The Great Adventure

~ just one blink and its changed ~

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Merry Christmas


much better...


Merry Christmas 2009

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Our new tree...


Olivia's turn to trim the tree...


Daddy's assistance


She's almost tall enough to do it herself

we think the star might be a tad big... hmmm.
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Black Friday...


Steve declared on Thanksgiving day that he thought it might be 'fun' to go shopping on Friday!
I was pretty shocked, because he doesn't ever really like to go shopping... why would he brave the busiest day of the year?

Well - he left at 10minutes to 5am and made it to Target, Meijer and Wal-mart...
he returned with all the shopping finished before 7:30.
My HERO!

Our shopping is mostly finished - and now we can enjoy the season!
Merry Christmas Shopping!
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New kitchen floor - Pt. 2


the newly finished floor -
there's little that stands up to the feeling of a project finished
(almost)
like most home projects there will always be something left...
or a surprise addition to the project
stay tuned - paint was purchased to touch up the cupboards!
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Thanksgiving 2009
for these and many more things we are thankful
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Thanksgiving... preparation day


The kids had the day off of school so they each took the opportunity to help me make a recipe that we would share.
Simeon made Great Grandma Mathew's Date Pudding.
Olivia made Aunt Nancy's Potato Rusks
Sophie helped me make Donna's Sweet Potatoe Casserole
from our days in South Carolina

They all turned out deliciously... and the kids really enjoyed helping me make a special dish for our dinner!
I'm thankful for my children - they are such a blessing to me!

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Thanksgiving



When I was a girl my mom enjoyed painting ceramics. One year she spent a lot of time painting a pilgrim man and woman. They have decorated their home since then as a great reminder of being thankful.
This year, as I was getting ready for Thanksgiving, I found these plus an Indian man to decorate my home. I love that they are simple enough to not have faces, but detailed enough that you can see the honest labor of their hands and efforts. If it weren't for the Indians and Samoset along with his entire tribe our forefathers would not have made it to the spring to learn to plant and harvest. Having seen Plimoth Plantation this summer - these important people have earned a very new place of respect in my mind... yet even more than them - God has so richly blessed me that how could I NOT but sit and be grateful for so many things.
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Happy Birthday Sophie



My little Sophie turned 4 just last week... a month earlier she told me very specifically what she wanted her cake to look like. Thankfully it was the little brown piece of paper with polka dots that caught her eye... stacked, please, and with white cake. You'd never know that she was a pretty sick little girl on her birthday - but in the end she told her daddy that it was "the bestest" birthday she ever had. Complete with birthday wishes from loved ones and a dolly head to play hairdresser with.
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As the sun was setting...


While we were visiting in Van Wert, to drop off the tree bound for Texas, we had to take advantage of all of Grandpa's leaves and 'help' him take care of making some piles. It was a great time to watch the kids and Steve play in the leaves.
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New kitchen floor - Pt. 1



We decided that after the kitchen was painted, that this old flooring had to come up. It couldn't even be scrubbed (on hands and knees) and stay cleaned any longer. So... we cashed in some sony points and got a gift card for Lowes. The day was spent chipping away at the old lenoleum. I still have a blister on my thumb three weeks later to prove how hard it was... only to find out that we could 'heat' the tiles and they'd come "right up"... The kids got in on the action and we spent the day on our knees in the kitchen working together.
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Catching up...

Life has whizzed by in the past 2 months... I look at my pictures and realize that I have not accounted for the many things I've learned and enjoyed.  Nor, have I taken account for the experiences of life.  I have enjoyed the and focused on the experience - but haven't related them as I can or ought.  So ... here in the next few moments I'm going to attempt to bring the picture back into focus.  Enjoy!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Celebrating a well-lived life!

My Grandpa has been part of a lot of this summer's events. We helped close the chapter in his life this summer by finishing up a long project of parcing out 60 years of living on the farm in Ohio. He was an amazing farmer - just ask any of the people from around where he spent a good deal of his life working the soil and making it work just as hard for him. We've also been blessed to spend a lot of time with him when we visit my folks - so when the calendar said that his birthday was this past Sunday - we went to visit and share time with Grandpa. Most of our family were able to gather on State Road and eat cake and share ice cream. What do you get for an 85 year old? Well - we decided on making cards and just giving him the gift of our time and smiles. Of course that also meant time to be with family and cousins... and since we can't just seem to get enough of that - the camera's were clicking and rolling.
special birthday kisses...

Grandpa did mention that he thought I had taken enough pictures... this coming from a man who has seen most of Europe and all 50 states in his lifetime! He's got slides to prove it too! If you ever get to read this post Grandpa - I love you so much.

all the cousins - hanging out watching the setting sun and the combine


By the way - I think that farmer rich blood has gotten into the veins of some of your family too - the kids sat for hours watching the combine across the road taking off the beans from his field... and who can forget the sun setting on a well enjoyed day!

August - Selfridge Air National Guard Air Show

Simeon has said when he grows up he wants to be a 'spaceman,' a 'football guy' a fireman and maybe a soccer guy... we laugh when he says that these are just the things he wants to be... but somehow since he's been making these declarations he always comes back to the spaceman or the outer-space guy or the astronaut. We've only heard about the Air Show but never been able to go to it... except this year, we made it... the kids had a great time. We learned a ton of things - and Simeon got to talk to some people that work for NASA and we also got to explore a lot of different air planes. It was fun to experience a first time thing for our kids through their eyes. And, I must say - that even weeks after the experience, Sim hasn't stopped mentioning things that he learned... just maybe God has impressed on his little boy heart what he was made to do - explore the heavens.

a robot used to detect and un-arm an IED in Iraq -
they are maneuvered by a gameboy control... so there is a purpose for all those silly games!

Inside an army helicopter - we did have to remind him to not touch anything!

the girls were exploring just as much as Simeon was - this was their first time in an airplane... and it had a movie screen in the seat in front!


August - A Fort-tuituos Weekend

As a little girl I loved going to historical sites with my family. I remember several trips to the site of Fort Miami (Fort Wayne, IN) which in the 1750s was one of the furthest outposts of the "west." As fortune would have it - or maybe just a girls dream... I spent some fun Friday evenings and Saturdays as well in the early 90s (circa. 1900s) 'playing' at the same Fort that I adventured to as a child. Sadly, the Fort closed in the 90s due to lack of funding... and so I packed up my clothes and figured that days of play had passed.

Major Whistler's Kitchen was a fun time to enjoy fire cooked foods and retrieve some skills of cooking that aren't often used!

Then, a friend of mine Catherine invited my family of now 5 to come and play at the fort during the weekend in August... amidst a flurry of sewing for 4... and outfitting 4 others and updating my clothes (time is merciless) we made it a weekend of much fun exploring a lot of new things for each of us in our house it was a different memory - but one thing has remained consistent... we all fell in love some for the first time and for me a renewed love of history... and being a part of sharing it.our borrowed quarters for the weekend

Sophie running across the parade ground... notice her barefeet!

Needless to say - there will be more memories for the family spent around 'playing' at history. George Santanya said, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”... hopefully my children will learn from these glimpses of our American hertitage passed and bring some valuable lessons into the 21st century.

the world through the 21st century eyes of lovely children...
playing dress up in the 18th century


the newest powder monkey and his 3 lovely children -
no man ever had such a cheering section!

Backtracking a few weeks...

Apparently it's been a few err... months since I've posted on my blog. I'm not excusing myself just drawing attention to the fact that I've noticed! So... let me update the blog for those that read!

And, BTW - Sophie is sitting on my lap pretending that she is reading what I am typing. We've become quite the pals since her sister and brother are in school all day!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Tales of a Teddy Bear Tea Party

Olivia decided that she needed to have a tea party one day this summer.
So, she invited her favorite bear along to tea.
They talked and talked and had a wonderful time even as there was much to be done.
Too bad us adults can't remember that there are times when we just need to sit down
and have a good friend to friend conversation with our bear friend about life.

Who knows what all kinds of life problems were solved at that tea party,
but I'm sure that Mom learned a good lesson about stopping and having a cup of tea now and then.
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Another corny collage!



Many hands still make light the work - at the end of a long tiring love labored week...
we can still enjoy time working together - even shucking corn at Grandpa's house!

Love all you kids -
and miss seeing you and hearing your squeals of delight while you play together.
Aunt Sarah
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Sweet Corn Summer Time Fun!

What is more fun than shucking corn on the cob knowing that the deliciousness of it all
will
in a few minutes be running down your arms!

One of the many fun times remembered with Uncle Ben and Aunt Emily this summertime in OH!
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Mile marker 1050 ... Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth MA

I have wonderful friends in this world. On the day we chose to see Plimoth Plantation (a place I have dreamed of seeing since I was a school girl) it was rainy, drizzly, and cool. Weather.com assured us that there would be a respite in the weather, so we pressed on... picking up the good doctor after he'd logged some office hours... we arrived in a rain shower and it subsided a bit after lunch enough that we could explore the Wampanoag Homesite.These boys were demonstrating how to tie a fish net.

Then on to the 1627 English Village.
  • Sophie playing near a hen house that was being "mudded" - they were adding dirt, clay, dung, and straw in between the cracks of wood so that it would be able to stay dry during the rain and snow!
  • A single chamber home
  • Outdoor oven - baking for a family happened only once a week (maybe)
  • A wood mound -wood piled in a ring with extra pieces tossed into the middle and then mounded for stackability
  • Simeon feeding the goats
  • The Shepardess
  • a colonial garden

It all felt really surreal as I explored and feasted my eyes on things that my head had only imagined seeing for many years. I loved every second of it (except the ones that I was wondering wether everyone else was having as much fun as me) ... though I think that I would more easily have lived a few years forward - maybe in 1676.