Better Late Than Never From the Guest Blogger

As Casey has pointed out on numerous occasions, life in the Houseworth household never seems to slow down. As a result, over a week later I am finally adding an entry on my fantastic road trip with the kids while Casey was at an OPC ladies retreat.

On Friday morning, October 10th, we packed our picnic lunch and and an extra change of clothes for everyone into the van, said farewell to Casey, gave Adah her Dramamine pill (her stomach really, really does not like windy roads), and headed over the Blue Ridge Mountains and into the Shenandoah Valley. The day was perfect with clear skies and the temperature hovering in the high 70s.

PART I

Our first stop was the Natural Bridge Zoo (http://www.naturalbridgezoo.net/). Many of you who have traveled up and down I-81 have seen the signs for it. The Zoo has the largest animal petting area in Virginia, and from my experience, it had the most animals in one place I've ever been able to pet and feed (excluding the mountain lions, Bengal tigers, etc., of course). It's not a fancy zoo like those found in large cities because it is actually a wildlife propagation facility that is also a functioning zoo and education facility. Daddy's only rule for the zoo: "DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE AFTER YOU TOUCH THE ANIMALS, ESPECIALLY NOT YOUR MOUTH! I DON'T CARE HOW BADLY YOU ITCH!" Needless to say, I kept a bottle of hand sanitizer in the little pocket on my shorts where I usually keep my cell phone.

My parents used to raise a lot of goats on their farm in Tennessee, but theirs certainly weren't as "friendly" as these. It reminds me of the time in Florida when we had a "hurricane proof," tinted film put on the windows just after moving into our new house. The man doing the work saw Cora watching him and asked, "so, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Cora, four at the time and fondly remembering her trip to the farm two months earlier, responded very matter-of-factly, "I want to be a mother and raiser of goats." She still wants to be a mother, but I'm not sure goats remain part of her life master plan.

The pig pen was right next door to the goat yard. How does something as cute as these piglets turn into such an ugly beast?! One whiff of the pigs and you can understand why it takes a very "special" person to raise pigs.

One animal you don't find in most zoos is the guinea pig. They had three big wash/feed tubs full of guinea pigs. Even better, there were at least a dozen babies. The tubs were located under the overhang for the snake exhibit. Convenient, perhaps? This was definitely the kids' favorite exhibit as it required a return trip before we left the zoo. There was a for sale sign over the tubs, and the kids did ask if we could buy one to take home. Recalling the marital strife barely averted when I brought home Prince Caspian the beta fish, I chose to honor my better half's wishes to limit the number of pets we'd have to find temporary homes for when we take trips.

In spite of the camel's poor reputation, these juvenile camels were quite docile and seemed to enjoy being fed and pet.
The adult camel, on the other hand, did not appreciate being ignored and decided to use Shiloh's skirt as a hanky when it blew it's nose. Needless to say, this camel did not receive as much attention as the other animals!

The zoo brochure shows a picture of and advertises riding an elephant. Unfortunately, the day of our visit they were not doing rides, so we had to settle for a group photo instead.

I think this particular buck in the fallow deer pen could sense I was less than a month away from my annual hunting trip to my parents' farm. He didn't mind the kids trying to feed him, but when I got close, he tried to gut me through the fence with his rather large rack. I could certainly understand his anxiety as I was day dreaming about monster, multi-point racks. Then again, his species is native to Europe, and while he may have been able to strut and posture while behind the fence, were the fence removed he would have had to raise a white flag and surrender (ah, fond memories of our time living in the UK where they fondly refer to the French as the cheese eating surrender monkeys...) . This also reminds me of my "successful" hunt three years ago when I returned home with a 7-point rack. The kids were excited to see it, but when I showed it to them, one of them responded with, "it's not very big, Daddy..." What do kids know anyway, right?! Man, it still smarts a little after all these years...

It's a good thing I had that bottle of hand sanitizer after we feed the giraffe. Do you have any idea how big their tongues are?!?

This particular llama had issues with "personal space." Thankfully, in spite of its size and need for instant gratification (i.e., "FEED ME."), the llama was quite gentle and content to be pet.

The miniature donkeys were pretty much the most docile of all the animals. I briefly thought about sticking one of them in the back of the van. I really hate mowing our half acre with a push mower, and this guy would have a great life tethered in our front yard! To cap off the first leg of the day, we had a nice picnic lunch in front of the Bengal tiger exhibit. You can barely see the tigers because they were a pretty lazy lot. There are three of them, and they spent the entire time we were at the zoo sleeping - two of them on their backs!

PART II

Our next stop was Lexington, home of The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) as well as the historic house of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (United States Military Academy Class of 1846 and the man for whom our Jackson is named); this was his home when he taught at VMI.

We parked next to the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery on Main Street and walked down to the end of the Downtown Central Business District (a registered national landmark) and back, enjoying the beautiful Fall weather. Unfortunately, the way back was all up hill and the Fall weather was more like Summer with the sun beating down on us, but the children were troopers. Halfway down the street is the County Courthouse, and I could not resist taking a picture of the kids on the old piece of towed artillery.

When we got back to our starting point, we wandered around the cemetery, reading the old headstones. The girls were particularly taken be the number of ladies named Elsie since we've been reading the 19th century Elsie Dinsmore series for some time now. At Stonewall Jackson's burial site the girls were aghast seeing the lemons someone had thrown at the foot of his statue. I then explained to them that this was actually a sign of respect. During the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-48, Jackson was introduced to citrus fruits and acquired a taste for them that remained with him the rest of his life.

After the museum we then headed over to VMI (the nation's first state-supported military college dating to November 11, 1839) to get a parking space and good seats to watch the cadets' Friday dress parade. It turned out to be Parents' Weekend, so there were a lot of folks watching the parade. We sat next to a gentlemen who was a graduate who explained some of the things we saw. He, along with his son, was there to see his grandson who is a first year student and member of the Rat Line. There were several things they do differently than we did (do) at West Point. The first thing you notice is that their Rats (what we call Plebes) are not integrated into the Corps of Cadets but are part of their own battalion during the first year; they aren't even allowed to wear the shako "hat" (we called it a "tar bucket") or the full dress coat (you can see this in the picture below; the cadets on the far right of each line are upperclassmen).

The next thing you notice is the Brigade Band which is made up of Cadets (at West Point, the "Hell Cats" are all active duty soldiers), and even better, they have a Pipes and Drums Corps as part of the band. It really added to the pomp and circumstance of the parade. The final difference I appreciated the most was the entire Corps fixing bayonets on the parade field; I was quite impressed watching them. My pride in my alma mater was restored, however, when I noticed that at VMI they did not have the courage to attempt the wheeling maneuvers we did at USMA. Ah, the not so fond memories of the multiple passes and reviews on Drill Days ... The kids thoroughly enjoyed watching the parade, and we all agreed we'd have to go back and see another one and definitely bring mommy with us. I know Casey too has fond memories of Drill and Ceremony at West Point. After all, unlike her husband, Casey had the added bonus of having to walk area tours a couple of weekends for missing class. Area tours were (are still?) USMA's way of taking away the only thing you already didn't have enough of - time. She got to parade around in Dress Gray under arms for 10 hours over two weekends. Did I mention I never walked any area tours? Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I.

We capped off the day with dinner out. And where do you think we went? Why Cracker Barrel of course; where else?! It was even Friday night fish fry, so I got to have fish and chips (it's not like Barney's Plaice - get it, "Plaice?" - back in Huntingdon, England, but it'll do). I think we cleaned the place out of popcorn shrimp and lemonade. Shiloh and Adah got to have their cornbread, so all was right in the world.

It's not often that Casey's away, and I have all the kids to myself. Believe it or not, I didn't have to use the entire bottle of hand sanitizer, and no one (including me) had to use the extra change of clothes we brought. We're all looking forward to Mommy's next outing with the ladies to see what kind of road trip Daddy can put together. Until then ....

-Daniel

Thank you!

To all of you who left comments lately - aww! Thank you very much. It makes me smile. :)
So - what's been going on lately...
School is back in full swing, co-op is going well (Shiloh is knitting now, the other girls are in soccer for PE, and Jackson is doing a letter of the week for his "class" - which is great, because I don't like doing "letter of the week" stuff - I just want to get right to reading. :) ). We went to Octoberfest at the Frontier Culture Museum last Saturday and couldn't have asked for a better day. It was gorgeous weather, and the kids enjoyed the oompah music. Adah thought the skits the dancers did were hilarious. Shiloh and Cora (as you can see in the pictures) were wearing their German outfits passed down from a friend in North Carolina, and they fit right in. This weekend is the ladies' retreat through church, next weekend is our church picnic, the following weekend is the pregnancy center banquet, and the following weekend Daniel leaves for Tennessee with Adah and Abigail for his hunting trip. Then the next weekend we're heading to North Carolina for a wedding, and the Tuesday following that Daniel will have shoulder surgery. It turns out that his muscle is starting to separate from his bone due to an injury in Bosnia (yeah - ouch.). Phew. We have a busy couple of weeks planned. In that time period we will also celebrate Adah and Cora's birthdays - which are on the same day! This will be the first birthday that Adah will celebrate at home, and I am so thrilled to celebrate with her.

We passed a milestone yesterday - it was our TEN MONTH anniversary with Adah and Nathaniel. TEN MONTHS they've been home. That seems incredible to me, both because it feels like they've been home forever and because I can't believe how much progress has been made in ten months. I am astounded at the Lord's goodness to us in allowing us to bond so quickly as a family. I expected the worst, I feared the worst, and the Lord has really given us the best. Yes, Nathaniel still has a ways to go, but part of that is just being two. :) My heart broke and broke again as we waited for them to come home, I lost hope along the way, I regained faith in the Lord's timing, and He has been faithful throughout. Adah and Nathaniel, if you read this one day, please know that your mommy and daddy are so very blessed to have you in our lives. You have added your own unique personalities to our crazy mix, and we couldn't have asked for a better fit. As I danced with Nathaniel this evening to Dean Martin and as I listened to Adah and Abigail giggling in the bathtub, I thought, "The Lord has done this." He has made us one big, loud, crazy family. I'm so grateful.
Have a great day and enjoy the FALL!
Love,
Casey
Adah with her best bud. Next to Shiloh, Roscoe likes Adah best. I think he could take or leave any of the others, unless they were being attacked and then he'd protect them. :) The picture below is the way I first found them. It looks like Adah is hypnotized by Roscoe's ears. It's entirely possible - they are strangely soothing.
The picture below shows one of the blessings of Daniel's schedule with every other Monday off...he's helping Jackson with his reading. Jackson felt like a big boy sitting with Daddy.
Abigail Emma with her sleepy face and bedhead. Oh. My. This child is adorable. I had to take a picture. I think I want everyone to grow up except for her.
Oooh - aren't we fancy? :) This was taken by our babysitter the night we went to the opera. Daniel is wearing the tux he bought in London at the last minute as he ran around panicked. It's a long story involving a rental shop that rented him a dirty, smelly tux so he had to find a replacement in three hours. He came back to the hotel room having BOUGHT one. :) At least he's getting some use out of it. We had a simply lovely time - it was a beautiful theater from the 40s, wonderful performances by Renee Fleming, and two champagne receptions during the intermissions. Too bad I got some sort of stomach flu right afterward and had to pull over from driving the babysitter home because I thought I was going to throw up (I didn't - then). I stayed in bed the next day and Daniel took over with piano lessons, co-op, meals, signing kids up for pictures, etc. What a man!
Daniel brought home his grandfather's steel helmet from Pennsylvania, and Jackson is making good use of it. He also brought home another helmet - civil defense - and I looked out the window while making lunch one day to see the girls pelting him with acorns while he just leaned his head down and let them ping off the helmet. How do they think of these things? They just laughed and said, "Well, he was wearing a helmet and sunglasses. He would've been okay." Uh huh. It's all fun and games...
(In the picture above he's actually wearing Daniel's dad's uniform along with his grandfather's helmet - do you think we can sign him up for West Point now?)

The following pictures are from Octoberfest. This might have been the third try to get everyone to look at the camera. :)

It's not traditional to have miniature ponies at Octoberfest celebrations :), but the kids were thrilled to see them anyway. Nathaniel said, "Moo!" when he saw it. I can see we need to work a little more on the animal sounds. Shiloh beamed the ENTIRE time she rode this pony. (Notice the saddle blanket - very German, methinks :) ) Daniel only had ten dollars in cash with him after buying brats and the boys' hats, so we were trying to decide which combination of kiddos could take a ride (the rides were $5 a piece! sheesh - this economy!). We ultimately decided only Shiloh would ride because she's the horse crazy one. All of the kids had been looking longingly into Daniel's eyes waiting for the decision, and we were so proud to see not one of them pouting afterward. They were so happy for Shiloh instead and leaned on the fence to watch her. We were especially proud of Adah, given her history with pouting and her insistence on "fairness" to all. The bystanders were forming a line to dance through the pavilion, and this lady reached out and and beckoned to Jackson. We can't believe he actually went willingly! He danced around with them for the whole song, and I think he even let out a smile at one point.
The kids are grabbing ribbons from a pole. I think Cora is trying to keep Nathaniel from ripping it off, though. :)
I can't remember what this young woman said she was doing, but it's like a miniature loom. What she was making could be used for laces or for embellishment on her gown. They have four working historical farms at the museum, and all of them had special events going on during the Octoberfest.
Cora is stirring plum butter. The gentleman told us that they would gather as small villages and cook the plums all day in a central place. They only add water at first to keep the plums from sticking, and it had to be stirred constantly. After the plums were smooshy enough (technical term), they would then taste the mixture to see how much sugar it needed. Cora struck up a conversation with this gentleman as well as another one, and then she decided to instruct additional visitors about what she was doing. They might have thought she was a volunteer with the way she was dressed (minus the shoes, of course! :) ).

Blasts From The Past

I came across this photo when I was looking for the vacation photos. This was taken in Florida after Daddy sprayed whipped cream on their noses. When did they grow up??
And this is who started this whole crazy parenthood journey. This was taken in Maryland when I was pregnant with Cora.

And this is the first photo I received of my precious Adah - after agonizing days of waiting and checking email obsessively every twenty minutes of the day. She was only three at the time. My four daughters - I am so blessed!

Home Again Home Again

We're back. Obviously. And on the day we left to come home, I looked at Daniel tenderly and said, "Do we have to go back? Or maybe you could go back with the kids?" We enjoyed ourselves very much, and on Thursday afternoon, I told Daniel that although I obviously didn't want to cut our vacation short, I actually felt rested enough to return to the daily routine. I had just taken a nap in the hammock, so that had a lot to do with it.

Highlights of the trip:
- Jackson's birthday "week" as opposed to birthDAY; we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast one day, ice cream cones one evening, cake and ice cream another evening, milkshakes another evening (see a trend?), opened presents, had gingerale in wine glasses for them, and just generally celebrated all week the fact that Jackson turned four on the last day of vacation
- "Swimming" in the Cacapon River; only Daniel, Cora, and Adah actually got more than 30% of their bodies in the water, and I never actually got out of my cover-up, but we all had a good time playing around on the rocks hunting for snails and other cool stuff; Adah found a crawdad and was disgusted to learn that people actually eat them
- the Paw Paw Tunnel; this was a 3,110 foot tunnel DUG out of a mountain in the nearby town of Paw Paw for the C & O canal; there was a footpath next to the water canal (not very deep) that you can walk on to go through the tunnel; I won't lie - I was a little unnerved by the darkness and so was Roscoe :) Cora and Abigail led the way through the tunnel even without flashlights
- Dancing in the rain during a downpour and seeing all the kids' faces when they saw Mommy and Daddy come running out to join them
- Naps; that's all I have to say about that
- Renewing a Spite and Malice rivalry with Daniel that has lain dormant for lo these many years (it's a card game)
- Taking a night hike with chem lights where Daddy hid behind some trees and jumped out to scare the kids
- And if you ask the kids one of their favorite things, it will be: "Mommy and Daddy let us watch MOVIES!!" :)
A restful and relaxing time was had by all. It certainly wasn't fancy, but it was fun. We can't decide if it beats the beach or not, so we'll go to the beach next year to compare. Only not in September. :)

Jackson has obviously never seen the Spiderman movies, and he had also never seen the Spiderman cartoon (until this trip where he saw his first) and yet he's enamored of Spiderman. Daniel got him this outfit and he loves it.

A little known fact about Spidey - he's also handy with a rifle.

Spiderman takes cover to prepare for his shot. Perhaps his target is the poor little Bambi below? :) We saw lots of wildlife, including a fox one morning running through our yard.

All ready to go before our night walk. Playing in the Cacapon River, a tributary of the Potomac. See all those big rocks? Those big rocks that the kids could hit and then get a concussion? Yeah, my right eye was twitching a little watching them hop from rock to rock. It's all fun and games until someone pokes an eye out.

Adah's crawdad. She started yelling, "Cwab! Mommy! It's a cwab! It's a cwab?? Will it bite me?"

Walking to the Paw Paw Tunnel. We had such a gorgeous day! The Paw Paw Tunnel. See that light in between Adah's and Cora's heads? Yeah, it seems a lot closer than it actually is. It's a LONG way through. Nathaniel walked the whole way, including the .6 of a mile it took to get to the entrance. He had a good nap that day.

Random dinner shot with all the kids. They were happy with their wineglasses and wanted to show them off. Dancin' in the rain. Adah was holding on to me to warm up. Nathaniel lost his shorts at one point because he has no bum and the waterlogged pants were too heavy to stay up. Daniel held him up under the gutter for a shower and he laughed and laughed.On the way back home. This was called the "Panorama Outlook" where you can see four states. Don't ask me where the boundaries are.

Down in the valley was the town of Great Cacapon, which is chiefly known for being the home of Doris' Deli, I believe. We passed through Great Cacapon to get to the cabin.

Plan C

Well, what with all the hurricanes and tropical storms this year, a beach trip planned for September was really NOT a good idea. Also, counting on having a lifeguard on the beach on a military installation after Labor Day was not a good assumption. Thus we discarded Plan A for our vacation - a return to the Dam Neck Annex cottage on the beach where we went last year. Plan B involved extending a planned day trip to Williamsburg into a vacation in Williamsburg where we would see Yorktown and Jamestown as well. Ditto for the weather situation, plus we would need a vacation from the vacation. Plan C is a cabin in West Virginia. I think we're safer on higher ground. And Roscoe gets to go with us! We have river access, a hot tub, a hammock, a screened-in porch, and several acres. That sounds relaxing. We go on Monday, and I'm so looking forward to it. The kids are ready for a break after a rigorous seven weeks of school.

We start our vacation tonight with our homeschool co-op picnic. Cora has already made two friends after only one class at co-op (yep, that's our Cora) so she's looking forward to seeing them tonight. Along with games, a picnic, and fellowship, they're having a nature hike to identify trees, which I thought would be pretty interesting. Our first day of co-op was this past Tuesday, and it was a smashing success. Yes, I took a picture of the kids on the steps like the dorky mother I am, but I haven't downloaded it yet. The kids protested the dorkiness, but I did it anyway. Cora, Adah, and Abigail are taking P.E., Shiloh is taking a needlework class, and Jackson is taking a preschool class. Nathaniel is taking the "play on the playground" class. :)

At the same time that I'm rejoicing in the Lord's blessings to our family - we're happy, healthy, and safe, and we have the means to take a vacation, my heart is heavy over the situation in Haiti and the devastation there. I've been following accounts from missionaries there, and I can't help but think of Adah's birthdad and Nathaniel's birthmom. How are they doing? Do they have a safe place to go if the floods affect them? Will they be able to receive the pictures and updates I send down in December about how well the kids are doing? Here are some links I got from another friend's blog (thanks, Julie!) with some pictures of Haiti and the orphanage (creche) that served as our children's home for two years (over two years for Adah, 2 months less than two years for Nathaniel). This photographer traveled to take pictures to promote support for Hope for the Children of Haiti, the orphanage/school for the older kids that at one time shared a building with New Life Link, the creche for younger kids. We didn't take too many pictures out and about in Haiti both because we were shellshocked at what we saw and because we were so focused on the kids. These pictures give you an idea of what we saw when we went.

http://kristaphoto.blogspot.com/2008/08/haiti.html

http://kristaphoto.blogspot.com/2008/08/hfc-school.html

http://kristaphoto.blogspot.com/2008/08/hfc-life-at-pension.html

http://kristaphoto.blogspot.com/2008/08/hope-for-children-of-haiti-boys.html

http://kristaphoto.blogspot.com/2008/06/back-from-haiti.html

The last link shows the area where the creche is located (actually, they just moved the younger kids to a nicer location). We had to leave the truck we took, go through a heavy iron gate, and then walk down an alleyway like the one pictured to get to the creche. Adah remembers how hard it was to walk down because the rocks were so loose. She remembers the hallways pictured in the first link and having her hair done, and she remembers one of her teachers. She liked her very much. :) Our orphanage director was going to move the younger kids way up the mountain to the building next to the guesthouse (a VERY nice place where we stayed) but most of the nannies couldn't commute up there. It was a little more than an hour out of town. He wanted to keep the nannies with the kids for bonding purposes, so he moved them to another building he bought. In our American eyes, the orphanage looks horrible, but for Haiti, it's excellent care. They have three meals a day, they go to school, they have solid shelter, and they are clothed. But don't those babies' faces just tear your heart apart?? Phew.

Here is a Haitian prayer I also borrowed from a friend's blog (thanks, Ange! :)).
“Senye,
Si n’ap viv jodi a malgre
siklon, grangou, ak maladi,
nou dwe di,
Mesi Senye.
Nou genle la pou yon bi.”

“Lord,If we are alive today in spite of
hurricanes, hunger and sickness,
we should say, Thank you, Lord.
We must be here for a purpose.”

I'm also going to promote a book that we are planning to order for both Adah and Nathaniel as a way to honor their beautiful heritage. Buying the book supports the Livesays (http://www.livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/) in their ministry to the people of Haiti. Here's the link if you're interested:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/283924/?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=140x240

Well, I think that's it for my scatterbrain right now. I've run out of time to run on the treadmill, so I need to get to the grocery store to pick up some stuff for our picnic dinner.

Love,
Casey

Tooth Fairy Alert

A very sleepy Jackson greeted me with this announcement this morning: "Mommy, the tooth fairy took my sock in the night. I can't find it anywhere."

I told him the tooth fairy really only takes teeth, but I don't think he believed me. And we haven't found the sock.

Two Posts! In One Day!

I am waiting for Daniel to return from Kroger with a movie for tonight, so I have time to get a video on as well. Here is Jackson, who is at his present age the cutest boy who has ever lived. What is it about an almost four year-old? I love this age for some reason. Maybe it's the moments where they break out into being a kid but they still have the adorable expressions and gestures from their last moments of being a toddler. They're trying so hard to be big, but they're just not quite there yet. Whatever it is, I could just eat him up right now. :)

Visit with Friends

The S family took Daniel in at West Point, and then took me in by extension. They were one of the mentor couples through Officer's Christian Fellowship, and they were wonderful to Daniel and to me. They fed us real food and sympathized when we had huge problems like a *gasp!* paper that was due in a few days!! :)

We've kept in touch through the years, and two years ago we met up with Mr. S and their eldest son at a conference at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. We said at the time, "We really should get together again!" Well, they took us up on our offer of coming to visit, and although Mr. S couldn't come on this trip, Mrs. S came through on their way to Nashville with their seven children. We had such a good time catching up, realizing how gracious the Lord has been to both of our families, and laughing at our kids' antics. I also got MUCH encouragement from how they are living out their convictions and what their family life looks like now that they have teenage sons (yeah - sons that we HELD while at West Point - we are OLD!). We took a walk to our neighborhood ice cream shop (have you picked up on the fact that we very much enjoy having it so close? :) and we got a few stares on the way. Picture two mamas in skirts, thirteen children and Daniel bringing up the rear. I wanted to wave and say, "Well, hi! We just arrived here from Waco! How are you?" :) I just loved to see how their older sons in particular interacted with our little ones. They're so used to having little ones around that they step right in when they're needed/wanted. Abigail took a fancy to their second oldest, and she ran around trying to capture him with the jump rope. By the way, we compared notes on naming children Abigail (their youngest is Abigail) and our opinion is that you don't want to use it unless you're specifically aiming for a spunky child. One of my favorite pictures didn't turn out - Abigail got a shoulder ride from the oldest son all the way home from the ice cream shop and Daniel thought he got a picture of it. Bummer. Abigail told me later that he asked if she wanted to get down and she replied, "No, thank you. I would rather ride to settle my tummy." Uh-huh.

Jackson also enjoyed hanging out with Jonathan and Joshua. Yep, three J's. I wouldn't call it hanging out so much as running around the outside of the house over and over, brandishing swords and yelling. Those three were LOUD. Nathaniel tried to keep up, but he got lapped with his little legs. He contributed to the noise, though. Adah summed it up best as we waved goodbye when she said, "I wish they could stay for one hundred days!" :)

A Self-Realization and a Metaphor

And both of the above came from Abigail. :) Abigail is very blog-worthy these days, I must say. Here's the story:
I took Adah out on a "date" last Saturday. After eating lunch, we ended up - where else? - at Walmart. I had to run some errands, and she had $4 of her very own money burning a whole in her very cute purse. She considered her options carefully, asked me about fifteen times, "Can I get this thing AND this thing?" and finally decided on a purple camera and a Princess Bride coloring book. (Not THE "Princess Bride," just a princess getting married, and in Adah's book, that's perfection indeed.) p.s. Am I getting a little wordy here? :)

Anyhoo, I told her that because she bought these things with her own money, she did not have to share them. However, I encouraged her to do so. Later I heard Abigail ask if she could color in the coloring book, and Adah quickly offered the camera to her. Abigail was content with that. Adah did offer the coloring book to Shiloh, however.

Here was Abigail's observation to me after bathtime that evening:
"You know, Mommy, how those pesky raccoons come into cornfields and peel the corn and take a little bite out of EVERY piece of corn and then all the corns are ruined? You know about that? Well, I think I'm like that with Adah's coloring book. If she lets me color, I will just color a little bit of every page, and then the whole coloring book will just have little bits of coloring, and I don't think Adah would like that. So I decided I would play with the camera. That's okay, right, Mommy? You know what I'm talking about with those raccoons, huh?" And I nodded and said yes, I knew about those raccoons and that I was happy she was content with the camera. I also suggested that we would get her her own coloring book where she could color little bits of pages to her heart's content. :) Sometimes (very often!) you just don't see these conversations coming, do you?

Love,
Casey
p.s. I have a big photo post coming from our visit with mentors from West Point. We had 13 children under our roof last Monday. FUN! :)

Independent Ladies

Yesterday, Adah and Abigail were playing at some length with their dolls. They set up an elaborate feast for them complete with candles and music. All at once, they decided to go on an extended train trip. They packed their bags and announced their intentions to me. I asked if they wanted me to watch their babies for them while they were gone.

Abigail: "No, thank you. They're both six years old, and they're perfectly able to take care of themselves. You might have to drive them to Kroger, though."

May I just say for the record that I have never left a six year-old alone to go on an extended train trip? Poor babies. :)

Glorious Day

We promised the kids some sort of end-of-the-school-year blow-out and with the exhaustion of the move into the new house, we still hadn't done anything. So then we went overboard and told them we would go to the Massanutten Water Park. Then we came to our senses when we looked at the price for four hours of fun plus two hours of driving and looked for an alternative plan. With some trepidation, we decided to try out our local lake, Chris Greene Park. We discussed the plan with the kids, who looked fearful at the thought of swimming among little fishes. We decided to go ahead. BEST DECISION EVER, Mommy and Daddy. "Thank you, Mommy and Daddy!" "We had the best time today, Daddy!" "We liked those little fishes, Mommy!" "It had sand, Daddy! Like at the beach!" "We played all day, didn't we, Mommy?" (We were there from 10:30-4:45!) "When can we go again?" Oh, yeah. We were heroes. For only twelve dollars' entry fee and 10 minutes (literally) from our house. Life is good.
Love, Casey

Abigail is relaxing in a pool of sand and warm lake water.

Nathaniel's and Jackson's drawers were so full of sand that they were both sporting "plumber" looks by the end of the day. :)And this is what happens to one little boy who's had a lot of sand, sun, and water. He crashed in the sun shelter for an hour and a half! (I crashed in there with him for a little bit!)This is the fountain on the "kid's side" of the lake. There was a beach in the middle with a deeper part on one side and a shallow side on the other.Chris Greene Lake as we were leaving. The beach is way out in the distance.

And more videos

I was on a video kick, apparently. Here are two more for you to enjoy. I just had to capture the sound of Adah's braids click-clacking because I love that sound. She certainly can't sneak up on anyone! The second video is of Abigail and Adah singing a song from their Latin curriculum (Song School Latin, Heather - from Veritas Press - highly recommend it so far). They are singing "Quid est tuum praenomen?" and then "Meum praenomen est..." which mean, respectively, "What is your name?" and "My name is..." You can see Nathaniel's little hand sneaking over to Abigail because he was trying to look into the camera. I'm surprised he didn't chime in with "Cheese!"

Love,

Casey

Homeschooling Begins for Nathaniel

Hey, all! We have successfully completed our first FULL week of school, and I am pleasantly surprised at how well it has gone. We actually got everything done! That's crazy, especially when we had piano lessons, a baby shower, and a meal to take to a new mama. My two big girls are so diligent to move from task to task, and the bickering problem that cropped up during our break has been minimized as they realize that they now have limited time to play with one another. That makes mama VERY happy. :)

Nathaniel was being so cute yesterday morning as I worked with Jackson and he worked on his puzzles. I decided to take a video to show you how well he's doing with words. One of his favorite sentences right now is "Gah-gay did it." (Jackson did it!) I seem to recall that that was one of Adah's first sentences: "Abbygail did it." Huh. Nathaniel does know the word tractor, but he started getting confused when I took the video and kept saying it was a train. Notice the word he uses for train. Cute.

Love,
Casey