Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Finger Lickin' 4th

Back to life, back to reality...
Isn't there a song about that?  After enjoying a weekend of doing absolutely nothing that needed to be done, it's back to the laundry, cleaning, working, etc. today. 
I have to remind myself to find joy in all things...even those!

The only thing that could be heard around our house over the weekend was silence.
A quiet house.  Thanks to my dad and this chariot...
He coaches the Dothan Post 12 American Legion baseball team.  The team that usually doesn't play ball this far north, but makes the trip to Columbia, TN for a tournament every 4th of July weekend for one reason, and one reason alone.  That would be so that he can breeze through Decatur, whisk his granddaughters away in a big chartered bus (that they truly think it belongs to him), and spend the weekend with them doing his thing.  Baseball and grandchildren...his two most favorite things on Earth.  How can I say no to that?!  I'm so thankful they have grandparents who love nothing more than to spend time with them.  I tend to feel guilty when they're away, but knowing they're having a ball (no pun intended) makes it all good.  With that said, all signs pointed to a great weekend.  The girls were taken care of, B was done with cheer camp and won 1st place for JV home pom, I'd just wrapped up my last dance camp, and J and I were ready for a relaxing weekend.  We were lazy bums.  Scratch that.  I tried to be a lazy bum, but failed.  I've come to the conclusion that I can't physically make myself sit on the couch and enjoy it.  It's not in my genetic make up or something.  Friday after the girls were gone and before J came home from work I tried my hardest to sit on the couch and catch up on television.  I sat there for maybe five minutes before I was looking right and left, trying to decide what I should be doing instead of sitting.  What's wrong with me?!  I managed to get through the weekend (kidding), and we were happy to see Sunday because that meant our girls were coming home.  We made the trip to Columbia to pick them up and it just so happened there was a game late that afternoon that we got to watch.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love baseball?  Apparently my girlies like it, too.  Or maybe it's just the players they like??  Their father and I don't so much like that.  The players have always taken to the coach's granddaughters.  They must think it keeps them in his good graces!
Prime example:

That's Ben.
He read bedtime stories to the girls every night and even went so far as to act out the Biscuit tales (Biscuit's a dog which makes the whole thing pretty hysterical) upon request as he was reading.  Something about a teenage boy reading and acting out bedtime stories to two little ones makes me laugh.  Cate refers to him as "my boy" and keeps tabs on him whenever he's around.  Scary.  Towns, on the other hand, was dying over having to stand that close to him for the picture.  The two couldn't be more opposite!
However, any time ol' Brooks (the bat boy) was around she blushed like you've never seen...

Brooks and Towns go way back, but haven't seen each other for a year or so.  His mom told me he's got a framed picture of them from when they were 3 in his bedroom. And I can't confirm this, but I did hear that he sat by her on the bus while the ball players chanted "Brooksy Wooksy and Townsy Wownsy" over and over again.  That said, this might be their last trip with the team!!
While we were there, J played a little ball with Towns...

As long as she keeps her eye on the ball and chokes up on the bat, she can hit it like crazy.  J was in his element which is fun to watch.  All in all, they had a great time and I think my dad was a little teary-eyed when we pulled out of the parking lot.  They must have been exhausted, because they both slept extra late on Independence Day.  That's very uncharacteristic of them, so I had to check on them every so often! Once the sleeping beauties awoke, we spent most of the day outside in the sun.  It couldn't have been more gorgeous!  Keeping them up late enough to catch the fireworks last night at Pt. Mallard was a chore, though.  They were all but passed out on the couch when I remembered we had all the ingredients for cake balls.  So cake balls it was...

The best (and worst) thing about it was getting down and dirty while mixing the warm, crumbled cake with the icing...

There were so many fingers licked that I wouldn't dare share our sweets with anyone else... 
Hope you're 4th of July was just as finger lickin' good!

1 comment:

Jennifer Simpson said...

Surely Towns understands that BOYS HAVE COOTIES!!! And they will continue to have cooties until at least 25 years old! How cute, I love crushing on them! Get ready, Daddy!