Rest in peace, Gareth

We lost a friend this weekend, and I just wanted to share to everyone who didn’t know him what a great person Gareth was. This isn’t going to be eloquent, I just need to get the words out.

We’ve known Gareth for, gosh, I guess at least 11 years? I’m not really sure. I do remember the first conversation I ever had with him. It was about our wedding planning, and he was telling me something about the royal wedding. You know, the Charles and Diana one. I don’t remember what he told me about it, though. Just that we chatted about it.

503919739_21cebe8357_oWhen George and I were planning our honeymoon to London, he urged us to take a few days and visit the Welsh town he grew up in, Hay-on-Wye. So we did.

Our wedding was just a couple of months after Katrina, and he’d stayed behind for the storm. Anytime our wedding came up in conversation later, he’d always say, “Pammy…that was the best wedding ever. Great party.” So many people needed the celebration, not least of all him.

I searched my blog for a mention of Gareth, and the only one I found was that he came to visit me in the hospital before I had the boys. Because that’s the kind of guy he was, even though I’m sure he’d have rather been anywhere else on earth.

In June, grossing me out with his bloody eye.
At our friend’s wedding in August
In our backyard in 2007.
At the pub prom in 2006.
At prom in 2006
In a friend’s yard in 2007.
On the levee in 2007.

Screenshot 2015-10-05 12.02.14When the neighborhood was raising funds for a friends’ son’s surgery, Gareth showed us all up by donating a huge amount. He had been saving it up for something special, but gave it to the surgery fund instead. He was so generous in that way.

Wearing a suit in July.
Wearing a suit in July.

In July, there was a Proms-themed birthday party for friends at the pub. July in New Orleans. The man wore a suit, vest, and tie in the sweltering heat, because that’s what a gentleman wears to the Proms, and to honor his dear friends.

Gareth had two dogs, Owen and Lizzie. They were always with him. They are the sweetest dogs, and the first dogs the boys were not scared of. (Don’t worry, Owen and Lizzie are being well taken care of now.)

Anyway. There are a million stories to be told. A million memories. A million laughs.

Cheers, you crazy Welshman. We’ll miss you so much.

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Soccer, week 3: Crushing defeat

Well, we warned them that not all games were going to be 22-1 victories.

The game started out somewhat unbalanced. The boys were playing against a team of all girls – and not that I’m sexist, blah blah blah, but these girls were tiny compared to the boys.

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This girl was throwing Miles some major side-eye. Look how much taller he is than her!

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So yeah, they’re feeling pretty good about themselves.

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But then after the first quarter, the coaches decided to make things fairer for everyone, and shuffled all the kids around. They ended up playing against other kids on their own team instead of the other team.

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Oh, this is fun, we’re playing against our teammates!

But it quickly became obvious that this time, they were on the weaker side.

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This pretty much summed it up:

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But they were still having fun, so it’s all good. For the last quarter, they were re-teamed with the identical twins.

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Look, two sets of DNA out of five kids!

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Miles was doing pretty well going after the ball, but as the game went on, Linus and Oliver just seemed to wilt under the crushing defeat. Sigh.

It wasn’t pretty, and we had to have a serious talk about sportsmanship, and losing, and trying hard, and practicing, etc etc.

So. Hopefully next week, we’ll see an improvement in attitudes, if not skills.

No more yellow tooth!

One of the ways you were able to identify Linus quickly was by his yellow tooth. It was the result of a damaged baby tooth, so when the permanent tooth came in, it had a yellow spot on it. I didn’t want him to get teased about it (and he did, at camp this past summer) so I talked to our dentist about how we could get it fixed. Turns out, it wasn’t a huge big deal.

Before:

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The dentist sanded down the tooth a little where the spot was and then (well, then he gave Linus a little novocaine because he said it hurt, and that was funny because novocaine is super weird if you’ve never experienced it – he kept asking if his lip was big and puffy) put in some kind of tooth putty and then shone a light on it and then voila!

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White tooth!

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New sweet white smile: (Hard to get a really good picture because his lip was still numb.)

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He was pretty happy about it.

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But now you’re going to have to figure out a different way to tell him apart.

Social media roundup

Some random pics from social media recently:

Thanks Timehop for this comparison.

Friday night, we celebrated my friend Terry’s birthday with a Frida Kahlo themed party.

Oliver accidentally put on my socks and they’re not too big. Well, I mean, they’re a little too big, but not ridiculously so, like they should be.

If anyone could answer this for me, I’d really appreciate it:

On Facebook, a teacher friend whose daughter is in Linus’s class posted this on my wall:

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Linus is featured in his very own chant, complete with hand clapping and counting! Could I be any prouder?

Miles had fun chatting with my coworkers on Slack. I had to stop him from live chatting with customers, though.

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Soccer, week 2

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Before the game. All three finally healthy! I think Oliver was trying to look tough here.
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And then this happened…Linus got sold to the other team.
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Awkward!

There wasn’t a complete rout of the other team like there was last week (because they switched things up halfway through, we weren’t sure what the score was anyway) which I was happy about because I think the boys learned a bit of humility this week. And also they saw that some of the other players weren’t displaying good sportsmanship, so I think they kind of are getting the point now. But they had fun, and played well, and that’s the key.

I’m much happier with my photos this week. Last week was so sunny and I had a lot of issues with focus and color. I got tips from some of my coworkers who are fantastically talented and it helped a lot. Of course, it also helped that it was overcast. I hope next weekend is sunny again so I can keep working on my skillz.

Another one bites the dust

Why do I ignore my instincts?

sickmilesMiles fell asleep on the sofa at 7:30 Sunday night. I should have known right then and there that he was sick. Sure enough, yesterday afternoon I got a call from the school nurse that he had a fever. So I took him to the pediatrician and he has tonsillitis. So not even the same thing Oliver had.

But then this morning, Linus woke up with a croupy cough and a sore throat. Oliver’s sickness started with a croupy cough. So I decided just to keep him home from school. May as well. Guess I’ll take him to the doctor this afternoon. Why not?!?

But there was something really sweet to come out of all this. Last night, Miles was sleeping on the sofa, just burning up (one thermometer was saying 104 but the other said 101, so WHO KNOWS) and Oliver was stroking his head, worried about his sick brother. So sweet. Later on, when I was able to get Miles into bed, Oliver helped tuck him in and brought him his favorite stuffed animals. Gah.

In other news, my latest post on the New Orleans Moms Blog is up. Check it out!

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First soccer game of the season!

Miles and Oliver had their first soccer game of the season.

Each team is divided into two teams of four or five and they play the other team on two fields that are side by side. At one point, Miles and Oliver’s team included the two of them and a set of identical twins. It was pretty funny to see.

Their team won by a lot. Like, a lot a lot. I was trying to explain that yelling out the number every time their team got a goal wasn’t exactly sportsmanlike. George wasn’t helping, as he cackled every time their team scored. Sigh.

Linus enjoyed watching the game, but of course, as I could have predicted, said he wanted to play now. OF COURSE. After asking him a million times. So next week, expect to see him in similar photos.

Pokémon enabler

The boys sweet-talked Grandee into buying them Pokémon books and cards. At least they’re reading something.