Greenville 2010

This is a story about spirit.

Not just school spirit, but the kind of spirit defined by Merriam-Webster as "a vital principle held to give life to physical organisms".

20 girls and 2-1/2 minutes to perform perfectly. They don't have time outs. They don't have half time or instant replay. There isn't a referee. It can be a blood sport. There are injuries...broken noses, black eyes, dislocated parts, abrasions, blisters, swelling, nausea, sprains and a thousand aches and pains.

Tonight is the eve of the 2010-2011 South Carolina High School League State Championship for Competitive Cheerleading. We have traveled 200 miles to represent our High School in the 2-A Division.

The "vital principle" of Spirit is everywhere!

From the parents, coaches, choreographers and volunteers....


To the strong and determined Warrior team members....

They ARE champions!!! They win in the category that counts: character.

Today and then later this evening, they loved one another, encouraged one another, upheld one another and affirmed one another.




They also walked down a street with twinkling lights,
to eat a celebratory dinner at "Sticky Fingers", and then there was MORE celebrating, speech making and gift giving.

I noticed that there was also a lot of hair twiddling....


NOTE: Hair "twiddling" is exclusively a girl thing.

From the time I was a young girl, cheerleading has gotten a "bad rap"....In all the years since then, I haven't been able to come up with a fair reason why that is true.

In the past 5 years, I have come to know, understand and respect the sport of competitive cheerleading. It is a little bit of cheer, a little bit of gymnastics, a little bit of dance, a little bit of pageantry and great deal of athleticism and SPIRIT.

The kind of spirit that pushes you to go on, to reconcile, to try harder, to pull yourself up and then help the other person up.


I am inspired by these young women and tomorrow, I will be wearing my Warrior colors with pride....and cheering them on!

~J

Calm

There is a storm brewing. I can feel it coming. The foundations are shaking, my nerves are quaking and I smell anxiety.

It is the HOLIDAYS.

#1 I have a broken rib
#2 It hurts and I am not sleeping well
#3 It is basketball season and my somewhat "figurative" husband has disappeared
#4 I have 1 week to pull Thanksgiving together
#5 I lost the contact numbers for my fairy godmother
#6 There is no fairy godmother
#7 I go overboard
#8 Then, the minute the Thanksgiving leftovers go into the refrigerator, WHAM!
#9 Tree, trimmings, gifts, cards, good attitude

The other day, it was Autumn. I could smell wood smoke. The air was cool. I had a pumpkin on my door step. We ate 'Apple Crisp' for dessert. There were no expectations. I took this photo.I'm no photographer, but the setting sun made it appear that the tree was on fire. It was a golden color that is really indescribable and only God can do that.

I am titling this photo CALM. It was a calm day. It was a peaceful moment. I felt the presence of the Lord. "The heavens are telling the glory of God"!

There is a storm coming.

I will be covered in flour. My children will be even more spoiled. I will feel unappreciated at least once a day. My feet will hurt. My rib will still be hurting. My wallet will hurt. But my prayer is that in midst of the storm, the "Birthday Boy" will calm the waters. Please Jesus. And thank You.

In 48 hours, I am headed to Greenville SC for the big CHEERLEADING COMPETITION - oops, STATE Cheerleading Competition. I am coming home to a partially thawed 18 lb turkey and a lot chicken broth. And a partridge in a pear tree.

Calm.

~J

10 Unexpected Things

We've all been to Disney, right? I mean, even if you have never had the opportunity to go, you probably still know that there is a castle and characters and parades and fireworks and roller coasters and animals and animation and a monorail and balloons and expensive ice cream. Yes, all that was there when we visited plus short lines, blue skies and warm temperatures. It was a great trip!


Here is the list of 10 things I didn't expect at Disney, but had the good luck to experience:

1. Halloween. A headless horseman, trick or treating trails, an eerily lit castle, costumes, glow
sticks and Cruella Deville!


Michael was supposed to be Michael Jackson for Halloween, but we forgot the "pleather" jacket and glitter glove! It was a lucky break, because Michael (Quinn) is really a pirate at heart! Plus, it seems sacrilegious to NOT be a Disney character while at Disney for Halloween!


Aaarrrhhh!

2. Character Autographs. This was easily one of the single most important aspects of Michael's trip. He was organized. He was determined. He was respectful. He bought into it! That was awesome.
3. Animal Facts. The safari at Animal Kingdom is on the top of my list. I took way too many photos of animals, but they are so beautiful and fascinating. Did you know that Pink Flamingos are pink because they eat crustaceans? The more they eat the pinker they are? Hence, the flamingos at Animal Kingdom were pale pink....I think because they don't get that many shrimp in captivity? Just a guess.

4. Ageless. Disney is ageless. As in "without age". I know that we hear that all the time, but I didn't really believe it. I mean, I thought that the adults that actually chose Disney for vacation, above all other options, were the people who had never been to the Caribbean. I'll admit to that shallow thought. Especially since I drank the kool-aid at Disney and am now a convert.



If teenage girls willingly eat Mickey-shaped waffles at 7:30 am just to see Snow White....well, I rest my case.

Alice in Wonderland was my favorite. She and the Mad-Hatter were hysterical. Seriously.

5. Boating. We went boating. They allowed Mike Quinn to boat. They must have exceptional liability insurance.
There was also a water slide, karaoke, treasure hunts, bottomless soda cups, ping-pong, and ....a USA Today delivered daily. I like the crossword in that newspaper. Just saying.

6. Photos. There were many photos taken. By me. Trust my overloaded hard-drive. There were also the ever professional Disney Photo Express photographers with their ever present photo cards. AND Martha's exceptionally cooperative and photographically gifted friend, Sterling. But the reason "photos" makes the 10 List is because Disney put my daughter, Martha, in such good humor that I actually was allowed to take a picture of her. Oh, my!


7. Winnie-the-Pooh. Maybe I should be embarrassed, but I didn't realize that WTP was a Disney character. I have been asleep. Or something. Did A.A. Milne know Walt? Did they have a gentleman's agreement? I'm good with it. I like Tigger.


8. Down Time. We needed more of it. 'Nuf said.



9. Imagination is Contagious. I believe this is my favorite of all the unexpected things. Michael was content in the room. He was content in restaurants. He was content on the monorail and bus rides. Why? His imagination was sparked. He had his action figures and little "stuff".



Even acorns sparked his imagination. I am impressed. And a little love-blind.

10. Going Back! I am. There ain't no picture for this one. This statement is a testimonial to the large amount of fun we had. It was my 5th trip. I don't care. It was the best. I may NOT be able to go through the Peter Pan ride again. Well....hold that thought.

Make memories. However you can. But I recommend Disney. Even with $4 ice cream.

~J

I just got around to downloading the Disney photos....Actually, I will confess that MARTHA just got around to downloading my Disney photos. Thank you, Martha!

Otherwise, it would probably be next week - or next year. I have good intentions and big plans for writing and posting but not enough time to do it all! I let Martha skip school today to help me. NOT! I let Martha skip school because we have been on the fast and furious Competition Cheerleading circuit and last night was a late night.

If you don't know much about competition cheerleading, now is not the time to educate you - it deserves its own post. Let me just say that it involves HOURS of practice, MILES of travel, POUNDS of ice and icey hot, TUBS of eyeshadow and lipstick, HUNDREDS of dollars and BUCKETS of tears (not to mention winks, handsprings, round-offs, doubles, fulls, pyramids, hairspray, fake hair pieces, and LOTS of booty-shakin')!
That's Martha on the top left, doing some move I should remember the name of at one of the competitions I should remember the name of but they all run together.And this is a team picture taken right after that same competition that I have already blocked from my memory. I DO know that Martha is right in the middle of this photo, looking just like a baby doll with her giant bow and racer red lips.

Remember, this is just the teaser post. Last night, we qualified for the South Carolina High School League STATE Competition in Greenville, SC on November 20th and I am going to wallpaper this blog with a photo essay! I mean, why should I have all the fun?? I want to SHARE. It's gonna be good.

Oh, yeah. What was I saying? Martha slept in today because we got in late from the (ah-hem) STATE Qualifying Competition and she downloaded the Disney photos....here is a Disney teaser:
Wait. That isn't the Disney teaser. That is the Disney dis-pleaser.....teens texting in Disney?! Here is the real teaser....

Now....aren't you getting excited?! Yup. I thought so. I got material, folks.

Stay tuned.

~J

Small Town Fills My Heart With Big Stuff

Really, there is a lot to be said for living in a small town. One exceptionally fun thing we do around here is have a homecoming parade....right smack in the middle of the road, in the middle of the day. The police are there, the firemen are there, the schools' principals are there, the band plays, the children grab and tussle for candy - we even had hot dogs
cooking on one float....We had mascots!
Of one kind ....Or another....




My baby girl, Martha, was there....I'm not bragging, but she was the sophomore class "princess" this year AND the cutest little 'ole cheerleader in that parade.

Sigh. Right now, I'm thinking "Oh, to be young again".

There was a special appearance by another favorite girl of mine....she had the honor of crowning the new QUEEN during half time of the football game.
I was there, on the field, feeling wistful and snapping photos.

I am grateful that we can still do the parade without the threat of violence or without a petition from angry people who don't want the road blocked or a child advocacy group overly fearful of poison candy or something. I am grateful that homecoming is still an honored thing among young people and that traditions are still upheld.

Martha's roses stood in stagnate water on the kitchen table until all the petals fell off and then I carefully carried her little tiara to the attic and lovingly placed it in a box already chock full of happy childhood memories.

And all God's people said, AMEN.

Back soon....

~J

Caterpillars Have Leaves for Umbrellas!

It has been raining for 4 days. It stopped today for 10 seconds. OK. That is an exaggeration. It actually stopped for 1 minute and 15 seconds. In that brief amount of time, Michael and I took the opportunity to photograph a family of caterpillars that have taken up residency on our milkweed plant. The plant was an incredibly thoughtful gift from Gaga.




In case you don't already know this, the milkweed plant is the host for Monarch butterflies. The Monarch lives its entire life cycle on the plant. Hence, the reason that there are 7 caterpillars eating their way into butterfly-dom right outside on our deck!!


This is a very important thing when you are 7 years old.

We had an interesting and somewhat stressful debate about whether or not it would be necessary to bring the milkweed plant indoors to save the caterpillars from drowning (7 year old opinion) OR leave it outside because God, in His infinite wisdom, already took care of that problem a zillion years ago (old, cranky mother opinion). I won. HANG ON for dear life, caterpillars....




Note: Now is a good time to simply appreciate the photos and ignore or disregard how distractingly dirty the 7 year old's fingernail are....

Gotta go get my paddle!

Good night,

~J

"Sweet" Times!

This is my baby girl, Martha.She is the third baby. At age two, her nose is always runny but she lets me take her picture whenever I want to. She almost always has on layers and layers of jewelry and many times she is clutching a naked and sadly disheveled Barbie....and there are ever present pacifiers....at least two, but usually more.

Today, she is 15-1/2 years old and recently passed her drivers test. It is unlikely you will see a "face shot" of Martha on my blog, because she refuses to have her photo made. I sneak a few in.She likes to have her back scratched and her hair brushed and she loves cheerios and purses. Not necessarily in that order. She is a great student and recently discovered that she loves gymnastics and competition cheer leading. She gets very nervous and full of anxiety before any type of performance and I think this is all related to not allowing people to take her picture....I will figure it out.

Last night, she made a 3-D model of an animal cell that was really a cake with lots of candy parts on it. I helped. I iced the cake and then proceeded to eat all the candy I possibly could to insure I would have a tremendous stomach ache when I went to bed. Mission accomplished.

It began with cake....

And a trip to the "craft cabinet"....

Toothpicks, glue, candy....

My stomach is hurting again just thinking about those twizzlers I ate.... and the oreos, moon pies, gummy worms and razzlers.

But, my baby girl made the most amazingly delicious animal cell ever. It is definitely going to be an A+!

See, she just couldn't smile in a normal way as if to suggest she was actually ALLOWING a photograph to be taken of her.

If I could just try to compare Martha to her 3-D cell model: sweet, artistic, clever, funny, colorful, fun, smart, imaginative....yes! All of these! Then perhaps I can settle for this photo for now....

....and hope for a genuine photo of my beautiful baby girl at a later date?

Until next time....

~J