For several years now, Tad has been on call over Easter weekend. This means rather than trave
ling to South Carolina to join the rest of his family for an annual gathering, we celebrate in Tennefreakinssee. We have several friends here who don’t have other relatives in town, so we pool our culinary prowess, cook up a mighty fine lunch, and enjoy the simple pleasure of fellowship around our family alter…our dining room table.
Of course, afterwards, stuffed, getting the children–and ourselves–outside is not up for debate–it’s necessary! I’m always thankful for sunny Easter Sundays, aren’t you?
As the oldest children, Rachel and Thomas no longer hunt eggs, but the DO get to hide them; I’m pretty sure they have just as much fun doing this as the seven younger children do in finding them.
Looks like Ryan found one whale of an egg there! There were a bunch more cutie-pie pictures of Wendy’s and Jay’s, and Steph’s and Chas’ babies, but I didn’t get their permission to post them.
Once the eggs-travaganza was over, the little girls twirled in the hammock, the little boys played basketball, and the big boys and girls hung out. The kids dragged the pogo stick out, but no, I didn’t show off my pogo-jumping skills….
I’m not quite how the following occurred, but I think it had something to do with Chas schooling my boys in the finer points of ball handling. After a “swoosh” I’m thinking Steph said “Show her how you can touch your toes.”
Not easily impressed, I’m thinking Chas is six years younger than me, he SHOULD be able to touch his toes! Uh, huh, yeah, well, I was slightly misguided. THIS is what she meant:
This was his first attempt to “touch his toes” and my first attempt to photograph him. The subsequent tries didn’t yield near this good of a shot (although he repeated the action multiple times). Not to be outdone (WHAT WAS I THINKING??), I marched upstairs, got a pair of tennis shoes, and came back out. For heaven’s sake, I was a cheerleader in highschool, took ballet for ten years, surely I was still limber enough to match his toe-touchin’ skills.
Um, yeah, wrong again. Apparently, when I cooked the turkey, I fried my brain, too. I cannot believe I’m about to show ANYONE (who wasn’t present) these pictures. They aren’t pretty, but they are funny.
Wait…first, my boys! Thomas and Stephen thought it looked easy (s i g h, the arrogance of youth…:/). Thomas actually did impress me–while simultaneously reminding me I forgot their haircut appointments on Saturday :(.
Stephen should stick to soccer.
And, now, me…
Good gracious, I look like one of the flying monkeys from “The Wizard of Oz”!
Let’s try again.
Is anyone else thinking “The Bride of Frankenstein
“?
What if I stretch some more? Se
e? If I can kick my leg this high, jumpin’ and touchin’ my toes should be a piece of cake (maybe I was sabotaged by Steph’s FANTASTIC carrot cake she made in honor of the day…maybe all this was a conspiracy, cooked up by her and Charles to make him look like a gymnast and me look like a freak show…).
Look at that expression! I AM a freak show!!
Personally, this is what I think:
1) Chas purposefully took the shots AFTER I hit the mark…
2) HE didn’t have to worry about wettin’ his britches…I mean…I’ve had three kids…the third one wreaked havoc on my pelvic floor…I was having to concentrate on a lot of other things than just touching my toes.
At least I succeeded in that. That was MY sad little “thrill of victory”.
Now, I’m just feeling the “agony of defeat”.
Remember that episode of “Cheers” when Sam was a guest sports broadcaster for a local newsstation and he was AWFUL? He tried everything from ventriloquism to rap? That little rap keeps trilling through my mind….
“Time to rap about a controversy / Gonna take a stand, won’t show no
mercy / Lotta folks says jocks shouldn’t be / Doing the sports new on
TV / I don’t wanna hear the latest scores / From a bunch broadcast
school boys / So get your scores from a guy like me / Who knows what
it’s like to have a groin injury. G-g-groin, g-g-groin injury.”
** s i g h** g-g-groin injury….:/
Oh Robin – You’ve given me a good dose of the giggles. I LOVE IT –
Okay, I’m not even going to try this at home. I don’t think I could get my butt high enough into the air.
If that is what you do for fun in Tennessee – I can’t wait to come and visit.
ROFL! HAHAHA!
You had me giggling;) I wouldn’t be caught dead trying that;)
And you’re so right about the pelvic floor thing;)
you can’t possibly be 44.
In my mind I heard Chas saying, “Robin, da ya think you can do this?”
and you reply
“Well, it depends.”
Absolutely awesome! I love it that there’s someone else out there willing to post completely embarrassing pics of themselves, too! (Not that your toe-touching is embarrassing. . .just good fun!) GooOOOO-Cheer Mom!!
Thanks for the laugh this morning!
I’m such a clutz, I wouldn’t even try it! I wanted desperately to be a cheerleader like my best friend. However I broke my ankle trying.
OH MY GOSH! That is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time 🙂 Thanks for sharing. After all, you were a cheerleader in high-school, LOL. Yep, I was one in college, and I know better than to try that. You were a good sport though 😉
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAA!!!! You are ONE BRAVE WOMAN, Robin! I am impressed with your flexibility – the leg kick was great! I’m not even going to comment about Chas’ toe touch – that’s just NOT
FAIR!RIGHT! Looks like you all had a great time 😉I remember having to teach Golden Boy how to flip on the rings in our backyard. I couldn’t move for a WEEK! Next time he wants to learn acrobatics, I’m callin’ YOU 😉
Oops – the word “FAIR!” was supposed to be crossed out in my comment above. I guess that strike-out function doesn’t work on comments 🙁
Oh man. This was so stinkin funny; my kids just yelled ( they can’t just ask in ‘normaltone’ can they? ) “MOM,WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT???”
You are too much, girl.
Btw -can’t do this, never have been able to, probably never (ever) will be able to….nope, naw-uh….
oh well.
Have an awesome, pain free, day you cute thing, you!!
Karmyn, I felt like I had lead in my butt, thighs, legs–I could NOT get any “wind beneath my wings” or something like that. I promise, if you make it to Tennessee, we will NOT be doing spread-eagle jumps! But we WILL be having some serious F.U.N.!
Lizzie, I think this was a slow, public way to try to commit suicide…I’m SORE today (dang Chas’ time!).
Pamela, Set.Up. I’d hate Charles if I didn’t love him ;). Twerp. Today I’m feeling about twice that–places are hurting I forgot I had (huh?).
Sabrina, you’ve got to tell me links you have of embarrassing pics! I’d LOVE to see someone else with absolutely no pride :).
Gina, Oooo, I love to laugh! And you reminded me the first time I tried out for cheerleading, I didn’t warm up well (not unlike yesterday :/). I actually injured “something” so badly I limped for months. I DID make cheerleading (because I finished the tryout through tears and determination), but girls at my school said I got the sympathy vote. Dang…that memory is painful coming and going :(.
MikeY, I knew my limits…I didn’t even try at the collegiate level…
Susan, yeah, I hate that the strike through command doesn’t work in comments–it’s not fair ;)!
Oooo, I so relate to what you’re saying…I’m amazed at how difficult the simplest things are now; the things we did as kids that now, render me immovable for days. It’s not fair! lol
Kristy, Ummm, I’ve mentioned it a few times in comments already, but I’m S.O.R.E. today, lol. Guess I should try yoga, huh?
Actually, I was dead tired when I wrote this last night, but it was too funny and I was compelled to finish the durn thing. This morning, when I re-read it, I giggled again, too. Glad you got a snort out of it!
Robin- You get an A+ for effort AND for being brave enough to post your photos. Funny thing… I was so totally thinking how my pelvic floor might let me down if I were doing this. And then you said it, too. So there. Great minds think alike!
HAHAAAAHAAHAHAHAAA!
HAAHAAAHAAHAHAA!
HA!
HAHA!
Heh heh heh.
Wshoooo.
That was funny.
🙂
O-w-ouch! Look how high off the ground you are. My legs hurt just looking at Chas.
I was thinking the same thing as Susan in VA….you are one BRAVE woman!! No way I would even attempt that!! by the way, have I ever told you about one of my bestest buds, Advil??? (but it does look like you had some fun!!)
Jill, total body control;).
Erin, now THAT is the kind of comment that tells me what you REALLY think. Thanks a squillion…!
Claudia, I’ve been on ’em all afternoon…not because I wanted to be, because I NEEDED to be :/. Idiot (of course, I’m speaking of me………)
Oh my goodness I have not laughed that hard in awhile….
I totally remember that Cheers episode. (I LOVED Cheers) It is singing in my head now – thanks! That is what I need to end my night – G-g-groin, g-g-groin injury. (sarcasm intended here)
But you are BRAVE for trying! His was very impressive though. But I will go with the photographer’s ability. Obviously you just are a better photographer. 😉
Hope you are healing no!
And I wish we got sun at Easter. We ALWAYS seem to get rain. we got a sunny break yesterday though. Which was better than nothing.
Dear robin. YOu’re my hero! Oh my gosh I can’t do anything like that! I certainly wasn’t a cheerleader at school (well, Aussie schools don’t have cheerleaders) but I grew up in the pool, which is great for fitness but not flexibility!
When I grow up I wanna be just like you.
‘Course, I’ll probably hurt like HELL…
I hate it when my wife encourages me to do stupid stuff. I never thought our Easter Sunday time together with the family doing silly acro
batic cheerleader jumps would go international. That is a pretty funny post even though I was part of the joke. Thanks Robin! And by the way, it had everything to do with photography skills, you were AWESOME! I just couldn’t accurately capture it on camera.
Laurel, that is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. Thank you, doll :).
Janice, you could always come here for Easter as long as you’re willing to subject your body to various forms of torture. The sun makes it worth it ;).
I’m soooo glad someone else got the “Cheers” reference…I LOVED “Cheers” back in the day. Were you old enough to watch it during its original run?
Dear Little Miss Moi, Again, I’m hearing all kinds of nice things today. Perhaps my CONTINUED PAIN was worth it for these votes of confidence. Okay, NOT votes of confidence, but votes of nice thoughts, lol. Hmmmm, you’re a swimmer, my daughter swam competitively before we moved to TN…a FANTASTIC sport for conditioning!
Stephanie, if you do, it will ;).
Chas, you were a freak! A SUPER FREAK (and as you know, that’s a high compliment given who you’re married to 😉 ). Yeah, I’m afraid you DID accurately capture it on camera…maybe that’s why I’m still hurtin’ :/ :).
Okay, so I’m at work, and I’m trying really hard to look like I’m working, but I’m also trying to suppress laughter and tears as a result of reading this post, so then the laughs are trying to come out of my nose, which makes me laugh harder. They already think I’m crazy here.
OMG Robin, have I told you how much I luuuvv you? Reason #323…….You Crack Me UP!
OK, I have to agree. With the direction the hair is pointing it is OBVIOUS that he was late in his camera clicking and you are on your way down from really HAVING DONE IT just a second before.
Eeeeeeebaaaaaaaaayyyy! You KNOW I love it when you friggin’ de-lurk! Yaeee YOU! It’s reason 412 why I luuuuv you back :). I can so see you at your desk. Really, truly, I’ve been there before ;). Shop again, shop often (huh?).
Joe, ah ha! You’re right!! Thanks for pointing out the obvious! You should win a prize or something :).
Chas is the man. Talk about getting full-extension. And anyway, if you get it right for the picture once, why bother ever doing it again?