More Grease Festival Pictures...

Coach Princess was the MC for the Grease Festival. She did a fabulous job. Her real name is Regina, but all of my children have been in her P.E. class at one time or another. All of the children at school call her Coach Princess, so we do too. 

There was a small parade for the opening ceremony. A local woman was our Athena Goddess for the day. Ms. Carter is involved in every non-profit in town in one way or another and is a great cook as well. She was nominated for the position by multiple people and got to wear a sash and sit on a throne. During the parade, she walked front and center. Betsy and Trisha (our fearless leaders) carried Grease Festival flags on either side of the goddess.

This vintage fire truck was in the children's area for them to play on and look at. I was lucky enough to get a picture of it before the event actually opened. The rest of the day children were climbing all OVER it. 

Coolbone Brass Band was there. These guys are so cool.

One of my favorite vendors had to be this one: 

The Food Fighters Bustaurant was just so neat. I actually wanted to eat food out of a school bus. The guys who came to work the event were so chill and fun. 

We had a state trooper hanging around for the day too. All the children loved seeing him there....I did too....It really did make me feel better knowing how many law enforcement officers were on the square. You never know what might happen when thousands of people are packed into an area as small as our downtown. 

It was a beautiful day. 

More Salad...Less Fries...To Recover...

The Athens Grease Festival was this past weekend. It was a fabulous day! If you were there, I'm so glad you came! If I didn't speak to you, it was because I was tired, stressed, and BUSY. The amount of time that the steering committee put into this project would probably surprise you. I tip my hat to them. 

Allison, Ashley, Betsy, Holly, Mac, Patrick, Russell, Selinda, Trisha, Wendy - You are a fabulous crew of volunteers, and I am honored to have spent the last several months working with you in order to plan this event. Did I leave anyone out? If so, I am terribly sorry. 

On to the grease....

Layton loved the ribbon fries. 

These do look like greasy deliciousness.

Hadley thought she was uber cool. She kind of was. After she got a bite to eat, I forced her to volunteer in several areas during the day. She needs those community service points for school clubs. 

Layton ran around in the kids' area for a good portion of the day. Poor thing wanted to get all the gold medals...he didn't realize there was a limit to how many each child could have. 

I didn't see much of Ella. When I did see her, it was like this:

Mouth full of food, face painted, toga hanging on, running to her next activity.

Oh yeah, J was there too.

Get Greasy with Me...

It's time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Athens Grease Festival is tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures from last year's event. 

Come out and celebrate all things fried and Greek!

P.S. I'll be the woman running around like I've been mainlining speed all day. 

Hair Mates...

Layton and his hair mate taking a rest break during a soccer game. Too cute for words.  

Game Day...Not J. Crew Style...

Most people sport their houndstooth. Not the Enabler and Her Codependents.

We floss our teeth on the quad.



And give coy looks over our shoulders. 

And make wild faces with bunny ears on top.

A Day at Bryant-Denny...

Hilarious. 

Me - trying to smile and look 40 pounds lighter in a picture.

Ella - trying to hide her embarrassment.

Layton - Rocking out for no apparent reason.

Location - In front of Bryant-Denny Stadium. Woot woot!

We had a lovely day. We arrived early enough to get into the stadium without too much fuss or commotion. 

I just had to take a picture of Ella using her bloggie. She made videos and pictures through out the whole game. It was as if she had never been to a game before.

I was able to trick them into giving me a decent smile. Ella had a hat hair issue, and Layton has a loose tooth that is leaning over so far it looks like he's lost a tooth. Nonetheless, they smiled without crazy faces or hand gestures. 

That lasted about 2 seconds. 

Whoosh. I was almost over stimulated by the loud music and flashing lights, and then, that gosh darn Saban came out and pumped me up even more. 

Good ole Broadway Joe was there. Ella had my camera at the time, so I forced her to take a picture of him on the big screen. For an Alabama fan, this is like seeing the disciple John. Was that sacrilegious? 

We had an excellent day complete with pom poms on our heads. 

 

No, this is not the end. I have at least one more post coming with more pictures of us behaving completely inappropriate in public. 

I'm Telling on You...

We had a busy weekend. What were we doing? We were on our way to the Alabama football game, that's what! Last minute tickets came our way, so this was a spur of the moment decision to load up and go. We only took the littles because Hadley has such an active social calendar these days. Ha! Seriously, she already had plans, so it worked out perfect since we only had four tickets. Whew.

Layton was as impish as ever. Can you tell?

 

 

 

I don't have any idea what he was telling me, but clearly, I got told.

More pictures from our day to follow....

Random Thoughts and Observations...

-I wash my hair twice a day. You read that correctly. Twice. Every. Single. Day. I realize that this goes against every piece of advice that the hair gods have ever given me. My hair squeaks it is so clean. It is also dry and breaks easily, but at least it is clean.

-My days have been reduced to saying check after everything I do.
Make lunches. Check.
 Argue with Layton about why he cannot go to school sans pants. Check.
Coerce the sloth-like oldest child to get out of bed. Check.
Drop off all the children and experience 5 minutes of freedom on the drive to work. Check.
Just try to keep my head above water at work while making it look like I have my monstrous desk under control. Check.
Eat complex carbohydrates and trans fat at lunch. Check.
Hate myself for eating complex carbohydrates and trans fat at lunch. Check.
Get in the first of three car lines. Check.
Spend an hour and a half fighting through car line traffic, while secretly giving the finger to parents who don't follow car line etiquette, while attempting to keep which ever children are already in the car quiet, waving at the traffic attendant while actually calling him/her an acehole under my breath, stop at every single traffic light in town while navigating between three schools. Check
People, I could drive to Nashville or Birmingham in the amount of time it takes me to get home with my three children after school. The school that is the farthest from our home is Ella Channing's. It is a whopping 4.82 miles from my house, yet I spend an hour and a half trying to get home every day.
Have emotional breakdown because my children are "not touching" and screaming about it. Check.
Remind Layton that putting his foot in Ella Channing's face while squealing, "I'm not kicking you" is not the best behavior in the car. Check.
Wonder why no one has invented a nifty swatter thingy that I could use to simultaneously hold the steering wheel with my left hand while beating the children with the swatter in my right hand. Check.
Call patent attorney. Hell, I'll do that tomorrow.
Give J a hello hug when he gets home from work. Check.
Make an effort to remember what is on the calender. No check. I have to actually look at it.
Just hang on until bedtime. Check.
Get in the bed and congratulate myself for surviving another day without committing a felony. Check.


-Do you read Grass Stains? I do and love it. I'd like to think that some of my random thoughts and observations are almost as cool as her Uncomfortable Truths. I said almost.

-I'm eagerly anticipating Fall weather. I'm ready for boots.

 

-I listen to 90s on 9 sometimes. The other morning this was on:

Ahhhh, Nelson. I met them once. Gunnar smelled nice. That is the extent of my Nelson knowledge. Carry on.

-Did I mention the head shot thing? I don't think I have mentioned it on the blog. I had to have a head shot made for work. It was the single most cruel thing I have ever experienced. Don't get me wrong. Amy Boston Photography was fabulous. It was all me. I do not like having my picture made. Period. I feel very, very uncomfortable in front of a camera. I was sweating and nervous and that translated into twice as much make up as was necessary. Amy had to remind me to breathe. Then, like a crazed ex-girlfriend, I begged her co-photographer to make the memory card malfunction and to make it look like Crayola had not gang banged my face. There is no way I won't post a link to the picture once it is up. It will be so embarrassing that I will have to share it.

-I hope you all have a great weekend! I have a busy weekend planned and cannot wait to get it going!

Random Thoughts and Observations...

Yayayayayayayayayayyaya!!!!! It is the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means it is time for a celebration!!!!!!!! Like this....

...maybe not like this. This. Actually. Took. Place. A. Few. Weeks. Ago. My family takes redneck to a whole other level. Bonfires and partially lit Christmas trees in August? Excellent idea.

-I received a phone call from a client I barely know. I think we might have met once. He was returning a call that I had placed to him. Cue the moment of panic.

Did I call him? I don't remember calling him. Do I even have his number? Come to think of it how did he get my number? This isn't going to end well. Is it?

Caller: What did you want to ask me about?

Me - first thing that came to mind: Do you take sugar? One lump or two?

Hindsight, people. Hindsight makes it obvious that quoting a Def Leppard opus is not an appropriate way to attempt covering your tracks. Also, it turns out that referring to any Def Leppard song as an opus is offensive to all music officiandos. Color me rude. On a side note, I had not called him. He just thought it was me. :)

-My feet are ridiculously cold right now. I joke that one of the partners at work is going through manopause because he likes to keep it cold. BUT, I think my toes are actually purple at this moment in time.

-At the time this random thought was typed, I was functioning just above hungover. I knew it was coming too. It had been hot, and I had not consumed enough water. I didn't eat dinner because it was just too hot to eat a hot dinner. I ate one tomato instead. Then, I had drinks down the street. I knew the last splash of bourbon was a mistake, but I drank it anyway. Also, I am bidding on a really cute Kate Spade purse on ebay. Does that not seem related to the hangover? Well it is. If I hadn't been drinking bourbon, I never would have bid on the cute purse.

Edited to Add: I did not win the cute purse. 

The Time I Got Fleas...

-There is a flea market not too far from where we live that I have been intrigued by for quite some time. There are lots of handmade signs along the highway advertising the Ghost Town Flea Market. Let me be blunt. It's a little scary looking. While heading home from Huntsville one day, I looked over at J and said, "Let's stop." Full disclosure: I was totally kidding, but I guess it wasn't obvious. Home boy whipped the car in the muddy parking area faster than I could catch my breath and admit to being silly.

 More disclosure: there was definitely a smell. Ella was unable to hide her disapproval.

If you haven't ever stopped by the Ghost Town (or Ghostown), you might want to consider it. There are some sights to see. :) There are also interesting people to meet. 

Would You Claim Me?...I Think Not...

Things that surprise me:

-How much food Layton eats.

-Episodes of Scandal. Olivia Pope and her codependents never fail to make me use various combinations of the words Oh, My, and God.

-The things I find under my sofa when I pull it out to vacuum on occasion.

-The Chick-Fil-A people. Are they ever unhappy? I would be the employee that would get fired for saying, "It's not a great day at Chick-Fil-A, but I have to pretend to be chipper even though I just told my child that, 'I understand why some species eat their young.' Oh, it was my pleasure."

-People of Wal-Mart. It's so wrong, but if loving it is wrong, I don't want to be right.

-The fact that our local high school has a Jumbo Tron. Every time I see it, I make a sound that is a mix between a giggle, a snort, and a gasp. Does anyone else see it and immediately pray that the "More Cowbell" skit will play? If not, you obviously haven't been to a Mississippi State home game.



Things that do not surprise me:

-Hadley attempting to escape my death grip of embarrassment.

-Hadley still trying to escape my grip even after I promise to be good for one picture. 

-Hadley successfully escaping my grip once I try to get all three codependents in one picture.

 

See that? She's actively breaking away in this picture. It looks like there might be a solid two inches between my hand and her shoulder. She did the whole dip down and twist a little bit thing to escape. Ella noticed it too.

Seriously, if I were your mother, you'd probably run from me in public too. lol.