High school homecomings and other differences

So I learned something new over the last few weeks. Carmel's homecoming was two weeks ago which brought up high school homecoming traditions. Come to find out, Indiana doesn't "do" homecoming mums! Shocker, huh?! Then as I'm Googling it today to try and show some coworkers what all the mum/garter fuss is about, I slowly start to realize that all websites point to Texas! Is Texas the only state with this "spirited" tradition??? (after further thought, it is kinda an exaggerated tradition I guess) I'll have to find out more about it's history. I did have to laugh as I reminisced on the old high school homecomings and how we would actually talk about different people's mums. The conversations would go something like this, "Did you see her mum?" "Oh my gosh it was HUGE" "Tacky, huh?" Like one mum is actually tackier than another mum. Admittedly it was (and still is) a fun tradition!

All this mum business made me think I should write about all the other differences that have provided entertaining over the last several years:

• In Indiana, an ice chest is a "cooler". This is another fact I only learned two weeks ago. Daniel, of course, has tried to act like he grew up more civilized than I and says that he has ALWAYS called it a cooler and NEVER an ice chest. What?!!!
• Potluck dinner = Pitch-in in Indiana
• There has been some debate on Frito pie. We've had differing opinions on this matter. Some say they've never heard of a 'dish' like this. Others call it a 'walking taco'. While still others say it's a haystack or something like that.
• Did you know that other colleges around the country don't have hand gestures to express their loyalty (example: thumbs up at A&M, bear claw at Baylor, guns at Tech, horns at tu, etc.). Which led Daniel and I to think about this further. We think this was may be an old SWC tradition??? Anyone else have a history on this tradition? We've had some explaining to do over the last few years as to why all of our friends from Aggieland are giving a thumbs up in pictures. Then there's a whole other conversation discussing what Gig 'em means! :) This difference does explain why other colleges say "they're #1" when the cameras roll across their fans....they just don't have anything better to do with their hands!
• Ranch dressing is not the dip of choice in the Midwest. Here in the Hoosier state, nacho cheese dip is what it's all about. When you order breadsticks from a pizza joint, they come with marinara or nacho cheese sauce. Go figure! This took some getting used to, but I have to say, it's not so bad!

Well, these are just a few of the fun differences we have encountered. Usually, the joke is on us as people are trying to figure out what the heck we're talking about! How different two parts of the country can be!

Fishin'

This one's for Papaw.....

This is a picture from Sadie's daycare party last Friday night at Dave and Jane's house. Look at how professional she looks...she's got fishin' in her blood alright!

Thanks Dave for the photo!

Football Saturday

It may take some time for Sadie to really understand the game of football, but come on, taking a nap during a Notre Dame game??? Daddy has some work ahead of him!

It's a good day in Indiana...

And you may ask why it is a great day in Indiana? Well, let me tell you.

It is not often that I would refer to a trip to the grocery store as exciting or even interesting, but there are exceptions to everything.

A couple of days ago I passed a semi-truck on the interstate in northern Indiana that caught my attention. It was a Blue Bell truck, and for you Hoosiers reading this, that would be God’s first choice of ice cream brands!!! So last night on my quick trip to the grocery store, I thought that I would check to see if they started to sell this in Indiana. To my disappointment, it was not to be found in our local Kroger store.

However, I did stumble upon another item that made up for all of the above disappointment and more. Shiner Bock beer has arrived! Our prayers have been answered! I don’t know now why I would ever have a need to leave Indiana!

Cheers!

P.S. - A co-worker of Amanda's appreciated my excitement and my picture, and he sent along the following picture that I thought was worthy of being part of this post!

"A message of hope - The Beer Store"

Guess who?!!!

Guess who slept through the night last night?! SADIE did! That's the first time in about a 1 1/2 months that that has happened. GooooOOO...Sadie!!!!

Hurrican Ike

Ike blew through Indiana today. We have joked about recording all of Sadie's firsts.....when she experienced her first earthquake at 3 weeks old, when she had to hide under the stairs during her first tornado watch at 2 months old (only because her mother is OVERLY cautious regarding weather due to Mamaw and Papaw--Yes, I whole-heartedly blame that obsession on my parents!), and now her first hurricane!!! Ha!

On a more serious note, my brother and sister-in-law, Trey and Dora, beautiful niece, Baby B, and Dora's aunt, Violeta, had to evacuate their home in Pearland because of the storm. We were very happy to hear the report today that their home escaped the storm virtually unharmed. They had a few screens blown off windows, a downed hackberry tree, limbs and debris in the yard, and of course no electricity. But all in all, they are very blessed to not have any great damage. Trey will be staying so he can report to work tomorrow, where he will be working in Houston for now instead of Galveston. Dora, Baby B, and Violeta will be staying with my brother and sister-in-law, Will and Annie, until power resumes in Houston. We are SO glad they are all safe and their home was practically untouched. We are praying for all those who felt the storm more than our family though and for those emergency employees undoubtedly working tirelessly to get everything cleaned up quickly.

River Clean-up

Sadie helped clean up the river at the annual White River Clean-up yesterday...and didn't she look cute doing it?!

Sadiebug....

Perfect world

This is what happens when two great events collide.....

Mamaw visits and Old Navy is having a 40% off sale of all children's clothing. Sadie was "tickled pink" and LOVED looking at all the clothes as we pulled them out of the bags. That's our girl!

Happy Birthday Uncle Will!

Happy birthday Will! We hope your 24th year will be as good as your 23rd year was....an engagement, graduation, two new nieces, and finally a WEDDING! We love you and can't wait to come visit in a month! Happy birthday from the Foleys.

Mamaw & other updates

Sadie's Mamaw came to visit her and we have had SO much fun! She flew in Friday and will be here until Tuesday morning early. We have shopped, been to the farmer's market, eaten some good food, had a full day at church today, and shopped some more! We've also taken several naps....oh how we like Sadie's afternoon naps! Thanks Mamaw for visiting us! We LOVE you!

I figured I better update everyone on Sadie's development since I haven't really done that in a while. Sadie is really rolling over, and over, and over now. She is getting herself around pretty good by rolling and rotating and some other method that I don't really know how to describe. My mom said she looks likes she's digging for something. None the less, we can't keep her on her blanket any longer....

She seemed to have gotten to feeling better last week, but her stuffy nose came back on Friday. *sigh* She is starting to sit up on her own for longer periods of time before falling over, and she is extremely vocal, especially with her high pitch squeals! Yes! Other than that, she's just busy being a baby and learning knew things all the time. Oh and we caught her the other night sleeping face down in her crib. Yikes! I don't know what to do about that because she got herself into that position. So I guess she will be fine. I guess.

We hope everyone had a nice weekend and hope all of your favorite football teams are looking better than our Aggies.

Also, a special thanks to our "guest columnist" Daniel for posting yesterday! We like when he posts! :) We leave you with a picture of our much-loved Daddy......

Little things bring big smiles!

As we can all tell from Sadie’s pictures, she is a very happy little girl (that is as long as she has a full belly, clean diaper, and like her parents, plenty of sleep is also a must!) She loves to be entertained as well as to entertain others as she will smile at anyone anywhere.

It has been an absolutely wonderful experience for us to watch Sadie grow and develop. She does so many news things all the time such as rolling over, talking, play with her toys, soothing herself to sleep, and the list goes on and on. While all of these things are milestones in Sadie’s development, it is sometimes the little things that she does that really wins our hearts. Here are just a few:

• Each morning we wake up to her calling (i.e. crying) only to get to her room for her to look up at us from her crib with a big grin – what a sight!


• When we put her in our bed to take a nap with her (even if this isn’t what we are supposed to do!), we can count on our sweet little girl cuddling up tight with one of us.


• After a long day of work when we think we just want a little peace and quiet, Sadie's playful screaming, squealing, and talking interrupted by a little of her laughter as she cracks herself is sooooo welcomed.


• And while it may seem strange, just being able to console Sadie in those times when she gets a little fussy can be such a wonderful reward as a parent.

It is these little things that bring big smiles to our faces and make us the proudest of parents. It is only now that we can look back on the wonderful stories from other parents that have experienced these joys and really understand what they were talking about.

Ready for college

So we know we've been telling everyone how amazing Sadie is and all, but now we have proof! She emailed her mommy and daddy today:

Mommy and Daddy, guess what, I just rolled from my back to my front.
Love,
Saddie

OK, so she misspelled her name, but oh my goodness! I didn't know how to use email until I got to college (granted the internet was just becoming wildly popular and I was extremely sheltered in high school). So there you have it. Our five month old can email....beat that!