You can take the redneck out of North Carolina...

...But I can't guarantee we will always act like the sophisticated people we are during our day jobs. The other night, Matt took the kids out into the garage for a little Nerf gun target practice. I thought it sounded like a great idea (aka get the kids out of my house for ten minutes so I can make dinner).

I decided to go out and join the fun. If neighbors were driving by, here is what they would see.

1. A grown man and five kids (our three plus our neighbors kids) playing outside in a very cold garage. Two little boys holding nerf guns. A grown man setting up the shooting targets.

2. Two little girls riding tricycles through the nerf gun firing range. You would also hear some yelling as Will says "Abs, get out of the way!!! Mom says I can't shoot you but you are in the way!!" I think that made Abby even happier. Check out her grin.

3. A little toddler removing some of the "targets" when she gets excited. Please note the targets came out of the recycling bin. They included an empty beer case, two boxes of Target brand cereal and two diet coke bottles.

4. All the children trying to find the nerf gun bullets out in the dark. They did not have much success so there were many bullets in the yard and the street the next morning.

Sure, we may look a little country, but it was a lot of fun...even for me who only got to shoot the nerf gun once.

My (Will's) first school project

It was Sunday night. The children have been bathed. The dishes have been cleaned up. We were sitting down to read a book and go through Will's school folder.

All of a sudden I see it. Will is going to be star student next week....which means he needs to create a poster about all of his favorite things. We have to have a poster complete by tomorrow morning! Crap!

Well, we got the project done. I did not have very much patience during the process,but Will made something he was proud of. I was proud of him too.

Here is the rub...school was out on Monday for President's day. I figured that out on Monday morning right after we all woke up.

What do grown ups do on vacay?

We went (escaped) to Miami for a long weekend.  What do four people do on vacation in Miami? We do the same things we would do at home. 

We go to Target.   Yes, we flew to Miami and had to seek out the closest Target for all of our vacation Target needs: snacks, mixers, a new shirt. You can tell we are on vacay because Kevin looks relaxed.  It is because he is not chasing after kids on this Target trip.

We take pictures of strange trees that we see. This thing was in the middle of shopping area.

We pose next to a strange piece of crystal. Jen let me know it was a geode. 

Matt poses next to a huge stuffed bear. Matt let me know that it smelled like a bear.

We pose next to a random statue.  I think it was Columbus or De Soto.  I drink coffee.

Jen posed next to a wall that Michael Weston poses next to in Burn Notice.  If you don't watch Burn Notice, you should.

The main thing we do is sit next to the pool and do nothing.  Matt took I picture of me doing nothing next to the pool.  You can't see it in the picture, but I am reading a magazine with my feet in the water.  Doing nothing is what I do best on vacation.



Traveling with Matt

Matt and I agree on many things but travel is not one of them. We have a philisophical differences that have not been reconcilled in our years of marriage.

Situation: What time should we get to the airport?

Anna's solution: It is a domestic flight. It will be fine. I don't want to get there too early and have nothing to do.

Matt's solution: We are getting on a plane and everything takes longer than expected. We need to get there super early.

Our flight from Richmond to Miami left at 7:25. It was everything in my power not to get there oh, the day before. So here we are enjoying our wait time in the airport. At least I got breakfast at 5:30am at the airport.

What is Harper doing...

Harper can be left to her own devices sometimes as the Perryman family madness moves into a fever pitch around her. When we look to find Harper, here is what I found the other day.

Yes, those are rubber gloves. She needed them to play the piano. Really, she can do whatever she wants because she is staying out of trouble and quiet.