Hey, McFly!!

Why don't you make like a tree, and get outta here!

Whip It!

I learned the hard way that my new glass blender is one of the items that should have been stored in one of the locked kitchen cabinets. I received my new replacement glass jar for the blender today free of charge, thanks to the amazing customer service people at GE and Walmart. As I moved the blender to a new home, I swapped out a couple other items, and put them in the "safe" cabinet as they are not breakable.

One of these items was my combo bamboo cutting board with colapsable rubber strainer. Bradley immediately decided this was a fantastic new toy, and grabbing the collapsable strainer, he decided to Whip It, Devo style!

You know how much I love Amoxicillin

I bookmark and check this blog on a regular basis. I usually read it every couple of days and scan through the entries and at least one of them makes me laugh out loud. Well now I have my very own post to contribute to the "Blog" of unnecessary quotation marks.

Last week when I took Bradley to the doctor and got his first-ever antibiotic, I couldn't help but laugh upon reading the label... what does the pharmacist think I'm going to do? Take my kid to the doctor and scam them so I can take the antibiotic myself???

17 on the 7th

A few weeks belated, but these pictures were taken the night of Bradley's 17 month birthday, and Wesley's 11 month birthday. Bradley and Wesley are next door neighbors, and born 6 months to the day apart from each other, Bradley on June 7th and Wesley on December 7th.

We were all hanging out at Wes and Jess' that night and thought it would be fun to let Bradley and Wesley take a bath together. Unfortunately, as soon as B got into the tub, Wesley decided that bathtime was over for him, so we didn't get any great pictures of them together.

Bradley went to the doctor last week for a cold, and they weighed him at 26 1/2 pounds. He's still not talking a lot yet, although he does repeat words that we say, sometimes with shocking clarity, but never again to be repeated. I'm sure he's still just finding his voice, and am not worried that the only word he says with any regularity is still "hot."

The other funny thing about this age is that Bradley is obsessed with shoes- both his and mine, and he will carry them all over the house! He loves to try and put his own shoes on, and he's extremely adept in taking them off.

IDA... No!

So in my last post I alluded to the powerful Category 2 hurricane Ida coming our way. No disrespect to those who've suffered through hurricanes before, but as an avid hurricane follower since I was a wee girl in landlocked Tennessee, I've been excited at the very real possibility of experiencing my own hurricane first-hand living here in Florida. After a very quiet hurricane season, last week I thought I was finally going to get my chance. And it was perfect- Brian was home from deployment, and this was a Cat 2, coming straight for us. No catastrophic damage likely, just wind and rain. And so I waited, and I watched the Weather Channel obsessively.

I have to say that Ida was underwhelming all the way around. I didn't even make the effort to go to the beach and take pictures of the waves because the ones I saw of what others took was not worth the trouble of getting Bradley out of the house and driving the 15 minutes there. Sure, it was exciting to know Jim Cantore was a few minutes from my house broadcasting live, but it was pathetic how they positioned him behind some wavering sea oats to show the powerful "wind" in the background.

My choir rehearsal Monday night got canceled, and Brian was off work Tuesday, but otherwise Ida was a big fat NO big deal. There was wind and rain Monday night, and of course by then she was downgraded to a Tropical Storm, so I have suffered through many thunderstorms that were far worse than the conditions we experienced here. So just in case you were wondering, we're here, safe and sound, done cleaning up our hurricane damage.

BGID

Thank you Clay Travis for coining this phrase! BGID stands for "beard getting it done" and perpetuates the philosophy that men with beards are more successful than men without beards. This was Brian's 2 1/2 week old beard that he got to enjoy in all of his post-deployment time off work. Alas, this morning, the beard had to go as it was back to work for him.

We have enjoyed our time together and it's weird already not having him home this morning... especially when there's a hurricane headed directly my way! Stay tuned to your favorite blog for weather updates and pictures!

One man's treasure...

Today is Day Two of the Multi-family yard sale we're putting on. For the past 2 mornings I have gotten up at 6am, pulled on sweats, and drug out all of our treasures into the driveway. We had been cleaning out closets and Tupperware bins full of things to get rid of, and finally started to accumulate so much stuff in the give away pile that we decided to have a yard sale a few days ago. We let our neighbors know so they could contribute to the effort as well.

Here's the thing though... yard sales have never been my thing. I hate watching people go through my stuff and debating over whether it's worth a piddly dollar. The items are worth so much more to me, that I can't bear to watch them be rifled through, or worse, sold to someone else! Dislike is not a strong enough word for my feelings towards yard sales... abhor is much more fitting. So I stand outside to be supportive (because hey, we're getting rid of stuff we no longer need and are making a little extra cash to buy grass seed, and a sprinkler system for our yard) but as soon as a customer walks up, in I go to take care of some "important" need. I warned Brian about my strong feelings of disdain for these things, so he was under no false pretenses before we began this shindig. He on the other hand does great talking to people and wheeling and deealing, so have at it sweetie. I'll be in here blogging if you need me!

Apparently once the yard sale is over, we have someone on Craig's List who's offered to come haul away what we don't sell, making one man's treasure, another man's trash!

Marking the day

November 6th, 1996 is a day that I will never forget. Just 4 days after my 16th birthday, my mom took me out of school early so I could go and get my driver's license. I passed easily, and to celebrate afterwards, we went to the mall to get lunch. As I sat across the formica table from mom, sunlight pouring in through the skylights of the food court of the Cool Springs Galleria, I realized something was wrong. As I looked at mom, I knew there was something she wasn't telling me, and when I inquired she finally broke down and told me that my cousin Mark had died that morning. She didn't want to tell me earlier because she didn't want to distract me from taking my driving test. Through the shock and sadness I realized that every time I stared at my driver's license, my happy face smiling back, that the date, November 6, 1996, the date my license was issued, would always hold a much different meaning to me.

Mark was a year younger than me, and had been diagnosed with brain cancer the fall of my freshman year. If I remember correctly, the doctors gave him 6 weeks to live when he got the diagnosis. Mark proved them wrong and lived for more than a year afterwards. His illness brought our family together in a way nothing else has since, or will ever do. My entire mom's side of the family dropped what they were doing in the fall of 1995 when Mark was fist diagnosed with cancer, and we all made the trip up to Wisconsin to visit with Mark, my aunt and uncle, and the rest of my cousins. The weekend was bittersweet because we were all together, but no one knew how much time Mark would have with us.

Summer of 1996 came, and we began a legacy of annual 4th of July parties. All of mom's side of the family made the trek down to Tennessee, Mark and his family included, and we swam in the pool, ate way too much food, and set off fireworks. The parties have happened every summer since then, with the exception of one, I believe the first summer mom and dad moved into the Franklin house. Now the parties are held in Cannelton at my aunt Lisa's house, but it's still a lot of a fun, and a great excuse for everyone to get together. Had Mark never gotten sick, we probably never would have began this tradition. Something greater came of this tragedy for me personally though.

When Mark passed away 13 years ago today, I was already a Christian, but like anyone I struggled with the difficult questions about life and death. Why are we here? Why do good things happen to bad people, and how could God could be in something so sad? I reasoned then as a teenager that God must have really needed Mark for some other special purpose, a purpose that could not be fulfilled on earth.

Some people lose their faith in times of crisis, but my faith in Jesus is what got me through that experience, and facing that crisis strengthened and shaped my faith more so than any event has in my life. I could not fathom a world where life or death does not matter, and there is no afterlife, or purpose for living, and so the pain led me to Christ, and solidified my belief that He is in everything, even if we don't understand it. As I have matured in my faith, I understand that while God does have his hand in everything, He doesn't necessarily cause something to happen, but we can't know His mind or His purpose. Instead we must trust that He is in control, and that we do have a purpose. God created us to glorify Him, and by following His example set by Christ, that others may know Him, and know their purpose in life as well.

Every year on this day I think about Mark, and think about how old he would have been. But I also cling to Jesus and remember that I am not in control, and surrender my life to the one who is.

V of Nov

Today is the fifth of November.... every year on this day I think of the movie V for Vendetta. The film begins with Natalie Portman narrating this line:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason, and plot.
I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

It's based on a graphic novel, and I don't usually gravitate towards those kind of movies, but this one was incredible I thought. Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving were great in their roles, cinematically it was a very beautiful film, and I loved all the symbolism and the use of the letter V and number 5 (a V in Roman numerals).

So there's my short blog for the day in honor of National Blog Posting Month, and my plug for this film! Happy Thursday!

Recapping my 8th 21st birthday

Well it's official. I am in my last year of my twenties, and I must say, that the birthday was such a great one, that I didn't mind the number associated with it.

Sunday night Brian and I left the house to go on a date. He knows how much I love going to the movies, and it's something we rarely get to do, so the plan was to go to dinner at Chili's and then to see Zombieland.

On the way there Brian faked stomach problems and stopped at a CVS store to try and "relieve himself." In reality, he killed time walking around the store while I sat patiently (hungrily) in the car. When he came back out to the car and asked apologetically if we could go home and said that he wasn't feeling any better, I tried to be the sweet supportive wife and not be too upset that our date night was ruined. Besides the fact that I was starving, I had showered and gotten all cutsied up for nothing! My one request was that we stop and pick up something for dinner on our way home. I suggested several restaurants to Brian, but in the end he said that his mom (who was watching Bradley for us at the house) had ordered a bunch of Chinese food and that we could just eat that. That was definitely not my first choice, but I kept my mouth shut and resigned myself to an evening at home.

When we opened the door, the house was completely dark, and before I could ask where Ann and Bradley were, a group of people jumped out and yelled "Surprise!" I was totally shocked, and thought the whole set up was hilarious! You can see in my face how shocked I truly was!

This is me in my birthday tiara, opening my present from Wes, Jess, and Wesley. The card was one of those musical ones, and it occupied Bradley the next morning while we were waiting for Chef Brian to finish our french toast. I loved that everyone gave me pink gifts in pink gift bags with pink cards. Good thing I wore my signature color that night!

Here's the delicious homemade chocolate birthday cake made my Ann and Brian's aunt Brenda who was in town this past weekend.

Here's the whole group shot of everyone who was there. L to R, Wes & Jess (Wesley made an appearance, but he was already in bed at this point); Tyler & Felicia, and their baby girl Nevaeh; Ami; Birthday Girl, Bradley, & Brian; Mark; Ann; Kim & Andrew; Paul, David & Catalina. Tyler & Felicia also had 2 friends there with them from out of town, but they didn't jump in the group photo.

Later on, hanging out on our back porch, me, Kim, and Ann

The morning of my birthday, Bradley woke up at 6:30am due to daylight savings. Thankfully I pulled him in bed with us and he fell back asleep til 9am! Brian made us french toast for breakfast, and afterwards I opened the rest of my birthday presents. Bradley got me a new blender to make awesome smoothies, and Brian got me a new fuzzy pink robe, and a creative spa-day-in-a-box kit, complete with a celebrity gossip mag to read, chocolates, new slippers, bath beads and a loofah. Among other things I was very excited about the HP movie from Laura, and the boots from mom and dad.

I spent the afternoon organizing my closet and switching out my summer and fall wardrobes. The weather was sunny and mid 70's so it was truly the perfect day.

That evening, Brian and I went out for dinner (a real date this time!) to Cactus Flower Cafe, a locally owned California style Mexican restauant.

We got Bradley fed and in his jammies, and he went 2 houses down to play with Catalina and Andrew while Brian and I enjoyed our grown up dinner complete with tasty wine margaritas.

It was such a great birthday, that I don't think I'll mind turning 21 again next year!

Spooky sentiments

This was technically Bradley's 2nd Halloween, but it was his first to dress up and go trick or treating. Two thoughts crossed my mind tonight (well, two among many, but two that were "things that make you go hmmmm" thoughts anyways):

1. I never knew how much more fun Halloween could be when you have kids and get to watch them dress up and get candy.
2. It never occurred to me as being weird before to knock on strangers' doors, take free candy from them, and leave, until tonight.

This is what I like to call the Money shot of the night- Bradley in his elephant costume before going trick or treating. At the end of the night, he looked so cute in his costume that he went to bed a whole hour late because I couldn't bear to take it off him!


Here's all of us in our costumes. Brian and I are zookeepers/elephant hunters- Take your pick.

Bradley with Grandma Anna. She stayed at our house and passed out candy to all the trick or treaters.So easy, it's like giving candy to a baby... at least, I think that's the way the phrase goes...
Here's Daddy and Bradley walking up to a house to get candy. Bradley has learned how to knock, so he helped us out there. A couple of times he tried to go in the house once the door opened. I suppose he hasn't really gotten the concept of trick or treating yet! One older man answered the door and thought Bradley was a bunny. I promptly showed him Bradley's trunk and explained that he was clearly an elephant.
See our appropos tropical setting? Gotta love Florida. It was cool tonight- in the 50s- so it felt like fall, but it wasn't bitterly cold the way I remember some TN Halloweens being.
The whole time we were trick or treating it never occured to Bradley that the loot he was gathering was actually edible. He picked out the candy and dropped it in his bucket never bothering to pay attention to what it was, so I opened up a package of mini m&ms for him once we got home. Here's Bradley with all his candy, and his pumpkin with his name on it, thanks to Grandma & Grandpa B. After the m&ms, he had a whole Reeces cup, a dum dum sucker, and some Smarties. Ann and I both heard Bradley say "smartie" clear as day after I gave him the first one, but he wouldn't say it again. It was so plain that our mouths dropped as we looked at each other!
We Skyped with mom and dad so they could see Bradley in his costume, and I know that made their night. At that point he was eating the Reece cup and "sharing" his sucker with Grandma, holding the dum dum up to the computer screen.

Finally, the Halloween aftermath- with chocolate smeared all over his face, trunk, and sleeve! As soon as he dropped that sucker on the floor and wasn't paying attention, into the trashcan it went! That didn't stop B from peering into the trashcan every now and then though. He's no dum dum! We had so much fun going through the neighborhood that I can't wait til next year when he can go even longer!

Happy Halloweenie!

Happy Halloweenie, everyone! It's a cool 62 degrees here today, so I guess Fall has decided to grace us with her presence for Halloween. We carved our pumpkin last night with Kim and her munchkins, and are taking Bradley out trick or treating tonight for the first time.

This first picture was for you, Lu!

Here's me, carving our pumpkin- what would eventually turn out to be a ghost saying "Boo"
Our friendly neighborhood pumpkin carving event (only 2 of the 4 kids shown are actually Kim's!)

Behind Bars

The finished pumpkins

all lit up
Kim, Andrew, Catalina, me, and Bradley

Ok Grandma B, this is proof that I let Bradley have some of the candy you sent him!

Last but not least, this is a video I like to call, Trick or treat smell my feet. It will make you smile, I promise!

Calendar Calamities

Random bit of complaining for the day: It stinks having a birthday at the beginning of the month. Why, you ask? Because I have no chance to write my birthday on a calendar or in my planner, and get to look forward to seeing that date in ink for a month. Instead, I have to wait until November rolls around, wipe clean my magnetic dry erase calendar on the fridge, flip to the new page in my desk planner, and see my birthday taunting me in the past-tense for the other 28 days of the month. Not fair. And this year I can't even "cheat" and go ahead and mark my birthday on my current October calendar because the month goes all the way through Saturday, so there are no "open" days at the end of the month to fill in. Boo.

Can you hear me now?

We knew that it was only a matter of time before Bradley picked up the art of talking on a cell phone! Wonder where he would learn such a thing with two parents blessed with the gift of gab?

A few days ago I noticed Bradley picking up "his" cell phone (an old one of Brian's), flipping it open, and holding it to his ear. Now he's also adding some talking with the gesture- you can watch the video for yourself, but it sounds very much like he's saying "hi." It cracks me up every time he does it.

Home sweet home

As of Wednesday night at 5:29pm Brian is home from Afghanistan!!!

Here's Bradley waiting for daddy in the airport, waving his flag! His t-shirt says "Welcome home daddy"

Holding up our sign, waiting for Brian's plane to arrive






The Vilendrers reunited after 3 long months

We had everyone in the airport crying at our reunion! Bradley and Brian bonded instantly. There was no question that Bradley knew exactly who his daddy was. We are so thankful to have Brian back home, and he has wasted no time making a trip to Lowe's and starting several home improvement projects already. He even fixed the icemaker that I had left broken months ago.

After picking him up from the airport, for his welcome home dinner Brian chose Buffalo Wild Wings, so that's what we did, then called it an early night. Tonight we'll grill out and have a few people over to celebrate.

Thank you to everyone who helped us out through this first deployment; for anyone who mailed Brian packages, to Ann for helping me out every week babysitting Bradley so I could go to choir practice, to Kim and Jess for making sure I got out of the house daily, to mom and dad for taking such good care of us on visits and giving me a break, and the biggest thanks goes for everyone who prayed for us. Now we will continue to pray for our other friends who are still deployed that they make it home safe and sound. God is good, all the time.

So you will remember your first deployment

Dear Bradley,

You are too little to remember this first deployment, but since the end of July, when you were 13 months old, your dad has been in Afghanistan. He went there to do his job defending our nation's ideals that people should be free to live their own lives without fear. He went to help the good guys fight the bad men who are terrorizing and hurting their own people. It was a huge sacrifice on your part to let your dad go away for such a long time while he helped those other people, so thank you for understanding.

Your mom was very sad at first, but you made her happy, and helped her get through the days. From the moment you got up with your smiling face til you went down to bed at night you reminded her that she still had a job to do, even though it was just the two of you for a while.

In the 3 months your dad has been gone you have changed so much! No longer a baby, you are truly a little boy now, walking everywhere, and wearing shoes. You have learned how to point to your body parts, climb off the couch by yourself (much to mommy's chagrin), and do the "touchdown" sign. You have cycled through so many "new" favorite books, and stopped nursing altogether while adding many new favorite foods to your repertoire. You've abandoned most of your other toys in favor of any kind of ball you can get your hands on, and when you do, you throw it with all your might! Mommy has been teaching you how to kick the ball, and roll it on the ground, and you're starting to understand the concept of "catch." You went from taking two naps a day to one, and finally added your third official word to your vocabulary: hot. As in, No Bradley, that food is hot, you have to wait. And then you will knowingly say the word "hot" as you act like you have touched something warm and pull your hand away.

Mommy has kept you (and herself) busy trying lots of new things these past few months. You have experienced your first train ride (at the FL zoo with mom and Grandma Anna), your first black eye (falling off the couch when mommy wasn't watching you), your first time riding a carousel (at the Nashville zoo with mom), and your first time on a boat (the ferry in New Orleans), and been kicked out of a preschool library story time. You went to 2 Ravenwood high school football games, travelled to see Ari & Conley in New Orleans, Rhonda & Joe in Panama City, and Grandma & Grandpa B, and aunt Laura and uncle George in Tennessee twice. The first 2 months you went to the beach a lot, but now it is too cold. We took you to a special doctor back in August who gave us great news that you were perfectly okay, and you've had a couple of colds, but otherwise been totally healthy. It has been a quiet hurricane season, so we haven't had to worry about the weather while daddy was away.

Monday nights Grandma Anna has come to eat dinner with us, and play with you and put you to bed so mommy could go to choir practice in Pensacola. You love chasing Max around and touching his tongue that perpetually sticks out! On Wednesday nights you have been a trouper staying in the church nursery till 9 o'clock when mom gets out of church choir rehearsal. Three times a week you get a stroller ride in the park while mama and Miss Jessica and Miss Kim go running. Some nights you are cranky and we have to sing to you. Most nights you are content to ride along, and more than once you have thrown your sippy cup or pacifier down on the ground, leaving mommy to chase after it. Other regular activities are our weekly Kindermusik classes, and the moms' coffees where you get to play with lots of other kids your age.

The few times we have been able to video chat with daddy, your face lights up when you see him. You show off for him by giving high fives, blowing kisses, and giving mommy hugs; all new tricks you've mastered since he's been gone. I can't wait to watch your face when you spot your daddy coming towards us in that airport very soon. In the scheme of things 3 months is not that long of a time, but for a little one like you, you are growing and changing every day. I love you so much, and thank you for being such a good boy, and making this easy on mommy.

Love, mom

Retail rant

Recently my world has been turned upside down, and I am striving to find ways to cope with the difficulties this problem brings. I literally don't know which way to turn some days, and finding my path is near-impossible. A once-menial task is now an overwhelming chore, and my patience is wearing thin. What has taken the sparkle out of this DIVA? Yes, you guessed it. Our neighborhood Walmart is remodeling!!

(Seriously people, what did you think I was talking about??)

For weeks now, our Walmart has been renovating. After one week in Tennessee back in August I returned ye olde trusty walmart, and immediately noticed something was different. (Warning flags should be popping up for anyone who knows me well, because I am about the least observant person on the planet!) As I stared at the produce wall, I realized it had been repainted a bright obnoxious yellow. This just proves that I spend way too much time in this store.

Well the painting was just beginning. Now they're redoing the grocery aisles, and you'd be hard pressed to find a quicker form of torture for shoppers out there, I'd wager. Nothing is where it used to be, and some items have disappeared completely (Kim complained that Walmart supposedly isn't going to be carrying kids' tv dinners anymore. I told her maybe this was God's way of telling her she shouldn't be feeding her kids tv dinners). Even the items you know are there, have gone into hiding, and no one, not even the Walmart employees, knows where they have gone. Case in point, the special Halloween Count Chocula cereal that I know I saw on an end cap just a few days ago? Vanished. I spent more than enough time going up and down aisles with Bradley today on a hunt for the breakfast specialty item, but when B's snacks were running low in his cup, I gave up my quest and headed to the cash registers. At least those haven't moved.

But of course not. The evil conspirators of Walmart want you to know where to pay for your items, but not how to get in and out quickly. The way they've arranged the store now leads you through a wild goose chase of both parallel and perpendicular aisles, so that you are forced to weave through the maze of merchandise, and undoubtedly spend more time in the store, and find more things you forgot you needed until you saw them.

Oh Walmart, how I loathe thee!

First 5K

This morning was my first ever 5K, and I accomplished my goal- to run the entire race without stopping! My friends/neighbors Kim and Jessica and I ran it together, and we even had our own jody to sing as we ran:

Everywhere we go

people wanna know

who we are

so we tell them

we are the mamas

the hot hot mamas

That was Jess' idea, but you know me, I love anything cheesy and attention-getting! We don't have the official results, but I know we all three finished in under 35 minutes. Not bad for girls who were running 5 minute intervals just 2 months ago!! Kim could have run circles around us but she stayed with us til the end when she sprinted ahead, and Jess actually won first place for her age group after spinning for 3 hours last night for a benefit for a cancer patient!! These are 2 amazing women, and I'm so thankful to have them in my life. They are great motivators, running partners, and friends.

Livid with the Library

Apparently our libraries don't want small children to enjoy books. Apparently we want to delay them being read to as long as possible, like perhaps until they reach school age. That's the message the Santa Rosa County Library is sending me, anyways.

I have been waiting for the weekly story time to start back up so I could take Bradley. Our library system does story time in Navarre on Tuedays, and Gulf Breeze on Thursdays, and we live in between the 2 libraries, so I opted for the Thursday one today. I tried to take Bradley back in the summertime, but when I showed up I was informed that they were done for the summer and that it would resume in the fall. I went some time after Brian had left, so August, and it just now started back this week, October. There had been no information on the library's website that they were done for the summer, so I was a little disappointed when we made the special trip over there only to find out it wasn't happening, but no big deal right? Since then I have diligently been checking the website ever since to find out when it would be starting back up.

You can imagine my shock when, after the nice librarian asked the children to follow her away from the library's kid section, and down a hall into a meeting room where they were to sit on a brightly colored carpet, I was informed that parents were not allowed in the room. Parents are a distraction to the kids, she told me. So a little hesitantly, I sat Bradley down on the carpet and started to leave the room, reasoning that I could watch from the window outside the door, and make sure Bradley was okay. As I started to leave however, the sweet librarian asked me an obvious question. Is he 3? Well no, he's not. I'm sorry, she said every bit as sweetly, preschool story time is only for 3-5 year olds. I asked about sitting in the back of the room with Bradley and again was shot down. He loves books, I pleaded with her. We made a special trip out here for this, I said, but there was nothing to be done. I was steaming mad. I was being told that I could not bring my child into a public library and listen to someone read a story? Isn't that against some law or something for discrimination in a goverment funded building and program??

Upon speaking with the library's manager, I was told again that story time was just for 3-5 year olds. And there is no "toddler" story time. And in the state of Florida, 4 year olds go to pre-K, and 5 year olds are in kindergarten. Since the story time is not held during the summer, why do you have a program for kids, most of whom are in school at this time, I asked her. The manager informed me that they take the month of July off- which is a lie, because I went in August and have been checking the calendar ever since, but I couldn't think quick enough to make this argument. I still questioned why I was not allowed to bring my son into that room and sit with him, and got no answer I was satisfied with, other than that's how the programming was set up by the main children's librarian. Thanks for nothing, I said as I left in a huff. I know. Not the nicest way to handle it, but come on, this is America for goodness sakes! Every parenting magazine or child-rearing website you see will suggest taking your kids to story time at your local library! I wasn't showing up with my newborn and a pacifier in some lame attempt to get out of the house. I was genuinely trying to encourage my child to grow up learning to love books.

My next stop is to email the children's librarian and find out what can be done about this. There's also a library advisory board meeting that's coming up that is open to the public. I am not going down without a fight.

Surprise trip!

Never one to make spur of the moment plans, I surprised myself even, when Laura called me on Thursday and suggested I come up to Tennessee for the weekend and surprise my parents.  Planned spontaneity is more how I roll, but upon quickly realizing that this would be my best shot at visiting again before Brian gets back, I jumped at the opportunity to pull off the greatest shock ever for Grandma & Grandpa B.  Due to a slight snag with a late afternoon meeting that my sister had to persuade my parents to bump up so they'd be home, mom and dad weren't completely taken by our showing up on their doorstep, but that didn't stop them

 from meeting us in the driveway with smiles and tears on Friday afternoon.  It was a great feeling to make their day by showing up unannounced.

Friday night we dined at Blue Coast burrito and then headed to RHS for some Ravenwood football.  Here are three of the Raptors' biggest fans!

Bradley was sure interested in Grandpa B's cheeseburger, and had to sample the football fare himself.

Cheering for the Raptors

Bundled up baby:  Bradley didn't even make it to halftime!  Guess he was all tuckered out from the driving.  PS, in keeping with the theme of crappy football seasons, RHS lost Friday night to Franklin.  :(

Saturday the gorgeous fall weather (yes, you read correctly- I used those two words in the same sentence, Mary Anna) lent itself well to a trip to Gentry's Pumpkin Farm in Franklin.  It hearkened back to the days when me and the girls came out here, and posed behind corn stalks for one of my favorite friends-pictures ever.  I was disappointed that there were no sunflowers for picking this time, but I was shocked (in a good way) to see how much cheaper it was to purchase pumpkins here, from the source, rather than the grocery store!  Finally, it pays to buy locally and think globally!    

Bradley enjoyed Gentry's because anything bright and round is a ball to him right now, and therefore the object of his fascination.  We picked out a nice pumpkin to take home to Florida with us, and Laura found several things to decorate her new place.  

Pa-in-law with Son-in-law, relaxing Saturday night

Bradley helps uncle George on the computer.  (Today he deleted several of dad's emails... you have to watch him near keyboards these days!)

Sunday after church we went out to Laura & George's new place in Spring Hill.  We had chili and rotel while we watched the Titans lose (again) and then we helped Laura unpack and organize some of the residual boxes leftover from the move.  I love projects like that, and tackled her kitchen cabinets with glee, rearranging as I saw fit.

Bradley and Julius are seen here examining the doggie door together.

We've had a great weekend (minus all the football) and I am so glad I took Laura's advice and came up when I did.  The next time I'll be up, Brian will be with me, and we'll all be eating turkey.

Until then, au revoire fall!  It's back to 80 degree sunny fall days for me!

Oh (and) four crying out loud!

What the heck is going on?  My beloved Titans are 0-4.  Can this really be the same team who had the best record in the NFL last year?  And coming up, we've got Peyton Manning and the Colts, and then the Patriots after that.  I fear we might very well be this year's Detroit Lions.

To add insult to injury, My Kentucky Wildcats have yet to get an SEC win, and UT can't doesn't seem to be any better than they were last season, even with their new hotshot coach.  Add to that the fact that Brian is deployed so I've been watching a lot of games by myself, and you have one depressing football season thus far!