Tag: giggle

Thea’s First Roller Coaster

September 21, 2019

Thea’s First Roller Coaster

There’s this wonderful place a few dozen miles over the Georgia line that pops up out of the long fields of cotton and orchards of pecan trees with vibrant colors, exotic animals, and fun! 

Wild Adventures. 

This place has a great history for me.  I heard my first concert there as a teenager (which introduced the “new” band DC Talk with NewSong & later was the same two bands we saw together at a winterjam concert!), I went back as a young mom with Christina (her first amusement park), then back again in 2013 with everyone for two days, and a few weeks ago, we went back on a coupon.

Actually, Wild Adventures has been the first Theme Park experience for all the girls (when babies don’t ride, they haven’t experienced it) – Lucas’ first was Six Flags.

And Thea – yes, the baby! – rode her first roller coaster!  Lucas and I were walking around the kiddie section, he was riding spinning bees and such, when he wanted to ride the roller coaster and needed a fellow rider.  I told him, “when Daddy comes over here, you can ride it, I have to stay with Thea.” The operator smiled, “can she sit up by herself?”  Yes.  “Oh, then all three of you can ride.” (WHAT??)

I’m not good at selfies…
but Thea’s face!!

So Thea, Lucas, and I rode Thea’s first roller coaster.  Thea was five and a half months old!  Did this baby enjoy it?  She giggled with Lucas and chewed on her teether the whole time.  The operator called out, “you get two rounds, does she like it?”  Lucas answered by making Thea giggle and clap. 

Of course, everyone enjoyed multiple rides and between Christina and Becky we have plenty of pictures, but I managed to take a couple.

  • All the girls except Thea!
  • Kimberly
  • Kimberly & Me
  • Jillian & Me
  • Flying!

My baby… and her first amusement park ride was a roller coaster!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

First Sweet Potato & Fit!

July 30, 2019

First Sweet Potato (and Fit!)

Thea is five months old.

She is fascinated with everything.  If it moves, she giggles at it and wants to chase it.  If it makes a sound, she wants to chase it.  If it is in the possession of an older sibling, she wants to touch it.  If it looks fluffy or new (as in she wasn’t looking at it ten seconds ago), she wants to chase it.

For her, “chase” means raise her arms and legs like in a superman hold and shove her body forward, sideways, or backward on her tummy.  I’ve seen my other six babies, remember several siblings as babies, and have had numerous little nieces and nephews over – she is the first to do this type of scoot. (But then, each one has their own unique movement method!)

Theadora in my office

Maybe she has figured out that on hard floors (her entire environment) this type of movement makes the blanket travel with her.

She has learned to roll – has been doing both of these movements since about 3 months (but she rarely wants to go anywhere, so it’s like “surprise! I want to move at this second!” she loves to do the unexpected). 

Lucas will get on one side of her, giggle, and roll away.  She will giggle and follow.  Monkey see, monkey do!  He calls this game “rolling the ball” – I’m literally making her bassinet when I hear, “Mom!  Look!  I’m rolling a ball!” accompanied with a river of giggles from both Lucas and Thea.  He’s rolling in front of Thea and she’s following him all the way across the bed.  He rolls off the end of the bed (a fall of about 9 inches) and I’m about to jump into protect-baby-from-floor-barrier when he puts both hands on Thea’s tummy to keep her from rolling the last flip and says, “can’t go that way, I can fall off but you can’t yet ‘cause your head isn’t done yet.”

Lucas is her protector, her shield from danger, her loving big brother – and the one who leads her into most new (scary for us!) adventures, like rolling non-stop or eating something new – “Look, Mom!  She likes ice cream!”  (*facepalm in my brain* but at least it’s Daddy’s homemade vanilla soft serve) next line is “No, Baby Thea, only big boys can eat cones, you can just taste the ice cream.”  He’s letting her “taste” like we do, tapping one finger on the food and putting it on her tongue.

That backfired with the sweet potatoes. 

Oh, yes, nice story:

A cute 3-month-old goes with her family to Grandma’s favorite restaurant for a celebration.  She’s the epitome of baby cuteness in her Sunday best.  Everyone is being so well-behaved. Mom is having sweet potato (all the others have had sweet potato as a first food) and lets baby taste it.

BABY TURNS INTO VELOCIRAPTOR!

She starts jumping forward, grabbing at the table, mom’s fork, mom’s hair, anything to get back to the sweet potato!  Mom thinks she’s had enough after a few tastes, but NO!  Sweet little cuteness erupts into a full blown literal tantrum!  She flings herself back in frustration and screams! Daddy thinks this is funny. (Everyone else is bug-eyed, is she really throwing a fit?) Daddy says, “watch this” and gives her a small taste on the end of a spoon.  Thea sees the spoon coming, instantly stops fussing, alligator tears evaporate, and she grabs the spoon with both hands and shoves it into her mouth.  Once she sucked it dry, she looks up at Daddy with pleading eyes and babbles in what-adults-can’t-understand to mean “more please?”  He fed her a little more to keep the peace.

 Lucas was even spellbound watching Thea, his sweet, tiny, fragile-looking baby sister toss her baby fit.  Mommy took this excellent opportunity to mention quietly that wasn’t very nice.  He says, “I don’t like that screaming.” To which I answer, “we feel just like you do now when you drop yourself on the floor and start kicking.” (Doesn’t happen often, but it’s been a thing since I started working.) “Oh.” I think gears are turning in his brain.

And this:

is what everyone else in the world sees…

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Targets

July 8, 2019

Targets

We have enough of a spot to set up our archery target (big fat canvas block thing) and our bb gun target (the windfresh bucket with three aluminum cans) and safely target shoot at those.

On perfect days when Mom and Dad are out, the question always comes, “may we set up the targets and shoot?”

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Anastasia rode Lucas’ bike between turns!

Christina prefers the bow and arrow – her “weapon from a more civilized age” as she mimics Obi-wan and Kimberly laughs.  Lucas is just learning to shoot with those.  We have a 10 pound bow and he can finally pull that one back.

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Jaquline and Jillian prefer using the bb rifle since our little Daisy is easier to load than the bows.  (and they are in front of the metal beam! no ricochets here!)

Kimberly likes both.  She’s a lot like me.  My favorite gift ever was my crossbow (which no, we can’t shoot here, but when we got it, I had space enough to use it).

Today, we’d backed the cars off of the carport and set up the targets.  Archery on the left and airgun on the right.  I was overseeing (and assisting with loading) the airgun shooters.  I’m not paranoid, but probably repeated “never point a gun at a person,” and “don’t load if someone is in your range of vision” a hundred times.  I like them to know how to shoot, but I want them to treat every weapon with respect.  Ocean, vehicle, weapon, hot stoves – anything with the possibility of causing injury – safety is the first priority.  Always err on the side of safety and you will eliminate possible accidents.

So for about an hour, I loaded the little Daisy and Jaquline, Jillian, Anastasia, Lucas, and Kimberly took turns taking three shots each at the three target cans.  A few “wow, you got all three!” and a few “oops, try again,” shouts.  They encouraged each other.

Sometimes you feel like you were aiming at something and the site is off.  You can’t hit it at all.  Sometimes everything falls down perfectly.  Life is unpredictable.  Sometimes your perception is off.  Sometimes something that looks perfect is lying.

Strange thoughts I have while the children are shooting?  I couldn’t get out of my mind how thoroughly I’d believed in the good while the truth was right online for me to see if I’d just searched the county records.  (I had to update my story)  I heard “Black Eyes Blue Tears” and cried.  I cried as the kids danced to “Fireflies” just a bit ago.  I pray for her ex-husband.  I pray that her babies remember her.

Briefly, thoughts like that interrupt my life now.  I am there, helping to load the bbs and saying, “yea!  You got them!” but I’m also crying inside because I was supposed to be there to protect her.  I watch Christina patiently help Lucas aim his bow.  I see her mouth move and I know she’s saying, “breathe out, release the string,” just like I did to her.  I teach them safety.  I teach them truth.  I teach them about life.  But I can’t protect everyone.  That reality hurts.

I pray daily for my children, nieces, nephews, the boys and girls in my gym classes, those I influence.  I pray they will find the true Protector in Jesus and follow His direction so their life will be anchored in love, truth, and joy.

I help Anastasia aim the rifle and she giggles when the bb hits the target box.  (The targets are supposed to be the cans, but the box counts too.)  I pray that God puts a hedge of protection around all of His precious children and keeps them safe from deceit.

Jillian and Anastasia are giggling while Jaquline grunts trying to pump the rifle because she’s too big for help.  It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was helping my baby sisters aim our old “red ryder” bb rifle down at the pond, popping off pinecone targets.  I can’t change the past.  I can help mold the future.

Hope.  Hope is what helps me through each day.

The girls are giggling again because Louis is pretending to close his eyes and act like he’s asleep.  It is easy to choose joy with these angels around.

Joy.  Yes, joy is my strength.  Thank you, Jesus, for giving me the strength to choose your joy!

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

 

Fireworks and Family

July 6, 2019

Fireworks and Family

We have only missed one “Fireworks Over the Matanzas” in all of Christina’s 15 years.  We were at Wild Adventures park in Valdosta and Christina wasn’t even one year old.

Every year we go downtown.

Louis monitors the weather so we’ve avoided being soaked like we ended up a few of the earlier years.  Those were so fun though, cool, wet rain on the hot July day.  Children never mind the rain – normally they dance in it with newly made friends.

Today was no different; my little gymnasts put on a show in the grass and met a few new friends.  It sprinkled a little but that didn’t stop them!

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They played various games like “Duck Duck Goose” and “Red Light Green Light” – timeless favorites.

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Christina and Becky held down the spots on the edge of the wall – giggling about the turtles and fish passing below their feet.

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Grandma, Aunt Becca, and Anastasia showed up.  Anastasia has been with us to almost every Fireworks show since she was born.  Becca has come almost every time too.  This was my mom’s first.  Daddy didn’t like fireworks (lots of veterans don’t) so they never even stayed for the Disney Fireworks shows the few times we went when I was really little.

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Grandma joined the teenagers at the edge of the water.

We goofed off and chatted, playing, spending time together.  We made several bathroom runs – the last one just as the announcer said “20 minutes to go!”

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Thea sat in her stroller and enjoyed the view.  She fell asleep about 6:30 and woke up after the fireworks show finished so she could spend some time in Grandma Tina’s arms!

The Fireworks Over the Matanzas show gets better every year.  I love our little town.  I enjoy family time of just sitting around, playing goofy games, watching the children enjoy themselves, dancing to music, and finally watch their faces erupt with amazement and rapture at the brilliant fiery explosions in the sky.

The next morning, Lucas asked, “is fireworks like Family Fun Fest?  Only one in the whole year?” When I answered “yes,” he said, “I can’t wait for next fireworks!”

 

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

 

Valentines Silliness

From my teenager’s claim of the “real holiday” to Becky’s video silliness… a fun post with links.

February 14, 2019

Valentines Silliness

It’s Valentine’s Day.

My girls are busy playing and giggling in the playroom (well, we could technically call it “studying videography,” “creating scripts,” and “video editing,” but that’s homeschool thoughts lol).

What would they be making a video about?

Becky comes out as I finish an amazing lunch (Louis made baby back ribs, corn on the cob, and French fries… and his food is so good!  We did save the busy girls a few ribs… maybe) wearing a huge grin and holding the “play phone” (it has the best video editing software but is one of Louis’ old phones from his work).

They have spent an hour, maybe more, creating a 24 second video with dolls and candy hearts… and the “surprise ending” – which, if you know Becky’s sense of humor, it is not really a surprise.  It is funny.  See it here… (They are “Toy Acts” on YouTube).

“Mom, it took us like 30 minutes to figure out how to work the hearts!”

“Engineering,” Kimberly laughed.

At this, Louis and I laughed too… they are just as crazy as we are.  “Not exactly,” I take a breath, “did you do paperwork as well?”

“Oh yeah,” Becky grins, “we did real school on this holiday.”

“This holiday is only for married people so kids should do school period,” voices Christina (the teenager… go figure).

“All schools, everywhere?” Jaquline sighs, “I did math and language but I thought I could take a break from history.”

So Louis decides we are going to learn about the American adoption of Valentine’s Day as a holiday… (typical home school decision)

Christina, who is going to babysit, hitches a ride with me to work (my gym is closer to her client than our house).  We have Kimberly (she’s going to spend the night with a cousin) with us and the car conversation circles around the baby Guinea Pigs and how Valentine’s Day is seriously only for married couples.  (Christina is still debating this to no one else, as no one else is arguing otherwise.)

“Seriously,” Christina says, “the real holiday is February 15th, when all the candy is half-off.”

Okay, that one I will totally agree with!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

First Try at Makeup

First time I “madeup” my whole face & poked my eyeball many times… Giggle Girl Time

October 3, 2018

First Try at Makeup

So, Sunday afternoon, Louis and I went “out” (with our current budget that means a couple games of pool or walking on the beach or downtown, you know, zero cost but couple time!) and I’d received my Younique package in on Friday. (You are supposed to let the makeup “sit” at room temperature for at least 24 hours after shipping if you live in a hot climate… 96 degrees might be hot.) So I figured this was as good a time as any to try out makeup.

Let me see… (digging around in this really cool purple bag that Becky claims “is so hers” once I’m done with it.) I didn’t use everything in this try, but the pieces in the picture are mine. (Becky or Christina claimed the other goodies that came in the set – the value of the “starter set” and my realization that my girls would be buying makeup from now on were two of the reasons I signed up.)

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I knew the hardest part for me would be mascara. I hate anything going near my eyes. Period. Probably, another reason I’ve only tried makeup once before. I used the Epic Mascara and managed to get it on my eyes after only poking my left eyeball three times and smearing it all over my nose, cheek, and eyebrow like five times. I honestly wasted more than I put on.

This brings us to Younique’s Cleaning Stick – it looks like a glue stick but goes on and removes makeup in strategic spots. It is perfect for this newbie. (And I was glad I did mascara first.)

Foundation was easy enough, (I got both the liquid and the cream foundation, this try was liquid because it appeared to be easier!) Younique’s liquid foundation has a dropper applicator so you drop it in a few places across your face and blend in. I used my finger because it felt like lotion going on. I used the setting powder on top lightly – that got rid of the slightly shiny afterglow of the liquid foundation.

I discovered that I didn’t have blush so I used bronzer (I thought “probably not what it is really for”) to highlight my cheeks lightly.

I have done my eyeshadow two or three times before – between that and a few lipstick tries, that was my only “adult” experience with makeup prior to this.

I was opting for a natural look this time, so instead of deep blue, which I’m sure, will be my favorite eyeshadow, I used a nude pink with smoky accents. I think it turned out okay. Next time I’ll use the eyeliner pencil (never done that before!) and the deep blue cream shadow with smoky accents. (Becky was like, “that would look awesome, I’m going to help.”)

I’ve never used liquid lip color either, so this Younique lipgloss in “lovesick” (the name sent Becky and Christina into rivers of giggles!) – I told Louis it was “pink” – was a first. It lasted all night, a first for any lipstick I’ve ever tried.

I was rather pleased with the results. The only “downside” (actually a great thing!) was washing it all off before going to bed. (It was easy enough, warm water, cleanser, scrub, rinse) I’d just never worn makeup that didn’t wear off after a couple of hours. My research told me this would be good, and I’m super pleased! (Plus, I’m allergic to lots of stuff but nothing in this ensemble irritated my skin at all!)

(Oh, and I’ve probably taken just two or three “selfies” ever, and not very good at it because I had the girls trying to give me pointers and giggling along with me at the hilarious pictures that landed on the camera for mere seconds; so the picture was taken by Becky.)

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Next order, I’ll remember to get concealer, blush, and lipstick to try!

I have to admit, I’m totally enjoying this experiment with makeup! (AND loving the “giggle girl time” with my little women – should I call this “art class?”)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

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