timhntty part three

This boy!

This sweet, funny, loving, complicated, yummy second-grader?

Well.  He's back in public school!

He is loving it and doing GREAT!

(and I'm out of a job!)




Happy Friday :)

the (very green) greenway

Elijah and I have started taking a daily constitutional on our local hiking/biking trail.

It meanders around the city for miles & miles... and miles.

Sometimes he's really excited about it and sometimes he throws a fit and proceeds to share in a loud voice how exhausting it is to be seven.

I've been known to ignore said bellyaching and drag him along in his jammies.

I'm not known around these parts as Aunt Meanie for nothing, ya know.

These pictures were all taken during a 30-minute stretch along the trail last week.

Country living in the middle of the city.

Pretty terrific :)

Happy Wednesday!

doin' hard time

Happy Wednesday ;)

frank who?

 
Yesterday was as beautiful as a September day can be, so Elijah and I suited up and headed out the door.


And by suited up I mean I found my comfortable walking-around sandals and he grabbed a juice box on our way out the door.  


Peyton is running low on Naynay's food, so I was hoping to find some goodies at the Farmer's Market downtown and we wanted to get an early-ish start.  Unfortunately we're creeping toward late in the season so the options for the baby were limited, but we found a few goodies that made it worth the trip. 


Which is a silly thing to say because frankly the trip itself was worth the trip.  It was crystal clear with a cool breeze and  the second grader was in good humor.  (Score!)  We wandered in and out of a few fun shops with his hands jammed in his pockets in order to prevent calamity involving broken glass.  All of the shop owners went on and on about all the adorable he was being and I could see him soaking it up.  I fear for our future tomorrow...Little Man is probably convinced he's all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips now, and I will have the unpleasant task of knocking him down a peg or two post haste.


Anyway, after a bit of wandering we dropped in on Teal at On the Rise and had some always-wonderful pizza.  Elijah looked at his piece with the tomatoes sliced on top and announced it looked...different. 

Then he took a bite and was in all kinds of love.  After a few bites he told me - and I quote - "This is kinda almost better than Frank's!"  

(You might recall that we heart Frank's with abandon, Elijah and I, so this was high praise.)  

A few minutes later he reflected a bit more and decided he liked this pizza first and Frank's second...and then as we were clearing off the table he proclaimed he didn't want "anymore pizza at home," ha!  

Apparently I have now ruined him for Domino's and what-have-you, now that he's enjoyed the good stuff.  

Unfortunately, after finishing up at the Market the fun factor plummeted.  

It wasn't E's fault, mind you.  

He was long-suffering and patient and well-behaved through the whole ordeal, but shifting from the glorious that is wandering around outside/downtown to schlepping through Walmart to buy Loreal Preference and razor blades and Listerine is inevitably a letdown I don't care who ya are.


So I bought him candy and walked really fast.


I must say, though, 
so far I'm finding the impending fall season - as usual - vastly to my liking :)



Happy Tuesday!

on Bible study and bunheads

So I'm embarrassed to admit that I forgot to blog today.  

For reals, I forgot, like,  to blog.

(Apparently the young people of America say "for reals."  Word is it's cool.)

(I"m just trying it on for size.)

(I don't think it fits...)

Anway, I might have forgotten to blog but I had a really good excuse.  I was busy educating America's youth AND finding us new Bible studies.  I don't care who you are or what you're doing, you can never argue with a sincere Bible study pursuit.

And we were successful!  I picked up Kelly Minter's Nehemiah and I can't wait to dig in.  In fact, as soon as I spell check this exercise in blather I'm heading to the porch with my Bible, my Snapple peach tea, and said study.  I"m especially excited because I have always had a particularly special love for Nehemiah...I'm hoping to learn a thing or two from his example of empathy and service and wonderfulness.  

I also picked up The Beginner's Bible for Elijah.  He's pretty excited.  I'm thinking excited is a good start, and good starts are well, good places to start.

Also in completely nonrelated news, I've been enjoying my new DVR.  My enjoyment morphed into UTTER DELIGHT this morning as I watched the first episode of Bunheads.  That crazy-creative-and-probably-really-smart Amy Sheridan-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, anyone?) writes some of the fun-nest dialogue in the history of ever.  Of course I've only watched one-half of one episode.  I'll keep you posted - but Paradise is already starting to fill that Stars Hollow-shaped void I've been coping with for the last few years.  Bunheads.  I'm just saying.

Gotta run - Nehemiah isn't gonna wait all day.  Well, I guess he might, but, you know...

Happy Wednesday!

...I love you too, buddy

Happy Wednesday ;)

hard questions and benches in the shade

Friday afternoon Elijah and I hopped in the car with his mama/my sister and headed for the far away land of Bedford.

(True story:  I can't say Bedford without thinking of George Bailey.)

We had a thoroughly tasty lunch at the local Ruby Tuesday's and then headed over to the National D-Day Memorial.  

Photo by Robin

I'm not going to tell you how long I've been meaning to get over there without actually getting over there.  To tell you would bring me great (public) shame.  

I think I'd prefer to keep my procrastinatory failures a touch more private.


Sigh.


Whatever.  

It might have taken me a year or six to get there but I can tell you right now it won't take me that long to go back.  We walked through without a "guide" and it was great, but I'm thinking I would like to do it again and let them answer some of our million questions (see below).

Regarding the below evidence picture, I might or might not have crossed a line jumped a rope to get up close and personal.  I don't really want to say.  

Photo by Robin

(And I might or might not have taken Little Man with me.)

(Does it help that we were very careful not to touch?)


(I'm pretty sure that it does.)

We weren't sure how much Elijah would actually understand, and it would be a gross understatement to say he had a few questions.

Homeboy had a zillion questions.

The questions started before we got out of the car and didn't stop until we had paid for our fountain sodas in the market after leaving.

And when I say they didn't stop I mean they didn't stop EVER. 

I have no idea how much he retained or fully understood, but he was certainly fascinated by pretty much everything, and I think the whole day made an impression on him.  


The questions can sometimes feel a little wearying, but walking through the memorial and seeing it through the eyes of a child made it all seem new to me too.


And a fresh revisiting of history is a very healthy thing.

 

(A Thousand Gifts #1177-1189)

young men who slept in ditches and died in foxholes so we can breathe free

breezy Fridays full of sun and benches in the shade

kind waitresses who like little boys 

mini road trips filled with sister talk and fountain drinks

rainy sundays and eating leftovers and precious friends

watching him giggle and watching them love him

tiny gardens and hard questions

generous people making sacrifices to create a place of beauty and honor

Happy Monday!

p.s.  Happy Birthday Drew!!  I love ya :)

regarding fingers and arithmetic, and other miscelleny

For the last two days I've heard about 200 times "I don't have enough fingers!!"

I'm not at all sure I'm fit for teaching first grade.  Is it normal to spend two days teaching a child to add with their fingers?  I'm desperate and pulling out the academic big guns.  

Also?  Apparently his other teacher did it differently.  It seems there are different ways to add with your fingers.

I'm pretty sure my method is superior to the college-educated, teacher-degree'd of this world.

Right?

(right?)

In other news, we are making bread.  I scrapped the sour dough aspirations and went with straight whole-grain honey wheat.  I'm feeling optimistic about it coming out borderline normal.

Unfortunately that means it'll likely be all whole-grainy and is that what we really want?  All I know is I'm tired of eating eggs without toast because I can't bear to eat my beloved extra-soft, white bread because it's full of all manner of terrible, and yet I'm not a fan of the healthy bread at the local Kroger.

I'm hopeful that making it with love will somehow make it more edible.

Hi.  My name is optimism and I'm often wrong.

* * *

(insert clever segue here)

One more Elijah funny & we'll call it a day and perhaps have a nap or a  snack.

(or maybe a shower.)

I made myself a smoothie for lunch and E was intrigued.  I told him he could have  a taste and then I would share if he wanted some of his own.  He tasted it and acted all pleased & excited, so I assumed he wanted some.  However, when I asked if he wanted a straw and he said, "No thanks; I'm cutting down on my sugar right now."

I can't make this stuff up.  

I suspect his mama has polite strategies to get out of unwanted scenarios down to a T, which she has passed down to the next generation.

Whatever.  Don't tell but I didn't want to share anyway.

Happy Tuesday!

i'm with alexander; australia sounds pretty good about now

Don't let that smile fool ya

Elijah and I had a little sleepover last night because his mommy and dad have some very hard transitions taking place with Grandma.  I don't know if he picked up on all the stressful sad yesterday or if he was just having one of his off days, but no matter. 

Monday was officially one of those Dude, seriously! kind of days. 


Bless his sweet little heart. 

In spite of the tumultuous day, he eventually settled right down for the night, and all it took to tip the scale toward peaceful sleepytown was one episode of Leave it to Beaver and a couple of enthusiastic readings of "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."


It only seemed right.

Heaven only knows what today will bring, so I leave you with a couple of pictures from our lunch with Memaw last week.  


There were fries and Frostys. 

And delightful moods all around. 





  
Happy Tuesday ;)

Have y'all heard? Elijah's seven!

We celebrated by declaring it a No Pencils Day and heading out for some fun.  

First, he opted to spend quite a chunk of time at Pet Smart doing things like tapping on the aquariums and watching the fish scatter and lobbying for a mouse...or hamster...or guinea pig...or parakeet....or Heaven help me, a chinchilla.

I narrowly escaped with my common sense intact.  It's a lot harder to shoot down a birthday boy lobbying for a "classroom pet" than you might think.  

A lot harder.  

I was able to distract him with the promise of a tasty lunch at the location of his choosing, Chick-fil-A.

He was particularly pleased by his surprise "very special guests."

Mary heard there was a party and couldn't stay away.

Not really.  God just knew we all needed some hugs.  For real.  He knows stuff like that and quite often makes it happen.

It's because He loves us.  A lot.

After a couple of hours filled with chicken-y goodness and new friends in the shoeless zone we moved on to phase three.

That would be chocolate Ben & Jerry's with a side of Cherry Garcia for the teacher.

I sure do love this face...

Happy Birthday, Elijah!