A LIttle Preoccupied

I feel like I keep needing to explain why I've been so bad about not staying on top of blogging. It's just life, but I did think it might be fun to show you one of the things that has kept me a little pre-occupied.

Let me start by saying that I am not a very good decorator. Actually, I'm no decorator at all. Let me then say that the furniture we had we got right after the tornado in April, 1998. It really doesn't seem so long ago, but it was. Time for a change.

I have another post that will explain how we found Jeff, but that is for another post. Jeff is wonderful and Jeff has excellent taste. He also is very patient. He is a decorator and he never gets frustrated with me and Keith....even when we change our minds a thousand times. A miracle in and of itself.

You see where this is going. Jeff help us redecorate our family room, which led to a "re-do" of the keeping room with the leftover furniture. I just love the horses (or giraffes as James sees them). You just want to touch them. Excuse the momentary digression. So fun. And, we're doing our part to help the economy.

I do have more fam pictures, but they just weren't as handy. At least you know some of my preoccupation has been productive.

Tundra Time Trial

I am finding quite a few posts that I started, but never quite finished. Just think of it as my 2011 - Year in Review. Maybe if I started now, I'll have it wrapped up by the end of December.

It's actually kind of fun to look back at these pictures. The Tundra marks the beginning of the race season, usually mid-February. I remember being so happy that it was sunny and warm. We had had such a horrible winter that we were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to thaw out. (Little did we know that it was going to be a brutally hot summer.)

We had a strong finish. These are the 13-14 winners. James was pretty happy with third (as you can tell from the pictures, both Miguel and Abigail have more muscles).

Flag Football

Last winter Christopher decided he wanted to try out flag football. Of course, we were already one week into the season but we were able to find a league that would take him. We signed him up for the 10-12 year-old league. He had just turned 10, but he is a good athlete so we figured it would be a good fit.

I liked the structure of this league. It was 2 hours per week on Sunday afternoon. The first hour was practice and the 2nd hour was the game. His very first practice, he was given the medal for the week. The word for the week was "Listening" and his coach said the "new kid" did the best job listening. I think it was a few more weeks before we went from "new kid" to Chris.

Christopher learned quickly and it didn't take the coach too long to figure out that he was also quick as the dickens.

Did I mention that they decided to combine leagues so he was actually playing 10-14 year-olds? There were kids out there with facial hair - not a very fair match up, but I digress. The coach designed a special play for Christopher and the kid (I guess I didn't do any better with names than the coach did) who usually played quarterback. (I would say almost facial hair, but definitely growth spurt.)

QB would hand off to Christopher and then CBT would make a little shovel pass back to the QB. It was awesome and amazing all at it. Christopher just completed one of those passes here. (I confess these pictures aren't nearly as good as other sports - it was just plain too cold to get out the good camera.)

While he just seemed to small to me out there, that didn't stop him. He was quick. He was part of the play whenever he should of been.

He's making a great play here - trust me, I know he's tiny. He "ripping" the guy with the ball. ("Ripping" I learned was what you said instead of "tackle." Makes sense.

Short season, but it was fun.

Christmas with the Whitmans

Over the years, we've evolved to a certain Christmas tradition. Papa, Da and Aunt Tammy spend the night with us on Christmas Eve and then the Whitmans come Christmas Day afternoon. 2010 brought us a pleasant little surprise....snow.

So, an excitement level that was already incredibly high moved a bit more into overdrive. Once they get to town we have a HUGE meal and we open presents, not always in that order. This year, well, this year was a little different.

It started out fairly normal. We took turns opening gifts and admiring each one.

As usual, there quite a few "Alabama-themed" gifts. Of course. We wouldn't have it any other way.

The Alabama gifts come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

That said, we don't forget Aunt Joanna, who doesn't appreciate Alabama gifts as much as we do (nor does Bear).

It's not uncommon for a cookbook to show up amongst the gifts. I think there's a gene in our family that creates the need to collect cookbooks - even if you don't really cook that often.

Aunt Tammy usually racks up with both Alabama gifts and others.

But my favorite part of Christmas this year was absolutely Aunt Joanna. She was in rare form. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe any more. Here I think she is pretending to be a woman on oxygen who refuses to stop smoking. (Ok, I know that is not a funny topic, but you just had to be there.)

And then as a show of absolute Christmas spirit, she treated us to a reading of the Night Before Christmas Tide style. That was huge for someone who is a dyed in the wool Auburn fan, but she did it and she did it with gusto and enthusiasm.

We just have a blast when we're together and we just love to laugh.

It may be chaos, but we enjoy spending time together.

Nationals - Pre-Race

It's 10 pm before Race Day. James has done everything he can except sleep tonight and drink tomorrow. For the past two days, he and the team have ridden to keep there legs warmed up, but not too much to stay fresh.

Yesterday's ride was a nice, slow ride after the adults trying to figure out where would be a good place to take a ride. We had some advice, but it didn't pan out as well as we had hoped. But, as almost always, the adults prevailed and they found a place to ride.

It was the Greeneway in North Augusta and looks like it was a very lovely ride. I think it may have been a little difficult to go as hard as James would have liked, but I think it did accomplish what it was supposed to.

Today was a little more trying. The road race course is on the Fort Gordon base. Have you ever tried to navigate on an army base with directions that aren't great. It took us forever to find the meeting place. They were supposed to ride around 11, but ended up being closer to 2. It was HOT. I heard that August hit a record high today at 103. I don't know if it was 103 or not, but I do know that I felt like I was just melting away. I can't imagine what those kids felt like riding in that heat. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a bit cooler.

It was a really neat place to see. There wasn't much traffic except these HUGE vehicles that would pass from time to time. James rode with another parent to the base and called when we all thought we were lost. He asked if he should be concerned that they were on the artillery practice range. Yikes. It all ended up just fine - we even parked across from a sunflower field. They weren't quite full bloom, but it did almost give you the feel of the Tour.

Fortunately, we didn't run across any tanks. I'm pretty sure I know who would win if one of our bikes were to meet one of those.

Good luck, James. Remember that we're proud of you no matter what.

Papa's Birthday

Next week is Junior Cycling Nationals (translation: I have a thousand things to do before Monday). So....what am I doing? I'm blogging. Why the sudden urgency when it really hasn't been a top priority for the past I don't know how many months? I put it on my list of things to do before we leave on Monday. Yep, I confess. I am a chronic list-maker. I have all kinds of lists floating around. Today lists. This week lists. Lists of things I just want to keep on my radar screen. (Yes, I think I have lost a billion brain cells since having children so I do have to make lists of things I just want to remember that I want do.) So, now that you have some background...welcome to the post about my Dad's 77th birthday about a month ago. (It dawns on me that I could have cloaked this as a Father's Day post, but I am all about transparency and not re-typing long paragraphs.)

On Daddy's birthday, Christopher and I drove down to Opelika to surprise him. James and Keith couldn't make it because James was riding to Chattanooga, as in riding a bike. It was 142 miles and he was so torn, but who wouldn't choose to sit on a metal triangle covered with leather for 7 hours instead of in an air-conditioned car? (That was his description of the ride last year.)

We met them at Bennett's double-header. As we walked up, Mother started to say, "There's that little boy that Joanna think looks like Christopher" until she saw me. I guess Joanna didn't mention that that little boy's mother looked like me. They were quite surprised and I was impressed with how Tammy and the boys kept the secret.

I was glad we made it the the games because we got to see Bennett pitch. Barrett and Christopher had a big time at the field. I'm not sure what all they did, but they stayed entertained for the hours we were there.

Of course, the boys didn't get enough of the bat so it was a game of wiffleball after we got to their house.

Safe!

I just want to give Bear a big hug whenever I see him - even if it just a picture.

We all had time to sit and chill while Tony cooked the steaks.

Doesn't Daddy look good?

Joanna and Christopher also have a good face for me when I pull out the camera. I never know what I'm going to get.

The best part of the day - STEAK!

He's still got it.

The boys with their Papa.

Remember what I said about never knowing what I was going to get when Christopher and Joanna? Happy Father's Day, Daddy.

Memorial Day 2011

I just don't know where the time goes. I'll do a post and think I will get back to it the next week and next thing I know it's been....well, longer than a week.

Today's post is just a fun post (well, for me) sharing the highlights of our day at Aunt Pat's and Uncle D's for our annual Memorial Day celebration.

The afternoon always ends with roasting marshmallows by the pond. Our kids are all getting better at it - at least we know longer have to help them. They now understand why we always say the burnt part is the best. Partly because it is really good and partly because it's too sticky to separate it from the other. James ended up letting me eat this one - mmm, mmm, good.

Did I mention how great it is to not have to help?

One of the joys of Memorial Day is not caring whether you're sweaty, muddy, sticky and anything else that you're usually too concerned about. There is very little makeup around. It's just a fun time to hang out with family you only see once a year.

Here is some explanation for the muddy part. To get to the paddle boat (have you ever seen anyone successfully ride a paddle boat alone?), you have to go through the mud. The more mud you get on your feet or any other part of your body seems to make the ride more enjoyable. Somehow, too, it seems there is often some kind of accident that forces someone overboard. It is a pretty wicked paddle boat, I guess.

It is such a beautiful place. There is the pond, the pond house, a sandbox, zip lines, places to play kickball/baseball and lots of space to just relax.

This is the first time in a long time, maybe ever, that everyone was there. My grandparents had 11 grandchildren. We are all here in all our glory. I have so many good memories with this gang. I guess that's part of the fun of our getting together, we always remember some story or two.

The 11 of us produced this crew. There always one that just refuses to participate or participate under duress. Nathan seems to always get the privilege of holding the one under duress. This year we had both, just off camera view is the shy one.

Love this laugh.

Somewhere there's an Auburn joke in this pic.

There's always something to play. Looking like they will have good memories of playing together, or at least memories.

Before the zip lines, etc, there were water things like sprinklers and baby pools. But, the all time favorite has to be the homemade slip n slide. Lots of black plastic, water and detergent.

I think I've finally gotten past being totally paranoid that someone is going to get hurt.

Now, I know that someone is going to get hurt. This time it was a big bruise on James's hip. I have learned that they are just battle scars and add to memories.

Everyone has a camera in hand. (Doesn't Daddy look great?)

In the great grandchildren generation, we have a pretty strung out age group. The oldest graduates next year and the baby is a baby. Grandmama and Granddaddy would be so proud.

It's fun watching the boys who only see each other once a year playing together.

Great picture of Tammy.

I am so thankful for the heritage I have from my Goshen family. God has blessed generations of our family with knowledge of Him.