Rowdy Mowrer, ladies and gents; wet tailgate

Better than Christmas. On Thursday afternoon I got the news that Jenny and Matt welcomed their second baby into the world. After work, I made a beeline to Fort 'Nanders Hospital to meet the gentleman for myself. He did not disappoint.

psst! i'm the one gonna buy you beer and smokes when you're underage! shhh!

proud mama of two, mrs. jenny mowrer

proud papa of the next great race car legend, rowdy mowrer. ladies, watchout; and daddies, keep an eye on your girls. that's all i'm sayin'.

What happened next was a complete surprise. I didn't intend and FAR BE IT FROM ME to interrupt a private family moment, but Lottie Sue arrived to meet her Baby Brother for the first time. Um. I'd be lying if I didn't say I cried a little. Ok, that's a lie. I cried a lot. Um... crying now. DANGIT!!

i gotta whatawho in here?

say whatagain?

it clicks...

um, look how excited she is. ugh. i need tissues rightaboutnow...

time to give him his first smooch from his big sister (i hope not his last once she gets the 411 that all her toys are now sharable property)

gimme! gimme! gimme!

and a MMMM-WAH!!!!

Love at first sight. Sigh. For all involved. Adorable to the power of infinity. Loved it and feel special that I got to Ansel Adams up the whole shin dig. Hope the pics don't suck.

Jenny and Matt, as myself and Mr. Smith, are fans of the TV show Mad Men. If you haven't watched, how dare you. Please leave this blog and go Netflix the first season, then we'll talk about you coming back to view the rest of my post. Anywho, Jenny and Matt got the idea from one of the last episodes to have new Baby Brother Rowdy "bring" Lottie Sue a present when he arrives, and Rowdy does not disappoint. He brings her a gift!

obviously, mattie and jen didn't see the end of that episode or they might not have provided said gift from rowdy. fortunately, all ended up better in real life than on madison avenue circa 1962, howevs....

lottie practices holding her baby (gift from baby brother rowdy) whilst BB holds baby brother rowdy... wait. i'm confused, and i was there....

It was a great day. GREAT DAY. So happy to meet Mr. William Rowdy Mowrer!

Next, random pic:

i got work back from my boss that said "Megan - thanks! Excellent work!" and i was so proud and excited i took it home to show tommy. it's hanging on my fridge right now. if you don't believe me, come over and check it out. it's true. TWO EXCLAMATION POINTS, ya'll.

NEXT, next: it rained cats all week. See?

meow! meow! meow!

But, hold the phone a sec! It's football season and time to tailgate! But... but... it's raining! We can't go out in the rain!

Say whaaa?

Folks, its football time in Tee-E, double ehn, E, double ess, double E, tennessee. Suck it up. It's like Mardi Gras, but with the awesome exception of being every Saturday in the fall. Learn to love the lightening in the bottle.

Oh wait a sec.... I DO.

the soggy band. they don't mind the weather and neither do i. i'm waterproof!

soggy smokey!

i dressed to get totally soaking wet, but lo and behold, the wettest i got was when i got a beer sloshed all on me at the tailgate, see? huh. go figure. i look tough rocking the bandana look, don't i?

aw heck! who cares about silly ole spilled beer! none of us! WAIT. wha? Wha? isn't that mattie mattie matt matt, father of a two-day-year old? with a wife and child still on the maternity floor in the hospital? the hospital four blocks away? with a football game commencing in less than two hours within that aforementioned four block vicinity? oh wait, what? you say she's asleep? and rowdy's napping too? AW-RIGHT! let's roll.

And we do.

matt and tommy bravely face the elements in their $6 ponchos (seriously, $6. dangit, officially licensed gear!)

i work the wet look without a poncho. bandanas, ya'll... look into it. seriously, the cheerleaders/dance team/pom squad all wore HATS with their ponytails pulled through the back WITH a bow. Originality, kids? C'mon... bandanas are where it's AT. plus, no blocking the peripheral vision! i'd think that'd be important!

Next, I stand on my head in the stadium and take a picture!!

ha ha ha, no i don't! but this is what it would look like if it did! this says "vols"

All right, editorial interlude: I'm walking with Matt and Tommy at the tailgate party and Matt says, covertly, "Be an ambassador!"

To which I reply, "Huh?"

He then points out some people wearing green who just passed us, so I did some quick inventory of them, their gear, and came up with this computation:

DATA SAYS: OTHER TEAM.

So I shout out (of course): "Welcome to Knoxville!"

And they are pleased to be greeted, but I am perplexed. Welcoming the other team's fans is a hallmark of my UT Volunteerism (I even clap loudly when the other team takes the field, no matter HOW LOUDLY anyone else around me boos) so it takes me a minute to figure out why I haven't been actively greeting the opposing fans.

Ahem. It's a little embarrassing.

Someone in their PR department should have said something to them about this coordination with a game at UTK. Um... well, I'm just going to say it. The UT ushers in the Neyland stadium wear green. All of them. As in, I'm so conditioned to walk to the person in green to seek info whilst at a game, I asked a random someone (wearing green! wearing green!) where the food was being sold at last spring's exhibition orange and white game.

He was not amused.

Ohio University's colors? Usher Green.

I thought those fans were ushers! I didn't understand!!!

To further add to the complexity of the anomaly that is this "Ohio University"...

they have three cheerleaders. and three male cheerleaders. so... they essentially have... three. cheerleaders. i truly don't understand this phenomena.

Allow me to put this into perspective. At UTK, we have THREE SQUADS who take the field regularly each home game. They are of the Dance/Cheer/Lady Vol variety, but I assure you - every corner of the stadium is covered in scantily-clad, peppy co-eds; their male counter-parts; Smokey Dogs (of the real, fake, and baby-fake {NOT. KIDDING}) variety; and you show up in K-ville with THREE representing on the OU-town team?

Really?

Because, I'm throwing it atcha. Here's all you got:

"let's go cats," or "go team go," or "sack that quarterback" is about all you got in the armory. can you tell me where my is seat, please?

And for the record - no mascot! NONE! Ya'll know my love for Big Red the Mountaintopper (and Smokey, I guess {what have you done for me lately}) but seriously? You're going to come to the UTK sans mascot when your mascot is a BOBCAT? No joke, I think I can go to Party City right now and get a bobcat costume. No love? Can't go because of grades? SEC or NCAA rules?

GASP.

Oh dear.

Swine flu?

Dear me; give me names and addresses and I'll write get well cards.

i went to the potty leaving the stadium and found this. george dickel, in the house, representin' ladies and gents!

Lastly, we were fortunate enough to have Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Warmbrod and their chillens bunk up with us last night and we all had such a good time with the visit! Mr. Smith and I have a very small house so we welcomed into our guest room with a placard:

they were very good sports about all having to sleep in one room

Additionally, today I got a Karma-esque "taken to task."

Growing up, my mother (as a mother of a rambunctious child... ahem) would often corral me before entering someplace and admonish, "Megan, please calm down. {Enter Name Here} is not used to children and would appreciate you being quiet." I don't know if I calmed down or not, I just remembered being admonished. MAMA. (kidding!)

The Warmbrods brought their sons, Blaine and Drew. Both boys are sweet,well-spoken, kind and minded us both well. Drew is two, and he flails a bit when he gets to know you and is asking questions about you but! I bruise easily! He flails, feet and hands - UNPREDICTABLE.

End result: I started whimpering when he would get near. He flails! IS THAT BAD? (it's probably bad on my part, but he is the definition of Whirling Dervish.)

Apparently, whimpering when children approach qualifies you as "not used to children." I think the Warmbrods had to have that conversation with Blaine and Drew on the way home. Sigh. DANGIT. If there are lessons, I'll take them!

Do I owe your children therapy sessions? I'll make good, I'll make good!!

Thank you, Warmbrods! MWAH!!