Heart Attack Noles

Oh Man! What a game. I bleed Garnet & Gold and am normally very optimistic but that game had me more nervous that my wedding day (and I had to medicate myself to get down the aisle) and gave me about 50 new gray hairs. 

Yesterday started out warm and got colder as the day went on. JJ had a fire in our fireplace and I was bundled up on the couch under my FSU blanket by 1 pm. 

The kids were on fire all day long. H was so excited and ran around the house yelling "Go Seminoles!" even though he wasn't going to be awake for any of the game. 

We realized yesterday, thanks to the cold weather, that our kids were really lacking in the late winter FSU apparel department. Well, H is just lacking in the FSU apparel department period. A has a new FSU shirts and onsies but poor H only has 1 FSU shirt that gets worn A LOT during football season. We plan to remedy this during the off season so that our kids are overly prepared for football season next year. 

Doesn't little A look so good in a hat? We are going to have to start buying her more hats!

The first half was killer. We looked awful and just could not get in a rhythm to save our lives. We made costly mistakes and our touted secondary was leaving Auburn guys open all night long. We were lucky we weren't down by more than 18.  My blood pressure was up so high that I visibly had more color in my face. I wish I had snapped a picture because I actually looked really good. A nice flush in the checks. This is something that I have yet to master and recreate with makeup.

I applaud Jimbo for calling the  fake punt. Momentum was not swinging our way and our guys needed to get hyped. I really think that was THE turning point of the game. If we had punted and given Auburn the ball, we probably would have gone into the half down 28-3. That is a tough deficit to overcome. 

The second half was MUCH more enjoyable to watch (in fact, I have already watched the second half twice more this morning).  Offense made some adjustments and were actually able to move the ball which gave the defense a much needed rest. 

The last 4:42 of the game really almost gave me a heart attack.  Having 3 lead changes and 24 points scored in the last 5 minutes of the game is crazy. I didn't think we would pull it out. I had lost faith but I am sure glad that our boys didn't. They fought hard and overcame the biggest deficit in BCS history to win the game. 

 

I will say that I disagree with the defensive MVP of the game. PJ William played great and the interception was exactly what we needed when we needed it but I think Timmy Jernigan played his heart out and single handedly kept Auburn from running up the middle on us. The poor guy was playing with the flu, that's right, the flu and had a crazy impact on our D.

Ok. Before I end this post I am going to go on a slight rant. I have been so annoyed this week (well the past month) listening to people talk about how great the SEC is.  There are good teams in the SEC but there are some bad ones. HELLO... UF went 4-8 with a losing season for the first time since like '79. Yes, in the best the SEC has had the best team in the nation but this was a new season with completely different teams. The SEC is top heavy. They have some great teams at the top and then it falls off.  So, I am annoyed by all this SEC hoopla and then today I turned on the TV and "The Herd" was on ESPN. I listened for maybe 3 minutes and this guy was completely trashing FSU. He said that this game didn't show that the SEC sucked (Which I have yet to actually hear someone say) but that the ACC was just this awful.  That FSU didn't deserve to be in the game because if they had been in the SEC they would have had a losing record. Excuse me?!?!?! The ACC might not be the best conference (no one is claiming they are), but we killed everyone in the ACC. We deserved to be in that game and proved it. It wasn't pretty and we could have played better but I have to say: Auburn played a great game. They made very few mistakes. FSU looked awful in the first half. In my opinion we didn't even step on the field to play until the second half. All that being said, Auburn played great and we played not great and we won the game. Imagine what the game would have looked like if Winston and the receivers had been playing lights out the whole game. Suck on that SEC. I just want people to stop saying that we would do nothing against the SEC and that we suck. If we suck, then the SEC sucks because we just beat the SEC champs. Team of Destiny? Team of Destiny to Dominate! Ok. End rant!

I am proud of our boys. FSU won the first BCS National Championship and the last. That is pretty cool to be able to say.  I am proud of our boys and proud to be a 3rd generation FSU graduate.  GOOOO NOLES!!!!

This past weekend

This past weekend was a pretty typical/normal weekend. Nothing truly awful happened but nothing exciting happened. 

Friday was bad day. 

This is how H & I both felt on Friday.

H was an extremely defiant 2 year old. He was in the mood to test boundaries and see if I would follow through with my threatened punishments. I have to note that even on H's bad days, he isn't really bad. JJ and I have lucked out with a very sweet, gentle and kind boy so when he is bad it doesn't fit with his personality and I honestly don't know how to handle it. His bad day consisted of climbing up on windowsills after we repeatedly told him not to, taking a toy away from A and tearing the dust-jacket off 2 fairly old book. By the time that JJ came home, I was mentally done. We ate dinner as a family and put the kids to bed. JJ poured us both a glass of red wine and after talking for a little bit I went to the room for some alone time. I ended up just sitting in the quiet listening to the Carole King Pandora station. This helped me calm down and get to sleep. It was a nice, relaxing ending to a stressful day. 

My beloved Seminoles lost in the super-regionals. We just couldn't get our act together. We looked awful!  We had a great team and JJ & I were sure they were going to the College World Series. Alas, we were very wrong.  We only lost 3 games at home all season and then in the post season lost 2 in 1 weekend. I want to call the loss a heartbreaker but it really wasn't. We were sloppy and weren't able to hit the ball well. Indiana deserved to win.

A is really starting to come into her owna nd making us fall more and more in love with her. She truly babbled for the first time on Sunday. She was bouncing in her seat above and just started looking around saying "Dadadadada" like a champ. JJ was out golfing so he didn't get to hear it but always love that our kids say Daddy before Mama. A has also taken to wrapping her left arm around my neck and grabbing the hair at the base of my neck when she is tired and I am walking her to bed. She will then bury her head in my neck.  It melts my heart every time and I am going to miss it when she stops doing that. 

I hope that everyone had an uneventful weekend as well and that you are having a great Tuesday!

KK

Henny

I had the pleasure of taking the kids to see my paternal grandmother, Henny. More on that later.

Henny at our wedding

She was born Mary Elizabeth McIntosh in Alabama in 1925 but became known as Henny some time after 1982. She wanted her Grandmother name to be "Grandma Hen" but my sister couldn't say Grandma Hen so she became "Henny". I feel that Henny is the PERFECT name for her. She creates a loving environment for all who come into her life and really is a mother hen.  

Henny & Gramps (my Grandfather who passed away in 2005) lived in Tallahassee. Henny still lives there in this amazing retirement community (more on that later). I saw Henny & Gramps a lot growing up (especially in the fall) when we would go over for Florida State Football games. Visiting Henny is and was always and adventure. Her house always seemed like a mansion to me (huge, mysterious and full of secrets). I was always sure that I would find a secret passageway some day. I never did.

Henny is an amazing woman. She was a Kappa Kappa Gamma at Florida State University. It actually didn't become known as Florida State University until her Senior year when the name was changed from Florida State College for Women to Florida State University to reflect the change of allowing admitting me to the University. She actually has both college names on her diploma. She worked in Social Services for a long time even after she was married. She met Gramps at a wedding and didn't get married until she was 25 years old. They didn't have their first son (my Dad, Craig) until she was 30. By today's standards, that is completely normal, but back then, it was not. 

After she had both of her sons and they were in school, she choose to go back to school and become a nurse. She worked as a nurse until she retired. It amazes me that she had the strength to not only take care of her family, but to be the oldest woman in her class and take on a new career. 

I know that Henny is not perfect but to me she is the epitome of classy and really what I hope to be as a grandmother. Henny is always loving, always put together and the consummate hostess. 

One of my favorite things about Henny is that if someone mentions once that they like something, she will have is made for them whenever they show up. Another things is cuddling with her. I am 30 and still cuddle with my grandmother when I am sad or need a hug. It was good that she lived in Tallahassee while i was in school at FSU because there were many times where I would come over and cuddle on her lap. 

Henny is a wealth of knowledge and remembers amazing details. Now that I am staying home with my kids, I plan to visit her more and use this blog to write down and keep track of her memories. 

I know that this is a jumbled mess but there is so much I could write about Henny.   I learned a lot about Henny on my trip to visit her so I know that I will be writing more later. 

Henny with H the day after he was born

Henny with A during Christmas

Have a great day!

KK