Our son graduated this past Tuesday. He wore a nice red polo, khakis with an adjustable waistband, and shiny black shoes. Before the ceremony we went out to eat at Nuevo Alcapoco, where he casually ate chips and salsa and a chicken burrito while conversing with his parents and sister like the entertaining gentleman he is.

Then it was time for the big ceremony. I tried to record as much as I could. His teacher’s did a beautiful job on the ceremony – it was probably thirty minutes of the kids showing off all they learned this year.  I felt both a glowing pride in what a wonderful young man my son is becoming and a bittersweetness, as OMG WHERE DID MY BABY GO! HE IS A LITTLE MAN NOW! See for yourself:

“Oh What A Miracle Am I”

“I Can…”

“Alphabet Rock” – My personal favorite

Hickory Dickory Dock Recitation

“I’m So Glad to See You, I Really Can’t Wait”

The Jesus Hokey Pokey

Graduation Song

I can’t believe he is going to Kindergarden next year. I am so proud of the man he is becoming!

Posted on May 8th, 2009 by Jill
Filed under: Family | 3 Comments »

Dear Readers,

I stumbled across this article excerpted from a book written in 1918 the other day and loved it – have hope in a recovered brown thumb like me, give a little garden a try – and “don’t be a slacker.” (I think that is modern language!)

“1.  As the preceding lessons in his book have shown you, the food supply for us and our Allies is insufficient.  Your back yard can make it sufficient.  Don’t let your yard be a slacker.

2.  Our railroads are greatly overcrowded carrying war supplies.  Every pound of food that is brought to you from some part of the country takes space in a freight car that might be used for munitions of war.  It doesn’t take any freight cars to carry vegetables from your backyard garden to your kitchen.  Help lighten the load that our railroad must carry.

3. The vegetables you grow yourself will reach your table fresher and with finer flavor than any you can buy.  If you never have eaten home-grown vegetables, raise a backyard garden and give yourself and your family a treat.

4. It costs money to buy vegetables; why not save it?  A garden 25 x 40 feet if carefully tended will produce most of the vegetables needed for a family of four or five people for several months.  Such a garden will save your family many dollars.  Your country needs those dollars!  Loan them to the government, by investing them in War-Savings Stamps or Liberty Bonds.

5.  Gardening is one part hard work (which is just as good exercise as baseball) and two parts fun.  Start your garden with hope, enthusiasm, and determination; you will end in success, pleasure, and patriotic service.”

Proud to be an American,

Jill

Posted on April 17th, 2009 by Jill
Filed under: Veggie Luv | 2 Comments »

Once, when I was in high school, my mom gave my brother Jeff and I some money to go pick up dinner at Subway. Chances are, we probably fought over who was going to drive, if we were going to listen to country (my pick) or classic rock (his pick). If he drove, I nagged him about driving fast and dangerous – that this wasn’t the Indy 500. If I drove, we had to go past the house where my teenage crush lived to see if he was in his yard, or if his mom was hanging out laundry, or if his mailbox flag was up. Any tiny sighting related to this poor boy would just delight my teenage self and I drove past his house any chance I got, much to my brother’s dismay. No matter who drove, Jennifer jumped in the backseat, because she was the young princess of the family and was chauffeured all over the place by her two teenage siblings.

We drove to Subway, and I started the order. I wanted to order a foot long meatball sub. But somehow, with all the different sandwich choices, my mind couldn’t get my mouth to come up with the right words for my order. So I confidantly placed an order for a “six inch foot bong.” The Subway worker, who probably went to school with me, put on that face that I have seen about 18,384,000 times in my life. It is a look that says either, “What the heck is wrong with this girl?” or “What the heck is she trying to say…I am confused.” Of course, I realized that I just asked for a six inch foot bong after watching his reaction. It is hard to backpedal into coolness after you order a foot bong, so instead, I just turned beet red and whispered, “I would like a foot long meatball sub please.” Guess who was in hysterics about my verbal gaffe behind me? Was it A). The boy who I had a raging crush on? B) The coolest girl at school? or C) my brother and sister?

Six Inch Foot Bong of the Meatball Variety

It would be an even more embarrassing story if the correct answer was A, but it was C. Jeff and Jen were HYSTERICAL behind me. The wail of their laughter could be heard for miles. It has gone down as one of the things that they have never forgotten about me. Certainly the kind of memory that they file away, just to bring up when I get too big for my britches.

For a while, I was terrified to go back into Subway, for fear that I would again order a bong, more specifically, a foot bong, whatever that is. I would like to add a disclaimer that I don’t have a single experince with a bong – but I have now gotten over the fear of ordering footlongs at Subway. Who can resist that tasty marinara, melted cheese and pefect meatballs forever? Not me, that’s for sure.

Posted on April 2nd, 2009 by Jill
Filed under: Jillie's Sillies | 5 Comments »