tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56980290221052356902026-08-08T01:53:08.684-07:00No, the world didn't need another blog. Yes, I created one anyway. Welcome friends, family, and voyeurs. This is my way to share the (mostly) humorous transitions we're experiencing as parents. I'm sure one day this will seem like a terrible idea and will require years of therapy for my kids, but you know what they say, if it's not one thing it's your mother.Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.comBlogger210125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-9510319651293234042022-12-31T10:56:00.002-08:002022-12-31T10:56:30.976-08:00

Our kids are now 11 and 8, which turns out means they're big kids. More responsible, more independent, more understanding of the way the world works. So whereas many of our quotes from when they were younger was us creating rules (like my favorite: "if you're going to put a lizard on anyone's penis it has to be your own") or explaining to them the way the world works ("pop is my dad. That's how

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-85357821317908840472022-01-07T10:45:00.001-08:002022-01-07T12:33:43.204-08:00

Yes, these are a year late. I found them saved on my phone from the post I meant to do last year. These include lockdown, digital learning, working from home, and so much togetherness. 2020 quotes Yes prissy is a grown up, but you can’t stay home with just her. You have to be with a human grown up. You can’t wear sweat pants to a funeral. You don’t need to trade toys at school

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-40709155580537953482022-01-07T10:37:00.001-08:002022-01-07T12:29:30.942-08:00

When our 16 year old beagle died during lockdown, I tried to write a post about her. I mean I did write it, technically, but I never finished it.  Then I didn't want to come back to the blog because it wasn't finished and I couldn't finish it. So I wrote nothing for over a year, but now I'm back with my list of quotes that the adults in our family have said out loud in 2021. If a

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-63740993714975212672020-04-16T17:15:00.000-07:002020-04-18T16:29:42.659-07:00

Yesterday we had to put sweet Prissy to sleep. She was 16 (almost 16 and a half), and we've had her for 15 years. Fifteen years. I've got human friendships that haven't lasted half of that, and friends who have put up with a lot less. When we got her, she was afraid of newspapers and men in hats, which we thought might be a sign she'd been mistreated. She trusted us anyway.  I got

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-24787855992203057672020-03-29T13:18:00.000-07:002020-03-29T13:18:52.163-07:00

A few years before my granddad died I wrote down the story of his life. With his permission and help, I started from the beginning, and detailed his family's sharecropping and living in the great depression, his signing up for the selective service while still in high school and getting drafted in WWII, his working on President Roosevelt's personal yacht, and his coming home and marrying my

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-26637234085692673532020-02-11T02:30:00.001-08:002020-02-11T02:37:05.354-08:00

Beyoyo is....something. He's in pre-k this year and loving life. When we pull up in the car rider line in the morning, he rolls down the windows and calls good morning to all the teachers on duty and his friends in other cars. He's holding court and thinks he is king. Several times he has snuck a toy to school in his pocket. His teacher hasn't said anything about it, but we've asked him to stop

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-23828360783131540922020-01-09T09:58:00.002-08:002022-01-07T12:32:31.913-08:00

 Usually I do our annual quotes post at the end of the year, but this year I am late with it. Tis the season to forget things, and to be busy, and to be doing well just to get the boys back to school on the right day. I am so grateful to have some routine back, because as great as the holidays are, it's hard when you don't know what day it is or if it's AM or PM. So here are our parent

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-76083944084999458272020-01-01T09:11:00.002-08:002020-01-01T09:12:28.329-08:00

We went to see Santa at the 5 Points Athens Holiday Bash. He was a great Santa,  a real North Pole professional that you could tell was one of the elite Santas sent for such important missions. We were one of the firsts in line to see him, and the boys talked to him and told him what they wanted. Santa joked with them, told The Boy that he wished he could wear shorts in December, but Mrs.

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-24496013973618134862019-09-26T13:17:00.001-07:002019-09-26T13:17:59.011-07:00

     BeYoYo turned five last month. It's not that I forgot about it, it's just that he refused to answer the annual birthday questions, so I secretly spread out my interview over the last month so he didn't catch on to what I was doing.       He is the most laid back person in our house. He's go with the flow, will eat almost anything, tolerates his

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-20083087590728653902019-07-25T17:22:00.001-07:002019-07-25T17:22:15.088-07:00

Suddenly our annual family beach trips have turned into a bunch of big kids. No one brings diapers. No one needs an afternoon nap (except me). There are no diaper bags or changes of clothes when we go out to eat. There are fewer meltdowns, and keeping everyone fed helps prevent them. It was once 2 under 2. Then 4 under 4. Then 6 under 6. Then 7 under 7, then 7 under 8 and

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-47484852267915246982019-07-16T11:16:00.000-07:002019-07-17T12:53:38.670-07:00

I am behind in posting, because life. The Boy turned eight last month. We have noticed more maturity and responsibility in the last year, though he's not ever going to be a kid who allows responsibility to hamper his imagination. If I had to guess what he'd be as an adult based on his current skill set and interests, I'd say a musician. Maybe a free spirit who is more into the creative process

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-10031563856269568922019-05-31T17:52:00.000-07:002019-05-31T17:53:32.720-07:00

I have been a real slacker when it comes to blogging lately. It's a great outlet for me, but sometimes the luxury of sitting down to write gets lost in the daily tasks of work and parenting and putting calories into bodies and driving people places. May is Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Awareness month, and all month I have contemplated writing this post. All month I have procrastinated. All month I

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-10306395099390695942018-12-28T09:50:00.001-08:002018-12-28T09:50:51.671-08:00

As this year comes to a close and we reflect on 2018, I am reminded that both boys started at new schools (one was due to rezoning, one was due to the former school closing) and have made new friends, though they both miss their old ones. We have escaped another year (fingers crossed) with no broken bones or trips to the ER. We've made many fun memories with family and friends, and are grateful

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-61929466790505913102018-12-21T14:34:00.001-08:002018-12-21T14:34:14.883-08:00

The Boy has been out of school since LAST FRIDAY. I don't know why schools are trying to give me my children ELEVEN DAYS before Christmas. Y'all oughta keep them until December 23rd, I think. I love and appreciate my kids' teachers like no one else. They get better gifts than my children's father, because teachers love my kids and they aren't even required to. But dang, I would give an extra gift

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-31785348874751956462018-12-18T12:50:00.000-08:002018-12-18T12:50:36.633-08:00

Our church does annual Advent devotional books, where different people in the congregation sign up for a certain day and scripture and then write something about it. Someone compiles them all in a book and everyone gets one to take home and read and reflect on daily. The kids draw and submit artwork for the books, it's a whole family affair. People really put a lot of energy and effort into what

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-85875529073977361902018-12-02T13:45:00.002-08:002018-12-02T13:45:40.349-08:00

I haven't been good about writing here. I'd love to do better, but life has been crazy and I haven't made time for it. But in the spirit of Thanksgiving and Advent and Chanukah, I'm trying to do better about finding time to sit still. BeYoYo had been sick the week before Thanksgiving. He had a cough and a runny nose and then he spiked a fever of 103.5. I took him to the doctor and he tested

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-28597972639318529312018-09-28T09:57:00.000-07:002018-09-28T10:59:08.743-07:00

Like most of America, I have been following the #Kavanaugh hearings. I have never watched a Supreme Court hearing, and was curious how this type of hearing would differ from a criminal trial, especially when the topic at hand is an alleged sexual assault. (For more on that process, read this blog post, which is oddly my number 1 most read post of all time). One thing I've heard a lot of on

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-61150128360679893372018-08-29T06:46:00.001-07:002018-08-29T06:46:08.655-07:00

Poor second kid, his birthday blog post comes a month after his birthday. In my defense, there haven't been many posts at all lately because time for writing has been a luxury we haven't had. BeYoYo turned four on August 3rd. It was a much anticipated day, and he came downstairs when he woke up like a princess descending a staircase knowing her royal subjects are awaiting. The Husband had gotten

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-55559956764337950372018-07-27T15:59:00.000-07:002018-07-27T15:59:37.250-07:00

We now have seven kids under ten on our annual beach trip, and my SIL said we've hit a sweet spot with the kids now that they are older. We had no babies this year, no one in diapers, no one who needed to go up for a nap (except for me), and maybe we had fewer meltdowns than in years past. The kids can also hang for longer periods at the beach or the pool, so if we pack some drinks and snacks

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-18322379696750156672018-07-03T08:09:00.000-07:002018-07-03T08:09:07.019-07:00

The Boy turned 7 last week. SEVEN! Seven seems so old, like a big kid who can ride a bike and tell jokes and get his own snacks from the pantry and basically cook his own Kraft Mac and Cheese by himself. He is funny and inquisitive and active and adventurous. He cannot lie without smiling, and he appreciates flossing, more the dance than the dental type. He can read nearly anything, and he's

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-24854692299807816482018-02-08T18:02:00.002-08:002018-02-08T18:02:51.002-08:00

He could do this for days.

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-36708650777963436092018-01-06T17:07:00.002-08:002018-02-08T18:04:52.246-08:00

It's time again for one of my favorite annual posts. This is the post where I collect things that The Husband or I have said out loud to our child(ren), and present them here, out of context. You'll remember I've done these in the past, so feel free to reminisce. Here we go You can't eat ice cream with a knife.  Please don't lick the salad bar.  Why do y'all stand outside the

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-80920905921470866562017-11-28T18:50:00.001-08:002017-11-28T18:51:24.945-08:00

It's that time of year! Our elf, Elfis, arrived on Thanksgiving night. The boys love looking for him each morning, and anticipating what he might do next. Here are some facts about our elf: He always comes on Thanksgiving night.  If he's touched, he will lose his magic. Sometimes that means he has trouble flying (today he's been face down in a pot on the counter. I guess he tried

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-50399243381402427702017-09-26T09:26:00.000-07:002017-09-29T18:09:16.868-07:00

A lot of people are weighing in on whether or not they think NFL players should take a knee during the National Anthem to protest the oppression of black people in this country. Some say it's a peaceful way to protest, others say they're acting ungrateful for their paychecks, others say it's disrespectful to our service men and women. Apparently President Trump has weighed in with his

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698029022105235690.post-63979456220548263382017-08-03T08:25:00.001-07:002017-08-03T08:27:39.500-07:00

Today BeYoYo turned three. He is funny and inquisitive and pleasant and loves to eat. He has a hard time sharing, but he is learning to do better. He asks so many questions, about everything from tree roots to where bananas grow to how to put a saddle on a horse to why some cars are big and some are small. He loves horses, and he can tell you all about them. He likes to ride horses with his BeBe

Leigh Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08616702641942389536noreply@blogger.com2