Wednesday, May 20, 2009

BIRTHDAYS, GRADUATIONS, RECITALS... OH MY! I MEAN....OH MAY!!!!

Wonder what the Melton's have been up to here lately?? Well, I'll tell ya! TOTAL CRAZY BUSY! That's right. That sums it up pretty well. I don't remember May being quite this out of control but I have since been informed that for the next 10 years I better just hang on for the wild ride. Or at least until my first born gets a drivers licence and that is still a good 8 years away.. ha! I used to celebrate a birthday in May but I got lost in the shuffle this year and that is fine by me...No seriously.. we've had lots going on and there for sure has not been much time to BLOG about it for heavan's sake. I'll be brief and try to do a quick rundown of snaps from various events that have taken place this past month.

First, we had Spring Fling or as many of my readers may remember at Pillow Academy.... the infamous May Day! Not much has changed except there is no longer the May Day Court or the May Day pole! Just relays, games and food now exist.
Here is a picture of Floyd and his "High School" coach. Floyd took first place in the 50 and 100 dashes! A future sprinter perhaps???

Here we have Floyd and his buddies, Lake and Sunjay, after their races.



After an action packed morning at Pillow we headed to Greenville to celebrate my Aunt Craig's 60th birthday party. Everyone had a great time! Cary threw a super party and I think some of Craig's teacher friends partied into the weee hours. A good time was had by all.
Here is a picture of Craig and one of her oldest friends, Beth Stuckey and her husband, Eddie.


The Cake!


The Caterer, Jo Harris, whom we watch on Good Morning Mississippi in the mornings and Anne Craig


Gooddaddy really enjoyed himself too! (Do you think he's being hit on?? haha)


From birthday celebrations we roll on to gymnastic and dance recitals. Anne Craig took both this year from TWO different companies sooooo naturally we have a recital for each. Honestly, she really does love gymnastics best, although (bless her heart)she inherits little to no gymnastic ability from either side of her parents. Let's only hope Aunt Lisa and May May can tutor her when at all possible. BUT, one should never underestimate Anne Craigie that is for sure. She'll catch on I'm sure if she so chooses. She did great, performed her little heart out and made us proud!
Here she is right before the gym recital and believe it or not her hair is french braided! Do you think she has our legs Papa Cham?? They seem to look distinctly familiar!


With Moms before dance recital.


Ham pose please!


With Moms and Annie


Side shot.. with Me and Craig with our little Dancing Queen!


From Boogie Nights we moved on to piano recitals! Floyd started taking lessons in late January from Janice Shanks and truly LOVES it to which we are thrilled. I have inherited (thanks Annie!) my Great Grandmother's gorgeous Steinway that he hopefully can grow up passionately playing on.. OH and just yesterday he received the Music Award at Award's Day (along with the Presidential Physical Fitness Award). Who said you can't be both athletic and musical? No one right! OH funny comment that Floyd said yesterday..."Mama, do you think I can scratch out Barack Obama's name and write in John McCains?"... Ahhhhh... I really could not respond to that except to say NO, let's not mess up the certificate Buddy!

*romantic footnote regarding the piano*
My Great Grandfather, William Lorraine Craig gave my Great Grandmother, Anne Louise Hamilton Craig, the Steinway pianola (it used to be a pianola) for an anniversary gift... he bought it off of a Riverboat. Isn't that romantic?? You don't hear stories like that often....I guess that occured in the 1920's!

*another footnote I need to add here*
To tie the generations full circle....Floyd's piano recital took place in the Craig Performing Arts Center at Pillow which just happens to be named for my Great Grandparents! Yes, the ones whose piano we enjoy every day! I'm sure Grandmother Craig would be thrilled that Floyd is taking piano so that he can perform on her piano and to boot in the building named for her! Kinda neat....

OK, back to piano recital. Floyd played Old McDonald. Mrs. Shanks had her students "dress the part". He did a beautiful job and had great stage presence! I hope he continues piano for many years.
Floyd and Mrs. Shanks


Floyd with buddies, Cole and Conner, after the recital!



And last but not least we have Anne Craig's Kindergarten Graduation... I can't help but admit that I did get a little teary eyed at the event. I mean seriously, my baby is growing up so fast. I'm afraid we'll blink and we'll be blogging about High School graduation...what a ride... sit back and enjoy right??

Not sure why we took pictures after she took off her graduation cap and tassel! Oh well.

A picture of her class handprints that they made into a quilt that was to be auctioned off at the end of school County Fair Celebration.


Well, that about sums up the first half of May... stay tuned for the rest....Happy Summer Everyone!!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Nashville Half-Marathon



I recently ran in the Nashville Half Marathon with my good friends Anna Tyner and John Stewart. We all trained really hard and had a good overall experience. All 3 of us have run half marathons before but this was mine and John's 3rd one in a row... well, in 12 wks intervals that is. As I sit to write this post I am tired and thus trying to rest. The race was on Sat. April 25 but somewhere around Easter my left knee started to bother me some as I ran. I have since recently discovered that I have a slight illiotibular (IT) band issue. Nothing serious and very fixable with correct stretches and strength training. Needless to say I hope to be pounding the streets of Greenwood again soon. The weather was great in Nashville and we stayed with my sister in law, Blewett, who is the hostess with the mostess no doubt. The kids had a great time too. However.... running with 30,000 other runners was new to me for sure and a different race experience entirely. There were some "hilly" areas to contend with that are hard to train for in the Delta flatlands of our dwellings but we managed just the same. I am proud of our accomplishment of completion for sure. Will we return for 2010?? Verdict still out for me. I hope to stick to 5 and 10K races myself. It simply fits my lifestyle better but we'll see. I do love to run and for that I am grateful. I just hope my body keeps up and allows me to continue. And as Anna says, "Life is Good"!! I am turning to page
"37" today in my life and have lots for wonderful family, friends and blessings to be thankful for. Life sho' is GOOD!