Football and Family Weekend!

Starkville was rocking this weekend with the third largest crowd ever. Dan Mullen debuted with a victory. We got to cheer for the football players as they unloaded off the bus....quite the interesting fashion show may I add. Willie was not overly impressed as you might think he would be. I think he's a bit of a resentful fan and I hope he might come around one day. He did cheer for State but I think Jay told him he couldn't go to the game if he didn't. The Vandy game is here this year and I'm afraid that Willie might not come around for our Bulldogs. Willie's favorite part was playing football himself at the tailgate with Reagan and Uncle Steven. During a rain delay, two trainers were on the field tossing the ball, Willie said, "Mom, can I go down there and throw the football?" We had good seats at the game; but we were over half way up the stadium. He was so serious:)


We're so grateful that Jay's family lives in Starkville now. We get to visit sacred ground to us everytime we visit family.

A couple of unexpected highlights.....We saw several of Jay's college teammates this weekend including Rula, Super D, Marcus, Big Damp plus Coach Stansbury. Hard to believe that Erick is still going strong for the Mavericks (13 years). And Jay and I shared with Jeff's youth group on Sunday night! A big treat to share our relationship blessings of 18 years with them.


We made it home in 5 hours today, and we had the yard cut and kids in bed before dark. Actually, the kids put themselves in bed!

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

Ruby was presented her 2 year old Bible in the Chapel last Sunday. The coolest part to me was that Ruby was REALLY excited about this event. Papa gave Ruby a New Testament recently and she carries it almost everywhere in a little monogrammed purse that Nana gave her. She even has slept with it in lieu of a doll. Then there's a couple of Bibles of mine she pulls out for what she calls "Bible Class" and she teaches a class to imaginary friends I suppose. So getting her own illustrated Bible just like Willie's was a big event.

Here's Miss J. presenting her with her Bible.

To wrap up the ceremony, the parents held children and sang Jesus loves me! I snapped this shot of Ruby and Jay behind big tears. How can she be 2? How will God use her?

Family Photos

Check out www.mandyjohnsonphotography.com/blog/ September 1st entry.

We haven't seen our proofs yet. Mandy came highly recommended, and she can make anything look pretty good which is hard to believe when Willie's personality ranged from hyena to grumpy old man during the session. Of course, Ruby is generally all about the camera.

The best part was Mandy came to us, and I'm honored she found a happy home. It's true though. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of your love. Thank you, family, for making obedient choices long, long before we ever came around.

Back to School Part 2

Here's some pics definitely for the grandparents and whoever else can stand it.....Most everything since back to school including Day #1, Ruby's fashion show, Canoe Trip, multiple Sounds games, church picnic, LU soccer game, backyard goodtimes.......I honestly can't believe how much fun we make in a week!

Back to School

We're underway back at school and it's all going so smoothly. Willie has no grumpiness yet which I generally attribute to fatigue. Jay doesn't like me to say he is tired around him (for it will become an excuse in life) so I'll use "fatigued" until he adds it to his vocabulary. I overheard him use "invincible" recently so I imagine it's only a matter of time.


Daddy planned us a fun outing last weekend to canoe the Harpeth River! I had to admit I had some reservations with a 2 year old involved. We canoed 7 miles with the Buisson's. My favorite parts of the adventure certainly included the scenery and eating our picnic and surprisingly playing pirates with the girls. Ruby and Anna Belle were in our canoe yelling "girl pirates" at the boys. They spit, splashed and pretended to surprise attack the boy pirates. (Oh, I also immensely enjoyed every time Melissa got annoyed with Bobby for not helping paddle enough:)) Jay had some allusion that he'd be able to fish some along the way. I could have told him that wasn't going to work, but I held it in to prevent putting a damper on this fun adventure........he did manage on a fluke to hook this fresh water mussel with Willie's little fishing rod.

Last night, was the annual back to school picnic at church which includes lots of inflatables and lots of friends. This year they featured a dunking booth with the youth director (Travis) in it. Travis is one of our good friends. Willie was one of the youngest kids lined up to dunk him. I wasn't surprised one little bit when he did it either! Everyone cheered for our little guy and Travis even lured him into giving him a high five once he came up for air. Willie, of course, got splashed instead of a high five. Willie ran to the back of the line to do it again. Ruby was talking to Nana on the phone tonight. With no prompting from us, she was talking about jumping at the party at her church, the tickets in her pocket and "Willie threw a ball and knocked that man in the mater (water)."

Willie & the Poor Boys

Willie & I took in a Sounds game tonight. Boys' night out.  Best part for him was the concessions. Peanuts, cotton candy, Icee's. Best part for me was his reaction when I told him that just the two of us were going to the ballpark. 

This is our conversation in the car on the way to the game as best as I can recall it. CCR's "Down on the Corner" had just come on the radio.

Dad:  Willie, you might like this song.

Willie:  Why?

Dad:  It's about a boy named Willie.

Willie:  Hey, that's my name.

Dad:  (After a couple minutes of the song playing) What do you think?

Willie:  I like it, but it don't say nothin' about Willie.

Dad:  Yes it does, right there, it says "Willie and the Poor Boys are playin'..."

Willie:  I know some boys that are poor.

Dad:  Oh really?  Who?

Willie:  I'm not tellin'. It's a secret club. I'm the president.

Dad:  Oh really?

Willie:  Actually, I know about a rich boys club too.  Clay is in it and Davis is in it.  That's all.

Dad:  How do you know they are rich?

Willie:  (Incredulous) Clay's got lots of money! I've seen it! He's got thousands of monies!

Dad:  Really?

Willie:  Yeah...he's got three packs of pennies. He showed 'em to me.

Dad:  What about Davis? How do you know he's rich?

Willie:  Have you not seen how he dresses?  He's got forty dollars!

Dad:  How much money do you have?

Willie:  Forty dollars. That's how much you have to have to be in the club 'cause that's how much you have to have to be rich.

Oh, for the days when I felt the same way.  Although, based on that criteria, I'm not sure which boys' club I would get to join.

Summer's Last Hoorah!

Generally, we end every summer in Mississippi's high heat. This year we kind of caught a break though and actually had some mornings and afternoons (not on the same day) that were quite bearable even when we weren't in refreshing waters.

It doesn't take long to be with me, before you know I love Mississippi......and if I don't somehow mention my roots....my accent is a dead give away. I will always be a Mississippi girl at heart. When we crossed the state line, I felt at ease immediately. I gave out a hoop and holler as we snaked down hwy 45 on the way to pick up our kids. Jay didn't even look at me like I'm crazy b/c he felt it too. We were home.

We kicked off this summer's week-long visit in Starkville. Willie and Ruby preceded us by a couple of days and were thrilled when we arrived. They are very at home at Gran and Granny's. Ruby's first thing she wanted to show me was her "other room." Uncle Jeff and Aunt Laura always come for a family dinner at a minimum. Ruby wanted to see Aunt Laura's baby in her belly and kept trying to pull up her dress. Uncle Jeff was playing Willie in battleship which was so nostalgic for me since I remember playing many games of Battleship at my own grandmother's. We were grateful to see great grandma Frances at her new house before heading out of town the next day. Gran and Granny had some fun but were ready to recuperate before their big Alaska trip.

Then we were headed South. After 30 minutes on the road, it was time for lunch so we stopped in Louisville to eat with Uncle Jeff. Hit the fried pickles there.... so mark that off my must-do list.


Then we made it another couple of hours to Brandon to do a surprise pick up of cousin Reagan and stop by Uncle Steven's office for bathroom break. We were like a herd of cows tromping in there and interrupting business. Everyone was glad to see each other and the ol' boy Steven was meeting with didn't seem to mind the interruption one bit claiming that b/c he was from Magee....it was all good. Ruby looked up and was horrified (her face was like a deer in headlights) by the 13 point mounted on Steven's wall. I tried to reassure it wasn't one of the deer from our backyard and it was a prize to be proud of in this case.....I'll never forget the day he killed that deer in high school. I was working a little holiday day job basically 3 counties away from the big kill. I hear someone at the office say that some kid had killed a 13 point that morning in Madison County. It didn't take me long to confirm (pre-cell phone) it was Steven who I knew had been hunting over there and I proudly spread the word it was my brother!

That night, we all met at my mama and daddy's for long-awaited family time. Uncle Steven and Aunt Charity joined us for fresh vegetables (including perfectly fried okra) and I can't even remember the meat now since the okra was so right. The next couple of days, we hit Uncle Joel's pool which is my favorite swim spot in the world. 1) it's always hot and I'm not freezing in the pool 2) the pool is situated such that you can only see sky when in the water and 3) cows come up to the split rail to peer in. We also hit the same spring-fed creek we visited last year. The boys skipped rocks for hours and we sat our chairs in the creek after our picnic. Ruby played in the sand and blew bubbles in the creek. On Thursday night, we went to the fish house in Shivers. We were grateful to be in town on a Thursday night this year so we had our pick of which fish house to visit. We drove about half hour to this fish house and my Aunt June, MaryAnn and Uncle Butch met us there. Can't beat eating fried fish and getting to have a little reunion all at the same time.

Mama and I got to do shopping for the first time in about 5 years (my kids are getting of age to hang....)......I like to hit Cutie Pa Tootie's end of season sale for Ruby. Plus, I got to visit the Cotton Patch this year.....beautiful fabrics for $5 a yard. For those of you like Jay and wondering, that's about 1/4 of what I'd pay at my favorite fabric store here. I figure they basically have no overhead so they can afford to sell close-out fabrics at an unbelievable deal. They need a guest book there b/c folks were coming from all over the country....as this Nashville girl was leaving some folks from PA were entering.

Reagan had to get home to start first grade on Friday so it was just us.....the sad part came when I made the 5 a.m. decision that we'd just go on home late that afternoon with Jay (in lieu of him flying which was the original plan after a key recruit rearranged his visit to campus). The kids were exhausted and while I cried for having to leave....this Mississippi girl was ready for home in Nashville, TN. We headed out after Jay got to do his annual work at the Sheriff's office with Daddy and we spent some time with my Grandma Nina at her nursing home. Not sure if she knew us. She cannot talk well now but she plainly said "that's a nice boy" when I reintroduced her to Jay. She's always loved him.

Thanks to all of our family for the rearranging of schedules and personal sacrifices made when we make our visits. It can be hard to live far away but it does make the visits so sweet and we truly appreciate everyone's efforts to take off from work, plan fun outings, cook favorite meals and create the quality time we so treasure.

Jay did his recruiting thing on Saturday when we got back. The kids and I just were thrilled to unpack and be at home never leaving the place. We're caught up and refreshed, for Kindergarten registration is tomorrow!