These Boots Are Made for Walkin'

Okay so they weren't boots - they were tennis shoes. And we didn't walk over anybody - we walked around the Vanderbilt campus in Nashville. Bebe and I did make it the whole 3 miles much to Reid's shock and amazement. Reid rode his scooter for 2 miles, rode on Daddy's shoulder for 1/2 mile and walked the other 1/2 mile. We laughed, we cried, Kelsie's shoe kept coming untied and I only had to save Reid once from crashing into a parking meter. Man, that was close.

The Heart Walk on Saturday was amazing. We had beautiful weather. We were there with amazing friends. We walked in memory of our Granny and to honor Abigail and Susannah. It was amazing to stand in the sea of 1,000's and pray for Susannah's upcoming heart surgery. The Abigail's Angels team raised over $6800 for the American Heart Association! Thank you to everyone who donated to Ryan, Bebe, Jenny and I. We appreciate your love and support.

I stole this photo from TW's website. This is our official team photo. That's Abigail in the front holding the big red sign. We had our camera and we planned on taking wonderful pictures but unfortunately, we did not have fresh batteries. Big Nanny is going to email me her pictures so I'll add some to this page when I receive those.

Later in the day, we "walked" over to M & K's for some Alabama football and some good food. There's nothing like food, fun, friends and football. Does anyone know a song about things that start with the letter "F"? We laughed, and ate, and laughed, and screamed at the TV, and ate, and ate, and ate. Look at all of our pretty food: TN Nachos, 4 P Salad, Loaded Potatoes, Rotel, Pineapple Cheese Casserole, Bacon Wrapped Weines, Jezebel Sauce, Artichoke Dip, and the Sundrop Cake is in the kitchen - still warm and ooey-gooey. Southern Girls - we know how to make a killer appetizer and we know how to cheer at a college football game!!! Gotta love it!!!

It was a great college football weekend! Hotty Toddy to Ole Miss for their 31-30 win over Florida!!!! Way to go Rebels!!! Alabama beat Georgia. South Carolina beat UAB. Can't get better, right?!? Oh yes, it can - Tennessee LOST!! Yee-haw!!

Melissa

It's Not Easy Being Green

I am happy to report that Reid stayed on a "green" card all week this week. I guess the whole "I'm gonna empty your room down to a mattress and a dresser, if you do anything wrong this week" threat/promise worked. Trust me, his change was not parenting skills, it was lots of prayer at the foot of his bed all week long!! He has been such a happy, fun-loving kid this week. He is smiling when he gets off the bus and he is not dragging his feet in the mornings to get on the bus. I simply remind him each morning, "What kind of day are we going to have, Reid?" His response - with a devilish grin - a GREEN day! I have to note that he did move from a green card to a blue card (warning) on Wednesday. This was because C was writing his "S's" wrong and Reid was trying to correct him during quiet time. I can't fault Reid for doing something that I would have done!! :-) I just gently reminded him not to correct his classmates during quiet time. And that he should probably leave all the correcting to Mrs. H!!!

I was able to go to Reid's classroom today and make ice cream. The class is learning about liquids and solids and I thought Mrs. H did a wonderful job with this illustration. You take a sandwich bag and add 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, and 4 tsp. vanilla. Seal it up tight. Then you place the little sandwich bag into a gallon size bag and add ice and rock salt. Swish, swish, swish for about 2-3 minutes and ta-da, the liquid milk has turned into solid ice cream. Reid (and the other classmates and me) were all really impressed!! And I have to say - I tasted the ice cream, by no means was it a chocolate bananna milkshake (made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup - KCJ) from Cold Stone - but it was quite tasty!

Kendall had a great week and a glowing parent/teacher conference. She's an angel, she is a joy to have in class, she scored outstanding in every category on her TCAP's and her IAI (reading) tests. Now, if she could just figure out how to duplicate this report every year from now until graduation.....

Have a great weekend everyone!

Melissa

Piece of My Heart

This Saturday, Ryan, Bebe and I will be walking in the American Heart Association Heart Walk. We are walking to honor my Granny, Loretta Thomason, who passed away from heart disease. We are also walking for Abigail and Susannah. Abigail and Susannah are two little girls from our church that were born with heart disease.

If you would like to, you can help us by going to the THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION web site. Click on the DONATE button. Type in the name ROBYN ELLIS. Robyn's name will come up along with Abigail's Angels. You can click there to donate. All donations are tax deductable!

Thanks for helping us to raise money for heart research! And please pray that Bebe and I can make the entire 3 mile walk. Reid is convinced that Bebe and I will NEVER make it the WHOLE way! Thanks for the confidence, son!

Melissa

Patience

Apparently, Reid's level of groundedness is not sinking in. This is our conversation as he gets off the bus on Friday afternoon:

Reid: Mom, I tried not to pull my color today but I just did not make it.

Me: What happened, son? (Trying to hug him and acting concerned.)

Reid: Well, I stole someone's snack out of their backpack and Mrs. H caught me but I told her it wasn't me.

Me: YOU DID WHAT???!!!???!!!???? (No longer hugging, I'm trying not to wrap my hands around his neck and start choking.) So if you did not take it - how did it end up in your backpack?

Reid: Well, it was after snack time, and I knew she was not going to eat the snack anyway.

Me: Well, go to your room and I will talk to Daddy about your punishment.

Reid: (With his head bowed low...) Alright, mama. (Mama is his name for me when he knows he is in deep.)

Then I find this note in his backpack:

Mr. & Mrs. Workman -

Reid had to pull his color to yellow. He went into B's backpack and took her snack. Reid gave her snack back but denied that he took it. B cried at lunch. He walked laps and missed his recess. We talked about being honest again. Thanks!

Mrs. H

Okay, it is official. I have reached my parenting limit. He had the snack in his possession but denied that he took it. What? Did it just fall into his backpack? I called EB and we started discussing punishment to add to Reid's grounding. We decided that since he really enjoys going to football games and since we were headed to the IHS vs. FHS game, Reid would not be allowed to go. We thought this punishment would phase him a little, but he had a great time at his Bebe's and told us that he was glad we had dropped him off at her house. AAARRRRGGGHHHH - not the response we were looking for!!!

So, we have started a new strategy.

Reid and EB had a sit down man to man talk last night, for a LONG time. We are lifting the punishments. BUT, if he pulls one color, for any reason, everything in his room (down to the bed and the dresser) will be removed from his room. No toys, no dvd, no train table, no blanket, no dog-dog, nothing!!!

And apparently, this was motivating! I am happy to report, that Reid came home today and his color was still on GREEN!!! YEAH!!! I hope this streak lasts!! Because I really was not looking forward to cleaning out his room. Where would I put everything......

So for now, we are going to continue to be PATIENT with Reid and allow him to earn his right to have privileges.

I would also like to tell you a little bit about Kendall. Kendall is our 10 year old daughter. She is a quiet, people-pleasing, piano-playing, music-loving, travel anywhere, always happy, straight A student. Boy, I hope she stays that way!!!!!!

Melissa

Photograph

Fav Foto Friday -

Where's Ryan you may ask....This pic was taken for his birthday so that he could replace the 10 year old picture on his desk. We love you, EB!!

I'm About to Lose Control, and I Think I Like It

I had a parent teacher conference with Mrs. H today - if you recall from Tuesday's post, Reid's teacher Mrs. H, called the house with some disturbing information about our precious boy. Basically, Reid has no self control. The list of things that Reid needs to work on at school include:

1. Needs to demonstrate self control. (Sit down and shut up!, If Mrs. H says stop - stop, immediately - the first time you are asked! Quit wiggling!)
2. Needs to accept constructive guidance. (In other words - don't talk back! and don't blame someone else!)
3. Needs to listen attentively. (See #1)

So here is part of my conversation with Mrs. H:

Mrs. H - Reid is a very smart and capable boy. He just has the sillies and needs to settle down.

Me - I know, I am so sorry.

Mrs. H - Reid had to pull his card again today.

Me - He did?!?! What on earth for?

Mrs. H - He was being disrespectful on the playground.

Me - In what way?

Mrs. H - When I called him down for being way out of control on the playground, and gave him a warning his reply was "Well, that's okay, I'm grounded anyway."

I need to insert here that Mrs. H said it took everything she had not to laugh at this comment.

So, Reid has decided that since he is grounded anyway that he might as well continue to be bad...in his mind..."What could be worse...I'm already grounded this week."

Just wait my little friend...Do you realize that mommies and daddies can add levels of grounding? Reid's current level is grounded from outside, no friends, and no scooter. Do you know that I could throw in - grounded from outside and No TV?, or maybe grounded from outside and No toys in your room this week? or the ultimate throw in - maybe I'll add both No TV and No toys in your room this week to the no outside grounding?

One of Engineer Boy's favorite things to say about Reid is that he needs an audience or an accomplice. What better place to display this than a first grade classroom? He loves to make his friends laugh and he loves to play with reckless abandon. He loves it when he is the center of attention. Reid is testing the boundaries of Mrs. H and of me and EB. Don't all 7 year olds test us? What am I going to do with this boy? One thing I am going to do is to stand firm, follow through and make the boundary walls high. Reid can be stubborn but he has met his match in me! In the words of my little sis, "He is going to make a fine teenager!!!" And in the words of my dad, "I hope you have a kid just like you someday!" Thanks, Pop! You got your wish!!

Melissa

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

It took me forever to come up with a blog title. There was an entire lunch dedicated to finding just the right title for a blog. Serious props to KCJ for finally landing on the right one and props to TJS for completing the thought with the song title as blog titles idea and props to BG for helping me with the idea for this post.

I've been wanting to start a blog for quite awhile but I never could come up with just the right explanation of myself. I don't really have a nickname to use like Big Nanny, my husband was not happy with me using the word "stalker" in my blog title,and even though I love Nascar...I just could not make "Last Lap with Mel"or "Mel's Finish at the Checkered Flag" not sound like I was on my death bed. But, my, my, there were a few good titles along the way. Here are just a few for you to enjoy.

MelRose's Place - The most perfect name ever. My name is Melissa Rose. I have always loved it. I even had MelRose on my vanity plate when I was young and dumb enough to pay for vanity plates. But because of a show that I dearly love, the name was already taken.

Confessions of a Redneck Stalker - Because that's who I am. I have OCD and I don't do anything without putting my heart and soul into doing it. Just ask TJ about my straw fettish, or ask Vince Gill why he accused me of stalking him, or ask Jeff Gordon why there is a poster of me at Hendrick Motorsports with the caption "If you see this girl, please call SECURITY!!"

Nut Free Zone or No Nuts Allowed - This is because I am highly allergic to pecans, almonds, cashews, etc. But if this was my blog name, could those of you reading it right now, really continue to read it? Didn't think so!!

Hey Y'all Watch This - Okay, well, I do kinda like to live on the edge and I usually end up wearing a walking boot or having knee surgery afterwards!

Blue Bunny Bonnie Confessions - Blue Bonnie was my character for VBS Water Wars 2008. While the name was funny, it just didn't scream "me".

So finally, after an hour, we came to karaoke confessions. I love music. I randomly break out into song quite frequently. I love all types of music from Elvis to Rick Springfield to Harry Connick, Jr. to Rascal Flatts to Nelly (edited versions, of course) to Mandisa to Mercy Me to musicals like Mama Mia and Hairspray. Like I said, all types of music.


I also love to sing karaoke. And I love to tell stories about my crazy life - which is where the confession part kicks in.

My goal with this blog is to tell my crazy stories using the title or a lyric from a song for each post. So now, I Have Found What I'm Looking For - a blog title - Karaoke Confessions. Don't you just love it? Actually, Big Nanny has challenged me to continue to keep coming up with song titles for the blog entries, don't worry Big Nanny, I will succeed - I love a good challenge!

Melissa

T R O U B L E

In the famous words of Elvis (and Travis Tritt - but Elvis did it first!) - I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!! To make a long story short, Reid's teacher just called the house. I don't think any of my teachers ever PERSONALLY called my parents house. They probably should have, but they didn't. Reid is my 7 year old son. He is my precious, sweet, highly active, hand-eye coordinated, can do anything including lying, arguing, trading Pokemon cards on the playground, not bringing homework home kind of boy. Those last 4 items in the list is why we got a call from his teacher. Sidebar - While Ryan was on the phone with Mrs. H, Reid looks at Kendall as they are sitting on the couch and says "I am SO grounded!" As they say in the south - "You will pay for your raisin'". Well, Reid Thomas Workman will be my payment. I just feel really bad for Ryan (Engineer Boy). He was a good kid. Why does he have to pay for all of the many times my parents should have been called?

Whew, glad he made the first post easy!!!

Melissa