Mary Rose's writings

Thought I'd share a little of Mary Rose's recent creative writing. This was an assignment for her Language Arts class in which she was supposed to compare herself to external objects. I think she nailed it...I couldn't have thought of better comparisons myself!

Who Am I?

I am a ball...
Happy and always fun,
A pocket-sized bundle of bounciness.

I am a tree...
Deep-rooted and unshakable,
Providing something to lean on to those nearby.

I am a snowflake...
One-of-a-kind and unique
As I drift through the blizzard of life.

I am light...
Clear, steady and truthful,
Illuminating everyone around me.

I am a brook...
Trickling through a winding, narrow path -
Though moving swiftly, I remain calm and peaceful.

by Mary Rose Stinson

Girls Day Out with Mary Rose

Today, Mary Rose and I had our "Girls' Day Out." Sophie was at a friend's house and the guys were doing "guy stuff" (which usually includes some combination of food, ESPN & napping) so Rosie and I indulged in a day of "girl stuff!" First, we visited the library to feed our obsession, I mean, to check out some highly educational reading materials. Then we visited our newly-found, favorite antique store, Annabelle's, which is always an adventure...from trying on some of June Carter-Cash's hats, to discovering a full stuffed peacock in a corner...SO much fun! Then we headed out to lunch at Panera's and took turns sampling each other's meals....next we stocked up on art supplies for an upcoming project that we're excited about, and to top the day off, we couldn't resist the "Puppies for Sale" by the roadside and lingered for a while, soaking up some puppy love! 3/4 lab and 1/4 sharpei is an adorable combination, even if they are "mutts!" It was a perfect day in every way!

Sophie's latest lyrics

I'm still too busy to post much right now...BUT, I had to take time to share this because it totally cracked me up. Some of you probably know that our Sophie (age 9) has written some original songs in the past...her biggest hit was the irritatingly catchy "Nachos & Cheese" that she composed a year or two ago (she said she was inspired by her brother's breath, just so you know.) Well, on Sundays, we have implemented a new household rule...the kids are supposed to have "no screens" to encourage them to do other things beside watching TV and playing video games. But they are allowed to use the computer as long as it is for creative purposes only....they just can't play games on it or surf the internet, etc. So Sophie has taken over the computer upstairs....been churning out the songs, stories, newspaper articles....you name it, she writes it (she keeps asking for her own blog!) Anyway, I just came upstairs to use the kids' computer and found this...the lyrics to her latest composition. Now remember...she is 9.

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"MY ACHING HEART

My achin' heart
My achin' heart
I've got a heart that's achin'

I am alone
I am alone
You just don't want to see me

Well, go away
Well, go away
I don't even love you now

My achin' heart
My achin' heart
I've got a heart that's achin'

-To all you people who are heartbroken"
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WHA' ???? Not exactly sure where this is coming from or what to make of it...but I'm thinking I should be concerned. Yes, I'm laughing, but surely this kind of angst cannot be healthy for a 9 year old. I thought we had a great, open mother-daughter relationship and GOOD GRIEF the girl talks non-stop, so I didn't think it was possible that she might have something she was keeping from me. Quite literally, I didn't think it was possible....she DOES NOT STOP TALKING...she keeps NOTHING to herself...did I mention she talks A LOT? Maybe she's just good at empathizing with other people's pain....or maybe I need to be listening better?

Once again, I have been slacking off with my blogging! Don't have time to post much now, but thought I would share Mary Rose' poem that she had to write for English last week. I thought it was sweet & special...like her!

Where I'm From

by Mary Rose Stinson

I am from the Bible,

from learning the days of creation

to memorizing verses.

I am from the birch tree,

from the apple, pear, and plum tree,

whose sweet juicy fruit

Mom would make into

delicious sugary preserves.

I am from beef and salmon patties,

and from peanut butter and cinnamon sandwiches.

I'm from smelly friendly dogs

and sweet gray cats.

I'm from lots of family fun

every Christmas,

and the annual scavenger hunt.

I'm from clumsy priests

who change their last names,

from the rope swing

in the front yard,

from orphaned fawns,

from baby skunks,

and even from the bright red cardinal

that crashed into our window every morning.

I am from those moments

that you don't appreciate until they're gone,

the precious moments that I will always remember.

Whew...Summer just flew by!

Wow, it is almost the end of July and I'm still in shock that the kids go back to school in a week! We have had an extremely busy, but wonderful summer and hate to see it ending so soon!

Here are the major events since the last posting....

Jacob and Mary Rose went to Kamp Kennessee again in June. Loved every minute of it...lots of old friends, new friends, and fun, fun, fun. Here's a link to their talent show performance with our friend, Dan Lankford....

http://http//www.facebook.com/home.php?#/posted.php?id=1131271242&share_id=118974488956#s118974488956

After our Atlanta trip for my parent's 50th anniversary (see earlier post) we headed out to Texas for our annual trip to Dallas. Kevin & Conrad played golf in the Tyler "GPGA" tournament, Jacob got in to the Texas FC camp in Austin at the last minute and the younger kids and I had a great time hanging out in Dallas with Mary and kids. Mary is such a great hostess and we were pampered and spoiled all week....swam, ate, swam, napped, shopped, swam, ate...you get the picture! Here are a few shots of our time in Dallas...

Baby Cora LOVED Uncle Kevin...probably 'cause he fed her anything she wanted!

Bedtime buddies.....Mary Rose, Selah & Sophie

Me & Mary

A serious water balloon fight

Stinsons and Flemings after our intense Whirlyball night...

Jacob happy to see his siblings after Texas camp.......

Brooke Payne...one of my dear Texas friends!

After picking Jacob up at camp, we headed to San Antonio to see some more of our favorite Texans. We visited with the Moody, Freiling and Klutz families....shared memories, laughed a lot, ate too much....a wonderful visit in every way!

Here are some shots of us having fun in San Antonio:

The Stinsons visit the Alamo

Mucho fun at El Mercado

Finally got to catch up some with my sweet Melissa!

And our dear friends, the Moody's, whom we miss SO much!

We love all of our Texas friends so much and would visit so much more if it just wasn't so far away....and so HOT!

Back home to Tennessee last weekend, grateful to come back to cooler temperatures, plenty of rain while we were gone to keep everything green and blooming...ahhh, nothing beats coming home! And the best way to end summer...?? All the kids just left for a week at Pops and Grandma's in Kentucky! I don't know who was more excited, the kids or Kevin & me or his parents! Well, it probably wasn't his parents! They are so sweet to do this each summer....and they all have a blast, but I'm sure it wears them out! It probably takes them a whole year to get their nerve up to try it again! We are excited to have a week to ourselves...wonder what we'll do....

Playing catch up...

Wow, I am so behind blogging! I have no excuse, other than the normal hectic schedule which has been even busier than usual! What happened to a relaxing summer???

SO much has been happening since the last posting in May. I will hit most of the highlights briefly and will try to do better in the future...although that may be even more difficult than usual. "Why," you ask? Well, because I have finally succumbed to the pressure and joined Facebook (or "CrackBook" as my brother-in-law likes to call it, due to it's highly addictive nature) I've been a member for 24 hours, and have already wasted at least 3 hours on that swirling vortex/black hole of social networking. I am going to try to exercise a lot of self-discipline, but I'm sure my household will suffer from some neglect until the newness wears off, just like the other "junkies" have warned me. One other unfortunate "casualty" of Facebook is the blogging world. Most of my friends have been so consumed with Facebook once they sign up that they tend to neglect their blogs (Sandy Sullivan, I'm talking to you!) or they never read anyone else's blogs, since they catch up with them on Facebook instead. I am going to try hard not to let that happen. To my devoted blogging friends: I promise to keep reading of all your blogs, even in the midst of this Facebook madness. And to my family: I promise to really really try to keep blogging, even if no one else ever reads it! I am trying to look at our blogspot as a "virtual journal" of our family's life that will be a way for us to go back and reminisce. I am not a scrapbooker (I love it, just don't have time for it), so this blog is our "online scrapbook" to keep up with major events, milestones, memories, etc.... That concept of blogging gives me an incentive to keep on posting, despite being forsaken by the Facebooking majority!

Ok, enough ranting about FB (come & visit me there, if you'd like....OH, I'm such a hypocrite :)....

Here's what's been going on for the last 6 weeks...

By far our BIGGEST news is this: Jacob was baptized into Christ on May 30!!!!

This was a day that we have prayed and looked forward to for...well, since Jacob was born 13 years ago! So of course, we are overjoyed about his decision and praise God for His love, mercy and awesome plan of salvation! It was a Saturday evening, and we had quite a few friends join us at the church bldg to witness this blessed occasion, to help us cry tears of joy and to celebrate!

The other big event this past month was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. The party was in Roswell, GA, in the same building complex where Kevin & I got married 17 years ago to the day, isn't that weird? My parent's anniversary is actually June 17th, but we had the party on the 27th, which is our annivesary...and it didn't hit me until we got there to set up that we had been in that same reception room exactly 17 years ago! We had almost 200 guests, lots of food, memories and laughs; it was a wonderful, perfect day, but I still don't think we were able to honor my amazing parents as much as they deserved!

Here's the whole family...all 27 of us! With some of the older grandkids in college and Jeff's family on the West Coast, we hadn't all been together in 2 or 3 years!

Mom & Dad on their special day!

The younger grandkids all sang to "Mimi & Papa"

Mom looked like she could overflow with happiness all day!

In other news this month, Mary Rose entered her first fiddle competition at a local Bluegrass Festival in June and won 2nd place for her age division (which was 11-14 year olds, so she was the youngest in her age group).

Jonathan & Shawna and the boys joined us at the festival...it was a gorgeous day, great music and we had a lot of fun!

Jacob and Mary Rose headed out to Kamp Kennessee week before last and had a great time again, of course. There were a few new faces and lots of old friends to get reacquainted with. They had fun playing some bluegrass in the talent show with one of our new favorite friends, the very talented Dan Lankford. Visit my facebook page and see link on left side to see a video of their kamp talent show performance; I will try to post it here myself soon!

Oh yeah...I also broke my foot about three weeks ago and have been wearing an oh-so-stylish boot for the last couple of weeks. It is hot, heavy and extremely uncomfortable, but black velcro goes with everything and is so slimming.........ha! I wish I had an exciting, heroic tale of how I broke it, but it was just pretty stupid, actually...just horsing around with the kids at the neighbor's pool and jumped in the shallow end in a very un-graceful way that resulted in two stress fractures in my right foot. My dad had just broken a bone in his leg after falling off a ladder, so we got our picture made in our matching boots while I was in Roswell...

That's all I have time for now! Will try to get some 4th of July pictures posted soon! Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day!

Belated Birthday wishes!

May is a VERY busy month for birthdays around here, and I did not get around to posting this as promptly as I should have, but I wanted to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to some of my most favorite people who celebrated their special day over the weekend!!

First of all, my most bosom friend (I can hear you snickering! It's a most honorable title, I tell you! For you Anne of Green Gables fans, that is what Anne called Diana!!)...Michelle turned 41! I know that's hard to believe...she looks like a teenager.......how does she do that?

My most favorite brother in the whole world turned 49 and unfortunately, he's MUCH too far away to celebrate with him properly, but here's lots of XOXOXOX from your favorite sister (sshh, I won't tell the others that, your secret is safe!)....

And the dread pirate Silas, my scurvy scalliwag of a nephew, turned 6! Here's a picture of him with some of his cousins at his very festive pirate party over the weekend....