Just the Quote, Ma'am

Tater Tot: "A mer-man teached me how to jump on one foot!"

This exclaimed as we were putting on his pants, and he discovered we had accidentally put both feet through the same leg. :-)

The (Little) King and I

I've only got a minute...but I didn't want to forget this...


"We can't go to the beach...
'Cuz we're stuck...
In a hole...
In the middle of a desert island."

These are the lyrics that Tater Tot is singing, Bob Dylan style, while he strums the little child's guitar we found in the garage.


Also, this morning,


Tater: "Morgan, why don't you like the crust?"
Morgan: (nothing but silence)
Tater: "ANSWER IN MY HOUSE!!!!" yelled in King of Siam style

I could hardly believe he was being so rude! I fussed at him for being ugly to our guest. As he hugged me around the legs he sobbed, "But we DO have ants in our house!!!"

OOPS!!!!LOL

Email me if you don't get that. ;-)
Y'all keep your wool dry,
The Ewe

I Ain't Skeered (or) Naughty and Nice

Just a quick funny:

Tater Tot, waxing eloquent:

"It's naughty to spit on people...Nice people don't skeer babies...So do I not."

:-)

Immodest Garden?

Hello F.O.T.E.s,
We're busy, busy, busy around here, but I wanted to share something with you before I forgot...
Remember we visited the GrandRams last week (or was that 2 weeks ago??)? Anyway, GrandRaMama and GrandRam have a nifty little garden. The lambies look forward each visit to seeing how the different plants have grown.
Last visit, I was sitting in the house w/ Lil Miss H, when Musical came tearing in through the door. She was so excited!!
"Mama! GrandRaMama has *BIKINIS* growing in her garden!!!"

:-)

Yum, yum! I *love* bikini bread. Hardly tastes like a vegetable at all...

Hey, y'all keep your wool dry!
The Ewe

Don't Tell Him I Laughed...

Hello, F.O.T.E.'s,
You know, it really irritates me to be so caught off guard by one of my children, that I laugh at something I'm going to have to discipline them for...so, note that the child in the following anecdote *was* corrected for a bad attitude and actions, and further note that I did *not* laugh at what I'm about to tell you until after said correction *and* out of sight of the offending child. Whew...with that disclaimer out of the way, lol ;-) ...
Last week, Tater Tot was having a bad morning. With The Ram out of town our schedule was off and T.T. hadn't gotten enough sleep. So, he was being just a lil stinker and having a hard time getting along with people. So, I led him back to the bedroom to help him reset his attitude. I started by saying, "T.T., you were acting ugly in there..."
Without a trace of a smile on his scowling face and glaring through narrowed eyes, he stated coldly...
"I *wasn't acting*!!"
Sigh...I must admit, there are days I'm not just acting, too. :-) My attitude needs adjusting sometimes. May the Good Lord help us all not just *act* like we should act, but also *be* like we should be. And by the way, Tater came to me later, hugged my neck and apologized for his earlier behavior. He really is a sweet kid.
Now, don't y'all act up... ;-)
AND...

Y'all keep your wool dry,
The Ewe

Howdy, Mother's Day, Grieving

Hi F.O.T.E's,
The following lines were written, golly...a month ago, I guess. Life called, and I had to save the post as a draft. Yeah--you know, *draft,* those things that get set aside to "come back to later." LOL...With The Ewe, it ends up being *much* later...anyway, without further ado...

How are ya? I can hardly believe the way time slips away from me between posts. I'll see if I can't remember what's been going on around here...

We've moved up in vehicle size...bought a 15-passenger van a few weeks ago. I immediately thought of it as The Jolly Green Giant, but The Ram and littles liked Maewyn Succat--St. Patrick's real name. We also considered The Incredible Hulk, but decided something honoring St. Patrick might be nicer. :-) I know you're wondering, "Is it safe to be on the road with her out driving that thing?" Well, so far, I haven't run over anything I shouldn't. I do still approach the van w/ a bit of fear and trembling and drive very cautiously. :-)

We took our first big trip in Maewyn last week--drove down to see my dad and family. Everything went great and driving through St. Louis was not the trial I expected.
(The rest of the post, I wrote today, June 13, 2007...)
It was great being at my dad's house the week before Mother's Day. We spent a couple nights, so I actually got to poke around in some of Mom's stuff...Don't worry, Daddy invited me to do that, lol.
It seems I hardly knew Mama. So many of her things I'd never laid eyes on. A real treasure Daddy showed me was a tea set that was Mama's when she was a little girl. Daddy pulled out a neat little cardboard box that had Mama's unmistakable handwriting on top. (Mama had the most beautiful handwriting until her illnesses stole it away.) Mama had written that the tea set had been given to her by her older brother Oscar before he had been killed by a drunk driver. (He was much older than Mama, who was the baby of 11 children.) We pulled out the glistening little pieces and I wondered why Mama had never shown the set to me before. I imagine "life called" and she just never got around to it. Also, tucked down in the drawer with that tea set was my little set that Mama gave me as a child. I thought it was beautiful--white with the blue delft pattern. I was never allowed to play with it, lol. Mama said I could have it when I was "old enough not to break it." ROTFLOL That just cracks me up. I never did get old enough. :-)
Even in the company of all those irreplaceable china pieces, the thing I treasured most about that discovery was Mama's beautiful handwriting on the top of the box. She penned those words during a time before disease began eating away at her body, while her fingers were nimble and her mind sharp.
Alongside the tea sets were several fetching sweaters that had never been worn. Mama had crocheted those, I think. I imagine she intended to gift someone with them, but on second thought deemed them "not perfect enough." LOL Any of us would have loved them, just because she had made them...Which is not to say that they looked substandard--*I* could not spot an imperfection.
Driving back from that trip, I kept thinking about Mama and this being my first Mother's Day without her. I remember buying her Mother's Day gift last year--some citrusy, yummy smelling hand soap that now sits beside Daddy's kitchen sink. I bought that last year, not knowing that would be the last Mother's Day gift I would ever buy Mama.
I think I'm finally beginning to really grieve. It's not a racking, painful thing, but rather a gentle ache. Looking through Mama's crocheted afghans, knowing her hands formed those very loops, it felt as if she hadn't gone anywhere. Like she might walk in at any time. I'm sad that I never knew her very well. I don't want to leave my children behind one day and have them say, "I never really knew Mama very well."
That all encouraged me to tell my children about my childhood, my dreams, my failings...I don't someday want their grief to be from a sense of missing out on really knowing me.
ARGHH!!!
I've got a bushel load of other things to tell you about, but life's calling again...this time it's a matter about peanut butter balls. I'm kinda afraid to go look at the kitchen...Hey, remind me next time to tell you about the Kirby man. LOL
Y'all keep your wool dry!!!
The Ewe


Quote of the Day: "It's more important to do the right thing, than to make the right plan."
--The Ram (ain't he smart??? I just love him!)

How a Preschooler Repairs the Moon

Hello, F.O.T.E.'s,
I'm feeling fine. Our apartment is wall-to-wall tidiness. Ah, like "Brigadoon." Once every 100 years, LOL...I once saw a plaque that read, "My house was clean yesterday. Sorry you missed it." Now, I've caught flak for thinking that was funny. After all, our house should stay tidy all the time, no? I promise you, Friends, I do my best. Anyway, the (apartment) complex management came today to each apartment to treat for pests and check the smoke detectors. I've been sweating bullets for the last few days--cleaning closets, pulling out the couches, tables...vacuuming under there. (I found some treasures from the last occupants, LOL. Made me feel better.) So, while the Lambs and I were eating lunch...knock, knock, knock...
There were 3 men (from the management). They were in and out in under 30 seconds. I felt like yelling, "Hey, come back!!!! Don't you wanna look behind the sofa???" ROTFLOL
Well, we'll be leaving here next week to go back home to Big City. Gotta admit, there is much to love about the South...Still, it'll be good to get back to our new normal, up in MO.
We visited The Ram's Grandparents Waaaay Down South last weekend. It was such a nice time. Ram's Grandma can grow *anything.* It ain't just her thumb, what's green. ;-)
I guess you're wondering about the title. Let me tell you about something Tater said really early one morning last weekend...He woke up first and had something to say:


"Mommy, did you know the moon melts?"
Mommy, sleepily: "No. Really?"
"Yup."
Mommy, still sleepy: "That's neat."
"Yeah, and do you know how you fix the moon?"
Mommy opens one eye, slightly interested: "No, how?"
"You gather up lots of clouds to make the moon back."
Mommy sits up, "Wow, that's something."
"Yeah, you go up in a flying car [airplane] and gather up all the clouds to make the moon back."
Smile.
"When I grow up, I'll fly the car and you can sit beside me. "
Isn't that sweet? His mom is his co-pilot. :-) (Never did like that saying, "God is my co-pilot." If that's true, you better switch seats ;-) Anyhoo...

Well, gotta go...I feel the Tidiness slipping away..."Must clean....must clean....must cle..."
Y'all keep your wool dry,
The Ewe