Our Red, White & Blue Weekend

 what do you do if its raining? Wear an umbrella hat..of course!

 ..then your face will surely show it...

 here's your hairbow Breeze!

 Grandmama's flag cake

 Daddy's red Crystal light makes things a little...festive

 I'm cold and there is sand on my hands

FLASHBACK! Old school Battleship, I think I will!


Linking Up with:

Easter Family Standard

clettus gets adventurous, part 2

Just the other day y'all got to meet Clettus ....

here's a random snatch of what he was up to on Monday...

in a text from Mom, who was home sick with a 24-hour bug

"laying on sofa and cleatis went walking by"

(as you can tell, we still haven't come to terms on correct spelling of his name)

When I called for follow-up, because hello, how is that enough information to complete a story?, she told the following.

"He actually did that twice... (me: did you pick him up and put him back?)... um no, I went and got your Daddy out of the bed (who was also home sick) and made him put him in the box.... then he (Clettus) did it again... (me: got out of the box?) ... yes, I told your Daddy where a bigger box was when he got him the first time but your Daddy said there was just a little hole in his box, he didn't need a new one... but I went and got the big box and threw his covers over him (Clettus) so I wouldn't have to touch him and dropped him in his new box where I assume he still is today."


Did I fail to mention that Mama isn't as easily swayed into 'possum lovin' as Daddy?

Clettus

Last week I got a text from my mom, which of course, I can't find now that I need it... it showed a cardboard box with critters in it and said "know anybody who wants a opossom? or 8?"

To which I replied, no...and who has a box of opossoms?

To which she replied, your daddy saved them... the mama got killed crossing the road.

You know, because that's the way conversations about 'possums go...since its normal to have them in a box at your house and all...

So I'd like you to meet Clettus, spelling yet to be determined if that is correct or not.

Clettus is the only remaining possum baby... Mama prefers to call him Ratatouille (and yes I had to goodsearch that to spell it correctly) since he mostly resembles the mouse from Pixar.

Daddy took the original sibling set to school one day to show Mischa's class... Mischa told her class that the Mama got run over because she didn't look both ways before crossing the road... that's the good little teacher in her.

Evidently, the classroom experience was sensory overload to 6 of the babies because they stopped eating and didn't make it.... Clettus and one other baby possum did.... until Bo Bo (whom you remember from this story) decided they'd make good squeaky toys and took the box and all into the backyard to play... to which he was punished... and then did it again for good measure the next day.... leaving only Clettus behind.

So here is Clettus getting his meal...

He's still getting the hang of that whole milk from a syringe thing... so he gets a little messy...but he's a tiny little guy, so its allowed...

And here he is, post-meal, just chillin' with Big Dave...attempting to return to a sleeping position despite the flashing in his face from my camera...

This bonding relationship is not all together unusual for our family... all animals take to Daddy and he takes to them.... and I think this next picture shows that best of all... please disregard quality as it was taken with a cell phone... I received it by text message earlier this week with the words "Lord help us" (also not uncommon when Daddy and animals are involved together)...also ignore the ginormous piece of pizza in Daddy's hand...

do you see Clettus? I think their bonding is going well!

Bo Bo's Egg Adventure

This is the story of Bo... Mama & Daddy's eeyore of a dog... who is massive, seriously, his head weighs like 30 pounds and his feet are the size of my hands... but he thinks he's a lap puppy... but I digress.

This is Bo, oh-so-casually walking around after Easter lunch at Mama's.... this is also after we had the name eggs in the pinestraw for pictures (as evidenced here)

humm....dee...dum

just taking a little walk... no one to bother... no one pay me any mind...

what's that? do I have something in my mouth? You mean something blue?

are you sure its not someone else? I mean, it could be....

well, ok, it couldn't really be someone else... but I promise to take good care of it...

its just a blue egg after all... and you did leave it sitting unattended in the pinestraw...

see how nice I buried it next to the goldfish tub? It'll be safe there....

no really... no one will ever know I took those eggs... they'll be mine and I'll keep them forever.

Yes, Eeyore not only managed to sneak in two eggs in his mouth, but he carefully dug and carefully hid them for safe keeping... the last picture is what was underneath the pile of straw he moved, in the hole he dug.

Its always the quiet ones.

How Many?

How many grown adults does it take to watch one child pick up 6 Easter Eggs???

At least TEN!

Tidbits on Tuesday

So I missed the Not Me! Monday boat... so here's my hodgepodge of thoughts for the past few days...

Saturday as you know was Peanut Proud.... it also lended itself to be another day with another story of Grandma... now I'm sure that you are thinking that I pick on her a lot... but really, these are the stories that make her who she is in our family, and I'm just preserving those moments in full glory.. so, anyway, Saturday was Peanut Proud and Mom made Zilla a costume to be in the "Cutest Little Goober" contest as part of the festivities... Mom had to be at the square pretty much all day and I was bringing Hayley down from the lake just in time for the contest and Jo's show...so we were going to have to meet up and get Hayley changed... well, Grandma woke up with "the headache" so she wasn't sure if she was going up to the Square so Mom decided to leave Hayley's outfit in the house with Grandma since its literally 1 block from the Square so we could just change her there.... so I got to Grandma's and my cousin Courtney is standing in the driveway and says "She told me not to park in the driveway because she wanted to be able to get back in... she says she's going to the Square and she knows backroads to get her there" ... no lie people, I can see the square from her driveway...its literally RIGHT... THERE... now it does have a bit of an incline coming up from her house, but its got sidewalks and its RIGHT THERE, you don't even need to squint or use binoculars to see it. We proceed to park in the driveway anyway (we listen so well) and when I try the door..its locked... the door to the house that has the costume in it and its now just 5 minutes until 1... so I call Mom.... and she's like "Good Grief! Where did she go?" to which I had to tell her the square via backroads... and so instead of us, just walking in all cool and collected and getting her dressed and to the square...we ended up with 6 adults at Grandma's house to spend a total of 2 minutes changing the child's clothes. I mean... really... this is just the way we roll.

And no, I don't know what backroads would have gotten her closer to the square and I didn't ask her because I don't think I could have done it with a straight face... seriously, its RIGHT THERE!!!

All In A Name

So as I mentioned yesterday or the day before, the nicknames for my girls (girls... I'm still getting used to the plurals!) have their own stories.... now, if you recall we have already had a revelation about nicknames as you can read all about here. But that post really has little to no bearing on my girls and their nicknames other than showing a previous family history of utilizing nicknames.

As supplemental evidence I will provide you with the childhood nicknames given to Mischa (Catfish and Moo Moo) and my own childhood nickname (Cottontop). Neither names were stretches given our Southwest Georgia raisin' .... Mischa called all cows Moo Moo and we lived on a farm so that one came pretty quick on from my grandparents (as best I recall)... when the same grandparents put in a pool when we were 4-5ish she earned her second nickname, Catfish, a name that Daddy's buddies still call her today... she could shimmy down and swim the bottom of the pool for the longest time, even when she was that little, just as one sees a catfish hug the mud of a pond... mine was simple enough, my hair was a white as cotton, and we lived on a farm, therefore, Cottontop.

But that's enough on that, let's talk about my girls and their nicknames...I was going to start with our newest nickname but then figured that wouldn't make as much sense since the new nickname is based on the philosophy of the first nickname... and all that jazz.

Anyway, here we go:

We found out we were having a girl around Easter 2008... because its no fun to already have your names picked out before you know the gender we didn't have a name ready by Easter Sunday to share with the family (that would be all three sides, both of mine and Michael's, who all eat lunch together at my Mom's house for Easter, its just what we do)... Michael, being the proverbial antagonist, decided to get creative and came up with a name on the spot...a name that was deeply seeded in his family history... it was honorary of both his great-grandmothers, and thus, befitting to be used... and he announced quite loudly (not that it would have to be all that loud since all my aunts were within 3 feet because our family also has no concept of personal space) that in honor of those great-grandmothers we would be naming our firstborn, Willie Arzilla .... silence (a whole 10 seconds or so, which is basically a record if you've ever been to a family gathering with us) ... and then Mom, creator of her own middle name, comes to the rescue... "We'll just call her Zilla, that will be cute" ... to which someone stated that sounded like Godzilla (a response we got often in the next month or so as people heard the nickname) but it was too late... the nickname was born. So the nickname continued well until Mothers Day when we announced her TRUE given name... but the nickname still stands... its used in emails and text messages and to talk about my firstborn over the phone and the like. Zilla.

Fast foward to this month and finding out our second child will be a girl... also, once again, we are nameless at this point in the game... while we're in the doctors office Michael decides that we'll tell everyone that we're naming her Maude.... to which I say absolutely not, even as a nickname, Maude is not acceptable for this child... I spent the remainder of that night and the next day with Mom... if you can't see where this is going see the above paragraph and the Middle Name story from earlier this week... she decides that since Zilla's nickname came from Michael's side, it would be necessary for baby 2 to have a nickname from our side... Hattie Mae was born in that instant of conversation, as Hattie is my mothers grandmother's name...and I know we had a great-great-aunt Mae on my dad's side.

So those are my two children's nicknames... neither of which will probably ever leave them... although Hattie Mae doesn't have quite the same roll as Zilla, so she may just get the short end of the nickname stick... if I could just figure out a given name for her before its too, too late.

family ties

Now, we've all established that my family sees a lot of each other... and not just the immediates... so as part of that a localized discussion has begun about adding an additional all-inclusive get together for the family around thanksgiving... and it goes something like this:

About 2 weeks ago, massive email letter: Everyone plan on being here at this time and date so that we all can see each other and the few of us who are sober can enjoy the time with those of us who can't be sober at family gatherings or else the insanity becomes obvious.. no I'm kidding, but we do have family that has fought out of addiction and now has to bypass other family events because there are members there who are working on getting deeper in addiction... still not nice so lets revise again... we have people who like booze and family together... and we have people who can't have booze... so we've decided to have a booze-free day so all can enjoy... and the booze free day is going to be around Thanksgiving. Now that I've spent entirely too much time on that... flash forward to this week:

I receive this email: What are your thoughts about this? Since we are going to Bigdaddy's Sat after Thanksgiving let's not get together Thanksgivng Day.
In which the following occurs: Are you insane? I am SOOO not sharing the dumplings and rice krispies! what the c--- (edited because my mom can't stand this word and I've already used my disclaimer for the week)...i cant get off the day after thanksgiving...only the biggest shopping day ever. thanksgiving day is a must. Lol....That was kinda my response too! But I didn't send anything back

So without naming names, though I completely fess up to being the one who isn't willing to share.. but basically, despite the fact that all of these responses came from the 2nd generations... and despite the fact that this calls for two family gatherings in one week, we are much to selfish with our food to share...

... and lets be honest here... the food is never good at massive get-togethers, its either cold or funky or just plain out bad... even though separately we can cook something up... so you end up going home hungry and disgruntled that your even your favorites had sucumb to the family feast mediocrity...

so I get to talking to Mama today and get the 1st generation scoop from her... and its equal hilarity

evidently, we are all the little-old-ladies-who-give-dirty-looks-and-make-the-guest-speaker-sit-elsewhere-because-they-are-in-our-pew and didn't know it!

am I really blonde after all?

So I was laying in bed... is it laying or lying? I always overthink it and end up with the wrong one.. anyway, as I was snuggling in under the covers and doing my end of day check list I got to thinking about one of my cousins that I spent some time laughing with this past weekend and realized, for the first time, that all 8 of us cousins have nicknames... and I thought, how strange that I haven't noticed this before... after all, I'm in the middle so they've been in place before and after me and the youngest of us is now 18.. so thats a minimum of 18 maximum of 29 years of nicknames that I totally didn't recognize until this very moment.


I think I may be blonde after all... but it was this stunning revelation that kept me up for a good 15 minutes as I pondered if there were other nickname family groups that I had bypassed their collective embrace of nicknames.. I mean really, if I missed this on for the past 24 years surely there are more... I even pondered getting up to ask this cousin and the aunts who are now getting hip and joining the cyberworld if this was a deliberate action or simply the result of many many many years of multiple family gatherings... we now see each other for 4 major holidays and 1 annual gathering every 12 months.... and who is responsible for the original penning of the nicknames?

So now I'm on a mission to try and figure it out.. but knowing my family as I do.. I predict that there was no deliberate nature in the nicknames and that no one can remember who called who that name first... but maybe I'll be suprised.

And now, here I am going on and on about this set of nicknames which I am sure you are now thinking must be a great collection of nicknames to be so clever as to go unnoticed as a nickname.. and I further realize that only 2 nickname currently in use isn't some derivitive of our given names... this extends to 3 if you now include my daughter... although, I do think originally there was a third... so lets run through...

April - Doodle (this one I've got to get the full story on... one of my aunts also calls her "doo" so her nickname even has a nickname.

Patrick - He used to be Little Man if I remember correctly, but now its just Pat, so he actually has evolved his nickname

Alana - Lana Gail, take a letter of the first name and add the middle, and I think this may have come from her mother, but I haven't polled around yet, because I know I hear her say that

Me - Meg, not a stretch for a nickname here, just drop the last 3 letters of the given

Mischa - Misch, also sometimes doubled up, misch-misch.. drop one letter and you're good to go.. although I can't remember how many people double the calling

Clayton - Bubba, which I think actually came from his mom and his little sister, although he also is called Clayton Britt, which is his given name, so he's another one sneaking in the double-nicks

Brett - BA is the most common, which is just taking his first and middle initial.. I think his mom also calls him brett alan (his given name again) and maybe one of the other aunts does as well...hmmm

Courtney - Court Court... I know one aunt is most common in the doubling factor but I think her mom doubles up too... this is just a dropping of the last 3, but I think most of the cousins only use one court...

So there we be.. nicknames and all.... interesting.