After church we were driving to go check on Ken's mother, as we were driving down Dorchester road Ken commented on how much SCEG is putting into all new poles, lines, etc... he also was wondering how much our bills are going to go up because of it. I commented on the new enclosure being set up for the transformers as well as we passed by and this set off a whole new conversation from that one little word "transformer".
Garrett perks up and wants to know where the transformers were and is desparately looking around to find them... in his mind transformers only mean - Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, etc. We tried to explain it to him but it just wasn't getting through. As the conversation went on, Ken says he works on transformers at work. Well, now Garrett is really stoked about the fact his daddy works on optimus prime and bumblebee. He desparately wants to go see his work. He told his dad that he needs the instructions because optimus prime is the hardest to work on because he's the biggest. Finally Ken had to give up the fight of trying to correct the image in Garrett's mind that his daddy works on TRANSFORMERS and go with it (with a little encouragement from me for ken to let it go). If Ken wasn't already legendary in the mind of his child he certainly fortified that place in Garrett's mind Sunday.
His daddy builds Transformers! How cool is that!
Unfortunately, this league is much more disorganized than I had realized. Seeing it from a different perspective other than just being the parent really opens your eyes. I'm not coaching her team but Ken is coaching Devon and Garrett's tee-ball team and that is how I'm aware of the lack of organization. Not to mention, her coach... its great he volunteered to coach but he doesn't possess the coaching ability. First, her team is made up completely of first time players... excuse me, 10 of the 11 players have never played ball. Up until the last practice that Ken ended up coaching because the other guy wasn't there, the girls didn't know a thing about the basics like where to run after hitting the ball. What the bases were or anything. We have been working with Noelle at home so she wouldn't be completely clueless when out on the field. Her league is coach pitch and well the guy can't pitch well. He throws them too flat and fast at the girls, they aren't consistant which is necessary for these little girls to be able to learn to hit the ball. There is so much more that I could say but if I keep going on about it, I will get all worked up again about it all. It deeply frustrates me because if a child is going to have a love for the game it will happen because of the coaching and experience that is provided from this first exposure to it. I know Noelle would be a good ball player, it's just in her and I hope she can still come out of this with enthusiasm and joy instead of frustrated and defeated.
So, the recipe for disaster was there. At their first time at bat, the girls didn't know to hit and run. They didn't have much to connect with at the plate. They barely knew where to run. They only knew to throw to first or to the pitcher to stop play. The coach was standing out in the field during play but not directing the girls at all. He was just standing there! I was frustrated. Only about 4 or 5 girls got to hit the first inning. I think we have only a girl or two that can actually catch a ball thrown at them. Our only outs were through strike outs up until the final inning when we finally made a couple of plays at the bases. WooHoo! Noelle's first time at bat she never connected with the ball (probably nerves, mixed with bad pitching, mixed with not the right bat). Then all of a sudden our third at bat and the girls starting connecting with the ball, immediately dropping the bat and running, running to their next base as soon as the hit was made, listening and looking for their third base coach, etc. What was so funny was that again because they never were taught anything, when they were running home they just stopped and stood right there. They didn't know to run through home and head to the dugout. It was funny and sad really. The inning stops once you have 3 outs or you bat through 10 girls which we did twice!! It was amazing how quickly they started looking like a team that had some skills. Noelle's second time at bat I was able to coach her a little better before she stepped up to the plate because she was up first and I got her a bat that fit her better. She was so excited to get that hit, run the bases and get to cross home plate. She made a few good plays in the field as well. I was very proud of her and she was proud of herself too.
(my mom better send me some of the pictures real soon!)
Brian and Annie having all the high tech equipment to google on their phone, found out where we needed to go to check out going on a ghost tour but we were too late for that as well. We were determined to do something touristy and had to settle on the much less desirable "Dark Side of Charleston" tour. This was a far cry from the original plan of a real history tour of Charleston. First of all we had planned on riding instead of walking (not a good plan when you wore heals but I toughed it out). Then we were expecting to learn the nice facts about buildings, notable people, etc instead we got facts about brothels, beatings, murder and other less savory information about Charleston.
Our tour guide kept staring off into space and I kept trying to see what he was looking at because he stared off in a weird way that made you think he was seeing something we should be looking at. He also had this very fake gullah accent that came and went and was so fake it was hard to understand him most of the time. This guy had a weird delivery of his information with weird jerky hand and head motions that often made you think he just thought of something else he wanted to add. It was very obvious that he had a soft spot for Madame Grace the first brothel owner of Charleston. The tour was one that you just say, yep I did it and never do again or suggest to anyone. We did learn a new cut down for whores... apparantly it is pretty bad if you call one a mattress girl. That is the lowest of low. We didn't finish the tour because well I was dern hungry after not eating anything since MOPS that morning. So we went to Southend Brewery for dinner then went to Wet Willy's for a couple of drinks. We had plenty of laughs with good friends. No matter what you do if your with friends, laughing and having a good time then that is a recipe for fun.
First Brothel in Charleston run by Madam Grace. She offered prostitutes "upscale" conditions, with their own rooms and charged an unheard of price of $3 to their johns.
Lower class prostitue houses. The only cost about $.50. They had to share rooms, these women had diseases and/or children, or other issues for making them less expensive. The children were taught to hide (in the walls usually) when they heard the johns coming and would rob them by going through their belonging while preoccupied.
Annie and Brian on the tour with us.
Ken and I on the tour
Annie and I at dinner.
A recent story was brought to my attention through another online forum addressing the issue of parents not being able to afford school lunches and how the school system is trying to resolve the issue by offering a simple lunch consisting of a cheese sandwich, fruit and milk. Here is the link to the story No more lunch bills: Schools go after deadbeats . There is mention of parents not happy with the policy, kids feeling embarrassed, etc.
Here's the thing, while unfortunate that a family cannot afford the price of a hot lunch at school for their children, they should appreciate that their child is getting something to eat. The school could easily not allow that child any food at all since they have maxed out their allowable unpaid charges for lunch. But since they know everyone has fallen on hard times and the children still need to eat; the school is doing the right thing for the children. So, they have come up with a cost effective alternative that won't hurt their budgets even more. People don't realize that even the schools are feeling the effects of the economic stains with the funds for schools being drastically cut as well.
These families that cannot afford regular priced lunches anymore can apply for free lunches or reduced lunches instead of expecting the school to feed their child the more expensive route while absorbing the growing unpaid balance. People are unappreciative of the fact their child is eating and not going hungry at school. They are unappreciative of the generosity of the school because it doesn't meet the standard they have come accustomed too. Well, guess what you don't get to regulate generosity or the act of giving.
It really burns me up when people complain about the amount of someone's generosity. The point is they don't have to give but they want to give without expecting anything in return. It reminds me of when I worked for this one company and at christmas we got a bonus, i was so thrilled with my bonus but many were complaining about the taxes that were taken out. Excuse me but did you have this money before? No, it is a gift and you should accept the amount no matter what it is because it is X number of dollars more than you had before. Yay, BONUS! People just don't get that. Just like in this instance. The child doesn't have money to buy food but yay, look here's a sandwich, some fruit and milk. Look at that, food that you didn't have before and now you do. Be thankful not ungrateful.
I recently came across an ad I made up a little over a year ago and it made me laugh. I ended up posting it on a mom's forum I am apart of for a venting release. Here is the ad:
Anyone want an Irish Setter, Hanna - FREE to semi good home???? I know I'm posting this in the exchange but there are no exchanges or refunds with this offer.
I'm so ticked off with this dog. She has always been able to roam free in the house while we are gone and I've never had a problem with her. NOW, in just the past couple of days she has knocked over my trash twice scattering its contents all over my house (like I need help making my house look trashy) eating anything in there. And yesterday when I walked in the door from church (lets just say its a good thing I got my religion that morning) she had not only gotten into the trash again, she ate my brand new loaf of bread!!!!
She is now and forever banned to her cage and will never again see freedom, if you have mercy on this dog you are welcome to have her.
*********BONUS OFFER*********
Thank you Garrett for giving her the taste of table food. Oh and since he was the one that started this whole thing he's available to a good home too.
(the fine print) For a limited time offer and this set can be broken up, it is not a package deal but the dog goes first... the owner has full discretion to accept or reject any offers.
Yesterday, I went to walmart to get items for taking to the church for our MOPs operation christmas child boxes. I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time to cook a meal for dinner since I had so many other errands and chores to get done. So, I bought a stouffers frozen family dinner - chicken enchiladas.
Devon my pickiest eater started crying, whining, making faces and hollaring YUCK from the moment he saw the box. No need to at least wait until it was cooked and he had taken a bite; he knew it was going to be yucky. Noelle, on the other hand, either out of sincerity or possibly to aggravate her brother went on and on about how yummy they are, how much she loves enchiladas complete with smacking her lips, rubbing her tummy and all other sorts of theatrics (she is a very dramatic child).
The time comes to sit at the table and feast. Noelle is still raving about the enchiladas commenting on how much she "LOVES" them. Now to be totally honest, they sucked!! It was awful. Devon, of course, is refusing to eat - he did actually take a bite to confirm his earlier thoughts. Ken and I are looking at each other inconspicuously making faces to each other. Garrett who will usually eat anything wont eat it. Noelle is still happily sticking to her conviction that it is great, yummy, loves enchiladas all the while her face is telling a different story. Her eating begins to slow down and her ethusiasm decreases rapidly the more she eats.
I start teasing Ken about how much is left over and how many lunches he will be able to get out of it. He gives me a look of "NO WAY" and points to the trash can. Then he turns to Noelle and says "Noelle, maybe mom can send some for your lunch tomorrow."
Finally, Noelle has to admit defeat and come clean with the truth. Noelle says, "I don't really like it but thanks anyway."
I should have known that dinner was going to blow because everytime Noelle acts overly enthused about what we are having and does all her theatrics about how much she loves whatever it is we are having... dinner is a bust!
When October rolls around we always plan a family day for the pumpkin patch out at Legare Farms. This year we went the first weekend in October. The kids love to go there and romp through the pumpkin patch picking out their pumpkins and running through the mini corn maze. We alway take out some eats and drinks for relaxing under the gorgeous huge oak while the kids float from playing, swinging, sliding, climbing, digging, etc. to the picnic tables for replenshing their energy with food and drink. Generally we go early and stay through the mid afternoon. This year we decided to go early evening and stay until they close. It was a wonderful switch because it was a lot less crowded, the weather was perfect, and the night was crisp and clear. It made the hayride a delight as we gazed up at the sky dotted with thousands of stars. We didn't think to bring our flashlights so that we could have made the journey through the corn maze a few more times and creating a different experience for the kids. We are going to go again just to do the corn maze at night.
Just this weekend we carved the pumpkins we got from Legare Farms. The kids good friend Anderson came over to carve his pumpkin too which continued our tradition of doing our pumpkins together. Noelle, Devon and Anderson did most of the cleaning and some of the carving of the pumpkins themselves. Garrett did some of the cleaning and helped a little with his carving. The kids did a great job on their pumpkins and they turned out great. This year the kids agreed to not dress up (I didn't feel like doing costumes this year) for halloween to instead go to the fair (another favorite family day thing we do every year). So yea, no costumes and a great day at the fair coming up soon.
Noelle, Anderson, mine, Garrett, Devon (our pumpkins)
I'm mad because a few of the pictures that I took at the pumpkin patch are missing... I'll have to keep looking to see what happened to them.
Poor Ken catching heck again from the kids about his size and looks. Funny thing is that Ken has been losing weight too and his belly isn't near as big as it was a few months ago. Kids are so very honest is their observations.... I'm just glad its not me they use too often for their analogies with size.
1) He generally snoozes the alarm several times.
2) I knew he wasn't late because there weren't any other comments along with getting up
3) I knew he wasn't late because he wasn't rushing around like he was late.
Even though, I thought this was unusal, I just turned over and tried to fall back asleep until my turn to get the alarm. Ken goes into the bathroom, turns on the light, seconds later turns the light back off and returns to the bedroom. Now, I'm really puzzled. I hear him messing with the alarm clock - resetting the time (I assume for me and my wake up time because this is what he does for me every morning before he leaves the room). I am thinking, he must have decided to not go to work today. My curiosity is killing me and I finally speak up... "what are you doing?" Ken replies, "I'm resetting the alarm, I got up too early, I didn't get my snooze."
WTH?? He is going to get back in bed and reset the clock for a snooze?? That is like at the max 10 minutes. Is he crazy! Who can really sleep for 10 minutes?? Which technically he's already wasted several of those minutes from the getting up, walking to the bathroom, checking his clock in the bathroom, walking back to the bed, resetting the clock and then explaining to me what the heck is going on and then listening to me crack up at his reasoning. When you say you got up too early I'm thinking you got up 30 minutes to an hour early because something happened when setting the clock... 10 minutes is not too early.
This just tells me that he is sleep deprived and needs to get better quality sleep so that he doesn't have to miss his 10 minutes of snooze time ever again.
For Devon's birthday we went to Washington, DC to see the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian. We also did some of the regular sightseeing while there. We wanted to make sure the kids saw where the president lives and some of the other prominent monuments.
When we were walking around the white house talking about who lived there, etc. Noelle asked who our president was. I told her his name. Then I went on to tell her that he wouldn't be living there much longer because his term of service was about to be over and soon another president would live there after all the people voted for the person they wanted to become our next president. She asked who those people were. I told her there were 2 main candidates - John McCain and Barack Obama. To which she said, I want him to win (meaning Obama because that was the last name I said). I asked why. She said because she liked his name. Then she asked who we wanted to win. Ken told her and then of course she decided that is who she wanted to win too.
I thought, oh crud, we are really going to have to teach her about educating herself on the candidates and choosing the person that best fits her beliefs on policy. She already is demonstrating exactly how people vote (granted she is just a child but you have to start somewhere). Either people don't know squat about the candidate or their political agenda, they know the name and that's it. So when they walk into the voting booth, they see the name and vote. Or, they only know what has been handed down to them from generation to generation - I 'm a rep/dem because its what my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc were. Both are dangerous assumptions to make without being politically savvy, watching the debates, interviews and other political news (and watching more than just one news station because certain stations as well as newspapers are politically biased too). The kids will need to learn the importance of educating themselves and discerning the information provided to help mold their political decisions for the rest of their lives.
Okay on a lighter note... When visiting Arlington Cemetery (I did say a lighter note so bare with me) there is a sign at the beginnig of the walking path to remind visitors that this is a hallowed place to show honor, dignity and your respect to other visitors as well as the men and women buried there by being quiet, etc. I read the sign to the kids explaining its importance. Our destination was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to witness the changing of the guard. The kids really did a good job walking through the cemetery without being disruptive which made me proud. As we walked the paths and saw the sea of grave stones the kids were somewhat "getting" it. They said there are so many. I agreed. To think that those grave sites are only a fraction of the people that have died in all of the different wars - Words just can't quite describe the multitude of feelings that swell within you as you take in the sight. After the changing of the guard we headed back to the main gates. We were almost back to where we started and Devon noticed this detail and asked "When can we stop showing respect?" I laughed and said, "Never!"
We were on the bus riding to the airport when Noelle started asking about relatives, last names and why they weren’t all Traynham’s. I explained it to her and she understood what I told her because then she asked about the kids “uncle” Allen and “aunt” Sharon. I said, no they are not your real aunt and uncle but they love you and we love them so much that they are a part of our family. I said you know how much they love you… that if something were to happen to mommy and daddy to where we couldn’t be there for you anymore they would take care of you for us. Devon piped up out of nowhere asking what were Uncle Allen and Aunt Sharon’s phone numbers. I looked puzzled but told him anyway. Then he asked me if I would write it down on a piece of paper that he could keep in his room. Again, looking quite puzzled, I asked why. He said just in case. Just in case what?? Devon says so matter of factly, “just in case you and daddy get shot, I have the number and can give it to Noelle so she can call them.” Ken said, “it sounds like you want to go live with Allen and Sharon.” Devon said, “No daddy, its just in case.” I guess it’s a good thing to be organized with a plan for the “just in case.”
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