Play Ball!

Today marked the beginning of the Spring Season for Sam's t-ball team. It was "Opening Day." Wow - it's a big deal to them. They had a huge parade from McAulliffe Elementary to the ballpark, with festivities on the field. Pictures at 2:00pm and a game at 3:00pm. It was a full day to say the least. This is Sam's second season playing for the Red Sox, and he really enjoys it. He's a good head taller than the other boys on his team. I just look at him and wonder how quickly the rest of his "school years" will pass. It all whirls by me.

A few days ago, Sam and I had a date night at Starbucks. He had a hot chocolate and I had an Awake tea. We shared pumpkin loaf. Yum. I love these special dates with Sam. He tends to open up his heart in the most innocent ways, and share his thoughts with me. One little insight he shared was this: "You know mommy, Jesus has about this much of my heart." (He moves his hand over about 3/4 of the area of his heart.) "But the devil still has this much." (He motions over the remaining bit). I truly do forget what I said or what he said directly after this. I was moved. The battle for our children's hearts, minds, souls, attentions and affections is ferocious. Oh Lord, walk with him. I am so blessed to be the mommy of this precious, tenderhearted boy.

Easter Pics

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. I'm so thankful it didn't rain! We drove to Abilene on Thursday afternoon and stayed until Saturday afternoon. While there, we got haircuts (the boys went to PaDaddy's barber as usual), saw "Horton hears a who!," and took fun Easter pictures in front of an old church I once sang at.

On Sunday, after church, we drove to my mom's for lunch, easter egg hunt and bunny cake making. The funniest thing heard: We were sitting at the dinner table at my mom's and telling her about the Horton movie. Scott and I were trying to remember what Horton says. So we said aloud, "I said what I meant, and I meant what I said." Now, what's the rest of it? How does it go? And Sam said, "No mom, it goes like this...I said what I meant and I meant what I said, I don't play cards with that guy I work with." Oh my word, we rolled in the floor laughing. He was totally serious about it too. Where does he come up with these things?

Anyway, here are some pictures Scott took in front of the old church in Abilene. We had such fun trying to get all 3 kids to kneel and pray...Ian is the consummate "class clown" and always keeps us laughing. Enjoy!

Hope you had a blessed Easter with your families!

The Other Boleyn Girl

After reading this book last year, I've been anxiously awaiting the release of the film. I had such fun recently, watching this great movie with Amy and Emily. Although the main thrust of the story is lust, infidelity, greed, and many other sinful things (as others have said, how can you write about Henry VIII and not include the scandal?), it does contain great history and beautiful costuming. And Scarlett Johannson was incredible! Whoever would have thought she could have pulled it off? I believe she even outperformed Natalie Portman. If you're looking for a good movie...definitely check it out! Better yet, read the book first by Philippa Gregory, then see the movie.

A Message from John Cleese (British comedian)

(I, Elizabeth, took this from a blog I frequent: London's Girl. Read it to the end; so funny!)

To: The citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy).

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:


1. You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise . Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as 'like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell- checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using > guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. Holden Monaro's are also approved.

8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try Rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.

14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America . Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.
You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

16. An internal revenue agent (i .e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

God save the Queen. Only S/He can.

John Cleese

La Mia Principessa

Waiting to sleep....my princess

A Book Meme

I still don't know what a Meme is (anyone care to enlighten me?), but fun Amanda tagged me for this one. So here goes!

Here's how she explains the rules: "Look up from the computer, look around the room where you're sitting and pick up the closest book. And closest really means closest. No cheating by running upstairs to unearth your pink-highlighted college copy of The Critique of Pure Reason or the Prolegomena. Open the book, turn to page 123, count down to the fifth sentence on that page, and then post the next three sentences."

Well, I happen to have a stack of books next to my computer, so I just chose the one on top. I guess it counts. It's a bible study book. The one below that is a bible study book too. Then a book of poetry. Then several children's books. So there you go. :-) This is from a Bible Study I'm about to start: Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer. You know whats funny? Page 123 is totally the leaders guide...directions for leading the group. So much for getting to be super spiritual! ha!

1. Have paper and pens or pencils available for use during the session.

2. Preview video session 1.

3. Look through the entire book to familiarize yourself with the content and Bible-study method.


Oh my word, that's just too funny! Okay, so I tag:

Amy
Jenny
Addi

Moments Captured

My hubby has really been honing his craft lately. I'm so proud of his artistic growth, his ability to see things from a different angle, and his willingness to try new things! I have to share some of his latest pictures with you here. For more pictures, click on "Scott's Pictures" to the right. Enjoy! :-)

Dramatic Marianne

Take the Quiz here!

"You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a bit too brutally honest. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately."

Well, I took this quiz after reading Amy's site, and I'm somewhat surprised by the outcome. Some of the questions were difficult, and a bit hard to apply to my own life. What do you think? Are we alike?