Memories

 

You know those “Ahhhaaaa” moments we all have? Like if you eat to many fries your butt grows to the size of North Carolina, if your husband reminds you not forget the trash can is behind your van, you will never the less run over it…

I had one of those moments the night of the parade.  I realized that all my hard work trying to teach my kids about how important family memories are had finally paid off!!!! While getting in place to watch the parade the tribe started yelling “Babs, Babs…remember when we took our picture in front of this lamp post? You just HAVE to take a picture of us in front of it!!!!”

Of course they were right I did have a picture of them in front of this lamp post…and of course we had to have a picture of them in front of it again.

Of course this could not have gone without SOME incident…Noel and Allie climbed up on the side of the post…not as small as they were the last time we took the picture , they knocked over the lamp.  Luckily Noah has quick reflexes he caught it before it hit the ground…of course everyone standing around us saw it and then whispered about the out of control Mom who allowed her kids to climb the lamp post…sheesh.

It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.

Babs

The original picture taken in 2002, minus Cassie.

Ben was getting ready for the parade, and Nick was working.

Veterans Day 2009

November 11, 2009
It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.  ~Author unknown
Veterans Day has a special meaning for the tribe. They all know that I am a military brat, the child of a military brat…and they all carry a sense of pride in their heart for the men of our family who have served their country.
Ben marched in his first Veterans Day parade with his ROTC platoon. The tribe turned out on a very chilly night to cheer him on…and to honor all the men and women who have died so that they may have freedom.
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs
I tried to stand under a street light to get a better picture but it was just too dark.

A stepson is someone who comes into you life and becomes your friend!

Ben rounds out the birthday year for the tribe…15…can he really be 15?
I like to think he “step”-ed right into my life.
Ben may have taught me more about myself than any other child in the house. Ben has taught me that …Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success. Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly…because he has challenged my need to always succeed, he has allowed me the privilege of failing and learning.
I have so many memories of the tribe in the beginning…the most vivid one is planting flowers in the front of the house one spring morning.  All the children had ridden off on their bikes, leaving me to plant alone.  Ben had decided to stay back and help and we sat in the dirt for hours talking as we planted rows of colorful annuals. It was one of the earliest moments when I realized that I needed this “Family” in my life.
Ben and I have had 8 birthdays together…quite a long time in the grand scheme of things…and as I sit and write this I realize exactly how much he has grown…and not only in height and weight!
Ben is artistic and smart and in no way has he even begun to realize how bright his future is…I know that it will be the blink of an eye before he is gone…taking with him all the things we have learned together.
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs
Yup, you know it…the “40” candle is still burning bright!
  Ben opted for an ice cream cake this year…it was wayyyyyy yummy!

The great hunter!

I don’t find a lot of stuff about hunting cool.  I just do not like to idea of sitting in a tree so that you can shoot Bambi.  Yes yes I understand that you have to cull the deer population to avoid sickness and over population…yadayada…
While married to my ex-husband I discovered that in the south this is a sacred topic. Many hours are spent planning the purchase of your first rifle, camouflage coveralls are allowed in church, stories are made around the fire at the “hunting land”…and families plan holidays around the deer season schedule.
My favorite joke about hunters is …“One of my favorite clothing patterns is camouflage. Because when you're in the woods it makes you blend in. But when you're not it does just the opposite. It's like "hey, there's an a**hole."”
All joking aside I did learn some valuable lessons during this time watching my ex-laws.  There are all sorts of “smarts”. Many people have book smarts, vast knowledge learned sitting in college classes, studying text books and manuals.  There is a kind of smart that is often over looked in this modern society of ours…good old street smarts…or in this case “outside” smarts.  Cassie will grow up with a love of the outdoors, an appreciation of the natural world and how it works, geology, plants, trees and animal behaviors…not a bad thing to know if you ask me. She certainly would never get it from me…I don’t know a thing about the great outdoors.
I guess because we had a daughter I thought she would not want to hang out in the woods…no such luck…she LOVES hunting with her Dad. They bond while sitting up in the tree stand, they spend hours walking the trails…and he can get her outside in 30 degree temperatures at 5am…quite remarkable if you ask me.
You can imagine my reaction when Cassie sent me the picture below. Apparently she saw her first deer this season…got her youth rifle ready…and fired.  Apparently she also held it a little to close to her eye and it had some kickback :).
To have been a fly on the wall for this one… I might have braved the weather and the early morning sunrise.
What I have to come to realize is that while I like a deer sausage biscuit after all these years…I would much rather buy a package of Jimmy Dean at the WalMart …my little Cassie has been blessed with a variety of genes, some of the red neck variety…and she is very lucky to have quality and quantity time with her father.
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

Another hole in one…Caplinger Style!

Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course - the distance between your ears.  ~Bobby Jones
Hondo had been planning a golf weekend with his besties for several months. Okay so maybe he does not call his guy friends besties…but I think it’s cute.
Things did not start out according to his master plan, one had to cancel due to a death in the family, the weather was so cold we hit record lows, it rained the first 2 days…need I say more…not a great start for my planner man.
Thankfully the Golf Gods intervened.
Hondo became the 2nd member of the family to hit a hole in one this year (see Hole in one post 4-1-2009).  The excitement in his voice said it all when he called.
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart.

I have held off in the writing of this post for many reasons…some of them unknown…but I think the main reason is because I was still digesting and savoring all of the memories.
Sometime around the first of October, Kaiya sent me a text message telling me she had gotten an invitation from Anne (yet another middle school buddy we have found), she had been invited to a Halloween party and wanted to know if I was going to go with her.  I know in her heart of hearts she thought she was being funny since they were in DC and I was in Georgia.  HAHA on her…I quickly asked Hondo to look at flights and within 3 days I had my ticket and had taken a few days off from work.  I was DC bound!
The week before I left I began to question my trip…would she think I looked older…more wrinkled…would her family accept me…what would we talk about for 4 days…the list went on and on…combine that with the excitement of seeing someone who has known me longer than anyone I know (excluding family) and I was one HOT MESS.
From the moment I turned around in the airport and looked into her eyes I was transported back to my youth.  She looks exactly the same, sounds the same….even walks the same. Nothing had changed….well nothing except she has 2 kids, I have 6…she is married to a cute as pie aviator…and I married my prince…and while we are old enough to buy wine…we are to old to sit up all night drinking it…and we NEVER ran out of things to talk about!
I can not even begin to list all the things we talked about…man were we some trouble makers…I guess I should say sorry Mom (a million times over)….but we both agreed that there is not much we would have done differently because it made us into the feisty women we are today.
The greatest joy for me on the trip was the time spent with her children.  These kids are just amazing…you did good girl…funny, outgoing, talented, spirited…the list goes on and on and on. They have all the best of their Mom and Dad, tempered with some good old common sense.  They quickly became Poodle and Cubby to me…I mean really, we all have nicknames, why should they be any different…and as I left their home a little piece of my heart stayed with them.
I can not wait for her to travel to Georgia, meet my Hondo and fall in love with my tribe (I have told her to bring some Valium).
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs
This was a replica of a jail in Jamestown…my Mom was surprised it took us so long to finally get locked in the pokie.
A must for anyone going to DC….Ben’s Chili Bowl!!! Best dang dog I have ever had.
Me and the Poodle at Ben’s
Me and Kaiya
Kaiya, Anne and Me (Anne always had this amazing sense of style when we were kids, her house was exactly as I would have thought)
Todd and Cubby, boy did Kaiya get it right with the men in her life!
My favorite picture from the trip.  Poodle letting me braid her hair…man oh man oh man did she have me wrapped around her finger by the end of my trip!!!!!

Goblins and Ghosts

Yes I know, my dates are mish-mashed…October is running into November…cut me some slack I am trying to play catch up !
When your kids start to grow up you realize that it is the little things that you miss. Setting out cookies and milk on Christmas, the first day of school…and dressing up for Halloween!
Noel and I decided that since we had no little ones, we would dress up Dallas and Deacon.  We settled on a ballerina and football player costume. 
Like all good things that go bad in our house…it started off fine.  We got them dressed, we were posing them for pictures…and my graceful Noel was standing on the couch and decided to step back out of the picture…crash … boom … bang.
Noel lost her balance and fell on the back of the couch…the sound as it broke was deafening..she was fine, but my couch did not fair so well. My couch which is only 2 years old now looks as if it has been around the tribe for 10 years.  The back swayed like an old mare.
Hondo was priceless when it happened…Noel and I just looked at each other with wide eyes and then looked up at him. He has the most perplexed look on his face…as if he was about to ask himself or one of us if that really just happened…only to realize this is after all the tribal house…OF COURSE it just happened.
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs
I prolly should have realized at this moment that standing on the couch was a bad idea!

Presentation is everything!

“Going to school does not make a person educated anymore than walking into a garage makes a person a car”
I love school projects.  My kids love school projects. Our motto is that presentation is everything. I think it helps that their Mom has a craft room filled with stuff they can dig through…and that they have an excuse to use glue (hot or white), sequins…and my scrapbook cutter.
This month Allie had a chemistry project due.  I watched with pride for 2 weeks as she worked on it.  She never asked for help…but I noticed on Tuesday that the due date (Thursday) was approaching and that she had a panicked look on her face…so I asked what I could do to help.
OH MY GOSH! I had no flipping idea what this project actually involved…
Allie had worked no less than 15 hours on this project…and she had a good 10 hours of work left.
Our goal? To recreate the periodic table…on little squares, where she had to list the name, date of discovery, who discovered it, number of protons neutrons and electrons, the atomic number, atomic mass and what the use was in the modern world. She had to write this information in green if it was a solid, red if it was a gas and blue if it was a liquid.
THEN she had to color all metals yellow, the middle square of hydrogen pink, put a black dot on all alkali metals, a blue line on alkali earth metals, a green diagonal line on transition metals, color the small square of metalloids purple, non metals orange, place a brown circle on all halogens, draw a checker board pattern on all noble gases, color all lanthanides red, all actinides green and then draw a black zigzag line to separate all metals from non-metals.  This all had to be cut, mounted on a poster board and then made presentable.
By 10PM on Wednesday I decided that although I work for the school system, my job was not important, I was going to go to school and cram the periodic table up her teachers nose. I quickly changed my mind at the look of pride as Allie held up her finished project for me to see. Nothing like a little glee mixed with exhaustion to humble a woman.
I actually did very little on this, other than to get her organized, find the few she could not online…and type her legend for the corner. We estimate her time spent on this project to be 23 hours.
We were zombies the next day as we drove the chart to school…but we still had the energy to laugh as Allie looked down and realized that I had typed her teachers name, spelled wrong of course…and that she had mounted it to the front. Typical in this family.

It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

Chocolate on Chocolate

When I asked Allie what kind of cake I was cooking this year she said “Chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate”.
I took her at her word and below is what we ended up with.  A chocolate cake, with chocolate icing, covered in a variety of chocolate candies.
Not a fan of chocolate myself, I have to admit I giggled as the tribe ate this cake. Moans, squeals, and children who compared me to the “Cake Boss”. Yup it was a hit! (If only everything was this easy)
We had eaten so much the night of her birthday Allie requested we wait to cut it until the next night.  Hondo was traveling, so we called his cell phone, put him on speaker phone…and serenaded Allie tribe style.
As you can see the “40” candle appeared…this has become the family joke and Maam sent us a text saying she wanted it on her cake this year! I am 100% sure we can make that happen.


It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

Yet another October tribe birthday!

Sheesh you would think that we would be so tired of birthday’s by the 20th of October we would tell Allie to move her birthday to April. A friend of mine actually had a great idea, have all the kids pick a month out of a cup…kinda like drawing names…that way we could space them out.
I am going to remember that next year :)
I am always a little overwhelmed when Allie has a birthday. In my mind she will always be that little pixie who wanted to go roller skating (thanks Hondo for always being that parent to skate with her around the rink). I am just not ready for her to grow up yet…although she seems to be doing it right before my very eyes.
We have celebrated quite a few together as a family, and each one is more special than the next. I am forever grateful to you for allowing me the gift of love with an open heart, trusting me to love you completely and for never acting as if I was anything less to you because I was not there from the beginning.
This year Allie decided to have a few friends over…what I have decided is that I really really like these girls. They are funny and kind and crazy…they fit right into the tribe…not always an easy thing to do.
Movies, hot wings, candy and lots and lots of soda…luckily our “lower level” is pretty sound proof and wash and wear.
I think they all had a pretty good time…or at least they are so well mannered they would never tell me otherwise.
Happy Birthday my pixie dust fairy…you are growing up into such a mature, refined, young lady…you can stop growing up any day now.
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.


It would be this...and this I'll say,
"In years to come, I hope you see
To take as yours the smallest bit
of all the joy you've given me."

For richness lies within the heart,
As true gifts do upon this earth...
So hold them dear, as I do you -
As if you'd been my own, from birth...
Babs

For once this was not my idea.

Like any normal red blooded American male…Noah desperately wanted a car for his 16th birthday.  Now what he failed to take into consideration was he will not be able to drive until January…what we failed to realize was this did not matter a hill of beans…
Noah had figured we could maybe…kinda…sorta… get him a car…park it in the driveway and when he was ready to drive it would be out there ready and waiting.
Knowing all this later makes the following story a little painful…but only a little…I mean come on I have 6 kids…a girl needs a little giggle every now and then.
After dinner we had Noah cover his eyes and walk out of the restaurant.  We allowed the kids to walk with him…as they ohhhed and ahhhed and made sure his eyes were covered “not peaking”…what he did not know was that his sisters had gone outside and placed a Hot Wheels read Ferrari in a parking space.  As Noah made his way outside they uncovered his eyes…he looked around expectantly and then looked down  :(
I can assure you the car he saw was NOT the car of his dreams…I can also assure you he is already planning to get even.
As always he took it in stride… we have talked about it for days…and it will make his first car even more sweet.

It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

The 40 is back!

Anyway you look at it this candle still has lots of burning left in it!
Plus if you make fun of me in this house I am going to get even!!!!
Thus every member of the tribe will have the “40” candle front and center …in the middle of their cake…maybe for the next 40 years (muwahahahahah).

It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

Happy birthday to you…happy birthday to you…happy birthday dear Noah…happy birthday to you!

Noah turned the big 16 this year…how is it possible that I now have 2 children that are old enough to drive?  How is it possible that I have yet another child that is so close to leaving the nest and going to college?
I can not blog about Noah’s birthday without telling the story of his birth.
Nick was 5 years old when Noah was born…for 3 of those 5 years I tried desperately to have a child with no luck. I had all but given up when I found out I was pregnant. Everyone in the family went a little insane…baby toys…strollers…onesies…I think we had bought out every baby store in town, and that was before I was 4 weeks pregnant.
Fast forward to the first ultra-sound. “GIRL, GIRL, GIRL” “THINK PINK” you name it my family was chanting it as we headed to the doctor….so it was with great enthusiasm that the news that we were having a girl was met.
I proceeded to create nothing less than a nursery fit for a queen…a little pink tribe queen. Pink ruffles, pink lace, so many dresses that we had to buy a wardrobe because the closets (yes 2 closets, not one) were full…a canopied cradle…I mean we went INSANE!
So 9 long months and it’s show time…everyone is in the delivery room and as “she” enters the world, my mother is jumping up and down screaming, the nurses are crying, I am crying…the baby is crying…everyone is celebrating with the joy I can only imagine would be equivalent to what you would see on the streets of the Vatican when the Pope is being driven down the street in that little clear car. I remember looking over and my father had the calmest look, he was not jumping for joy…he was not crying…as I think back on that day, I believe he was counting…1,2,3,…11?
My father tapped my mother (repeatedly) on the shoulder, trying to get her attention. When he finally did, he pointed to their new granddaughter and I quote said “Nicky, your granddaughter has a penis”…’of course she does” my mother said, “and isn’t she beautiful”…”no” my father says, “not she, HE!”…at which point you could hear a pin drop…
The physician who read the ultrasound had read it wrong, we did not have a queen, we had a “king”.

So no matter that he had nothing to wear home from the hospital that did not have ruffles and no matter that we had to quickly change his name from Noel to Noah…he was perfect, absolutely perfect.
So happy 16th my queen (giggle)…
I have found over the years that when we think we have you figured out, you surprise us.  Never one to be lumped into the group, you make your own way. If I had to think of a “catch phrase” to describe you….it would be Heart warming …I am sure not what a 16 year old boy would want to be called…but that is exactly what you do to those around you…worm your way into their heart and warm them to their soul.
Happy Birthday my dear man child…I love you (even if you are a boy).
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

Number 3

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that she is one today.
It is not often that a child in this house gets Mom and Dad to themselves.  What we have learned over time is that when it does happen they tend to act as if they have not talked to you in 10 years…trying to catch you up on everything that has happened since they were 6 months old…talking quickly, afraid that another child will appear and they will lose precious time…and telling all they know about the children that are not around.
We recently had child number “3” all to ourselves…this does not happen often anymore because as all teenagers do, she feels that when the clock hits 5PM on Friday it is mandated that she be away from the house….far far away.
I had forgotten how funny Noel is, how smart and witty she can be (she has decided she is going to be a Young Republican and has a very educated argument as to why) and I was reminded how darn much I am going to miss her when she leaves the nest. As I have said she reminds me so much of myself…lord help her (wait a second, lord help me).
Never know what a night with a tribe member is going to bring…this night was Mexican food (duh) where Noel ordered a virgin daiquiri…then died with embarrassment as I asked the waitress to make it an EXTRA VIRGIN (emphasis on the virgin please). Hey I figure I have to get my hits in when I can :) 

It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

Nick is back!

Baseball is the only place in life where a sacrifice is really appreciated.  ~Author Unknown
For a very long time Nick has not stepped onto the ball field. Something I never thought I would see in this lifetime…he just stopped playing ball after high school.
You can imagine my surprise when he came home and told us he had joined a local business’s softball team.
There is nothing I enjoy more then pulling up my chair next to the fence and watching a ball game. Under armor, glove oil, RBI’s and yelling at the UMP….I love it all.
They play during the week so it is a little difficult to get to the field…but in a family this size it is no big deal, there is always someone who will ride along and cheer you on.
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

Never one to just “sing” a song….

The girls

In this family there is no pride…none at all.  The girls decided to write Nick a song and then perform it at the restaurant the night of his birthday.  They even enlisted help.  I missed part of it, still figuring out the camera :)
Songwriters? NOPE… Singers? NOPE… Loving sisters? YOU BET!
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

Yet another funny nephew moment….

From a recent email Erin sent me:
There is not enough wine in the world to help me deal with my son. 

I picked Parker up at school today and he's got a scratch and a hole on his nose.  I asked him what happened and he tells me that a wasp stung him at recess.  He proceeds to tell me that one of the teachers on the playground told him to go to the bathroom and put a wet paper towel on his nose.  I didn't think anything about it. 

Twenty minutes later, the kids and I are the doc with Nora for a check-up and I notice that Parker's nose is really swollen and bruised on one side.  Again, I didn't really think anything about his story.  He's my child and he bruises easily.

After a couple errands, we finally make it home to Jamie...who IMMEDIATELY notices that it's not a sting.  Parker bursts into tears and tells us the REAL story.  He was playing two-hand touch at recess when he ran into another boy.  He fell on a rock and BROKE HIS NOSE!!!!  Now he's sitting on the couch with an ice pack on his nose and he's grounded for lying to us.  Lord help us!  That's twice now.  He looks like Owen Wilson.
All I can say is “BLACK VELVET WATCH” baby.

It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs

Happy 21st Nick

I have sat here for several days having much difficulty in writing this post. Not sure why…I love celebrations…I love to write about my kids…but this one is hard.  I think its the combination of my baby growing up…and thinking that soon I will be as old as dirt.
There is something about the oldest child…maybe its that you grow up together? Maybe its that you are just to young and stupid to be scared? What ever it is I never understood this when my mother told me…until I had Nick.
It is so hard to believe that 21 years ago I gave birth to Nick. It seems like just yesterday that I held him in my arms…amazed that I was so lucky to have been given such a gift…what could I have ever done to deserve such a beautiful baby boy.
Over the last 21 years this gift has continued to leave me as breathless as I was that very first day.
It is because of Nick that I got the name for this blog…It takes a village…because he truly was the child that was raised by the village.  Every one of my friends and family had a part in creating the man he is today…from the early days when I was to afraid to bathe him…afraid that he would drown and my dear friend Brian told me “girl this child stinks” and then rolled up his sleeves and showed me how to give him a bath in the sink….to my sister who spent more hours than I can count chasing balls as Nick threw them tirelessly… my grandmother who allowed him to drink coffee, at the early age of 3 months… my mother who flew him to Kansas to make sure he had every sports opportunity there was… my father who took him to get his drivers license…Tom who has taught Nick integrity and hard work (and how to balance a checkbook)…the list goes on and on…the common thread being that we all love him…and he allows us to be a part of his world.
When Nick was in the 5th grade I got a call from his teacher to come into talk to her at the school. All I could think was OH SHEEESH what did he do now. You can imagine my surprise when I found out that the reason she called me in was not to tell me what a heathen I had…but to have me read an essay that he had written. The essay was titled “My Hero”…apparently while all the other children had written about past presidents, ball players, movie stars…my child had written about his hero…his mother…it was the most humbling experience ever…this child that I loved with all my heart did not realize it but at that moment he became my hero. While I was teaching him about life, he was teaching me what life was all about.
So I may not have done everything right…I certainly made all my parental mistakes on him…but I have to admit…WE did good! And remember no matter how old the mother…she looks to the youngest children for signs of improvement…imagine how good the rest should turn out!
Yes we always celebrate at the Mexican Restaurant…and yes his cake has a 40 year candle on it…I realized on the way out the door that I forgot candles…this was all that was in the drawer so I grabbed it…in my mind it was better than nothing…but I have come to realize that what is in my mind does not ALWAYS make sense lol. Hondo said that this was even a doozie for me…hey gotta keep the men in my life guessing what is next right? Plus I had Sir take out his pocket knife, cut off half the color on the 4…making it half of 40…or closer to 21…okay again made sense in my mind.
Happy 21st Birthday My Nick,
 
It may never be easy but it will always be worth it.
Babs