Tournament Winn-ah!

My name is Fep, and you know what I got? {What do you got?}

I got a team that is hotter than hot. {How hot is that?}

Base hits and home runs, too. {Da-na-na-na}.

So, hit that ball like "Brie" can do.

"Brie" is a girl on Fep's team. And yes, our girls won their tournament, and they cheer much of the time they spend in the dugout saying cheers like the above. I know the English in it is atrocious. Fep and another girl, Destiny, just refuse to cheer with the other girls. Their introverted self's just won't let them. So, the other girls on the team say the cheers for them. As in they say the one I put above above as if they were Fep or Destiny (My name is Destiny, and you know what I got...). I find the cheers quite cute, and the girls make me giggle....a lot. Also, that cheer above, well, it gets in my head. I've been going around all night saying the first two lines. And every now and then I like to throw in dance moves as I say it. It's reeeeeeally on Fep's nerves. Really bad. She's begging me to quit, but I can't. I love torturing my children that way. MUWHA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

Captured

After a stressful start to the week, I find myself drawn to these images. Images of simple pleasures. Images of a little boy without a care in the world. His only care is thinking about all of the cool bugs that can be caught....

And catch them, he does...

And with these images, I find that the day's stress seems to fade at his delights. It fades at his simple pleasures. I find my joy at simply watching him. And I find that it's not only bugs he's captured but also my heart...

Great Words

A couple of times already, I've shared some of my favorite quotes. This quote is my all time favorite line from a movie. It comes from Forrest Gump. And no, it's not about Bubba Gump Shrimp or "Run Forrest, run!" Remember his childhood friend, Jenny? Remember how he absolutely adored her? This line was said during a scene in which Jenny was giving him all her reasons for not being able to stay with him. I think it sums up what the need of every single human heart is.

"I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is."
~Forrest Gump

Yes. We all know and need.......love.

Changes

Well, Moose changed his birthday outfit. I think he had to out of necessity. The "birthday shirt" was the only clean shirt he had. But as soon as I got the laundry caught up, he put this ensemble together....

He's added a ball cap to the outfit. I think I like the new shirt he's picked out better...

I think it's fitting to wear a Happy Shirt on your birthday. Notice he still has the sticky note "birthday cloths" on them. What's even funnier is that while I'm typing and posting this, exactly right now while I'm doing it (and he didn't even know), I heard him tell his dad, "It's only 17 more days until my birthday. I already have my clothes picked out." That boy. That boy ;)

Remembering Beth

I have been linking up with Emily's Tuesday's Unwrapped for the last couple of weeks. I've gone back and forth wondering if this should be linked. I decided I'm linking it. One, it is Tuesday, and today is a very important day to me. Two, does everything linked have to be all happy? It can be bittersweet, can't it?

On May 12, 2003, my daughter Beth was born. I was 24-25 weeks pregnant, and I knew when I gave birth to her that she was already gone. I've posted about her before here. Why is the loss of a child bittersweet? Well, I think that when Jesus finds you in your pain and brings you out of the unthinkable, then yes, it becomes bittersweet. I would give anything to have Beth back, but I would not take anything for what the Lord taught me in her passing.

I wanted to post this to make sure she is remembered. I don't get by her grave site as often as I should. Honestly, I'm embarrassed at how long it's been. Fep keeps reminding me that we haven't put flowers there in a long time. I may not get by her grave as I should, but I'll never ever forget. She would have been 6 years old this year. Happy Birthday, Beth!

Elizabeth Reagan Stewart

May 12, 2003

Motivate Me Monday...

I don't usually link up with Motivate Me Monday, but this week the list maker in me just wouldn't let me miss it. Yes, I am a list maker. I love making to do lists and I love making schedules. The problem is that for the past year or so, I have a lot of trouble implementing them. I used to be able to make a schedule for the season of life I was in and seem to follow it to a "T". I just really don't know what has happened? Am I just looking back at life with "rose colored glasses" OR have I become, dare I say it, lazy in the running of my day? I'm still trying to figure that out. I will say that despite my inability as of late in keeping things running like clockwork, I still manage to get everything done on my weekly to do list. The house gets cleaned, groceries get bought, etc., etc. etc. Here are my two lists that I copied and pasted from Microsoft Word in my computer:

The Daily Schedule:
(6 AM) Morning Routine:
Coffee time & computer (30 min.)
Start laundry
Quiet Time
Shower & Dress
Wake Children
Breakfast & chores
Start School (9:30)

(12 – 12:40)Afternoon/Evening:
Lunch & Break
(1:30-2) Finish School
(2:30-3:00) School done/Chores/Free
4:15 Exercise
5:00 Fix supper and children chores
7:00 Supper, clean kitchen, final house tidy, make next day's to do's


Daily Chores: Other things for Saturday:
Super Tidy clean fridge
laundry organize? a closet, a drawer, etc.
project?

Weekly To Do's:
Change sheets, Office Work, Fep's Violin, Cleaning, Groceries, Errands

When I look at the above, it all looks so simple. I might add that I homeschool and work part-time for my husband's/our plumbing business. So when you see "office work" that's a lot more than just our personal budget and bill paying. And those are my excuses. Everyone has things in their life that keeps the extra busy. Like Sarah Mae has toddlers and a newborn right now. She's sleep deprived. So as I've said, I am really struggling with everything right now. For example, that daily schedule says that I should have gotten up at 6:00, but I didn't get up until 8:30. Tired from all that Mother's Day love. Most everything on that daily schedule will get done, it just won't flow as smoothly as I'd like because I got up late :( So, I guess I'm off to get caught up on my day! I'm feeling pretty motivated now ;)

Linked at Sarah Mae's:

Do ya think he's just a little excited?

Moose has a birthday at the end of this month, and he will turn 8 years old. I walked in his room the other day, and this is what I saw in the floor...

So, I called him in his room and had a coversation something sort of like this:

Me: Moose. Why are the clothes in your floor?

Moose: That's what I'm going to wear on my birthday.

Me: Ummmmm? Your birthday isn't until the end of the month. You still have 25 more days.

Moose: I knoooow! (excitement in his voice that it's getting closer)

Me: Okay. I guess you can leave them there.

I just hated to kill his excitement, ya know? I don't know if you noticed, but there's a white sticky note on them.....

Yep. He's just a little excited. And I have no idea how he determined that this would be THE outfit. I really wonder about that.........

Stormy

It's 4:00 in the morning, and I've been up Storm Chasing, as The Bob likes to call it. I must admit that one of my weaknesses is being too fearful of thunderstorms. Our weather radio started going off between 2:00 and 2:30 with thunderstorm and tornado warnings. Being that I have my priorities straight, I got up to check the weather online with the National Weather Service and then I visited blogland. Again, I have my priorities. I did check the track of the tornado warning first. About 3:00, my county was under a tornado warning, so I got up The Bob and the children. We have a storm cellar, and being that I am on the overly fearful side when it comes to storms, it doesn't take much to get me down there. The Bob wants to see the tornado with his own eyes before he goes to the cellar. Sure enough, The Bob went back to bed and the children and I hit the cellar. Needless to say, there was no tornado. False alarm. Here is some of the conversation snippets that we had while down there:

"Mom, look at Moose's eye. It's red. Does he have pink eye?"

"Don't touch me. You'll give me pink eye."

"(children laughing hysterically) Let's pretend....."

"Has Aunt Heathahlee ever told you the story about Uncle "M" wearing his hard hat in a hail storm?" (me giggling) And yes, Heathahlee, that still makes me giggle after all these years.

"Do you see that cockroach?" (In which I thought of Daisy and this post.)

"Where DID that cockroach go?"

"(yelling)It's behind my head!" It's been a while since we've been in the storm cellar, and it needs to be cleaned. My first thought at entering the cellar was if the tornado didn't get us the spiders would.....

And finally.......

"Can we go yet?"

Yeah. I think the cockroach did them in. So, now that I'm good and awake, I'm off to bed.

Did someone mention giveaway?

I have nothing to give. I'm cheap that way. But I can direct you to people who are having giveaways:

Heathahlee, who just happen to be my best buddy, is giving away a tassel. A BIRD tassel. Love the birds. She's celebrating her blogiversary. So, give her some comment love and get your chance to win. What shows love in blog world more than leaving someone a comment? Enter here.You only have today left to enter!

Missy at Southern Queen Bee. Another tassel and she's celebrating her ability to take over her sister's blog. Enter here.

Kimba at A Soft Place to Land. Amazing dishes. Not a whole set, but just a piece, I think. Anyway, they're really cute. Enter here.

Star Wars + Legos = Spelling Test

I've mentioned as of late that I'm so ready for this school year to be done! At this point, it doesn't take much to humor or amuse me. We use A Reason for Spelling for our spelling curriculum, and at the end of the week, we play a little game where you move from start and hopefully end up at the finish line after spelling each word correctly. On Friday, Moose and I were sitting down to play our little spelling game, and I said, "Moose, you need to get a pencil or color or something to mark off your spaces." Then I see this....

"Spell the word right and no one gets hurt."

He had it under control. Because really, what says spelling test more than a Star Wars Legos Action Figure???

This post is linked at:

Emily's Tuesdays Unwrapped