June 30th, 2008
St. Simons Island, specifically. I’ve never seen it, but they tell me it’s a lovely place to visit. John Wesley lived there for a while too. If it’s good enough for the Methodists, it’s good enough for me, as I always say have never said before.
Fort Frederica is located there, or at least what’s left of it. Georgia’s English future was set in motion when the British troops from the fort defeated Spanish forces in 1742.
It’s not a trip I’ll be making this year, but perhaps next spring conditions will be favorable to stay there for a few weeks. If not then, I’ll aim for a couple of months in a couple of years. Just to visit, mind you, just to visit. If we were looking for a home there I’d be checking out all of the Golden Isles of Georgia…
–PS– I haven’t picked a new theme yet. It’s on my list, really, somewhere. And my list is somewhere too.
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June 9th, 2008
We celebrated another year of Cheanna this weekend, and reflected on what a wonderful member of our family she is. I thrill in her enthusiasm for life and learning. Cheanna is my dancing bookworm =)
We ran with her interest in the Indiana Jones series for the party. The treasure hunt led her to different parts of a custom Indy outfit & accessories, including a leather jacket, hat, pouch and a whip (brown duct tape and soft black rope). The riddles’ end destination? A “lost tomb overflowing with treasures” in the form of her wrapped gifts.
I had several games planned with the theme in mind; unfortunately, they blew by the wayside with the windy overcast afternoon. I can pull them out when she has a party with friends back home, though, so it’s not as if my efforts were all for naught.
(pictures of the festivities to come after they visit my laptop)
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May 25th, 2008
Setting out on a day hike, do you
a) tuck your cell phone in your pocket and take off
b) load a backpack with a water bottle, sunscreen, trail map and granola bars and take off
c) assemble items needed for any conceivable situation or emergency that may arise and rent two pack mules to accompany you
B is the logical answer for a normal person. But for a person who greatly fears the poor performance that prior planning probably prevents, sometimes B feels more like A and C sounds pretty reasonable (although maybe only one mule for a day trip).
Such is the situation I find myself in now, compiling lists to pack in spirit before gathering items to pack in the back of the van. What will I need for almost 3 weeks on the road? What will the children need? What about the different needs for special occasions? Just how much room *do* I have in the back of Washington anyway?
The objective? Bring to life plan B while satisfying/quelling the drive behind plan C and avoiding the laissez-faire “plan” A.
Step 1 is lists, lots and lots of lists. What to pack, what to purchase en route, which items are on stand-by with space limitations, where they will go in the van. Lists of what needs to be done in the days before departure, what needs to be done right before we walk out the door (along with the inverse operations for when we return). Tentative itineraries, desired activities, budget categories and amounts.
I think Step 2 is packing. I’ll let you know when I get there. =)
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May 17th, 2008
This Anya girl’s a special one, it’s birthday time for her!!!
Posted in Notable News, 1000+ Words | 4 Comments »
May 13th, 2008
John and John are back again, this time taking us on a musical adventure through the realm of numbers.
Everyone has their own favorites, though the videos and song preferences don’t always match up. My top picks would be Triops & Nonagon for clever but simple lyrics throughout, 7 for very catchy music. Cheanna’s favorite is Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go to Work), which needs to be viewed to fully enjoy the humor of the song. Ten Mississippi is one I skip over–it doesn’t appeal to me at all. Elena favors the two seven songs, and Emma Catharine recommends Figure Eight and Pirate Girls Nine.
Ephraim’s enchanted by their creation, it makes a great companion to Here Come The ABCs. You can hear him singing various songs as he’s playing. Nine Bowls of Soup was the first one he took a shine to, “whoa, whoa, whoooaa”s all over the place. Duncan enjoys Nine Bowls of Soup even more because Ephraim does.
Richard opines that it is not as amusing or catchy as the ABCs. Don’t worry, there will be many more opportunities for him to listen and watch in the near future. He may not like it as much, but he will have it committed to memory in no time. =)
Updated with live photo:
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May 2nd, 2008
A little voice from the bed this morning, when I was coaching Ephraim to call out to our departing guests:
“buhbye”
There was much cheering for Anya’s first word.
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April 30th, 2008
The ballerinas in the family dance this afternoon in full costume as they practice for an upcoming recital. Yellow dresses, affordable yellow dresses, have been hard to come by around here. I finally found some at Stuffmart that resemble extra-long polo shirts.
If they impede movement (which I suspect they will) I have an offer from a (”I wanna be like her when I grow up”) friend to help me create three yellow summer dresses. I think part of it is the novelty since she has 6 boys, the other part is her genuine desire to do good for our family.
Time to hit the road. We’ll grab some of our remaining BOOK IT! pizzas for lunch along the way. Maybe I’ll order one of those cool alumnus shirts with my unspent birthday money…
~~May Day UPDATE ~~
My friend (whom I have not asked permission to identify, but am still giving lots of details about her, hmmm… funny policy, eh?) found two darling dresses at the western most Stuffmart, “tender lemon” sizes 8 & 10. She contacted other locations and found another one in a size 7. These are adorable dresses–great for the performance and for Sunday wear later on. She was so excited they just kind of fell into her hands–yay!!!
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April 18th, 2008
(If you don’t know the title reference, there are some puppets eager to add to your numeral musical knowledge . More on that later)
It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn’t.
~~Barbara Kingsolver~~
A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.
Anya is, as Mark Twain so eloquently put it, an inestimable blessing and bother. I love her smile, crinkled eyes, sticky face, grabby hands, grubby knees, joyful noises…
I will also love it when she learns she can express herself with sounds rather than glass-shattering screams in the van, when she stops using me as a kicking-bag while nursing, when she sleeps in stretches long enough for me to take my eye circles a notch lighter…
I love how she plays with her big brothers and sisters, how she crawls over to see Daddy when he comes home, how she snuggles in the sling…
There will be new things to delight in as time goes by, sighs of relief for the passing of other phases. For now, we live one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time. God grants me serenity, courage and wisdom so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy in the next.
Just a few weeks more of being zero, Anya. I can’t wait to see what each tomorrow brings.
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April 4th, 2008
According to Richard, it’s how he successfully pulled off a surprise birthday party for me tonight. I couldn’t believe my eyes–friend after friend walking in to greet me. Why, we were just picking up one of the participants for our ladies night, what is going on?
Games, food, friends, all add up to lots of fun and lots of love. I am so blessed.
He did this to me back in 1995, caught me completely off guard with a delightful fête one day shy of the birthday I thought I’d never see. (Afterwards I thought that I could die pretty happy if I didn’t make it to midnight).
Tonight I donned the traditional tiara and boa for our ladies night birthday festivities:
Anya behaved rather well throughout the affair, allowing me to play the round of snorta/forks version of pit/spoons. No one was injured in the playing of this game, though one guest was assigned to handle first aid before the round began =) We did one round of Taboo, I gave clues twice because Team A had only 7 people to Team B’s 8. (I know many of you out there wanted to come but were waiting on transporter technology–we’ll try again in another dozen years or so…)
I’m still floating a bit here, putting together bits and pieces in hindsight. I disagree with Richard’s description of my previous birthday celebrations–even in the years things were crazy busy he always managed some fabulous way to express his jubilation for my existence.
Merçi beaucoup, mon amour & mes amis.
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