After the downer first 3 days of this week, the last 2 days have been much improved! We spent yesterday whirlwind cleaning the house (how did it get so dirty when we were hardly home the previous 3 days?!) and shopping at Sams (almost $400 worth of groceries). This was all so that we could be ready for our special visitor--my Aunt Claire, otherwise known as Pilotmom! She broke her wrist quite badly in a bicycle "accident" (ha, ha, Aunt Claire!) a few weeks ago, while on vacation in Arizona. She had surgery on July 14, and she can't work for 3 weeks. What better way to recuperate than flying out to see her favorite (and only, LOL) niece and the grand-nieces and -nephews, if those are even words. She has also recently reconnected with her first best friend, from way back when they were 3-7 years old, and this friend happens to live out here not too far from us! So Wednesday they will have lunch and spend the day together! How fun!
The other big thing is that this morning Bob drove up to White Sulphur Springs to pick up Nathan and Luke from Camp Caleb! It poured down rain this morning, but Bob did still get some video of Luke on the zipline. The boys had a wonderful time as usual. Nathan said the guys in his group all got along really, really well, so that was good to hear. Also, his big new experience this year was rapelling, which he thought was tremendous fun. I haven't heard as much about Luke's time, although he also raved about how much fun it was, and how he couldn't believe it was already over with. Time really sped by in PA this week, while it crawled here at home, LOL. Both boys came in quite damp and smelly, I must say. Nathan jammed his thumb playing ultimate frisbee, so it's sore and swollen. He also was immediately struck with terrible allergies as soon as he got back in VA, so his eyes are all itchy, red, and watery, poor guy. I'm hoping for a really restful night's sleep for both of them. They are fried!
Aunt Claire was actually a surprise guest for Nathan and Luke. As they were leaving, she was looking at tickets, but she hadn't bought them, so we weren't sure she was coming. I am pretty positive I mentioned the possibility of her coming to them, but they were both so focused on packing for Camp Caleb that neither of them paid a bit of attention or even remember me ever mentioning it, LOL. So when I was talking to Nathan on the phone while he was driving back, I said how I couldn't wait to see him, and I added that Aunt Claire couldn't wait either. There was a long pause on the phone. " . . . Aunt Claire?" was the puzzled response. "She's right here in the kitchen!" I told him. "Our kitchen?" he asked. LOL! So that was quite a shock for them, but it gave them something to look forward to! She leaves next Thursday, so we're looking forward to a fun week! We aren't planning any trips to the zoo, however . . .
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The Longest Three Days
Let me just preface this post by saying that I am extremely tired, and even a bit grumpy. Hopefully I'll feel better about the value of these last 3 days after I and all the kids are more rested.
The Classical Conversations parent practicum is over. Whew! We really straggled out of there, LOL. Yesterday after lunch, Anna really, REALLY didn't want to go back to her class. I forced her into it though, because I had my training to go to in the afternoon, and I didn't see how I would be able to get anything out of it with her being so tired and crabby, and with me having absolutely nothing with which to amuse her. So she went, and she even fell asleep eventually, but then she had an accident, something that hasn't happened in months and months. I only had a spare pair of undies in her little bag, figuring at most, she'd dribble a little and just need a new pair, but certainly not a whole new outfit. The girls in charge put Anna in a dress-up apron that they tied and sort of wrapped around her, but it was tramatic for her. She said all last night and this morning that she did NOT want to go to her class again, so I packed her little backpack with books, crayons, and snacks, and she jsut stayed with me all day today. That worked much better, and she was good as gold the whole time, although she kept saying she was ready to go home. Me too, Anna. Me too.
When I dropped Jonathan off at his class this morning, his teacher surprised me by saying that he had been melting down in the afternoons. He had not mentioned a word about this to me, and in fact, when I asked him how things were going, he was always very enthusiastic about his class and all they were doing. I told the teacher that, and she was very relieved. She said she thought it was just fatigue, because he would be fine, then just lay his head down and start crying. They would take him out in the hall for a little while and settle him down, and then he would be fine again. There was no trigger or anything. Well, of course he was fatigued! Six hours a day of geography and drawing is really tiring for a 6 year old!
And of course Faith and Grace were so tired because neither of them were having long enough naps either. I had a hard time concentrating on my tutor training in the afternoons because I knew they were all melting down, ready to go home. It was very stressful! And getting through the evenings were just as bad! Now Grace has a huge canker sore on the side of her tongue, which I know is caused by stress and lack of sleep.
The thing about it is that the morning sessions were absolutely unneccessary. Learning about the classical model is great, and I'm all for more people educating their children that way, since I feel it is a good, rigorous method, but nothing that was said could not also be found by reading a book or checking a few internet sites. In fact, if the speaker would have just handed out a copy of her notes to everyone, we would have saved 9 hours of our lives. Which would have kept all of us, especially our kids, a whole lot fresher for the afternoon, which was where the essential tutor training took place. I wish they would do the tutor training in the morning, while the intro stuff was going on, and then people who wanted to ditch the afternoon and put their kids down for naps could do that. The tutor training was very useful and helpful.
I find it amusing that a group of homeschooling moms thought it was neccessary to require other homeschooling moms to come to a 3 day long seminar that is 7 hours long each day, where they could put their little kids in what is essentially day care, and their slightly older kids in what is essentially school. I wonder if those in charge even noticed how the hallways were filled with moms trying to soothe toddlers this whole afternoon? Did they wonder why? And if those moms were actually getting anything out of the afternoon? The kicker is that if you tutor, you have to go to these practicums every. single. year. And it doesn't sound like they change the morning intro stuff either from year to year. Argh! It's a good thing I'm already sold on the Classical Conversations idea, because if I was totally brand new to the concept and just going to the practicum, I think I would bail!
The Classical Conversations parent practicum is over. Whew! We really straggled out of there, LOL. Yesterday after lunch, Anna really, REALLY didn't want to go back to her class. I forced her into it though, because I had my training to go to in the afternoon, and I didn't see how I would be able to get anything out of it with her being so tired and crabby, and with me having absolutely nothing with which to amuse her. So she went, and she even fell asleep eventually, but then she had an accident, something that hasn't happened in months and months. I only had a spare pair of undies in her little bag, figuring at most, she'd dribble a little and just need a new pair, but certainly not a whole new outfit. The girls in charge put Anna in a dress-up apron that they tied and sort of wrapped around her, but it was tramatic for her. She said all last night and this morning that she did NOT want to go to her class again, so I packed her little backpack with books, crayons, and snacks, and she jsut stayed with me all day today. That worked much better, and she was good as gold the whole time, although she kept saying she was ready to go home. Me too, Anna. Me too.
When I dropped Jonathan off at his class this morning, his teacher surprised me by saying that he had been melting down in the afternoons. He had not mentioned a word about this to me, and in fact, when I asked him how things were going, he was always very enthusiastic about his class and all they were doing. I told the teacher that, and she was very relieved. She said she thought it was just fatigue, because he would be fine, then just lay his head down and start crying. They would take him out in the hall for a little while and settle him down, and then he would be fine again. There was no trigger or anything. Well, of course he was fatigued! Six hours a day of geography and drawing is really tiring for a 6 year old!
And of course Faith and Grace were so tired because neither of them were having long enough naps either. I had a hard time concentrating on my tutor training in the afternoons because I knew they were all melting down, ready to go home. It was very stressful! And getting through the evenings were just as bad! Now Grace has a huge canker sore on the side of her tongue, which I know is caused by stress and lack of sleep.
The thing about it is that the morning sessions were absolutely unneccessary. Learning about the classical model is great, and I'm all for more people educating their children that way, since I feel it is a good, rigorous method, but nothing that was said could not also be found by reading a book or checking a few internet sites. In fact, if the speaker would have just handed out a copy of her notes to everyone, we would have saved 9 hours of our lives. Which would have kept all of us, especially our kids, a whole lot fresher for the afternoon, which was where the essential tutor training took place. I wish they would do the tutor training in the morning, while the intro stuff was going on, and then people who wanted to ditch the afternoon and put their kids down for naps could do that. The tutor training was very useful and helpful.
I find it amusing that a group of homeschooling moms thought it was neccessary to require other homeschooling moms to come to a 3 day long seminar that is 7 hours long each day, where they could put their little kids in what is essentially day care, and their slightly older kids in what is essentially school. I wonder if those in charge even noticed how the hallways were filled with moms trying to soothe toddlers this whole afternoon? Did they wonder why? And if those moms were actually getting anything out of the afternoon? The kicker is that if you tutor, you have to go to these practicums every. single. year. And it doesn't sound like they change the morning intro stuff either from year to year. Argh! It's a good thing I'm already sold on the Classical Conversations idea, because if I was totally brand new to the concept and just going to the practicum, I think I would bail!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tiring Day
Today was the first day of a 3-day parent practicum for Classical Conversations, a co-op we're going to be a part of next year. I am excited about the co-op, but I was not looking forward to this practicum--it goes from 9-4 for 3 days and is almost an hour away. That's rough on little pumpkins! And indeed the kids are all totally exhausted. So am I! I'm not used to just sitting in a chair for hours on end anymore. It's like being back in college or something!
The morning session is just a general overview of the classical model for education. Now we homeschool classically, so I am very familiar with this model. The majority of people there had been to a CC practicum before, so it certainly wasn't new to them either, and I can imagine they were all bored! The speaker was nice and engaging, abeit a bit flighty. She sort jumped off on rabbit trails and kept shuffling through her notes for some obscure example. Still, it is always inspirational to remember why I chose to homeschool classically.
After our lunch break, I went to "tutor training", since I'm going to be a tutor next year. I'll be tutoring basically the 8-9 year olds, although I'm putting Luke in there too, since I would other wise not have anyone of mine in there, and that helped balance the numbers. Since we have not participated in CC before, and our campus is a brand new branch this year, I was really looking forward to figuring out exactly what I will be doing. I was so frustrated when the leader started out with the same stuff as the morning: "When I say 'grammar stage', what are some words you think of?" Argh! Thankfully we moved past that by the first hour, and on to more pertinent and practical things. I definitely am learning a lot and am feeling more comfortable with everything that I'll be doing. I'll have to post more on that later. I'm too tired to synthesize it all now!
The best part of the day was running into people. I saw 2 ladies from our co-op up here, and I saw a friend, Joelyn, who we were stationed with way back in Colorado! We still exchange Christmas letters and are Facebook friends, and I knew they were living down in the Woodbridge area, so it wasn't as totally shocking as it could have been. But we haven't actually seen each other since we left Colorado back in January 01! It was fun to catch up with her and see her kids, who have all grown a lot or been born since then, LOL.
Tonight we're all going to bed early so we can make the long trek again tomorrow.
In assignment news, the guy called right after Bob got home, and it looks like Suffolk is out, which is actually disappointing to me, as it turns out. I was getting used to the idea of moving down there! I believe they will be offering us Toronto, which is just not as attractive. Bob will need a level 2 French certification, which he doesn't have right now, so he would have to go to language school for a few months as well. We're still talking it through however. I find it interesting that the first time Bob got info about our possible assignment was also at the end of a day where I felt totally worn out and unable to even think about anything--the day my wallet got stolen at the zoo. Coincidence? Must not be!
The morning session is just a general overview of the classical model for education. Now we homeschool classically, so I am very familiar with this model. The majority of people there had been to a CC practicum before, so it certainly wasn't new to them either, and I can imagine they were all bored! The speaker was nice and engaging, abeit a bit flighty. She sort jumped off on rabbit trails and kept shuffling through her notes for some obscure example. Still, it is always inspirational to remember why I chose to homeschool classically.
After our lunch break, I went to "tutor training", since I'm going to be a tutor next year. I'll be tutoring basically the 8-9 year olds, although I'm putting Luke in there too, since I would other wise not have anyone of mine in there, and that helped balance the numbers. Since we have not participated in CC before, and our campus is a brand new branch this year, I was really looking forward to figuring out exactly what I will be doing. I was so frustrated when the leader started out with the same stuff as the morning: "When I say 'grammar stage', what are some words you think of?" Argh! Thankfully we moved past that by the first hour, and on to more pertinent and practical things. I definitely am learning a lot and am feeling more comfortable with everything that I'll be doing. I'll have to post more on that later. I'm too tired to synthesize it all now!
The best part of the day was running into people. I saw 2 ladies from our co-op up here, and I saw a friend, Joelyn, who we were stationed with way back in Colorado! We still exchange Christmas letters and are Facebook friends, and I knew they were living down in the Woodbridge area, so it wasn't as totally shocking as it could have been. But we haven't actually seen each other since we left Colorado back in January 01! It was fun to catch up with her and see her kids, who have all grown a lot or been born since then, LOL.
Tonight we're all going to bed early so we can make the long trek again tomorrow.
In assignment news, the guy called right after Bob got home, and it looks like Suffolk is out, which is actually disappointing to me, as it turns out. I was getting used to the idea of moving down there! I believe they will be offering us Toronto, which is just not as attractive. Bob will need a level 2 French certification, which he doesn't have right now, so he would have to go to language school for a few months as well. We're still talking it through however. I find it interesting that the first time Bob got info about our possible assignment was also at the end of a day where I felt totally worn out and unable to even think about anything--the day my wallet got stolen at the zoo. Coincidence? Must not be!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Ouch, that hits close to home!
My daily Elisabeth Elliot devotional was certainly timely--and very applicable! Here is what she had to say:
A Devious Repentance
Recently I committed a sin of what seemed to me unpardonable thoughtlessness. For days I wanted to kick myself around the block. What is the matter with me? I thought. How could I have acted so? "Fret not thyself because of evildoers" came to mind. In this case the evildoer was myself, and I was fretting. My fretting, I discovered, was a subtle kind of pride. "I'm really not that sort of person," I was saying. I did not want to be thought of as that sort of person. I was very sorry for what I had done, not primarily because I had failed someone I loved, but because my reputation would be smudged. When my reputation becomes my chief concern, my repentance has a hollow ring. No wonder Satan is called the deceiver. He has a thousand tricks, and we fall for them.
Lord, I confess my sin of thoughtlessness and my sin of pride. I pray for a more loving and a purer heart, for Jesus' sake.
A Devious Repentance
Recently I committed a sin of what seemed to me unpardonable thoughtlessness. For days I wanted to kick myself around the block. What is the matter with me? I thought. How could I have acted so? "Fret not thyself because of evildoers" came to mind. In this case the evildoer was myself, and I was fretting. My fretting, I discovered, was a subtle kind of pride. "I'm really not that sort of person," I was saying. I did not want to be thought of as that sort of person. I was very sorry for what I had done, not primarily because I had failed someone I loved, but because my reputation would be smudged. When my reputation becomes my chief concern, my repentance has a hollow ring. No wonder Satan is called the deceiver. He has a thousand tricks, and we fall for them.
Lord, I confess my sin of thoughtlessness and my sin of pride. I pray for a more loving and a purer heart, for Jesus' sake.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Big Night For Faith!
Faith has been waking up in the middle of the night the past few nights. Finally it occurred to me that hey, maybe I should start her on solids! She is almost 6 months, and I like to start before 6 months, just so I can tell the doctor I've started at the 6 month well-baby appointment. I'm all about avoiding any extra grief. So I decided tonight would be the night. She looked so small in the high chair!
Luke was on hand, so he got to give the ceremonial first bite, as well as a bunch more bites. As it turned out, she really liked rice cereal! 
Here she looks a bit taken back by the new taste, but she ended up eating all that I had made for her. She wasn't too messy either. Sometimes babies end up extruding so much by pushing it out with their tongues, and she didn't do that at all. So Faith is well on her way to eating real food.In other Faith-related news, she is really inching around quite well on the floor now, by pulling herself by her arms. She will get up on all fours and rock a bit, but she falls rather than goes forward. By pulling herself, she can pretty much get to whatever she wants. I've told the boys we have to be really careful and make sure the door to the basement is closed, and that we don't put her too close to the top of the stairs on the top floor either! I don't think crawling is too far behind!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Assignment Update
We have some big decisions to make coming up, as far as what we are going to do next. The assignment detailer gave Bob 3 choices to think about last Wednesday, but since that was the day my wallet got stolen, I didn't have the emotional energy to really think too hard about any of them! The 3 choices were : an IG job at Eglin AFB, FL, an IG job at Langley AFB, VA, and a joint job at the Canadian Command and Staff College in Toronto.
After all the drama of the weekend, we finally did get around to really discussing those options, and we ruled out the 2 IG jobs. Those would involve tons and tons of travel, and that just doesn't seem like the best thing for the family right now. So that left the job up in Toronto, which was a big unknown. I put out a question on the Well Trained Mind board, and some kind ladies gave very reassuring answers as to life in Canada, especially in Toronto, and it does sound like a lovely city. But would that be better than staying here? It doesn't really set Bob up for a job after he retires.
Then the detailer said yesterday that he also had a position in the USJFCOM compound, which is down not too far from Norfolk. That job is a lot more up Bob's alley, as far as what he has done in that past and would probably do in the future. We looked at some rentals online, and they seem nicer and bigger than the ones close to Langley, which all seemed very old and small. So that is an option for us. The trick is that the job in Toronto is a "must fill", while the job down in JFCOM is a level lower, so the guy might not be able to load that job for us.
Whichever job we get officially assigned, we will have to decide if that is better than staying here. And there are some very compelling reasons to stay! We have very, very close friends here, we have a WONDERFUL church, we love our homeschool group, as well as all the extracurricular opportunities for homeschoolers here, and it is not too far from either set of parents. It is closer to Bob's parents, and that is very important to us, as they are getting older and can't travel.
The one thing that makes moving particularly attractive right now is that there is a program in place for military people who bought homes before I think 2006 in areas that were really inflated, like D.C. If you get orders and PCS at least 50 miles away from your previous duty station, then the government will pay 95% of the difference between what you paid for your house, and what you can sell it for. That is substantial, since our house has probably lost at least $200,000 since we bought it in 2004. I guess before we accepted any assignment, I would want Bob to absolutely make sure the dates are correct and everything, because if we were somehow not eligible, then it would be a no-brainer. We wouldn't move.
If we do move, Bob would have to stay active duty for 2 more years before he could retire. One thing that makes the VA Beach job better than the Toronto one is the possibility that Bob could start work down there, maybe as late as January, and we could stay here and finish out TNT and Classical Conversations while trying to sell the house. Then we could all move down there in April. That would not work in Toronto, as Bob would most likely have a report date in October, and we couldn't really commute back and forth to there over weekends! I'm not sure what we would do if we had to move that early--we definitely couldn't do Classical Conversations.
Please be praying for wisdom and discernment for us. It would be wonderful to be totally out of debt, but it would also be a huge hassle to get the house ready to sell. Also, Luke in particular has no interest in moving (hmm, wonder who he is most like as a child?!). So there are lots of things to weigh, and we want to be where the Lord wants us.
After all the drama of the weekend, we finally did get around to really discussing those options, and we ruled out the 2 IG jobs. Those would involve tons and tons of travel, and that just doesn't seem like the best thing for the family right now. So that left the job up in Toronto, which was a big unknown. I put out a question on the Well Trained Mind board, and some kind ladies gave very reassuring answers as to life in Canada, especially in Toronto, and it does sound like a lovely city. But would that be better than staying here? It doesn't really set Bob up for a job after he retires.
Then the detailer said yesterday that he also had a position in the USJFCOM compound, which is down not too far from Norfolk. That job is a lot more up Bob's alley, as far as what he has done in that past and would probably do in the future. We looked at some rentals online, and they seem nicer and bigger than the ones close to Langley, which all seemed very old and small. So that is an option for us. The trick is that the job in Toronto is a "must fill", while the job down in JFCOM is a level lower, so the guy might not be able to load that job for us.
Whichever job we get officially assigned, we will have to decide if that is better than staying here. And there are some very compelling reasons to stay! We have very, very close friends here, we have a WONDERFUL church, we love our homeschool group, as well as all the extracurricular opportunities for homeschoolers here, and it is not too far from either set of parents. It is closer to Bob's parents, and that is very important to us, as they are getting older and can't travel.
The one thing that makes moving particularly attractive right now is that there is a program in place for military people who bought homes before I think 2006 in areas that were really inflated, like D.C. If you get orders and PCS at least 50 miles away from your previous duty station, then the government will pay 95% of the difference between what you paid for your house, and what you can sell it for. That is substantial, since our house has probably lost at least $200,000 since we bought it in 2004. I guess before we accepted any assignment, I would want Bob to absolutely make sure the dates are correct and everything, because if we were somehow not eligible, then it would be a no-brainer. We wouldn't move.
If we do move, Bob would have to stay active duty for 2 more years before he could retire. One thing that makes the VA Beach job better than the Toronto one is the possibility that Bob could start work down there, maybe as late as January, and we could stay here and finish out TNT and Classical Conversations while trying to sell the house. Then we could all move down there in April. That would not work in Toronto, as Bob would most likely have a report date in October, and we couldn't really commute back and forth to there over weekends! I'm not sure what we would do if we had to move that early--we definitely couldn't do Classical Conversations.
Please be praying for wisdom and discernment for us. It would be wonderful to be totally out of debt, but it would also be a huge hassle to get the house ready to sell. Also, Luke in particular has no interest in moving (hmm, wonder who he is most like as a child?!). So there are lots of things to weigh, and we want to be where the Lord wants us.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Company Town
So I mentioned that we had a good time up in PA with Bob's family last weekend. We went up for the annual family reunion. We couldn't go last year, so we wanted to make sure we went this year. Also, this was the first opportunity for Bob's parents to meet Faith!
When Melinda and I were talking about when she could come out, this past week was literally the only time that worked, with her schedule, our schedule, when the good fares were, and with her pregnancy. I told her we had already committed to this reunion, and she and Emily were good sports and came along for the ride! Everyone at the reunion was very welcoming, even wanting her to be in the picture!
During the afternon, I was trying to get Faith to go off to sleep, and I asked Melinda if she and Emily would want to go on a walk with Faith and me, as I thought Faith would fall asleep in the stroller. The reunion was again held at a relative's house who lives in the actual small town where Bob's parents grew up and met. I thought it would be fun to walk around and see the town, so I asked Bob where various relatives had lived. He couldn't exactly remember, so he asked his parents. Well, they actually wanted to go with us, so Melinda and I got the first class personal tour of the town, and it was so interesting!
As it turns out, the town, which used to be called "Crow's Nest", was actually a company town, built by the mining company for its miners. As we walked around, Frank and Ann pointed out pretty much every house and told us who used to live in each of them. These houses are not big at all--most of them were duplexes, with 2 bedrooms upstairs, 2 rooms on the main floor, and a basement. People raised huge families in them though! Ann's oldest sister lived in one and raised 10 kids, and Ann's parents lived in one and raised 14!! Wow! I was so impressed! I asked where they all slept, and Ann said they slept sideways on a bed, fitting as many as possible in there.
As we walked around, Ann and Frank looked eagerly in each car that passed, and they knew a lot of the people who drove by! They were children or grandchildren of people they had known growing up. It was funny--Frank commented on how dead and quiet the town was, but I had just been thinking the opposite! Everyone seemed so friendly, waving as they drove by! But Frank meant that people used to just sit on their porches and drop by and visit, and we didn't see much of that. But the town as a whole seemed a lot more friendlier and accessible than the cookie-cutter suburbs developed nowdays, where absolutely no one is out and about, and the garage door goes down as soon as one pulls inside!
Frank and Ann grew up across the street from each other, and a bit catty-corner. Frank said that when Ann would come out every evening to hang laundry on the line behind her house, he would toss a pebble over at her to get her attention. As he was saying this, he tossed a little rock that he had picked up. It was so cute! They reminisced about all the big trees that used to be on the street that they would lay under and look up at the clouds. There weren't very many of the big trees, especially down by their houses. I guess they eventually blew over in storms or something. Poplars, I think they said. Ann said that she fell in love with Frank when she was 12 years old, and she would have married him then. He went off to the war a few years later, where he got injured on a boat. When he came back, she married him anyway, even though he had changed, because she couldn't imagine being with anyone else. After hearing about all their history together, I could better understand that.
We heard all sorts of stories about all these former residents. I asked where they did their shopping, and Ann said at the company store, which we had passed when we drove in. Ahh, that made a lot of sense. She even remembered her tab number--151. When we turned the last corner to go back to Cousin Mark's house, Frank said this was where all the bosses lived. The houses were indeed a bit larger, or they at least weren't duplexes. Interesting.
So we had a fascinating tour of a different era, one where you knew all your neighbors. I'm sure that was not all sweetness and light, and that there were problems associated with that, but it just is so different than it is now that it was fascinating. I mean, I think we live in a very friendly neighborhood and have good relations with our neighbors, but we are only really close to maybe 3-4 families, and we have nodding acquaintances with several more. Our neighborhood is smaller than their town, but we definitely don't even know the faces of all of our neighbors, much less their names!
And they certainly don't build company towns anymore. My aunt and uncle in northern California lived in a company town called Hilt for awhile a long time ago. It was built by I think Sunkist, for its fruit packaging workers. When the company closed the facility, they just shut the town down. No one was allowed to buy the houses they had been living in, and the town just disappeared off the map! How dumb. I remember my cousins (who were in elementary school at the time, I believe) telling about how they wrote letters to company complaining about it, but the company basically just said they were dumb kids and didn't know anything, LOL. Anyways, I was glad that the mining company didn't do that with this town, so that all this family history could be preserved.
When Melinda and I were talking about when she could come out, this past week was literally the only time that worked, with her schedule, our schedule, when the good fares were, and with her pregnancy. I told her we had already committed to this reunion, and she and Emily were good sports and came along for the ride! Everyone at the reunion was very welcoming, even wanting her to be in the picture!
During the afternon, I was trying to get Faith to go off to sleep, and I asked Melinda if she and Emily would want to go on a walk with Faith and me, as I thought Faith would fall asleep in the stroller. The reunion was again held at a relative's house who lives in the actual small town where Bob's parents grew up and met. I thought it would be fun to walk around and see the town, so I asked Bob where various relatives had lived. He couldn't exactly remember, so he asked his parents. Well, they actually wanted to go with us, so Melinda and I got the first class personal tour of the town, and it was so interesting!
As it turns out, the town, which used to be called "Crow's Nest", was actually a company town, built by the mining company for its miners. As we walked around, Frank and Ann pointed out pretty much every house and told us who used to live in each of them. These houses are not big at all--most of them were duplexes, with 2 bedrooms upstairs, 2 rooms on the main floor, and a basement. People raised huge families in them though! Ann's oldest sister lived in one and raised 10 kids, and Ann's parents lived in one and raised 14!! Wow! I was so impressed! I asked where they all slept, and Ann said they slept sideways on a bed, fitting as many as possible in there.
As we walked around, Ann and Frank looked eagerly in each car that passed, and they knew a lot of the people who drove by! They were children or grandchildren of people they had known growing up. It was funny--Frank commented on how dead and quiet the town was, but I had just been thinking the opposite! Everyone seemed so friendly, waving as they drove by! But Frank meant that people used to just sit on their porches and drop by and visit, and we didn't see much of that. But the town as a whole seemed a lot more friendlier and accessible than the cookie-cutter suburbs developed nowdays, where absolutely no one is out and about, and the garage door goes down as soon as one pulls inside!
Frank and Ann grew up across the street from each other, and a bit catty-corner. Frank said that when Ann would come out every evening to hang laundry on the line behind her house, he would toss a pebble over at her to get her attention. As he was saying this, he tossed a little rock that he had picked up. It was so cute! They reminisced about all the big trees that used to be on the street that they would lay under and look up at the clouds. There weren't very many of the big trees, especially down by their houses. I guess they eventually blew over in storms or something. Poplars, I think they said. Ann said that she fell in love with Frank when she was 12 years old, and she would have married him then. He went off to the war a few years later, where he got injured on a boat. When he came back, she married him anyway, even though he had changed, because she couldn't imagine being with anyone else. After hearing about all their history together, I could better understand that.
We heard all sorts of stories about all these former residents. I asked where they did their shopping, and Ann said at the company store, which we had passed when we drove in. Ahh, that made a lot of sense. She even remembered her tab number--151. When we turned the last corner to go back to Cousin Mark's house, Frank said this was where all the bosses lived. The houses were indeed a bit larger, or they at least weren't duplexes. Interesting.
So we had a fascinating tour of a different era, one where you knew all your neighbors. I'm sure that was not all sweetness and light, and that there were problems associated with that, but it just is so different than it is now that it was fascinating. I mean, I think we live in a very friendly neighborhood and have good relations with our neighbors, but we are only really close to maybe 3-4 families, and we have nodding acquaintances with several more. Our neighborhood is smaller than their town, but we definitely don't even know the faces of all of our neighbors, much less their names!
And they certainly don't build company towns anymore. My aunt and uncle in northern California lived in a company town called Hilt for awhile a long time ago. It was built by I think Sunkist, for its fruit packaging workers. When the company closed the facility, they just shut the town down. No one was allowed to buy the houses they had been living in, and the town just disappeared off the map! How dumb. I remember my cousins (who were in elementary school at the time, I believe) telling about how they wrote letters to company complaining about it, but the company basically just said they were dumb kids and didn't know anything, LOL. Anyways, I was glad that the mining company didn't do that with this town, so that all this family history could be preserved.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
A Humbling Week
We are back at home now, after spending some good time this weekend with Bob's family. I will write more about that later, but first I have something of a more personal note to share. This really has been a very humbling week, starting off with the stolen wallet on Wednesday. We have reanalyzed the day at the zoo many times, and we think have a good feel for when the wallet got stolen (while we were distracted under a mister and Faith was in the frontpack). Ultimately the blame falls on me, because I should have left my wallet in the car, or at least been paying more attention to the stroller. I am so thankful that the Lord was gracious and allowed just the wallet to be stolen, as opposed to a child or something. But it has been hard for me to deal with, knowing I was so careless.
I was made aware of something even worse on Saturday, however. People have been hurt by careless and thoughtless words that I wrote on this very blog several years ago. I have already written letters of apology, but of course damage from words can't be covered over just like that. This was a huge blow to me, and I am still reeling from it.
So this week, I feel like I have been held up to a mirror, and I don't like what I have seen of myself. I am thankful that my sins are forgiven through Christ, and at times like this, all I can do is rest in His unmerited grace to me.
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3: 22-23
I was made aware of something even worse on Saturday, however. People have been hurt by careless and thoughtless words that I wrote on this very blog several years ago. I have already written letters of apology, but of course damage from words can't be covered over just like that. This was a huge blow to me, and I am still reeling from it.
So this week, I feel like I have been held up to a mirror, and I don't like what I have seen of myself. I am thankful that my sins are forgiven through Christ, and at times like this, all I can do is rest in His unmerited grace to me.
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3: 22-23
Thursday, July 16, 2009
A New Person
Well, actually I'm not a new person today, but I can officially prove that I am still a person. I possess a new ID card, a new driver's license is coming in the mail in 7-10 days, and we have a new checking accounts. Those 3 things took the whole entire day to do, and we were so very thankful to have Melinda here, who volunteered to watch the kids. I don't think she knew how long it would take! Actually, she did a wonderful job, and she even told me that she was surprised that it was easier to watch 8 kids than just 1, because they all go off and do stuff together. That is what I tell people, but no one ever believes me! But it was still a long day for Melinda, and definitely not what she signed up for when she and Emily came out here for a vacation, LOL.
Bob and I also celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary tonight (the real date is tomorrow, July 17, but we have Bible study). This was the ONLY thing that Melinda originally volunteered to babysit for! Bob had made reservations at a restaurant called Clyde's, which we had heard really good things about from other people. It was so delicious, and it had such a nice atmosphere! They had a "price fixe" menu, so we got a salad, entree, and dessert for $25 each. I had salmon, which was quite yummy (I am turning into a salmon fan--who knew?!), and Bob had a steak, which had such a tender, buttery texture. Delicious! He had a mixed berry shortcake, and I had chocolate Haagen-Daz ice cream for dessert. I was glad I wasn't on the gestational diabetes diet and having to walk all that off afterwards, LOL.
One thing we discussed a lot was our future. We're trying to decide if we should take an assignment (either Eglin, Langley, or Toronto), or retire. None of the jobs are that great, so we're kicking it all around. No firm decisions have been made. We'll keep you posted . . .
Bob and I also celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary tonight (the real date is tomorrow, July 17, but we have Bible study). This was the ONLY thing that Melinda originally volunteered to babysit for! Bob had made reservations at a restaurant called Clyde's, which we had heard really good things about from other people. It was so delicious, and it had such a nice atmosphere! They had a "price fixe" menu, so we got a salad, entree, and dessert for $25 each. I had salmon, which was quite yummy (I am turning into a salmon fan--who knew?!), and Bob had a steak, which had such a tender, buttery texture. Delicious! He had a mixed berry shortcake, and I had chocolate Haagen-Daz ice cream for dessert. I was glad I wasn't on the gestational diabetes diet and having to walk all that off afterwards, LOL.
One thing we discussed a lot was our future. We're trying to decide if we should take an assignment (either Eglin, Langley, or Toronto), or retire. None of the jobs are that great, so we're kicking it all around. No firm decisions have been made. We'll keep you posted . . .
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Zoo
We are having a great visit with Melinda and Emily! We picked them up with no problems yesterday afternoon at Baltimore. It was right at rush hour, so we decided to drive on into Baltimore, to the Inner Harbor, and walk around there for a little while. It was a beautiful day, sunny, but not too hot, so it was a nice time!
Today we headed to the National Zoo. It was a hotter day, but Melinda is coming from super-hot Texas, so she wasn't too impressed, LOL. We saw animals, we sweated, and my wallet got stolen out of the diaper bag in the bottom of the double stroller. So as you can imagine, that is what left the most lasting impression, rather than the animals. We called to cancel credit cards right away (thankfully we had all of Bob's there so we knew which ones to call), and we found out they were already using mine, so it didn't take them long. Sigh. Tomorrow we will have to try to get new ID cards for Nathan, Luke, and me, as well as a new driver's license. It was such an amazingly incredible hassle last time I tried to get a VA driver's license that I am not sure how that is going to go. Not a good feeling, realizing your wallet is gone.
Today we headed to the National Zoo. It was a hotter day, but Melinda is coming from super-hot Texas, so she wasn't too impressed, LOL. We saw animals, we sweated, and my wallet got stolen out of the diaper bag in the bottom of the double stroller. So as you can imagine, that is what left the most lasting impression, rather than the animals. We called to cancel credit cards right away (thankfully we had all of Bob's there so we knew which ones to call), and we found out they were already using mine, so it didn't take them long. Sigh. Tomorrow we will have to try to get new ID cards for Nathan, Luke, and me, as well as a new driver's license. It was such an amazingly incredible hassle last time I tried to get a VA driver's license that I am not sure how that is going to go. Not a good feeling, realizing your wallet is gone.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Our Daily Bread
Wow, I haven't posted since Monday. That must be because we have been busy doing exciting thing! Or not, LOL. Actually, our week without Nathan and Luke has been quite mundane, filled with trips to Sams and Wegmans, as well as trying to get the basement clean for next week's visit by my sister-in-law and niece. The thrills! I did throw away a TON of old school papers and workbooks, since no one has ever come by looking for proof that Caleb did indeed finish all of Saxon 1, or Nathan did a complete year of Easy Grammer in 4th grade, LOL.
Caleb and Jonathan enjoyed this time of being the biggest brothers. All of a sudden, THEY were the ones the neighborhood boys came to the door asking for! They also got to go play with the sons of our pastor yesterday afternoon.
One new thing we've been trying this week has been baking bread. I've been interested in doing this for quite awhile, but it just hasn't happened. It's hard to find bread with no milk in it for Caleb, and with Melinda coming, who is allergic to soy, this makes it even more challenging to find good bread. I figured it would be so much easier to make our own. We tried a non-whole wheat recipe first, and that turned out pretty well. Then we got vital wheat gluten from Wegmans, and we tried whole wheat bread the next day. It turned out well! It's not Caleb's favorite, but I think he just likes the really fluffy texture of store-bought bread. Our bread really wasn't too dense though. It was good.
The idea is that Luke will become our bread baker, since Nathan is our jerky/dried fruit man. One reason we have never made our own bread is that I really don't need another thing on my list to do. But I bought this MOMYS cookbook from Carri when we were visiting, and one lady who submitted a bread recipe (for her KitchenAid even!) mentioned that her 8 year old son baked all the bread for their family. Hmmm. Luke is 10 . . . We only have a KitchenAid 6-qt. mixer, so we can only make 2 loaves at a time, but that should be enough to get us started. If it looks like we're going to keep at it, then we will buy a Bosch or an Electrolux so we don't have to bake every other day. We're going to need a stronger mixer at some point anyhow. The KitchenAid struggles with the amount of mashed potatoes we do and other things like thick cookie doughs!
One more thing of interest--Bob got an email at the end of the day on Friday saying he needed to call this guy to talk about his assignment. He'll call next week, so I'm guessing we'll know more then about what things are looking like future-wise for us. Be praying!
Caleb and Jonathan enjoyed this time of being the biggest brothers. All of a sudden, THEY were the ones the neighborhood boys came to the door asking for! They also got to go play with the sons of our pastor yesterday afternoon.
One new thing we've been trying this week has been baking bread. I've been interested in doing this for quite awhile, but it just hasn't happened. It's hard to find bread with no milk in it for Caleb, and with Melinda coming, who is allergic to soy, this makes it even more challenging to find good bread. I figured it would be so much easier to make our own. We tried a non-whole wheat recipe first, and that turned out pretty well. Then we got vital wheat gluten from Wegmans, and we tried whole wheat bread the next day. It turned out well! It's not Caleb's favorite, but I think he just likes the really fluffy texture of store-bought bread. Our bread really wasn't too dense though. It was good.
The idea is that Luke will become our bread baker, since Nathan is our jerky/dried fruit man. One reason we have never made our own bread is that I really don't need another thing on my list to do. But I bought this MOMYS cookbook from Carri when we were visiting, and one lady who submitted a bread recipe (for her KitchenAid even!) mentioned that her 8 year old son baked all the bread for their family. Hmmm. Luke is 10 . . . We only have a KitchenAid 6-qt. mixer, so we can only make 2 loaves at a time, but that should be enough to get us started. If it looks like we're going to keep at it, then we will buy a Bosch or an Electrolux so we don't have to bake every other day. We're going to need a stronger mixer at some point anyhow. The KitchenAid struggles with the amount of mashed potatoes we do and other things like thick cookie doughs!
One more thing of interest--Bob got an email at the end of the day on Friday saying he needed to call this guy to talk about his assignment. He'll call next week, so I'm guessing we'll know more then about what things are looking like future-wise for us. Be praying!
Monday, July 06, 2009
Keeping It Real, Keeping Us Humble
So Nathan and Luke are having, by all accounts, a marvelous time with Grandma and Grandpa. They went to an underground railroad museum, which sounded fascinating, and an Indian village. They went to the local tea party on July 3rd and watched fireworks there. They had an entire large pizza to themselves (ham and pineapple, of course), and they ate the whole thing. They went out to eat at Applebees and got to order whatever they wanted off the menu. Good times indeed.
Meanwhile, we are soldiering on without them back at the ranch. And it turns out we have really come to depend on them! Yesterday after church we went out to eat with another family at Boston Market. Ed and Angela are good friends of the McC's, and they have 5 boys ranging in age from 13 down to about 5. They are such a nice family, and they've only started attending our church within the last month or so. We pulled a bunch of table together, and our kids sat at one end, the 4 adults sat in the middle, and their boys sat at the other end. Oh, and I should mention that our kids were really tired because we stayed at the L's house until 11:00 watching fireworks the night before. Anyhow, we were thoroughly enjoying our conversation when a lady approached our table.
"Excuse me, but the baby is licking the floor, and I thought you'd want to know."
What?!! Why yes, there was Grace, down on the floor licking it. Ack! I think she had dropped an apple, which she ate off the floor, and then she just wanted to finish cleaning up all that good sticky juice. Blech. How mortifying! Obviously we were not paying one tiny bit of attention to her! She was embarrassed by all the commotion, so she cried, but eventually we got her calmed down. Red-faced, we continued our conversation. A little while later, I glance over at Grace again. She is standing between 2 chairs, with one leg on each chair, and as I look over, I see her tumble down to the floor as the chairs slide away. Whoops! She cried long and loudly, and the lady looked over at us again. I'm sure she was wondering why we couldn't keep our children under control, and was glad we didn't have any MORE kids!! LOL!
Now see, this is the sort of thing that really doesn't happen much to us. Our kids usually just sit in their chairs at restaurants, and we don't have any problems. I have realized that Bob and I have gotten lazy though. If Nathan and Luke had been there, then that would have been 2 more pairs of eyes to watch over everyone, and I am sure Luke would have noticed that Grace was on the floor. And when she was standing in her chair, trying to reach something, Nathan would have been right there to get it for her. We have a week left to get ourselves back into the alert state we were back when we just had 5. And then Nathan and Luke will be home, and we'll all be so happy and relieved!
Meanwhile, we are soldiering on without them back at the ranch. And it turns out we have really come to depend on them! Yesterday after church we went out to eat with another family at Boston Market. Ed and Angela are good friends of the McC's, and they have 5 boys ranging in age from 13 down to about 5. They are such a nice family, and they've only started attending our church within the last month or so. We pulled a bunch of table together, and our kids sat at one end, the 4 adults sat in the middle, and their boys sat at the other end. Oh, and I should mention that our kids were really tired because we stayed at the L's house until 11:00 watching fireworks the night before. Anyhow, we were thoroughly enjoying our conversation when a lady approached our table.
"Excuse me, but the baby is licking the floor, and I thought you'd want to know."
What?!! Why yes, there was Grace, down on the floor licking it. Ack! I think she had dropped an apple, which she ate off the floor, and then she just wanted to finish cleaning up all that good sticky juice. Blech. How mortifying! Obviously we were not paying one tiny bit of attention to her! She was embarrassed by all the commotion, so she cried, but eventually we got her calmed down. Red-faced, we continued our conversation. A little while later, I glance over at Grace again. She is standing between 2 chairs, with one leg on each chair, and as I look over, I see her tumble down to the floor as the chairs slide away. Whoops! She cried long and loudly, and the lady looked over at us again. I'm sure she was wondering why we couldn't keep our children under control, and was glad we didn't have any MORE kids!! LOL!
Now see, this is the sort of thing that really doesn't happen much to us. Our kids usually just sit in their chairs at restaurants, and we don't have any problems. I have realized that Bob and I have gotten lazy though. If Nathan and Luke had been there, then that would have been 2 more pairs of eyes to watch over everyone, and I am sure Luke would have noticed that Grace was on the floor. And when she was standing in her chair, trying to reach something, Nathan would have been right there to get it for her. We have a week left to get ourselves back into the alert state we were back when we just had 5. And then Nathan and Luke will be home, and we'll all be so happy and relieved!
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Happy 4th of July!!
Happy Birthday, America!!
We made it home safely from Ohio, and I think we are all happy to be sleeping in our own beds again! It was certainly different to drive back without Nathan and Luke, and it made the trip in the big van much trickier, since there weren't the big boys who could easily help the girls! Now I am enjoying the novelty of having leftovers when I cook dinner. It's refreshing!We usually go into D.C. to watch the fireworks, but this year, we're taking it easy. We're heading over to the L's house to watch them on TV in air-conditioned comfort. I'm bringing caramel popcorn to munch on. Should be fun!
Having just visited Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, this year I feel more connected to those important events of the past. On Rush Limbaugh's site there is an excellent address written by his father on the men who signed the Declaration, and the price they all paid. Our independence has not come cheaply, and hopefully we will not give it away easily.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
On the Farm in KY
We left Sunday afternoon to drive down to Kentucky to visit friends. Carri and I were on staff several summers together at White Sulphur Springs, the OCF family retreat center back when we were young and energetic, LOL. It's so hard to believe that was 20 years ago! Anyhow, Carri's husband was a Marine helicopter piliot, and now he's out and flies EMS helicopters. Carri is expecting their 10th child in September, and they live on about 4 acres, surrounded by beautiful fields and woods--every child's dream! The kids had a marvelous time there. There was a trampoline, a tree fort, and swings. They have a horse, a cow, a goat, and lots of chickens. The kids especially liked feeding scraps to the chickens and watching them pick at them. They all walked down to the river with the dads for a little adventure and came back hot and sweaty. Carri's girls were so great with my little girls, especially since theyhave 4 dogs and my girls were scared of them--her girls carried them all over the place! I really enjoyed my time talking with Carri. Since we both are homeschooling large families, we had plenty in common to talk about! We ate tons of great food, like Air Force dessert, a old standby from WSS days. The boys wanted to know why we didn't have this dessert all the time!
I won't be able to post any pictures until we get home, but if you want a look at our time there, check out Carri's blog, Home of the Peterson Clan. She posted a few pictures!
We are here at Amy's house now, but we'll leave to drive back home tomorrow. This has been such a fun vacation!
I won't be able to post any pictures until we get home, but if you want a look at our time there, check out Carri's blog, Home of the Peterson Clan. She posted a few pictures!
We are here at Amy's house now, but we'll leave to drive back home tomorrow. This has been such a fun vacation!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Exciting Evening
Last evening was a memorable one. It was the day of the Wright-Patterson AFB Tattoo, which has become sort of a mini-airshow, with flybys, as well as stuff o nthe ground, a concert by the AF band, and a country concert by Aaron Tippin. We didn't feel like braving the heat and crowds to actually go, especially since we could get a good view of the flybys from Mom and Dad's front porch. While we were watching the planes, Bob and the boys were trying to fly some kites, and having a grand time of it. While this was all happening, a car pulled into the neighbors' driveway. A man took a toddler inside, and he came back out and sat in the car. Next thing you knnow, an ambulance with sirens blaring has raced down the street and stopped in front of the house! Men with a stretcher leap out and go to the car. A very pregnant lady, who is obviously in very active labor gets out and onto the stretcher, moaning as she goes. (This is very scary for Anna, who starts crying. Obviously she needs to watch some of my birthing videos!) They put her into the ambulance as a fire department pickup truck drove up. He parked in the driveway and also went into the ambulance, which made no move to drive off anywhere. The neighbor lady was out talking with the interested crowd that had gathered. It was her sister, and she had been planning to go to the hospital when the contractions were 5 minutes apart, except all of a sudden they were right on top of each other, and there was no time! They had to drop off their son, so they met the ambulance there at the sister's house. After about 5 minutes, the truck driver got out and said, "It's a girl!" We all cheered and clapped. How exciting! Another neighbor said, "The miracle of life never gets old!", and she is so right!
After all this excitement, we went in to celebrate the birth by eating ice cream! Cheers! LOL Anna was no longer scared, and kept talking about how they were going with their new baby to the hospital. In fact, she's mentioned them today as well, LOL. And after it got dark, we watched a lovely fireworks show that was also part of the Tattoo over at the Air Force Museum. What a memorable evening!
After all this excitement, we went in to celebrate the birth by eating ice cream! Cheers! LOL Anna was no longer scared, and kept talking about how they were going with their new baby to the hospital. In fact, she's mentioned them today as well, LOL. And after it got dark, we watched a lovely fireworks show that was also part of the Tattoo over at the Air Force Museum. What a memorable evening!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Fun Times in Ohio
We've been having a great time here! We had a good drive on Tuesday, with beautiful weather. We stopped at a park in a small town on the MD/WV border for a picnic lunch. They had a really nice playground, so the kids enjoyed running around there. We finished listened to My Side of the Mountain on CD, one of our favorite books, so that made the drive go quickly. We've read that book before, but I didn't think the little boys would remember it at all, so it was a good choice. Good books never get old!
Wednesday was an all-day day of fun. We started out over at Amy's house. The boys played baseball and ran around in the water on that very hot day. After lunch, Bob volunteered to take the girls home to nap, and I stayed behind to visit with Amy, while the boys kept on playing. Bob and the girls came back a little after 5:00, and we headed to a different house for dinner!
We went over to Fred and Marie's house, which is on 6 acres out in the country. Marie and I both went to Cedarville and graduated in '95, and we both were married in college to Air Force husbands! Bob and Fred actually worked in the same building while we were finishing up college. Now they are stationed back at Wright-Pat again. They also have 7 kids and homeschool, so we have lots in common. It was so fun to get together and catch up while our kdis all played! Their oldest is a boy who is in between Nathan and Luke, and then they have 5 girls. They also have a baby boy, who was born back in October. You can imagine that Anna was in heaven with all these girls around! She's been getting her emotions mixed up lately, so as we were leaving, she told the girls, "I love you! I'm so mad!" LOL. Nathan, Luke, and Samuel played some soccer, but Nathan was fairly unenthusiastic about everything, which is really out of character for him. As we were leaving, I realized that it was most likely the day spent in the presence of cats, along with him having to take benedryl over at Amy's. That'll take the edge off! Anyway, it was a lovely evening, and we were very envious of their beautiful house, garden, and most of all, acres of land right by the bike path!
Yesterday we took it easy. Bob took the boys bowling at Wright-Pat. The bowling alley has an "eat and exercise" deal where you get shoe rental, 2 games, and $3.50 for the snack bar for $6.00. Of course, the exercise is bowling, and the food is typical snack bar fare, albeit with fancy bowling names, so I'm not sure this is a healthy option for lunchtime exercising, LOL. The boys had a ball, though, and they are back there again today. I headed down to the teacher store in Centerville yesterday afternoon to pick up some stuff for the Egypt unit I'll be teaching at our co-op this year.
This morning, Anna, Grandma, and I went to Great Clips to get Anna's hair cut by a professional. It has grown in really wonky, and I needed someone who knew what they were doing to kind of just even everything out. It looks cute, although not all that much different from the front. Now maybe I'll be able to keep up with it. The sides need to grow out more before it can all be even. Anna did really well.
On Sunday afternoon we're heading down to KY to visit another family for a few nights. Fred and Marie's family were just a warm-up because this family has 9 kids and are expecting #10! I've know Carri for years, ever since we both worked on staff at White Sulphur Springs in the summers when I was in high school. I am so excited to see her again and meet her family! We're going to stay at their house, which is a converted milking parlor, for 2 nights. The boys are going to sleep in a tent, which Nathan and Luke at least are VERY excited about! Then when we come back we'll stay with Amy and Jason for 2 nights before heading back home and leaving Nathan and Luke here with my parents for an extra 10 days or so. They're going to take part in a camp on flight principles at the Air Force Museum during the mornings. I hope it's fun!
Wednesday was an all-day day of fun. We started out over at Amy's house. The boys played baseball and ran around in the water on that very hot day. After lunch, Bob volunteered to take the girls home to nap, and I stayed behind to visit with Amy, while the boys kept on playing. Bob and the girls came back a little after 5:00, and we headed to a different house for dinner!
We went over to Fred and Marie's house, which is on 6 acres out in the country. Marie and I both went to Cedarville and graduated in '95, and we both were married in college to Air Force husbands! Bob and Fred actually worked in the same building while we were finishing up college. Now they are stationed back at Wright-Pat again. They also have 7 kids and homeschool, so we have lots in common. It was so fun to get together and catch up while our kdis all played! Their oldest is a boy who is in between Nathan and Luke, and then they have 5 girls. They also have a baby boy, who was born back in October. You can imagine that Anna was in heaven with all these girls around! She's been getting her emotions mixed up lately, so as we were leaving, she told the girls, "I love you! I'm so mad!" LOL. Nathan, Luke, and Samuel played some soccer, but Nathan was fairly unenthusiastic about everything, which is really out of character for him. As we were leaving, I realized that it was most likely the day spent in the presence of cats, along with him having to take benedryl over at Amy's. That'll take the edge off! Anyway, it was a lovely evening, and we were very envious of their beautiful house, garden, and most of all, acres of land right by the bike path!
Yesterday we took it easy. Bob took the boys bowling at Wright-Pat. The bowling alley has an "eat and exercise" deal where you get shoe rental, 2 games, and $3.50 for the snack bar for $6.00. Of course, the exercise is bowling, and the food is typical snack bar fare, albeit with fancy bowling names, so I'm not sure this is a healthy option for lunchtime exercising, LOL. The boys had a ball, though, and they are back there again today. I headed down to the teacher store in Centerville yesterday afternoon to pick up some stuff for the Egypt unit I'll be teaching at our co-op this year.
This morning, Anna, Grandma, and I went to Great Clips to get Anna's hair cut by a professional. It has grown in really wonky, and I needed someone who knew what they were doing to kind of just even everything out. It looks cute, although not all that much different from the front. Now maybe I'll be able to keep up with it. The sides need to grow out more before it can all be even. Anna did really well.
On Sunday afternoon we're heading down to KY to visit another family for a few nights. Fred and Marie's family were just a warm-up because this family has 9 kids and are expecting #10! I've know Carri for years, ever since we both worked on staff at White Sulphur Springs in the summers when I was in high school. I am so excited to see her again and meet her family! We're going to stay at their house, which is a converted milking parlor, for 2 nights. The boys are going to sleep in a tent, which Nathan and Luke at least are VERY excited about! Then when we come back we'll stay with Amy and Jason for 2 nights before heading back home and leaving Nathan and Luke here with my parents for an extra 10 days or so. They're going to take part in a camp on flight principles at the Air Force Museum during the mornings. I hope it's fun!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Mummies!
Sunday morning we went to church with Sandra and Phil, and then we ate lunch at their house. They were heading off to eat with Phil's parents, who live nearby, before Phil jetted back off to London, where he has business. We went back to downtown Philadelphia, this time to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeaology and Anthropology . What a fascinating place! I had found this place on the internet, and since we'll be studying the Ancients again in history this year, and I will be teaching a unit on ancient Egypt for our homeschool co-op, I thought it would fit right in for us.
We started out in the "Lower Egypt Gallery". Here they had all these pillars, door frames, and other parts of a palace that a man from the museum had excavated back in the early 1900's. This sphinx had guarded the palace. Apparently, after the pharoah's death (no one you would recognize, most likely, and I'm too lazy to search for it right now), the palace burned down. It was buried in ash and mud, which preserved it until the archaeologist discovered it. The body of the sphinx was under the mud, but the head was exposed to the wind and sands for thousands of years, and it wore away his face.
After Lower Egypt, we moved through the galleries dealing with Greece, Rome, and Canaan and Ancient Isreal. Here Caleb is in front of a Roman mosaic. I always like seeing things with Latin on them, to see if I can recognize any words!
Next we moved through an amazing rotunda, which was totally huge. The whole building was so old and fascinating, and this rotunda was a beautiful part of it! It housed artifacts from China, including a bunch of Buddhas, but also this really cool crystal ball.
Next we moved on to the Upper Egypt Gallery, which had a lot of mummies exhibited. The mummies in the display case were the "youngest" mummies on display, from around 1000 B.C. There were others that were much older. One of the mummies had been removed from his bandages so you could actually see what was left of him. It was definitely a "him" too, since they preserve all those parts too. The boys were quite amazed by that. Ewww.
There were also a lot of other sarcophagi and huge statues displayed, including this one of another pharoah. He's wearing the white bowling ball hat of the Upper Egpyt kingdom. I'm sure you all remember that Lower Egyptian pharoahs wore a red bowling ball crown, and eventually the 2 kingdoms merged together.
We started out in the "Lower Egypt Gallery". Here they had all these pillars, door frames, and other parts of a palace that a man from the museum had excavated back in the early 1900's. This sphinx had guarded the palace. Apparently, after the pharoah's death (no one you would recognize, most likely, and I'm too lazy to search for it right now), the palace burned down. It was buried in ash and mud, which preserved it until the archaeologist discovered it. The body of the sphinx was under the mud, but the head was exposed to the wind and sands for thousands of years, and it wore away his face.
After Lower Egypt, we moved through the galleries dealing with Greece, Rome, and Canaan and Ancient Isreal. Here Caleb is in front of a Roman mosaic. I always like seeing things with Latin on them, to see if I can recognize any words!
Next we moved through an amazing rotunda, which was totally huge. The whole building was so old and fascinating, and this rotunda was a beautiful part of it! It housed artifacts from China, including a bunch of Buddhas, but also this really cool crystal ball.
Next we moved on to the Upper Egypt Gallery, which had a lot of mummies exhibited. The mummies in the display case were the "youngest" mummies on display, from around 1000 B.C. There were others that were much older. One of the mummies had been removed from his bandages so you could actually see what was left of him. It was definitely a "him" too, since they preserve all those parts too. The boys were quite amazed by that. Ewww. 
There were also a lot of other sarcophagi and huge statues displayed, including this one of another pharoah. He's wearing the white bowling ball hat of the Upper Egpyt kingdom. I'm sure you all remember that Lower Egyptian pharoahs wore a red bowling ball crown, and eventually the 2 kingdoms merged together.By this point, Anna and Grace were rapidly approaching total meltdown, so we called it a day. This was truly a fascinating museum, with lots of neat things to see. Bob and most of the kids headed off to get the van, and I nursed again while Grace, Faith and I waited for them to come. We started to drive back home the same way we came, down I-95, which is certianly the shortest way, distance-wise. As we crept along hitting speeds of 20 mph, Bob asked if there wasn't any other way we could possibly get back home. We headed north again, and then out west on Rt. 30 through Lancaster and York. What a beautiful drive! We passed Amish farms and even a buggy, and lots of very old houses. Even though it was a lot farther, we made it home in only 5 hours, and we were actually moving the whole way! So we had such a fun time, and we are very grateful to Phil and Sandra for their amazing hospitality! Now we need to go back because there were things we still haven't seen, like the Mint, which is only open on weekdays.
But for now, we're off to Ohio tomorrow (well, today actually, as I see it is after midnight), where we are hoping to spend some time with a few families that I haven't seen since college, as well as family! Blogging will probably be light for awhile because we'll be too busy having fun!
Whirlwind Philadelphia Trip
We got back last night from a quick weekend trip up to Philadelphia. I don't have much time, since we are leaving tomorrow to drive to Ohio, but I wanted to give a quick report. We drove up Frday afternoon. We left here at 2:30 and arrived there at 8:30--6 hours for about 180 miles of driving! Crazy east coast traffic!
Then we headed over to the Independence Hall Visitors Center, and on to the Liberty Bell. It rained off and on the whole day, often quite steadily, which was a good thing because it really kept away the crowds. I would MUCH rather deal with rain than crowds. The downside is that we all looked a bit damp and bedraggled the whole day.
At the Liberty Bell we met up with Bob's sister Rose and her 2 girls. They had come down from northeastern PA to visit for the day. Here we all are in front of Independence Hall. They had tickets for an earlier tour, so we ate lunch while they did that, and then we met up again at the site of Ben Franklin's house.
It was so great to have someone like Phil around, who was very knowledgeable about downtown Philadelphia, since he grew up in Philly. This was a great boon at lunch time, especially. We had brought a cooler for a picnic lunch, but with all the rain, where could we eat? He suggested a food court place, the Bouse or something, where you can also take food in. This sounded great, so we walked over there. It was really crowded and I was wondering where we would ever find tables all together. Then he said we would go downstairs, where they had cafeteria-style tables. There was plenty of room there! This is where students on field trips would come to eat their lunches. Inside information--it makes life much easier!
We drove to the house of my friends from college, Sandra and Phil. They live in this beautiful house, the stone part of which was built in the early 1700s. A builder completely restored it and added on a large kitchne, family room, and master bedroom suite. It was so lovely!
Saturday we drove into downtown Philadelphia after breakfast. We started out at the Betsy Ross house, where Betsy Ross herself told us that we were one of the few families she had seen that had an average amount of children for the time! She also pointed out that we looked like a troop of Redcoats, since I had done the matching red shirts again. Whoops!
We then walked over to a large Quaker meeting house, which had a little exhibit on William Penn that was interesting, not to mention free. I am all for that!
Then we headed over to the Independence Hall Visitors Center, and on to the Liberty Bell. It rained off and on the whole day, often quite steadily, which was a good thing because it really kept away the crowds. I would MUCH rather deal with rain than crowds. The downside is that we all looked a bit damp and bedraggled the whole day. 
At the Liberty Bell we met up with Bob's sister Rose and her 2 girls. They had come down from northeastern PA to visit for the day. Here we all are in front of Independence Hall. They had tickets for an earlier tour, so we ate lunch while they did that, and then we met up again at the site of Ben Franklin's house. It was so great to have someone like Phil around, who was very knowledgeable about downtown Philadelphia, since he grew up in Philly. This was a great boon at lunch time, especially. We had brought a cooler for a picnic lunch, but with all the rain, where could we eat? He suggested a food court place, the Bouse or something, where you can also take food in. This sounded great, so we walked over there. It was really crowded and I was wondering where we would ever find tables all together. Then he said we would go downstairs, where they had cafeteria-style tables. There was plenty of room there! This is where students on field trips would come to eat their lunches. Inside information--it makes life much easier!
After lunch and Ben Franklin's museum, we walked back over to Independence Hall for our tour. This was at 3:45, and the girls were getting pretty tired by then. We had a good tour guide, who was full of interesting tidbits and had an engaging manner, but the girls were quite restless. After that was done, we walked over to Christ Church (which was a good deal farther away than I had thought!), and I nursed there one last time before we headed back to Sandra's. There we cooked out and had a delicious dinner before we got the kids in bed. The girls were so tired! They went down even before our dessert--"water ice", which is a Philadelphia specialty. It's sort of like a slushie, but not totally. I had lemon, and it was very tasty and refreshing!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Two Virtues
Faith is definitely rolling over from back to tummy now! She has become much faster at it, so no more laying her on the couch, a bed, etc. without really watching! She also finally moved into her own room (Grace's old room) last Wednesday night, because I finally got around to switching crib bedding, moving clothes, and so on. Grace and Anna, who are now sharing a room, definitely talk and giggle for awhile each night before they go off to sleep, but so do the boys. Faith has done just fine in her new room, and it's nice to be able to go into our closet anytime we want to, especially for Bob in the mornings!
Grace is all big eyes and smiles in this picture, but we haven't actually seen too many smiles the past few days from her. That's because she has the most gigantic canker sore on her tongue, on the top towards the back, and it is an ugly, angry thing. It obviously really hurts, especially when she eats or tries to suck on her pacifier. I feel for her, since I get them too, even in weird soft tissue places like the tongue, but I don't think I or anyone else has started getting them quite so young. My usual solution of swishing my mouth with equal parts of liquid benedryl and milk of magnesia for 30 seconds won't really work with a 2 year old, who is just learning not to swallow toothpaste! So I'm just praying the sore will go away quickly, before Grace decides it's just too much of a pain to eat and stops it altogether. We definitely don't want her to slip back under 20 pounds again. Why does this sort of thing happen to my skinniest one?! Sunday, June 14, 2009
Nathan's Big Present
We don't usually get the kids big gifts for their birthdays. This year, however, we got Nathan a big gift, one that Bob and I researched for quite awhile. We ordered it over Memorial Day because the Digital Kitchen Store was having a big sale on this particular item, so this big box had been sitting in our dining room for a few weeks, and Nathan was dying of curiosity. We will be in Ohio on his actual birthday, so we let him open the present Friday before dinner.
We got him a food dehydrator! And not just any food dehydrator . . . we got the Nesco FD-1018 Gardenmaster, complete with 8 trays, 8 mesh sheets for drying small things like herbs, and 8 fruit roll sheets. We figured if we were going to use the electricity to dry stuff, we might as well be able to dry a whole lot of stuff at one time! This dehydrator has a variable temperature setting, so you can be sure your beef jerky is drying at a hot enough temp, but your herbs are drying at a low enough temp. Also, it has some fancy air-flow thing so that the stuff takes hours, as opposed to days, to dry. It also came with a big book on how to dry foods, as well as the little basic intruction manual. Nathan was THRILLED! He really, truly was. He immediately started going through the bok and marking recipes and things he'd like to try. First off was jerky, which he absolutely loves to snack on, but which is very expensive in stores, and is filled with nitrates to boot. After Bible study, we got out an old flank steak from the freezer, and he made up a teriyaki marinade while I sliced the meat. We marinated it overnight, and then he put all the strips on the trays (it took up 3 trays) at 10:30 in the morning. 
We dryed the jerky at the highest setting (160 degrees) for the first 4 hours, as the book said to do, and then we moved the temperature down to 135 degrees for the remaining time we could make some apple/pear fruit leather at the same time. Nathan did the peeling/coring of the fruit, with some help from his brothers, and he pureed everything all by himself. Three apples and 3 pears gave us 3 trays' worth of puree.
Here is the finished beef jerky! It was done around 5:00, so it took about 6 1/2 hours. It was SOO delicious! Even Luke, who doesn't like jerky, really loved this. We all gobbled it down. By last night, there were only a few lone pieces left, all of which are gone today. I was wishing we had this thing before my gestational diabetes--this jerky would have been the perfect thing to take along for snacks when I needed my protein! 
Here is the finished fruit leather. It was quite tasty as well. Everyone except Caleb loved it. Caleb was disappointed because it didn't taste like "real" fruit-roll-ups, which of course are filled with sugar, LOL. He'll get over it.
We are actually making an unplanned trip to the commissary tomorrow afternoon to get more beef and fruit for more dehydrating adventures. We did a ton of research, and I must say that this machine is living up to the good reviews it got on Amazon. It is incredibly easy to use, it's quiet, and we can fit a lot of stuff on at one time. Best of all, we got it for a great price because of the Memorial Day sake! I hope we get lots and lots of good use out of this thing for many years!
What could be in this big box????? We kept telling Nathan is was something he would never ocme up with himself, but something we thought he'd really enjoy, and that the family would all appreciate.
We got him a food dehydrator! And not just any food dehydrator . . . we got the Nesco FD-1018 Gardenmaster, complete with 8 trays, 8 mesh sheets for drying small things like herbs, and 8 fruit roll sheets. We figured if we were going to use the electricity to dry stuff, we might as well be able to dry a whole lot of stuff at one time! This dehydrator has a variable temperature setting, so you can be sure your beef jerky is drying at a hot enough temp, but your herbs are drying at a low enough temp. Also, it has some fancy air-flow thing so that the stuff takes hours, as opposed to days, to dry. It also came with a big book on how to dry foods, as well as the little basic intruction manual. Nathan was THRILLED! He really, truly was. He immediately started going through the bok and marking recipes and things he'd like to try. First off was jerky, which he absolutely loves to snack on, but which is very expensive in stores, and is filled with nitrates to boot. After Bible study, we got out an old flank steak from the freezer, and he made up a teriyaki marinade while I sliced the meat. We marinated it overnight, and then he put all the strips on the trays (it took up 3 trays) at 10:30 in the morning. 
We dryed the jerky at the highest setting (160 degrees) for the first 4 hours, as the book said to do, and then we moved the temperature down to 135 degrees for the remaining time we could make some apple/pear fruit leather at the same time. Nathan did the peeling/coring of the fruit, with some help from his brothers, and he pureed everything all by himself. Three apples and 3 pears gave us 3 trays' worth of puree.
Here is the finished beef jerky! It was done around 5:00, so it took about 6 1/2 hours. It was SOO delicious! Even Luke, who doesn't like jerky, really loved this. We all gobbled it down. By last night, there were only a few lone pieces left, all of which are gone today. I was wishing we had this thing before my gestational diabetes--this jerky would have been the perfect thing to take along for snacks when I needed my protein! 
Here is the finished fruit leather. It was quite tasty as well. Everyone except Caleb loved it. Caleb was disappointed because it didn't taste like "real" fruit-roll-ups, which of course are filled with sugar, LOL. He'll get over it.We are actually making an unplanned trip to the commissary tomorrow afternoon to get more beef and fruit for more dehydrating adventures. We did a ton of research, and I must say that this machine is living up to the good reviews it got on Amazon. It is incredibly easy to use, it's quiet, and we can fit a lot of stuff on at one time. Best of all, we got it for a great price because of the Memorial Day sake! I hope we get lots and lots of good use out of this thing for many years!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Celebrating Jonathan and Nathan!
We celebrated Jonathan's 6th birthday, and Nathan's 12th birthday tonight after Bible study. I made a carrier cake--bonus points to those who know which carrier is CVN-68.
I had planned to do more details, like radar antennae and these little shelves that stick out for the guns, but I just ran out of oomph and inspiration. So that's why the "island' (everyone knows that's what that big tower is called, right?) looks bare and lonesome.
Here is a close-up of some of our squadron of aircraft. We made them with this marshmallow fondant recipe that Amy P. sent me. It was surprisingly yummy! Luke even said that he liked it better than frosting! I wouldn't go that far, but it was tasty. It was fun to work with, too. I made the fondant on Wednesday evening, and Thursday night I started making the airplanes, along with Nathan and Luke, who stayed up to watch. We had a bit of a scare, as when I added the black food gel which turns regular buttercream a lovely shade of gray instead turned the fondant a definite shade of light purple! Ack! Fortunately I had only used half of the fondant, so I started again and only added a tiny bit of gel. It was still a bit purple-y, but not as bad, and it did dry gray. 
I made F/A-18s, an E/A-6, an E-2, and Nathan made one F-14. As you can see, everyone got in on the action and tried their hands at making airplanes. Like edible play-doh! *CVN-68 is the USS Nimitz, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, so the others after it are called "Nimitz class carriers". Bob was on the Nimitz for a retirement ceremony when he was the aide to the admiral who was DCINC of USSPACECOM, back in our Colorado days. He also got to fly out to the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) with the admiral.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
4 Month Old Faith
Faith turned 4 months old on June 8, which also happened to be my Mom's birthday! We had Faith's well-baby appointment yesterday, and she is up to 12 pounds, 10 ounces. The doctor said that was something like between the 40th and 50th percentile, and I had to laugh. At her 2 month well-baby, that doctor (different one) said she wouldn't be surprised if Faith was in the 75th percentile for weight at 4 months! Looks like I was right . . . The tech measured her at 25 3/4 inches, but the doctor totally laughed at that and said they were measuring everyone wrong that day. That would put Faith over the 100th percentile for height, and well, that's simply not how we grow them, LOL. She is definitely no tall giant of a baby.The doctor didn't give me too hard of a time about putting her to sleep on her tummy. I guess they have to say something, even though most babies sleep so much better on their tummies, where they don't startle themselves awake. And now Faith is pretty close to being able to roll from back to tummy, so then she'll be able to get herself over to her own tummy and choose her own sleeping position! Right now, she can turn from tummy to back, and when she does this, she fusses around for awhile until someone come and turns her back over to her tummy. Then she goes off to sleep.
The doctor also told me that they are now recommending babies stay rear-facing until 2 years old. Can you believe that?! I mean, it's really probably safer to never put your child in a car at all, so when are they just going to start recommending that? And frankly, with the super-nanny democrats in office, it's probably just a matter of time until they pass that as a law--"Don't drive with children in the vehicle." Good grief.
So Faith is a healthy, happy baby. I tried to get her to smile today for a picture, but she was having none of it. She had shots yesterday, so she wasn't as cooperative. But in general, she still rarely fusses, and she absolutely adores all her big brothers and sisters, who adore her in return. What a life!Friday, June 05, 2009
Fun at Busch Gardens!
Yesterday we had such a wonderful time at Busch Gardens! It was so great; I think we will be spoiled any other time we go to any amusement park! The weather was absolutely perfect. It was just as Michele said in the comments on my last post--it was much, much cooler and very cloudy all day. It kept looking like rain was imminent, but the Lord held off the rain until we had left the park and were eating dinner! The gloomy clouds kept a lot of people home, so the park was not crowded at all. In fact, several times we had our own personal family ride, and everyone could ride every ride pretty much as many times as they wanted too, sometimes without even having to get off and get on again. Nathan, Ann, and Wally rode the Loch Ness Monster roller coaster for half an hour without getting off! The cooler weather meant that everyone was so much more comfortable. Faith rode in the stroller a lot, but I also carried her in the front pack quite a bit, which she loved. I would not have been able to do that in the broiling heat and humidity that we often have in June! We all wore red shirts, which made it very easy to keep track of everyone. Wally is tall and wore a red baseball hat as well, which also helped!
We got there around 11:00, and we started in this new area for kids, the Sesame Street Forest of Fun. Anna was in a very crabby mood, made crabbier by the fact that she couldn't ride the kiddie roller coaster. She was also very alarmed by the presense of all these Sesame Street characters, in fuzzy costumes, strolling around and talking to the little kids. She has not gotten over all her phobias, LOL. Fortunately the characters all went off to some other place when it was time to walk past them. Then the little ones all rode this cute this boat ride, where they floated around this little circuit. Anna was grumpy here too. 
Next was this Elmo Spire thing, where they blast off and bounce down. All the kids rode this, even Grace, who looked very tiny in her seat. Although she is smiling in this picture, she was not a fan, and they had to stop the ride to let her off. Anna was on the other side, and she was not enjoying it either, but she just grimaced and looked terrified, instead of crying loudly, a la Grace, so she didn't get off. Anna did get off in the middle of the next ride, although again, it wasn't her that stopped the ride. She and I took a potty break at that point, and we talked about the day so far:Me: Why are you being so grumpy?
Anna: Well, I just really didn't want to go on that ride, and so I was grumpy. (said with lots of drama)
Me: Well, what about that boat ride? Wasn't that fun?
Anna: No . . . I was just mad on that ride. (said with lots of emphasis)
Me: I think you need to change your attitude . . . (little drama queen)
We moved on to the Italy part of the park. Here I realized how brilliantly Busch Gardens is set up--there are kiddie rides scattered all throughout the park! Nathan and Wally went off to ride adult rides, while everyone else rode this flying kiddie ride, which is supposed to look like an invention of Da Vinci's. They rode this several times, even Grace, and finally Anna decided it might be fun after all. So she rode with Aunt Ann and had a good time, which put her in a better mood for the rest of the day's rides.
Here you can see her even braving the teacups! Grace went on this too. She looked so tiny, and I could never even get a very good picture of her! Grace enjoyed all the other rides as well. Caleb and Jonathan switched back and forth, riding whatever adult rides they were allowed to, as well as all the kiddie rides. Jonathan agreed that Busch Gardens was even funner that Chuck E. Cheese's, which was where he had wanted to go for his birthday! He is eager to go back when he is tall enough to ride all the big rides, especially the roller coasters. He is quite the little thrill-seeker, as it turns out.This was the first time that Nathan has had the opportunity to ride big roller coasters, and he obviously inherited his enjoyment of them from his father. The only one he didn't ride was the Griffon, which has this straight-down drop, before which the car comes to a complete stop, so they are just hovering there, looking straight down. Blech. Not my cup of tea. Luke is in my camp. He didn't ride any big roller coasters either, although he did enjoy almost all the other adult rides. He likes going around in circles, which I also find much more tolerable than going up and down. I must say that I only rode kiddie rides, and then only when my presence was required. I'm not that big into rides. I have given birth naturally 7 times, with no pain relief medication whatsoever, and I no longer feel any need to prove myself by riding around in little metal buckets, LOL. Now I enjoy watching my kids have fun while I keep watch over the stroller. Hey, someone's got to do it . . .
The park closed at 6:00, so we made our way back to the van, having done all that we wanted to do several times or more! We went out to eat at this Italian restaurant in Williamsburg with Ann and Wally before driving back. We were amazed that they ever discovered this place, tucked way back into a strip mall, but it sure had delicious pizza! It was the perfect end to a perfect day. We got back late last night (almost 11:00), but it was worth it! I called off school for today, and everyone slept in. Now we're trying to get cleaned up for Bible study here tonight. Back to normal!
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Happy Birthday, Jonathan!
Jonathan is 6 years old today! He is having a big week. As you can obviously tell, he is riding his bike without training wheels now. Bob took them off actually a week or two ago, so he is like a pro now! He also has a very, very loose tooth--his first! I am hoping that comes out sooner rather than later because he is not known as my stoic one, and the discomfort of eating with a wiggly tooth, plus random bits of blood in his mouth, are not his favorite things. It is very close to coming out, and in fact, he has had several offers of assistance from various older siblings, but he has not taken them up, LOL.This has been, and will continue to be, a week of special things. Sunday afternoon the McCs took their canoe out for the first time this year, and they asked Bob and the boys to go with them. They all had such a blast out there on the river! They reported getting lots of questioning looks at their big group of boys (8 boys, 2 dads). I'm sure everyone assumed they were a boy scout tropp or something! The girls and I went over to their house at dinnertime to help Christine, who made dinner for all of us when the menfolk returned. Then the boys played street hockey for awhile while we visited. So fun!
Today we didn't do school, but instead went over to the church for a playgroup in the morning. It's every first Tuesday, and it's for all women, not just moms with young children, which I really like. So today a newly married woman came as well and visited. She's a nurse, so she was off today, and we all enjoyed getting to know her better. The kids ran around outside and played on the swingset, and then we had a picnic lunch, so that was fun.
Tomorrow night we're going to drive down to Richmond after Bob gets home from work, and we all get home from Bethesda where Caleb has a doctor appointment at the horrible time of 3:20. I'm hoping we get home by 6:00! After we grab a quick bite to eat, we'll leave for the house of Bob's sister Ann and her husband Wally. We are going to go to Busch Garden Williamsburg with them on Thursday (although the weather is looking like it will be cooler and possibly rainy! No!). Busch Gardens has that specail deal where active duty military members can get in free for one day, along with 3 dependents, so we are going to take them up on that! Who knows how much longer Bob will be active duty?! Ann is getting 3 kids tickets at her parks and rec department, so for all 9 of us to get in, it will cost us $105! That's a lot of money, but not anywhere as much as it could be, considering the regular admission price is $59.99 for an adult, and we have 3 adults--wait, I think Luke is one now too--Ack!--and 3 paying kids, who normally cost $49.99 a person! Ann and Wally have season's tickets, so they really know their way around. Hopefully it will be a really fun day for everyone, and not too crowded. We're going before all the schools let out.
So you can see that Jonathan is not lacking special things with which to celebrate his birthday! We're having his birthday dinner tonight (he requested tacos), but I'm not making his cake until next Friday's Bible study. I'm making another joint cake for Jonathan and Nathan (yes!), which is going to be a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, with airplanes out of fondant, if I can make it work. Amy P. sent me a recipe for fondant using marshmallows that she said tasted a lot better than store-bought fondant, so I'm going to give that a go. I can't stand fondant, so I'm thinking anything has to be better, and Amy is an excellent cook!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Deja Vu All OVer Again . . .
We moved here when Jonathan was 1. The next summer, when he was 2, he developed a terrible fear of trash trucks. I don't really remember when this phobia passed, but I can safely say that he is no longer scared when they roar up and down our street. (And I never did move him into the back bedroom, like I had mentioned in the old blog post, so the phase must not have lasted too much longer.)
Now Anna was of course the queen of all phobias. She was hysterically terrified of dogs, cats (even fat, old, slow ones), Muslim women who cover, the vacuum cleaner, etc., culminating with the absolutely humiliating episode with the clown at Golden Corral last summer. Ironically, the one thing that didn't really bother her much was the trash truck. Amazingly, Anna seems to have gotten over all these fears, and I think the clown episode was the last big thing like that (praise the Lord). But I can see a pattern that our kids get scared around 2.
So on Tuesday I was sitting upstairs in the hallway folding laundry when I heard the trash truck rumble down our street (and right by our house because I forgot to put the trash out because of the holiday, LOL). All of a sudden, Grace, who was in her room, starts sobbing loudly. I thought maybe she had gotten stuck somewhere, but when I got in there to see what the problem was, she started crying, "Trash truck! Trash truck!" Sigh.
Now Anna was of course the queen of all phobias. She was hysterically terrified of dogs, cats (even fat, old, slow ones), Muslim women who cover, the vacuum cleaner, etc., culminating with the absolutely humiliating episode with the clown at Golden Corral last summer. Ironically, the one thing that didn't really bother her much was the trash truck. Amazingly, Anna seems to have gotten over all these fears, and I think the clown episode was the last big thing like that (praise the Lord). But I can see a pattern that our kids get scared around 2.
So on Tuesday I was sitting upstairs in the hallway folding laundry when I heard the trash truck rumble down our street (and right by our house because I forgot to put the trash out because of the holiday, LOL). All of a sudden, Grace, who was in her room, starts sobbing loudly. I thought maybe she had gotten stuck somewhere, but when I got in there to see what the problem was, she started crying, "Trash truck! Trash truck!" Sigh.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
New Commissary Strategy
Today we made another big trip to the commissary. It has only taken me almost 5 years of living here, and 3 new babies, to figure out the ideal way to work this. I have always done school in the morning of a big trip, fed everyone lunch, nursed, and left right after that. Then the baby would fall asleep in the car, wake up when we got there (about 35 minutes later), and be really crabby by the time we were done (almost 2 hours later). I would nurse in the parking lot before we drove home, and the baby would again fall asleep on the drive, getting another nap that wasn't long enough. We would get on the road around 3:30, which is the busiest time on the main highway we take because at 4:00, the whole road going west becomes an HOV (high occupancy vehicle) road. So at 3:30, all the single commuters are scrambling to get on the road before the witching hour, and the road is quite clogged.
This time, we still did school, and I nursed around 11:00. Then I got everyone lunch while Faith played. We left around 1:00, and Faith napped in the car. I nursed again as soon as we got there, so she was tanked up and ready to go. She was happy the whole time, and she fell asleep as we got to the frozen food section. We left around 4:00, and she slept the way home too, which was a pleasant drive because we zipped right along, with very little traffic. Then at home, I waltzed inside to nurse while the boys unloaded over $600 of groceries! Luke said, "Lucky!" in a very envious voice when I announced my intentions. Time to get out the birthing videos again to remind him he's glad to be a boy, LOL.
So now that I have it figured out, that must mean it's time to move, right?
This time, we still did school, and I nursed around 11:00. Then I got everyone lunch while Faith played. We left around 1:00, and Faith napped in the car. I nursed again as soon as we got there, so she was tanked up and ready to go. She was happy the whole time, and she fell asleep as we got to the frozen food section. We left around 4:00, and she slept the way home too, which was a pleasant drive because we zipped right along, with very little traffic. Then at home, I waltzed inside to nurse while the boys unloaded over $600 of groceries! Luke said, "Lucky!" in a very envious voice when I announced my intentions. Time to get out the birthing videos again to remind him he's glad to be a boy, LOL.
So now that I have it figured out, that must mean it's time to move, right?
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day Pool Party
We such a fun time today! We had a Memorial Day pool party at the house of a couple who is in our OCF (Officers' Christian Fellowship) Bible study. There were 6 families there, and we had a serious OCF mind meld going on. We planned this thing Friday night, at Bible study. We agreed that I would bring a fruit salad, Christine would bring veggies/chips, Elizabeth would bring a green salad, Amy would bring a pasta salad, and Chrys (whose house has the pool) would provide the plates, utensils and drinks. We all brought our own meat to grill. I'm sure you can tell right away what is missing from this menu . . . . . . baked beans! You can't have a cookout without baked beans, especially since we were only bringing hot dogs to grill! I decided I would bring baked beans as well. Tim and Amy also noticed this sad lack, so they also showed up with a pot of baked beans. There was one other family, who weren't at Bible study Friday but called Chrys to see what they could bring. She said . . . baked beans! Because no one had said that at Bible study, LOL. So we ended up with 3 pots of baked beans. There were, however, surprisingly few baked beans left over, so they were a popular choice. I guess if there is a toxic cloud hovering over northern VA, you'll know what happened, LOL. Some serious bean consumption.
We also had the mind meld thing going on for dessert. Sara and I both made chocolate chip cookie bars (although she drizzled melted chocolate over hers--a very nice touch!), and Chrys bought a delicious chocolate chip cookie pie thing from Costco. Very yummy! Chrys also had angel food cake with strawberries and blueberries, as well as chocolate sauce and whipped cream for toppings. Caleb LOVED this. He had 3 slices with strawberries and chocolate sauce! I am going to have to remember this as an easy dairy-free dessert that he loves!
Here is the pool area. They even had a diving board, which the kids thought was great fun. Bob demonstrated his diving talents, and everyone agreed he had been hiding his light under a bushel. His family, especially Paul and Rose, were big divers, so although Bob was never on the diving team, he observed. Ed couldn't believe that he has known Bob all these many years, but didn't know he had diving skills, LOL.
Here is Bob, holding court in the hot tub. We had 18 kids of swimmable age there, not counting Bob (or the 2 babies). Vernon and Chrys have kids, but they are grown and have children of their own, so this pool hasn't had such a workout for quite a long time now!
Here is Grace enjoying the food. She did swim with Daddy some, but she definitely put away some food--2 hot dogs, 2 helpings of baked beans, fruit, chips, carrot sticks, and tons of dessert. Where does she put it all?! We enjoyed eating on the screened in porch, and on the built-in bench on the deck right past the porch. It was such a nice set-up for a party. I brought the pack-n-play so Faith could nap there, and also the bouncy seat so I didn't have to hold her the whole time. It was too humid for that!
We also had the mind meld thing going on for dessert. Sara and I both made chocolate chip cookie bars (although she drizzled melted chocolate over hers--a very nice touch!), and Chrys bought a delicious chocolate chip cookie pie thing from Costco. Very yummy! Chrys also had angel food cake with strawberries and blueberries, as well as chocolate sauce and whipped cream for toppings. Caleb LOVED this. He had 3 slices with strawberries and chocolate sauce! I am going to have to remember this as an easy dairy-free dessert that he loves!
Here is the pool area. They even had a diving board, which the kids thought was great fun. Bob demonstrated his diving talents, and everyone agreed he had been hiding his light under a bushel. His family, especially Paul and Rose, were big divers, so although Bob was never on the diving team, he observed. Ed couldn't believe that he has known Bob all these many years, but didn't know he had diving skills, LOL.
Here is Bob, holding court in the hot tub. We had 18 kids of swimmable age there, not counting Bob (or the 2 babies). Vernon and Chrys have kids, but they are grown and have children of their own, so this pool hasn't had such a workout for quite a long time now!
Here is Grace enjoying the food. She did swim with Daddy some, but she definitely put away some food--2 hot dogs, 2 helpings of baked beans, fruit, chips, carrot sticks, and tons of dessert. Where does she put it all?! We enjoyed eating on the screened in porch, and on the built-in bench on the deck right past the porch. It was such a nice set-up for a party. I brought the pack-n-play so Faith could nap there, and also the bouncy seat so I didn't have to hold her the whole time. It was too humid for that!While it was very humid, it was also warm and sunny for most of the afternoon. Around 3:00, it started getting cloudy, and there was a rumble of thunder. We were all ready to eat dessert by that time, so everyone got out of the pool and did that. By 4:00 it had started raining, as we were all cleaning up, and by the time we got home it was a downpour! We were thankful the Lord kept the rain away so we could swim (well, not "we" as in all of us including me, LOL. I did not even bring my suit, and I sat on the lovely screened-in porch and enjoyed visiting with the other ladies). It's wonderful to remember our brave soldiers and their sacrifice together with other military friends!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Hmmmm . . .
Trying to think of something to say here . . . I feel like I should post because I haven't posted since Tuesday, but I'm not being inspired by anything! No one has done anything particularly funny, nothing is new, and while we've been busy, it's been with a mishmash of things not particularly newsworthy in and of themselves.
One thing we have been busy with is cleaning. Our neighbors called Thursday morning to say they were going to hold a garage sale this morning, if we wanted to be in on that. I knew there were things we could stand to get rid of, so I called off school for the day, and we thoroughly cleaned the garage, making a pile in the middle of stuff to go. The boys and I brought down our old double stroller from the shelves over our garage door, and Anna and Grace thought it was perfect for their dolls. But double stroller technology has actually come a long way since we received that one as a gift when Luke was born, and when Grace was born, we bought a much newer one off craigslist, which is much improved. So we definitely didn't need two double strollers, even if one could be used as a doll stroller, LOL.
One good reason to weed through junk is that we found out we are on the fall move list a few weeks ago. Of course, the email was vague,and ended with something like "don't do anything like sell your house because you may NOT actually receive an assignment", so we'll see what happens. So far, nothing. And even if we did get another assignment, we might turn it down and stay here. Things are going really well, as far as homeschooling, our church, and our friends, and it is hard to think about starting all over with finding co-ops and other opportunities as Nathan gets older and goes into junior high and high school. But it is always motivating to go through junk with an eye of "would I really want to move with this, and if not, why not get rid of it now?!"
The garage sale was this morning, and we sold pretty much everything we put out. Yay! Plenty more room in the old garage now! I was so reminded of the fun Amy and I used to have when we would hold garage sales together back in Ohio! One of us would be a "pretend shopper", and look at things and ask questions about them. If you brought attention to something and acted like you were thinking about buying it, then the second you put it down, someone else would snatch it up! Human nature. Anyhow, we would have a great time people-watching and seeing what things people will buy when they think they are geting a bargain.
We actually moved all our stuff down to our neighbor's driveway this morning so she could watch it for us, and we left mid-morning to go to Zachary L.'s homeschool graduation. He is going to go to Cedarville, my old alma mater, for college. I'm sure he'll have a great time there, but we will miss him here, especially the boys! Bible study night just won't be the same for them.
This afternoon another neighbor had a big party. "Dr. Joe" is the one who also throws the great neighborhood Christmas party each year. This party was to celebrate his birthday. He is Italian, and an excellent cook, so the food was delicious. All the kids are still over there playing dodgeball in his front yard. I had to put Faith down for a nap, so I escaped back home to the peace, quiet, and air conditioning. I forsee showers for everyone, and then a good night's sleep because everyone is going to be exhausted! Tomorrow night we are planning on going to a free Marine Corps band concert at Wolf Trap with our Bible study group, so the social activities just keep on happening!
One thing we have been busy with is cleaning. Our neighbors called Thursday morning to say they were going to hold a garage sale this morning, if we wanted to be in on that. I knew there were things we could stand to get rid of, so I called off school for the day, and we thoroughly cleaned the garage, making a pile in the middle of stuff to go. The boys and I brought down our old double stroller from the shelves over our garage door, and Anna and Grace thought it was perfect for their dolls. But double stroller technology has actually come a long way since we received that one as a gift when Luke was born, and when Grace was born, we bought a much newer one off craigslist, which is much improved. So we definitely didn't need two double strollers, even if one could be used as a doll stroller, LOL.
One good reason to weed through junk is that we found out we are on the fall move list a few weeks ago. Of course, the email was vague,and ended with something like "don't do anything like sell your house because you may NOT actually receive an assignment", so we'll see what happens. So far, nothing. And even if we did get another assignment, we might turn it down and stay here. Things are going really well, as far as homeschooling, our church, and our friends, and it is hard to think about starting all over with finding co-ops and other opportunities as Nathan gets older and goes into junior high and high school. But it is always motivating to go through junk with an eye of "would I really want to move with this, and if not, why not get rid of it now?!"
The garage sale was this morning, and we sold pretty much everything we put out. Yay! Plenty more room in the old garage now! I was so reminded of the fun Amy and I used to have when we would hold garage sales together back in Ohio! One of us would be a "pretend shopper", and look at things and ask questions about them. If you brought attention to something and acted like you were thinking about buying it, then the second you put it down, someone else would snatch it up! Human nature. Anyhow, we would have a great time people-watching and seeing what things people will buy when they think they are geting a bargain.
We actually moved all our stuff down to our neighbor's driveway this morning so she could watch it for us, and we left mid-morning to go to Zachary L.'s homeschool graduation. He is going to go to Cedarville, my old alma mater, for college. I'm sure he'll have a great time there, but we will miss him here, especially the boys! Bible study night just won't be the same for them.
This afternoon another neighbor had a big party. "Dr. Joe" is the one who also throws the great neighborhood Christmas party each year. This party was to celebrate his birthday. He is Italian, and an excellent cook, so the food was delicious. All the kids are still over there playing dodgeball in his front yard. I had to put Faith down for a nap, so I escaped back home to the peace, quiet, and air conditioning. I forsee showers for everyone, and then a good night's sleep because everyone is going to be exhausted! Tomorrow night we are planning on going to a free Marine Corps band concert at Wolf Trap with our Bible study group, so the social activities just keep on happening!
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