Category Archives: Photography

Daily Life, Daniel, Project 365, Sarah

P365 – Day 111 Sleepovers, Park, Dolls & More

7 Comments

It was a busy day! After the play, Daniel brought home three friends for a sleepover. Tim took them out for McDonald’s sundaes on the way home. The boys wrestled and played and eventually fell asleep, around midnight. In the morning, Joshua fixed everyone Belgium waffles (his birthday specialty). He made a triple batch and still everything was completely devoured.

breakfast yum

The boys played computer games, ran around outside, raked the grass, wrestled some more, and on and on. Tim took David off to the park for an AWANA Sparks hike. They walked down to the water and spent most of the time throwing rocks in the lake. Tim reminded me, this evening, that one of David’s first phrases was “Throw rocks! Throw rocks!” Ah, doesn’t that sound like a boy.

david at the lake

Daniel opened presents after lunch. He has some very nice friends. They are fun and cheerful and seem to thoroughly enjoy him. It was a delight having them over.

daniel and adamdaniel and boys

Sarah spent a good portion of the day playing at the top of the stairs. She got all of Rachel’s doll clothes out and played dress up for a long time.

sarah and Niki

At some point one of the swings on the swing set broke. Daniel ran in to report the damage, got directions (and inspiration, no doubt) from Tim and then set off to repair it. He and Adam did a great job although who knows how secure the whole thing is.

adam and danielfixing a swing

I tried to motivate the family to clean the house today (instead of waiting until Sunday) since we have Bible study coming tomorrow evening. Most everyone pitched in and we actually got a good bit done. Hopefully tomorrow won’t feel frantic in the afternoon before people arrive. Well, I can hope, can’t I?

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Daniel, Events, Project 365

P365 – Day 105 (Daniel’s Birthday)

8 Comments

Sunday was Daniel’s birthday. He’s our April 15th/Tax Day baby. Of course, since we often receive a tax refund, this isn’t a terribly negative connection. :)

top speed

Gotta start the presents out with a new game!

Daniel is in the exact middle of our passel of kiddos – a brother and sister older than him and a brother and sister younger. I’ve written about Daniel’s birth order challenges before, so I won’t go there again. This year Daniel’s birthday fell on the weekend of the church’s women’s retreat. Since I am one of the coordinators for the retreat, I thought it might be nice if actually WENT.

daniel and david

David used his AWANA Bible Bucks $$ to buy Daniel a birthday present.

We talked about Daniel’s birthday party options. He wanted to have some friends from co-op and PE spend the night. I got permission for the boys to come on Sunday night (homeschooling is great – they could all stay over until Monday morning without school troubles). Joshua strongly recommended Daniel wait until the following weekend (“It’s always fun to stretch out your birthday and we need Mom here” he said). Daniel decided to take his big brother’s advice and move his party to the next weekend.

presents

Joshua looks on as Daniel selects a present.

Thankfully Joshua took on the birthday decorating job and, although it was Sunday (and by default a bit rushed) and I wasn’t here to help, the living room and hallway were covered in birthday streamers. Joshua picked a very festive red, white and blue theme. It looked very Fourth of Julyish and, since my birthday is in July, I heartily approved.

Tim bought the kids fried chicken after church and topped the meal off with some leftover birthday cake from G’ma’s party. Not a bad birthday lunch! I didn’t get home until late afternoon. Instead of relaxing and being celebrated, Daniel spent a good portion of his birthday cleaning the house (for his beloved mother) and making a welcome home sign (also for his beloved mother). What a sweet birthday boy!

welcome sign

I didn’t expect to be greeted home with such a beautiful sign!

I brought some birthday cake, from the retreat, home with me. We frosted Dan’s name on the cake, surrounded it with votive candles and called it a birthday cake. I would be embarrassed at how totally lame that sounds except the cake was delicious and everyone devoured it happily.

birthday cake

Thanks for sharing your cake, Emily! :)

We ended the afternoon with lots of presents. The children took good care of Daniel and bought him several gifts. Sarah had great delight in helping Tim wrap the items. The day was absolutely gorgeous so the kids played outside before bed. I was so thankful that Tim and the children blessed my return with a clean house.

daniel's present

sarah helps

Sarah makes sure Daniel opens the present and looks it over properly.

Happy Birthday, Daniel!!! You are now 10 years old, double digits. I can’t wait to see what this year brings for you. May you grow in grace and wisdom in the Lord, becoming more like Him with each passing day.

birthday boy and siblings

The Birthday Boy surrounded by his siblings.

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Events, Project 365, Rachel

P365 – Day 109 (It’s Showtime!)

10 Comments

It’s that time of year again … the end of co-op and the final production from the drama class. All year long they have practiced, rehearsed, laughed, and worked to produce their play. The drama teacher does an amazing job with the students, actually pulling out of them a truly professional performance. She has discovered this wonderful publishing company, Pioneer Drama Service, that has an extensive collection of scripts – plays, musicals, one-act pieces, and so on. The last two years’ plays have been absolutely hysterical! I can’t wait to see what they have for us this year. I purposely resist reading the script so I can enjoy the final performance.

rachel's ready

Rachel is gathering props for play practice. Nice hat, girl!

The three older children are all in the drama class, and therefore, the play this year. The chosen title is a melodrama, How the West was Dun…or left High and Dry in low Humidity Chasm.

Rachel stars as the Schizophrenic Kid (changing back and forth from white to black hat). Joshua is Rich Coldheart, bank owner and all around evil guy. Daniel is the Lone Stranger. I can’t wait to see them knock our socks off.

cow girl

The kids have had double practices this week and last. I’ve been very grateful for Holly and her husband, who have shared the driving with me. We’ve taken turns with pick ups and drop offs. Thanks guys!

The arrival of the play signals the end of co-op for the year. The kids will be sad but all the mothers/teachers are breathing a sigh of relief. It’s difficult to maintain your own homeschool AND teach classes at a co-op.

Stay tuned to hear all about the play this weekend!

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Daily Life, Project 365, Silliness

P365 – Day 108 (Chess)

18 Comments

The children have taken to playing chess these days. I’m not sure when it started or who initiated the first game but Chess has definitely arrived into our home.

thinking hard

who's winning?

I’m a TERRIBLE chess player. I’ve tried but I just can’t seem to put my heart behind a game that encourages/requires silence. I play games to ‘relate’ to people. I guess that can be translated – I want to TALK during a game. Chess requires way too much concentration to be fun. It seems like a simple game but I found this online:

The number of possible ways of playing just the first four moves on each side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000. [Source: Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts]

I don’t know which is more mind-boggling, the fact that the number of possible moves is so high or that someone took the time to figure that number out!!

For several years my father would host an annual Chess Party. It was probably the strangest party I’ve ever been to – silent groups of men and boys, bending over chess boards in intense concentration. They would occasionally break for treats before scurrying back to find another opponent. The women folk (hate to be sexist but I don’t know if any women joined in the chess game time) and assorted children would be in the other room playing rousing games of Scattegories or Pictionary.

young chess players

Tim and my dad play a few rounds of chess on the porch of my grandmother’s home in Virginia. Boy, were they young! Phil, in the corner, looks to be high school age.

big smile

That’s a big smile, Tim, are you winning??

My friend, Lee, has two sons who both enjoy chess. One of them taught chess and went on to compete in several chess tournaments, even winning (I believe) a chess scholarship. I don’t think we have that level of skill going on in our home but it’s fun to see the boys learning something that teaches logic, reasoning, math skills and problem solving.

Note: Lee’s two sons graduated from their homeschool, receiving full college scholarships. Lee now works with parents on a consulting basis, helping them with high school transcripts, college applications and scholarship searches. She is highly motivated, organized and completely professional. Check out her website for further information. She loves working with homeschooling parents and has some amazing resources at her disposal.

I think at one point this week we had a game of Chess going in one room and Go Fish in the other. The mind reels. I know where I belong. :)

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Daniel, Events, Joshua, Project 365

P365 – Day 107 (The Rock)

6 Comments

I love you, O LORD, my strength.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. Proverbs 18:1-3

Several months ago there was a serious wind storm that knocked down large pieces of our backyard fence. Tim and the boys managed to fix the portions facing our right hand neighbor. We won’t go into great detail on the quality of their work except to say, it’s a good thing the neighbor’s dog weighs about 20 pounds and doesn’t actively want to come into our yard. Hopefully no one will sneeze too close to those fence sections and they will stay in place.

digging

Unfortunately the far back fence piece wasn’t going to come together that easily. The post was broken and the entire concrete block needed replacing. Have I ever mentioned that we are more the indoor, computer type people than the get outside and work with your hands folk?? I’m not excusing it, just stating a fact.

concrete block

This week Tim decided it was time to start working outside. He’s so grateful not to be on the property digging up Oregon Grape, that anything else looks easy by comparison. He went outside on Tuesday to start digging up that pesky concrete block. David and Daniel helped him for a little bit. Tim’s allergies (nasty this time of year) drove him inside just as Joshua was coming out to join the work team. He and Daniel continued to dig away at that cement block while the rest of played inside. Okay, I was making dinner, hardly lazing around, but I can’t speak for the rest of the group. :)

After a little bit (far longer, frankly, than I thought they would last), the boys rushed in saying they had gotten the block out!! We were all stunned. Tim hurried out (camera in hand) to check on their handiwork. Yes, indeed, it was true. They had completed the job and removed the concrete slab.

carrying the offense block

Awesome job, boys! You are two hard workers! Since we continue to study Proverbs in school devotional time, I couldn’t help but think of several verses in Proverbs 10 (notice the many references to sons and fathers).

The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother. (v1)

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.
He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son. (v4-5)

The way of the LORD is a refuge for the righteous, but it is the ruin of those who do evil. The righteous will never be uprooted but the wicked will not remain in the land. (v29-30)

silly boys

These two sons brought joy to their father. They were diligent (and were likewise rewarded). Unlike the cement block that they uprooted, their righteousness will remain blessed in the land. How grateful we are that our strength and foundation is in the Lord, a rock that cannot be moved.

dinnger hole

Now to go on and finish the fence…but that’s for another day.

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts: