Little Cabin in the Woods...

Little Cabin in the woods
Has all the things that a little cabin should
Stove and oven and washer/dryer, too
BUT NO Internet for me to stay in touch with you!


On another exciting note:

Hughes is officially one year old!




The next time I get to a computer, I will update with pictures from his birthday party!

Summer Reading

As most of you know, I am very passionate about reading. Being a kindergarten and first grade teacher, I have come to understand the importance of reading. My new summer goal is to read one book each week. It is very important for our children to see us read and more importantly…ENJOY reading!
Now, for me this is a true feat. Usually, in my free time I run to the computer to search anything. For example, these are just the things I searched today: Oil Spill (and how it will affect our planned vaca mid July), other possible vaca areas in close proximity (since we will be traveling with children), swimsuits for 2010 (and more importantly ones that are appropriate for chasing a one year old around without jiggly parts, that aren’t supposed to jiggle, jiggling…Muumuu anyone?), msn homepage, and what brought me to this blog, summer reading list for 2010.

So my new goal will include the following:

1. I will begin each Sunday. (However, this week it will begin this Tuesday.)

2. I will blog about each read.

3. I will do my best to read over many different genres.

That’s about it.

Anyone have any light reads that would be a good start?

Ice Cream and Cake and Cake...

Ice Cream and Cake and Cake. Ice Cream and Cake and Cake. Ice Cream and Cake do the Ice Cream and Cake. Ice Cream and Cake do the Ice Cream and Cake...Now slip slip slip slide. Slip Slip Slip Slide! This Song is the theme for this month! Just listen to all of the special birthdays this month!

*Kent
*Rodney aka Big Daddy
*Estella
*Brandy
*Hughes
*Ethlyn aka Ma'Lyn
*Sammy aka Papa Sam
*Jane

June is filled with a month of Birthdays...hence the new background...and the reason that I cannot update my fonts or view the actual picture while editing posts...instead it looks like this...

href="heep...bleep dontknow how to update this.jpegis the cutebackgroundworth thestresss whileiamtryingtoeditandupdatetheblog///ithinknot//wemay gobacktothe oldschooltemplatetosave mesome frustrations...be with us all.amen

So, here are photos from Saturday! More pictures to come from Sunday at Ma'Lyn and Big Daddy's House to celebrate Kent and Rodney's Birthday! They have the same birthday! Isn't that awesome? More birthday pictures to come! Happy Birthday Month! Enjoy the pictures!

First "Credit Card"

Mrs. Cathy, my babysitter/family/friend, kept Brad, Ben and I when we were small. We always did fun things with her and the other children at her house. She was my form of daycare. However, she offered me or my mom for that matter, waaaaaaaayyy more than any daycare could have offered. I was just reading on Pioneer Woman’s blog: 20 interesting facts about the Titanic. And it brought thoughts of childhood swirling around me. Especially the times Cathy would take us to our monthly outings at the library.

I know now that the idea of the LIBRARY may seem old school or foreign, but I really think we should bring back the importance and fun of a library to our children.

Anyway, when I got to go to the Ann Smith Library in my hometown, I skipped right past the children’s books and headed toward the back wall in the “big people” books and headed for my favorite book.

I remember it weighing about 20 pounds and most importantly, the pictures were HUGE! (I am a visual learner…what can I say?) The book was all about the Titanic. The date it sank was one day after my birthday, April 14th. And being as bad with remembering dates then as I am now, that was a date I could certainly remember.

Something else that brought interest to the Titanic was the beautiful atmosphere on the ship. Have you ever really looked at photographs of the interior of the Titanic? Well, if not, you should. The details and intricacies are absolutely amazing. And if you know me at all, you know that I LOVE over the top things. Now, I am not saying that I necessarily want our home adorned with gold plated mirrors, the finest china, marble swirling staircases that seem that if you made it to the top you would be knocking on the pearly gates, BUT I do love admiring beautiful things.

The gold plated mirrors sparked a thought…about the Palace of Versaille… when I stood outside the doors and DIDN’T go inside. A crime. I know. A story for later. More importantly a trip to be planned for later. Okay, I digress, back to the library story.

Cathy would let us all check out one book. One book only. This happened only after the very important ordeal of me getting my FIRST credit card. (Or that is how I perceived it…fanciful mind…what can I say?) I would get to hand over my Ann E. Smith “Credit Card” and check out ANYTHING I want.
(This transaction was the first of many…and probably the only SAFE transaction I will ever make with a “credit card”.)

I chose to check out the Titanic book. I remember getting home to Cathy’s house sitting on her navy and white floral sofa in front of the wall of bookshelves (that housed the best movies…and when I say movies I mean musicals…and cross stitching materials) and turned the pages ever so slowly looking filling my mind with every detail of the Titanic. I truly believed in my mind that one day I would design/live in something so beautiful. Isn’t that the beauty of a child’s mind? Anything is possible.

Many families and people were affected by this tragic event and their story will be told for many years to come.



After Cathy saw my little spark of passion for the Titanic, she brought out the big guns. The Unsinkable Molly Brown. I know many, okay let’s be honest, NONE of you have probably ever seen this movie. But, you should. And that is all I have to say about the matter. I have it at home, if you would like to check it out of my library.
Warning: If you have no flare for music, glitz, story of rags to riches, and old production, this movie will not have a place in your heart.

Needless to say, the Titanic and all of the doom and glory along with the amazing ship, hold a special place in my heart.

Is there a book you checked out of the library that sparked a special passion for you?
Or am I the only goof ball on the planet…
surely not…
but, probably so.
Until next time.
B

Freewrite

I loved these days. Mrs. Collins, would write the topic for our daily journal on the chalkboard every morning. My favorite days were Topic: Freewrite days. Her instructions were, “Write anything you want, anything that comes to your mind. If nothing comes to your mind write “I can’t think of anything to write” until you think of something to write about. Just write something. Remember, grammar doesn't matter when journaling. Don't think, just write. Now, I better not catch you sitting here for the next ten minutes looking around the room. All you have to do is write. GO!” So usually, I, being the A student I was, would start off something like this:

I can’t think of anything to say. I really don’t want to be writing right now because I can’t think of anything to write about. I wish this ten minutes would hurry up and pass because I cannot think of anything to write. I STILL can’t think of anything to write about, but she told me to write, therefore I am writing. Still writing

Impressive. I know. But then around the 8 ½ minute mark SOMETHING would finally come to my mind and the journal would actually get interesting. Wouldn’t you know Mrs. Collins would then say, “Time’s up. You can stop writing now. Let’s get started on our term paper.” Man. Why didn’t I enjoy what I had? I had MUCH rather write a freewrite as opposed to a stinkin’ term paper. But the task was over and we had to move on.

So, in honor of Christi Collins and Kim Haynes, the great English and AP English teachers of Baldwyn High, I am contributing this Freewrite Blog to them. Great teachers who taught me many things. (However, let’s hope they don’t read this blog often to find the run on sentences and jumbled up tenses…I never was great at staying in the same tense…present one minute, past the next…)

Here are the rules: I will set a timer for 5 minutes only. I will type until the buzzer goes off. Typing only things that come to my mind. I challenge you to try this activity. But if I was the betting type, which I am not, I would put an extra dollar that you end up freewrite typing or writing LOTS over 5 minutes. Here goes nothing. 10:37 p.m. Ready….Steady….GO!

The clock just ticked over to 10:37…let’s see 5 minutes from now what time does that mean I will have to start. I should have calculated that before I started this silly little task. However, today has been an eventful day, and a silly little task will help me to get worries off of my mind. 7 plus 5 more equals 12 which means I have to carry the 1 to the tens place and the time that I end this activity will be 42. Okay 10:42 is when I will stop typing. However, I can already feel it in my fingertips that I am not going to want to stop. I need to get a birthday present for Baby Estella tomorrow. 18-24 months. I would love to get her a little bow too. For her hair. I wish Hughes had more hair. But he is a boy and I guess it is okay. At least he isn’t a girl. I am very upset that the lady is backing out of the house contract. We were supposed to sign the contract tomorrow and our house would be SOLD. But instead we are SOL because she EMAILED us today that she isn’t going to sign. Great. Now we have emptied our home. The home that Kent proposed to me in. The home that we brought our son home to for the first time. The home…

It is 10:42! Stop. See. This was therapeutic for me. I could have kept on typing. But I said I would stop and I did. I challenge you to do the same. It is good for ya. Consider it a little cleaning out of the cobwebs in your mind.

Tune just came to mind…

FREE ya mind...(music music music)

the rest will follow...(music music music)

Don’t be so blind...(music music music)

You know you are singing along…

If you are still even reading along…

Enjoy your weekend!

Love

B

no pictures...just freewrite...scroll down for pictures

Stud Muffin

Papa Sam and Hughes got the 'big rig' rolling this past weekend! Do you see the smile on this boy's face?

...and I'm not talking about Hughes!

What a great moment!

More smiles and giggles...

...more grins and goos

...a bit of tongue hanging out of his mouth...Hughes truly gets this trait from Papa Sam!
Hughes was working hard at Big Daddy and Ma'Lyn's house!

Ma'Lyn made these shorts for Hughes and they are ADORABLE!

Then Hughes decided to take his shirt off!...

...what a stud muffin!

He was picking out the dirt pinch by pinch and placing it on the deck!

Once again...

toil on, son, toil on!

Picture Update

Our little family has been super busy and there is sooo much to blog about that it overwhelms me, therefore I will blog with pictures. Enjoy! Hughes played in the water feature at Renaissance today! It took him a while to figure it out, but he enjoyed the sparatic water squirts once he warmed up! Speaking of warmed up...It's hot. I mean hot. Kent and I were sweating just standing outside.

Side Note: You know it's hot outside when you get in your car at the end of the day and it reminds you of the one time you got a facial and they steamed your face, and you could feel your nose pores start to open up! Ahhh...nothing like sitting at the wheel of your car, punching the auto air button fast and furious, while you feel the diameter's of your pores open! Believe me, I know this is a grose, sickening, visual...that none of you really wanted to know. But I NEEDED to share this profound observation. Thanks for letting me share:)

Jack and Hughes had a great time in Jack's Red Flyer at the Grooves and Blues festival at the Township. This is a preview of Hughes later in life. Jack will get his first vehicle before Hughes ... and Hughes will be blowing up Jack's cell phone (or whatever our children will use to communicate in 16 years) to come pick him up so he doesn't have to ride with his embarressing mom anymore! :)

Hughes pimpin' his new hat.

Hughes playing at the fountain Sunday afternoon after a good nappy nap!

This was Mother's Day weekend at Grandmother's house. (You know, the one with the jars of pickles where one jar = one bar of pure gold.) She and Granddaddy planted a whole row of cucumbers in their garden so that I can come and learn how to jar pickles...her way...the only way...when they are ready!

This was about 8:00 at night and I heard Mama and Ben snickering in the kitchen. "I wonder what they are doing?" This is the picture I found. Ben was sneaking Hughes his very first cupcake. Hughes loved it! Aaaaahhh HA! so THAT'S why he loves Uncle Ben sooo much!

The daycare had a Mother's Day tea to kick the weekend off. Hughes was walking all over the place! He is so proud of his new walk!

Here we all are with Mama Jean in front of her blooming Mother's Day tree. The tree actually does have a name, but I don't know what it is. All I know is, it blooms every Mother's Day! So, we thought it was appropriate to pose for a photo op in front of the Mother's Day tree!

Hughes was outside one afternoon "working" on his stroller after our little walk around the neightborhood!

Dirty little mouth

In the Dirty South

Dirty little boy

Working on his toys

Dirty little hands

Dirty little feet

....but boy is he so stinkin' sweet!