I can say a lot in six words.

Carrie from The Gremlin Wrangler tagged me.

In the tag, you write your memoir in six words or a title or something like that. This is tough, and I could go so many different directions with this...

The Virgin Mary I am not.

(Despite the picture below.)

Carrie is also hosting a giveaway where she will be giving away one custom portrait in pencil of a loved one of yours. So, go check out her blog post and see the details to enter this contest!

Interview with a 4-year-old.

This is Princess Dorothy (because she loves dressing up like a princess and she loves dressing up like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz). She just turned 4 years old, and this interview was very challenging.


Let's start out easy. What's your favorite food?
Chicken nuggets. french fries. hair. earrings. (Ok, Princess Dorothy, you're being silly.)

What's your favorite thing to do with friends?
Dress up. And, putting cell phones on our faces (Princess Dorothy, you don't put cell phones on your faces.) Yes, we do. (Ok, then, next question.)

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Sleeping Beauty. (hehe) Or a chef. (I had no idea she even knew the word chef or what it meant!)

What's your favorite TV show?
Ni Hao, Kai-lan and Backyardigans. These are both shows on Nick Jr. that I have watched oer and over and over again with her. I could sing the theme songs no problem.) Look Miss Rhea, I'm upside down! (Princess Dorothy, please be careful!)

What's your favorite thing to do with your family?
Painting pictures. Miss Rhea, I'm hanging upside down!

You are sad when?
Bugs. I don't like bugs, Miss Rhea.

You are happy when?
When I get flowers...(she grins mischieviously)...and when I get a bear. (A bear? Why a bear?) Because they growl. (ok. Of course...)

If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?
Purple. Lions, tigers and bears. (Ok, I think this interview is over.)

Miss Rhea, will you be tickle monster again?

Interview with a 6-year-old.

Let's start out easy. What's your favorite food?
Pizza, hamburgers, ice cream, and Ketchup (yes, he will eat ketchup straigt from the bottle or individ. packet)

What's your favorite thing to do with friends?
Play outside, play tag & make up new games to play.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Make Pokemon movies.

What's your favorite TV show?
Pokemon

What's your favorite thing to do with your family?
Eat dinner and play card games.

What's something you would like to do with your family?
Play video games, go swimming.

You are sad when?
People are hurting me. (By "people" I think he means his big brother, who rarely ever hurts him on purpose...)

You are happy when?
When I'm playing video games, sports and with my friends.

If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?
To have wings and fly, to be invisible and to meet an alien.

What does your mom want you to do?
Brush my teeth and sleep in my own bed.

What was your scariest dream?
When I was trapped by aliens (yet he wants to meet one...)

If you were handed a million dollars today, what would you do with it?
Buy 7 houses. (Why, 7 Remy?) To sleep in a different one each night. (Oh, of course. lol)

This was a small glimpse into the mind of a genius six-year-old. Yesterday's interview was with an 11-year-old and coming tomorrow....interview with a 4-year-old!

Interview with an 11-year-old.

Let's start out easy. What's your favorite food?
Chicken 'n dumplings, pizza and steak.

What's your favorite thing to do with friends?
Joke around.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
An inventor.

What's your favorite TV show?
Future Weapons, Life with Derek and Home Improvement.

What's your favorite thing to do with your family?
Have a family night (where we go out to eat and then to the movies or bowling or something like that),

What's something you would like to do with your family?
Swim with dolphins or some outside activity.

You are sad when?
When somebody kind gets hurt.

You are happy when?
When I'm playing and having fun, and when there is no fighting.

If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?
I would wish for immortality (to end whenever I wished), wings and to be able to breathe in outer Space.

What does your mom want you to do?
To get in good shape and get good grades.

What was your scariest dream?
My mom being chased by a stalker.

If you were handed a million dollars today, what would you do with it?
A new house, a maid, invest it to improve profits and donate the interest.

This was a small glimpse into the mind of a genius pre-teen. Coming tomorrow....interview with a 6-year-old! And, the day after that....interview with a 4-year-old!

The Bug & I at Camp Mystic

Every term that a campter completed at Camp Mystic, they received a tribe letter. I got a blue K that stood for Kiowa, and the Bug got a red T, which stood for Tonkawa.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read this post to understand.

Big Kitty

It's Sunday and time for Camera Critters meme. Feel free to join in!

Mystic Memories

As a child I spent many summers going to Camp Mystic in the Texas Hill Country. It was a very special place with lots of good memories. A private Christian girls camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River, it wasn't too far from the ranch we lived on.

Your first night at camp, you draw a slip of paper, which decides what tribe you will belong to for the rest of your camp-life. I drew a blue slip, proclaiming me a Kiowa. Bug, my little sister, ended up becoming a Tonkawa when she drew a red slip.

You stay in cabins according to your age, but you also visit your tribe hill once a week under the cloak of night, and the locations of the tribe hills was secret. There were lots of competitions and events centered around your tribe as well, which makes for a lot of good-hearted fun.

My favorite activities that I always signed up for each summer were archery, horseback riding, drama, dance, arts and crafts, soccer, nature study, campcraft, rifle shooting, and swimming, but there were even more than that available. I think horseback riding was my favorite.

Here is a picture of the Guadalupe River where we swam every day.



Some of the cabin names were Bubble Inn, Chatterbox, Tumble Inn I & II, Bug House, Look Out & Look Out Nest. Below is a picture of Hangover, the oldest girls' cabin, named for obvious reasons.



On Sundays we had chapel service on Chapel Hill, which no matter what your religious beliefs, it was a spiritual experience being up high on a hill early in the morning in the country. We also had to wear all white on Sunday.

All our meals were served family style in Harrison Hall, pictured below.



I have many wonderful memories from camp, although I experienced a lot of homesickness as well. Yes, I threatened to run away from camp in many letters home to my parents...I'm dramatic that way.

Here's your introduction to Camp Mystic. I'm sure I'll be blogging about my time there much more in the future. :o)

Potbelly pigs, Miss Goody Twoshoes, a scar, Latin, a shotgun and floating in bed.

6 Random Facts About Me

The Rules:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write 6 things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of the post by posting links to their blogsites.
5. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their site.
6. And let your tagger know when your entry is up.

I've been tagged by Giggle, the creator of the Adventures of Rat Girl to do this meme, so here we go!

1. I had a pot belly pig in when I was in high school. I really wanted a puppy, but for some reason my mom talked me into getting a pig. I resisted. She took me to see them. Once I saw their adorable little faces, I knew I was lost, and I had to get one. We adopted Kory.



He had a little harness we attatched to a leash, so he could go on walks. He loved to have his belly rubbed. He would sit for food, follow us for food, pretty much do anything for food. He also would have marathon peeing sessions...once on our couch!



Every night he slept in my bed, burrowing under the covers. He was sweet and adorable and a wonderful pet!


2. I have never smoked or tried illegal drugs of any kind. I have only drank alcohol a handful of times. In fact, this is the ONLY picture I can find of myself with a beer in my hand. This photo is from when I was seventeen and in Salamanca, Spain where the drinking age was more like 16, rather than 21. I was always the designated driver at parties in high school. I just don't like losing control, I think.


3. When I was 12, I ran through a sliding glass door in our pool house and cut open my right hand. I ended up severing three and half tendons, was rushed to the ER by my mom, and had to have surgery. I then had to wear a brace for a long time and go through physical therapy to get the use back of that hand. I had to write with my left hand for a while, which was a mess. However, the bright side is that when I did get full use of my right hand again, my handwriting was somehow a lot, lot nicer than before the accident. I still have a wavy scar that goes the entire width of my hand. It's faded now, but you can still see it.


4. I started taking Latin in fifth grade at my elementary school, and fell in love with it immediately. I took it in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade...and all of high school. (I also took Spanish during this time period) I even took some Latin in college. Now, I want to pass this along to my sons, so I am starting to teach them Latin at home with the Minimus books.

5. My dad taught me to shoot a gun when I was like 9 or 10. I've gone both deer hunting, quail hunting and skeet shooting with him. For those of you who don't know, skeet shooting is done on a practice range, where clay pidgeons (they don't look like birds though, just clay discs) come flying out and you try to shoot them. It's a fun way to practice!


6. Finally, growing up, I had a floatation bed. It's different from a water bed. It's less watery, because you have a mattress between you and the water part...so you just have a slight rocking/floating sensation, compared to a super mushy water bed. It was awesome. Our live-in used to rock me to bed at night by lightly pushing the bed...

So, there you go! Six random facts about me. I'm not sure who to tag...let's go with:

KP
Mama Bird
Tearese
Blondie
Jules
Valarie

And, if any of you don't want to do it, that's ok with me. I just feel obiligated to pass it along. :o) Enjoy!

Dragon skin, chore charts & baseball, oh my.

This morning, my 11 year old came to me and told me he had learned about the coolest thing. He has started watching Future Weapons, a Discovery Channel show about new technology. Dragon skin, a new type of body armor, has him awed and amazed. Here is a clip of a test dummy wearing the dragon skin and surviving a direct grenade explosion. Lovely, huh? Surely this isn't as bad as a violent video game, right? It's educational...





Meanwhile, I have been a bad parent. Last week, in my 6 year old's second baseball game, he was awarded a "golden baseball." At the end of each game, the coaches give out one gold baseball and two gold bats. The bats go to kids who made great hits in the game and the ball to a kid who made a great play. Remy was over the moon and so happy to receive this ball. I was so proud of him!

He was on the pitchers mound (although they don't pitch at this age, it's coach pitch) and a player hit the ball towards him. Remy fielded the ball quickly and threw it to first base. The first baseman caught it and they tagged the runner out! This is a rare occurance at this age, let me tell you! We were so proud of him. This kid's a natural athlete, that's for sure.



The boys have been dragging their feet lately about helping out around the house, and I've decided we needed a new approach to chores. So, we made chore charts last night. I didn't put a lot of creative craftiness into, just enough to make it ok to look at. We put up a week's worth of chores on a poster board with marker. And, if they mark off a certain amount of chores within the one week period (allowing for a few chores to be skipped in case of problems) then I'll take them to Target (one of our favorite places to go).

Well, apparently this works. In the last 24 hours the boys have made beds, taken dishes to the kitchen, fed and watered the dog, taken out trash and recycling, etc. I'm amazed! Why didn't I do this sooner? Such a simple concept. lol




I see a trip to Target in our near future.

We met when we were eleven years old, started dating at 14 & married at 19.

Here we are at around 17 years old at our high school in Austin, Texas.

When you give a kid a camera

Remy, my six-year-old stinker, got ahold of my camera and took some interesting pictures. You be the judge...blurry amateurism or artsy genius?

This is one of his Lego creations, I think...pretty blurry and low light...but gives it an interesting look, that's for sure.
He got me! This one is in focus...the light isn't great, but that's an interesting angle, huh?
I think this must be the dog's tail...

ceiling fan in motion....
Nice butt shot of me heading to the kitchen. I don't know, the blurriness of it kind of gives it a cool, dreamy look....
Sweet Annie eat food out of her bowl...
and, last but not least, a cool viewpoint of the breakfast table....

Sneaky little boy...interesting perspectives!!

Advice from a 5th grader

My son had a project due in school where he had to give advice to next year's fifth graders. Here is what he wrote:

To keep up in school can be tricky but it is possible. First rule, stay away from people that are trouble makers! If you get distracted, move, otherwise you will have lots of trouble!

In Mrs. B’s class ask questions, just not stupid ones. The best way to do A.R. (accelerated reading) is to read at home a long time. For A.M. (accelerated math) work hard to reach your goal fast, then you get to have fun.

The only advice for Mr. P’s class that I can give you is, pay attention. The truth is that I haven’t found the secret to his class.

Homework. We all hate it. It’s boring. The only way to deal with it is to do it the minute you get home. I really don’t expect you to actually do this. You will find your own way to get through the year.

My family knows me so well.

I really had a great birthday yesterday, and I got gifts from my family that were perfect for me! It all started with these simple, casual shoes I bought for myself (blush). They're Dr. Scholl's, super comfy and really cheap! $28 at Walmart. Thanks, Carrie the Gremlin Wrangler, for telling me about them.

Then, my mother-in-law gave me this fun beach/overnight bag below with matching towel. It also had a matching make-up bag and wallet and hat! I liked the colors...not something I would have bought myself, but very fun to receive!

Then there is this beautiful bag from L.L. Bean with my name on it! (Ok, I ordered it for myself and had the kids give it to me) I have a little bit of a tote bag addiction...and I love all the pockets on this one.

My mother-in-law knows how much I love to read, so she gave me this wonderful gift certificate to Barnes and Noble for an exorbitant amount! And, she knows how much I love Harry Potter, so the card theme is obviously...you got it, Harry Potter!

My mother, my stepfather, and my father all chipped in together and bought me...drum roll please...a new camera and Photoshop Elements!!! I am beyond excited. I am estatic!! I am high on life and ready to take some REAL photos. I can't wait to get started!!! The new camera is an updated version of one I have and love, but the newer, improved model. I've never had Photoshop before, and I think it's high time I start cleaning up and having fun with my photos. My mom is a photography nut as well and has all the software...so she understands my obsession with it as well. I'm working on converting my children over to the shutterbug side now as well.

My parents are so wonderful, all three of 'em. My mother also cooked a yummy dinner and cake, feeding my whole fam, which is no small feat.

And, then, my hubby and boys gave me the final gift right before bed tonight...a new all-in-one photo pinter, scanner and copier. Yippee!! I've never had one of these babies before. Can't wait to start scanning in lots of fun, older pictures!!

I am beyond happy, can't wait to start playing with my new toys. It's been a great birthday! I also made it back into the fitness center (which I somehow avoided for the last month or so). It felt great to work out again. Those endorphins really kick in!

Giggle from Giggles (formerly known as VBF from Motivationless) gave me this sweet, adorable award recently, and I wanted to thank her!! She's my new awesome friend from Australia, a real live wire with lots of fun energy. We discovered our shared passion for the TV show LOST. Here is my award:

And, I want to pass this award along to everyone who took the time to stop and say Happy Birthday to me yesterday in the comment section. You guys were all so sweet to stop and say hello and help make my day even more special! Thanks!! And, enjoy this award...you know who you are.

This day in history

April 21st is such an important day in history, and here's why:

Rome was founded 1, 255 years ago on this day.

The twin brothers Romulus and Remus, became the founders of Rome. However, they quarreled resulting in the murder of Remus, leaving Romulus as the first King of Rome. The traditional date of Romulus' sole reign and the subsequent founding of the city, April 21, 753 BC, is still celebrated with festivals and parades today. Here are Romulus and Remus being suckled by the She-wolf...


According to the roman mythology, the twin-brothers were the supposed sons of the god Mars and the priestess Rhea Silvia, who was made a Vestal Virgin against her will - which meant that she was made a priestess of the godess Vesta and therefore forbidden to marry. However, the god Mars came to her in her temple and of him she conceived her two sons, Romulus and Remus. Here are Rhea Silvia and the god Mars.

On this day 172 years ago (April 21, 1836), there was the battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution where the Republic of Texas defeated Mexican General Santa Anna. A very important day in Texas history!!! Here is some Republic of Texas currency.

And, finally, 31 years ago, on April 21, 1977, Rhea was born in Texas! This silly, goofy girl!

And, you do not say my name "rhee-ah." I say it "Ray" or "Ray-ah." Listen to the short clip below...

Book, line and sinker

I've been tagged by Anita Loughrey to do a meme. I'm supposed to pick up the book nearest me, go to page 123, find the fifth sentence and then type and post the next three sentences after the fifth one. I think. It seemed slightly complicated!! Then I'm supposed to tag five people. fun fun, so here we go.

The nearest book to me is D'Aulaires' Book Of Greek Myths, a greek mythology book I had when I was younger, and one I bought for my kids. My 11 year old and I read it every night before bed until we finished it, and now he's doing a research paper on one of the gods for school. So, the book is next to the computer due to his research.

Now, on page 123 is a story about Athena (goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill, favorite daughter of Zeus). Here are the three sentences:

In disgust she (Athena) threw the flute down to earth and put a curse on it.

Marsyas, a satyr who was capering about in the Phrygian woods, found the flute and began to play on it. When he discovered he could play two melodies at the same time, he was wild with joy.

Ok, now that's taken care of. I tag:

Kat at Sunshine and Lemonade, because I bet she's reading something fun.

Crystal Chick at Mary Says...because she's so chatty.

Jules at Just Because because she gave me my first award.

VBF at Motivationless because she is a LOST fan and my only friend Down Under.

Kim at Poppin's Ponderings because I'm interested to know what she's reading.

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.

It's Camera Critters Sunday!!! Misty Dawn came up with this wonderful idea to post critters, and since animals and cameras are two of my favorite things, I had no trouble jumping on the bandwagon. Without further ado...here are some critter photos my mother took yesterday:

First, it's camo-frog! Do you see him?

Then, next comes camo-frog 2

Camo-frog-wanna-be

This frog's just chillin'

Last, but not least, confrontational frog

Photo Texas

You know you're in Texas when you see big barns like this...

and this...
and lots of these creatures...

and miles of this...
and yet even more of these creatures...
and random sightings of these...
and lots of fields of like these...

Aren't you glad we had this talk? Now you'll know when you're in Texas.