Watch out! I'm feelin' verbose

Usually, I try to use a little restraint when I write this blog and try not to get too chatty. But, today, I'm feeling like I'm going to embrace the chattiness. So, if you are checking in with me on your way out the door, you may want to wait or else you are gonna be late. If you stick with me, I promise to throw in some cute photos and amusing video footage to make it worth your while. (Please resist the urge to skip ahead. That will just hurt my feelings.)

Friday night was the much-anticipated skating party to celebrate Will and Abby's birthdays. I had told the kids about it over a week before it happened, which is against my self-imposed rule. Anyone who has little ones knows that it is not smart to give them too much lead time for an event because they will proceed to drive you absolutely nuts with the "When are we going to Will and Abby's party?" "Is the party today?" "Can we go to the party now?" "Can we? Can we? Can we?" So, I am usually pretty good about saving this information until the appropriate time. My parents have been guilty of leaking information early a number of times and have been thoroughly chastised for it in the past, so they've gotten better. But, this time was my fault. Even worse, I think I leaked the party news as a part of a bribe or a threat of some kind. Rookie mistake. Everyone with kids also knows that you don't threaten something you can't or won't really take away because then you lose your street cred. And, really, what kind of mother takes away the cousins' birthday party for not eating veggies or cutting in front of your sister to wash your hands or whatever the transgression of the moment may have been? Luckily, I think on this occasion, they did not call my bluff, because I have no recollection of beating myself up over this dumb mistake.

Anywho...as I was saying... Friday night was the birthday party. It brought flooding back vivid memories of my own skating days over at Playland or something or other. I loved the skating when I was in elementary school. I recall specifically that the Brownie troop would pile in the "back-back" of someone's station wagon (back before they would call DFACS on somebody's mom for letting you ride without a seat belt) and we would head over to Dresden to the skating rink. I remember that the last street we turned onto before we got to Dresden was called Brag(g) Street. We thought this was very funny with our elementary school sense of humor and, the rule was that the whole time you were on Brag(g) Street, you had to - what else? - brag. Our poor mothers... Luckily for them, it was a short street as I recall. So, back to the skating party... It brought back vivid memories of my skating days, but sadly, did not bring back any memory of the technique involved in staying on one's feet once wheels are affixed to the bottom. Let's just put it this way: I don't know if I was ever good at skating when I was 10, but I am definitely not good at it now. I had no intention of putting on skates until Corin put the idea in my head. But, armed with romantic notions of couple's skate, I warmed to the idea and gave in (without much coaxing). It was a bad idea.

But, the kids had a blast. Pressley tried the skating for about 30 seconds and decided quickly that she was D-O-N-E. Evan was a little more of a go-getter. He kept his skates on most of the time and ventured out onto the rink repeatedly (even though he clearly felt much more secure on the carpet). He is so funny. He had asked me the day before the party if we could buy him some skates that day. He didn't say it, but I know him well enough to follow his reasoning. I know that this is a child that doesn't really want to try anything new in front of other people until he has confirmed in the privacy of his own home/yard that he won't suck at it. He gets that from one of his aunts, I think, but don't worry Beth, I won't name any names....

Evans tears it up...

Pressley and my sweet Granny

Abby and cousin Jonathan

Evan and Daddy play video games

Pressley with her Krispy Kreme Donut (Will doesn't like cake, so for the second year in a row, he has had a donut pyramid with a candle on top in lieu of a cake.)

On Saturday, we got up and drove to Knoxville to visit with Gran and Grandaddy. I may have mentioned that they came down a few weeks back for Corin's birthday, but between prior dinner plans on Saturday night and church commitments on Sunday morning, we didn't even get to talk to them until brunch on Sunday. So, we took the kids up there to visit. Gran and Grandaddy had bought two new treats for the kids: A very cool 3-D book and a real ceramic tea-set. They enjoyed the book and really got a lot of mileage out of the tea set - at least until Pressley inevitably broke one of the plates on Sunday afternoon. It didn't keep her down long, though. That tea set was way too much fun to be put off by a little broken ceramic...


Gran and Grandaddy had a prior engagement on Saturday evening, so we went out to eat at a seafood restaurant near our hotel that Corin remembered fondly from the days when he used to work for his mom. And then we went back to the hotel and let the kids swim in the swimming pool - despite the fact that this activity kept them up way past their bedtime. We were amazed by the fact that Evan can still swim as well as he could the last day of last summer. There was absolutely no hesitation and no re-learning involved. He literally dove in and swam around like he'd just done it yesterday.


Then, on Sunday, we went back over to Gran and Grandaddy's apartment. The temperature had dropped at least 20 degrees overnight, so after brunch we had to really struggle to think what we could do with the kids indoors. We hatched this plan: we would drive around UT campus to show the kids the sights from their book "Hello Smokey!", then we'd let them play on their favorite playground (Briefly. Did I mention how cold it was?), then we'd take them to the Knoxville Museum of Art which, according to the web, has a children's exploratory gallery. On the tour of UT, Evan says, "Um, Daddy... Can we stop driving around and looking at things and just go straight to the park?" I thought it was a lot funnier than Corin did. But, he's a good daddy, so he headed on over to the park. The kids enjoyed the park despite the cold and we found the exploratory gallery, while small, was very cool.

The kids at Fort Kid in Knoxville

Exploratory Gallery at Knoxville Museum

Is that enough detail on our weekend? I did leave out a few things, like what we wore, etc. You can maybe pick up on that from the attached photos. Even more photos available at the Jan-Mar link under albums. And, as promised, the video of Corin skating just before he fell out of the frame. There is no video of me because I'm smart enough to keep the camera close when I am doing something that I haven't done in 25 years. It is a little dark, but you will be able to get the idea.