I shall never leave during a tantrum without my keys again

My last post was all warm and fuzzy. This one will not be. Today, I had an interview at GSU for a position as a career counselor to law students. More on that later if it comes to pass. While I was interviewing, my kids were at my parents'. After the interview, I met them and my sister and her kids for lunch and a matinee. When we left my parents' house at 5 (after the kids had been with them since 9 am), Evan apparently didn't want to leave. And was throwing a little tantrum in the car. Thankfully, he fell asleep a short distance into the trip, so I thought we were done with the tantrum. But, no. He woke up from the nap still angry and grumpy. I won't go into all the details, but I had told him to go to his room and he just flat-out refused. Since Evan is a sturdy fellow, I have gotten to a point where I cannot physically carry all 45 pounds of him upstairs if he is kicking and screaming... which is where we were at this point. I threatened a spanking, but he kept circling the kitchen island, staying directly on the opposite side so I couldn't touch him. I refuse to chase a child around the island (as entertaining as that image probably is to my readers), so I was at a loss. I was trying to stay calm, so I decided to go get the mail. I would get some air...pray about how to handle the situation...and cool off. As I was at the mailbox, I heard the door close - surely just the wind, right?? And then what sounded like a lock turning. Surely not! I walked back up the front steps and tried the door. Locked. I looked inside to see Evan standing in the kitchen (a good distance from the front door) watching me with his jaw set. I motioned for him to "come here" with a very stern and angry look on my face, but he held his ground. I was losing this battle in a big way.

So, I decided to go next door to the neighbors' house to call Corin. I decided I couldn't wait around because of the safety issue, so I would suck it up and admit to Merri that my child had locked me out. Not a fun admission. So I called Corin and he said he would come home. Merri had this master-key-looking thing that she thought might work on our lock, so I went back to the door to give it a try. I didn't see either child when I first walked up, but as I tried the key Merri had given me, Evan came down the stairs, bawling. I told him again to come unlock the door, and this time he did.

I called Corin back to let him know I was in the house and put him on speakerphone to tell Evan to go to his room. This time he went. He stayed in his room through dinner and much of the evening. He also got a spanking when his father got home. He apologized to me and gave me a big hug. He promised to be a perfect angel for the next 24 hours. So, I guess it is over.

I usually don't make my blog entries interactive, but if any of you wise mommies or daddies out there have any ideas for what I could have done differently, I'd be happy to hear it. Let me stop you from telling me to hide a key outside the house. That kind of advice is fairly useless after the fact. I shall never leave during a tantrum without my keys again.

Thankful

At the end of this wonderful Christmas season and poised on the eve of a new year, I can't help but reflect and be thankful for all the wonderful blessings in my life.

First and foremost, I am thankful for my sweet husband and two beautiful and healthy and thriving children. I am blessed that Corin shares my values and beliefs and agrees that it is important to pass those on to our kids. I am thankful for the precious time we had as a family, all cuddled up before bedtime on Christmas Eve, reading the story of Jesus' birth from the kids' Book of Bible Stories. I am grateful for the time we spent trying to focus their excited little minds on the true reason that we celebrate Christmas.

I am thankful that Kerry and Kate were willing to leave behind two feet of snow in New York and come spend Christmas in the balmy south. I am grateful that my kids are blessed to have two aunts who love them dearly and play with them tirelessly each time we see them. I am thankful for sweet in-laws who came from Knoxville to help us start new traditions of celebration in our home: decorating sugar cookies, being together in a crowded kitchen while everyone worked together as a team to create a yummy Christmas Eve meal, singing Christmas carols around the table after Christmas Eve dinner was finally consumed, and so on.

I am thankful for my family - 22 people strong this year - as we celebrated Christmas at Lake Hartwell, as has been our tradition for the last few years. I am blessed to have such a large, close-knit family that creates such fun chaos each year when we are all together. Though we missed my cousin Jeff and my cousin Matt's daughter Amanda this year, we were all thrilled to welcome my cousin Melissa's 12-day-old son Michael into the the family. I am thankful for Evan and Pressley's cousins Will and Abby and Sydney who make these gatherings so much fun for them.

I am thankful for all the many wonderful friends who made this Christmas season special by riding the Pink Pig with us, hosting a fun tree-trimming party, inviting me to a cookie swap, attending a Sunday School Christmas party in our home - complete with a rousing-and-sometimes-playfully-hostile white elephant gift exchange.... So many wonderful memories over the last couple of weeks.

I hope your Christmas was as merry as ours and I hope you have as much to be thankful for as we do. Next time you catch me complaining about some little insignificant thing, somebody please remind me of all the things I have to be thankful for.

Feel free to check out the several links under Albums of all of our Christmas fun.

Merry Christmas Eve

I am too busy enjoying the merriment to post, although you can look for my next entry to be entitled... "Are your kids as insane as mine this time of year??" Just wanted to note that I have added some new photo links.

Merry Christmas!

Worst mom ever

When I began blogging, I had not intended for this to be a confessional booth. But sometimes I need to just get it off my chest.

Yesterday, we had our carpets cleaned. This means that Monday night, we had to move all the furniture off the rugs downstairs and onto the hardwood floors and all of the non-bed/ non-dresser furniture out of the bedrooms and into the bathrooms or out into the hallway. The cleaners were supposed to come between 8 and 10 a.m. At 9, we got a phone call from the company. Two technicians were out. One had rushed his wife to the hospital with a miscarriage and the other was sick. Now, I'm not a heartless person. I have experienced a miscarriage - much less traumatic than the rush-to-the-hospital variety - but, even so, I would have been hacked if my husband had chosen to clean someone's carpet rather than being with me. I get that. And, I have called in sick. I can sympathize with that too. It is hard enough to sit at a desk when you feel crappy, but I can imagine it really stinks to clean carpets feeling bad. So, I understand that things happen. The manager who called me was apologetic and offered a slight discount for the inconvenience of bumping us to the last slot of the day: the 5pm to 7pm window. It really was an inconvenience, but like I said, I was understanding.

After I got off the phone, I began to think what this meant for my day. I had scheduled the cleaning for a Tuesday morning intentionally because the kids would both be in school. Now, I was faced with keeping the kids off the carpet all afternoon and off all the towering piles of furniture. No easy task. I took them to the park until it started to rain. I was forced to bring them home, then. I fed them a snack and put them in front of the tv to try to avoid all the toys coming out and covering up the carpets. By 5:30, I was beside myself and still had not received the call letting me know someone was on the way. Finally, at 5:45 they called. They would be here between 6:45 and 7. Arrrgh! So, I hung up the phone and hatched a plan. I decided I would back my car out of the garage and bring the scooters and trikes in to create a little indoor track. So, I told the kids to get their shoes on and I went outside to move the car. I looked up as I was backing out and saw both kids standing in the doorway, shoes in hand, stricken looks on their faces and crying hysterically. "Don't leave us, Mommy!" they screamed. "We're putting our shoes on!" I felt horrible. So, I went back in and explained that I was not leaving them. I'm simply making space for them to play. So, I went to our outdoor storage closet and got out the scooters. As I brought the scooters back through the house and into the garage, Evan looked up at me - eyes still full of tears - and said (sad and horrified), "Mommy, are you giving my scooter away?!"

Are you feeling my pain? Here I am, at the end of my rope, trying to create a fun diversion for these children who have not been allowed to play in the house all day, and they think I'm a monster.

You would think I would've had a better day today, but no. Today, I started trying to put Pressley down for her nap at 12:30. I finally gave up at 1:30 because I decided that if she fell asleep that late, it would interfere with our 2:30 pick-up at pre-k. So, after we picked Evan up at school, I tried again. This time it started around 2:45 and the stubborn child finally fell asleep at 4:15. On most days, this would have been irksome, but not a total disaster. Today, however, we needed to leave the house at 4:45 to go to supper at church followed by caroling at a nursing home. So, I woke her up. BIG mistake. She cried inconsolably for 20 minutes. We were 45 minutes late to church. The only way I coaxed her out of the house was to tell her she could watch a Baby Einstein dvd in the car on the way to church. We arrived at church with a fully soaked diaper (because she refused to let me change it before we left) and completely unkempt hair. Let's just say I've had better days.

Sorry for the endless rambling. I've said it before, I'll say it again. This is cheap (o.k., free) theapy for me. I'm done now.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

We are having a fun and busy Christmas season so far, just like all of you. When we returned from New York, we really had to get in gear to get everything done. On Sunday, we went to get our Christmas tree. It would probably be easier to have a faux tree, but Corin and I both very much enjoy going to pick out a real tree. The only snafu in the whole tree selection process this year was that the tree lot had this giant barrel with a fire in it right near where you wait to pick up your tree. While Corin was in line to pay, I took the kids over to the fire barrel to warm our hands. I demonstrated how to hold your hands close to the barrel to warm them up. I suspect you are two steps ahead of me. Why I thought this was a good idea, I don't know. Anyhow, as you probably guessed, Evan put both of his hands onto the barrel and burned his fingertips pretty badly. He is such a tough little cookie. The tree lot people kept offering to go get ice or medicine or any number of other things and Evan kept saying he was fine. However, as soon as we got in the car, he dropped the tough-guy act and let us know just how bad his fingers hurt. The plan to stop for dinner was thwarted. Instead, we stopped on the way home to get burn cream. When Corin came back to the car with the medicine and asked Evan which fingers hurt, he very innocently tucked in all fingers on both hands and held out just his "bird" fingers to Corin. We are still waiting for the blisters to heal. Poor little guy! After all that, we did manage to get the tree decorated, and we were all pretty pleased. None so much as Pressley who proclaimed in awe every time she walked down the stairs for three days: "Oh, oh! My tree! It's b-eau-ti-ful!!"

On Monday night, we went to ride the Pink Pig with some folks from our Sunday School class. It was a perfect outing. We met at the ticket booth at 6 pm, rode the train twice (thanks to Helen and her 2 rides for the price of 1 coupons), and then had dinner in the food court. From this day forward, I will always go to the Pink Pig on a Monday night. There was no line for tickets, and the employees let us actually stay on the train for our second ride rather than making us wait in the (short) line to ride again. SOOOO much easier than last year when we got there on a Friday morning at opening time and waited an hour for tickets and then another 30 minutes to ride the train. Both of the kids enjoy the ride, but Pressley was especially expressive. When we first took off, she turned to me and said, "I LOVE this train!" and clapped her hands.

Kids play on the interactive mat thingee near the ticket booth

Pressley, Evan and Mommy on the Pink Pig

All the kiddos "pose" for a picture before heading to the food court for dinner

Seriously?!?

Last night when I went upstairs to get ready for bed, I found the door to the water closet in the master bath locked from the inside. The kids were both sound asleep and Corin was downstairs watching television, so clearly no one was in there. I went and got a paperclip and set about trying to pick the lock... to no avail. This morning, Corin got out all kinds of tools and tried to pick the lock... to no avail. Then he googled how to pick a bathroom door lock on the Internet and followed some vague, not particularly helpful instructions he found there. Again, to no avail. After church, we stopped at the drugstore to buy one of those eyeglasses tool kits with the tiny screwdriver - our last ditch attempt before calling a locksmith. Corin worked on the door again when we got home from church. Still no luck. All this time, we had been asking the kids if one of them had been playing with the door and might have turned the lock and then closed the door. Denial all around. Finally, just a few minutes ago, Corin went to fiddle with it again. This time success. I heard the joyful ah-hah of the success from down the hall. Then I heard another not-so-joyful utterance.

I said, "Did you get it? How did you get?"

He said, "Doing the same thing I've been doing. But now we have a much bigger problem."

"What?" I say.

"Come look."

Uh, oh. I don't like the sound of that....

So I went down the hall to look. What I find is that the toilet is FULL of toilet paper. I had just changed the roll late yesterday afternoon and now it was empty. So, when I say FULL of toilet paper, I mean a whole roll. Underneath all the toilet paper is a poo. Corin asked if I thought Pressley did it. My answer would have been yes if there had been no poo, but since she is not even sitting on the "big potty" yet, much less making a poo there, I was sure it wasn't her - even though she is about the right age to think that unrolling a whole roll of toilet paper into the potty is big fun. Nope, it was Evan.

I went and sat on the floor of his room with him.

"Evan," I said, "You are not in trouble, but I need you to tell me the truth. Daddy just opened the bathroom door and we found a whole roll of toilet paper (and a poo) in the potty. Did you do that?"

"Uh, huh," he said. "By accident."

"Ummmm, that was not an accident. You had to have stood there and pulled off a whole roll of toilet paper into the potty. Did you do that? You are still not in trouble, but you need to tell the truth."

A wide-eyed vigorous nod.

As of now, he still has not admitted to locking the door, but he does admit closing it. Presumably to delay our discovery of what he had done. So it is very clear to me that he knew he was doing something bad when he did it.

The good news: 1) We didn't have to call a locksmith and have him be the one to discover that scene; 2) We did not have to call a plumber. Against my better judgment, Corin decided to flush, just to see what would happen I guess. And it all went down. No plunger needed. No plumber needed. Fabulous.

The bad news: I'm not convinced it will not happen again.

So, again I say.... Seriously?!?

I wanna wake up the in city that doesn't sleep...

Where to begin? We had just the best time in New York - both upstate and in the city. We are glad to be home, but thankful for such great memories. The rain let up overnight on Sunday night, so the rest of our visit to NYC was cold, but dry. On Monday, we took a leisurely stroll over to the Museum of Modern Art, stopping at Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral along the way. We enjoyed MOMA. Evan particularly enjoyed it. We discovered he is a fan of Picasso and Van Gogh. He really got into studying the Picasso paintings. It was as if they were a game of Where's Waldo as he was working to identify what was what. Very cute. Pressley tolerated MOMA, but what do you expect of a 2-1/2 year old? After MOMA, it was back to the hotel for Pressley's nap and then on to Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular. It was, well, spectacular. Corin and I saw it many years ago on a trip to NYC this time of year, but it was really fun to take the kids. They were both very good during the show and seemed to like it a lot. Pressley was very into the dancing and Evan was very into the special effects.

Tuesday was another full day. We had planned to go to the Statue of Liberty (or "Livery" as Pressley insists that we pronounce it) on Sunday afternoon, but with the rain, we decided (wisely) to save it for another day. The crowds were small, but the security hassles were large, and it took us most of the day to spend 20 minutes in and around the statue. We did enjoy the ferry ride and seeing the monument, but we were a little frustrated with the amount of time we spent stripping out of our jackets and mittens and hats and jewelry and shoes and then putting it all back on again. The kids both fell asleep on the subway on the way back to the hotel from the Statue of Liberty, so after a quick lunch, we were off again. Mom and dad wanted to take the kids to the Build-a-Bear store on 5th Avenue to buy them each an animal. (Build-a-bear is not just for bears anymore, you know.) Evan chose a penguin and Pressley chose a shaggy puppy. They enjoyed having their pets stuffed and fluffed and named and such. Mom and dad even bought the new pets New York t-shirts to wear. After we left Build-a-Bear, we went to the Top of the Rock, which is the observation deck at the top of Rockefeller Center. It had already gotten dark, but the views were still fantastic. Pressley had begun to melt down by this time from lack of a proper nap, but we made it through.

After all that, we met up with Kate (Kerry was with us for the Top of the Rock) and the aunts took the kids off for an adventure in Queens while the rest of us took in a Broadway show. We saw Jersey Boys. It was excellent. I'd been wanting to see it ever since I saw the cast sing on the today show a couple of years ago. The show is about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' rise to fame and is full of music from that group and that era. The cast was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Meanwhile, the kids were having a great time with K&K. They ate hot dogs and ice cream sandwiches and played with K&K's months-old kittens. Pressley has declared that playing with the kittens was her favorite part of the trip. She apparently gave them a tea party, but they were not particularly interested in leaving things exactly where she wanted them. K&K say they went to bed fairly easily and both slept through the night, so it was a successful evening.

Finally, on Wednesday, we headed over to FAO Schwartz for some toy store fun. The highlight of the toy store visit for Pressley was the giant piano from the movie Big. She ran up and down that keyboard a hundred times. Then, just when we thought she might be tiring of the whole thing, a woman in the crowd started clapping for her each time she said "Ta Dah" or "I did it!" That was enough to spur her on for the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately for her, the employees of the store actually do a demo show where they play the giant piano, so she had to come off. She was NOT happy. It was a melt down of epic proportions. But, she finally calmed down in time for a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park to top off a very eventful trip.

Below are a few pics, but there are many, many more in the New York album linked above.

Corin, Pressley, me, Evan and GranNan at Rockefeller Center

Evan, Corin, GranNan, Poppy, and Pressley watch the skaters at Rockefeller Center

GranNan and Poppy in front of the original torch

Evan and Pressley at the base of the Statue of Liberty

Evan and Pressley watch as their bears get stuffed...

Evan and Pressley "fluff" their new bears

Corin, Pressley and me in the horse-drawn carriage

Poppy, Evan and GranNan in their horse-drawn carriage

Thanksgiving

It has been a whirlwind few days. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with the Pressley clan in Atlanta last Thursday before heading off to New York to spend a few days with the McCarthy clan. We arrived in New York City on Thursday night and drove to upstate New York Friday morning for our annual visit with Kerry and Kate in Rosendale. On Friday afternoon, K&K took us to High Falls for a little stroll and some rock hopping. Saturday, we went to Mohonk Mountain House for our new(ish) tradition of breakfast there, followed by a hike (or short walk - depending on how brutally cold it is), and warming up by a nice big fire in the lodge before heading back to K&K's for a visit from some of the McCarthy cousins. When the McCarthy cousins arrive, everyone heads up the hill behind K&K's house to go spelunking in the caves on the back of their property. Then, back inside for some grub. We all thoroughly enjoy taking part in all of these traditions that have developed over the last 10 years.

Evan and Kerry at High Falls

Me and Pressley at High Falls

Pressley tries to stay warm after the hike at Mohonk

Evan and Corin at the top of the mountain

Mohonk Mountain House

This year, we talked mom and dad into joining us in NYC after we were done with the upstate part of our trip. Mom and dad have never been to NYC, and since we love being here this time of year, we wanted to share it with them. We managed to have a fun afternoon and evening today despite the unrelenting cold rain. We went to Macy's and toured the "North Pole" and got to visit with the real Santa. Then we arrived at the Empire State Building only to find a sign that read "Visibility 0 Miles" and were discouraged from buying tickets. So, it was on to Little Italy for dinner. We had a fabulous dinner and found a mini-van cab to bring us all back to the hotel together. Cabbing it is definetly the way to go when it is cold and rainy. Tomorrow promises to be another rainy day - at least in the morning - so we plan to hit a museum and stay dry until the rain clears and we can venture out to do some other fun stuff. I've attached a few photos of our adventures as a preview, but will have to post the albums when I return.

Evan and Santa at Macy's NYC

Pressley was not so thrilled about Santa - didn't want to be anywhere near him

A visit with friends

Our good friends the Manns came over on Sunday night for dinner and a play date. I am very fortunate that many of my friends from my teenage years still attend my church, are in my Sunday school class, and I get to see them all the time. Unfortunately for me, Jennifer moved to Roswell many years ago and attends church out that way, so our visits are fewer and farther between. Despite the relative infrequency of our visits, my kids have developed a love for her kids that is almost unparalleled. They get SO excited whenever they find out we are going to see Jake and Charlie. They are great playmates for Evan and they are very "big-brotherly" and protective of Pressley. It is very sweet. Here are some photos that Jennifer took at the end of the evening when the boys were all sweaty and red-faced from playing so hard.

The adults also had a good time even though Jennifer and I had to leave the room to let the boys duke it out when the conversation turned to politics. Everybody left still friends, so it was a successful evening.

Thanksgiving poems and songs and cupcakes

Today was the kids' Thanksgiving program at school. They were supposed to have it last Friday, but the busted water main closed school and caused the show to be canceled. As I mentioned last week, I always enjoy the silly hats and creative "costumes" that the kids wear for these things. There were no such hats or costumes for either of the kids' classes this time. Oh well. They still looked super cute. I guess I'll have to look for other opportunities to take embarassing photos to show their future girlfriends/boyfriends.

Evan's class recited a poem called Thanksgiving Everyday. It was cute. Evan did a great job of reciting the poem but pretty much refused to do the associtated motions.

Pressley's class sang a song called "I Eat Turkey" to the tune of Frere Jacques. I could not see her at all because one of the teachers moved her to the back row right before they started singing. Corin was in charge of taking the still shots of Pressley while I operated the video camera. I do not know what happened, but those pics did not turn out well. Here are a few blurry ones anyway...

After the program, there was a party in Evan's classroom. The kids enjoyed eating all kinds of junk food and playing in Evan's class. It was a fun day. I am not in any hurry to cook dinner because I am making a frittata and the only hope I had that they would eat it (because it is somewhat unfamiliar) was if they were starving. That is not gonna happen, so I'm sure dinner time will be a struggle. Oh, well. I'm off to give it a shot.

No school today

I was awakened this morning by the phone ringing. Well, actually, I was awakened for the first time by Pressley calling for me, so I went anc climbed into bed with her at 6:30. I was awakened for the second time at 7 when she insisted that I take her downstairs for breakfast. And I was awakened the third time by the phone ringing at 7:15. On the phone was Ms. Sheila, one of Evan's teachers from school. She was calling to let us know that a water main was broken near school and the school was without water, so opening would be delayed. Fabulous. I turned off the alarm and waited to be awakened for the fourth time when Evan got up....

I spent all morning hanging around the house waiting for the phone call saying that the water was back on and the kids should come to school. I finally got tired of feeling trapped in my own house and we decided to make a quick trip to the grocery store so we could make cookies. On the way to the grocery store, I got an e-mail saying that the water would not be restored until tomorrow, so no school today. And no Thanksgiving program this afternoon at 3 p.m. I was so ready to post pictures of the kids in silly turkey hats or some such thing. But, that will have to wait until Monday.

After a slow start, we had a good day. The trip to the store was, thankfully, uneventful and we came home to make chocolate chip cookies. Apparently, in 4-1/2 years, I have never done this with my eldest child. He seemed to have no concept of why we couldn't eat the cookies the minute we got home. I guess I've been so caught up in trying to make sure that my kids don't follow in my footsteps with weight struggles that I have deprived them of ever baking with mommy. Shameful. They thoroughly enjoyed the baking, the licking of the beaters and the eating of the cookies.

Then it was nap time. Evan threw a total wrench in the works for us. Pressley and I have finally (after 3 months) gotten into a good routine with naps. I don't have to threaten or cajole anymore... I just put her in her room and she goes to sleep. Except when Evan is home and down the hall "resting" and having to be reminded every 5 seconds that "resting" does not mean using your outside voice. Pressley finally did fall asleep despite the ruckus, and I even got a little power nap between Evan's interruptions.

We did love having some extra time to spend with Evan today. However, hopefully the water will be restored to the school over the weekend and we can get back on track on Monday. And have the Thanksgiving program so I can take those photos the kids will hate when they are 14....

Silly kids

My kids actually asked me to take pictures of them this afternoon. That never happens. They were being very silly, but I managed to get a few cute shots. Can't tell whether the discoloration on Pressley's lower lip/chin is chapped skin or dorito dust. Nevertheless, after my last very serious post, I thought I'd share silly pictures.

Now back to playing "fish and shark", which is their favorite new game. It involves me sitting on the bed with a jump rope and "catching" them out of the water, dragging them onto the bed with me, tickling them, and then letting them escape back into the "water." It is exhausting.

A heavy burden

I know that it has been over a week since I have posted about the kids and I know that is what most of my readers are interested in. They are doing great and cute as ever. I will write about them soon. Today, I have something else weighing on my mind.

I found out late Sunday night that a good friend of mine from high school and college is now homeless. Through a chain of events, beginning with his wife leaving him for another man at their church, this friend ended up living on the street and now calls himself a street preacher. He apparently sits by the side of the road with signs condemning all manner of societal woes. My understanding is that he is lucid and this is the life he has chosen for himself and that it has been going on for at least 3-4 years. I have found this information very hard to swallow. I am perplexed and heart-broken.

I find myself at a loss for how to pray for him. I suppose that if this is God's will for his life, I should pray for the effectiveness of his mission? When John the Baptist was the voice crying out in the wilderness, I'm sure people questioned whether he was playing with a full deck, right? Who am I to say? But if this is not God's will for his life, and just some misguided way of handling the anger from his broken relationship, then I pray for intervention and healing and restoration and peace.

If you are a person of faith, I would ask that you join me in praying for my friend. Whether or not you are a person of faith, I would ask that you re-think the way you look at homeless people. A few years back, there was a man who sat at a bus stop outside my church on Sundays when the service was letting out. He held a sign that said something about how teenage girls dress like whores in church. I had to admit to myself last night that, even though I saw that guy a number of times, I never looked at him. I just dismissed him as a crazy person and shook my head with pity. Could it have been my friend? Possibly. Whether or not he was my friend, he was a human being whose life has value and I had no idea what set of circumstances had led him to that place. So, not only am I perplexed and heart-broken, but I am also convicted. Now, as I pray for my friend, I will also pray for a change in my own heart in the way I look at folks whom I presume are not like me. Maybe they are a lot more like me than I would like to think. Certainly my friend and I had enough in common to be friends for six years though our lives have taken very different paths....

In closing, I do not feel comfortable publishing my friend's name in such a public forum, but if you would like to pray for him by name, shoot me an e-mail and I'd be glad to provide more information.

My homegirls

These are my Berry Girls. (Top: Allison, Kelly, Jolynn; Bottom: Me, Jan, April, and Amy F.) There are seven of us. I have been extremely blessed in my life to have some really wonderful friends. Today, I have many "groups" of friends that are tremendously special to me: the girls I grew up with at Briarlake, the girls I shared law school and/or the early years of my law career with, and so on. But I've been on a trip down memory lane with the Berry Girls recently. We had dinner together last Thursday night and got to talking about how long we've been getting together and all the photos we've taken with one another over the years. During our time together last week, we ended up at the Cheesecake Factory for 2 pieces of cheesecake, a few cups of coffee and a LONG time at the table. One of the girls apologized to the waitress for holding on to the table for so long and she said, "Oh, that's ok. I could tell yall were a bunch of homegirls catching up" or some such thing. It tickled us. I have never thought of them as my homegirls, but maybe they are. But, I digress...

Anyhow, I knew I had some of the earliest photos of the group, so I set about the task of culling through my many boxes of photos from college and beyond and pulled some of my favorites. I posted them on Facebook, but if you are not on Facebook, I have created an album of them under the Albums link as well. I cannot tell you how much these women and I have experienced together over the last 18 years (yes, we recently realized that we have now known each other as long as we didn't know each other before college). These are the women who give me laughter, understanding, laughter, encouragement, laughter, wisdom, laughter, tears, laughter... well, you get the picture. Don't get me wrong. These are not the only friends who provide those things for me. I have many other wonderful friends. But this group of girls has made a commitment over the last, well, many years to never let too much time pass before we are together again. I am so grateful for these girls. And, I hope they are still my friends after I make these photos of them public since some of the other things we have experienced together are big hair, silly hats, lots of matching pajama purchases (don't ask), waaaay out of style Christmas sweaters and Christmas jumpers - with the impossibly big embroidered collars - (who knew those would ever go out of style?) and the list goes on....

I love you, my "Berry Girls!" Here's to many more years of embarrassing photos and matching pajamas. I hope I can always be there for you and that you will always be there for me.

Scoot back jus a little bit, okaaaay?

Pressley and I had a fun day at Stone Mountain Park yesterday playing on the playground with friends from church. She had a good time playing with her buddies and then we went with them to Moe's for lunch, so that just made her joy complete. The cutest moment of the day was after we got home. She had napped in the car on the way home from lunch, so we had a few minutes to play before we picked Evan up from school. Pressley decided we would have "circle time", so we sat on the floor together and she "read" books to me and showed me flash cards and asked me questions about them. Every time I answered one of her questions correctly, she would say, "Yay! That right!" At one point during circle time, she reached out and patted my leg, leaned in and said to me quietly, "Scoot back jus a little bit, okaaaay?" So cute.

Pressley and Kayla enjoy a snack

After Evan got home from school, we went to the mall to buy some new tennis shoes. I have started feeling bad about the fact that he still wears nothing but crocs all the time, so I have convinced him (sort of) that crocs are summer shoes. There was a train at the mall that travels around the entire upstairs loop, and I told the kids that if they were good during the shoe shopping they could ride the train. They had a ball. And Evan has some cool new Addidas that he will have to learn how to tie.

Pressley and Evan ride the train at the mall

Well, Pressley and I are off to Evan's soccer game to hand out snacks and drinks after the game. Evan is not there. He and Corin have gone to another UT game - this time in Knoxville - and to visit Gran and Grandaddy. So, Pressley and I are having another girls' weekend. We'll try not to do anything you wouldn't do...

Hosting a play date

Evan has his friend Charlie at the house this afternoon for a playdate. Because I don't have a car big enough for a 3rd car seat, I walked to school to pick them up. We walked from school to the park, had a little snack, and they played at the park briefly, but seemed eager to come show off/ check out toys at the house. So many cute things about the play date: First, Evan and Charlie held hands for safety all the way from school to the park. It was very sweet. Second, on the way to the park, Pressley kept saying things like, "Look! Do you see the airplane, Charlie?" and "Wait for me, Charlie!!" Ahhh, being a little sister is hard. Third, when we got home from the park, the phone rang and Evan answered it (which, luckily, he does not often do). When I yelled upstairs to ask who it was, he says: "I don't know... John McCain?" I later overheard him tell Charlie that John McCain is a man who is running for President.

Right now, all three kids are in the playroom closet so Evan can demonstrate his new flashlight. Good times.

Trick or Treat!

Yesterday, our afternoon and evening were as full as our morning. We had a party at Pressley's school, followed by 2 hours of junk-food-free playing at home, followed by a quick dinner and trick or treating. Mom and dad came over to trick or treat with the kids and I stayed home to wait for trick or treaters. For the first 20 minutes or so, I got nothing. Can't complain. It was the first time all day I got to sit down and hear myself think. Eventually, we got a barrage of trick or treaters, including my own children. (I heard Evan coming up the front steps saying, "This is my house! Let's get candy from here!") Pressley decided when she reached our house that she was ready to stop. According to the trick or treat chaperones, poor Pressley was freaked out by every kid in a mask or furry costume; including her little friend Cary who is one of her best buddies from school. I should have expected that given the Monkey Joe's fiasco a few weeks back. Anyway, there are new Trick or Treat photos linked under Albums. Happy belated Halloween!

Evan and Pressley get ready to hit the neighborhood

Left: Evan (a.k.a. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle)

Right: Pressley (a.k.a. Fairy Princess)