A Pasty Ballad

Thanks to Kelley and Nora (who wrote and sung a song to our interns yesterday:  ), I was inspired at 3 AM to write my own song.

To the tune of American Pie:

Ah-hem.

A long long time ago

I can still remember how

That UV used to make me smile

And I knew if I had my chance

That I could make my skin color enhance

And maybe I’d be tan for a while

But July came and made me shiver

From the burn the sun delivered

Bad news for my pale skin

I couldn’t even touch my shin

I can’t remember if I cried

When I finally realized

But something hit me deep inside

The day my tan dreams died…

SO

Bye, bye to the goddess of the sky

I’m the color of a cloud I can no longer deny

The rest of the girls put oil on their thigh

But I say this will be the day I don’t fry

This will be the day I don’t fry

Did you visit the tanning bed

In hopes that it wouldn’t make you red

Because your friend told you so

Now when you pass the tan skin test

Is it really a spray tan you confess

But at least it lets you wear that strapless dress

Well I thought we had a pale girl trend

When Edward Cullen did ascend

We all broke out in grins

And bared that pasty white skin

I was freckled, middle-aged, and on the shore

With my SPF 70 put on an hour before

And I knew I would not be sore

The day my tan dreams died….
I started singin'

Bye, bye to the goddess of the sky

I’m the color of a cloud I can no longer deny

The rest of the girls put oil on their thigh

But I say this will be the day I don’t fry

This will be the day I don’t fry

Now, for several years I’ve known my place

The bronze glow I cannot even chase

And that’s just the way it is

When I went to Costa Rica on a plane

I came back to comments all the same

“Oh sad, I see it must have rained”

No but while I basked in the sun

I had a hat, umbrella, and lot of rum

The vacation was adjourned

And still pale I returned

While we all know the certain facts

Still proud and boastful you do act

When we put our arms back to back

The day my tan dreams died….

We were singin’

Bye, bye to the goddess of the sky

I’m the color of a cloud I can no longer deny

The rest of the girls put oil on their thigh

But I say this will be the day I don’t fry

This will be the day I don’t fry

AND in case you don't believe me, this is after 7 DAYS in Costa Rica in 2010......

babies to the left

grown ups to the right

Baptism and Memorial Day Weekend

The girls were Baptized on Pentecost Sunday at St. Peters in Oxford.  It was a beautiful day.  Despite all my worries everything went very smoothly.  The girls made it through the whole service and did great.  I have poured water on their heads during baths since they were tiny so it actually barely phased them.  We had a brunch at our house afterwards with friends and family.  My mom and sisters did the food, which was wonderful.  The whole fam did so much to prepare for the day, help during the service and brunch, and clean up afterwards -  I am so grateful.  

One of the highlights of the weekend was that my brother, Richard, was the guest organist for the church service.  The music was absolutely beautiful. 

I meant to get a pic of each child with their godparents and totally failed.  Here are all the godparents listed below.  We are very thankful that they are part of the girls' lives.

Anna - Christina Cafiero, Anna Ruth & Will McCalley

Irene - Melanie & John Beckham, Matthew Nichols

Brooks - Carolyn & Nathan Smith, Richard Byrd

The poor Beckhams came down with the stomach virus and were unable to join us.  We really missed them. 

Family pic just after the service.  Anna left, Brooks middle, Irene right.

Elizabeth Brooks Nichols (her godparents Richard, Carolyn, Nathan looking on)

Anna Carolyn Nichols

Irene Margaret Nichols

This is what getting three babies dressed for a Baptism looks like.  It was nothing short of a miracle that we were in the church on time.

The grandmothers getting Irene (I think?) dressed

Anna Ruth getting Anna dressed

Brooks getting ready.  The bonnet lasted 2 minutes.

Meme and Irene

Anna Ruth and Anna

Carolyn is a pro at everything

Gangsta Brooks.  In all seriousness, a beautiful necklace given to her by her godparents, Carolyn and Nathan.

Fran, Will, Kat

Great food prepared by my mom and sisters

Friends at the post Baptism brunch

We had a wonderful weekend all around.  It was so fun to have grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in town.  A few more pics....

This is what lunchtime looked like 

Sweet sisters

All the cousins - Lyndy holding Frances, Brooks, Irene, Kat holding Anna.

Fran the entertainer

This pic just about sums up their personalities.

We celebrated Matthew's 36th birthday on Saturday night.  Here he is with his goddaughter, Irene. 

Thanks to everyone that was part of the weekend.  Love to all.

Stop the madness

I bought into liking the color of pink.  Then I even put bonnets on them for Easter.  Now I'm on to bows on their poor little basically bald heads.

And we ate peas.

Brooks

Anna

Irene

Irene

Brooks.  Not a fan.  Smart girl.

Anna.  

Fad Cooking

I only like to cook if I'm inspired.  I only get inspired a few times a year and when that happens I get in this huge kick of cooking all kinds of fun dishes.  The rest of the year I either force myself to cook something I consider boring or we have take out every night (usually the latter). Before the kiddos we would go weeks where we ate out every single night.

I'm currently on one of those rare cooking kicks thanks to a local CSA that we joined this year.   We are getting all kinds of veggies that we rarely eat and I never cook - beets, swiss chard, kale, kohlrabi, to name a few. 

I had never even heard of kohlrabi, but we roasted it and it was delicious.  I did not get a picture because we got hungry while cooking another dish that night and accidentally ate it all.  I used a variation of this recipe.

Our CSA goods from last week.  Can't wait to see what we get this week.

The same night we made the kohlrabi, we also made a kale, white bean, and italian sausage dish.  Mary Kathryn recommended it on her blog, an unlined page, and she was right - it was so good.  And really easy.  Our salad had romaine and spinach from the CSA also. (MK's photo of the kale dish is much better....I need to work on my presentation).

Left - salad with goat cheese, avocado, tomato.  Right - kale, white beans, and italian sausage.

Another night we had a spinach salad with roasted beets as well as avocado, goat cheese, and walnuts.  Beets and spinach from the CSA

You may see a trend with the goat cheese and avocado.  That is a lifelong kick that I am on 365 days a year. 

I also was able to use some of the spinach in a spinach dip for book club last week, and made some kale chips to snack on (got this idea from MK's as well).

This next picture has nothing to do with the CSA.  It just illustrates my current phase.  Rather than my normal mediocre prepacked breakfast, I'm actually making my own yogurt/fruit/granola to take to work each day. 

I really wish I would keep this up but I give it about another week before I move on to some other hobby I like to dabble in and out of once a year, like gardening or tennis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 months old, muwhahahaha

That's Brooks doing the evil laugh

Brooks, Irene, Anna

Last weekend was Double Decker in Oxford.  So fun (although at times I sort of felt like we needed to charge admission).  It was hot so we had to breakout the sunscreen and hats.

Flying Nun Brooks

Irene

Anna

With Meme at Double Decker

Uncle Sulli and the girls hanging out on Sunday morning after Double Decker.  What a natural!  Irene LOVED Sulli which says a lot because she is not a fan of a lot of people.

I truly cannot believe it has been 6 months.  Seems like just yesterday I was nervous, huge, and uncomfortable waiting on their arrival, and then delirious, relieved, and happy when I finally got to see those tiny faces.  Each phase seemed like it lasted forever during the pregnancy and those first few months, and now time is just flying by.

The worst bragger in the world

Okay that title is not actually applicable (well, except that I am actually bragging) but I watched Zach Galifianakis' 2011 SNL monologue today and when he says that I laugh.

How did my kids sleep this weekend, you ask?  Amazing.  So, yes, I'm bragging because I doubt it will last, but we have had three nights in a row where all three babies slept 11+ hours STRAIGHT.  I never thought I would see this day.  And I'm documenting the momentous occasion in case it never happens again.  Now if they could just teach me how to sleep through the night...(I realized when I was still tired at work today maybe they aren't the problem).

We had quite an active weekend.  FNC Crawfish Party on Friday night, a walk to the Grove for Grove Bowl activities on Saturday, trying rice cereal via spoon, and the OLHS Dog Park party on Sunday.  I was serious when I said I was working on getting them out and about more

The dogs don't care about us but we are starting to care about them.  

At the OLHS dog park party.  Coffee won out as the occupier of my left hand over Ginger so she stayed home.  And she is typically not nice to other dogs as you may remember from her profile.

Irene and Brooks talking on the spit up covered couch

Trying spoon feeding for the first time.  Go Majors!

Chillin on the screen porch Sunday afternoon

This is how most of my pictures of Brooks turn out because she moves like lightning.  All she wants to do is sit and stand.

Irene at her PT check in today.  Last one unless we think she needs it later!

All that work made her so sleepy.

Anna at the Grove Bowl festivities.  We had to bundle up because it was cold.

Speaking of Anna, you may remember from a few months ago that she had a Grade III IVH (brain hemmorage) when she was in the NICU.  The bleeding stopped but we have been monitoring her brain over the last few months, hoping the enlarged ventricles would resolve back to their normal size.  We had a check up with the Neurosurgeon in Memphis last week and it looks as though the ventricles may actually be slightly larger (more fluid) now.  For now we are still just watching it and she will have another check in June.  Here she is waiting on the doctor last week.  She was in absolute heaven with all the attention from both of us all day.

12 lbs of DRAMA