Hard Hits

I like football, but don't "know" football.  I really need a Football for Dummies book, but probably wouldn't read it.  That's why I have Carey!  The only bad thing about that is that he gets tired of explaining things to me over and over, week after week!

Last night was the first game of the season and I was kind of nervous.  Last year when we played Marshall a horrible fight took place on the field.  I know boys will be boys and talk smack, but this fight really took it too far.  This year we played at Lobo Stadium and I was really hoping everyone would be nice....or as nice as you can be playing football. 

Our season tickets are pretty good.  The couple next to me are quiet, the lady in front of us is obnoxious and I think she has a strange relationship with her son and his friends, and this year to the left of us we have an "in the stands" coach (maybe she's not a season ticket holder!)  And then there's me.  I have noise makers and I yell and get excited, so I hope I'm not too obnoxious either!  And wouldn't you know it - this year Taylor kicks on the OTHER 40 yrd. line - way over there! 

Well, last night, I think the "in the stands" coach soaked in perfume before she came to the game and between the smell and the heat, Carey got sick at half time.  I'm just thankful he didn't barf in Section K, Row 8, Seat 6!  We were all so hot!  But back to my part about not "knowing" football.  There was a really good play where a Lobo danced around with the ball.  I mean he was stopping, stooping, jumping, twirling, spinning, leaping, and of course running ALL - THE - WAY (isn't that how they say it?!)  It made me think that is the way I would act if I just found out that Sonic was going out of business and they only had one Dr. Pepper left.  I would be trucking it!  Anyway......TOUCHDOWN!!!!  I'm jumping up and down, screaming, scaring Brooklyn's little friend Alexa, only to learn that in fact it wasn't a touchdown.  WHY?!!  He pushed his way through the masses, held onto the ball, made it look so pretty, but one of the striped referee's threw his yellow hankie.  Crap!  Carey's puking in the parking lot, I can't ask my quiet neighbor what happened, and obnoxious mom......well, no way!  So I text Carey.  He says "penalty."  That's the only answer I got, so I still don't know what really happened.  How do they see this stuff?  It all happens so fast.  I guess I wouldn't know a penalty if it sat down beside me.  And what is the deal with the players after the ball has been kicked and lands on the field?  They dance around with their arms out like they want to hug it.  It's like they want to touch it, but are afraid to.  And then sometimes they do - I'm so confused by this.  I'm assuming if you don't catch it before it lands, you can't just scoop it up?  Carey has explained this to me before, but it just hasn't stuck!

And then poor number 7 (Justin Faggans I think you are), took a really hard hit.  I personally think they're all hard hits and I "oooooohhh" and "awwwwhhh" with just about every one of them, but this one was different.  I will pray for you number 7, because you didn't look too good being escorted on the track, walking all slow and dazed to the awaiting ambulance.  His poor mama had to be worried sick.

Here are some pics from the pep rally and game:

Lexie Jones and Taylor

Not the best video, but....

 Angel Reed, Sophie Tibiletti and Taylor

Kathryn Van Meter, Taylor, Andrea Roark and Angel Reed

"Lo" and "Bo" (Lo's on the right!)

Lining up to perform!

Taylor's the 5th one from the left.  And yes, I do believe I taught her that....or maybe I paid someone to!

Taylor, Korynn Johnson, Parris Kane, Lexie Jones and Andrea Roark

Even with my limited football knowledge, the scoreboard tells the story well! 

And something else - did you know that at the end of each home game Lee Greenwood's, "I'm Proud to Be an American" is played on the loud speakers!  And after that, "God Bless America."  Here are a few of the girls belting it out!

Go Lobos and God Bless the USA!!

And They're Off!

Today is always met with mixed emotions and always includes butterflies!  Taylor started her junior year of high school (LHS) and Brooklyn is going into 6th grade (Judson Middle School.)  For years I have served the girls breakfast in bed, but Taylor outgrew it sometime in middle school and Brooklyn is "too old" for it now :(  I was very lucky to get this "one" picture of Taylor.  She insisted she wasn't going to school, but to practice - well, it's still school!

Viewettes start at 7:00 each morning!

Breakfast for champions!  We love our cinnamon toast!

Brooklyn's lovely lunch!

Our famous red tips.  This is where the majority of our first day of school pictures have taken place.  Poor things - they're so thirsty!



Brooklyn's first class is Intro. to Golf and they meet at the Aquatic Center at the high school.   And Taylor's first class of course is drill team.  The Viewettes are on the field practicing when I drop Brooklyn off - just across the road from the Aquatic Center.  It was kind of neat to see my girls so close together this morning.  Since they're 5 years apart, they'll never be on the same campus together. 

I do love this sweet song my sister taught Taylor when she was little:

School days, school days

Dear old Golden Rule days

‘Reading and ‘riting and ‘rithmetic

Taught to the tune of the hick’ry stick

You were my queen in calico

I was your bashful, barefoot beau

And you wrote on my slate, “I Love You So”

When we were a couple o’ kids

(Will Cobb & Gus Edwards, 1907)

I haven't been to school in many, many years, but I still get butterflies too!  Can't wait to see them this afternoon and hear all of the stories!

Go Lobos and Go Blue Devils (I know, I know)

Kelci is a Red Raider!

Another trip to Rockwall to celebrate Kelci Bethke going to Texas Tech!  The girl cousins were able to spend the night at the Hilton Harbor, eat at Kyoto, get very little sleep and shop a little (a little - I'm not  a shopper!), and eat CHOCOLATE!!  Kelci will make the big move Saturday and we're so excited for her!  Go Red Raiders! 

Keelie, Mallory, Brooklyn, Kelci & Taylor

The famous volcano!

At the pool - excuse me, hot tub!  Brooklyn, Keelie & Mallory

Oh, and I can't forget about "Austin Ragsdale."  The cute valet - had to have a picture!  I lost count of the times that Taylor and Kelci had to keep going to the car because they "forgot something!"

And check out Kelci's dorm!!

"If things start happening, don't worry, don't stew, just go right along and you'll start happening too."
- Dr Seuss

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."
- Dr Seuss

Taylor Who?

I have been going through tons of files at work, with lots of names.  Some have been pretty unique and it got me to thinking about a conversation I had with a great uncle years ago.  Taylor was probably around 3.  My grandfather, James Ault, had a brother named B. A. Ault.  One Sunday at church, he came up behind the pew me and Taylor were sitting in and asked me what her name was.  Funny how I remember this like it was yesterday!

I said, "Taylor".  He said, "Who?"  Again, I repeated her name about 3 times.  He grumbled something and said, "Taylor?  That's a last name.  People will name their kids anything these days."  I said, "humph!"

As soon as church was over I had to call my sister, Charleen Sartor.  This is how that conversation went:

Me: "Charleen.......(and then I told her the story)
Sis:  "Well, he's a fine one to talk."
Me: "I only know B. A.  What does the B. A. stand for?"
Sis:  "Nance, you don't know?  It's Bartholomew Alphus."
Me: "Bar who? (if I knew my scriptures better, I would know that he was a prophet)
Sis:  "Bar-tho-lo-mew Alphus."
Me: "Humph!"

When it comes time to name your children, parents really have their work cut out for them!  A name is a pretty important part of your child!  I remember throwing out a name and Carey saying, no so-in-so had a child named that, or I went to school with someone named that, etc.  And I would do the same thing when he suggested a name.  We came up with Taylor because somewhere in my Mumford family history, when the small Texas town of Mumford was settled, a Mumford married a girl from the Texas town of "Taylor".  Shallow, I know!  She got "Marie" from Carey's mom.

Addie Mae (originally May, but she didn't like the "y") Ault - the most precious woman ever built, and my "Goggie", seen here with Taylor soon after she was born!

Now I don't really know where this name came from, but she and James named my mother Jimmie Nell Pegge (again, no "y").  She always went my "Pegge" or "Peg".  Here we are at Daisy Carrol (Sartor) Pridgen's (Charleen & Joe's oldest) wedding!

Addie Mae Ault, Jimmie Nell Pegge Mumford, Nancy Carrol (Mumford) Eldridge, Taylor Marie Eldridge

My daddy wanted to name me Sheila and my sister didn't like that name.  She mentioned Nancy and both of my parents agreed.  Daddy always told everyone I was named after the comic strip!  So here's another little connection:

My daddy:     William Carrol Mumford
Me:                Nancy Carrol Mumford
My niece:       Daisy Carrol (Sartor) Pridgen
My youngest:  Brooklyn Carrol Eldridge

Yes, Carrol is spelled differently too. And yes, I misspelled it on my wedding invitations!!

And some more family name connections on Carey's side!  Shirley Marie Kunze (Carey's mom), Kelci Marie Bethke (oldest grandchild and Carey's sister, Amy's daughter) and Taylor Marie Eldridge.  There are many more cousins with the middle name Marie on this side of the family too.

Brooklyn has been picking out her future children's name for a long time!  I keep telling her she will need to talk to her husband about that!

Later!

To Cut or Not to Cut?

A man can have his hair cut pretty much whenever and wherever.  They're not picky like us.  Women have to plan it, look at magazines, ask their girlfriends for advice, decide on color, ask a million people "who does your hair?" and all that jazz.  Around here in Longview, you can get a hair cut, highlight and style for about $85 and up.  And to maintain proper hair maintenance, that means you have to go every 6 weeks.  It can add up right?

Over the years I have pretended to be a hairstylist.  No, I have no formal training.  I have been every color under the moon - well maybe not pink, blue or purple, but definitely white, brown, just about black, red, a mossy green and a combo of all of these colors.  The mossy green would have been caused by either swimming pool chemicals, but most likely because I was trying to go "darker" and that brown on the cover of the Loreal box was the "perfect" color and I would look fabulous in about 30 minutes.  WRONG!  Been there, done that MANY times and now I just shell out the dough.  Although, I am always tempted to go down the hair color aisle at Wal-Mart.

And yes I'm a cutter.  Whenever I get upset, that's just what I do.  Cut my hair that is.  By myself.  Me and a mirror and pair of cheap scissors.  I remember when I was younger I saw this lady who had her hair "stacked" in the back, and I just knew I could do that.  So at my Goggie's house, I got the scissors.  I ended up in the garden with my Aunt Jenny trying to fix it.  That was the first neckline hair cut.  Needless to say, the stack didn't work!  I have become stronger and have fought the urge to do my own hair cutting when I'm stressed, but don't put it past me to cut my bangs or a twig that the hairstylist left. 

This brings me to Brooklyn.  All this week, she has been offering hair appointmentss, massages, manicures and pedicures.  And the girl is dirt cheap.  I think my first appointment included a beautiful hair style (should have taken a picture) and a back massage for 50 cents.  REALLY??  Who does that?  She's been trying to save money for a sideways purse as she calls it.  I had another appointment the very next day - this included another hairstyle and a foot massage.  This only costs me $1.00, but she told me I could tip generously!  Ok, I only gave her $5.  I'm a cheapscape :(  Somewhere during these appointments she got an extra couple of dollars too!

Carey had a hair appointment on Tuesday.  He's a big spender!  He gave her $25.00!  But really, I think it was priceless!