North Carolina keeps calling me

Fr. Hale, the former headmaster of the school I attended and later worked at, turned 90 on April 15th. They threw a party for him and I thought it was as good a reason as any to return to NC, yet again. It just so happened that my nephew was also starring in his high school play that weekend too. Lucky me!

So, of course, I packed up the family and headed to Wilmington and then on to Raleigh. It was a busy weekend, to say the least, but it was alot of fun too.

First, we headed to Wilmington...about 8 hours from home. We got there in time to eat dinner and head off to the play. Rena was my date for the night and Blair stayed at my brothers with the twins.

My brother, father, other nephew, daughter, sister in law and her parents were all there for my nephew's play. It was awesome! I'm so impressed with what high-schoolers can do. The play was a lot of fun and you could tell that they all put so much work into it! Rena made it almost to then end.







My brother cracks me up. A little post-play entertainment! Too funny.

We got up the next morning and headed to Raleigh for Fr. Hale's birthday. I was really hoping to stop and see one of my Aunt's in Wallace AND to pick strawberries, but there just wasn't enough time. We got to the party just in time. I look like crap in this picture, but it's the only one I had of Fr. and Mrs. Hale. There were lots of old teacher, parents and students there. I actually expected to see a lot more people, but it was still fun and I got to see some people I haven't seen in a really long time.

My best friends mother was there. She happens to be my Godmother.

Beverly. Hasn't changed a bit. I've know this woman my whole life. She's quite a character. She and my mother used to work together and then I worked with her for years. I'm not sure what she's saying out of the corner of her mouth, but my guess would be that it's something obscene. I hope my children will have people with this much character in their lives.


Rachel and Riley practicing for their future in the music business. This was at my brother's house, where there's always something cultural to keep us entertained.



The last shot. I tried really hard to get a good picture with all 3 girls. They were done, though and in no mood to cooperate. I really can't blame them. We'd drug them all over the state by this point!



So the play was on Friday night, the birthday party was on Saturday afternoon and we had decided to stay in Raleigh that night instead of heading back to the ATL. We drove out to our old neighborhood and stopped by our backdoor neighbors house. It was so great to visit with them and catch up on everything.

The next day, we tried to find a strawberry patch to go picking but they weren't opened yet. So we headed out to the cemetery to visit my mother's grave and the graves of friends and family. Sounds fun, doesn't it. I always feel like my mother would be pissed if I didn't stop by. hahahaha! I know, it's kinda morbid, but what are you gonna do?

From there, Blair and I parted ways and I headed back home...he headed off to work. Monday morning, the girls were e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d! I woke Rena up for school and she just burst into tears and was sobbing while she got dressed for school. I decided she could play hooky and she went back to sleep for 2 more hours. Poor thing, totally partied out!

As usually, it was great to be back in NC. The whole weekend was so much fun and my girls, well they are troopers!

Here, fishy fishy!

My next door neighbor is a wonderful lady. Her daughter has cerebral palsy and they have found a wonderful school for her. That school had a fundraising festival this weekend, so we went to show our support for our neighbor, Ms. Ruth and her daughter Hannah.

The festival was small, but fun. I was quite impressed with all they had going on, especially since it's a small school. And I was really impressed by the teachers! Amazing people.

Anywho, at one of the festival games, Rena won a goldfish. Then Rachel and Riley won goldfish. Whhooo-hooo. NOT! I didn't need any more pets! But what is one to do with, now 6 goldfish in bags? On the way home, we stopped by PetCo to get the setup for the fish. I'm thinking classic fishbowl...pretty colorful rocks...the end. But NOOOOOooooo. Seems you need 1 gallon of water per inch of fish. 6 gallons! So we picked out a 10 gallon tank. (I'm sure you are familiar with the size. Most people probably have at least one, long forgotten, on a garage or attic shelf) Lights, a filter...each girl got to choose their own colored rocks, fish food. $80 later we are prepared to be good fish parent.

I should have offered the school $80 not to show the fish to the girls. ;) just kidding.

We got everyone home and all set up. We only lost 2, which I think was pretty good odds. The girls love them and check on them often during the day. The best part....I told the girls that if they stayed in their beds ALL night long, then they got to feed the fish. 2 nights of peaceful sleep. Maybe it was all worth it.

Busy, Busy, Busy

That has become the story of my life. How can one 'non-working' person be so freaking busy. Right now, all of my children are avoiding me. That is very good for them. The youngest has just pissed me off completely and I truly don't think I have been this mad at any of them, much less just one.

What happened? you ask.

Well, the elementary school had and Art night, followed by a brief PTA meeting, followed by a performance from the Chorus. All of that went great.

Then, I got up to go speak to the Principal. Rachel proceeded to pull napkins out of the dispenser and throw them at her sister. Then she mounted the stage and refused to leave. I managed to get her out of the building - literally kicking and screaming - only to have her dart back into the building, disappearing into the CROWD. Rena and Riley found her on the stage, yet again, where she was given a good old fashioned swat on the ass for her behavior. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I gave my 4 year old a good ass-popping on the stage of the elementary school in front of, God only knows who was watching. By this point I had tunnel vision. I also had Rachel's attention for a brief moment. THEN she and her 2 sisters ran back out into the parking lot, across the street and to the car. I was still in the lunchroom. By this point, my embarrassment had turned to pure anger...an emotion I rarely feel. As I walked out of the building, into the crowd of people leaving the school, they crossed BACK across the street and headed toward me.

There was no talking on the 5 minute drive home. Once here, Rachel got a true ass-whooping. And was sent to bed. I'm still mad.

All of this madness while I am trying to speak to the Principal of the school and the PTA president, and the few parents that I know. I am mortified. Also an emotion I rarely feel.

I feel slightly better just getting this off my chest. What I'd really like, is the ability to carry on an adult conversation without constantly being on guard for a misbehaving child. Oh to be able to complete a sentence (I said put that back and get up off the floor) without having to insert an instructional sentence in the middle. People probably think I'm crazy.

Sad News

You know. You just know. No words really need to be spoken, although they always are. Because even though you know, it still needs to be said and it needs to be heard. The first step in making it real.

I got a call this morning from the school where I once taught. Before I even answered, I knew what it was about. A girl....well really a woman, I used to work with lost her battle with cancer. Mean old unfair cancer. She has 3 daughters. Now they have no mother. She has a husband. Now he has no wife. They do have a wonderful support system, and that's something. And she's no longer in pain.

I first met Lisa when she was hired to take over our Afterschool Care program. She was a little bit younger than me, but had grown up in the same area and she had that rare 'Old Raleigh' feel about her. She was smart and confident and she got things done. She became part of that St. Timothy's family and she brought her children into the family too.

I'm so very glad I got to know Lisa and her family. In some small ways, she's had a big impact on me. I know she will be missed and that she has left a big hole to be filled. I wish I could be there to show my support of both the Ham family and the St. Timothy's family. My heart breaks with yours.

Rest in peace, Lisa Ham.

Hello long lost blog. So much has been happening...nothing exciting, just the whirlwind of life.

So, a little catch up.

Fall is the most hectic time of the year for me. Between school starting back and 3 birthdays back to back, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. No wonder my head is spinning. Add to that the economy and then pflttt! swamped I tell ya.


Well, here's a quick synopsis.

August:

Rena started Kindergarten. She loves is. I'm not a big fan. There will be a whole, independent post about that one day. I take her to school everyday and the bus brings her home. I wasn't going to let her ride the bus to start with, but the closer the beginning of school got, the more brave she got. I figured I'd let her do it if she wanted too. Why hold her back?

We went back to NC for our Family Reunion. It's the first one we've done in a really long time. I planned it and was pretty much in charge of it. My Aunt and my Dad helped out some too. It was alot of fun seeing everyone, but if we do it again, I want to enjoy it more. It was hard to just relax because I wanted it to go well for everyone. It did!

September:

The twins start preschool AND the have their 4th birthday all in the same week. They LOVE their preschool and so do I. The only go 2 days a week which gives me a little break. They would love to go everyday.

The volunteer bug evidently bit me hard. I am the co-president of the preschool parent association. It was lots of work to start with, but I think (well, I hope) it's going well. I love the other mother that is doing it with me. We've got a ying-yang thing going on.

The twins' birthday party was a water party. To hell with the water restrictions, it was all taps open for this. We had a baby pool, a slip n slide and just a regular old sprinkler. The cake was a cool little mermaid. They loved it. I was going to do water balloons too, but completely forgot! Oh well, maybe that's how we'll celebrate the first day of summer!

Next up was Rena's birthday. I did a camping party for her and made a cute little 'tent' cake. We had hamburgers and hotdogs, roasted marshmallows and beaded necklaces. It ran way over, but it was fun.


Then it was time for Halloween. A cold wet rainy Halloween. But we got our candy and we were happy.

November:

This year we decided to go to the Outer Bank for Thanksgiving. Grandmom and Grandpop's house. Blair was furloughed and then had vacation, so it worked out great. Unfortunately they had just had a big Nor'easter, so the beach was a bit of a mess. But quite honestly, I'm happy any time I'm near the ocean. It was a great week.

December:

Christmas. Need I say more. Of course you couple Christmas + small children + 'economic downturn' and it leads to a VERY stressful month.

As you can see, my Christmas pictures ended up at the top of this post. I'll fix it later. Right now, I've gotta get to girls off to preschool. You'll notice there aren't any other pictures. I lost alot of them in the big computer crash of the Fall of 09. Dammit. Luckily I have some on snapfish and some on facebook, so they're not gone forever. I'll try to get them over here later too.

So, There you go, see how busy I am! I'll be back and hopefully make a little more sense later.

Blogging before blogging was cool

In preparation for our recent family reunion, I asked people to bring pictures if they had any. I know that Shannon scanned some in for us. They are really old and grainy. I'll continue to look for pictures on my end too. If you have some you would like to post here, let me know and I will give you authorship for this blog, or you can mail or email them to me and I will post them.

So, that's Jim Bob and Rena in the picture above. I don't have a date for that picture.

I don't know if many of you know it or not, but Granny (Rena) used to write little articles for The Enterprise in Wallace. Aunt Devilla made some copies for me and I thought I would share them on here. I hope you enjoy this slice of life from the early '60's as much as I do. Unfortunately, the dates have been deleted from the article, so we can only guess as to the true date.

MY TRIP TO RALEIGH...

by Mrs. Rena Williams

Wallace, N. C.

I arrived home recently from my trip to Raleigh. I was gone a week but it was nice to get back home again, where I can see the sun rise and get a drink of water that doesn't taste like it has quinine in it. I always like a drink of water when I get up in the morning but I don't like bitter water. I know why people in Raleigh drink so much coffee - the water is so bad they have to flavor it up with something and coffee is about the only thing they can use and stay on their jobs.

I can't say I enjoyed my trip to Raleigh because my son stopped outside of the town limits and picked up two men who said they were trying to get to Greensboro. By the time they got in the car and shut the door, I felt like I was in a beer joint. The odor they had was so strong it almost made me dizzy. I wanted to open a window but it was too cold. I almost had a "crink" in my neck by the time I got to Raleigh from trying to look both backwards and forwards. I felt like I had to see what they might do and I wanted to see where I was going - and that was hard to do at the same time.

We got to my son's house about four o'clock and was his wife tired! She had been house cleaning and washing and trying to please their two-and-a-half-year-old son, who had been sick and wanted her to do everthying for him and wouldn't let her do anything else. I tried to be helpful and give her a hand, but I soon got out for the way, beause he wouldn't even let me look at him straight.

I used to have a remedy that would cure such spells but you can't use it now days for it will make the child nervous and it is so much better to be nervous yourself. He is a sweet child when he is well.

I didn't get lonesome for music or noise while I was in Raleigh as they have a TV, hi-fi radio and a boy - and if one wasn't running, the other was!

Another thing, you don't have to wear sun glasses to keep the light out of your eyes because the blinds are always pulled. If people used green shades like they used to they would sleep themselves to death, for they wouldn't know day from night. I really had to blink my eyes for three mornings up there for when I peeped out, there was a snow on the ground.

My son brought his movie camera home Christmas and took pictures of all the family and grandchildren opening their presents and I didn't have any idea everyone was moving around so much. It looked like you had thrown a brick in a wasps nest. Children were running this way and that way. I had often wondered what I would look like to myself, if I could see myself walking or sitting around, and now I know - terrible! But we did enjoy the movies even though they were more like comedies than anything else.

I enjoyed my visit and I didn't have anything to do but sit around and think about the day I would go home and thus I got to thinking that sometimes people go up there and don't come back home, so that makes me even happier that I am back home.

When I was up there over a year ago, I came home with the coffee habit and now I almost have the coffee nerves!

On to Grandmom's house. Ok, there's a Grandpa too, but he doesn't get referenced in the travel lingo.

Grandma's house is a pretty laid back place where we get to hang out with Grandmom, Grandpop and the dogs. And if that wasn't great enough, it's walking distance to the beach. Rachel actually managed to stay awake...at least for a little while.

Believe it or not, this is all 3 girls. Sound asleep. On the beach. And me, without anything to read.

Grandmom and Riley enjoyed some together time.

Rachel in her normal 'day at the beach' pose.

The water at Grandmom's is a little cooler that it is farther south. I won't go in at all.

A new form of catching waves.

We had some rain while we were at Grandmom's. Rena took full advantage of it by riding her bike through it....again and again and again.

Grandmom also hooked us up with some cool tickets to see Charlotte's Web down in Manteo. A live, outdoor play. Very cool.

See. There is a Grandpop. And he read us stories.

Rena was not deterred by cold water. Not at all.

Luckily Daddy's blood has a few Northern drops in it, so he doesn't mind the cold water so much.

Pure beach joy!

This one. Well, she's got attitude.

This is one of those picture that I wish I could reach into and adjust the subjects. If Rena was just a little further to the right, this picture would be perfect. But if there's one thing I've learned about THESE subjects, it's that they are not at all cooperative. I still like this picture. and I love the subjects!

This one! She cracks me up too.

On to Wilmington

The next stop on the vacation tour '09 was to my brother's house where we were able to settle in for the week. Ok, settle in is probably a misnomer. We hit the ground running with 3 boat trips and a couple of runs to Topsail Island where my best friend and her family were staying. I don't even remember the order of events, so I'll just comment on the pictures. Vacation's supposed to be one big blur, isn't it?

Riley and Rena enjoyed playing in the driveway, practicing their art skills with sidewalk chalk. I was mighty impressed that Rena wrote dog and cat all by herself. When I asked her what A-N-E-R spelled she looked at me funny and said, 'Rena'. Ah! How did I miss that?

This was a sandbar that had formed in the marsh near an inlet. HUGE sandbar. We came here twice. What a great place to hang out for the day. Of course, you have to be outta there by high tide! But in the mean time, there were lots of sand dollars to find sand to play with and water to splash around in.

Rachel contemplating the boat ride.

Rena enjoys the breeze.

My brother looking fit and fab as he approaches the big 5-0.

Miss Riley, always the fashionista.

Rena sorting through her bounty of shells.

A little post beach yogurt break.

Some bubbly fun.

This is how Rachel spent most of her beach days. My brother was worried that she was missing the party. I had to inform him the she is the party.

Soaring high. Seagulls seem to be able to spot small children as an excellant source of food from miles away.

This is the life.

Running with the gulls.

The sisters go exploring.

Next was my favorite island. We anchor on the sound side up in the marsh and then we can hang out there, or traipse across the little island to the ocean. I choose ocean! Great beach, warm water, calm ocean, blue skies. What more could one hope for.

Everyone brings their kids and dogs. Lots of friends show up. At first, I thought that it was cruel for the kids to be burying this dog. Poor dog. Then I realized that the dogs were lining up for their turn!

This was one BIG dog. And he's just a puppy. He wanted to play, but I think his size freaked the other dogs out.

Blair spent a little quality time in the waves with his girls.

I'm trying to feed my 'gluten-free-you-eat-too-much-crap-you-can-eat-that' spouting brother a nutter-butter. Maybe that'll shut him up.

This little boy hit the jackpot. 3 beautiful girls AND cookies!

Cousin Ryan snuggling with Rena.

a little game time on the beach.

This is Riley. But it looks like Rachel to me...since she's the one who's usually asleep.

I took the girls up to Topsail one day to see my friend an her family. She was here from Boston, so it was a perfect opportunity to see each other. Plus, I hadn't met her son. What a fat little cutie he is. I was dissappointed that I didn't get to hold him, but I think he was a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of people around him. We got to hang out on the beach for awhile and catch up. One day, I'll get to go to Boston again, and then I'm gonna give him a big squeeze!