Looking up...Looking for Hope...

This is a special week. Thanksgiving. There are many things for which I am thankful.

My energetic, sometimes odd, twerking family.
My job.
My home.
Things like that. I am very, very thankful for what I have in life. I am even thankful for many things that I don't have in life. I have it pretty darn good.

This past Sunday during the 11:00 worship hour I looked around the sanctuary at all the thankful people. I saw mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, best friends, sisters, brothers, lawyers, soldiers, business owners, government employees, nurses, ministers, artists, children...I saw hope.

 

I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving. I hope you all enjoy your turkey and dressing. I hope you see the good in the world. I hope.

A Ball up Top...

At the moment, I am feverishly trying to balance life. I have said yes to more than I should have and am paying for it with sleep deprivation. Life is one big balancing act though. Just ask Layton.

 

Whip It Good...

-I am at a loss. The words are not coming. I have severe bloggers block. Is that even a thing? Maybe I finally ran out of ridiculous things to put out there for the world to see. Maybe I have finally accepted that I am a crap-tastic blogger. Or maybe I just have other things on my mind. Anyway - I am trying to come up with posts. This one will be lame.
                                     

-When I found out that a young man (whose parents I know) is an archaeologist, I asked if he had a bull whip, leather jacket, and fedora. That might not have been the most supportive question I could have asked. I did refrain from asking if I could call him Dr. Jones though. I think Ella would make a good archaeologist. She's inquisitive and will spend hours on a seemingly unimportant task. I would not be a good archaeologist. I would be the person yelling, "just whack one and go!" If you haven't heard the whack one story, you haven't known me for more than 15 minutes.

 

-I am seriously considering going back to school to get another degree. I am not smart enough for all of this ACA stuff. I'm leaning toward public relations. Or porn.

-Ok, not really porn. I was just seeing if you were paying attention.

It's Just not Right...

Happy day, dear Internet friends! I hope you are all well. It occurred to me that some of you don't have an instagram account and are missing out on the hi jinks. Most of my pictures involve Layton because he is with me more than the girls. They are older and have friends that they run around with a lot. Layton still stays pretty close to home. Here are some recent pics from my instagram...

Starting in the upper left and moving clockwise....Layton and I hugging at the farm...Layton challenging a grown man to a dance off at a wedding...Layton dancing during a recent photo session...a breakfast date with my favorite little boy...Ella and Layton reading while waiting on the homecoming parade...

Instagram collage number 2 also has a picture of me in it. This is bizarre. I normally run from cameras.

Again, start in the upper left and move clockwise....my best porch buddies: Shannon, Gigi, and Kim...I gave blood...Hadley, annoyed with the fact that I am making her get her picture made...Ella going full on spazz in Justice....my dear friend Lori and I manning a golf tournament.

So that's what has been going on in places other than my blog. Now back to the usual boring content I post.

 

-Sometimes I wonder what is going on inside the minds of the children in the back of my car. I'm not sure what Layton and his friend were doing, but it was super fun.

-Seriously, why didn't I think of this...

...pure genius. It's a cooler and concealer all in one. 

-I have a friend whose parents are moving to Panama. That sounds like an awesome, good time to me. No really. I'm trying to figure out a way that I can assist with the move. From what I hear, Panama is a nice place. Although...I hear "Central America" and immediately become convinced that I will wind up in the hands of a cocaine cartel and can only be rescued by Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Bruce Willis, or maybe JCVD. I am, in fact, the only person on the planet who would be dumb enough to get nabbed by a cartel while shopping for new curtains. 

-I am also dumb enough to put my innermost thoughts and twisted ideas on the Internet. Maybe I should quit blogging. The lot of you that read this might be better off. I say lot; what I mean is 3. Does three qualify as a lot? I must google that later. 

-Other exciting news - I have mastered the art of meal planning. Don't bother telling me it's not an art. I will go to my grave convinced I have mastered something of great value and difficulty. Take that, Food Network. 

-Well, I suppose I should put this post in the scheduled section now. I have rambled for far too long. Take it easy. Have a good day. Rest well. Feel good about yourselves for you are all far better human beings than I. Much Love, A-Ro

Through Her Eyes...

When we went on a long walk in the woods with Ella, she took over the camera.

 

This is a moment Ella wanted to capture. I often wonder what we look like through her eyes. If I let her use the camera more often, maybe I would figure it out. 

The Not so Calm Moments...

Ella Channing and Layton sat and waited for the homecoming parade. They let me take a few pictures. Hadley was in the parade, so that's why I had my camera out. :)

Layton had to photobomb Ella's moment.



And then he attacked her with a kiss. 

They were actually pretty good for this outing in public. We didn't have a single melt down or DHR call worthy moment. 

The Calm before the Storm...

They look so calm and sweet. They are sweet. This kind of calm doesn't last long though.

 

Thank You!!!

Happy Veteran's Day!!!!! I'd like to give the men and women who serve this country a big ole THANK YOU!!!

Take My Picture with This Tree...

Having a camera within 20 feet of Ella means one thing. "Take my picture. I'm going to model for you."

I tell her how pretty she is and what a good picture I just took.



Oh, no, that is not enough. I have to take one of her with J. 

Ten feet into the woods I have to take one of her with a tree. 

And the same tree but a different pose...

And sitting on this tree...

And in front of this dirt...

 

And in the field of deer salad...

And by the pond...

And pretending to be full of it...

And by this tree stump...

And looking at deer hoof prints in the mud...

She does not get her love of the camera from me. I would rather have a stomach virus than have this many pictures taken of me. 

Walking with Magritte...

Not too long ago J, Ella, and I went for a long walk in the woods. The other 67% of my children chose not to go on an adventure with J and me. I can't ever imagine why. Bwhahahaahahaah.

I took just under 25,015 pictures. Not really but it did seem that way when I was flipping through them later. Ella demanded a photo op every 15 steps. :) Poor middle child, no one gives her enough attention.

One picture stood out for me. She found a gigantic leaf, and I told her to hold it up for me. When I looked back at the pictures, I instantly thought about The Son of Man.

 

When Hadley was itty bitty, my older brother gave her a book. The book was called Dinner at Magritte's. It's an adorable children's book that is about a boy named Pierre who sneaks away to his neighbor's house. The neighbor is Rene Magritte, and his house guest is Salvador Dali. The whole publication is illustrated with bowler hats, melted clocks, flying fish, and other tributes to the artists' works. This book was one that all three of my children had me read to them ad nauseam.
 As I looked at this picture, I couldn't help but wonder if somewhere in her little mind, she thought about Magritte. I asked her to hold it up. She did just that. 

Oh, Bull...

 

There was a mama in the throws of labor when I was walking around with these cows. It was a Moo-ving experience.

I have no shame. Or humor.

Because I'm Busy...

Yo! Sorry I haven't had time to flesh out any posts the last few days. Things have been busy. Ella made the All Stars for soccer, so I'm completely obsessing over it. Here are two pictures of my girl. Please accept this generic post as clever content.



I never claimed to be creative or gifted in the writing department, so this is the best I can come up with quickly.

 

Let's kick it. 

Enough...

Ooooo, I'm pretty sure that if looks could kill, I would be six feet under.

 

Why? Just Why?...

Another unfinished post. I don't even know where I was going with this one....the only words in the post make up a lovely fragment under the picture. Surely there was a point. No, and stop calling me Shirley.

And I am pepper.

Cheesy Boy...Slacker Mom...

This picture has been in my draft section for months. Months. I'm tired of being taunted by the draft section when I log into blogger.

So, I'm going to start publishing my unfinished posts. I'm not even going to bother completing them. It's time to clean house, and some of these pictures are so old that my children don't even look that way anymore. I'm a slacker.

Unfinished Post #1: This picture didn't even have any words with it. It was just a picture in a draft post!

 

This might get ugly.

Too Much Fun...

Too much fun will cause a little girl to sleep in the backseat of a Jeep.

 

Sure, I'll Smile...

"Hadley." I am met with silence. I try again.  "Hadley." Still no answer from the eldest of my three. "Hadley!! Come here. I want to get one picture of you in your competition outfit before we leave for the football game."

"Fine."

And so she smiles in the driveway. But what you may not realize is that she is actually telling me to eat dirt. She's not saying it with her mouth. It's the eyes...and the iphone still firmly gripped in one hand. 

"Fine," she says, but what I hear is, "My God, woman, you have already taken no less than 1,800 pictures of me in all of my colorguard uniforms, and now you are dragging me out into the front yard to take more. There are people driving down this street who can see you acting like the Mamarazzi. Is the zoom lens really necessary? Did you just set your camera to action, so that you could take 15 pictures in 3 seconds? Is this almost over? I understand why people move to Serbia get away from their parents. Ireland Baldwin is the only other person on the planet who understands my embarrassment." 

And I dropped her off the the away game. I went on to the school later and tried to blend in with the crowd, so that maybe she wouldn't see me in the bleachers with my zoom lens and embarrassingly big purse.

I don't think she saw me.

That was a Goal...

Layton makes videos with his ipod and sends them to me. He has made several of himself playing paper football. After thumping the disposable clump over the goal he assembled from last week's spelling test, he looks right into the camera (on the ipod) and says, "That was a goal." He's proud of his ability to thump. I am proud of it too. In the grand scheme of things, being the class champion of paper football isn't a shabby title. I'm sure he will have many more titles in the years to come. Kids are like that. Nose picker, Pants wetter, baby, dumb dumb Howie - the nicknames and cruelty are meted out generously in elementary school and junior high. Some nicknames are bad, and some are hilariously adorable.
I just hope that when Layton inevitably receives a new nickname, that he will be able to look at the bestower and say, "That was a goal."

 

What do you think? Do you think Ella was able to whizz this one past him and score a goal of her own? 

All Good Deeds...Not Good Deeds...I Need Professional Help...

-The last few weeks have been very busy. The Athens Grease Festival and the Bojangles Apple Annie Golf Tournament have taken up a good bit of my time. Both were worth all the hard work though. I put these two activities in my "Good Deeds" column. I am a type A personality and tend to box up and column off everything in my life. Heck, you might even say that I organize everything in my life spreadsheet style. P.S. If I have emailed you a spreadsheet of things to be done, I apologize. Just because I have mad Excel skills I shouldn't force it on the rest of you....



Good Deeds        Grocery Store        To Do Today        What I Forgot Yesterday           Oh, Snap
-sell chicken         -dish soap             -sign up for             -if I remember it, I will            -SOCCER
  stew for the        -crackers                 CPE                        add it to the list                    TOURNAMENT
  band                   -oil                        -take soup                                                               -attempt to
-devise a way                                      to work                                                                   blog
  to raise enough
  money for handi-
  capped playground
  equipment at local
  parks

These are all actual things on my to do lists from this week. I know; I have issues.

-I loved the shirts for the Grease Festival this year. 

-A few weeks back an acquaintance asked me to make out with him. It discombobulated me. It took me so off guard that I was an a$$ when I replied. The last time a man even remotely showed interest in picking me up was in 2010, and he had one tooth and was hanging out at the Texaco. But, but, but at least he offered to pump my gas first. There wasn't even an offer of french fries or a beverage this time....just a straight up...Hey, let's make out. On average, I'd say that I get hit on once (almost twice) a decade. Amanda : Men : : Garlic : Vampires. So, this was not a moment that I knew how to handle with any kind of grace. J was full of hilarious responses when I told him about it. He gets a kick out of my awkwardness. Did you like my analogy? Did it give you SAT flashbacks?

-I have continuing education on Monday. It's a sales tax class. Try to contain your jealousy.

-Soccer is over. I'm actually a little bit glad. The schedules of the codependents this Fall has kept me hopping.

-If it were possible to read minds, I would be in trouble. My brain is like rapid fire, ADHD thought roulette. My blog posts are evidence of this.

-Does anyone else love the Elvis station on XM radio as much as I do? Listening to it has me considering a trip to Graceland. Again. I've taken the Platinum Tour more times that I should admit. Seriously.

-I think I would like to parlay hanging out at charity golf tournaments into a career...all I had to do was ride around in the golf cart taking pictures and drinking beer. Can one become a professional, charity golf tournament photographer? Probably not. It was fun though.

-It's time for the weekend! Let's all kick back and relax!