Ironic, because I consider myself to be lazy

The past four days comprised the busiest weekend I can recall.

Friday night after work I went to my friend Bonnie's house to crop (not farm; scrapbook) from 6:30 to midnight.

Saturday morning we went to Alabama Adventure (the waterpark) and stayed from 10:30 to 4:00, and I didn't take my camera this time. I figured since we'd all just seen identical pictures from last weekend, there wouldn't be any need for it this time. You are so very welcome.

Saturday night at 7:00, Grayson and I headed to a local resort for my friend Melanie's birthday dinner, which was so much fun! We didn't get home until almost midnight, and then Sunday morning I went back out there for a pedicure with Melanie ... her birthday gift to me! (Our birthdays are only a week apart.) Ohhhhhh, it was MARVELOUS. I only get pedicures like biannually, so it was a total treat-and-a-half.

Nathaniel had asked on Saturday about the SEC championship baseball game, which was to be played on Sunday afternoon near our house. And although I'd planned for Sunday to be low-key and an "at home day" in the middle of our busy weekend, I hated to say no.

Grayson and Nicholas opted out, in favor of seeing Thor at the movie theater, but Jake, Nathaniel and I headed over to the ballpark for the big game at 2:00. The two teams in the championship game were the University of Florida and Vanderbilt. Nathaniel said, "I wanted to cheer for Florida because that's where Disney World is."

Alrighty then.

We saw many, many out-of-state plates as we made our way to the ballpark ... which is less than five miles from our house.

There was much anticipation as we headed through the gate.

The game had just gotten under way when we arrived. It was a gorgeous day without a cloud in the sky ... although it was SCORCHING HOT.

 It went up to 94 degrees and we were sitting in the sun, so of course Sno Cones were mandatory.

There was a great crowd, considering that it was two out-of-state teams. The announcer said there were 7,865 fans there.

I wasn't terribly surprised by how intently Nathaniel paid attention to the game, but I was surprised by how into it Jake was.

Florida, "our team," took an early 2-0 lead and held it for the whole game.

 Some plays required a lowering of one's glasses in order to properly assess the situation.

Other plays required vacating one's seat in order to get closer to the action.

To my amateurish eyes, the college pitchers seemed to be pitching as fast as the major league pitchers do.

Between every other inning or so, they announced local families of veterans who lost their lives in our current war. Below are two families who lost sons/brothers within the last year.

The entire stadium stood and applauded them.

 We also sang God Bless America in their honor. Do I even need to mention that I teared up?

Back to the game, Florida scored a couple more runs. I never did understand why Vanderbilt was wearing navy and red uniforms, because I think their colors are black and gold.

We also took time between innings to recognize living vets who are from our area. One was an amputee who appeared to be in his early 20s. He had artificial legs and an artificial arm, and again he received a heartfelt standing ovation.

'Round about the sixth inning, we moved onto snack number two, Dippin' Dots. I moved onto my second 16-ounce bottle of water. I was PARCHED.

Dippin' Dots are well-loved by our boys, but I don't personally understand it. I think they're kind of icky.

Ultimately Vanderbilt walked in a few more runs for Florida, and then they didn't make up the difference in the top of the 8th when they were up to bat, so Florida took the title!

 All of their players ran onto the field, and there was a lot of celebrating.

Even though it was a long, hot afternoon, it was totally worth the effort to be there. Nathaniel had a great time and was so pumped that "his team" won!

 Both sides were great sports.

It was fun for Nathaniel to see that even at the college level, it was basically just a larger-scale version of what he experienced during his own baseball season and championship win this Spring.

He and Jake even shared a similar post-game hug!

We stayed until the very end.

So much fun!

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope that you all spend your holiday as happy as a pig in water. (Via 22 Words)

And that you don't experience the kind of momentary terror that I experienced when I ran across this watch earlier this week. Seriously, this kind of thing gives me nightmares. (Via Win!)

Please take a moment to remember those who have given their lives for our country today. (Via Sugar Belle)

Nathaniel, Jake and I were fortunate enough to be reminded of the sacrifices the men and women of our military have made when we attended the SEC baseball championship game yesterday. There were several opportunities during the game to show our appreciation to those who have served, and I'll post more on that later this week.

In the meantime, let's all hope THIS doesn't happen to any of us. I am so sorry to tell you this, but this made me laugh out loud. (Via FailBlog)

Have a wonderful, safe day!

A chance to do good

I know that many of you read Patrice's blog and through that, you have gotten to know our great-nephew, Jonah. Jonah has Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), and while until two years ago I didn't know what it was, today not an hour goes by that I don't think about it.

Patrice has reached out to tell us about two young orphaned boys with EB in Eastern Europe. They are brothers, now separated for two years because they are in different orphanages, who are waiting on their family to come and get them. Karrie and Donnie Cannell are in the process of adopting them. They will be traveling within a month, and they still don't have the funds they need to travel.

Because of adopting in two different regions, the length of their stay, and the increased travel expenses (the boys are 400 miles apart), they still have $25,000 to $35,000 to raise before they can go.

If you have time and haven't already done so, please read the post Patrice wrote about these two sweet boys. When I think about my boys being separated by hundreds of miles -- and sick -- it makes me ill. I want to do anything I can to bring these brothers back together and unite them with their new, loving family.

Please pray that God will move mountains to make that happen, and if you feel led to help financially, you can donate securely via PayPal. Thank you so much!

An Instagram evening

I mentioned yesterday that I haven't taken any pictures this week, and we haven't had much "extra" going on.

But I DID install the Instagram app on my iPhone recently, and I've been trying it out a little bit. Of course, the first, oh, 15 pictures or so that I took, I accidentally didn't save. I didn't realize that if you take the picture and then hit "Back," it deletes the picture. Old phone didn't do that. Oops.

This week I think I finally got it all figured out, and last night I tested it out by taking some pictures of a regular old, boring, nothing-happening night around the house. Now that I've given it that great build-up, let's see if it can live up to the hype!

I actually Tweeted this one, which is a shot of Jakey eating supper.

How old is too old to stick your kid in a high chair? 10? 11? Yeah, that's what I thought. He barely fits, and I can hardly get him out of it -- especially in my current condition -- but he'll only sit still at the table for about three minutes, so I'm using this while the usin's good.

After I dislodged Jakey from the high chair, we went into the den, where they'd set up their Beyblades in the cardboard box they'd asked me for. A homemade arena, if you will.

What? Never heard of Beyblades? YOU POOR THING. A word of caution: never let your children watch the show or buy any of the toys. I don't know how mine heard about them, but now we are all apparently DIEHARD FANS.

I argued against the boys spending their allowance on them, but they insisted. I told them they'd be like all the other junk they buy, which is to say, they'd play with them for a few days and then the next time I saw them it would be because I was ripping them out from the very soft underside of my foot since they'd been left in the middle of the floor, forgotten.

Right before I took that picture, Nathaniel said, "See, Mommy? These were TOTALLY worth the money! We're still playing with them!" And I said dryly, "You've had them for a whole 22 hours. Let's give it another day or two and see where we are then."

Beyblades are another thing Grayson wishes he'd had the foresight to invent. "They took like the world's second-oldest toy, the TOP, slapped another piece on it, created a cartoon to promote it, and now they're billionaires. Nice."

Since Jake won't get an allowance until he starts Kindergarten, he didn't get to buy a Beyblade. (Shh. Don't tell him he has money in his piggybank.) He contented himself with holding his scabbard, watching the big boys play and helping them count down loudly: "THREE-TWO-ONE, LET IT RIP!"

And we finally capped off the evening with a partial viewing of a new Curious George movie they found on Netflix.

So there you have it ... our evening captured by Instagram. Can you tell I haven't decided which treatment I like best? There are a bunch to choose from every time you take a picture, and I have no idea which one I prefer yet. Perhaps over the weekend I'll figure it out.

Yesterday I was an optimist

Yesterday I assumed that by today I'd have something to say.

I was wrong.

WOW. I have a serious case of Nothing to Say-itis. Let's hope for all of our sakes that we do some stuff and I take some pictures over the holiday weekend.

That said, here are a couple of completely random things for today:

A lot of days lately at work, I feel like this:

That is to say, I feel like there's a pigeon roughly the size of me sitting on my head. All day. Hence my recent uptick in Tylenol consumption.

A lot of days lately at home, I feel like one of the boys handed me this:

I actually find this very amusing. Mine wouldn't give me high marks all the time -- particularly in math -- but at least overall I get pretty high marks.

And while I'm on the topic of home, let me just tell you that I seem to be losing my hearing ... but mainly only as it pertains to what Grayson says. I swear he mumbles and either talks to me while he's looking the other way or walking away from me. (That's my excuse, anyway.) But June posted this little story yesterday and it reminded me of something that could ACTUALLY be overheard around here:

Dad: Did you get potato chips at the store?
Mom: I didn’t know you needed toothpicks.
Dad: I didn’t say toothpaste.

Nonetheless, no matter how poor my work product is, how few places I take you, how poorly I add and subtract, and how little I listen to you, I can always count on you guys to make me feel like this:

So thanks for that.