Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

The Gallery Pics are miscellaneous photos from this summer. I know it isn't officially Fall until next week, but I've decided to go ahead and say good-bye to the incredibly hot, sticky, muggy Summer of 2011. These pictures help me remember the "good times" we had in the midst of the humidity!

REMINDER #1! REMINDER #1! REMINDER #1! - Remember to check out 50 is Nifty under My Blog List. It is current! Yea!

REMINDER #2! REMINDER #2! REMINDER #2! - The ORIGINAL A Simple Life is at the old web address (www.belindafaulkner.blogspot.com). Even though the original blog refused to "let me in," all of the old posts (over 600) are still sitting in that one spot!

RANDOMNESS - A Roxie Story - The following isn't really a story. I'm going to give you a few snippets about how The Brothers treated Roxie during the early years. These events are key because they helped shape Roxie into the chick she is today.

Austin insisted on taking Roxie to his kindergarten Show and Tell when she was only a few weeks old. He picked out her clothes and her accessories. As he sat in a chair, I handed him a sleeping Roxie and he proceeded to "show" his class her feet, hands, necklace, bracelet and cowlick. They were fascinated, I tell you.

Joshua insisted Roxie eat dinner with the family when she came home from the hospital... even though she initially took a nap during the dinner hour. For several weeks, Roxie sat snoozing in her pumpkin seat in the middle of our table and we whispered and ate together.

As Roxie got older, she automatically received the last of everything. (Cereal, pop tarts, juice, cookies, etc., etc.) This was The Brothers' rule... not mine.

When Austin and Roxie watched TV together, he would sit in the floor on his stomach... and Roxie would sit on the small of his back and drink her juice.

When it was bedtime, Austin and Josh would put Roxie (as a toddler) under the covers at the foot of their bed and "play dumb" when I started looking for their wayward sister at bedtime.

Roxie's beautiful Fisher Price Dollhouse was filled to capacity with large, plastic dinosaurs... and she liked it that way. (Me... not so much. It was a little traumatic pulling Baby Fisher Price Doll out of T-Rex's mouth every morning.)

Roxie loved cars, animals, dinosaurs and pirates... just like The Brothers. Barbie had no place in her heart.

When Roxie learned to talk, she referred collectively to Austin and Josh as "The Brothers." ("Where are The Brothers?" "Can I go outside with The Brothers?" "The Brothers want a snack.")

On Roxie's first day of preschool, I was concerned with how she would handle being treated "like any other kid." She was used to "her way or the highway." It was how The Brothers had raised her.

When she came home after her first day, her bow was still in her hair. Her socks were still white as snow. A big smile was on her face. I felt relief. She had survived a day without The Brothers fulfilling her every wish and whim.

"How was school?" I asked.

"It was good. A mean boy sat in my chair, but he had to move," she stated.

Hmmm. "Why did he sit in your chair? Didn't he have a chair with his name on it?"

"This wasn't my class chair. This was a circle chair. I got up to get a book, and he sat down in MY CHAIR."

"Oh. Well, if your name wasn't on the chair then anyone can sit in it when it is empty," I logically explained to her.

"No. It was my chair, and I told him to get out. And he wouldn't."

"What did you do?" I really didn't want to know because I was afraid it involved her knocking him down and sitting on the small of his back while she leisurely read a book.

"I told The Teacher, and she made him move. The Teacher was right, you know."

And that is how Roxie made it through preschool and kindergarten. I didn't need to worry about how Roxie would manage without her support system. The Teacher had replaced The Brothers.

Next week, these insights to Roxie's "early years" will help you understand the stories I will share during her birthday week. The Brothers played a huge role in Roxie's early development... and they are still paying for it today!

Weekend Happenings

Ahhh. A lovely, cool weekend. What to do? What to do?

This is what I WISH we could do...

1. I would serve a chili and cornbread dinner on the deck Friday night.

2. We would then move indoors to watch a great movie and eat popcorn in our pajamas.

3. The kids would sleep late, and Mikie and I would slip out for breakfast at the Original Pancake House Saturday morning.

4. After enjoying my strawberry crepes, Mikie and I would stop at the Farmer's Market to check out the pumpkin and gourd selection this year.

5. We would head to JSU to watch the band and tailgate with The Boy.

6. We would attend church Sunday morning and take a very long SUNDAY AFTERNOON NAP (the best kind, by the way).

Does that sound great, or what?

This is what we actually WILL BE DOING...

1. Josh will be working at the Chick Friday and Saturday. Austin will be in Jacksonville Friday and Saturday. Mike, Roxie and I will be attending a volleyball tournament Friday and Saturday.

2. Okay. Skip ahead to Sunday... The Faulkner Five will be attending church Sunday morning.

3. The Faulkner Five will be eating a meal together some time during the day (breakfast, lunch or dinner... I don't care which one)!

4. Josh, Mike and Austin will be doing "guy stuff" Sunday afternoon.

5. Roxie and I will be meeting Amy and Monica for Roxie and Monica's birthday outing. (I'll let you know how we decide to celebrate first thing Monday morning! HINT - There should be some WONDERFUL pictures!)

This, too, sounds great to me.

You've heard the saying, "If Mama ain't happy, nobody's happy." Well, if the other Four Faulkners ARE happy, then Mama is pretty content, too.

It should be a good, good weekend.

Enjoy the weather this Saturday and Sunday. I'll be back Monday morning with the usual.

Take care, and I'll talk to you next week.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda