The Chattanooga Pics

So as I said before, last Friday we braved the "rain" and went to Chattanooga for a family outing. You can see how rainy it ended up being...but that's okay, because we needed the pretty weather and it's raining now...so everybody wins. First stop was the Chattanooga Zoo...

...which is so much better than Zoo Atlanta, primarily because they call themselves the Chattanooga Zoo and they don't interchange the parts of speech in their title like BellSouth and Team USA and all those other names that people give themselves thinking they sound edgy, but really they sound dumb. Zoo Atlanta being one of them. I also think Zoo Atlanta is waaaay overpriced. When I was a teenager (which was not that long ago) you could get in for $7--which seems about right. The last time I went was two years ago, and it had not changed a bit except they added two pandas which are never in the mood to be seen and the price tag had been inflated in a major way. Boooooo. The Chattanooga Zoo cost $15 for all four of us to go into, and although it didn't have elephants or giraffes, it wasn't like they were trying to show us dogs and squirrels and stuff. It still had enough exotic animals to give my kiddies a major thrill, which of course thrills me. Also, there were like 50 people there...no thousands upon thousands of screaming school children in matching shirts blocking my kids' view. Nope, it was just us and the animals, strolling around at our leisure. Nice.

They really loved it all equally, except the Patrick was totally enamored with the macaws, which he is familiar with because Diego saved one at some point in time. He sat and talked to that red macaw for about 20 minutes, and to give the bird some props, he held up his end of the conversation. He also showed us how he could peel a grape and eat just the pulp with his beak--no hands! It was highly impressive. My favorites were the African crane (the large bird with the crazy hair in the fourth pic), because he was into some wild and crazy antics--all up in your face and such--and the jaguar, who was completely geriatric but still breathtakingly beautiful.

The other great thing about the Chattanooga Zoo is that they have kept up with the standards for animal sanctuaries, but they have still preserved that old-timey zoo feeling. In the early days of zoos, they were kind of what you would see in a Curious George or Richard Scary book. They were built right into the heart of the city, and the design was basically a cement landscape with cages scattered in a circular path around one large central cage (which usually held monkeys). Not so great for the animals, but eventually people wised up and starting building something a little more like a natural habitat. As we walked around, I could definitely see the structure that had once been there...but was now covered with much nicer surroundings. So all in all, I give the zoo two thumbs up, and we'll be going back in a year or so, because they're adding on a new section so that'll be more to see.

Moving on, our next adventure was not quite so cost-effective, but fun nonetheless. We went on the Chattanooga Ducks, one of those old war boat/car contraptions that have been renovated for tours and are now sprinkled across the country taking money from suckers like me. I actually really enjoyed it--it was a great day to be on the water--but I think maybe half of what they charged would've been appropriate for what was delivered. But ya know, wherever boats are involved, there's also a hefty fee...so if you can't escape it, you might as well embrace it.

In the picture of our reflection, I'm the one sitting up front holding the camera out. The driver was babbling about how if someone took a picture, we might end up on the internet (gasp!) and I wasn't going to make a liar out of him. We learned a few things, including the fact that the Tennessee River is actually a lake called Nickajack Lake...something about its flow pattern or whatever...and the guide told us about some prominent residents of Chattonooga who had built fabulous houses along the shoreline. Very informative all in all, and let's face it, who doesn't love a boat ride?

After that, we had an hour to kill before we met up with Luke's brother Adam and his girlfriend Kendall for dinner, so we headed down to the riverside behind the aquarium to play at the park. We had just learned on our boat ride that the city had spent millions renovating the riverfront to make it more accessible to people, so who were we not to put it to good use? Waste not, want not, that's what I always say. Most of the time.

Luke and I were talking about how Chattanooga has done a good job with itself. There's a lot of history and natural beauty there, and they've showcased it well. It's really easy to go for just a day or a weekend and do a lot and learn a lot too. We both think our town could take a few chapters out of the how-to book and do a little bit better. However, since Luke used to work directly under the Downtown Development Director and we both know her work ethic, I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon. But I digress. I'm glad Chattanooga is nearby for all the fun it offers. We had a good day trip and we'll be going back soon.

Boo for Blogging.

To all you naysayers out there who are giving me a hard time about my recent lack of blogging, let me just say that we've had a really hard time with internet connections lately. As most of you know, we use dial-up because the phone company still considers us "country" and the cable company wants to charge an arm and a leg and we just won't have it. Our other two options are using Verizon's new high-speed, which which would also require giving up said arm and leg, or HughesNet, who say they can give you broadband no matter where you live by using satellite technology, but the last time I checked, the start-up fee was over $700. Um, no thanks.

So for now we're sticking with old dial-up, unless someone wants to cough up $65+ per month for various forms of high-speed, but it isn't going to be us. It's not been so bad in the past, but as I've said, lately the connections have been really slow. You try uploading even one picture at 26.5 kb per second and then we'll chat.

Also, I've been really busy at work learning my new software and it's taken a lot of time, but I've gotten one publication out and I'm close to the second one being finished, so it's been worth it. But whenever I sit down at the computer--even at home--I'm pretty much working on that...not the blog.

So when I finally work up the energy and stamina to sit down and create a post (which usually takes about a week...to get my stamina up, not to create a post...that only takes 4-5 days), then I get codes like this from Blogger:

bX-9pjt6o

...which translates literally to: I'm not blogging tonight. Too bad because we went to Chattanooga yesterday and I took lots of pics and who knows when I'll feel like sitting down to share again? Perhaps tomorrow.

More Fall Fun for Everyone

We've been very active as of late...this is a busy time of year, it seems. Last weekend we went to Gigi and Grandpa's house for their church fall festival, which of course was loads of fun for the kids. I didn't take any pictures because as you can probably tell, blogging's not on my mind like that anymore, but here's a few of the next day at the fabulous park down the street:


And this weekend holds the various fall festivals at our church and school. Yesterday was the school's, and I spent all day Friday getting things ready for the bake sale and the cake walk. My boss Stephanie and I made sure everything was labeled and packaged nicely and ready to sell. Most everything that the parents brought in looked wonderful and delicious, but there are always some questionable items. One in particular this year was a cake that looked like it had been through the Battle of Bunker Hill on the way to school. The top layer had fallen off and cracked, the bottom layer was unrecognizable, and the orange frosting was all over the place. I told Stephanie we had to toss it, that no one would want to take that cake home, even as a prize for the cake walk. Can you imagine the letdown of opening your box and seeing a big orange mess piled inside? But no, Steph said...we were short on prize cakes and we needed all that we could get...it had to be included. I fixed it up the best I could, getting rid of the bottom layer completely and putting some Halloween decorations on top to mask the unappetizing ugliness of it all, but I repeatedly maintained (loudly) that someone was going to be very disappointed to take home that cake. And I was right. Someone was...and that someone was me.

So here's the disgusting cake that Patrick won. I could not believe the injustice. There were fifty other cakes on that table and the stupid volunteer had to pick up that one. I should have thrown the darn thing out when I had the chance on Friday...then I would have been the happy owner of a simple bundt or something. I will admit though, Patrick thinks it's the coolest cake ever. He loves it and he is going to eat the whole thing. Better him than me.

Other than that, the festival was fun. Today is the church picnic--also at the school--and if Ben wakes up from his nap in time, we'll go to that too. Ciao!

Fall Break

We've been on fall break since Friday, and I've realized that since I can't rely on Luke's schedule to help me keep my days straight, I've become very dependent on Patrick's. I feel like I've had five Sundays in a row now. It's back to school tomorrow, but we've all had a good vacation.

Patrick went camping with Ma and Pa on Friday morning, so we had some "just Ben" time over the beautiful weekend. Saturday we went to Mary Kate's birthday party, which was great, except now that it's over, it means I have to start thinking about Ben's. And I hate planning birthday parties. On Sunday, we took the plunge and finally went out and bought a seat for Ben to go on Luke's bike. We've been putting this off for a while now...probably because we really need two seats because Patrick is learning to ride, but he's not really fast enough to ride with the family. And two seats is kind of an investment...besides that, it's not really one I want to make...I'd rather Patrick just keep learning to keep up. Maybe it'll happen faster than I expect. And if not, we'll just ride and make him run alongside us. He'll turn out just fine. I'm sure of it. It builds character.

Anyway, for this weekend, the one seat was great and Ben had a blast. We rode all over downtown and stopped at the park for him to "PLAY!"

On Monday we headed to Tennessee to spend the day with the campers before fetching Patrick to bring him home. It was a fun campsite for the kids, right on the Hiawassee River, which is wide and shallow...this area of it in particular, so the boys could wade almost all the way across.

The water was chilly, but the air was warm, so they spent hours collecting river rocks and looking for crawfish while we skipped rocks until our arms fell off. They were perfect for skipping. My best few were six or seven skips, but Luke had some that were too many to count--probably about fourteen or so. He's really good at that. So we were all having fun until eventually this big guy came and chased us out of the water.

Another kid that was with us practically stepped on him out in the middle of the river, and I guess the only thing that saved him from a trip to the ER was that the snake had a mouthful of fish. I read when I got back home that copperheads are pretty testy and will strike quickly, but they won't inject a lot of poison in defense. Sometimes they won't even bite...they'll just lunge at you. This one was pretty irritated that we were interrupting his meal, but he didn't make any moves. Eventually he just dropped the fish and swam away glaring at us...literally.

The fam...we don't all get in a picture together too often, but I thought this one was a good shot. So our week kinda starts back up tomorrow...hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Happy Anniversary to Me

Six years of wedded bliss...

Love you Luke

First School Picture--YIKES!

Well, I won't be buying this one...

I blame my co-worker Christa, who said only last week--and I quote: "That kid couldn't take a bad picture if he tried."

Oh really, Christa?

Survey of the Week

I could start a new blog just for surveys the way they're rolling in...
Anyway, Jennifer sent this one, and I have done it before on e-mail, and there are people *ahem, Sandi* who may never speak to me again if I pass it on. So this way I still get to talk about myself (my favorite topic), but y'all only have to pretend to care. Here goes...

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

Becky Thatcher from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Interestingly enough, I am a sweet innocent girl who fell for a rascally country boy, just like my namesake. And you can bet if we were trapped in a cave together, I'd kiss him too.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Yesterday when I said goodbye to Mandy I teared up a tiny bit...what? I'll miss her, okay?

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
no

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Mesquite turkey

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
um...yeah!

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Probably not because I wouldn't let me. I'm snobby like that.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
No. I am the most genuine, sincere person on the face of the earth.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Let me put it this way...a few weeks ago, I went mountain biking on a bike with very poor shocks. I could literally feel my brain jiggling around on its stem. It made me very conscious of my mortality and I don't ever want to feel it again. So no.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Kashi GoLean. I've never tried the Crunch, Kara, because I've heard it's hard as a rock...but maybe now I will.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Flip-flops do not require untying and such.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Oh yeah...I'm an absolute beast.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Mocha flavored with chocolate pieces.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Their hair, I guess.

15. RED OR PINK?
I like pink.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Non-flat tummy. It may have moved in permanently.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
I don't know. My brother, I think. I don't see him enough. But he's living the good life with Sandi and Matthew, so it makes me happy that he's happy.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
N/A

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
I'm wearing Victoria's Secret pajama's that Gigi got me when I was 17. She can say what she wants about that store, but they make quality stuff, that's for sure!

20.WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
A gelato milkshake.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Luke is sleeping on the couch while Judge Mathis tells it like it is to all his homeboys.

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
I'm not answering any more crayon questions!!!

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Let's break it down by season, shall we? Spring--honeysuckle and wisteria, Summer--suntan lotion and salt in the air, Fall--pumpkin spice and cinnamon, Winter--evergreen and coffee

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Some psycho parent at the school I work at. A piece of advice to all you parents of young-uns: just say no to micromanaging.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Yes, she rocks the hizz...and she found my new template for me.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
That one where the inside of my eyelids compete to see how long they can stay closed.

27. HAIR COLOR?
Brown with highlights.

28. EYE COLOR?
Brown.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
I love all foods, but my favorite thing really is my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe, which I have mastered. It has a secret ingredient that makes it the best CC cookie ever. You think yours are good? Mine are better. Sorry.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Little Miss Sunshine--yesterday with Mandy, and I'm still laughing.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Pink and white pajama top. Exactly how does this question help people to know me better? I'll be wearing something entirely different in the morning. Whatever.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer is definitely more of a flip-flop season, don't you think?

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Neck hugs from my kids.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
One that I made.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
N/A

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
N/A

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
I'm trying to decide which book to start--the last Harry Potter (I'm so ready for that to be over) or one called The Thirteenth Tale.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
A beach in the Caribbean.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
The Fashion Review for the Emmys. It is my opinion that Sandra Oh looked the best. It's also my opinion that she's the only reason to watch that show anymore, besides McDreamy. Let's hope the writers don't ruin the last good thing they've got going for them this year.

42. FAVORITE SOUND?
My kids playing happily together. I catch it in bits and pieces.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Monkees.

44. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Scotland or Italy, whichever is farthest

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Yes...it's called surviving.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Hartford, CT

Extra Credit : Mc Steamy or Mc Dreamy? See #41!!!

Goodbye to Mandy

First off, I have to give a shout-out to Jennifer for finding my new template for me! HOLLA! I love it. I'll get around to adding the links back in...uh, whenever.

Today Mandy came to visit me one last time before she embarks on her great Mexican adventure. As she told me, she's leaving on Monday for Colorado to go through a training program for three weeks, then she'll be back for a brief time and then she's headed south of the border for two years. But her brief layover back home will probably be very busy with last minute arrangements and business, so it was a good call to get together today.

We had a good day--started off by playing a little tennis, always fun! We both discovered fairly quickly that we were a tad rusty (like, we wouldn't want to take Katie on or anything like that!!), but after a little mini-tennis warm-up, our strokes were looking pretty much back to normal and we had some good rallies going on. After that we went to get Ben and rented Little Miss Sunshine...VERY funny movie if you can overlook the f-bomb being dropped like oh, every two minutes. Hilarious, though. And then after we picked up Patrick we packed a picnic and took the kids to the park to eat and play in the gorgeous weather.














Patrick with his "Aunt Mandy". He so did not get the whole leaving for two years thing, and it makes me sad that he won't see her for that long. She's been around since day one for him. We gave him the camera and told him to shoot away. It was an interesting experience and I hope that by me grouping all the pictures together, you'll fail to notice that he could not manage to get one good shot of us. But hey, this is no makeup, after playing tennis and lounging all day. What can we expect?


















I've known Mandy since college and she's been my classmate, my roommate, my partner in crime, my maid of honor, my confidant, my husband's informant, and my dear friend. Even though we don't get to hang out all too often these days, she's always been nearby just in case. I'll miss her so much while she's in Mexico, but I think what she's doing is really neat, and I'm glad she's following her dreams. And as she said, we'll always have the blog!

Where did the weekend go?

Well, we had quite busy weekend around here...Luke's schedule fell so his 2 days off coincided with ours, which happens once every three weeks, but I feel like I hardly saw him at all. He and Patrick and Pa went to the air show all day yesterday, and even though I sent the camera with him, he came home without a single presentable picture for the blog. Took pictures of airplanes instead. ??? Just what I always felt was missing from our family photo albums. Well, if you want to see pictures from last year's air show, which was the same thing only colder, look here. Otherwise, I gots nothing.

So Ben and I spent our morning with Ma at a "crack" show (otherwise known as a craft show), helping her with her booth. She makes awesome quilts from T-shirts and picks up a lot of business this time of year by showing what she's got at fall festivals and the likes. I always enjoy walking around and seeing what kind of crappy jewelry and artwork people are trying to sell. I did pick up some yummy pepper jelly and a mix for lime cilantro dip, so I'm looking forward to chowing down on that. Here's Ben gettin' down with his typical festival fare: hot dog and a bag of chips.

Last night Luke and I went to Brian and Jenny's to eat and watch some football game with a bunch of people from their church. We had a great time...but no pix, because I'm not whipping out my camera for strangers like some kind of freak. Again, Luke and I didn't really cross paths the whole night because the girls tired rather quickly of that whole "football" thing and went downstairs to tear up a Reese Witherspoon flick.

And today I had to work...it was our Annual Fund Drive kickoff party, the one time of year where I get to rub elbows with the hoi polloi. Good food, incredible house...you know the drill. And yet it's now 10:00 and I still need to catch up with my hubby.

One more thing though...as I mentioned before, last weekend we went to an outdoor concert downtown and some of Patrick's buddies were there. Well, I saw Wyatt's mom at the party today and she brought me these (and a few more) adorable pics of the kids. Be still my heart...they're so darn cute!

Let me just say that it's become part of our daily routine to remind Patrick to remain close buddies with Wyatt. How often do you get a great kid with a great set of parents??? We know them from church and Luke's old job, plus Wyatt's mom and I had our babies at the exact same time--all boys. Cha-ching! We know we hit the jackpot, and it's our main focus to cultivate this friendship to its maximum potential. Wyatt's little bro Henry was absent last weekend, but we will sic Ben on him as soon as possible. We'd like for them to enter Pre-K in a few years with Ben having cornered the market on Henry's friendship. ;)

Have a great week everyone!

About Me (no crayon questions allowed)

So Katie called on all her blogger buds to play along, and I am happy to oblige...because I always (correctly) assume that everyone is dying to know everything about me. So here goes...complete honesty...

1. Tell me something you really like about yourself.
This one's hard, because for everything I think of, there's a flip-side that makes me think "oh, well...that's not so great." So maybe I'm not the awesome person I thought I was. But surely there's go to be something! Let me think...okay, got it! This answer may be sub-par, but I like that I'm okay with my life being less than perfect...far less. What I mean is, I live in an environment where it could be very very easy for me to get swept up with "keeping up with the Joneses". I could easily spend my whole day focusing on having the kitchen redone in my perfect, treeless McHouse and getting the latest in stainless appliances and making sure the dining room is the perfect shade of red. I could obsess over the latest Volvo SUV and getting my adorable kids photographed every six months in their brand spanking new duds from a children's boutique. I could make sure I always have a steaming latte from Starbucks in my hand and a hot Louis Vuitton on my shoulder, and I could get dressed to the nines for my monthly MOPS meeting and lunch dates in order to show everyone how sleek my wardrobe is. I could do all these things, but thank God my mother gave me enough sense to realize what's important. And for me, part-time worker and full-time mommy, with a firefighter for a husband, most of these things fall by the wayside. And I can live with it...happily! I'm not saying I don't want things. I love getting new clothes. I'd give my right arm for new carpet and flooring all through my house, because whoever lived here before us obviously confused "carpet" with "litterbox" on a regular basis. But that will have to wait, and I'm cool with waiting. The truth is, I'm also cool with getting my handbags from Target and my clothes from Old Navy, I sometimes take my kids to Wal-mart to get their pictures taken, I live in a really small house that I prefer to think of as a cottage (but it has big beautiful trees), I don't even have a dining room and I pretty much hate coffee. But I love myself and all my crappy stuff. So there.

2. If life gave "do-overs", would you have many? Tell me one.
I would have oh so many. At least five pop into my head as I read the question. For most of them at least I can say I didn't know better. But for one I can't say that, and I feel a rush of shame every time I think of it. I've never told anyone, and I don't think I can bring myself to share now. I was a grown-up and I behaved very childishly, then I never came clean. Maybe one day I can, but not today...sorry folks. Just know that nobody got hurt. I just have to live with the guilt of having lied to someone for no reason...someone I see on a regular basis. And no it's not Mom, Chris, Mandy or anyone else that reads this blog, so you can all relax.

3. What would you like to be remembered for after you're gone?
Recipes. I want my descendants to stand in their kitchens and talk about me while they're making a dish that I've yet to perfect, but will someday. Like how my mom and I talk about my great-grandmother Meme for her awesomely good green apple stuffing. Or how my Gram could make a mustard vinaigrette better than anyone else on God's green earth, and we called it her "invisible dressing". Occasionally Luke's mom and I will bake together when there's a big family event coming up and a lot to be made, and she tells me about her Grandma Sokol who was a whiz in the kitchen, and that stuff is cool to hear. I want to be talked about like that when I'm gone, because being in the kitchen is like meditation or prayer for me. It relaxes me and at the same time excites me because I've realized that I can make really good stuff. And I want my family and all its future members to enjoy the product of my hobby as much as I do, so to have my name on a recipe, to have my granddaughter learning to make "Becky's pumpkin muffins" or something so that she can enjoy it too...well, that's a great way to be remembered.

4. Knowing what you know now, what one piece of wisdom would you like to pass on to future generations?
I have no wisdom, I'm young and stupid and a work in progress myself. I'll pull from the previous three questions, how about that? Three tidbits of advice are: the best things in life don't carry a price tag, honesty is always the best policy, and when making drop cookies, make sure you stir in the dry ingredients a little at a time for the best consistency.

5. Is your life
a.) harlequin romance
b.) an atlas
c.) a mystery
d. ) sci-fi
e.) other.
EXPLAIN your choice.
Other. My life is a cookbook. See #3 for your explanation. :)

Rescuers R Us

It's been a pretty fun weekend so far. Last night when I got home from work, Luke and I were itching to get outside and do something, and then we remembered that there was a free concert downtown, so off we went. When we got there, half of Patrick's class was hanging around, plus a few neighbors and church friends, so we ended up chit-chatting a lot of the night while the kids drew all over the sidewalk with chalk, and we missed most of the show. But hey, I'd rather be socializing anyway, so it was all good.

A couple hours after he went to work this morning, Luke called me and said that he really thought the boys should come visit, because they were having an "Emergency Expo" of sorts at the outlet mall across the street from the fire station. So having nothing better to do, we got in the car and hauled our cookies into the next county to ogle the assortment of rescue vehicles. The boys did love it, though. They were especially stoked about the helicopters from Emory and Erlanger that flew in. Two of them landed while we were there...and I don't care who you are, that's always a cool experience.

The special ops unit was there with their tricked-out truck and Patrick was very into that. The guy showed him all his super high-tech stuff and answered all of his questions just like your friendly neighborhood swat team member should...except that he told Patrick that his guns were for shooting dogs. At that point I read Patrick's thoughts as only a mom can do, and saw that he was getting sick with fear over the fate of poor Weewee and Savannah, and I assured him that the guns were for shooting people, not dogs...and for some reason that was a major relief to him.

Our school secretary Angie was doing a little shopping at the outlets and she saw us and came over. Angie is the coolest chick in school, as you can see by this picture. Patrick thinks she is all that because she gets to talk over the intercom and that is almost as cool as Daddy's firefighter radio. Sometimes he comes home after school and calls out names for the carpool line, just like Angie does. We *heart* Angie. Oh, and her birthday is tomorrow. Happy birthday Angie!

Ben was completely smitten with the helicopters, or "planes" as he called them. He liked the fire trucks too of course, but we've gotten up close and personal with them a few times now, so the choppers were something new and exciting. I love that front pic...I was trying to get a shot of them in front of the truck, but Ben would have nothing to do with it--he was completely focused on the helicopter landing behind the truck. So be it. They had a good time.

Tomorrow we're headed out to Ma and Pa's house to swim one last time and then help them close up the pool for the year. Boo. Sad times. As much as I enjoy fall and the holidays, it's always with a sense of gloom for the dark, freezing months that are just around the corner. And as miserably hot as it's been for the past month, I am always sad to see summer go. I just love the swimming and the sunshine and the picnics and the beach trips too much. Oh well. Time waits for no man, right? Hope everyone had a good weekend. See ya!

Little Comfort

Today Mary Kate came over to stay with us while Jenny ran some errands...

Me: Mary Kate, say bye-bye to Mommy!

Jenny: Bye Mary Kate! See you soon.

Patrick: Don't worry Jenny--we'll make sure her face doesn't get slammed into the floor!!!!!



It didn't...in case any of you are wondering.

Summer's Over Y'all

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day Weekend! So even though the temps are still toasty and I will be wearing flip-flops for at least six more weeks, we "officially" said good-bye to summer today. So now we sit back and wait for our two weeks' worth of beautiful fall weather-- whenever that may come.

Anyway, the kiddies paid a visit to Gigi and Grandpa's house for the long weekend...without us!! Apparently they had a big time, but since I wasn't there, I can't really provide commentary. But here are some pictures Gigi took during their long day at Stone Mountain Park:

Waiting for the train ride to begin. Mom said Ben loved it, but that every time the whistle blew, he would pull his hat down over his face and wait for the danger to pass. Who knows with this kid?

Nothing special going on here, but this is the cutest picture ever of Ben, dont'cha think?

Riverboat ride.

Checking out the view at the top of the mountain with Gigi. They rode the skylift up, which was a almost too much for Patrick to take. He lives and dies for the skylift.

So Luke and I had a great weekend too. We both worked yesterday, which means we got today (and tomorrow!) off to spend together as a family. When Luke got home this morning, we went for a long bike ride and then came home and cooked a killer lunch for everyone when they returned from their adventures. After which Gigi proceeded to pass out on my bed. And of course I took a picture, but I chose not to post it. It's been a long time since she's had to spend three days with two preschoolers so I'll be nice to her. Plus, we all had a great weekend, so I'm appreciative of that. Thanks Gigi and Grandpa!

Instant Karma's Gonna get You...

And my, how it does! John Lennon was a wise man, indeed. I must've done something really bad recently, because karma got me in the worst way...unexpectedly and out of nowhere. Wednesday night I was cleaning out my My Pictures folder, as I do occasionally. I separate the pics into different sub folders and then copy them onto CD-R disks. Then after I check to make sure they were written to the disks, I erase them off the hard drive. I've been storing my pictures this way for about two years. The last time I did this was in May, and all was well. So Wednesday night, I got Patrick's pictures done, then the ones of the family and both the boys together, then I pulled out Ben's disk. Only this time, when I saved the newest folder, it for some insane, unheard of, unbeknownst-to-man reason wiped out all the previous folders. Gone. All my pictures of Ben. His whole life. Needless to say, I freaked. It has taken me until now to be able to think about it without crying a little bit...for two reasons. The first is that I called my computer whiz friend Chris, who owns his own computer-ish business here in town, and he had me bring in the offending disk and my hard drive first thing in the morning. After extensive discussion about what went down, he assured me that I did not make some bonehead mistake, that you are not supposed to be able to delete off a CD-R even if you wanted to, and that this seemed like one of those freakishly unfortunate things that sometimes happens with computers. He also advised me to store all my pictures ever on both a disk and my hard drive, so if this happened again, they'd at least be in two places. Then he kindly installed a second hard drive for storage that he said would hold 10,000 pictures without breaking a sweat. Thank God, otherwise I would be sweating every time I copied a disk from now on. The second reason I feel better is because I was very proactive about taking inventory of my old photos. I went upstairs and dragged out the actual prints that I occasionally get at Walmart, and there were quite a few in there. Then I looked through all my old files of Patrick and Ben together, which were cataloged differently, and there were plenty of those. And finally, I went through my blog post by post and downloaded all the ones that I had previously uploaded, which was no easy task since I live in the sticks and have to deal with dial-up. But it was worth it because I got about 90 photos back, ones that were obviously favorites or I never would've posted them in the first place. To be truthful, some were lost...but that's life, I suppose. It could've been a lot worse.

I'm not sure why I'm even rattling all this off...a form of therapy, maybe? At any rate, in an effort to make sure Ben doesn't feel unloved later in life, I'm trying to take a few more pics of him now. Here's one I snapped today:

He's just chillin' with the Braves here. Ben is now a die-hard sports junkie, to the point where he gets mad if you turn on cartoons and whatnot. He wants to watch ESPN. His favorites are baseball ("ball-ball"), football ("ball-ball") and I'm thinking he will love basketball ("ball-ball") when it starts up again this fall. Katie, I'm not quite sure how he feels about tennis yet, but I have a feeling that you and he might soon have a date on the couch rooting for Nadal or Roddick or whoever...

Anyway, Luke is eating it up. He gets to check out the game and spend quality time with his sons. Whatever. Hey I'm happy too...they're all out of my hair when ball-ball's on.

Weekend Wrap-up

So this weekend was Luke's "office party", if you can call it that...which you can't. I had met all of the new recruits through various school and graduation activities, but I had never met the veteran firefighters that Luke works with. So this weekend was my chance. And if you think that I was going to take my camera for that, you're crazy. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. Enlightening, I should say. I never realized how different things could be just one county over. Let's just say if here were ever any doubts in my mind about my compatibility with Luke because he might just be a little too good ol' southern boy...well, I now have some perspective. Luke is downright preppy compared to these guys. And if you're thinking denim overalls and a piece of straw between the teeth, that's a little off the mark. Try imagining a different Luke and his cousins Bo and Daisy and their penchant for fast orange cars...and moonshine...and now you're starting to get a clearer picture. Yeah. Wow.

Then on Sunday we caught up with the kiddies again at Luke's parents house. They had been having a party of their own with some friends from school and Rebeckah (aka "the world's coolest girl" to both my boys) had spent the night as well. Other than sleeping, they basically swam non-stop:

Patrick grappling with his nemesis: The Chlorine Mushroom

Pa held the inner tube while the kids attempted to jump through. I have to point out that Patrick would not even put a toe in the water unless he was safe in my arms at the beginning of the summer, so as you can see...he's made great strides.

Rebeckah gets fancy mid-air...

...but ends up like this???

Ben was not partaking in the jumping game, but he is always happy to paddle around by himself and watch the fun. And if you blow bubbles in the water, he'll come up and kiss you. It's a great trick. We're going to teach him to roll over next.

Hope y'all had a great weekend too! Perhaps Patrick will do something outrageous at school and then you might hear from me again before Saturday. One can always hope...

Family Portrait

Today's Pre-K schoolwork:

If you're the sharp type, you may have noticed that there's a new member to our family. No, this isn't an elaborate ploy to announce another baby...just the realization of Patrick's latest obsession. Jeff is one of the guys that works with Luke, and even though Patrick has never met the guy, he has latched onto him like nobody's business. He alternates between pretending that Jeff is his brother and pretending that he actually is Jeff...therefore demanding that I address him so. Not cool. Especially since it looks like I may have been an afterthought in the picture, like maybe his teacher suggested that he may want to add, oh, I don't know...MOMMY into the picture?? On the plus side, he gave us all a great pair of legs.

Weekend Warrior

My past few days have not been for the faint of heart. Let's start with yesterday. Luke and I have known since spring that during the previous winter, we had enjoyed the noise and astronomical prices of our archaic gas furnace for the last time. For once we decided to do the responsible thing and not wait until it became an emergency. So yesterday we had an appointment for the Sears consultant to come take a look at our system and see what they had to offer. And while we were at it, we figured we'd also check out air conditioners too, since ours is the original one that came with the house--which is 17 years old--and they usually only last 15 years or so tops. Let me just say that I was not prepared for the ordeal. I figured the guy would come out here, hitch up his pants, spit, and say "Yeah, that'll run ya about so-and-so...", and then we'd spend the next thirty minutes trying to talk ourselves down to the cheapest possibility while he added in hidden costs every five minutes or so. Well, this is not at all what happened, and I'll take the time right now to go ahead and plug Sears for all your HVAC needs. The guy came out at 11:00 and walked around for an hour and forty-five minutes talking to Luke, inspecting our current system, taking measurements of our house and then writing up quotes for five different systems. Then we proceeded to sit down and discuss those quotes for another hour and a half. In the end, he actually recommended the cheapest option, gave it to us for the employee price and then set up a no-interest account to make it actually doable. I'm telling you, it's hard to find customer service like that these days. So we got a new heat pump, which is a single unit that somehow heats in the winter and cools in the summer using the air outside. And it's electric, and very energy-efficient, so no more breaking the bank over the natural gas bill in January. And even though I dropped a few G's for it, I feel good about the purchase, which is very unusual for me. Usually, I have diarrhea until the balance is paid. Eeek.

And as if that wasn't enough, lately our main TV has been on the fritz in a major way. But it was hard to get mad, because Luke bought it fifteen years ago and it's had a good life. It's like when your very very VERY old dog keeps pooping on the floor, but you don't mind, because he's been so good about not doing it for all these years. Anyway, we decided to say goodbye to the TV and we gave it to the Salvation Army in the hopes that someone even more poverty-stricken than us might get a few weeks of enjoyment out of it, and off we went on Thursday evening to go buy a new TV. I've got to give Luke props for planning this out so well in his evil mind, because heaven knows, if we hadn't gotten it before we signed in blood for the new heat pump, then we wouldn't have gotten it at all. I would've told him to shut up and content himself with watching a blue screen. At any rate, I wasn't prepared for this purchase either. I don't live under a rock, so I know all about plasmas and LCD screens and the like...what I didn't know is that projection TVs are all but extinct. I really thought we'd go in there and buy the same size and shape TV that we had before, the kind I've been watching my whole life, but with a flat screen this time. Oh no. Not at all. The showroom was a plethora of sleek, futuristic looking screens, all perched atop their shapely pedestals and grinning at us with wide wide WIDE screens and pixels galore. Off in the corner were two projection TVs, dragging their massive hind sides around by the hair and modeling the latest in caveman TV animal skins. My first instinct as a cheapskate was to suck it up and adopt one of those awful snaggletooth projection models, but after comparing prices, even I could see that the obvious choice was a more updated model. So we are now the proud owners of a 32-inch flat screen LCD TV, with a price tag that wasn't too bad.

My only concession was that it must fit into my entertainment armoire, which is a beautiful piece of furniture that Luke and I bought just before we were married, and I would never ever buy a TV that wouldn't utilize it. Luke said that this one could actually hang on the wall, but that is the epitome of tackiness, so I'm not even going to go there.

Thus, today was deemed a no-spending day, as are the next seven days or so, with the exception of groceries and gas. So when I went out to get something out of the freezer for dinner tonight, I noticed a formidable trail of ants on the side driveway and, having just in the last week conquered an attempted uprising in my kitchen, I decided to investigate. I followed the trail, which wasn't hard, since there were millions of them, and it led me straight to the garage and into the trash can where we store the dog food. I took the lid off and almost fainted. Then I had to stand there for the next ten minutes and figure out what to do, since Luke had just bought a 50-lb bag of dog chow and by golly after the past two days, there was no way I was throwing all that food away of I could help it. So I analyzed their weaknesses, planned my strategy, and began my attack. It began with a can of Raid for the outside of the trash can and the trail of critters leading down the driveway, and ended with the hose and what has affectionately become known as the "ant sponge"...and I'm happy to say, the huge vat of dog food is now ant-free, chemical-free, and just a slight bit damp. My work here is done.

Fahrenheit 111

No, it's not an adaptation of the Ray Bradbury classic, it's just the temperature the credit union thermometer registered when I drove by at 4:00 today. It's too hot. Everything is feeling it. The boys haven't been outside in ages, my carpet looks like it's made of mohair from the dogs' need to shed every dispensable hair on their body, even the praying mantis that had taken up residence in my begonias for the past month has given up on this God forsaken land and headed for (literally) greener pastures. Or he just dropped dead from the heat. And my plants...my poor plants. At this point, I'm just watering stems with the hope that when the highs drop back to 95 degrees, they might still have the strength to recover. I finally put the poor marigolds around my mailbox out of their misery and just yanked them out of the rock-hard dirt.

So that's it. We sit in the house and wait for the moment when we all spontaneously go up in flames. Or I go to work, where for some insane reason, the thermostat is set at 60 degrees and I spend the day slowly turning blue, only to come outside at 4 p.m. and microwave myself. I'm surprised that I haven't gotten the mother of all colds by now.

You want pictures? Wilson sends his love from the coolest place in the house, the tile floor in the kitchen...

"The heat! My God, the HEAT!"

One hundred blogger bucks if you know where that line came from. Anyway, what else is there to say? It's freakin' HOT. Last night the Atlanta weatherman said that Tuesday night was the hottest night in the history of recorded temps for us. No overnight low has ever been that hot. Our two weeks of fall cannot come fast enough.

Yesterday, Luke's buddy Delmos had an incredible stroke of bad luck and his air conditioning unit broke. But those are only half his woes...his problem was made much much worse by being unfortunate enough to be renting from my former landlord, the one that Mandy and I used in college during a year that involved...let's just say...rats and misplaced rent checks. I'm just sayin', she's not the best to have around when the a/c breaks in 107 degree heat. So Luke invited him to come over for the evening to literally chill out at our house, which we keep at a frosty 80 degrees. They spent the evening parked in front of the X-box playing Halo 2 and sniggering like Beavis and Butthead.

I literally cannot understand this phenomenon, but whatever. They somehow had fun and Delmos didn't melt, so that was good. Anyway, that's it around here! Keep cool, folks!

The First Day

Today was Patrick's first day of school...heaven help us!

Hopefully, they'll be able to do something about his grammar. Look at this, for crying out loud! Who does he think he is, 50 Cent?

Okay, okay...in all honesty, today is one day that I can brag on my kid. He had a great first day and was a great student. On the plus side, he walked down the hall quietly with one hand on his hip and the other on his lip (this is called hip/lip for the uninformed readers), he sat nicely and ate his lunch without goofing off, and he laid down and closed his eyes during rest time. On the plus plus side, he did NOT come running out of the bathroom without his pants asking if he wiped well enough, as he is sometimes inclined to do at home. I really like "School Patrick". I hope he sticks around for a couple of hours after 3:15 each day.

How do I know all this, you might wonder? No, I am not actually his teacher, nor do I want to be. But I do work there and did manage to take a few spy breaks during the day. And I ate lunch with him. And yes, I think I am a lucky duck because I can do this. Today was my best day of work--ever.

No Longer Mommy

Patrick starts Pre-K on Tuesday--the big time--all day every day. And as if on cue, I'm no longer Mommy. I am now Mom. Way to drive a stake into my 30-year-old heart, kiddo!