It's Miss Kentucky week, and I would be remiss if I didn't take a little trip down memory lane.  It's been nine years since I hung up the acrylics, threw away the fake lashes, and pushed the dresses into the back of the closet.  So incredibly much has happened in those nine years.  I met Eric, got engaged, graduated college, got married, started a career, had a baby, bought a house, changed careers, had another baby, drove a mini-van, changed careers again, and walked through a million other seasons of life. I get asked often about my pageant days, and my typical response is "That was sixty pounds and a lifetime ago."  It's so true.  I am nothing like I was nine years ago, and I have pageants to thank for that.   Sometimes in the midst of whining kids, a dirty house, piles of laundry, my career, crazy schedules, and failed diet attempts, I forget about the smiley, little 21 year old.  But every now and then, I get a glimpse of her again

We're trying to make the most of Eli's recovery by mixing some fun in with the boring moments of resting on the couch.  It's easier said than done because Eli is so limited in what he can do, so things like swimming, bowling, bouncy houses, water sports, etc. are out of the question.  Plus, anything we manage to do has to be followed by some rest so that he doesn't overdue it.  My car has or have some work done on the wheels, so I met Eric at the dealership this morning to drop it off and pick up the loaner, then we headed to the County Clerk's Officer to renew the tags...just what every child dreams of.  Haha!  You know I had to take picture in front of our beautiful courthouse.  As you can image, the experience was much like grocery shopping with kids in tow. And I would equate that with getting a root canal, so yeah.  Next year, I will be going alone!!  The plan was to take the kids to Dollar Movies and then to play putt-putt since Eli w

Today has been a good one.  I'm off work all this week as a precautionary measure to help care for Eli, so my first order of business this morning was to knock out some laundry before meeting Eric's mom to get Ellie. They were so excited to be reunited, although I'm certain that their enthusiasm will be short-lived. Ha!  After lunch with Dixie, we headed back for Bowling Green and stopped by Eric's work to say hi. Back at home, Ellie wasted no time getting into her princess dresses. Since this is the first night in about a month that it hasn't been about a billion degrees, we decided to head outside to play while Eric worked on cleaning the car. After enjoying push-pops, I decided to let the kids play in the water.  Eli still can't swim or do anything physically straining, so we improvised and turned the water hose on "mist" to let them play.  Haha!  They were thrilled. We wrapped up the night we with more relaxing because

Yesterday, Eli had to have a very minor surgery. Since we don't have a pediatric urologist here in Bowling Green, we had to have the procedure done at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville. We met Eric's parents last night to drop Ellie off so that she wouldn't have to wait with us throughout the procedure.  We had an early wake-up call of 4:00 am to get prepped and ready. Vandy is simply amazing, ya'll.  Everything is geared toward children.  They even allow the kiddos to draw on the sheets while they wait to be taken back.   A nurse, child life specialist, and several members of his care team came to see him and talk with him before he went back.  They were so kind and spoke in terms that he could understand.  He later told us that one of them held him in her lap while he "made the mountains."  That's what they told him he was doing when he breathed in the gas because he could see the peeks on the monitor. He'

Ellie has only had one haircut her whole life, and she's been in desperate need of little shape-up for a while now.  Wednesday I had to stop and get Eli's hair trimmed, so I tried to talk Ellie into doing the same while we were there.  She wouldn't hear of it, and I was too hot to fight her, so I wrote the check for Eli's cut and was ready to leave when Ellie hopped right up in the chair. I motioned for Mr. Vilma to give it a whirl, and Ellie sat perfectly still the entire time.  I guess we just had to do it on her terms.  Ha! She's got tons of body and curls for days.  Just look at this little pageant do.   Oh, and Eli was quite dashing himself.  He likes to spiked up look in the front. 

Eli's team gracefully exited the D2 Tournament last week, but in true Watson fashion, his competitive spirit has kept him following the actions.  Eric and I decided today to surprise him tonight by taking him to one of the final games. It was held at WKU, which as you can imagine, is a bit larger than little league fields were accustom to playing on.  The little boys looked so tiny out there, but they were so excited for their moment in the spotlight. Eli sat and watched every single play.  He was so excited to be there taking it all in. As always, Ellie was just glad to be along for the ride.  Her brother sure does owe her.  The days of dance recitals and cheer competitions will be here before we know it.  It was a nice little break from our regular routine, and I thoroughly enjoyed not having to stress out about the plays.  My competitiveness is off the charts. 

We decided to spend Father's Day weekend enjoying another camping trip, so we loaded up the camper and headed to the Narrows Campground about 40 minutes away.   The facility is on the lake, so after setting up I took the kids down to the beach and wading area so that Eric could finish unloading everything without the "help" of Eli and Ellie.  Some friends of ours were also camping, so we headed out with them for a little time on the lake before cooking dinner.  Ellie was so stinking brave.  I'm talking about jumping right in and having no fear whatsoever even when she saw a "Dory."  It made me a nervous wreck, but luckily, Eli has a healthy respect for the water, so he was more manageable.  We figured our pretty quickly that it worked best for me to follow around Ellie and Eric to run after Eli.  Yes, we are helicopter parents on occasion, but I think the lake warrants it.  Eli and Wade had the best time.   And obv

All month long, communities across the nation will set aside a Stand For Children Day.  Today we celebrated here in Bowling Green.  The event was at the Hot Rod stadium and more than 1000 kids came out.   Each year, our districts has a table at the event where we hand out apples to the participants and teach them about bus safety.  Today my "work mom" tagged along for the fun.  It was about a billion degrees, but it was so much fun.  On my way back to the office, I started thinking that they really do need us…the children.  They need us educate them, feed them, entertain them.  More importantly, they need us to help fill in the gaps where families and societies are failing them. They need us to teach them right from wrong.  They need us to lead them.  They need us to believe in them. They need us to love them. 

This has been the longest week, ya'll.  It's been so stinking weird too.  We were supposed to have a ballgame on Tuesday, but it got moved to Monday.  Then they changed the location.  It ended up raining on Monday, so that game was switched back to Tuesday.  Then they changed the location…again! My in-laws came up Monday to see the game, but since it got rained out we went out to eat instead.  Yesterday we drove all over God's green earth trying to play our final baseball game.  We ended up going out to eat way too late, so we skipped baths and put the kids to bed. I am so glad that we have off tonight.  I need to do laundry, vacuum, and maybe even sneak in a quick workout, although the latter is unlikely.  Just being honest here! It was a great season, but after going straight from basketball into baseball, I am ready for some free nights and weekends!!! We're going to kick it off with a camping trip and some Father's Day celebrations, so we have a lot t

I fully realize that these pictures are not the best quality, but I had to share them anyway because I want to remember the true whimsy of childhood.   Last night, we were sitting on the porch when the fireflies starting lighting up.  The kids took off across the yard chasing them down.  Of course Ellie was too rough, which ended in this quote, "Oh no.  I kill Tinker Bell.  Her dead."  Haha!   Eli was a little lighting bug whisperer catching just about everything he ran after.  He was so sweet trying to help Ellie with her aggression level.  Ha!  Eric went inside and got a Mason Jar and poked holes in the lid.  We made them a nice little habitat for the night.   Of course, the kids a fight over whose room they got to sleep in.  I guess we will be catching fireflies again tonight so it's all even.