Fall Break with Mimi and Katie

Things we did:
hugged, kissed, swam,visited Build a Bear,rode the carousel and train----short pause in activities for Jack's hospital stay---- Children's Museum, cooked, Zoo, crafts fair, pumpkin patch, fireside fun, fall walks, bike rides (wagon rides for Jack), puzzles, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, deer watching, leaf hunting, and eat lots of ice cream!
Things we didn't do:
have enough time with Mimi and Kate. They had to leave too soon and now what we do is miss them. Come back soon!!!

Ambulance rides, surgery, and hospital stays oh my!

Jack decided that he had been away from hospitals long enough and was ready for another visit. So while playing with his Mimi, cousin Katie and sisters outside he fell from the monkey bars breaking every bone in his arm. Mimi was thankfully outside with him and got him inside while she called the poor boys neglectful mother who wasn't even home. Sometime between calling me, 911 and my return home he went into shock because the screaming stopped and he was whiter than Casper. I just beat the ambulance and Joel home to find my poor broken baby. Having a husband in orthopedics proved handy and Joel called a surgeon we know who met us at the hospital. I have to say one of the most helpless times in my life was driving behind an ambulance carrying Jack all the way across Memphis in 5 o'clock traffic with my gas light on. Jack had already gotten some morphine in the ambulance so he was a bit more himself when I met them in the ER. After xrays we discovered Jack had broken the top of his arm off his elbow, shattered some elbow and broken both lower arm bones at the wrist. Dr. Heck later told us he was 3 skin cells away from an open fracture and was surprised his skin held- Mimi is very thankful it did or Gracie would have been making the phone calls after Mimi would have fainted dead away. So we waited for an OR to open up and began our quest to get even more Morphine for this brave boy. "Jack it's ok to cry"- "Mommy, I'm not going to cry." He didn't but the whimpers got a little loud at times. He did discover that the ER would be a good time to ask for the new Indiana Jones movie which was waiting for him when he got home the next afternoon. He could have had anything, thankfully he didn't realize this. We went back to surgery and got a cammo, three pins in the arm, and a long painful overnight hospital stay. After a few days he started to move around much better and even got himself a Tim Tebow Gator orange and blue striped cast. Pins come out Friday at 8am- we either go back to surgery or do it in office. Joel is pushing for in the office- I think he's hoping to help. I say office is fine as long as I can bring the tequila and Valium for me. Please pray it's healing well and that I survive.

I Love Halloween- We are the Batts After All

Here are some oldies but goodies!!!

Don't you just love the tacky lights hanging from the fireplace and the display of cords?? Not to mention Jack's Superman hair.

Trick or Treating is hard work. Jack fell asleep in the middle of the foyer.

Last Year's Cast of Characters. What will they be this year- stay tuned- though guessing who Jack will be should be pretty easy by now.

And last but not least it's Jesse and Jesse's girl (and if you don't understand that reference you need to take a trip back to the good 'ol 80s- back to the days of Auqanet, banana clips,the GoGos, leggings-oh wait they're back- Just about anything worth remebering comes from the 80s) So here are me and my rockstar in all our glory. Happy Early Halloween!!!

Grandma Visits!!!

Grandma got to come up for a fun and all too short visit at the end of September. Joel took her to the Gibson Guitar Factory- I know it's a shocker I sat that one out but I have zero musical ability and those two are way too talented to be around ( they also sat around and played guitar most of the nights Grandma was here- I have nothing to offer so I just listen while I read in bed) Ann got to go to the kids Funis Runis fundraiser at school and it was such a treat for the kids that she was there. They are used to not having any "extra" family here and were very happy to get to show off Grandma. Saturday was gorgeous so we headed to the zoo, had a picnic and walked and walked and walked. What do three hot tired kids do after the zoo? They come home and do this- Just long enough for Grandma to get a quick picture and then they convince her the waters really not too cold and she just has to get in.

Thanks for coming Grandma!!! Please come again soon and bring some more "extra family" with you :)

The lessons of our fathers

My husband is a wonderful Daddy. He reads to the kids, plays games with them, writes songs for them, talks to them and lucky for them doesn't spank all that often. He's a natural teacher. The teaching didn't stop Saturday. As far as Joel is concerned - If you build it they will jump. He couldn't help himself and for someone who hates being cold or even close to a chilly pool the temptation was just too much. Let the teaching begin-

Quick learners...

Just kidding Mimi, it was from the bench not the top- at least this time.

We have Water!!!!!

July 28- September 6. It's Saturday and we are filling the pool. What does any good native from Polk County Florida do if there is a hole with some semi-clean water in their backyard do? They all JUMP! (Worry about the dirt and grass later since the pumps don't start til Monday)

Lily jumps. Gracie jumps. Jack jumps.

As far as form and skill go I think the Olympics are calling our names. Jack did tell me he was Michael Phelps today (maybe we watched too much Olympics).

Rain doesn't stop Indy

August 31, 2008

Whipping is serious business and skill. It requires much practice, even in the rain. Look at that face, notice the determination and dedication. The weather can't stop Jack. The post office is already sending recruiters. The rain boots are because my yard is still a huge mud pit- and Jack says he needs them for whipping, "cause they're my adventure boots". I know you love the mismatched jamas too- but hey he dresses himself and that's ok with me.

Bud's Day Meets Indiana Jones

Jack loves Bud's Day and he loves Indiana Jones and the new whip Poppa sent him even more. His world was complete when his Daddy took him on "an adventure" to go walk in the woods and look for a hidden idol. He mainly wanted to be sure that he got to "whip things and swing over the river"- the river is a tiny creek but I hear he did swing over it. Notice the canteen on Jack's shoulder. This took the place of me having to sew Jack a bag "like Indy's" cause I told him Indy carried water in his bag. Thankfully Wal-Mart sold this nice brown, over the shoulder canteen which saved me several sewing hours. Joel loves Bud's day just as much and made sure to "find" a hidden map that then led Jack to a buried Idol ( an old crystal Christmas ornament that didn't make it up to the attic). The afternoon was a big success and Jack wanted to come home today and change into his "adventure clothes". Thanks for the whip Poppa- the girls have no complaints yet, Jack has only managed to whip himself a couple of times.

Lily Belle goes to First Grade

Lily loves school. When she's not in school she's playing school or asking me to give her homework. This picture is with Mrs. Hilliard, her teacher, who is the most wonderful, kindest, gentle, quiet-spirited teacher that I wish I was. Lily will have a wonderful first grade year. Plus, they just started selling Chik-fil-a chicken biscuits before school again this morning- all is right in her world.

My Baby's In Kindergarten!

Jack Stewart has entered the world of academia- otherwise known as Mrs. Jones' Kindergarten Class. He loves it and is having a great time. My class is across the hall and two doors down but I can still hear his laugh throughout the day (Mrs. Jones hasn't complained-yet anyway). As we head into the second week he's starting to ask "Do I have school today". I don't think he's aware that he has 35 more 5 day weeks of waking up at 6am- oh wait that's me who has just realized that. Is it time for fall break yet??

Grace Carlisle Has Entered The Third Grade

I swear Joel just took this same picture of the two of us but Grace was four months old, I was still in my 20s and we were going to her first first day of school when I went back to work teaching in Gainesville. Fast forward eight years and I'm well into my 30s and my baby is now in the same grade I used to teach. My mother always said time flies but I didn't know it went that fast. Grace has been in school one week and had 2 tests, studying for 3 more and finished a play from the Old Testament. Let's just say I think they accomplished more in one week than I did all year homeschooling. She seems to love it and hasn't tried to stay home sick yet- but Friday is test day.

Zoo Fun

If you were wondering when is the best day to go to the Memphis Zoo, it is on the first day of school for Shelby county and the morning after a cold front. We usually don't go to the zoo during the summer- way too hot and horribly crowded (think lots of working parents using Zoo Camp for childcare). But with Monday being the first day of school for county schools the zoo was just about empty. It rained most of Sunday too and brought through a cold front which only means 90 instead of 100 but that 10 degrees sure did make a difference. We even stayed long enough to watch the polar bears being fed. It was a fun day and the kids felt super special about not having to go to school until Friday and nobody cried or whined (well for the most part- I draw the line at $4.oo ice cream).

Bud's Day- But with Girls

Jack and Joel like to go on Bud's Days. This can mean going for lunch, haircuts, or the occasional shopping spree to Sports Authority or Guitar Center (Joel, however, would like it to be more shopping sprees at Guitar Center than Sports Authority). Sometimes they go to the park and sometimes Joel can convince Jack that going to his office is Bud's Day fun. The one common factor in all of these goodtimes is NO GIRLS. Jack likes that, he likes it a lot. So when he agreed to allow his sisters to go on a Bud's Day to the movies with Daddy that was just pure kindness. Not only did his sisters go but he let his Mommy come too. I'm not sure why he insisted on calling it Bud's Day except that he's been waiting for Joel to take him to see Indiana Jones 4 since oh I don't know opening weekend in May. Thankfully there was still one theater still showing this movie. And while we had fun and the kids loved it I have to say not one of Spielberg's best and Joel and I shared many rolled eyes during the film. Jack is now off to the woods to find some treasure with his whip (which plays the Indiana Jones theme song). He's also insisting that we call him either Indy or Dr. Jones.

Rainy Day Surgery

This is either Jack as Doc Holiday or Wyatt Earp- yes, we've allowed him to watch the movie Tombstone. Sure it's rated R for extreme western violence, but have you watched Hannah Montana lately? I'd rather have Jack walking around saying "I've got two guns, one for each of you" than be exposed day in and day out to the Disney machine. Back to the picture- Why is he holding a baby you ask, well I think he rescued her from Curly Bill or some other bad guy. The rescue wasn't quite the success though because right after this picture his sisters were performing surgery to remove the bullet in his back.

What can I say, it was raining most of the day and hey maybe I'm raising a spine surgeon or scrub nurse or probably just three lunatics. I just knew to intervene when Grace called, "Nurse, I need the stapler". Now that's some good parenting. Jack, may however, have a future in theatrics- notice the pain and agony on his face- or it could have been I didn't quite make it fast enough to save him from the stapler : )

We're Going to Bowl Tonight! or Morning (Here's to Grease 2)

"Tonight we bowl!" Well actually it was ten this morning but I can't resist quoting lines from Grease 2. If you haven't seen it you are missing one of Michelle Pfieffer greatest works and that guy Adrian Zmed's only work. Does Dance Fever count as work for him? Since getting the Nintendo Wii my kids love bowling ALOT. So I thought hey fun activity, not horribly expensive, indoors and mostly because summer is winding down and I've caved to the question of "What can we do today". There's nothing worse than thinking you're a fun Mommy who exposes her children to great outings and activities only to hear the whine and complain when you tell them, "No, we are not eating lunch here. Why? Because my 16oz diet coke was $2 and I'm not paying $8 for a hot dog and drink. Yes, I know I got a coke but I'm not bowling you are and there's a water fountain on the wall". Actually just kidding about the water fountain, that would be a treat to drink out of cause I think they are gross and disease ridden. They only get to do that with Joel but he also takes them shopping for my Mother's Day present at 8:59pm with no shoes on to Best Buy. I figure if I don't see it when he's in charge it really doesn't happen. Notice Jack's reluctant grimace in the picture? He just found out we won't be playing video games either. Well I've learned my lesson no more outings we'll stay home memorize our math facts and fold clothes, at least this week. But next week.... I've reserved a lane for Tuesday- but no lunch (well maybe a diet coke).

Our Friends the Paules. Laurie is a perfect mother I think her children only spoke to say, "Yes ma'am, Thank you Ma'am, and good job friend".

Yankee Stadium

I went to Yankee Stadium this weekend. It was awesome!! My brother and I took my mom to see a game on Saturday in the last season the Yankees will play in the original, great, irreplaceable Yankee Stadium. The Yankees won beating the Angels 8-2 after having lost their last 6 games. Not only that, but 4 home runs were hit during the game. It was amazing. John, Mom and I had a great weekend and lots of fun but nothing was better than seeing the Yankees play. We bought $6 cokes just to get the souvenir cups, peeled paint off the walls and watched Mom almost be either assaulted or arrested. She has this thing with getting dirt from places she's been to. Well dirt off the street wasn't going to work it had to be from the field. After the game she whipped out her ziploc bag and as John and I watched as we hid in the archway she approached a large, unhappy female stadium worker. The women told her no and to get out- not a great tourism rep. Undeterred Mom went through two more people before finally a cop walked over (this is where John and I started calculating how much bond money we had). The cop listened, almost smiled and then reached down grabbed some of the most hallowed baseball ground there is and put it in Mom's baggie. She agreed to share a little with us!

THREE School Aged Children

I can't believe that in two weeks all three of my children will be officially school aged. Jack, my baby, is starting kindergarten. How is that possible? I'm no longer the mother of preschool aged children. Do we stop watching Nick Jr. and Noggin- wait they've already stopped that. Our TV programming is now centered around Hannah Montana and Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Rocky DVDs(all 4 Rockies-yes I know there was a 5th but it really should have stopped with Rocky IV).The good news- Jack is very excited. The bad news- he is leaving me and is one step closer to growing to old to snuggle. Although, he promises that even when "I'm old like you Mommy I will still snuggle with you". He also says he wants to live with me forever. Lily however has decided she wants to live in Alabama when she grows up, "cause I really like that song Sweet Home Alabama". I guess there are stranger reasons to move somewhere. I'm also finding it hard to believe Grace will be in third grade- I remember third grade, Mrs. Walker was such a great teacher. The thing is Grace will remember third grade, which means she will remember my mothering, which most of the time seems less than stellar. I'm just hoping there won't be too much therapy in the future. So, all three of my children start school on Monday the 18th, Grace in third grade, Lily in first and Jack in kindergarten. When you hear the wailing it's just me at Jack's "Boo Hoo Breakfast" as he runs away from me and leaps excitedly into the world of primary education.

Pool Progress

Today was day three of the pool building. We have a BIG messy yard but we also have a big hole that will be full of concrete tomorrow! Only 5 more weeks to go. Can't figure out what takes so long if the shell will be ready tomorrow but I guess we'll find out.

My beginnings as a Blogger

I've finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and create a blog. I still refuse to join Facebook, etc. Too trendy for me. Joel loves it though and I live my facebook existence through his page. Besides he has way more Facebook friends than I would and I'm just to competitive for that.

Lily became a seven year old on Saturday. I can't believe it! We had a great day-well most of us. Joel not being a big birthday celebrator started to complain after we sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles for the third time. I personally thought I was being very low key by only inviting three friends out to dinner and to spend the night.

Our busy weekend ended with me and Joel completing the swingset/playhouse move so they could start our pool Monday morning. Can't wait to go swimming! Today's temp is 105 with a heat index of 112 (thank goodness soccer practice was cancelled). Of course with a completion forecast of 6-8 weeks away who knows if we'll swim this year or not. Actually for Joel's benefit we WILL swim this year even if we get hypothermia. I want to make sure he knows we will use the pool and love the pool- not that that's a real question but I'm not the one who signs the checks. Well actually I did sign this check- I guess I should say I'm not the one who deposits the money in order to write the checks. Of course that all changes in August when I will be contributing my massive paycheck as a first grade teacher's aide. Even though it's not much I'll have a paycheck for the first time in 8 years- I think I've already spent my first three months salary. Hopefully my sweet husband won't remember me saying numerous times "I'm paying you back for that with my first, second, third paycheck". I don't think he'll remember, of course now it's in writing. That's ok, not sure who will read this but it makes me feel very computer savvy and kinda Creative Memories-ish (cause I will never catch up on all those picture albums, much less get the old film developed).