On Monday we went to Momma's old school the University of North Alabama. They keep two real live, very large lions on campus. Momma says they are UNA's mascot, whatever that means. We liked looking at the lions, though I think I saw Una lick her lips when I got out of my stroller and leaned on the bars. However, there was one very, very bad part of the day. There was a lion that someone had let out of the cage, and Momma and Daddy kept trying to get me to sit on it. I cried and I screamed, Daddy said it was the first time he has ever seen me scared of anything. But did they stop torturing me when I started crying? No! They did not! Daddy feed something to the lion and then it took off jumping and running and roaring and then they tried to put me back on it. I think I'm scared for life, Momma showed the video to everyone when we got back to Grandmother and Granddaddy's house, and I was still terrified. Today, Britt told Granddaddy all about the scary lions and how we all cried when they roared. If you don't believe me, just watch I'm sure I can so for child endangerment, after all, who takes their kids to ride on lions!
Last week, Ruth told you how we went to Auburn to visit Unca Benji, but she left out the most important part of the day. After roaming around campus, we were all hungry, and I sat between Unca Benji and Momma. While we were waiting on our food, I got Unca Benji to tell me lots and lots of stories. Momma said that I could only post of the four good stories that he told me, but I got Daddy to help me edit this video to include more stories. I never get tired of listen to dragon stories. Momma says she doesn't know what I like about these grusome stories Unca Benji tells me, but I like them they are different and funny. Besides, you never know what might happen next in one of Unca Benji's stories.
3:34 PM
1 random thoughts
Today was the Auburn-Florida Football game. I planned ahead and didn't bring any Gator stuff for the kids to wear, and since Gary was gone to the PMA in Atlanta, I got them all dressed up the way I wanted. Britt in his overalls, and Ruth in a little cheerleading outfit. We had originally gotten the headband for Ruth, but Britt likes to wear the "Tiger Ears" so he wore it alot this week.
We got no end of compliments in town about there little outfits particularly Ruth in her cheerleading outfit. She smiled and flirted with everyone, and even left her bow in her hair longer than usual. She walked around clapping, and pushing Aubie over and over to hear the fight song. Then she danced around in circles
Perhaps the funniest part was to watch them play with their shakers all week.
11:33 PM
No random thoughts
As most of you have probably heard by now, Ruth had a run in with a TV tray back at our house on Monday afternoon. It was a nice, but busy day. I did alot of final cleaning, so that we could come home to a clean house. I had already packed the kids stuff, I was running the final load of laundry before packing our stuff. Gary had already cleaned out the car, taken care of some projects that needed attention before we left, and had decided to take a nap in his chair. Britt was down for a late nap. I was waiting for the paint to dry on a project for a friend, before I could finish it up. So while Ruth amused her self with a few dolls and a book in the middle of our floor, I decided to try to finish my book, so that I could return it to the library before we left for Alabama. I would read a few pages and stop to verify that she wasn't eating anything she discovered in the floor or attempting to climb our bookcase again. She would periodically come and bring me something to show me before going back to playing in the middle of the floor.
At one point, I looked up and she was attempting to stand and move Gary's tv tray across the center of the room. Gary had it out clipping coupons Sunday evening, something he does pretty often these days. That morning he had put the coupons away and gone grocery shopping, while vacuuming and cleaning I thought I need to put that away so Ruth doesn't turn it over, but I got side tracked with another project. I was leaning forward to get up, go get it, and put it away when she put weight on it wrong and flipped it over her head, and fell landing partially on top of it. She started screaming, Gary jumped up and I grabbed her up and started rocking her. She just wouldn't settle down and so after a minute I pulled her back to talk to her, and saw blood running all down her check. Sure enough she had cut her check just under her eye all the way across, and it was gaping open a little bit.
Gary saw no need to carry her in, it wasn't right at her eye, and it didn't look to deep, but I thought she needed to see a doctor, it looked deep to me and did want to stop bleeding. Gary called his folks for a second opinion, and his mom backed me up. So, we woke Britt dropped him off at Memaw's house, and took Ruth to the ER. After we got there, nearly an hour after it happened it had just about quit bleeding, and she didn't seem bothered at all. They took us right back and within 5 minutes the doctor came by and told us that it was just superficial nothing to worry about and it would heal up just fine. Since we were there though, he said he would put a little of that surgical glue on it, and that would probably decrease the amount of scarring. He said he'd be back in about 5 mins.
About 10 minutes later the "Stitches Guy" came back, cleaned it out and looked at it. He verified that it was just superficial, nothing to worry about and that the doctor would come back and take care of it. About an hour and a half later, they came in and apologized, both doctors thought the other one had taken care of it. So they wrapped her up, put a little tape on, then some glue, and held her still for 4 minutes while it dried. Ruth was NOT happy about being pined to the table and having a nurse hold her in a head lock. They wanted to be sure though that it didn't run back in her eye and glue it shut too though. After that they went to go and get our release papers, but right before the doctor could sign them he got called away on an emergency. So after about another half hour he made it back to sign the papers, so we could go.
She was sporting a bruise above her eye from the edge of the table, and one under her eye running along the cut from the metal bar under the table, but they haven't been as bad as I expected. She's got a bit of a black eye now, particularly under her eye, near the cut, but it hasn't seemed to slow her down or bother her one bit. I'm so thankful, if it had been too much higher it might have gotten her actual eye and that would have been bad.
9:39 AM
3
random thoughts
Yesterday, we went to see Unca Benji at Auburn. We got up really early in the morning, and drove, and drove, and drove some more before we got there. It took a long time to arrive but it's ok, we watched Allison Kause, Toy Story, and Sesame Street. I really like to watch tv.
When we got to Unca Benji's apartment we got on the bus with him and rode to campus. When we got off the bus, there were more buses coming up behind it. Britt kept asking, "Where dat bus going?" And Momma would say, "I don't know where it's going." This happened over and over, until Britt finally informed Momma, "No, not I don't know, buses going to Auuuuu-burn!"
First Unca Benji took us to Stamford Hall. It's the oldest building on campus, and orginially all the classes where held here. Momma told me that Oliver Goldsmith once wrote a poem that began with the lines "Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain" and it was for this poem that Judge John J. Harper named a little town that sits on a plain in South Alabama in 1836. Another line in the poem later gave the college their mascot, "Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey." For this poem, the students of the college are often termed the Plainsmen (and sometimes today Plainswomen), and in fact the school paper is "The Auburn Plainsmen". Momma knows alot about Auburn, I have to take her word for it though since I can't read.
Next, we walked along College Street to Toomer's Corner, and saw all the trees. Britt and I thought they looked like all the other trees that were loosing their leaves, but Momma thought they looked really bad. Unca Benji says that he thinks they will cut them all down at the end of the year, maybe even before the Auburn - Alabama game as motivation to beat Bama since they destroyed our trees. Anyway, after that we walked along Magnolia Street and saw all the engineering buildings and stopped to see where most of Unca Benji's classes are at in Lowder Hall. Of course, when I see we walked, I mean everyone but me. Daddy carried my mostly but Unca Benji and Momma carried me some too. They say I'm too slow, but Britt is the really slow one. Every time someone offered to carry him though, he said no and insisted on walking.
Next we headed over to the Hailey Center, and as we walked in and out of it, we could see the stadium. It isn't as big looking as the one in Gainesville, and we couldn't go in and walk around it, but Momma says maybe next year we can all go see a game together there and cheer on our Tigers. In the Hailey Center, we stopped by the book store. Oh boy, did we have fun playing in there. Britt pointed out every AU and said, "War Eagle!" He also kissed the tigers and threw them in the floor to wallow with them. I got to try on head bands and hats, and when I got tired Daddy found me a chair to sit in and I played with some streamers. Britt kinda embarrassed us, him and Unca Benji were running around in the clothes and being really loud. Momma had to go and calm them down. We picked out a few things before we left.
Unca Benji wanted to show us the old Auburn mascot outfit that they had hanging up on display in the student center, but we got up there and couldn't find it any where. Instead we all looked at all the eagle and tiger statues everywhere. Britt's favorite was a Tiger wearing a tie and clothes. I like touching the big wooden eagle. After that we were ready to leave campus and go find some lunch, so we headed out and on our walk back to the bus we saw the stadium again, and walked by a bunch of dorms that sit next to the stadium. Unca Benji should live there.
So we left Auburn, the loveliest village of the plain, and headed over to Unca Benji's apartment building. He had a really tiny room, and Britt rearranged all of his stuff for him while we were there. Then we ate lunch together at Loco's which is across the street from where Unca Benji lives. Britt colored, I ate, and Unca Benji told us both lots of stories, that Momma says she'll load on facebook later. We had a good time, and hated to tell Unca Benji bye, infact I refused to. Momma says that didn't change anything though, because we really did have to leave to go see Grumps and Ahna. I was pretty tired though, so I went to sleep pretty fast. We had a wonderful time with Unca Benji, and I hope we can visit him again.
12:18 PM
No random thoughts
One of my favorite parts about where we live now, is that "cows live in our backyard." They spend alot of time laying under the trees during the day. Other times they eat grass way out in the pasture. But, every evening they make their way over to "come see me." They come and stand at the fence, and I talk to them. Sometimes they moo and talk back to me. I especially like to watch the calves, they run and jump alot. I always, make a point to look for the bull too, but usually "I don't see 'im." They are nice cows, and two of them love it when Momma scratches their face between their eyes, or by their ears. Sometimes I pet them too, but not usually, because then they want to lick you and their tongue is alot like a cat's but bigger and way more slobbery.
10:17 AM
No random thoughts
I'm hoping we don't have a repeat of this post for November. I don't think I could have stood the water if it had been much colder. On Saturday we drove down to meet Bro. Matt and Sis. Kerry Johnson and their family and Bro. Tim and Sis. Charlotte Montgomery and their family at Anna Maria Island. There is a front moving through, and most of Florida has gotten nearly 24 hours of rain from Saturday to Sunday, but it wasn't raining at the beach. The wind was pretty high and it was pretty cool, but it wasn't too bad. We had the beach almost completely too ourselves.
Britt spent every available moment, shadowing Brady. Poor Brady, not sure how he felt about his little leech, as Uncle Benji would call him, but Brady was a great sport. Britt looks for him as soon as Church is out, and sometimes tries to convince me at the beginning of Church that he needs to go sit by Brady. In a few more years we'll see.
Ruth of course loved it, she always loves crawling in and out of the water, and for me to carry her around. She ate tons of sand apparently while on shore with Audrey, the Montgomery's 20 month old little girl (about). Britt thought she was something too, and made sure to show her the art of carrying fistfuls of wet sand to then throw in the ocean.
The older boys got into throwing the football, while some of the younger kids played with the boogie boards. Britt alternated between tailing Brady and wandering around looking for moose and starfish. We were able to see several dolphins fairly close. A school of fish kept swimming and jumping around us, and they were circling them to catch some dinner. I even got to have a nice long visit with Bro. Matt as we supervised the kids.
After the wind started really getting up, and it threatened rain, we all cleaned up, changed, and headed over to the Sandbar to eat some supper. All the adults and high chairs were at one table, and Bro. Matt sat with all the kids. At one point the waitress looked at him and asked if he was a parent, almost like she wasn't sure, we all got a laugh out of that. We had a wonderful time visiting, it's been a long time since I've seen Sis. Charlotte and the family, and we just had a ball visiting together. We worried a little that we wore the preacher out too much. After all it was 10 till 10 when we got home, and they had further to drive, but Bro. Tim had a wonderful sermon yesterday morning, so it must not have bothered him too badly. We look forward to hopefully doing it again sometime.
9:22 AM
No random thoughts
Look what we got in the mail this past week! Gary graduated back on August 5th. I am so proud of all of the hard work that he did to get to this point. We made the step to go back to school last year, even though Gary swore he would never do that again. We made the step on faith, believing that it was the next step the Lord would have us to take. Everything we applied for wanted Gary's experience plus a Master's degree. Now we are just praying for the Lord to bless us with a job.
Congratulations honey! I am so proud of you and am honored to be your wife.
4:20 PM
1 random thoughts
I can remember as a child riding home from one of Matthew and Nicholas's T-ball games and thinking "That looked like fun." I enjoyed playing baseball with the two of them for a couple of years, and then I started playing fast pitch softball. I wasn't great or anything, but I did really enjoy it. I loved playing in right field, there's alot of movement there, backing up first and second base, catching popflies or hard hit grounders. I called the balls and strikes out there, and kept up with the outs. I wasn't much of a batter, but I really loved running and trying to steal bases.
Growing up we watched the Cubbies alot, Daddy liked the cubs. I very faintly remember going to a Cubs game when I was small. The only reason I know it's a real memory is because one time I mentioned it to Daddy, and said what stood out most in my mind was the memory of a really big pole out in front of us, and Daddy said that part of the seats were positioned behind a grey concrete support to the deck above us. The boys really followed the Atlanta Braves, and I can remember us all going to see a Braves game and sitting up high way down the third base line. We watched them when Chipper Jones and Maddox played for them, and my favorite player was David Justice because he played right field too. That said, I didn't really care for watching baseball. After all it is kinda boring to watch, not like football with all the action.
However, since marrying Gary who is a big Tampa Bay Rays fan, I have watched more baseball, and we've had the opportunity to see several games now. I still don't really enjoy watching the game on tv, after all you can't watch the entire field and it's not the same view as sitting in the stands. I do though really love going and watching a game. The tickets in the outfield are really reasonable.
The first year after Gary and I got married, the Rays went to the playoffs for the first time, and they even made it to the world series. We didn't have cable at the time, but I can remember us sitting on our bed and watching one of the games with rabbit ears on a really grainy 13 inch tv, and Gary jumping around going crazy. I was pregnant, past the morning sickness and not uncomfortable yet, we had a ball! In these four seasons, the Rays have gone to the playoffs 3 times.
Each year, Mosaic allows Dad to get tickets for the family to go to a game on a Sunday afternoon. Britt has been to three of those games now. Last year Ruth was born on the day before the game, so she's only been once. Britt has always enjoyed the experience, watching people eat boiled peanuts, and getting to eat hot dogs, all the noise and excitement, the many things to see. Ruth is like that now. Britt is now beginning to pay attention to the field. He knows that our pitcher's name is "Shields" and he thinks our catcher's name is "Stop It" (Shoppach). He can tell you the difference between them is that the "pitcher pitches the ball and catcher throws the ball." He always wants to know if it's "our turn to bat" and when Gary is watching baseball he want to go and watch it too... for a little bit anyway.
We have been able to go to three games this season. Gary took me for my birthday, we took the kids with Gary's family back in August, and then we went with the Church a few days after that. And I really enjoyed every minute of those games! I would have loved to go to one of the Rangers - Rays games but those tickets don't just materialize. We aren't going to be able to see them win the world series this year, but there's always next year.
9:20 AM
No random thoughts
Momma says I am getting better and better at walking, even if I don't get any faster. She doesn't understand that if I were to go faster I might fall down, and then I wouldn't be walking any more. This weekend we went over to El Bethel to hear Bro. David Montgomery preach. Momma liked his sermon on Endurance on Friday night, and Daddy said he did a really good job with Psalm 139 on Saturday, but I wouldn't know, I wasn't listening. Momma and Daddy had to take turns taking me out. Momma says that not something to be proud of. Anyway, I liked going to Church on Saturday, because I got to dress up and see lots of people. I didn't much like it on Friday though, I was ready for bed, and these people drug me across town. On Saturday though, I got to practice walking and they all watched me and talked with me. Sometimes though I get the impression that no one understands what I'm saying. They just smile and nod alot. Momma says I should post some video now for Grumps and Ahna, I don't know why, they can watch me walk for themselves this time next week.
9:18 AM
3
random thoughts
I like to watch Daddy cook. Sometimes I think I drive him a little batty, is always warning me that the stove is hot, hot and to back up when he opens the oven. He trips over me alot because I sneak up behind him to watch him cook. Daddy is a really good cook, everyone says so. Every now and then when I eat, I can attest to him being a good cook.
Friday night, Daddy was cooking while Momma got our clothes laid out for church. Daddy had put the okra in a bowl, and was stirring an egg in it. He left to go and turn the food on the grill, and Momma came back into the kitchen to wash dishes. I then pulled up my little chair next to Momma where Daddy left the okra, and I started stirring it, just like Daddy did. He then dumped it all into another bowl where the flour was, and he let me help him shake it up. I then got to stand by the counter and watch Daddy fry it. Since in was "my okra" I decided to try a bite for the first time. It wasn't bad. Maybe we'll try this cooking thing again sometime.
10:17 AM
1 random thoughts