Of course, I didn't send the costume back before trying it on Freddie.
I can't tell if Jones is laughing AT him - or WITH him.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Silly, Willy, Nilly, Ole BEAR!
Part of Freddie's Freddie Bear costume came in today. For those members of my family (ahem: DADDY) who make fun of me for planning Halloween so early, hear this: it's a good thing I do! The "Bear" bits of "Freddie Bear" are a little too small, and since I want him to look adorable and not ridiculous, I sent the whole thing back for the next size up. Because I plan ahead, there's plenty of time to do this (ahem: Daddy)!
Of course, I didn't send the costume back before trying it on Freddie.
I can't tell if Jones is laughing AT him - or WITH him.
Of course, I didn't send the costume back before trying it on Freddie.
I can't tell if Jones is laughing AT him - or WITH him.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Thursday, September 17, 2015
10 (or so) Stories About My Boys
My phone died.
While that doesn't have anything at all to do with this post, it was the impetus for my finally writing this post that I've been meaning to for weeks. It wasn't until the death of the phone that I realized I'd better post all of those stories I'd been texting myself to write about before I run the risk of losing my texts - and, thus, the stories - altogether (thankfully, my texts are all backed up on my MacBook, but still. It's not worth risking it).
So here you have them - in totally random, as-they-come-to-me order:
1) Freddie said his first three-word sentence last week. While standing at the front door in the den about two hours after Jeremy went to work, Freddie said, "I go Dada!" As you can tell, for as much as Jones is a Mama's boy, Freddie is ALL his Dada's.
2) Every time we take Jeremy to work or go and pick him up, we pass the Bethel football field. The boys always look over, and, most of the time, they'll make some comment about what's happening on the field. One nite last week, we passed it, and Jones said, "Oh, boy! They play football!" Then, he stuck his right fist up in the air and said, "Go, Big Blue!"
3) The week before that, Jeremy and Jones were watching the UNC / USC football game. When I came in to get Jones in his jammies ("jah jah," as Freddie calls them), I said, "Whom are you cheering for?" He said, "We say, 'GO, 'HEELS!'"
How's THAT for passing on both hues of blue?!?
4) Freddie has started calling ALL hats, caps, and helmets "pi-ut hat"s, and most of the time, he'll say, "Pi-ut hat. Arr."
5) The other day, when we picked up Jeremy's (DELICIOUS) birthday cake at Kandi's Cakes & Bake Shop in Waynesville, I told Jones he'd have to hold Freddie's hand, since my hands were full of the cake box. Not surprisingly, Jones took his job VERY seriously. When it came time to step up onto the platform that led to the door, Jones pointed down and said, "Watch step, Freedie."
6) As soon as we stop at a red light - or anywhere - Freddie says, "Go! Go!" Jones has definitely mastered the concept of what red lights mean versus what green lights mean. Freddie is - ahem - still working on this. In fact, sometimes, Jones will give him the side eye and say, "We have to wait our turn, Freedie," parroting what I said to Jones when he first started learning the ropes.
7) The other day, I came into the den and found some of the boys toys VERY neatly packed into their red wagon. I hadn't told them to do this, so I was surprised to see it. "Jones, did you do this?" I asked. He nodded yes. "You did a great job," I told him. He put his hand on his chest, bowed his head, and said, "My PWEHhhhhhzure."
This was around the same time that he climbed on to his big boy bed from the foot of it. "Good job," I cheered. He bowed his head twice and said, "Sink you. Sink you."
8) Freddie has a weird obsession with Jones's Sperrys. He loves them, for some reason. If I put him in the car with shoes on, they're off - whatever they are - before we're out of the driveway, but Jones's Sperrys, he'll hunt the house to find and put on, so I ordered him a pair in his own size.
When they came in, and I first tried them on him, you'd have thought I'd given him a giant box of Pixie Stix. His face lit up, and he jigged from foot to foot.
All that afternoon, he wanted to wear those shoes. At one point, his diaper leaked, so I took him to change his clothes, which included taking off his shoes in the den before heading back to the changing table in his bedroom.
When he got to the den, his first order of business was to put his shoes back on, and his Nan told me that, while the boys stayed with them last weekend, Freddie wanted to SLEEP in his Sperrys.
What in the world?!?!
9) Speaking of while the boys were at the Pressleys' last weekend - apparently, at one point the boys were outside playing when their basketball rolled down a hill. Jones slumped his shoulders, put his hand on his forehead, and said, "Troubles. We got troubles." Mrs. Pressley asked me if I'd heard him do this before. I absolutely had NOT, but he's continued saying it throughout this week. At one point, I said it to him: "Jones! We've got trouble!" and he lifted his head and looked around, saying, "Trouble? Where? Where?" The way he did that, I knew he was acting something out, so I figured he was emulating a movie.
Then, at lunch that day, he did it again. He added a very excited, "Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!" and that's when I knew it had to be from "Toy Story." Sure enough, I Googled, "We've got trouble" and "Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!" and what d'ya know?
Apparently, when Woody tries to off Buzz, one of the toys says, "We've got trouble" and another responds, "Trouble? Where?"
10) One day -- also at the Pressleys' this weekend -- Jones woke up from his nap before Freddie did from his. Jones was playing with his cars on the carpet when he heard Freddie talking to himself. Apparently, the then told his cars something along the line of, "You stay here. I gotta get my Budder."
11) Along those same lines, the boys and I started back to Bible Study Fellowship today. I dropped Freddie off in the same classroom that was Jones's last year, and Jones tried to sneak in with him. "I want my Freedie," he said. As soon as I picked him up after the study, Jones's first remark was that we had to go get Freedie.
Someone loves his Budder.
12) The other day, we were going up to the Pressleys' to drop off the cake for Jeremy's birthday dinner. As we started the climb up their driveway, Jones said, "See trees, Mama?" "I do!" I answered. Jones added, "Dey r bootiful. Dey reary tarrrrr!"
13) We were driving around killing time before picking Jeremy up from work the other day when I happened upon an old Army helicopter "parked" outside of our Waynesville VFW. I didn't even have to think about it - pulling over instantly, knowing GI*Jones would be in hog Heaven.
Of course, he was.
We've since been back.
Of course, we have.
14) Speaking of GI*Jones, this year's Halloween costumes have been set for awhile. Jones is going to be Farmer Jones, which is the title character of one of his favorite books and oh-so-appropriate for a boy who loves tractors and livestock like he does (I love that he loves this book, because I have a picture of myself around his age reading it, too, though I have no memory whatsoever of the book outside of this picture).
I'd planned for Freddie to be Freddie Bear, because, let's face it, how many more years will he (or, more specifically, his daddy) allow me to put him in a bear costume?!
Well, the other nite, I was surfing eBay looking for costumes and randomly entered "Freddie Bear." Up popped this beautiful book (with illustrations by the guy who illustrated one of my childhood favorites) from 1965. Of course, I bought it. It came in the other day, and as I read it to the boys during dinner that nite, it struck me ... "Oh, my gosh! Both of the boys are going to dress up like characters from Little Golden Books whose titles are plays on their names. THIS IS TOO PERFECT."
If you know me, you know how my crazy mind works ... and how important it is that everything have SOME kind of meaning, no matter how ridiculous, so now, the costumes that I was feeling kinda of humdrum about (well, I've been excited about Farmer Jones, but "Freddie Bear" seemed like an easy way out, so I was disappointed in myself for not having something more creative) suddenly have meaning to me.
This discovery of the dual Golden Book connection occurred on the 19th anniversary of my Mayme's death. You will NEVER, EVER convince me that she didn't send me that serendipity, as I missed her even more than usual on that saddest of anniversaries. To her I say, "I love you, Mary Alice. I wish like you cannot imagine that you could meet my boys."
While that doesn't have anything at all to do with this post, it was the impetus for my finally writing this post that I've been meaning to for weeks. It wasn't until the death of the phone that I realized I'd better post all of those stories I'd been texting myself to write about before I run the risk of losing my texts - and, thus, the stories - altogether (thankfully, my texts are all backed up on my MacBook, but still. It's not worth risking it).
So here you have them - in totally random, as-they-come-to-me order:
1) Freddie said his first three-word sentence last week. While standing at the front door in the den about two hours after Jeremy went to work, Freddie said, "I go Dada!" As you can tell, for as much as Jones is a Mama's boy, Freddie is ALL his Dada's.2) Every time we take Jeremy to work or go and pick him up, we pass the Bethel football field. The boys always look over, and, most of the time, they'll make some comment about what's happening on the field. One nite last week, we passed it, and Jones said, "Oh, boy! They play football!" Then, he stuck his right fist up in the air and said, "Go, Big Blue!"
3) The week before that, Jeremy and Jones were watching the UNC / USC football game. When I came in to get Jones in his jammies ("jah jah," as Freddie calls them), I said, "Whom are you cheering for?" He said, "We say, 'GO, 'HEELS!'"
How's THAT for passing on both hues of blue?!?
4) Freddie has started calling ALL hats, caps, and helmets "pi-ut hat"s, and most of the time, he'll say, "Pi-ut hat. Arr."
 |
| This isn't from Kandi's. It's from outside Jeremy's office but was taken right after the "Watch step, Freedie" incident. |
6) As soon as we stop at a red light - or anywhere - Freddie says, "Go! Go!" Jones has definitely mastered the concept of what red lights mean versus what green lights mean. Freddie is - ahem - still working on this. In fact, sometimes, Jones will give him the side eye and say, "We have to wait our turn, Freedie," parroting what I said to Jones when he first started learning the ropes.
7) The other day, I came into the den and found some of the boys toys VERY neatly packed into their red wagon. I hadn't told them to do this, so I was surprised to see it. "Jones, did you do this?" I asked. He nodded yes. "You did a great job," I told him. He put his hand on his chest, bowed his head, and said, "My PWEHhhhhhzure."
This was around the same time that he climbed on to his big boy bed from the foot of it. "Good job," I cheered. He bowed his head twice and said, "Sink you. Sink you."
8) Freddie has a weird obsession with Jones's Sperrys. He loves them, for some reason. If I put him in the car with shoes on, they're off - whatever they are - before we're out of the driveway, but Jones's Sperrys, he'll hunt the house to find and put on, so I ordered him a pair in his own size.When they came in, and I first tried them on him, you'd have thought I'd given him a giant box of Pixie Stix. His face lit up, and he jigged from foot to foot.
All that afternoon, he wanted to wear those shoes. At one point, his diaper leaked, so I took him to change his clothes, which included taking off his shoes in the den before heading back to the changing table in his bedroom.
When he got to the den, his first order of business was to put his shoes back on, and his Nan told me that, while the boys stayed with them last weekend, Freddie wanted to SLEEP in his Sperrys.
What in the world?!?!
9) Speaking of while the boys were at the Pressleys' last weekend - apparently, at one point the boys were outside playing when their basketball rolled down a hill. Jones slumped his shoulders, put his hand on his forehead, and said, "Troubles. We got troubles." Mrs. Pressley asked me if I'd heard him do this before. I absolutely had NOT, but he's continued saying it throughout this week. At one point, I said it to him: "Jones! We've got trouble!" and he lifted his head and looked around, saying, "Trouble? Where? Where?" The way he did that, I knew he was acting something out, so I figured he was emulating a movie.Then, at lunch that day, he did it again. He added a very excited, "Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!" and that's when I knew it had to be from "Toy Story." Sure enough, I Googled, "We've got trouble" and "Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!" and what d'ya know?
Apparently, when Woody tries to off Buzz, one of the toys says, "We've got trouble" and another responds, "Trouble? Where?"
10) One day -- also at the Pressleys' this weekend -- Jones woke up from his nap before Freddie did from his. Jones was playing with his cars on the carpet when he heard Freddie talking to himself. Apparently, the then told his cars something along the line of, "You stay here. I gotta get my Budder."
11) Along those same lines, the boys and I started back to Bible Study Fellowship today. I dropped Freddie off in the same classroom that was Jones's last year, and Jones tried to sneak in with him. "I want my Freedie," he said. As soon as I picked him up after the study, Jones's first remark was that we had to go get Freedie.Someone loves his Budder.
12) The other day, we were going up to the Pressleys' to drop off the cake for Jeremy's birthday dinner. As we started the climb up their driveway, Jones said, "See trees, Mama?" "I do!" I answered. Jones added, "Dey r bootiful. Dey reary tarrrrr!"
13) We were driving around killing time before picking Jeremy up from work the other day when I happened upon an old Army helicopter "parked" outside of our Waynesville VFW. I didn't even have to think about it - pulling over instantly, knowing GI*Jones would be in hog Heaven.
Of course, he was.
We've since been back.
Of course, we have.
14) Speaking of GI*Jones, this year's Halloween costumes have been set for awhile. Jones is going to be Farmer Jones, which is the title character of one of his favorite books and oh-so-appropriate for a boy who loves tractors and livestock like he does (I love that he loves this book, because I have a picture of myself around his age reading it, too, though I have no memory whatsoever of the book outside of this picture).I'd planned for Freddie to be Freddie Bear, because, let's face it, how many more years will he (or, more specifically, his daddy) allow me to put him in a bear costume?!
Well, the other nite, I was surfing eBay looking for costumes and randomly entered "Freddie Bear." Up popped this beautiful book (with illustrations by the guy who illustrated one of my childhood favorites) from 1965. Of course, I bought it. It came in the other day, and as I read it to the boys during dinner that nite, it struck me ... "Oh, my gosh! Both of the boys are going to dress up like characters from Little Golden Books whose titles are plays on their names. THIS IS TOO PERFECT."
If you know me, you know how my crazy mind works ... and how important it is that everything have SOME kind of meaning, no matter how ridiculous, so now, the costumes that I was feeling kinda of humdrum about (well, I've been excited about Farmer Jones, but "Freddie Bear" seemed like an easy way out, so I was disappointed in myself for not having something more creative) suddenly have meaning to me.
This discovery of the dual Golden Book connection occurred on the 19th anniversary of my Mayme's death. You will NEVER, EVER convince me that she didn't send me that serendipity, as I missed her even more than usual on that saddest of anniversaries. To her I say, "I love you, Mary Alice. I wish like you cannot imagine that you could meet my boys."
 |
| Here's Freddie petting Jones, who often tells us he's a doggie ... or a cat ... or a cow ... or a train ... or a firetruck ... or a race car. |
 |
| Jones was VERY proud that he's strong enough to pick up his bike. I mean, CAN YOU!?!? |
 |
| While playing with cousin "E," Jones started copying EVERYTHING he did, including "wrecking" his mo-ky-kull. |
 |
| doing one of his chores |
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Happy Birthday, Jeremy!
Last year, we went to Mount Airy for Jeremy's birthday. This year, the timing worked out for us to do something that was (in my opinion) even more awesome - we got to go watch basketball alum from his hue
of blue play against basketball alum from MY hue of blue.
The fact that this game was scheduled for Jeremy's birthday weekend was proof to me that we just HAD to go, so go we did, leaving Jones and Freddie at the Pressleys' and stopping in Knoxville to watch Tennessee's HEARTBREAKING loss to Oklahoma on the way.
 |
| photo creds: Jeremy Pressley! |
Though we got to Knoxville almost three hours before kick-off, we were almost late to the game, because of the parking situation in K-town. Not even joking, our hour-long drive through downtown Knoxville was the closest we've come to divorce. We finally ended up parking about two and a half miles from Neyland in what was, presumably, the last available spot this side of the Cumberland River. On the bright side, though, the spot only cost five dollars, and the van spent the evening parked in the capable care of some man with meth mouth.
Comforting.
97% of the game experience was amazing. We had terrific seats - and the weather was PERFECT for football. It wasn't too hot, but it wasn't too cold, either. It was EXQUISITE. The atmosphere was the best I've ever experienced at Neyland - and I've experienced some good games at Neyland! Then came the fourth quarter ... and things went south pretty quickly.
We stayed to the bitter end, though, and finally made it back to Meth Mouth around 11 p.m. Somehow, Jeremy had us in Lexington by 1. I don't even want to know how he did it.On Sunday morning, I slept until 10 AM. Don't judge. Then we went out to eat at the Keeneland Track Kitchen. This is a regular stop for my trips to Lexington, but I've never before been during a Yearling Sale. THAT.WAS.AWESOME. Again, it was a beautiful morning. That definitely enhanced our experience, but to see those beautiful animals, paraded around for potential buyers - and to see the stalls all dressed up, like a jockey in a stunning silk - it was an unexpected surprise of the trip.
Then came the Main Event. We got to the UK / UNC game almost 90 minutes early, which is precisely how I like to arrive. It was absolutely amazing to see the guys again. As I tweeted during the event, I felt like a mama whose boys were home from college on their fall break. It was a giddy kind of, I-can't-quit-smiling sort of feeling.And the Cats gave me lots to smile about, but since this is a post about JEREMY'S birthday, I'll leave that part out.
After the game, we ate at Qdoba (which is how I knew he loved me) and headed home. It was a great weekend, and though I thought about the boys every single second and couldn't quit looking at pictures of them, I'm so thankful for some time away with their sweet daddy.
 |
| Jones calls him "Wahken;" Freddie calls him "Keen," which makes more sense to me. |
 |
| Most stadiums and arenas have a rule now that you can't bring in cameras with detachable lenses. I'm not exactly sure why, but it means we only have iPhone photos of the games we saw. This, of course, came close to ruining my weekend. |
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Post-Purri, Part Two
Found a few more photos that should've made this morning's post, but since they didn't, here they are.
 |
| We've been spending a lot of time at the Waynvesille Rec Park. Believe it or not, there's a little boy who plays often, too. He just turned two and is named Thomas Frederick (Not Sure of Last Name). He goes by "Tommy," but what are the chances?!? |
 |
| It's kind of crazy how much I love my boys in stripes. I didn't even realize it, until I saw all the stripes hanging in their closet (same goes for gingham). |
 |
| Out of nowhere, Jones hauled off and pushed Freddie down. Say WHA...?!?! They were playing perfectly well together, and then ... ... BOOM. |
 |
| aftermath |
 |
| the boys' first visit to the Upstate Children's Museum; the crane and the water table were definitely the biggest hits of the day. |
 |
| water table |
 |
| riding the "John Deere tractrow" with Pop |
 |
| LOVE this one |
 |
| He almost always has some form of transportation in his hand - usually one form in each hand. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)