Abby is 16!! (part one for your convenience)

Abby turned 16 and since I couldn't afford a car I was going to give her money. Right? No. Jon said no money, he wanted to give her a gift.  Did he have any ideas? No. And although I am usually pretty good at thinking up gifts (not to pat my self on the back or anything, really, I don't consider easily coming up with ways to spend money an attribute), I COULDN'T THINK OF ANYTHING TO GET HER.  It was stressing me out. I didn't want to just get something random, I wanted it to be special since this was such a milestone birthday.  This meant I resorted to asking everyone I came into contact with what their suggestion might be.  I got a lot of "money" (duh, right?), a coach purse (this idea given to me by her best friend, which is odd because even I know this is NOT Abby's personality-but rather than rely on that intuition and dismiss it, I just added that to my stress and second guessed myself, because she is her best friend so she should know...), a GPS (Michael had that idea- coincidentally he refuses to learn how to use the one on his phone, that might have been a little self-projection there...).  Finally, during a conversation about something unrelated I asked one of our assistant managers, we got interrupted, and she never got to answer me.  An hour later she called me back saying, "I just realized I never got to answer your question earlier.  This is what I did for my daughter's 16th bday..."  and woolah! The 16-gift idea was born!  Thank goodness. Of course then came the hard part, thinking of 16 gifts that wouldn't break the bank when they totaled up. Then, I had the random idea to turn the gift giving experience into a treasure hunt with clues, but second guessed myself again. Until I saw the video of Easter Lily and knew I had to do it (nevermind the fact that they are 13 years apart in age and that may cause a slight difference in reaction...).  Well, it turned out great.  After I wrote the clues, I took them to work and tried them out on my carhops just to make sure it was possible to figure them all out.  They all loved doing it!  Jacob ended up helping Abby, and he also loved it (and was better at it than her, I might add).  Here is the note that was in her cute picture card (made with a free promo code of course), followed by the clues:

 

Dear Abby,

We love you so much,

Our hearts you have touched.

So proud are we,

You bring us all glee.

As this day drew near,

It became very clear,

It should be as special as you,

That much we knew.

The perfect gift was thought about,

And pondered with doubt.

Until finally Shae did exclaim,

“I’ve got it! A game!”

So with this thought we leave you,

On this riddle to stew:

We hope you don’t mind

But our gifts you must find.

 

YOUR FIRST CLUE IS EASY,

IF YOU JUST THINK,

OF WHAT MORNING PEOPLE

LOVE TO DRINK

(This was a Starbucks giftcard hidden by the coffee pot)

 

IT MAY SEEM STRANGE

TO BOW IN THIS PLACE,

BUT YOUR NEXT GIFT WILL BE

AMONG SOCKS AND LACE.

(She is a fan of Tim Tebow, so this was a tshirt with his number on it, a silhouette of him kneeling in front of it, hidden in her underwear/sock drawer)

TOO BAD WE CAN’T BUY

THE CAR OF YOUR DREAMS,

BUT THIS CLUE WILL LEAD YOU

TO A SWEETER GIFT, IT SEEMS.

(This was a Pandora charm for her bracelet that was a little car, put on the hood of our car)

ABIGAIL P. PHILLIPS HAS 16 LETTERS

JUST LIKE YOUR AGE!

YOUR NEXT GIFT WILL BE NEAR FLOWERS,

A BET I WOULD WAGE.

(This was another Pandora charm that was a dangling "16" hidden in the flowers-get it? 16 letters in her name, age 16, and the 16 charm. HEHE)

 

SO PRETTY ARE YOUR EYES

THAT YOUR DADDY SAYS NO COLORS.

BUT THIS PENCIL IS OK,

YOU WILL FIND IT WITH SHAE’S OTHERS.

(She wants colored contacts, but Jon won't let her get them. She loves this expensive eyeliner from Sephora, so I got her that and hid it with my makeup)

 

THIS COLOR WAS DIFFICULT

FOR YOU TO SAY,

BUT THE GIFT IS EASY,

IF YOU LET YOUR FINGERS LEAD THE WAY. 

(When she was little, she pronounced the word yellow-"lellow" and nail polish was-"po-nailish."  So I got her some lellow po-nailish and hid it with my nail polishes).

 

SOME SAY YOU’RE TALL,

SOME SAY YOU’RE SHORT.

YEARLY PICS TELL THE STORY,

CHEER IS YOUR SPORT.

(Abby is not tall by any means, but one of her friends, Jasmine, is actually shorter than she.  The "short" hint in here is referring to the gift, which was a pair of the Nike shorts she loves, and it was hidden behind a huge frame hanging up in our house that has all of her cheerleading pics since she started in 3rd grade.)

 

HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU HAVE?

WHERE SHOULD YOU PUT THE CASH YOU OWN?

THIS NEXT GIFT IS TWO IN ONE,

THEY HIDE WHERE SHAE KEEPS HER PHONE.

(I got her a new wallet, one that matches the purse she is carrying.  It has a print on it similar to zebra print, which is her fave AND I just happened to find in on clearance at Target. Awesome, I know.  I put $16 in it and hid it in my purse.  Jacob figured this one out.)

 

I SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM,

BUT WHAT DO WE DO FOR THIS FOOD?

MAYBE WE LAUGH?

OR MAYBE WE MOO?

(Abby LOVES cereal.  And by love, I mean OBSESSED.  She eats it constantly. I got her a tshirt one year that said "cereal killer." hehe. But this was a box of her favorite cereal, hidden in the fridge.  When she read the clue, she said, "milk. you got me milk?")

 

YOUR CLOTHES DON’T FIT?

A TAYLOR YOU SHOULD SEE.

OR JUST ASK THIS GUY,

IN THE MOVIES HE WILL BE. 

 (She loves Taylor Lautner, hence the misspelling of the word "tailor" in the clue.  This was his latest movie, Abduction, hidden with our movies.)

SHAKE THAT BA-DONK-A-DONK

TO THIS TUNE.

THE GIFT ISN’T TICKETS,

SO TRY NOT TO SWOON.

(Double meaning going on with the first line:  obviously, shake your butt to the music, a hint to the gift which was a CD; but also, we tease her about her big butt-it really is. The singer on the CD is actually coming to concert soon, and Abby tried to get Hallie to buy her tickets for her bday.  But Hallie doesn't like the guy, so she wouldn't.  Hence, the rest of the clue.  It was hidden by our old stereo, which Abby didn't even know we had...she looked by the computer.)

SMACK IN THE MIDDLE

OF THE ALPHABET IT SITS,

A DESSERT PEOPLE LOVE

SO MUCH THEY THROW FITS.

(When Abby was little, she pronounced M&M candy-Lemonlems.  So I got a big bag of dark choc M&Ms-her fave-and made my own label that said "Lemon Lems," and hid it in our dessert box.  Yes, we have a dessert box. Michael says it is the greatest thing ever. I digress. Funny story about this clue.  When I read it to the girls at work, the first answer someone called out was, "Pie! Pecans?"  When Abby read the clue, the first thing she said was, "Pie? Pecans?"  How strange is that..)

  

WHERE WILL YOU PUT YOUR COPIES?

ON A HOOK OR ON A CHAIN?

WHEREVER YOU DO, DON’T LOSE THEM,

YOU’LL GO INSANE.

(I was actually most proud of this clue.  I just thought it was clever.  I got her a keychain in the shape of a cupcake.  But do you get it? We will have to make her COPIES of our car keys??? You put your keys on a keyCHAIN and we have a HOOK hanging up in the kitchen where we hang our extra keys??? Also, when you lose your keys, looking for them drives you INSANE!!  Another funny story about this clue:  When I read it at work, they had a difficult time with it.  Our little Mexican carhop said, "Explain me insane."  Tasha said, "That means it drives you crazy, like when I locked my keys in my car last night, it drove me insane!.....OH!"

 

ALL THE LATEST ONES YOU WILL SEE.

WITH BROOKE AND LAUREN YOU WILL FLEA.

FOR THIS GIFT, LEARN TO SEW,

AND TO THIS PLACE YOU WILL GO.

(Gift card to the movies. Brooke and Lauren are her best friends. I hid it in my sewing box. I think this was one of the last ones I wrote. My brain was running out of clever so I just threw in rhyming words... :)

 

MOMS LOVE TO MAKE MEMORIES,

IT’S BEST JUST TO SMILE, YOU WILL FIND.

YOUR LAST GIFT WILL BE

NEAR OTHERS OF ITS KIND.

(This was my fave gift, and she liked it the best too.  I made a photo album-with a free promo code of course-filled with only baby and toddler pics of her.  And instead of regular captions, I put in all the funny little things she said as a child.)

MISC.

Here are random pics that I have taken over the last few weeks.

This is at Abby's cheer banquet.

Notice the shoes below.  First of all, they are zebra striped. Second, I think she was the only girl NOT wearing ridiculous heels. Love it. Comfort rules.

First grade field trip,we walked to the fire station from the school.  How awesome is that? I tried to get a good pic of the long line of kids, it was the whole first grade, but I just couldn't. This pic only show about 1/3 of the line.

Walking with his friend Cooper...

That is Jacob right up in the front...

Again, in the front...

At the end, the chief said two kids from each class could ask a question. Of course, Jacob had one...

Hunting for rolly pollies...

Sitting in the ambulance

Group pic. He is standing in the back row, middle, next to Cadie. Not because he was put there...

Walking home with Cadie-this is the girl who he got caught passing the note to at the beginning of the year, decided he hated right before Christmas because she laughed at him when he mispronounced a word (which prompted a letter during the break), and got in trouble for calling her a name about a month ago....

After we got back to the school, we had a picnic lunch. Where they sat next to each other. She and I talked. She said, "Jacob told me I have mushy elbows." I said (while inwardly freaking out because he had touched a part of her body), "How can elbows be mushy?" She said, "That's what I said!"  Future mother/daughter-in-law...already thinking alike ;)

First track meet!! Jacob is actually enjoying track. Even though it is not through his school, the group practices at his school's track. So we get to walk/bike ride up there for practice.  Plus, anyone who knows Jacob, knows that the boy is happiest in familiar environments...Funny side note: these shorts have built in underwear, kind of a like swim trunks.  When he put them on at first, he kept walking funny, I guess because he is used to boxers and the built in underwear thing is like tighty whities...it was funny.

 The boys' group, ages 5-8

I ended up helping (of course) but it was cool because I got stationed right at the starting line!! Sweet

 Lining up

 It was quite difficult to get this smile...He was pretty pumped up the whole day. He was in 4 events:  the 100, 200, 400, and ball throw (a young version of shot put).  In between each event there was a pretty long wait, which I knew about and was wondering how he would react to.  However, when we were leaving he said, "That wasn't that bad.  I like how I got a break in between each race so we could play."  Ummm, not exactly what the breaks were about, but ok!

Jacob is on the the top bleacher, second from end on left

Jacob is far left

Jacob is in the middle at the top

Jealous

So I just read Melissa's latest blog post about what it is like to be a twin. And I have to admit, I have always wanted to be a twin. Not to HAVE twins, but to be one. I always thought it would be cool.  But then I started thinking that I really have a special relationship with my brothers, specifically Michael.  One of my fave things about us as siblings is that we are never jealous.  A situation came up recently where something my dad did could have been interpreted in a "he loves you more than me" hissy fit, but we have just never played that game. Anyway, not to be outdone, here are some of mine and Michael's texts:


conversation during track yesterday (Morgan is running also, and we were both excited about having someone to talk to during the LONG meets. But then we got the schedule and we only have one meet together, and then the championship. Of course.)
to him:  we are going to get farmers tans, and the front of our legs will probably get tan also.
to me:  ya, its gonna suck.
to him: yep. i really did not want to have to go to the tanning bed before the cruise, but i guess i will have to now.
to me: indeed.  do you know what events he is in yet?
to him:  100, 200, 400,  and ball throw. morgan?
to me:  hvnt told us.  atleast he didnt get long jump. heard that takes forever.
to him:  why the hell hasn't someone come along and made it where the times are organized according to age groups??
to me:  ya. doesn't make anysense.  seems like there has to be a better way..
to me:  dammit. morgan got the long jump. she hates getting dirty in the sand.
to him:  she must be good at hit though if they put her in it.
to me. no shes horrible. jumps like a foot before she is suppose to jump everytime.
to me:  need us a damn tent. jacob done anything yet
to him:  nope.but someone on our team just ran to target and bought a bigass gazebo tent thing. rich people
to me:  ya everyone has them here.  these bastards have the fold out chairs that recline.  shes on a relay about to start.
to me.  they just got destroyed by bartlett.  came in 2nd.  fastest black kids alive.
to him:  damn its hot. wth have we done
to me:  ikr. all she is doing is hanging with her damn friends while i sweat
to him:  those flat running shoes are called "waffles" and you get them at break away. just asked some 9 year old. she said you tell them you are with sys and they give you a discount
to him:  jacob is about to start his 3rd thing. we are rolling.
to me:  not us. this is boring as hell.  hasnt done anything since that race at 930.
to him:  collierville folks got things to do
to me: app
to me:  she's been standing in the long jump line for 45 min.  still hasn't done another event.
to him:  (we were on the way home at this point, about 3) do you want me to pick up morgan for church tomorrow?
to me:  idk. we are still f**king here. morgan already wants to quit.

That was only some of them. we literally texted the whole 6 or 7 hours. As you can tell, we like to complain about rich people. And since I live in Collierville and he lives near Arlington, we are constantly surrounded.

then here is this morning's conversation:
to me: did u knw rocky was based on a based on a real boxer?

good stuff. i like it :)

Spring Break And The Best Day Ever! Or, Spring Break on the Cheap! (to borrow a title from my cousin ;)

Spring break arrived, which of course translates into boredom. Boredom, and spending money to alleviate it...but I was determined to NOT go broke. Perhaps the best story of my endeavor was created on Wednesday, with Jacob and Morgan. Always with Morgan. Poor Morgan. I guess with her I feel more comfortable to try things and not worry so much about the what-ifs...it truly is a wonder she keeps agreeing to go places with us. But to stay in order, Tuesday we went to the Memphis Botanical Gardens, which has this thing called "My Big Back Yard." IT. IS. AWESOME. Aunt Debbie, Melissa and Nicole, if you guys come back in town, we WILL go here. You do have to pay to get in, but it is so fun, it doesn't matter. I did not get many pictures this day, but I have taken lots in the years past.  It has a huge tree/play house, an outside music center, a water feature to play in, all kinds of cool swings...etc, etc, etc. Anyway, we met a friend there.

The BEST swing was a hammock-like-thing for two, and the other mom and I camped out in it  ;)   Seriously though, I did not take pictures that would do this place justice. We will go there, cousins. That's just all there is to it.

And that brings us to the Wednesday adventure.  I had already promised Morgan we would come get her and do something.  The something was still being worked on when Mom called Tuesday afternoon to say that her co-worker had a zoo pass and would be willing to meet us there and get us in. For free!! Whoopee! This was a really nice thing to do since she would be using some of her lunch break time to do this.The kids were all pumped up about it because we had packed lunches and were planning a picnic (Morgan was happy), and packed extra clothes so they could play in the huge water fountain thingy (Jacob was happy) in one of the newer areas (I usually don't let them because we never think ahead and bring extra clothes and the water thing is toward the back and I don't want to listen to them whine about how uncomfortable they are the rest of the time in wet clothes).  So, we met her at the office, and then followed her to the zoo. Only, we never made it to the zoo, because the line just to get into the parking lot wound out of the lot, out onto both side streets, and out onto both major street on either side. And then down those major streets. It was ridiculous. *Side note:  in years before I would have totally dissed Memphis in explaining this ridiculous phenomenon by saying that the city sucks and there isn't enough to do.  However, since having Jacob and Morgan in my life and consequently actively pursuing finding new and fun things to do, I have realized our city is actually pretty awesome. Shudder.*  Back to my story: it was clear we were not going to get into the zoo, since it would have taken Mom's coworker's entire vacation package of waiting in the line to get us in. We were downtown, ready to picnic and get wet, what could we do? Mud Island!! I was cool with this b/c Mud Island is free, you just have to pay to ride the monorail (money not in the budget, but what can you do?). If you remember, last year when we did this, we rode the trolley from Mom's work (where we parked for free) and it only cost, like, a quarter. This time, I didn't feel like doing all that; and besides, Mud Island must have a parking lot, right? Right? Yeah, it does, a $6 parking lot. Ok fine. Budget not working out. I will just accept it.  But as we drove into the almost full parking lot (that's an important note to prove I am not crazy), the attendant peered into my car and asked, "you guys aren't planning on going to Mud Island are you?" As I look one more time at the title of this parking lot ("Mud Island Parking Lot"), I say, "Yesssssss...." He replies, (thankfully, but still confusing) "Mud Island isn't open yet. Won't be until April 14." Thankful that he told me before I spent the non-budgeted money, confused that there were LOTS of cars in the lot and more behind me (were the people wandering around the gates of Mud Island wondering why no one would let them in??), and becoming stressed because I had two expectant kids in the back seat, we drove back to Mom's office.  *Side note: also, before having kids-I count Morgan-I didn't know my way downtown.*  Well, long story short, every mom/grandmother on the floor was giving us ideas on nearby/safe places to go that didn't cost money.  *Side note:  also before having kids, I was not as outgoing/willing to talk to complete strangers.*  Pretty soon we were hooked up with a cool new park and the Main Library with it's really cool children's section. The only thing missing was getting wet, but these swings managed to make up for it:

I guess these were intended for the younger kids, but oh well. After hearing them exclaim that "these swings are so relaxing!" I came over and started swinging them in such a way that they started banging into each other (you know, the way you usually try to avoid) and called them "bumper swings." This is when Morgan could be heard (over the giggles), "This is the best day ever!"  Other moms and kids were watching us, the moms smiling at the other crazy mom, the kids glaring with envy because I'm sure all the  "good" moms warned against such activity.
Next, to add to the best day-ness, I started twisting the swing. Again, smiles and glaring.

 I didn't get a really great pic of the library, but we will def have to take Lily:

A couple of random pics:  First we have a Star Wars guy. I was cooking and I hear, "General Grevious is sitting criss-cross applesauce. He is ready to learn. Giggle Giggle." Totally adorable.

 A friend of ours is moving to Oklahoma (sadness) and are there this week getting things ready.  While they were gone, they told Jon he could come get their firewood if he wanted it.  Of course he did.  While he was there he picked a bunch of flowers for me ;)  Apparently some people are good at growing things...

 Jacob is lazy. There, I said it. (we were at a red light)

Mom of a 7 & 1/2 Year old Boy Means...

You know you have a boy when...you are stuck washing dishes because the dishwasher randomly wouldn't turn on, and as you are standing there thinking "this sucks," your boy runs through the kitchen and says, "nice city mom."