Saturday, October 16, 2004
More on Anne's birthday weekend.
Saturday morning we went to see the kids play soccer. This is a league for first and second graders.
Adam loves to play. He pays attention, listens to what the coach says, and tries very hard.
George simply does not care. Anything can distract him. On this day he wondered how it would look for grass to float to the ground so he spent his time on the field picking grass and dropping it while the game went on around him.
Emma can be good or bad, depending on her mood. Unfortunately this was a day she did not want to play.
Ken was coaching that day. Unfortunately the coach of the team has not made the team any kind of priority. He missed the first game of the season. Ken coached then, too, and got verbally abused by a parent for not having the children prepared to play. (He has coached before but this year he is just a parent like the rest.) The week after the birthday weekend I was up there for their game and was surprised to see Ken again coaching. Seems the coach had a game to go to.
Ken made George and Emma run laps after the game because he thought they let down their team.
After lunch we prepared to go to Vanderbilt for the tailgating and game. It took two cars since there were nine of us. We were also joined by Ken's friend, James Clark, who drove his own vehicle. I have a hard time calling him James because he is the family dentist and the kids always call him Dr. Clark. Later at Vanderbilt we were joined by my grandniece, Jay's niece, Adrienne Manuel who is a sophomore at Vandy.
Adrienne's parents and little sister live in California.
At Vandy we drove around and had a hard time finding a suitable place to park since we wanted to tailgate. We finally found the perfect place in a parking garage. We were on the third floor and our cars faced the stadium and the baseball field. We set up our table in a vacant place between the cars and hung the MSU flag over the railing. It was a great balcony tailgating place. We waved and yelled to MSU fans passing on the street below.
We went over to the stadium club to an MSU pep rally. They had cake for some reason: it was good. The children had their picture made with Bully, the bulldog mascot. Anne said that would be their Christmas card, but George screwed up his face (deliberately) so I don't know.
As we were leaving the MSU team was walking to the stadium, so we cheered them on.
Back at the garage, the food was great. Ken says tailgating is the best part of football. He went to David Lipscomb University, which has no football team so sometimes he just doesn't get it.
Now a word on fashion. For Adrienne's sake, Jay wore all black. We had gone to Wal-Mart that morning to buy him a Vandy t-shirt but they didn't have any. I told him Vandy people did not shop at Wal-Mart. Adrienne showed up wearing a maroon sweater. I am sure this was by accident. I doubt she knew our colors.
George and Adam wore State t-shirts and refused to wear their MSU caps. Emma wore a white top,maroon skirt, and an MSU bow in her hair. Anne wore a maroon dress. Ken wore a green shirt and khaki shorts. Dr. Clark was similarly dressed. Beth wore an MSU shirt but would not wear an MSU bow like Emma's in her hair. Steve wore a new Bulldog t-shirt that I had given him and George Rodney's cap which was loaned to him.
Unfortunately the outing was spoiled by the game which we lost 31-13. I took it hard and will right more about this later.
Saturday morning we went to see the kids play soccer. This is a league for first and second graders.
Adam loves to play. He pays attention, listens to what the coach says, and tries very hard.
George simply does not care. Anything can distract him. On this day he wondered how it would look for grass to float to the ground so he spent his time on the field picking grass and dropping it while the game went on around him.
Emma can be good or bad, depending on her mood. Unfortunately this was a day she did not want to play.
Ken was coaching that day. Unfortunately the coach of the team has not made the team any kind of priority. He missed the first game of the season. Ken coached then, too, and got verbally abused by a parent for not having the children prepared to play. (He has coached before but this year he is just a parent like the rest.) The week after the birthday weekend I was up there for their game and was surprised to see Ken again coaching. Seems the coach had a game to go to.
Ken made George and Emma run laps after the game because he thought they let down their team.
After lunch we prepared to go to Vanderbilt for the tailgating and game. It took two cars since there were nine of us. We were also joined by Ken's friend, James Clark, who drove his own vehicle. I have a hard time calling him James because he is the family dentist and the kids always call him Dr. Clark. Later at Vanderbilt we were joined by my grandniece, Jay's niece, Adrienne Manuel who is a sophomore at Vandy.
Adrienne's parents and little sister live in California.
At Vandy we drove around and had a hard time finding a suitable place to park since we wanted to tailgate. We finally found the perfect place in a parking garage. We were on the third floor and our cars faced the stadium and the baseball field. We set up our table in a vacant place between the cars and hung the MSU flag over the railing. It was a great balcony tailgating place. We waved and yelled to MSU fans passing on the street below.
We went over to the stadium club to an MSU pep rally. They had cake for some reason: it was good. The children had their picture made with Bully, the bulldog mascot. Anne said that would be their Christmas card, but George screwed up his face (deliberately) so I don't know.
As we were leaving the MSU team was walking to the stadium, so we cheered them on.
Back at the garage, the food was great. Ken says tailgating is the best part of football. He went to David Lipscomb University, which has no football team so sometimes he just doesn't get it.
Now a word on fashion. For Adrienne's sake, Jay wore all black. We had gone to Wal-Mart that morning to buy him a Vandy t-shirt but they didn't have any. I told him Vandy people did not shop at Wal-Mart. Adrienne showed up wearing a maroon sweater. I am sure this was by accident. I doubt she knew our colors.
George and Adam wore State t-shirts and refused to wear their MSU caps. Emma wore a white top,maroon skirt, and an MSU bow in her hair. Anne wore a maroon dress. Ken wore a green shirt and khaki shorts. Dr. Clark was similarly dressed. Beth wore an MSU shirt but would not wear an MSU bow like Emma's in her hair. Steve wore a new Bulldog t-shirt that I had given him and George Rodney's cap which was loaned to him.
Unfortunately the outing was spoiled by the game which we lost 31-13. I took it hard and will right more about this later.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Last weekend we celebrated Anne's birthday in Nashville.
I drove to Nashville and picked up my nephew Jay at the airport. He lives in the Virginia Beach area and does actuarial work for Towers-Perrin firm.
Jay drove back to Anne's house. We were in rush hour traffic and it was particularly bad. It made him appreciate his home.
Anne drove the kids and I to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for her birthday cake. They told her to stay in the car and said we were buying candy. Ordinarily she would have vetoed that.
The kids were great, as usual. I kept them that night as Anne, Ken, and Jay went to the airport to pick up Beth and her boyfriend Steve Kilgore.
We made Anne's cake. They did almost all of the work. Emma could have almost done it by herself but the boys needed a lot of instructions. Anne says that they had had the same experience but that Emma just pays attention more.
When we discussed the number of candles to put on the cake, I told him about my mother's 83rd birthday where we put the correct number of candles on the cake and it totally melted all the candles and the frosting. They were interested in the melted frosting so when the cake came out of the oven I let them put a little frosting on it to see it melt. George said he needed to do experiments because he is going to be a scientist when he grows up. He is getting more sophisticated because he used to say he was going to be a person who fixes things. Both are improvements on his first ambition. He wanted to grow up to be Scooby Doo. At that time, Adam wanted to grow up to be a Triceratops and Emma wanted to be Barbie. (And wouldn't we all like to be Barbie.)
They decided they should put only 13 candles on the cake. Anne was a little insulted that they seemed to consider her age and Mother's as equivalent.
Adam did most of the stirring with his left hand. I asked Anne about it later. She said that early on she thought he might be left-handed but that right was his own choice.
They had disagreed on the kind of frosting to get, so we bought both chocolate and vanilla. They put vanilla on the inside and the top of the cake and then put chocolate on the sides. Someone had the idea to write Anne on top of the cake so they did that using candles dipped in the chocolate frosting.
The cake was done and we carried it up to my room so Anne could not see it. George wrote a note that said "Do not go in. Mom and Dad. "and laid it on the floor in front of the bedroom door.
That night Adam slept with me. George and Emma slept on the floor of my room and Beth slept on the day bed in the same room. Steve slept in the boys' room and Jay slept in the pink palace that is Emma's room.
There were five people sleeping in the my room and Beth and I considered ourselves lucky.
I drove to Nashville and picked up my nephew Jay at the airport. He lives in the Virginia Beach area and does actuarial work for Towers-Perrin firm.
Jay drove back to Anne's house. We were in rush hour traffic and it was particularly bad. It made him appreciate his home.
Anne drove the kids and I to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for her birthday cake. They told her to stay in the car and said we were buying candy. Ordinarily she would have vetoed that.
The kids were great, as usual. I kept them that night as Anne, Ken, and Jay went to the airport to pick up Beth and her boyfriend Steve Kilgore.
We made Anne's cake. They did almost all of the work. Emma could have almost done it by herself but the boys needed a lot of instructions. Anne says that they had had the same experience but that Emma just pays attention more.
When we discussed the number of candles to put on the cake, I told him about my mother's 83rd birthday where we put the correct number of candles on the cake and it totally melted all the candles and the frosting. They were interested in the melted frosting so when the cake came out of the oven I let them put a little frosting on it to see it melt. George said he needed to do experiments because he is going to be a scientist when he grows up. He is getting more sophisticated because he used to say he was going to be a person who fixes things. Both are improvements on his first ambition. He wanted to grow up to be Scooby Doo. At that time, Adam wanted to grow up to be a Triceratops and Emma wanted to be Barbie. (And wouldn't we all like to be Barbie.)
They decided they should put only 13 candles on the cake. Anne was a little insulted that they seemed to consider her age and Mother's as equivalent.
Adam did most of the stirring with his left hand. I asked Anne about it later. She said that early on she thought he might be left-handed but that right was his own choice.
They had disagreed on the kind of frosting to get, so we bought both chocolate and vanilla. They put vanilla on the inside and the top of the cake and then put chocolate on the sides. Someone had the idea to write Anne on top of the cake so they did that using candles dipped in the chocolate frosting.
The cake was done and we carried it up to my room so Anne could not see it. George wrote a note that said "Do not go in. Mom and Dad. "and laid it on the floor in front of the bedroom door.
That night Adam slept with me. George and Emma slept on the floor of my room and Beth slept on the day bed in the same room. Steve slept in the boys' room and Jay slept in the pink palace that is Emma's room.
There were five people sleeping in the my room and Beth and I considered ourselves lucky.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
At last, I am back. Unfortunately I do not have a lot of time tonight.
During the past month, three of my relatives have been to the hospital emergency room with heart problems. Last night there was almost another as Julia's blood pressure shot up. Probably above 200, but we only took it after Frankie Ross arrived. By then she was feeling better and was a little cooler. It was 194/99 then.
The other three were Mother, my brother-in-law Keith, and my brother John, all are at home and fine now.
During the past month, three of my relatives have been to the hospital emergency room with heart problems. Last night there was almost another as Julia's blood pressure shot up. Probably above 200, but we only took it after Frankie Ross arrived. By then she was feeling better and was a little cooler. It was 194/99 then.
The other three were Mother, my brother-in-law Keith, and my brother John, all are at home and fine now.
