

While Josh was gone Madi missed him very much. She stayed in his lap most of the evening when he got back. He sort of liked that. Can you tell?
Normally, I try not to be mean on my blog, but... Madi's hot and you're not.

Relief

Does anything strike you about that picture? Like how gorgeous that tree is and how sad it is that it is in front of a gas station? Or...

did you like the looks of this? I sure do. Some people say that it is a bad sign that the gas prices have come down. I don't know about all of that. I, for one, am sure happy that we finally got some relief.

But.

Remember how prices of things skyrocketed because of the price of gasoline? Such as butter, cream cheese and milk. I might just be talking crazy but do you think that the prices of everything that went up because of the price of gasoline, should now come back down?
Again, I know it's just crazy talk, but I was just thinking...

Okay, I guess I'll just be happy that I don't have to pay almost double that anymore.

sidenote: The price went down two more cents this afternoon. Thank you, very much.

Also, I love the chewy ice fountain Mr. Pibb for 99 cents. I get one everyday.

Please Pass the Funnel Cake

This view can be found every year, in the fall, off of Spur 25 in Brunswick. Just driving past this brings so much joy to my heart. The fair is here for about four days. When I was a teenager I went to the fair on Friday night. That was when everyone would be there. Now that I'm an older gal with kids, I go on Saturday. Saturday is the more expensive day but you can also stay all day. From 12p to 12a. Also, if you enjoy a good demolition derby, you have to go on Saturday.

We got to the fair about noon. While I was buying some tickets, Jonathon was busy asking Grandma Pat for $5. She gave it to him and the next thing she knew he was getting harnessed into that thing.

Look how high he got. See that guys head at the bottom?

The younger kids liked the tea cups.

The goofy little boats were cool, too.

Meanwhile, Emma Mae was being refreshed. I wanted to wait to get her out of the stroller because I knew that once she was out, she would not be going back in.

'Wow, that looks fun.'

The little one's decided to give it a try. Look at Madi back there all by herself. You know I was a nervous wreck the whole 3 mins of the ride.

Who doesn't love a good bumper car ride?

I don't know if Jackson and Noah ever actually got anywhere.

Then there's the fun slide. Which I can promise you, goes very fast. I rode it with Madi.

Then it was 2 and time to watch the demolition derby. If you have not been to a demolition derby you are so missing out. I mean that is one serious good time. Watching those cars go at each other is a total blast. That is if you don't think about all of the bad smoke coming at your face and the pollution that is possibly occuring right in front of you.

At one point two cars got stuck together and the tow truck had to pull them apart. The demolition derby is one of the kids favorite parts of the fair.

After the cars fight it out, there is a 'Best Chicken Dancer' competition. Jonathon and I were selected as some pretty darn good chicken dancers, so we got to go down and strut our stuff.

Bethany was in charge of taking some shots of us while we danced. She took about 20 shots and there were only a few that I was brave enough to show the world.

This one was actually one of the more flattering of them. I'm not too bad at the chicken dancing, if I do say so myself.

Thanks for being my photographer, Bethy.

So, it's now about 4. Which means that Emma Mae has been in that stroller about 4 hours. What could keep her happy just a little longer?

That corn dog did the trick.


While she ate the corn dog, Lynsey and Bethy rode the first big ride of the day. Bethy looks a little nervous.

Then she got very excited.

Then this happened. I don't know how excited she was when that ride was over. I don't think I could have gone on it.

Then they went on this ride that ruined all of Jonathon's fun. It's a spinning dragon.

He didn't feel so good after that. He laid around and Echo sat with he and Emma Mae while I took the kids around to ride some other rides. He actually fell asleep for a little while and when he got up, he felt much better.

Then I took him on this ride. (I don't know who those kids are but I thought it was a great pic of the rest of the fair) After this ride, he was sick again. So, he just laid around some more while the other kids rode the rides.

Emma Mae loved this train.

She might have smiled but it was the carni guy who took the pic and I think she looked a little scared of him. Not Noah and Jackson, though.

Emma Mae loved it so much she rode it over

and over

and over again. She kept going out the exit and turning right back into the entrance. I think she was just excited to finally be out of the stroller.

I don't think Bethy was excited to take Emma Mae to the silly little boats. But Emma Mae sure couldn't tell.

Poor Bethy. But Emma Mae sure did enjoy it.


Ok, so part of going to the fair is knowing that someone will probably throw up at some point. Right? I remember doing it myself. And right after Jonathon did he felt so much better.

Then he was hungry, and since it was 7pm, we decided to have a little dinner.

We had a cheese nacho picnic. The perfect end to a perfect day at the fair. I don't know who had a better time, me or the kids. It is a good thing, though, that we will have to wait another year for the next one.

Tag

Sass got me. I'm it. I knew I needed to workout more.

Four places I go over and over: two schools to pickup kids, Wal Mart, YWCA and Diversified (Josh's work)

Four people who e-mail me regularly: my mom, Southern Living at Home, Birthday Express and Fire Mountain gems

Four of my favourite places to eat: ZEIG's, Millhouse, Crab Trap and Mudcat Charlie's

Four places you'd rather be: New Zealand, Colorado, Whitstable and Salt Lake City. Because I have friends in each of these exotic locals, I know that the room and board would be cheap.

Four TV shows I could watch over and over: Lost, Heros, Grey's Anatomy and I wish that Alias would come back or would have never left.

Also, a side note. Did you start reading Sense and Sensibility, yet? Wow, that book is big. I'm about half way through and loving it. It's juicy. I'll bet no one's ever described Austen like that. If you're in my club and you haven't started, get to work. We only have a few more weeks.

Game Night

This is Jonathon's second year in soccer and I must say he is getting pretty good. He's beginning to get aggressive and really go for the ball. That guy in the pants and the red shirt is his coach and his Uncle Chris (Courtney's Chris). That Chris could not be a better coach if he tried. He corrects them when they are doing something wrong but he never seems to lose his patience and yell at them. We have enjoyed having him as our coach. Josh should get an honorable mention, I guess. I mean he really tries to help coach but he does yell a lot, too.



The night I took these of Jonathon playing, he was playing a team that had a couple of cousins on it. The boy that is wearing the black and standing closest to the camera (still far off, though) is Jonah. He and Jonathon have been buds since they were babies, being cousins and all. It was lots of fun playing against their team. At one point, Jonathon was throwing the ball in and Jonah was waving his hands saying, 'Hey, Jonathon, remember me?' in an effort to get Jonathon to throw the ball in his direction. Those Jacobs are quick on their feet. You have to wake up pretty early in the morning to beat them at the wits.

I made Jonah stick around and let me get some pics. They were troopers about it, though.

Manny, Jonah's brother plays on his team. I couldn't figure out how the age worked out, though...

This picture is purely for the benefit of my lovely friend Leah. If you would like to go ahead and take a moment to steal it, please help yourself.

While Jonathon is playing on the field the others try to play a pick up game with the other random kids that are there watching their siblings. Sometimes there are lots of kids and it is way fun.

This night it was cold and there weren't any other random kids.

Not so fun.

Emma Mae is a girl that knows how to create fun wherever she goes, though. More than once she has run out onto the field while I was going around to try to get pictures. Other parents hate my guts. That's okay, though.

This guy showed up and said he wanted to help me with my kids.

I think they liked him. Thanks, papa.