Category Archives: Events

Family, Games, Holidays, Project 365

A Cousin, Once Removed

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We spent the Memorial Day holiday with my nephew and his bride, and their new baby, my Grand Nephew. We ate delicious burgers, played games, went for a walk, scrounged a casual dinner and watched the beginning of the third Hobbit movie.

A 'quick' game of Robo Rally with my niece and nephew.

A ‘quick’ game of Robo Rally with my niece and nephew.

It was a delightful day, much enjoyed. I managed to win all three of the games, although not without a certain amount of mercy when I forgot to take my entire turn (or took an obviously-foolish action). We played Robo Rally, Star Realms and the DC Comics Deck Building game — an excellent way to spend a day off.

John spent some quality time with Rachel, who sprained her ankle yesterday.

John spent some quality time with Rachel, who sprained her ankle yesterday.

I needed to talk a walk before supper to earn some extra calories (and to make sure I don’t have to pay Daniel a forfeit for missing out on our exercise challenge). We did two laps around a nearby lake, and managed to put John to sleep (in spite of my wild driving). It has been a long time since I drove one of those stroller things.

A mostly-staged photo for the blog.

A mostly-staged photo for the blog.

During the walk, there was much discussion about whether little John Mark was a second cousin or a cousin once-removed to my children. Fortunately, the interweb helped us understand that my kids (Joshua, for example) are cousins once-removed from Little John (as Joshua calls him). I removed Joshua into the underbrush to underscore the point.

We are so thankful to have Tim and Sunny and little John with us here in Washington!

Project 365, Day 145
Tim

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Rachel’s Return, Learning to Drive & a Homeschool Dance

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Rachel is home!!! We’ve been anticipating her return for weeks. Our texts have mostly consisted of, “See you soon!” and “Only one more paper/final before you come home!” And a few, “Don’t Panic, the semester is almost over!” Or even, “Yikes, almost a sophomore!!”

We spent most of Friday getting things ready for Rachel’s return – moving David out of Rachel’s room, cleaning out dressers, going through old clothes, taking apart the bunk bed, and cleaning the house. At some point during the day, Tim got a cell phone update on Rachel’s flight, saying the flight wasn’t due until 10 pm. We had expected her at 9 pm, so this was quite a delay. Still, we didn’t think much of it as it seems airlines are free to change itineraries without permission these days. We had a lovely dinner with our nephew Timothy, his wife Sunny, and baby John. Around 8:30 pm I decided to input Rachel’s flight in my phone flight tracker. At that point the info said her flight was coming in 8 minutes early and would be there at 8:37.

WHAT??!! I hurried to check it again, tried to find the notification that said she wasn’t due until 10 pm, and had a moment of panic. Just as we were rushing to grab shoes, say a hasty goodbye to Tim and Sunny, I got a text from Rachel saying she had landed.

UH OH! We’re a good 45 minutes (when there’s NO TRAFFIC) from the airport. Time to hustle!! David and Sarah jumped into the car with me while Tim stayed home to finish putting together the bed we had bought that afternoon to put in Rachel room. Poor Rachel had to wait for us – no glory for the returning college student!

Now, I should say, to our credit Tim managed to secure Rachel a first class seat on her flight from Dallas to Seattle. Hee hee! Surprise!! Yay for frequent flier miles!! So, although she FELT like we had forgotten her, we were just given wrong info. LOL. And, her dad spoiled her with a surprise First Class seat for the long flight home. A warm cloth to wash hands, a lovely meal, ice cream served in a glass bowl, and room to stretch out. Luxuries these days!

Many hugs and kisses and excited greetings!!

Saturday was our first full day together. Rachel’s friend Jenny came over for a visit. Daniel took the girls driving – time for Rachel to start learning how to drive a stick shift.

Love these three!

Love these three!

Daniel takes Rachel off for a drive.

Daniel takes Rachel off for a drive.

Look closely at that window!

Look closely at that window!

Later that evening the three younger kids went off to the Homeschool dance. Rachel stayed home and worked with Tim. They planted tomato plants and some lettuce for me, and even surprised me with three window boxes full of flowers. They had a lovely time while the rest of us kicked up our heels and did a little swing dancing.

So beautiful!

Looking sharp!

Beautiful Sarah!!

Beautiful Sarah!!

Okay, the kids danced, I worked behind the scenes in the kitchen and helped with the cleaning.

David is a good dancer.

David is a good dancer.

By the end of the evening, Daniel was done swing dancing and decided to pull out a board game. Gotta love a resourceful kid who knows how to make the most of a good party.

Teaching Alex how to play DC Comics.

Teaching Alex how to play DC Comics.

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I think they ended up with a full table of people playing DC Comics, including the wonderful caterer, Duncan Cross. None of them seemed to mind that they had to use a phone as a light for the table while the room was dim for the dance crowd.

It was a great party!
So glad to have Rachel home!

Here’s to the beginning of a great summer!
Project 365 – Day 136
Kathy

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MOPS auction

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Super heroes –

These amazing women are all super heroes in my book! Busy with families, loving their husbands, involved in different ministries, AND still talking time to have fun and support MOPS.

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We had a great time bidding on deals and steals at the auction. This was the girls only table as all of our husbands were either – out of town, deployed, or busy at home with other work. When you select Powell Auction and Realty, you select a winning team to conduct your auction. Founded in 1972, the family owned business has conducted over 3,000 auctions. Howard Phillips serves on the Tennessee Auction Board. Successful land auctions just like the one above are happening everywhere North America and therefore the Caribbean. Recently land auctions are on the increase , the rise in popularity is partly driven by growing inventories and fading buyer confidence. Properties that were selling in weeks using traditional methods are now languishing on the market unable to draw in buyers whilst seller’s lower prices. Many say the important estate boom is over but savvy buyers and sellers are taking advantage of land auctions. When allowing Powell Auction to conduct your sale, you’ll work with the corporate owners and permit them to point out you ways they will assist you together with your needs, also as showing you ways choosing the auction method of selling will prevent time and money, by allowing Powell Auction to link the vendor to the buying public! Nothing is as s effective as an auction, in gaining the right buying audience. Powell Auction offers a highly specialized approach to selling your equipment. Both offsite and onsite auction services are offered, while providing a radical and specialized means of advertising, setup, property removal, site locations, and auction execution. Powell Auction is committed to maintaining our professional integrity to every and each client that we serve, while fulfilling every promise made to their buyers and sellers. To know more about powell auction, Visit to powell website url.

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I wore a cape for the evening, but Abby outdid me by a long shot. She’s definitely one of my heroes!

I managed to come home with some treats for me, a surprise for Tim, a date for an authentic cooked Thai dinner, and a present for Grandma and Grandpa. That’s a pretty successful outing.

Sarah was a love and spent the whole night working on the nursery.

Tomorrow – the curriculum sale! Busy times (as always )

Project 365 – day 12?
Kathy

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Women’s Retreat Part 2

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Tim and I are racing to post blogs tonight. He “forgot” (likely story) to take any pictures on the 1st, so no one blogged that day. Thankfully I had suspected such a thing might occur, so I snapped a few shots with my phone while I was at the women’s retreat. Whew! The sanctity of Project 365 was preserved. Hey, this is important stuff here. We’ve been taking a picture a day and blogging it EVERY DAY since January 1st. We can’t let lapses occur just because certain people “forget” to take a picture.

I managed to post date a blog for Tim’s day (the 1st), and now he’s writing something for the 2nd. I guess I’ll use the photo I took today, combined with the other retreat pictures from yesterday, and count this post as May 3rd blog.

Confused?

Don’t worry. You can just sit back and enjoy the pictures, skim the cheerful, rambling words, and go back to your busy life. :)

Our women’s retreat was exactly what I needed – a weekend away with some of my closest and dearest friends, a time of relaxation and reflection, a chance to walk several of the beautiful paths of Gig Harbor, a sweet opportunity to hear a beloved friend teach 80 of us from God’s Word, and the blessing to get to know some new women from our church.

Heading out on a hike

Heading out on a hike

One of our beautiful views

One of our beautiful views

On Saturday afternoon, a friend and I hosted a breakout session on homeschooling. I love talking about homeschooling with curious, interested moms. And it was an extra joy to have several faithful, long-time homeschooling friends join us for the seminar. We talked about 10 Myths of Homeschooling and answered as many questions as we had time for. We all agreed many of these topics could be whole seminars all by themselves.

Time for some research and review before our talk.

Time for some research and review before our talk.

And of course we had some giveaways.

A little Starbucks and Barnes & Noble gift cards for our audience.

A little Starbucks and Barnes & Noble gift cards for our audience.

The annual women’s retreat holds a special place in my heart. I have served on the planning committee many times. I’ve written and performed skits and co-taught various seminars over the years. I have enjoyed countless conversations, often lasting LATE into the night.

Love these friends!

Love these friends!

This year was no different except for one thing – I actually went to bed at a decent hour (for me anyway) AND I got up each morning to walk with the (I’ll just call them beautiful and crazy) morning walkers. The sun was shining so brilliantly this weekend, I couldn’t help but get outside and praise the Lord for the beauty of His Creation.

I know I’ll forget someone, but I just have to say a few Thank You’s!!!!

Thank you, Tim, for letting me sneak away this weekend.
Thank you, David and Sarah, for cleaning up the house BEFORE I came home today.
Thank you, Holly, for sharing your heart with all of us as you taught from the scriptures.
Thank you, Krystal and Michelle, for being great friends and roommates.
Thank you, Beckie, Krystal and Debi for taking the SHORT version of the hike with me on Saturday.
Thank you, Nancy for getting us outside walking each morning.
Thank you, to the wonderful women in my small group.
Thank you, Susan for co-teaching Homeschooling 101 with me.
Thank you, Debbie for putting together a relaxed, God-focused retreat.
Thank you, Krystal, Becky, Nina and Kirstin for planning and preparing and working on the retreat.
Thank you, Sue, Ellen and Lura for leading us in amazing worship.
Thank you, Amy, for picking me up some Starbucks on Saturday.
Thank you, Lisa, Karen and Jen for working the sound and PowerPoint for our worship this weekend.
Thank you, Amanda and Rebekah for selfie mixers and silly games.
Thank you, Shari, for making me laugh on Sunday morning with all your hugs.

Thank you to ALL the incredible women who came away from the busyness of our ordinary lives to celebrate together and learn something fresh about Jesus.

Until next year….

Project 365 – Day 123
Kathy

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Alice’s Midsummer Night Wonderland

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It was all a dream! Or was it?

David and Sarah had their play performances this evening. They have spent the year studying drama at our homeschool co-op. Last year they were in the class together, but this year David moved up to Center Stage with the older students, while Sarah remained in Limelight with the younger children. Both teachers are dedicated and incredibly talented. They manage to bring out the very best in the kids, as well as design beautiful sets and tackle difficult plays.

Flowers from her daddy

Flowers from her daddy

This weekend, Sarah plays a little mouse in Alice in Wonderland. The costumes are vivid, and the players’ act with the perfect flair of the dramatic needed for this fantasy tale. Nearly all of the students in the play had more than one part. Sarah opened the first act as the mouse and ended it as Alice’s sister. She memorized her lines, followed her cues perfectly, and was calm and excited throughout it all. It has been a wonderful experience for her.

My beautiful mouse!

My beautiful mouse!

The mouse telling Alice a "tail."

The mouse telling Alice a “tail.”

And, of course, nothing heightens the enjoyment of the evening as much as filling the seats with friends. We were so glad Nancy, Daniel and Julia could come and cheer on David and Sarah. And we were honored that Becca and Beckie came as well. Tomorrow night we’re excited that some more friends are coming as well as the grandparents. We wish Joshua, Rachel and Mamie were in town, and we’re sorry that Daniel has to work this weekend and misses the fun.

Sarah, David and a few of their fans.

Sarah, David and a few of their fans.

After Sarah’s play ended, the cast and volunteers changed the set and get things ready for the next production. In this one, David stars as Lysander in Midsummer Night’s Dream. David is a wonder! He did an amazing job with a LOT of lines. Not just any lines, Shakespeare dialogue. So challenging. All the kids nailed their parts! I was very impressed. We laughed and laughed at the comedic moments, were moved by the various romances, and hoped for a happy ending! The students (ages 13 to 17) were not intimidated by tackling a Shakespearean comedy and approached the play with gusto and panache. I’m so glad I’ll have another chance to see it tomorrow night for the second performance!

Demetrius, Helena, and Lysander in the middle of a dramatic scene.

Demetrius, Helena, and Lysander in the middle of a dramatic scene.

It is such a sweet privilege to see your children come under the teaching and direction of talented people, and to watch them shine in a fresh way. I’m very thankful for the directors, Stephanie and Calice, who give so devotedly of their time and energies to teach drama and produce such wonderful plays at the end of the year.

Thank you!
Project 365 – Day 114

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