Friday Funny

As a parent, you often try to get the kids to play a game to pass the time in the car, Ellie, has created her own.

Every time she spots a water tower, we hear, "Water tower--SPLASH!"  I'm not quite sure what it is about them that makes her love them so much, but she sure does!

Field Trips

We were a bit behind on our school year, due to starting late (putting in floors) and some extra trips to my home town because of my grandmother's death.  We opted to make up some for lost time by hitting the ground running on the first.

Justin was prepping for the semester, so it worked out well.  We are in the midst of the colonial period of history.  I found a fun set of videos that would be good to review what we'd been studying and preview what was ahead in history.  If you're interested in those, here is the link to the YouTube channel.

At the end of the week, the local schools were back in session, so we decided we'd take advantage of Justin not having students yet, and try some field trips.  We went to a local climbing facility.  We weren't sure how Ellie would do, but she loved it.  It took us awhile to convince her that she could just let go when she was finished climbing because the rope would catch her, but she did get it.

Ellie

Gabby

Katie

Nate

Go, Ellie, Go!

On Friday we went to an art museum.  They have a couple of galleries to walk through--one on art surrounding World War I.  The other was modern art.  They also have a great place for creating your own art, so we a good bit of time there--they painted with water colors, made a print, did stop action movies, and decorated finger puppets.  It was a great day too.

On Monday the older children went to a class at one of the local plantations.  Katie and Gabby both took tours of the mansion, Nate looked at arrowheads, and they all learned some family history of the people who once lived there.

Friday Funny

Ellie: I've got some good news!

Me: Really?

Ellie: Yes, Firefighters, they are nice people.

Friday Funny

We were discussing the traditions of feasting and fasting.  The older kids were thinking over the implications of fasting from something, when Ellie says, "A fast day?  It goes quick, quick, quick!"

Christmas Eve

We are so grateful to be celebrating the birth of Jesus.  We don't often have everyone healthy at Christmas, and we don't this year either, but we are here together and glad to have that.  I took the healthy kids to church this morning and Justin took the candle light service with them this evening.  Miss Ellie is quite disappointed to be home, but her fever isn't too high--it may well be the cold that Katie had last week that caused a short lived fever for her too.

 Our December has been full of Advent candles, menorah lighting, Christmas parties,

visiting a reenactment of Bethlehem,

attending a parade,

reading through the prophecy if Isaiah (plus drawing it), and visiting family in Ohio and Kentucky. 

 We made a trip to the zoo on a bright sunny day,

 and we saw Santa at the mall.

We have a turkey awaiting baking and all the fixings, the pies are made, and the presents are wrapped.  Tonight we sing Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, both for Christmas morning and for the return of Jesus to come again.  They will open their Christmas PJs tonight, read The Night Before Christmas and from the book of Luke, open the last of the drawers in our Advent box, and tuck in children with dreams of sugar plumbs.

Merry Christmas to you!  May you find joy, peace, and hope this Christmas.
Kristy

Grannie

My Grannie was 95 years old when she passed away on Saturday evening.  I am so thankful for those last few drives I made up to Kentucky to see her.  The one on Halloween to show her the kids' Halloween costumes--she was tired and weak, but she got to see all the kids and give them one last hug.  The one last Thursday, when we saw my mom for her birthday, and then went to the hospital to peek in on her for a bit.  I think it prepared the children for what was to come.  The one on Saturday morning after hearing the night before had not gone well.  I was able to sit with her and hold her hand much of the day, with aunts and uncles and cousins around.  The hands that have been bent with arthritis for as long as I can remember.  The ones who that sewed draperies and doll clothes.  That cooked dinners and fried apple pies.  That rocked babies and wrote everything in pencil.

Grannie was a welcoming lady.  She invited everyone to call her Grannie.  Everyone was welcome in her home.  She loved to sit and chat.  And she loved to make your favorite things to eat.  How she remembered them all, I'm not sure.

She was an encourager.  If you were going to move, she'd tell you that you would do great things.  If you were going to home school, she'd tell you about a great family that had done a wonderful job, and she knew you would too.  If you loved a book, she'd try to read it.  Every child was a delight, every visit welcome, everyone a friend.

Her life had not been easy.  Her mother was ill and passed on the care of the home to her at an early age.  She and Granddaddy raised their family as share croppers until the oldest children were already grown or nearly.  Six children.  Six mouths to feed, six people to train up, six.  Her husband and two of her children left this world ahead of her.

She worked hard: caring for other people's children and sewing.  After Sunday dinners, my father and my uncles would put up her work board over the dining room table on saw horses.  There she would measure and cut the fabric to make the draperies she was so known for.  She had sewing machines in the closest bedroom and would do her hand stitching in the living room.  The number of children who made their way through her house, must be quite the number--young families still in school needing a place close to campus, grandchildren, great grandchildren, even great-great grandchildren.

She taught me how to sew gathers on gingham, using the squares for spacing.  She showed me how to cook without a recipe--on four burners, two ovens, and two microwaves for re-heating, all going at once (at least until a breaker tripped) to get that dinner on the table.  How to laugh when the smoke detector went off because something got left a bit too long (usually the brown and serve rolls).  It was at her house that I learned about Anne of Green Gables and watched Little House on the Prairie.  She was full of laughter and stories.

I will miss my Grannie, but I'm glad she's free.  Ninety-five years is a long time, and I am glad for each of those years.  I'm grateful for a Bible with little slips of paper tucked between pages, for all those cousins that came from her six babies, and for sweet memories (and sweet tea).

 

 

Kristy

Friday Funny

Ellie: "He bless you'd!" (when someone sneezed)