First Grizzlies Game

John got some tickets from a friend for Friday night’s Memphis Grizzlies game (our local NBA team). He’s been wanting to take Helen Grace to a game, so we thought it was the perfect opportunity to let her see what it’s all about. She loved the box, danced around while the warm up music played, and intently watched the players making shots. And then…the lights went off, the player introductions started, and the big fire thing exploded. She was NOT a fan of the loud music and fire. (Me either, chica!) So she and I went for a little walk until the game got started. She made it until almost halftime before she got bored, but Dippin Dots and the halftime entertainment perked her up. We left soon after the act was over, but overall, she seemed to really enjoy the game. She thought all the grizzly bear stuff everywhere was cool, although she made it clear that she didn’t want to meet the mascot, Grizz, or a real grizzly bear.

Princess Party

Last Friday night, we had a special treat- a girls’ night party fit for a princess! The Paul Mitchell School was having a night for little princesses to benefit local charities, and the girls could get their hair and nails done, make a bracelet and crown, and walk the runway. My little princess was super excited to meet her friends for dinner (including Emsley who was back in town for the occasion!!!) and dress up in her Tinker Bell dress, but she refused the hair do. She also refused the manicure for most of the night and was content to dance and chase pink and purple balloons around, but after all her friends got their nails done, she finally got brave and asked to do it too. She was thrilled with the result and showed it off to her friends, but then she messed up a few while making a crown. We got them fixed, and then she had a panic attack to take the polish off. I refused to ask the poor girl who had now done her nails twice to remove the polish, so she had a meltdown and then another one when she realized her friends had left during her ‘episode.’ It was obviously too close to her bedtime, so we made a bracelet and headed for the car. As we got in the car, there was a HG meltdown because she was worried that her nails might get messed up again and there was also a mama meltdown because it was dark, rainy, and not a great area of town to be standing in the parking lot with a screaming child. Whew! The princess and her crazy mama finally made it home to show her nails off to her daddy. She has talked about the fun she and her friends had at the princess party for days!

On a side note, the nail tech chose a bright neon green polish to match her Tinker Bell dress. I was just opening my mouth to suggest a light pink when she happily showed HG the green color and how it matched her dress. It was over at that point, so I just smiled and nodded. The next night at church, Grandma’s friend was commenting on how much she liked her nails, and I made some sarcastic remark about how the color glowed in the dark and HG should have no problem finding the bathroom in the middle of the night. Well, I should know by now that the child hears and takes in everything. When HG and I walked out into the dark garage on Monday morning, she said, “Wait, Mama! Let me be the line leader and show the way with my glow in the dark nails!” And proceeded to hold her hands out in front of us all the way to the car door. ;)

HG, Caroline, Libby, Emsley, Camille Pretty pretty princess Posing for Mrs. Doty The calm before the storm So excited to show Caroline

God Bless the Irish

Happy {belated} St. Patrick’s Day from Peggy and Helen Grace! And a bonus pic of our ballerina gardener, hard at work at Grandma’s

Jackson

We were way overdue for a Jackson trip for some family time, so we packed up this past Friday and headed south. To satiate the constant demands from the backseat (“I wanna see Grace Ann. I wanna see Grace Ann.), we headed straight to Suzanne’s house. We spent the afternoon playing around on a friend’s trampoline and catching up, and then we headed for dinner and ice cream. Grace Ann surprised us by staying at Aunt Glo’s with us, and of course, HG was in hog heaven. It took physical force to get her in the bed by 10:00. :)

We had planned on meeting Ryves and Mary Chris for brunch at Julep’s on Saturday morning to celebrate Ryves’ MATCHING AT CAMPBELL CLINIC IN MEMPHIS (for his orthopedic residency- CAN YOU TELL I’M EXCITED THEY ARE COMING HOME?!?!), and I was even MORE EXCITED to hear that William would be joining us too. He was passing through from Memphis to New Orleans and would be in Jackson around lunchtime. I was certainly a very happy girl to have both my boys in the same place- and Mary Chris too! Yay!

After lunch, we visited Uncle Lary for a bit, and then as we were about to head home, HG reminded me that I’d promised her a stop at the playground. Since she was upset that Grace Ann had gone to the St. Patrick’s Day parade with a friend and we wouldn’t see her again before we left, we thought this might make our trip home a bit more bearable. Well, imagine our surprise when we heard a familiar voice yell, “Helen Grace!,” on the playground- Grace Ann was there with her friend! What a happy baby girl! They played for a while and ran off some energy before we scooped up HG and headed for the car.

We had a great trip just hanging out with our family. Worth turned FIFTEEN on Monday, so we feel pretty special that he spent his Friday night out in public with his crazy family. Now, that’s love!

Make yourself comfortable, child. “I catch you, Mama!”

Happy Birthday, Nini!

We celebrated a BIG birthday for Nini last week with Teddy’s fried fish and hushpuppies, banana pudding, and coconut cake. YUMMM. We love having Addison here now for our family birthday gatherings, and Nini and Teddy were just aglow the whole time and barely put her down. Happy birthday, Nini! We love you!

Saying ‘See You Later’ to the Blackmans

We have recently had to say ‘see you later’ (I am not saying ‘goodbye’) to some of our dear FTM/MOT friends, Amy and Emsley (and Brian, too, of course). They relocated to the Fayetteville, AR, area for Brian’s job in early March, so we tried to squeeze in as much girl time as possible before the dreaded move day. Luckily, we will see them again this weekend for a mama-daughter date night as they pass through town, so I’m in a bit of denial that we won’t be seeing them at Hope every Wednesday morning. HG and I have both been so blessed by their friendship over the years (especially all the times Amy has let me be ‘real’ without judgment and kept me sane!!!), and I know we will always have a very special relationship as the girls grow up ‘together’ across the miles. We love you, Amy and Emsley!

Rainy, cold day princess party “Camping” Going away party at the Yates

Lawson + SkyZone = Happy HG