Oh yeah, still here

Well I am just embarassed. Embarassed embarassed embarassed!! 

I'm not sure what has happened, but since kindergarten started, life went into overdrive. And it's going FAST. Let's update a bit:

1. Kiddos started kindergarten. They absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it. And in obsessed with their school! It's the best. Honestly. 

 

2. They ride the BUS. Like, actually, big kids. Crazy. 

3. Then, out of nowhere, fall happened, and football craziness ensued! 

4. Then came the biggest, hugest thing ever. I took over, and actually own a store y'all! I had been renting space in a little boutique here in Nashville for a while now, then in mid September, I was approached about possibly taking over, and it was official Oct 1! She's all mine. I changed the name to my biz, La Petite Maison, and it's so much fun!!! Www.facebook.com/lepetitemaisonshop 

5. Halloween! My little cuties were a black cat and a zombie, lol. 

6. Jake and I even dressed up this year for a party! So fun! 

7. November came. Nov 1 was the grand re-opening event at the store and it was a huge success! Then Nov 11 the next biggest thing ever happened: 

Yay!!! Back to Disney we went. And this time, we did it right. Stayed Wed-Monday, went to every park, did the Very Merry Mickey Party, dined at character events every day. It was SO MUCH AWESOME. 

9. Josh lost a tooth!! First one! 

10. My niece Sutton turned two, and thenThanksgiving  happened. 

11. And now it's December! Almost Christmas! I honestly can't believe it. Time has FLOWN. And you're all caught up! 

Buh Bye Football

Another football season has come and gone. (Sort of- we still have KY, but home games are done) Although its sad somewhat, on the other hand, I couldn't be happier.

Poor old UT has had quite the lackluster season -AGAIN. It just gets frustrating, especially when you add ticket costs, donation to the university, parking passes, food/drink for the tailgate... Yadda yadda you know. 

However, the tailgating had been fun as always! It's always fun to reconnect with family and friends. Plus, the babes got to experience their very first football game. And when I say football game, I mean they saw they Vol Walk, they saw The Pride of the Southland band, and one whole quarter of the actual game :) hehe 

As frustrating as it all it, I'm still a fan and all that... Just glad it's over. Ready to stay home one weekend :) 

So, here is a look back at Tailgating 2013 in iphone goodness! 

Steppin Out Saturday - Its that Time Again!!!

Is it really fall? No, it can't be!!! Did I just celebrate ANOTHER birthday? (Happy birthday to moi!) I am now in my mid 30ish years, whew.

If you do not live in the south and are not a football fan, but follow my blog, you will get bored quick during the fall. We go to a.lot. of football games around here and I'm a proud UT Vol fan. And all of a sudden in the blink of an eye football is upon us.

And due to my new little business venture, I have been super busy and forgot to post any pics from the first game, and now we're past game two (both wins by the way).

Go Vols! let the football season begin! Although I'm posting two games, I am going to pause here and tell you we reached a HUGE, SUPREME milestone in the Stribling household. The babes attended their FIRST Vols football game. Thats a big deal, ya'll.

Babes First Football Game

UT vs Western Kentucky University

September 7, 2013

Coached by Butch Jones

Vols win 52-20

They tailgated, loved the Vol Walk, loved the band, and loved the food. Football? Eh. We made it to the end of the first quarter. But that was pretty good for a super crowded game and 150 degrees. We got there about three hours before the game, so all in all I think they did well. If the stadium wasn't so crowded and I wasn't concerned every second on if they were bothering someone, they may could have stayed longer.

Me and my sister, Leslie, totally cheesing. 

On Moi:
Boutique dress/necklace. (hmm, wish I knew the rest, but was purchased from my little Instagram shop)

Part of our little tailgating crew. The first game wasn't as crowded. 

Second game. Sadly, as BIG as a photographer as I am, and as bothersome as I am that person with a camera at all times, I didn't take any of their first game!!!! WTH is wrong with me?? So, my sister took this one of them at the Vol Walk. 

Our only, measly family pic at the game. How sad is that? And yes, thats as big as it is. Dang phone pic.  

Our tailgate crew from the second game. My how times have changed from college parties to kiddos!! Two sets of twin kids in this pic too! 

Linking up with Monday Mingle

A Post about Parenting...and Football...

I love it when I see other blogger posts that not only make me laugh and cry, but also make me be a bit of a better parent. I came across one last week that did just that. And the cool thing is? It's written by a dad. Love it. Maybe it's because I live in the south and football is a way of life, but there is something about it that is pure awesome. Add that to a lifelong bond between parents and children and thats what memories are made of!

Here is the story, written by Stevie Cocksman as seen on the fabulous Outkick the Coverage sports blog. Yup, I said a sports blog! A parenting post! And you should check Clay Travis' blog out anyway, because the writing is hysterical.

Love it so much...Here it is:

Despite my passionate love of college football, I’ve always had a strong aversion to boys throwing a football in the tailgate parking lot. First, those that primarily engage in it – eight to eighteen year old boys – are not by nature a considerate group.

Seldom does a 12-year old boy stop and ask himself: “What are my surroundings and how will my intended actions impact the things and people nearby?” Secondly, if the average completion percentage in the NFL is somewhere above 60% and the average completion percentage in college football is above 50%, the average completion percentage in these tailgate parking lot “games” hovers consistently below 10%. Balls bounce awkwardly and roll into tailgates. Errant passes hit cars. And, in the most unfortunate of incidents, balls land on the table with the food. I automatically protest anything that puts uneaten barbeque or chicken wings at risk.

______
For the last 4 years, I’ve gone to the Gamecock football games with my son. He is now 10. The females in my house – my wonderful wife and my delightful daughter – do not care about football, so it is just him and me most Saturdays. A party of two does not really tailgate. He vocalizes his disappointment with this circumstance almost weekly.

For this weekend’s Gamecock game, his mama (my wife) was going with us. That meant tailgating with a large group of people, including a number of his friends. He was pleased.

As we loaded up the car to leave, I noticed that tucked under his arm and gripped tightly against his black #7 Jadaveon Clowney jersey was his football. Despite his relative inexperience with it, he knows the basics of tailgating – the primary rule of which is that 10-year old boys take footballs. I offered no comment. We left.
_____

Any dad that loves football hopes desperately that his son will love it too. Not just half-heartedly follow it or feign interest to please his dad. But love it.

My son started attending Gamecock games with me regularly in 2009. He was 7. He went enthusiastically but I never got the sense that year that he loved watching football. I wasn’t even sure how much of what he was watching he understood.

Then came the Clemson game that year. I had promised my other ticket to my brother before the season started. My son repeatedly asked to go, but I didn’t have a ticket for him. On Thanksgiving night at my parents house, I walked into a room and he was wiping tears from his eyes. I asked what was wrong. He replied: Nothing.” When he left, I asked his mom. She said he started talking about how he couldn’t go to the Clemson game, and he started crying. He was too embarrassed for his dad to know.

That sealed it.

He went to the Clemson game. He had on his Gamecock jersey and Gamecock hat. I taught him how to stand in the parking lot and hold his index finger in the air.

A Gamecock fan walked up to us and held out a ticket.

“How much?” I said.

“He’s going to use it?” the man asked, pointing to my wide-eyed son.

“Yep”

“Then it is free. Go Gamecocks.”

Clemson was playing in their conference championship game the next week. Clemson had a rocketship named C.J. Spiller playing running back and returning kicks. Clemson had won six of the last seven. Ten of the last 12. Sixteen of the last 21.

The Gamecocks won 34-17. When we walked out, my son said: “Dad, I must be good luck for the Gamecocks. I can never miss another Clemson game.” Since then, I haven’t been to a Gamecock game without him at my side.

Last week, he was asked by a neighbor to go to the game with some friends of his and sit in “The Zone.” In "The Zone" they have TVs. And chicken fingers.

The dad told me that my son said, “I can’t. I go to the games with my dad.”
_____

My daughter is 8. Of all of God’s creations, few are as delightful as the 8-year old version of my daughter. But she is by nature a mama’s girl. I consider any attention or favor from her a gift, and I cherish it accordingly.

She went to camp this past summer. She returned having learned a simple hand-clap/chant routine about ice cream. She asked if she could teach it to me. Once I mastered it, she said to me: “Daddy, this can be our thing.”

Sweeter words have never been spoken.

We do it every night. It is our thing. I wouldn’t give it up for a million dollars.
______

I have countless hopes and dreams for my children. One of them is purely selfish: I hope that the day comes where - although I will always be their father – our relationship is more one of companions and friends than it is of parent-child. As much as I wish it wouldn’t, the day will come when they don’t need much parenting. And I cannot bear the thought of not having a close relationship with them.

I’m not exactly sure what that will look like with my daughter; I will take whatever I can get and do whatever I can to get it. But I do know a little bit about what that looks like between fathers and sons.

Due to certain defects with the male species, close male relationships almost always have to center around a "thing." Women can talk about what is going on in their lives, what their feelings are, what they are worried about, what they are going to wear, how their husbands watch too much football . . . but men don’t talk about any of that stuff. Guys have to have a thing – sports, or politics, or their faith, or their work – that acts as the conductor between them and draws them together.

A father and son can have all of the love and affection in the world for each other, but unless they have a thing they will struggle as adults to be companions . . . friends.

My son and I have countless things right now. But time will chip away at them. When he is in his twenties . . . we won’t play XBox . . . or go see “Avengers 6” . . . or watch “Phineas and Ferb” . . . or throw a football or baseball in the front yard. But I’m determined that we will have a thing.

I don’t know what it will be, but I’ll confess this: There is seldom a Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium when I don’t think to myself: “Son, this can be our thing.”
_____

On Saturday, it took about thirty seconds after my son and his football arrived before a game broke out between the rows of cars and tailgating tents.

Any responsible parent would have called him over and run down the list of things he needed to be aware of. Look out for cars. Be careful not to hit any people. DO NOT . . . under any circumstances . . . let your football hit a table with food on it!

But, in that moment, I had no desire to parent him. I just wanted to be a father with his son. Companions. Friends. At a football game. He had a blast. And if his football ended up landing in your cheese dip . . .

I don’t even care.

Steppin Out Saturday - Labor Day, Houses, and UT

Yay! It's Labor Day weekend. Although to some it means lots of sad faces because summer is over. But in my world, it's happiness. I LOVE fall. Fall clothes rock my socks, UT football is back, and *ahem* my birthday pretty much kicks off the season. (September 8th). The downside is that summer is over (sigh) and that school is back in full swing, so work is a little nutso right now. Add to that all this house shenanigans* and lots of weekend travel coming up, and life is just all sorts of crazy.

Jake and I went down to Atlanta for the weekend for the kick off of football! YAY! UT played NC State (and we won) which was awesome. What was horribly sad was that a sweet 20 year old fell from the top of the GA Dome literally in the next section from us and died. It was HORRIBLE. Many prayers to his family...

Moving on. It was a super fun weekend. Friday we did a little footballing. Saturday was an easy day with a Braves game in the afternoon. And Sunday was house shopping! My FAVORITE PART!! I had three stops on my list : Ikea, Frontgate Outlet, and the Ballard Designs Outlet : Ballard Backroom.

To say I was a 5 year old on Christmas morning at Ballard was an UNDERSTATEMENT. Sadly, though, I think I was overexcited, because I got really let down. Do you know the Sex and The City episode where Carrie and Samatha went to the Valley to buy Fendi's and Carrie changed her mind? It was because what was such a beautiful bag was now cheap looking and wrapped in plastic in the trunk of a car.

Thats how I felt at the Ballard Backroom. Their catalog is FABULOUS. Everything is put together and so pretty. But the outlet was a nuch of non-sellers and scratch and dents and it all just looked sad and yucky. It made me sad. I did get a Christmas Tree skirt...and that was IT. I honestly talked to Jake about our need for possibly renting a UHaul back. Ha!

Labor Day here was yucky and rainy. We went to the Sounds game for a few innings and the babes got to run bases again! (last game of the seaseon..again..sad face)

*We closed on the new house on Thursday!!! Yipee! Demo begins this week on it to completly transform it. I am super stoked. And.....we got a good offer on our house this weekend too! Accepted it, now we wait to close. Halle-freaking-lulah

Bring It Fall. We are READY.

Pics from the weekend!




My Dress I've been dying to wear
Dress: Altar'd State//Shoes: Aldo//Purse: Luana//



Goooooo Vols!

I ran into my 1995 high school Homecoming Date, Random, lol!!

Braves Game



Awesomeness. I was an Ikea virgin. Love.



Lo

I was so.excited. And those are not my earrings, just the rims, yo.



They had lots of chandeliers. Just not the ones I wished I saw. And lots of bookcases.



They had lots of clocks, but I didn't think they were that much of a deal (plus they have these all the time at Homegoods)

They had lots of wall shelving.

And they had a good selection of barstools and chairs. I was really looking for rugs, those pretty accessory pieces, coffee tables, side tables, and lighting. But, I didn't see a lot of that...sigh...