Have A Seat!

Getting creative here, folks...hang on to your hats.  So what is the one thing that almost every entertainer needs more of?  Okay, besides more wine?  Yep, additional seating!

Ever since the creation of Bobby's Man Cave our covered back porch, we entertain a lot at our house.  Now, don't get me wrong, people.  We don't have elaborate state dinners.  Our friends and family know we have a come-as-you-are attitude.  Now that it is football season and the weather is thinking about cooling off, we will be outside a lot more frequently.

So I knew when I saw this guy and his twin at a garage sale recently he was coming home with me!

Wait, you mean you don't love the weathered-woven-seat-and beat-up-paint look they came with?  Neither did I, so here goes a transformation!  First step: paint.  My chairs were introduced to their very own Little Black Dress. 

(The seats popped right out by unscrewing them from underneath.)

By the way, this was also a sure fire way to get my dear husband to mow our grass! HaHaHaHa.

Once inside and away from the grass-police fussing at me (the grass was really long -- it needed to be cut), I got out my friend the staple gun and got to recovering.  Now, I could have been fancy and added some extra cushion, but hey, these are going outside.  I just wanted a place for my friends' booties to land.

I screwed the seats back to the chairs and with no further ADO, I present my new seating for our back porch! 

Total cost...Chairs=$15, Fabric=$7, pride in doing it myself = $ priceless!  Each chair cost me roughly $11.

Roll Tide!  I'm going outside to watch the Pre-Game show!

Welcome to Alabama, Joe Pa!

***Author's Note 8/31/2012 I am leaving this post in tact, changing no words about it. But at the very mention of Joe Paterno, I must offer my prayers to all the victims in the Sandusky crimes, to all the innocent football players whose football careers will be marred by association with this program, and to all the residents of Happy Valley who simply love football and now question every truth they believed about Penn State University and its "respected" leaders.***

This is a recap of a game from 2 wks ago...yesterday the Morrises traveled to Dalton, GA for a family reunion -- more about that later -- and had to listen to the game on the radio.

Am I the only one who was curious as to what qualifies a lion to be a "Nittany Lion"?  Apparently, "the origins of 'Nittany' are a bit obscure, but most likely the word comes from a Native American term meaning, 'single mountain.' (Since a number of Algonquian-speaking tribes inhabited central Pennsylvania, the term can’t be traced to one single group.) The description applied to the mountain that separates what is today Penns Valley and Nittany Valley, with its western end overlooking the community of State College and Penn State's University Park campus. The first colonial settlers in the 1700s adopted this term, or a variation of it, in formally naming Nittany Mountain."  Thank you Penn State for the answer.

On Sept. 11th, Alabama played host to Penn State U's Nittany Lions.  Head Coach Joe Paterno faced the Crimson Tide for the first time since the '90s.  It's kinda an iconic day--"Joe Pa" coached against The Bear and now against Saban.  Also, there was a famous (knockoff) piece of hardware making the rounds on the Quad:

And who was that football player walking around with the trophy?  See below.  We managed to get a quick photo before he and his trophy moved on to other tailgate sites.

And it was hot!!! We were literally wilting.  We all went from "Hey, we are some cuties," to "can someone get me a napkin so I can dab my sweat?"  I think there was 150% humidity!  The poor fans from Pennsylvania looked like they were going into shock.  Even the most "seasoned" tailgaters started looking a little weak and/or sweaty:

This picture cracks me up!!! Jonathan and Meredith are the only ones "ready"...

Phew, it was a long day of tailgating, but it was finally game time!

Looking straight ahead at the new South Endzone

Here are a couple of shots from the pre-game introduction video and of the Boys of Fall doing their warm ups:

One last happy pose before kickoff:

We had a great time!  The final score was 24-3 which helped #1 Alabama stay at the top of the charts with their 2-0 season start.  And, in the words of Eli Gould, "It's good!"

Finally Football Season!!!

It's here!  Can't you just smell the magic in the air?  Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to the most wonderful time of the year...College Football Season!  Oh, how my crimson blood stirs with excitement!  In fact, I've been so happily celebrating this time period, I am a couple of weeks behind in my posting.  Anyhoo, let's go back in time to Saturday, September 4, 2010...

Alabama's opening game against San Jose State.  We won 48 - 3!!!  Woo-Hoo!!!  The Morris clan watched the game in Calera, AL with the Markham family.  Rob and Caroline had a ball playing with li'l Mikayla.  I love all our beautifully crimson-clad cuties.

Meredith and I always have fun together! She's a newer friend of mine, but I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know her.

It's really nice to have some strong girlfriends in your life.

And lastly, because Alabama made its incredible run to a 13th National Championship in '09, this is actually the 2nd football season Caroline has experienced in less than one year of life!  Here's a little flashback for ya:

This was on December 5, 2009 (which happened to be CC's due date. As it would happen, she was 4 days old).  Alabama defeated the FL Gators 32-13 and would go on to beat Texas 37-21 in Pasadena Jan 7, 2010!

Roll Tide Roll, everybody!!!

Happy Birthday Miles and Rob

Okay, this post is waaaay late, but I just wanted to record the memories in bloggerland for all eternity.  Rob and Miles are not only great buddies, they are also cousins who have birthdays one week apart...8 days to be exact.  Which is quite the coincidence since Miles' mommy and I have birthdays 8 days apart, too!  Doncha just love fate?  Slight difference, Miles is 2 yrs (minus 8 days) older than Rob.

On Aug 28th, Rob turned 4.  We had a backyard bash for him. First up, sack races.  I should take the time to mention that none of the kids knew about these games...so sad!  It was great to watch them "get back to the basics" of fun.

 

I'm not sure you can tell from these pictures, but it started raining.  Didn't slow the kids down any.  It seems to rain every single year on Rob's birthday.  Last year was the only year we planned an indoors party and guess what: no rain!

I don't have pictures of all the festivities -- I was taking on the roll of party director.  However, we also played a rainy-day version of a cake walk which Mikayla Markham won.  Everyone clapped when she won which caused her to cry (she's a little bashful).  We also played a football version of Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey.  Again, kids know nothing about these games anymore.  Miles looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned the original game's name.  Then there was this:

What is it about kids loving to whack a cardboard candy-filled party decoration?

 Time for cake!

Though it was not the party theme, Rob again picked a pirate cake.  Wal-Mart in Alabaster, AL did a fantabulous job with the decorations!  And the cake tasted good, too!  I wish I had ordered a larger one for some leftovers!

The next weekend was Miles' party.  We went to a local, very nice, park.  Guess what?  No rain!  It was great weather and actually a little cooler than the past few days.

Miles had a mixture of cake and cupcakes.  It was delicious, too.  You can tell how much the kiddos loved the sweet confections:

Caroline wants a bite of cake:

It had been a long week.  This party followed Rob's first week of Pre-School.  He was adjusting to a totally new daily schedule, bedtime routine, etc.  So one of the funniest parts of Miles' birthday party was our car ride home.  Enjoy this video, people.  And I'll see you next time!

Rob's First Day of Preschool

I can't believe it!  My heart is so heavy with bittersweetly swelling pride!  On Wednesday, September 1st my little boy started school!  He is an official 4-K student at Prince of Peace Catholic School.  He goes from 8 AM until 1 PM Monday through Friday!  We have the most fabulous teacher, Ms. Tania, about whom Rob thinks the world!  He adores her already!

That being said, I am a terrible mother!  I didn't take one single picture of Rob at Meet-The-Teacher day.  I was so busy watching him taking in the room and his new environment.  He and Ms. Tania held hands as she led him around each station and center and circle.

Nevertheless, here is my big boy the next morning:

He was beaming with excitement.  Before I had his shoes on properly he was already walking around the house with "C'mon" and "Let's not be late!"  But wait, son, just one more picture of my big boy (who is still proudly celebrating the fact that he turned 4).

I did not get to walk him into his classroom.  Heartache!  The POP theory states that children who are escorted by the Faculty/Staff from their parents' car have less separation anxiety...didn't help my anxiety!  One more picture while we're sitting in carpool line, please.

Okay, clearly Rob is not nervous...well maybe nervous excitement.  The day flew by for me!  I got nothing accomplished as I thought I would have done.  Soon it was time to pick up my big boy.  Here he comes and he is being escorted back to me by none other than the Fabulous Ms. Tania! 

At the end of the day, Rob was so very sleepy.  He didn't fill my heart and ears with the day's details like I thought he would have done.  Eventually through the week (we only went W-F the 1st week) he told me about his accomplishments of not talking on his towel (during rest time), how Ms. Tania shot a basketball through the hoop in the gym, how the line leader gets to lead everyone out of the classroom to the playground, etc., how the helping hand gets to wipe the tables after lunch, and how there are 2 Ryans in his classroom.  Ryan B. is a boy and Ryan C. is a girl -- his girlfriend! 

See you tomorrow, Prince of Peace!