Trip So Far

Song(s) of the South

Well, I took into consideration all of your suggestions for my Road Trip Playlist, then promptly ignored them and chose the following:

Life is a Highway / Rascal Flatts
Jambalaya (on the Bayou) / Harry Connick, Jr.
Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans / Harry Connick, Jr.
The Saints Are Coming / U2
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I / Ella Fitzgerald
The Mississippi Squirrel Revival / Ray Stevens
Sweet Home Alabama / Lynard Skynard
Why Georgia / John Mayer
Georgia on My Mind / Ray Charles
Carolina In My Mind / James Taylor
Tennessee/Arrested Development
Graceland / Paul Simon
God Blessed Texas / Little Texas
All My Exes Live in Texas / George Strait
Theme from "Dallas" / International Television Orchestra

I think they can be heard on iTunes here.

This may be the first time ever that Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Stevens have been on the same CD. I completely forgot to put Devil Went Down to Georgia on there, but it's just as well, because I really don't want to have to explain to my children the theological implications of fiddle contests, and how if you lose, the devil will git yer soul.

Also, when I made the CD I forgot that I will be driving through Arkansas on the way home. Better luck next time, Arkansas.

C is for Contagious

Tommy was excited that the word of the day on Word Girl was "Contagious". It just fits perfectly, since he got a diagnosis of strep throat this morning. My apologies go out to the 10:00 Level 2 Swim Class that he shared the pool with yesterday. Good luck, kids.

Meanwhile, the cookies have been baked, the laundry has been folded, and the packing has been procrastinated started in preparation for our Southern Migration this weekend. I guess I'll have to add Amoxycillin to the packing list. I'm just praying we will only need one bottle.

Baby Talk

The other day, Tommy found a sticker that said, "I'm a big boy", and had been wearing it on his shirt all day. Sitting at the kitchen table, he completed a certain task for the first time without any help, and proclaimed, "Wow, my sticker was right! I AM a big boy!"

My friend Julie left her baby here today for us to play with. All three of my kids were in his face the entire time, gooing and gaaing and playing peek-a-boo. It wasn't long before the questions started:

Grace: Can I have another baby brother? He could share my room.

Me: Are you going to feed him and change him when he wakes up in the middle of the night?

Grace: I would just feed him breakfast in the morning. And I wouldn't touch a diaper, they have germs.

Me: Then no baby brother for you.

Tommy: Why do you have to bring all of this stuff in a diaper bag everywhere? Do you have to bring it with you to the store?

Me: Yes, you have to bring diapers and wipes and sippy cups and extra clothes everywhere you go. Babies need a lot of stuff.

Tommy: What if he cries in the store, what would you do then?

Me: That happens a lot. It happened when all three of you were babies. You cried in the store all the time.

Tommy: (with chagrin) Babies sure are a lot of work!

Road Trip!

Yes, the Carpool Lane family is getting ready to hit the road for our Annual Tour of the South. I'm cleaning out the minivan as we speak. The kids and I head out every year to visit my parents, my sisters, my in-laws, and anyone else who will take us in for a night or two.

This year's tour includes a stop at my aunts' houses in Louisiana, a camping trip with my parents to the Blue Ridge Mountains, a weekend with Greg's family in upstate South Carolina, another week of lounging by the lake at my parents' house in Georgia, a night out with some old dear friends, and the trip ends with a condo filled with cousins on 4th of July weekend at a resort near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.

Well, no, really it ends with me driving back to Texas on one last frazzled nerve.

Have I mentioned that my husband is not coming this year? And that I am driving? The whole way? Ha ha ha hahahah. Ohhhh.

I asked Google Maps the other day how long my trip would be, and it turns out it will be over 2,000 miles, with 27 hours spent driving.

Ha ha ha ha ha hahaha. Hmmm.

I know this sounds totally nuts. That's because it is. But we do it every year, and I know people don't believe me when I say this, but it's really not that bad. The kids and I are seasoned travelers, and we actually enjoy it.

One thing that makes it a lot easier is that I am freakishly organized when it comes to road trips. Before we leave, I pack everyone a backpack full of art supplies/puzzle books/leap pad games, set up the DVD player with a few new movies, and then I pack breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks, placing them in the seat next to me so that I can toss them back when the whining starts. The kids sleep in their clothes the night before, so that when we wake up at the butt crack of dawn, all they have to do is go potty and get in the car. We stop whenever we reach 1/2 tank of gas (about every two hours) and fill up, restock everyone's toys and snacks, and strongly encourage everyone to go potty...in the baby potty in the car, while I'm filling up the tank.

(and then I fling the contents of the baby potty onto the side of the road and get out of there as quickly as possible)

(Yes, I know that is redneck.)

(But you try herding three children into a gas station potty every two hours.)

So there you have it. Another thing that makes it fun is that we have some quirky traditions that the kids really look forward to. There are certain junk foods that I buy only for road trips. I bake homemade chocolate chip cookies for each trip, just like my mom always did. I let the kids go into a gas station in the middle of Mississippi and pick out any candy their hearts desire. We eat dinner at Waffle House as soon as we cross the Georgia state line. We always eat at Cracker Barrel on the way home.

Wow, it looks like all of our traditions are focused on food.

I'm starting a new tradition this year of downloading songs that have to do with each state we will be passing through. I thought it would be fun to listen to 'Sweet Home, Alabama' while crossing the Alabama state line, for instance.

Corny? Me?

So anyway, if you have any suggestions for my road trip playlist, feel free. And yes, I already own James Taylor and yes I always play it when we get to South Carolina. And I know I will pick Ray Charles' Georgia on My Mind, but I'm open to other ones, because that song makes me cry.

Mainly because my freshman year of college, I was standing in a Piggly Wiggly (grocery store) in Charleston, South Carolina when that song came over the intercom and I was so overcome with homesickness that I stood right there in front of the Ramen noodles and sobbed.

So every time I hear that song I am transported back to the Piggly Wiggly. Or the Laser Show at Stone Mountain.

Wow, this got really off track. So anyway, submit your southern state-themed songs, and I'll publish my playlist later this week as if everyone were interested.

The View From My Kitchen Window

Here's what I'm thinking when I do dishes: fried, fried, BLT, fried.
And then I rearrange them and turn them around as if they are laying out in the sun trying to get a tan. Oh, I could just leave them on the vine to ripen, but my little garden helpers love to pick them. Way too early.

Another thing that's currently growing in the garden....

(Okra!)

Or Okry, as my Grandma used to say. Since this is the one and only okra plant that flourished enough to produce anything, it looks like we will all have to share this one pod. So when my kids are grown they will be able to tell the story of when times were so tough they all had to share one okra pod, and their Mama fried it up like it was a feast.

These are the good old days.

Extreme Makeover, 7 year old edition

We'll just file this one under they grow up too fast, shall we?

On Sunday afternoon, my baby looked like this:

(gap-tooth, braids, flipped up collar)

And by Tuesday evening, she had completely changed in to this:

(Missing another tooth and most of her hair)

(and more freckles are appearing every day)

She doesn't understand why we keep asking her to say "Sufferin' succotash." I need to get that kid a Looney Tunes DVD.