Tag: inspiration

Baby on the Events

March 21, 2024

Baby on the Events

(Throwback story from December 21, 2023)

Jillian called, “Mom, I’m taking some pictures of Laud!” Lucas jumped along to help out. He loves taking pictures of his little brother.

Somewhere in their cute little thoughts, they decided our four-month-old should take a picture on each gymnastics event.

Jillian and Laud
The Tumble Track
Vault! The Vault Table
Bars! Pull-up
Floor! (Can’t walk yet)
Pommel Horse! (Yippee)
Parallel Bars! (Help!)
Beam! (Boys don’t do this!)

First there’s Jillian and Laud. He looks happy enough.

What does she have for me to play with today? Wow, that looks interesting

Then there’s the first event – Tumble Track! Jillian is very careful as he is only four months old and not yet ready for bouncing.

Big brother, what exactly is going on here, this doesn’t feel right…

Up comes the next thing… ooh, Vault! Laud has some spotting help to stand on the vault table – although that is definitely not a parent-and-tot piece of equipment.

Mom! Can you see me, mom! I’m taller than Jillian on this thing that isn’t squishy!

Unfortunately, or maybe for the pictures, fortunately, mom is busy with the computer work and although she hears her baby yelling with happiness, it doesn’t occur to her that his big sister and brother are up to something.

Floor! Sissy, I might need to tell you I can’t walk yet… um, why is this floor moving?

At least on floor there was a tumbling mat to stand on. Laud appears to begin wondering if his brother won’t save him from his sister’s silliness, maybe he should yell for mom.

Bars! Pull-up! Lucas, why aren’t you saving me?

Jillian lets him pull up on the quad bars. Once he’s up, he doesn’t seem too sure about it.

Pommel Horse! Lucas, this is really cool dude, what can you do on this sturdy thing?

Pommel Horse is probably his favorite since he can do it with only a little side spot. Lucas zoomed straight in on his face.

Parallel bars! Wait! More Bars? What happened to the horsy thing?

Beam? Um, wait, boys don’t do this… Lucas, why don’t boys compete beam? This event has Jillian smiling!

I hope you enjoyed this series of pictures and commentary!

Jillian provided the inspiration! Lucas did the photography! Laud was the subject.

How quickly they all grow! Smile and enjoy the show!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Brantley Station Brain

October 19, 2020

Brantley Station Brain

You know, I’ve been a bit behind on posting blogs the past two weeks. This is because my brain has been in Brantley Station and Feli’tor and Devonia and Nilon. We just finished moving. I finally got my computer fixed after not having it for over a year and a half! (Writer in me dying because I have to borrow a computer and it’s never on my schedule!) The first weekend when we were done moving, I sat outside on the front porch watching Jillian, Lucas, and Thea play and wrote 5 pages in a notebook in my tiny, space-saving cursive with zero margins and front and back top to bottom. Louis came out and said, “you need a computer.”

It is also time.

While I was feeling dark, it was hard to write about happiness and peace. I did some freaky villain handiwork writing that almost freaked me out, but I couldn’t touch my children’s books that are bright and sunshine. I just couldn’t get back into their joyful world despite trying.

Now? I feel free again. I am finding joy everywhere. I am getting to play legos with Lucas and Thea, sit outside in the hot Florida wind and watch them play like the wild crazy children they are, read other authors, and build train tracks and work outside with my family.

Now my brain is back in my worlds.

I’m working on The Apprentice, which will be the fourth in the Brantley Station Saga following The Protector. In this book, Ethan will face another odd change and meet a new set of characters brought by the new cycle! I stepped back into Ethan’s shoes and wiggled my toes around. I’m so excited to introduce Makayla! (Sneak peek will come soon!) I put on Ethan’s determination to find positivity in every task. I looked at the new challenges through his perceptive logic. I felt his warmth at blooming friendships as he understands the connections he has never really noticed. The narrative shifts a little as Ethan begins to see his world just a little differently.

So I’m officially in Brantley Station Brain right now. My dreams are even about Ethan, Makayla, and Corey!

With so much flowing onto the keyboard (my keyboard! yippee!!), I’m hoping to have the final released just after Thanksgiving… in time for Christmas!

Got to go as my Brantley Station Brain is demanding I get back to the pilot barracks and finish Ethan’s next step!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Sharks and Legos

Not this weekend, but still a good story! (I’ve saved up some stories from my month of not writing on here.)

Becky and Dad thought it was okay to watch Jaws with Lucas.

(WWHHAATT??!!) Exactly. Thank you.

This screams through every mom’s head when you have a boy who likes to repeat everything and has been slashing duplo and cardboard light sabers at everything and everybody for years – add on his uncles, big sisters, and “the meats” from Lord of the Rings and yes, Mom is sure someone lost their senses.

What does Lucas do after watching Jaws?

Jump in the ocean at 6pm the next night with no reservations. He actually teases Jillian, “there might be a giant shark in here! Cool!”

Nope, not scared of sharks.

He makes a lego model of the fisherman’s boat and says to Dad, “I think we need a bigger boat.”

Mom facepalmed…

But here is his boat plus Becky’s updates (he went to Becky and asked for her help to make it look “really real”) I added a cute picture of Lucas with Legos ages ago because he wouldn’t sit still for a picture!

So he played with Becky’s updated shark hunter boat for quite some time, and yes, he knows lines from this iconic movie now – this child can replay an entire movie in his head.

Normally, it’s a battle from Star Wars or a scene from one of Jaquline’s favorite swashbucklers (yes, her “movie crush” is Errol Flynn and my family laughs at that because he was mine too) or from the latest John Wayne war movie, but for said entire weekend it was from Jaws. The funny part? The Lego shark was nowhere near the right proportions of the shark from the movie so Lucas kept claiming his hand was the shark and the little lego shark was “his tiny friend laughing.”

…and this is where most of my inspiration for children’s books comes from!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

First Dance Pictures!

My teenager and some pictures from her first dance!

October 18, 2018

First Dance Pictures!

I said I wouldn’t post pictures in my Facebook album… but I am going to put them in a blog! (Okay, so I’m one of those devious, literal word-means-exactly-what-I-say moms.) I’m happy for my little girl and proud of the woman she’s become. And, well, since my first “boy-taking-me-to-a-dance” was my wedding reception, I thought her first dance (homecoming at a friend’s school) was a big deal.

As previously mentioned (dress shopping blog), my eldest daughter isn’t much of a shopper. She had a dress in mind and set out to find it. She tried on one from my sister, Becca, and LOVED it (still likes it best) but learned black was the rival team’s color so of course, she just can’t wear black. So she decided on green.

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This was the result. (No, that’s not our truck)

We met her date’s family at a restaurant (they were going to eat before going to the dance) and the moms and aunt took pictures!

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^ (Jaquline called, “why can’t you get closer to each other?”)

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^ Becky got a bit of a smile.

I’m sure this was either his aunt or mom, (His family made the girls each a wrist corsage) but the next three are my favorites!

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Especially this one ^ – probably after they heard some tease.

After all the pictures were taken, just before she left for dinner, she makes Becky promise not to post them to Facebook – and I said, “we’re not posting anything to Facebook tonight.”

Becky rolled the window up and smirked, “mom, you’re going to post them in a blog, aren’t you?”

Kimberly and Jaquline laughed in the backseat and I heard one say, “that’s what Mom does to everything… write a blog about it.”

Yes, either I write it in a blog or hide it in a book somewhere! (Where else am I expected to glean inspiration?) My children know me well…

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

A Storm and Chicken Story

A sneak peek at Long Tail and the Big Storm

August 26, 2017

A Storm and Chicken Story

One day we were playing outside and a storm came up.  Not a cute little Pooh bear thundercloud with a few raindrops, but a giant, hurricane-wind, flash-lightning-fireworks-in-the-sky, shake-the-whole-house-thunder, all-people-hide-inside kind of thunderstorm.  (Okay, it was a simple, everyday, Florida thunderstorm.)  The winds were swirling chicken feathers and fluffing them out like towel-dried cats.  Smaller chickens were hop-flying to stabilize themselves as they fought for the safety of the henhouse.

After drying off from the first wave of rain, the girls peeked outside and giggled at the chickens until the raindrops were so large we couldn’t see the henhouse anymore.  The late summer winds blew the tree limbs around like strong autumn breezes scatter just-raked leaf piles.

“Mom, can you tell us a story with a storm?” Asked Rebeccah.

“A Long Tail story!” yipped Kimberly.  She was five, and she loved Long Tail.

So we snuggled on the couch with lightning flashes illuminating the room through the big windows and started what would become “Long Tail and the Big Storm.”

The chickens of the yard were ruled by Long Tail, the great yellow chief, and guarded by Long Tail and Alfredo, the white rooster imported some time ago.  Under this rooster team, the hens and pullets scratched and gossiped and laid eggs all day with no worries.

On one autumn day the bright sky darkened with angry clouds.  The sun hid.  The birds in the woods started crying warnings and flying away.  Two small humans who were playing in the henhouse with the baby biddies, heard a booming crack of thunder and jumped!  They put the baby biddies back in the safe brooder and left the henhouse.

“Look at those little humans!” cawed Alfredo, laughing, “running like rabbits!”

A giant bolt of lightning lit up the sky just behind the woods and a cannon-loud BOOM of thunder shattered the air.  Alfredo scrambled into the henhouse and hid under the brooder.

All the hens laughed at the silly rooster.

Even Red Feathers and Golden Eye, two of the youngest pullets, laughed at him.

Long Tail strutted by, “when the water falls from the sky, we come in.” Long Tail was not afraid.

A big wind shrieked through the henhouse.  It blew the people door open!

Can Long Tail save his flock?  Be sure to check out Long Tail and the Big Storm to see just how this courageous rooster accomplishes this brave feat!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Imagination Playtime

Building fun with Rebeccah 🙂

August 8, 2017

Imagination Playtime

This morning was a surprise of miniature proportion.

First off, when I stumbled into the kitchen to start my coffee at 5:20am, my preteen was awake!

Secondly, the playroom was spotless (toyacts was creating a few new videos in the playroom the previous night).

This sparked an idea.

“Let’s play legos, want to build something together?”  My suggestion was met with rocketing jumps where my five foot tall eleven-year-old banged her head on our roof.   “Yippee!  Ouch.”

We discussed all things building; like which pieces came from which sets, which sets were missing pieces (thanks to the vacuum, Sheba’s mouth, or teething younger siblings; Rebeccah is the lego master and knows where everything went – much like me with my childhood bricks), and whose head and hair I had mismatched on my mini-figs.  (Once, I had Elron’s hair with Commissioner Gordon’s head, the result looked like a sweet old lady to me.)

Our building progressed to a tree fort with crazy entrances and exits, three towers, complete with the tallest one having a princess locked inside where her puppy is trying to save her while the Barbarian ax man is considering Chinese food. (See picture, if you can find it!)

The blue magician conjures up a storm and an adventurer seeking the everlasting flame (in the bowl, middle, second tower) will accidentally be shot by a kid bowman’s awry trick shot from the top of the bridge.  We goofed off until it was almost lunchtime.  The girl elf hair ended up paired with a repaired face that looks like it has feathery bangs to make a crossbowman.  (She was going to be an archer – my favorite – but the hair wouldn’t fit with the quiver and I couldn’t have her without ammo!)

I love delving into imagination (last night it was duplos to build tunnels for Lucas’ train and car tracks) and discovering how my kids’ brains see problems.  Building blocks bring that out.  They help teach children to think around their problems (yes, that they created, like “Mommy, I want two cars to go under it!” Jillian, last night.  Or “How are we going to camouflage this huge tree fort effectively?” Rebeccah, today.)

Oh, and don’t forget the sharks patrolling the island fort (notice the blue water on the plates?) as Rebeccah claims the most important part of any lego set are the critters included.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

She’s On a Mission

July 21, 2017

She’s On a Mission

Sometimes God leads people into your life to bless you and everyone around you.  Sometimes you don’t get to see them all the time (Actually, you see them very rarely!), but you feel such a strong connection.  Sometimes those people are in your life to encourage you and to be positive influences in your children’s lives.

One such blessing in our lives is an awesome friend, Stacy.  (My girls all call her “Aunt Stacy.”)  She has been a friend of our family for over eight years.  She was at our house (and the only one with a camera) when Jillian was born, so she is the reason we have birth pictures of Jillian!  (She’s a photographer so not only did we have pictures, but they were awesome pictures.) Stacy is a missionary.  She has a blog where she writes a lot of interesting single-woman-missionary-related thoughts.  These are so insightful and spot on.  Christina started following her Aunt Stacy’s blog when she was about 10.  Every day Stacy was in Zambia in 2014, Christina would ask, “Has Aunt Stacy written some more?”  She updated everyone on her mission travels daily. (Or as she got internet connectivity) We’d read and Christina would journal about the verses Stacy referenced.

Stacy is a beautiful young woman.  I’ve watched her confidence and strength grow as now she’s inspiring and mentoring my teen and preteens.  Stacy has mentored other girls in person; she’s open, fun, and connects with them in a special way.  (Rebeccah says “it’s because she’s real, her love shines.”) Recently, Christina said “look!  Her quote is one of my favorites!”  In the last blog, “Jesus is not my Boyfriend,” Stacy quoted C.S. Lewis saying “A woman’s heart should be so close to God that a man should have to chase Him to find her.”  (This is one I’ve repeated many times in raising my young women – it’s also a favorite of mine.)

Even though we don’t get to visit in person as often as we’d like to, this wonderful young woman, a strong warrior of God, a vibrant passionate lover of Jesus, my sister-in-Christ, is such a blessing to our family.  She is leading, encouraging, and sharing from her heart.

That is how we teach people.  They say the best sermons you ever preach are the ones that are seen.  We show people who we are, what we are passionate about, and who we love, by the actions they see.  Online, you can’t really “see” people, but you can see the actions of what they are doing through the pictures and stories they show.  (It helps if they are “real” to you; someone you’ve actually met, but that’s not necessary.)  My children watch what I do.  I can talk patience all day, but if I get irritated because the line at the grocery store is too long, all that talk just disappeared because obviously, I don’t “walk the talk.”  When they see someone who has a huge heart for helping others and spreading God’s word and get to “follow” what she’s actually doing and read what she’s saying, it shows them that this person does “walk her talk” too.

I pray constantly to be the kind of person who “walks” my “talk.”  I want to be someone others can look up to and be inspired by.  This is why I write: writing is my passion, my love, my art.  God gives us talents and gifts.  He wants us to use them to encourage, inspire, teach, and love others.  This is my goal.

I am so grateful for those in my family’s life who provide positive inspiration for us – some may not even know how deep of an impact they have on our lives – but if I can, I want to tell them!  Stacy is such a blessing for us – it’s an honor to say she’s my friend.

Stacy writes about singleness, being “on a mission,” loving God, and everyday-Christian-woman challenges in her blog: www.thelivingone.blog.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Squirrel Book!

Furry squirrels lighting the way : new book!

July 17, 2017

Furry Squirrels Lighting the Way

One day we were driving home and a squirrel jumped out in front of the van.  Amid squeals and screams from “Don’t hit it!” and “Mommy! A squirrel!” to “Yummy! Squirrel stew!” I managed to avoid it.

We were on our way to church.  Our church family calls themselves the squirrels.  Instantly, the girls were coming up with nutty squirrel names and reasons for why this “teenage boy squirrel” was out in the road. (I have no idea how it became a teenage boy squirrel, we certainly didn’t catch it and examine it!)

They suggested I write a bunch of stories with these cute little squirrels.  We jotted down names, ages, and built squirrel families in the “Landmark Tribe” in the “wooded lands.”  This was complete with the Beaver Clan and the masked robber family (raccoons).  Several of our chicken names were drafted for Landmark Tribe’s squirrels.  They even sketched out character traits!  Granny Pecan was the first character made.  Her heavenly hazelnut pie was perfected.  They drew pictures and giggled about the squirrels’ stories.

The first story to be published is just out!  Busting Berry Bath is a humorous tale told by Chip, one of the Crunchies of the Landmark Tribe.  (Adults are “elders,” babies are “squawlers,” and teenagers are “crunchies.”)  Each story is a squirrel-style fable; special messages of good character are hidden within. (Can you find the message?)  In their own quirky, squirrely way, these squirrels are lighting the way for all good creatures.

We hope you enjoy this story and the many more to follow!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Question For Inspiration

Why do you say “curiosity killed the cat?”

June 17, 2017

Question for Inspiration

We were all snuggled up, sprawled across the big fluffy bed in our pajamas, about to start reading the third bedtime story on the cool winter night.

“What will it be?” Begs Jaquline for the umpteenth time.

“Patience!” Sighs Kimberly.

“Curiosity killed the cat, you know,” Christina laughed, repeating something her grandmothers and some aunts had occasionally said.

“Why?” Jaquline asked.

Everything stopped.

“Why do you say curiosity killed the cat?” Jaquline clarified.

“Mom, why do you and grandma say that?” Rebeccah asked.

I was stopped on the bed.  I had a storybook in my hand.  This time, I didn’t know why.  I’d never heard of any fable, story, or family tale which had that saying, even as a line somewhere.   So, I invented one.  I told them why the birds say, “Curiosity Killed the Cat.”  They liked it!  The girls insisted I write it into a real story. (Type it, actually) Christina drew the illustration and colored it.

This fable-style story owes its existence to a question asked by a little girl.  For me, inspiration often comes from the simplest of things!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Cousin Train

June 15, 2017

Cousin Train

Some days you just need to laugh!  When cousins are over, that laughter is always bouncing off the walls.

The big girls raced by each pushing a tomato box across the wooden floor.  Mandy squealed from Jaquline’s box (“faster!”).  Isaac peered up from behind his pacifier, eyes pleading with me to save him from Kimberly’s driving (but he wouldn’t get out).  Lucas grinned, (he was in the “real car” – a toy bin) “Rrrrr”ing as Jillian puffed behind him, racing to keep up with her longer-legged sisters.

“Mom!  We’re a train!”  Yelled Kimberly.

“A cousin train!” Jaquline squealed.

This was followed by two or three ear-shattering “WOO WOO” howls (impersonations of imaginary trains).

Then they lined up one box behind the other and wanted a “cousin train” picture.  Kimberly and Jillian kept running in and out of the picture (if we could bottle their energy, we could make a mint) but we captured everyone else!

Our tomato boxes end up being shelves, clothes sorting bins, storage units, temporary nest boxes, or toys.  Once, they became a chalk-covered space ship to Aunt Katy’s house!  Another time, they became lifeboats tied together in an ocean.  This fun day, they were racecars that morphed into a cousin train (which ended up with six cars and one Christina-and-Rebeccah engine!)

I love their imagination! It makes me smile and opens doors for teaching moments.  It also inspires many characters in my books like Jilly and Luke in The Skating Pony.

The cousins love playing together.  Mandy is crafty and creative like her Mommy (hmm, crafty…) so the girls always find something fun to do.  Lucas and Isaac are only separated by 9 days, so many people have asked if they are twins.  They love playing with anything that has wheels.

I wonder where the cousin train will take them next.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

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