All things Hawaii

Ancient Hawaiians had no music.
They used chants to tell the stories of old time and pass on the history of the people. The dancers never smiled. They bent their knees low to absorb the mana (strength, spiritual energy) from the earth.

Hula is something that comes out of the deep place in your heart when you listen to the poetry (mele). You listen to the mele, and then you move in a way that gracefully interprets that truth.

Aloha= Alo means presence or literally "in the face"
ha means breath or spirit
Aloha: to breathe into the face or share spirit with one another.

Aloha friends!!!!

Macguire

Sometimes when I get a glimpse of him I see this boy. Not my baby son, but this boy who is swiftly growing into a little man. His feet are growing. I always notice this first. He still has small feet for his age, but they seem big to me. Next are his hands, then seem longer and stronger and I know he is growing. After that I see that his one little tooth is loose! And someday soon, it will fall out and then many more will follow. I can see it in his actions, the things he says and what he chooses to do. I can hear it in his voice "Mama, Santa is not real" and he states this so plainly and matter of fact that I cannot even contradict him. He has a little man haircut and he is actually becoming concerned about how he looks. But oh, he is so sweet. He tells me daily how beautiful I am (good son), and how much he loves me. He can still fit on my lap and comes to me consistently. His motto is "Girls go first" even though he is outnumbered in our home. He has a nice smell and I am sure one day someone else will love that about him. My forever son, Mac

My Butt

My butt is big
and round like the letter C
and ten thousand lunges
have made it rounder
but not smaller
and that's just fine.
It's a space heater
for my side of the bed
it's my ambassador
to those who walk behind me
it's a border collie
that herds skinny women
away from the best deals
at clothing sales.
My butt is big
and that's just fine
and those who might scorn it
are invited to kiss it.
Just do it.

Day 2

Day 2 of Kennedy being sick! Yesterday she woke up saying her tummy hurt...of course being the great mom I am, I told her to go to the bathroom and go to school. About 1 1/2 hours later she called from school crying "My head hurts so bad" so I went and picked her up. She felt bad, but no temperature or anything. So I drugged her and put her to bed. She complained off and on of aches and pains, but nothing major. Last night I went to practice and Corey calls me and says "Her temperature is 104" So I stop at the store, get some meds and come home. She is complaining of headache and stomach ache and crying etc... I sleep in her room (she wakes up 5 times) and finally at 4:00 am, she throws up. Anyway, today she has low temp (100) and has thrown up once. But she is also saying her legs ache and her back is sore etc...
So, day 2 of me being at home all day. Of course, I had plans...I rarely do not have plans. Everything has changed so that I can lay around with my 9 year old. She is precious. Who cares about coaching and teaching kickboxing and making 150 Christmas cards for paying clients (due by Thursday)...my "baby" is sick.

Some things I liked on my trip

When I was driving into Atlanta and it was dark, I looked into the sky and saw the lights of 5 airplanes backed up one after another. It was cool.
A friend shared an intensely personal story with me, and I cried. I listened to Molly and Doug's cd and cried. I wondered if I am passionate about anything anymore. Well, I am passionate about my family, that is a good thing, but what else is driving me? When I listen to some of the songs, I think that so much of marriage is passion. At least in the beginning. And then what happens? A settling? Other "distractions" that take away your thoughts for your passion?
Seeing my sister-in-law with a tattoo, talking to her about "real" stuff, her perfume that smells so great (Ralph Lauren Blue).
My own children behaving and actually acting decent the whole time we were gone!
A fun (unexpected) snowfall one day and the kids building a snowman. (Emy's first time to see snow)

High and Low

I had a friend who would play the high low game at the dinner table, so that they would get to talking about their days and they could relate to each other. So: my low today...4:45 AM my daughter waking me up because she was throwing up. My high today 8:35 PM watching a star literally fall from the sky. Breathtaking.
Molly: low- cold shower only available in the morning high- husband who lets you take the first one!

The Low Down

Candy is good!
I love tootsie rolls, but they have to be the long thin ones, isn't that strange. I think the fat ones are gross!
Corey and I could come to blows over Mini chewy sweet tarts! We both love them and we (as a parental pre-caution) have already confiscated them from the kids bags. Although I really do not like the orange ones. They taste like baby aspirin. But truly I have an aversion to all things orange, food wise that is. It is not my greatest flavor.
The kids were adorable and they had fun. Emy was amazed that all she had to do was ring a door bell and people would shove candy into her bag! She will probably try it every night, just to make sure...
I like all the name brand chocolates: Hershey, twix, baby ruth...but who eats almond joy??? I mean what child eats chocolate and coconut and a big fat almond in the center??? I threw these away.
I like star bursts and now and laters, but who really eats Dots anymore??? And you can totally tell the old folks who package their candy and they are all some sort of chewy thing wrapped in the orange paper...what is that????
Hilarious!

back seat drivers

It is bad enough when your husband has to tell you how to drive, but your 9 year old? Come on! She sits back there and says things like "you can get in the other lane" "you can go faster and still be in the speed limit" "You don't have to slow down that much the light is changing." She is interesting to say the least. An all the while my 2 year old is copying me "come on people, move it!"
Well, after freaking out that Kennedy actually got her first ever B on a report card, she is doing better. She and I have read more together and I have spent some great time with her, doing her homework and helping her out. She really wants to do well, and she tries so hard. She is getting so big in so many ways, and I fear for the days that she will not want me to kiss her or hug her!
Mac was naming the things he liked to do best and after soccer, and running and playing and swimming...he actually said cleaning! I am a little frightened by this, but I guess it will make him a good husband some day.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Ha Ha!!!
For Kennedy's class, they were collecting live spiders. They are doing a unit on Charlotte's Web and if they brought in a live spider they could get a 100% on any homework paper. So on Friday morning, Corey found a HUGE spider while he was trying to clean out a web that stretched from the ground and up half the tree. So I got so excited and asked him to catch it so I could take it to Kennedy at school. We took it and Kennedy was so excited that I brought it and I was happy to make her happy.
Well... When she returned home from school I said "Weren't you so excited about the spider?" and she said "Mama, it was poisonous!!!!!!! It was a brown recluse!!!!!" Am I the worst mom in the world??? I am certain to be banned from the school from now on...
Corey wanted to know if she still got a 100%.

13 year marriage

Love, I have come to understand, is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day.

Issues

Just as I am certain I am the only person in the world with issues (or I guess I let them consume me) I am happy to hear that someone else is having the exact same issues. Do you ever wonder how to figure something out, or what to do and just when you cannot stand it anymore someone else says "oh I have that issue too" And even if they have not figured it out, and they have no answers for you, it somehow makes you feel better. Not that you want someone else to suffer, just that you want to feel normal. I will think, no one else knows what this is like, and I must be the only person experiencing this, and then, whammy, someone else is doing it also.
Parenting my friends...what joys!!!

loong time

well it has been a long time since I have posted...I am certain no one is even checking this anymore...
Molly, my sister, is beautiful! We just celebrated her marriage to Doug and it was so lovely. As all of her friends so openly spoke, Molly is truly great inside and out! The wedding was amazing, the ceremony was honest and the fun afterward was exciting. It was great to see a lot of old family friends and to meet new young friends of Doug and Mollys. It was also great meeting my new extended family: Larry April Mark and David. They are a neat, talented and inviting group of people, who I am glad to be related to.
The entire week was filled with family and friends and the sense of home. I love fall in Ohio!!! Especially out on the farm. What a great week. It feels like a let down to come home...except to see Corey!!! We missed him so much and the kids were ecstatic to see him.
So now, the "dailies" take over and life moves along, yet I am ever remembering the great fun from last week and the special people who are in my thoughts and prayers.

A good day at the Rose home!

Well...
Mac played in his first soccer game and scored 2 goals!!! He was so excited!
Kennedy won her game 4-1 she is a defender, and fyi, she didn't let a goal through, it happened on a penalty kick! She is a great defender and very tough and focused. Her foot was stepped on with a cleat, so she is abbying it now, and then she was out riding a bike and skid her (bare) feet on the pavement and now has 3 band-aids on her feet! Hopefully it will not interfere with her game tomorrow!
AND (drum roll please) Corey's team WON!!!!!! 2-0. He is thrilled, and it was against a team where he was trying to recruit 2 girls, so it was a good win.
So, we have a happy rose home tonight. Emy and I are, of course, amazing and we support out family in all their soccer endeavors!!!

kids ARE funny

Yesterday while shopping at Hobby Lobby, Emy was crying/having a fit the whole time we were there./ So I went from entertainer mom to "you better stop crying" mom to everything in between. It was crazy. Anyway, I just continued to shop, ignoring my child, and one time I said "emy, let's sing a song" and she said "NO" and I said why not? and she said "because I crying!" So I guess I should know better than to interrupt her crying.
Last weekend when we went to Memphis, I said to Mac, put on your sandals, we need to leave. So he gets in the car and we leave, and he had forgotten his shoes!!! Well, any boy only needs one pair of shoes, so I hadn't even packed him any other pair (even though I had packed Emy 3 pair). So I am thinking, great I get to buy Mac some new shoes this weekend. Well, as we were driving, I passed an outlet shopping mall, and I was looking to see if they had Bass shoes, which they didn't. And I said out loud, well, they didn't have the store I wanted to stop at, and Mac said "I have a great idea, (on where to get shoes) the shoe store!!!! " He really thought this was an amazing unique idea. So I sort of laughed a little and then, of course like any good mother would do, praised him up and down for having such a good thought!
Next weekend Kennedy has another tournament in Memphis, and then I will be driving with the kids alone to Ohio for my sisters wedding. I just found out that our travel tv is not working. Pray that I do not kill myself before getting to Ohio!

All about Mac

okay, for any of you who know Mac, you know he is so adorable and sweet and well mannered etc... He is truly a pleasure to be around.
Anyway, he cracks me up...
Last week I let him drive on my lap down the street and I told him we had to be careful or a policeman might catch us. And he said "will he put us in jail?" and I said "I am not sure, maybe" and he said "I do not want to go to jail and become a trash picker upper" See, while we are driving into Jackson, they always have prisoners out picking up trash and he has asked me who they are and I said that they were people who were in jail and the city makes them pick up trash. So that is the reason he doesn't want to go to jail.
Also yesterday he missed his bus to come home. Now I am not sure how that happens, since the teachers are supposed to stand there and put each kid on (especially a 5 year old) anyway, when all the busses left and Mac was there, the teacher asked him which bus he rides (like he has any idea, they are all yellow!!) and so then they take him into the office and call me. Well I couldn't leave to pick him up right away (because Kennedy rode the bus, and I had to wait until she got home) and when I got to the school, he was sitting in a chair in the office, totally asleep!!!! He was so cute, I couldn't stand it. I wish I had my camera in the car.
Oh well, that is my Mac, he is so sweet!

Things

I think this is so great! A true Southern Afternoon...
I took the kids and we went to the barn, and on our way out the lady who owns the property (about 70 years old) and her family were busily picking up sticks etc... So we decided to help them and while the kids picked up sticks the grandma and I were sitting on her old country porch sipping sweet tea (and she made homeade lemonade) and just chatted. She is precious! She said with her southern drawl"My it's hot, I think I should make us some lemonade" How cute is that???!!! Then she showed me all around her home, which has been in her family since the 1700's! That is amazing to me, that a family can be somewhere that long! Anyway, the home was originally very small, and had been added onto so many times, but was so cute and old and homey. She is sweet.
Today I am 38. Ouch, it sounds bad saying it, but it is better to get older than the alternative (death) so I guess I will keep getting older. When I am 40 I will go to Hawaii for a week and play. So anyone who wants to come is invited!
Mac is beginning to think that kindergarten is over, they have been out of school so long now. They will be out this week as well...So we are trying to keep busy at home. I am trying not to waste gas driving frivolous places. So....Entertainment is hard to come by.
We are going to make a big birthday cake today, so that will be fun. I love to bake with the kids, they think it is so exciting.

Blessings

I want to say how thankful I am for God in Heaven today!!! He has truly blessed us by sparing us form this enormous disaster as well as giving us electricity back within 24 hours. I feel so fortunate since there are so many in despair. Even in our neighborhood, there are people without power and I should say it is 100 degrees here today. (heat index) So, I am so very thankful. I just heard on the news how actual fights are breaking out in Downtown Jackson over bags of ice!! We had a few left over and Corey took them into town and gave them to a friend of his, and his neighbor was like "Where did you find ice???" I cannot believe the absolute devastation and the well, I cannot even write anymore. I am feeling so sad =yet so blessed.

Looooooong day!!

So Monday at 5:15, John Blake calls me and asks me to come to a cheerleading certification seminar in Atlanta....on Tuesday! So I flew out at 8:10 am conferenced all day and flew back by 9:30 pm. What a crazy day... My return flight was delayed because of severe storms (initially I was supposed to leave at 9:15 pm and arrive at 9:30, but I called an was bumped up because our meeting was finished early. Well, then because of the storm delay, I still arrived at 9:30. I bet they will refund John his $25.00 change flight fee!!! RIGHT) and when we finally boarded, my seat was 19c. This is the very last seat before the potty room. Well, I thought something had exploded in the potty room, it smelled so bad!!! I was holding my jacket over my nose and I could still barely breathe!! So I patiently waited until everyone had boarded and when I noticed the extra seats, I asked if I could move. She of course said yes, and I ran to the front of the plane! When I turned around 5 other people were following me, it was so smelly! What a disaster!! So we sit on the runway for 25 minutes and then we finally take off. The flight is freezing!!! I am shivering! Oh yes, I forgot to mention that when I arrived at the airport it was a monsoon and I was SOAKED!!! Even though some man let me walk under his umbrella, I was walking in water up to my calves! So I am wet and now cold and the flight attendant says "oh right, there are no blankets on this flight!" So that is my luck, and then I land and have to trek to my car and then stop at Walmart (what mom doesn't have to stop at Walmart daily???) and now I am home and ready for bed!

Smooth sailing...

All is well here...not too much news to report.
Corey is still having 3 a day practices meaning he leaves at 6am and gets home at 10pm. Lovely!! And this time it is not really the kids who are hard to handle but the dog!!! She is a crazy puppy and that is all you can say about her. There is nothing to do to fix that except time.
I am still struggling with our schedule...trying to make sure everyone can get everywhere. Today I have practice at 3:00, so the kids will get off the bus at the neighbors and will stay there until 6:00. Then at 5:30 Kennedy's friends mom will pick her up for soccer practice at 6:00 and then after I pick up Mac and Emy (and maybe try to have some dinner that is not from a fast food joint) we will pick Kennedy up at 7:30 and then rush home, shower and get them to bed by 8:00. Oh right, and that excludes the fact that Kennedy has a vocab test tomorrow that we will have to study for. She had a math test on Wednesday, spelling test on Thursday and vocab test on Friday!!! This is EVERY week!! So I am really trying to get it all together and still be sane. (is this possible?)
Today Emy has on her big girl panties. Can't wait to see how long that lasts. (sarcasm)
It is still 98 here with a heat index of 105. That stinks!!!
I am going to start teaching a kick boxing class at the gym. That should be fun, and tiring and fun.
"Do not question the Creator of the universe- stand firm in your faith, in your belief that God does want the very best for you as he loves you like no one else can."

Lots of thoughts

Our dogs name is Elliotte Keegan Rose and we call her Elle for short. She is 9 weeks old and weighs 14 pounds. She is precious, but CRAZY!!!! And there are times that she runs madly through the house, smacking into walls and furniture and still running after that.. Her favorite thing to do is...chew on anything that is left on the floor (and you can imagine with 3 kids) and play with the door stopper thing!!! She "fights" with it and growls and thinks it is so funny! So, she is great.
The kids are loving school and Mac is thrilled that he has learned to spell!!! Yes, it is true he can spell red and blue. There ya go, all you ever need to know.
Mississippi has the highest teen birth rate, the highest teen drop-out rate and is the 3rd worst state for inbred hillbillys!!! (okay so I made up that last one, but the first 2 are true!!!) They highlighted them on the news and I was thinking, why would they want to make these known to the poor people who live here? Do they want everyone to move? We seriously are 3rd in the nation in something, but I cannot remember what it was, but Alabama and Louisana were 1 and 2!!!! I guess just avoid these three states when your kids are teens if at all possible and move out if you can!!!!
Joseph was our topic in church today. Carrying a grudge, how painful that can be and how it can grow and become something unbearble to hold. Joseph (if you can remember) had every reason to hold a grudge, and in fact he proabably did for awile, but in the end he surrened it to God and he forgave his brothers!!! Amazing example. I really do not hold grudges, but there have been times I have withheld forgiveness. I guess if someone is holding a grudge against me, I feel like there is no reason to forgive them, after all they are the ones mad at me!!! Like my friend here has been mad at me because my daughter didn't invite her daughter to her birthday party. (I swear this is the truth, and yes, we are 30 something women) Anyway, at first I didn't know why she wasn't talking to me and I would call her everyday and leave her message and then one day (duh) I realized she wasn't calling me back. So I went back and reviewed what I thought I did to make her angry and that was it. So I called her again (daily, for 3 weeks) and she still never called me back. So one last time I called her and said "Okay, I am not going to keep calling you, you have obviously made a decision not to talk to me anymore, so I will not bother you again" And do you know that she didn't respond top that call either. The last time she talked to me was May 18. This is August 14. So, I am sad because she doesn't want to be friends, but I have stopped trying and I haven't forgiven her for being...stupid! For wasting a 2 year friendship over something so trivial, well it seemed that way to me. So now I am forgiving her and I will try to repair the damage, because this is right and this is what Jesus would do. He would not leave. You can simply turn around and Jesus would be there. I should be there for her. Forgive the craziness and forget the pain and love the person.
"You will not be asked to do the impossible, but you may be called upon to do more than you dreamed possible"