Granny-isms a.k.a. Total & Complete Bluntness

Yesterday after church we went to lunch with Thomas' parents and grandmother (Granny). Granny is 88 years old. She has always said what is on her mind, not holding back for fear of hurting someone's feelings. Like the first day I met her, Thomas said "Well, you finally got to meet Ashlee, what do you think?" To which her response (right in front of me might I add), "Well, she sure is pretty, but I don't know if I like her yet!" So, back to yesterday...this is how the conversation went between Thomas and Granny:

Thomas: "Granny, we wanted to tell you that Ashlee and I are expecting a baby again!"

Granny: "I know."

Thomas: "You know? How?" (All of us are kind of giggling because she has mentioned to Joe and or Karen several times that she thought I was pregnant)

Granny: "Well, I knew she wasn't gaining all of that weight for nothing!!!"

Yeah, I think that tops the cake! Thank goodness I wasn't in the mood to cry at that particular moment as I have been a LOT lately! And, what a sweet husband I have that came to my defense to tell her that in fact I haven't gained any weight, but that it's just shifted to my stomach! And as if that wasn't enough, he next compliment went something like this:

Granny: "Ashlee, I really like your hair long like that."

Me: "Thank you Granny."

Granny: "It makes your face look thinner."

So, yes world, I know I'm not what I once was in the looks category, so something like "Congratulations" would work good right about now! Baby #2 to make his or her debut this Spring!

Spatu-lur

I will definitely start this one off by saying I absolutely adore my father-in-law. He is one of the best men I have ever known, and I couldn't have picked a better one...and I'm not just saying that because of what I'm about to write about. That being said...here we go...

Since moving to the "Greater Valley Area" I have noticed a change in my own southern accent. However, TJ has some how grown to have a severe case of the southern accent which now may be described by some as down right redneck! I have always tried to correct him when he mispronouces words like oil, water (seriously...how do you get "wooter" from water?), ain't, etc. But, he threw me a curve ball the other day...see our coversation:

Me: "TJ, could you please go get me a spatula out of the drawer?"

TJ: "Spatu-lur, Mom...it's Spatu-lur."

Me: (Knowing exactly where he heard it from and trying not to laugh) "Um, no honey, it's not. It's spatu-la."

TJ: (Getting relatively upset and red-faced at this point) "NO MOM, it's Spatu-lar! That's what my Papa says...Spatu-lur!!!!!!!"

Me: (As calmly as possible, still trying to hold my laughter at bay) "Ok, ok...I know that's how Papa says it, but its really spatu-la. You say it however you want to."

Now, here's the kicker...Thomas comes home and I go about telling him the above story to which he says (let me remind you that my husband is no longer 5 years old...he's actually 27): "I thought it was spatu-lur too!" AND HE WAS SERIOUS!!!!!!

For Your Listening Pleasure...

As promised, here are some videos of TJ singing songs he has learned from school...ENJOY!

Battle of Jericho


Humpty Dumpty


Mary Had a Little Lamb...this one is my FAVORITE!!!


I Caught a Fish Alive

I hope you have enjoyed the musical stylings of TJ Hill. Please come again.

This one's for Michael...

Just a small new story for Michael's enjoyment...

In TJ's class, they have the green light, yellow light, red light behavior system. Each child has his or her own clothes pin which starts out pinned on green each morning. The teacher will warn the student before moving their pin, but after a warning, their pin gets moved to yellow and so forth. The first few weeks of school, Mrs. Dewberry spends ALL day going over the rules and what she expects from them so everyone's pin stays on green. Every day after school, when promted by me asking what he did at school that day, TJ's response would be "we stayed on green today!" I've lost count, but we have now been in school for 4 or 5 weeks, so they have moved on from ALL staying on green. If they get moved to yellow, or by all means to red, the teacher sends home a note so the parents know what happened. So, much to my surprise, our chatty child has STAYED on green every day!!! Well, Friday I met him and his KK & Papa for dinner before heading over to the game and I noticed he didn't have face paint on - very unusual since every Friday he has had "eye-black" painted on him and prepared to go to the "Pepper-Rally." So, I asked him why he didn't have any face paint today. He just said that it had rubbed off. Fast forward to later at the game, I ran into the aide, Mrs. Strewsberry, and asked how he had been..."Be truthful" I said. She said he has been great, but that they were having trouble getting him to sit still in his chair. I will remind you, TJ was standing there while I was talking to Mrs. Strewsberry and never said a word. He has always had issues sitting still...I tell him he has wiggly bones. He is never still, well at least until he drops to sleep at night. Well, I still didn't think much about it...not until Monday when I was going through his school bag and looked in his folder...and.guess.what.I.saw, a YELLOW face. He had been moved to yellow for not sitting still...not just wiggling in his chair, but hanging upside down with his head on the floor. KK said she knew about it, but it wasn't her business to tell us. Come to find out the reason he didn't have face paint on was because he got so upset for having to move his pin to yellow he cried the paint off! I am sure this is the first of many occasions he will have to move his pin :)

Stay tuned for TJ singing nursery rhymes...hilarious!