Not sure how this happened, but I have six kids this afternoon. They just crack me up, with all the sibling, gender, age, and birth order dynamics. Also all the funny faces.
Archive for the ‘Tiller’ Category
Full House
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010Single Parent Saturday
Monday, May 10th, 2010Todd went to Tybee with the boys for the weekend. No comment on Mother’s Day. He’s working off the misdemeanor.
Saturday, I had quite a time with the kiddos. T-ball game at 9:30 a.m. Lunch with Lisa and Dash afterwards. Went to buy a birthday gift for Rollie’s friend Emily. Left there. Came home to check on the neighbor’s since the alarm company called and their alarm was going off. Let dog out. Went back out to Tucker Day. That’s our annual small-town festival. The kids love it. I like it. Would be better with beer. (Isn’t everything?) Left there. Went home for an hour. Dropped Tiller off at neighbors’ for dinner and a playdate (thanks, Shanks!) and then took Rollie to HELL, a.k.a. Stevie B’s Pizza. You might be thinking, how can this be worse than Chuck E. Cheese’s? It doesn’t have alcohol. The mouse? He has beer.
Rollie had a blast, and I actually enjoyed talking to parents of kids in his class and getting to know them better.
Much fun had by all and boy did we sleep well that night.
Mother’s Day Tea
Friday, May 7th, 2010I still feel strange being the Mother in the Mother’s Day scenario. When I think of Mother’s Day, I think patent leather shoes and church and lilies. But here I am, perched in the too-small church preschool chair, being served sweet tea and cookies by a four-year-old.
This Kid’s Got Heart
Friday, April 30th, 2010Lots of heart.
She just came up to me with this and said, “I made this for you, mama.”
Race Photos
Monday, April 26th, 2010
How cute are they?
Busy as Hell Bee
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010We have been spending a lot of time at the baseball fields this spring. Rollie has a game and two practices a week. And then there is tiller’s Tiny Tykes practice every Sunday. And Todd’s new job with BBDO. (Speaking of, have you seen Todd’s previous work? He has a site.)
So, what we have been doing:
Tiller rides her Razor at the park, with her buddy Drake, while Rollie plays t-ball.
This is Tills and Drake, playing on the bleachers. Remember playing on the bleachers? Much more fun than being a parent keeping kids OFF the bleachers.
This is Rollie, with Zachary (if you call him Zach, this kid will actually tell you that his name is not Zach, it’s Zachary.) His dad’s a lawyer, and I didn’t ask for permission to post his picture on the site, because I like to live life on the edge. Zachary got whacked in the eye with a bat last week, but he is okay. His dad, who did the accidentally whacking, is probably now in therapy. That’s Kevin in the middle. He is small, but a strong hitter and i love how his batting helmet kind of wears him. I am also looking forward to meeting his new twin sisters. We’ve been driving Kev to practice a lot while his mom was on bedrest. He’s a cook kid. (His dad is a chef.) He is also a cool kid.
We’ve been working on Rollie’s follow-through. We pitch to him in the backyard with the whiffle ball and bat and his follow through is fine, but when he hits off the tee, he seems to be concentrating so hard on hitting the ball off the tee that he is not following through. This one was pretty good, though.
Todd dressed up as Teen Wolf.
Iain was a ZZ Top guy.
And T was Rick James, Bitch.
Candy channeled Pat B.
Even Richard Simmons was there.
Can’t remember this guy’s name, but he whips it good.
Matt did the Spicolli thing.
At Shannon and Matt’s wedding shower.
We went to Hilton Head and frolicked in the very cold water.
Had an Easter egg hunt at the Salty Dog Cafe . . .
And I dragged the family to the cemetery in Savannah to visit Pop’s grave.
See how happy they look? That Tiller, one thing you can say about her, she sure does like to get dragged around to visit dead folks at cemeteries. Rollie? Oh, hissing under my breath that I will pop him if he doesn’t smile for the camera.
But it was a beautiful day for a visit to the Cemetery, and it seemed appropriate to visit on Easter. My grandmother, her brother and sister, and my great-grandparents are all buried there also.
Dash came to visit and we spent a ton of time in the yard. Tiller played ball.
Rollie ran around looking like a Cecil Jr. with no shirt and wrecking his toy in the backyard.
And finally, Rollie saw a bee and freaked out.
The bee did not sting him. No bees were harmed in the photographing of this boring post.
Tiller’s Latest Song
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010Rollie likes to invent wind machines to scare people. Tiller likes to make up songs. I am not kidding when I say that my jaw often drops at the inventiveness of her lyrics. This latest song was performed on my patio yesterday afternoon. I missed the first few lines, but todd and I are getting better at catching her songs on the Voice Memo app on our iPhones.
To set the scene, she is standing on the brick wall beside our patio. Dash and I are sitting below, and she has her arms stretched out wide and is making eye contact with us as she belts these out, like she was some banshee Julie Andrews character. When she discusses that she is going to do something, she is referring to jumping off the wall and flying like a bird. The breathless part of it is her jumping off then climbing back up.
This all started when she told me that she had jumped off the wall earlier and she thinks she “might have flown up a little bit.”
These children, so very different, absolutely rock my world. Even Rollie, whom i overheard tell Todd as I was leaving for my run tonight, “I hope she doesn’t come home.” I mean, what an ass – I just finished cooking his dinner and then doing the dishes. And yet i love him anyway.
Yes, my feelings were hurt. Doesn’t happen often, but it happened.
We Had Candy for Breakfast
Sunday, April 4th, 2010Turns out the Bunny Trail runs right through Hilton Head. We had candy for breakfast and I don’t even feel guilty about it.
Happy Easter from Dogwood Girl. Hope you have lots of eggs in your basket!
Life Gets in the Way, But Let Me Fast Forward It For You
Monday, March 22nd, 2010This has been my worst month of posting in years. Life has really gotten in the way. Many reasons come into play. Me training for another triathlon. Work. Lots of company, like Todd’s cousin Jenn, and my friend Honey and her family, and my mom is having surgery on her foot, and mom and dad having moved, a neighbor and i started a community website, Dekalb county board of education sucks, and I have to sometimes cook and do laundry and make beds, or at least enough so that todd won’t divorce me.
A recap in pictures (just hold your mouse over each one for the witty caption):
I guess that kind of sums it up.
Yeah, Dogwood is back. She’s back!
The Pirate Queen, and her Former Associates
Saturday, March 6th, 2010So, I am the Pirate Queen. I know, I know. . . I should have told you all. But we don’t really talk about it.
That’s a lie. Todd finally told the kids about a year ago.
“Your Mother’s The Pirate Queen.”
I was a little miffed that he didn’t tell them i am The Bandit Queen, because i love her, but I guess Pirate Queen is pretty bitchin’ too. The kids were in awe. They scream and get that scared look when I play pirate queen. We even have an old trunk in our bedroom that belonged to my Aunt Lessie. Todd told the kids that they can’t go into the trunk because it contains a skeleton. In reality, it holds:
a couple of tees that belonged to the kids when they were babies
Love letters and crap from a couple of ex-boyfriends (guess i should get rid of them, but i think they are funny)
three old hat boxes
mardi gras beads
college diploma and cap and gown
pennies
photos
God knows what else. (I don’t open it! There’s a skeleton in there!)
So, the other day, Tiller and I were at Jason’s Deli. The cool thing about JD is that they have both ice cream and a salad bar. I can get healthy stuff and tiller can get diabetes. Win win.
So, we are sitting there. Tiller has her ice cream cone in one hand and her potato chip in another, dipping the chips into the ice cream. Her hair makes her look like a mental patient, because she cut it herself that morning with craft scissors. I am on my iPhone, getting my ass kicked in Scrabble by Jerry Kane, which is sad, because i have like a million hours to come up with a play while Tiller, the slowest eater in the East, finishes her Ice Cream Chips.
Tiller whispers, pointing a finger over my head, her eyes HUGE in her face: “Mama.”
Me, distractedly, because how am I going to overcome the damn EIGHTY POINT WORD JERRY KANE JUST LAID ON ME? “Yes, baby?”
Tiller: “Mama, look. It’s a pirate.” Her frightened whisper catches my attention.
Me, pushing her pointing finger down to the tabletop: “Baby, it’s not nice to point.” I look over my right shoulder as a man walks past. I watch him walk to his table, his back to us, then he pulls out a chair, sits down, and his face is revealed to me as he turns to his dining partner.
He’s wearing an eye patch.
The Decemberists’ The Bandit Queen, for reference: