SUNDAY AT OUR HOUSE

The Moss Family usually host lunch for the many single young men and the Carpenter Family on Sundays after church. The Carpenters travel more than 2 hours to worship with us, so we always try to feed them at someone's home before they head back to their own home. Since the Mosses needed to take a Sunday off to attend a graduation party, we decided to host lunch over at our house this last Sunday. Even though the Carpenters didn't end up coming to church, we enjoyed having over a number of other people. The Oldland family, with their six young children, came as well as Joshua and Kristin Stedman with baby Titus and 4 single men. We had some pulled pork sandwhiches, coleslaw, baked beans and chips in the basement. Eventually, we had some dessert then headed outside for some physical activity. The men all played ultimate frisbee for a while. It was pretty hot, so we brought out cups and pitchers of ice water until they finally collapsed on the porch in the shade. Below is Bill and Jocelyn Oldland with baby Jonathan, Tim Woody, Kent Kicher and Peter with Cecily.I never seem to take many pictures in the midst of the eating and chatting, I'm too busy!! After most of that was done, Jocelyn and I finally went outside and spent some time with the little ones, which is what I got pictures of, of course.
This is how I found Evan Jackson and Patrick Thompson: playing duck, duck, goose with the kids.
When Patrick was in the middle, they all started pulling up grass and throwing it at him. He was really laughing at that.

I liked the way the kids could run in this game, but it was organized. It was really nice of Evan and Patrick to play with them. They played several different games and really spent some time with them. The kids love that!

This is Evan chasing Sarah Grace.

Sam kept giving me funny faces.

Cecily watched the fun from her blanket on the grass.

Millie and Katrina had a good time with this wagon.

We took them over to the playset for a while. They are a little bit small to climb on it without some help.

Jocelyn helping Katrina.

Helping Millie.

And catching Millie.

Amelia hasn't really gotten used to balancing herself on a regular swing because we have a baby swing on the set. She was wanting to try it out, so I set her up there.

She surprised me and didn't want to swing, but go backwards and upside-down.

:-)

Sam Oldland worked on his handbar ability.

And Calvin did his own little thing.

The Oldlands hung around and ordered pizza for dinner with us. The kids thought it was the most marvelous thing to be able to spend the whole day together. After supper they got into the dress-up box and suddenly some furry animals and a valiant knight appeared in my basement.

Can't you tell they had a marvelous day together? It's been fun to watch these four boys get to be friends. Samuel and William Oldland are basically the same ages as Benjamin and Calvin. I think these will be good memories in years to come. My, how we love Sunday!

PETER, WORKING ON HIS SERMON

Well, he was working on his sermon. That is, until 12 things happened at once and he came to rescue me and his daughters. I was washing Millie's hair and found a tick attached behind her ear. Cecily, at that moment, decided she was DONE playing and started crying with much urgency. Okay, so maybe it wasn't 12 things, but it felt like a meltdown moment. We dealt with the tick while Sam (or Will?) held Cecily, then Peter entertained the girls while I washed Cal's hair who was waiting his turn. Sermon out the window. That happens occasionally. This actually was not a very true emergency moment, but as I took his picture he said I should title it, "Peter, working on his sermon."I took the pictures because they were so enjoying this spontaneous moment of fellowship!!
And Cecily was really working on a new skill, closing the little trap doors. You can see in her face that it takes some serious concentration.

RECORD HIGH HEAT

A few weeks back we had some unusually high temperatures for Springtime. We enjoyed Sunday afternoon fellowship at the Mosses house and came home ready to cool off from being in the direct sunlight in their backyard. It's been a couple of years since the boys ran through the sprinkler, so it was pretty fun to get it out and do it again. Here they are showing it to Amelia who's never seen it before.Peter took several shots of the boys jumping through the water. They're pretty blurry, but I thought I'd post them anyway.
Sam

Ben

Wild William

Millie

Can you guess why there's no Calvin? He did get wet, but he's not about to go running and jumping in all that spray!! Millie doesn't mind it a bit.

So, this is her new swim outfit from Land's End.

Had to include this one because she's licking the drips from her hair.

Drying herself off. She's a happy girl. She thought that sprinkler was just fine.

A FEW PICTURES BEFORE I GO

Happy Memorial Day! We are heading out the door to do some weeding and mulching in the gigantic garden we are helping our friends, the Oldlands to grow. We're hoping for a big crop to feed these two big families. We'll probably put in some plants today too. So far we've planted onions, potatoes, peas, green beans, broccoli and cabbage.

I really must be scooting along, but I wanted to say "Hello" and "Happy Memorial Day." Hope your holiday is lovely.

Ben is the one who often asks me to take a picture of him...

This bunny is his own special friend.
Calvin imitated Ben and wanted his picture taken too. This is his special friend, the bear.

Doing some reading on the top bunk.

NARRATIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT

I thought it might be fun to share a little of the work Sam did recently. I don't think he considers it work. On Fridays he does writing assignments for his grammar curriculum. He started out with expository paragraphs and has gradually moved to essays and other types of writing like narrative and descriptive. A couple of weeks ago, he was supposed to do a narrative essay on the topic, "My Narrow Escape." This is what he came up with:

I was very excited about visiting my dad's mine. He'd owned it for about three and half years and we've prospered ever since. But better than hearing about the mine that day I got to see it. My dad arranged for September 13th. Being in Texas, it was HOT and it became hotter as we descended on the elevator to the first level of the Rocks get HARD knocks ore/granite mine. I was fascinated by the huge machines that chopped, cracked, and hardened the stones of the mine.

We had come to a place where there was a dead end, when some dust fell and I heard a faint cracking sound (my father had been having ear trouble and didn't hear it). I asumed he had heard it and nothing was wrong. We were turning when an enormous boulder came down followed by most of the roof. After much coughing we discovered that we were totally trapped!

Dad was concerned. He is a good dad and never fully panicks. So he clicked on a speelunker's flashlight and shone it around. No possible escape route could be seen so we sat down and told me storys of his boyhood. Several hours passed, and I was sweating the life out of me, when we heard shouts, and a boulder fell in. A ray of sunshine entered. It is a memorable thing to think about.

It has some problems and I decided to leave the spelling and grammar just as he had it. But overall, I enjoyed reading it and thought his writing is coming along well. Sam greatly enjoys writing and composing stories. Next to science, it might be his favorite school thing to do. In the most recent things he's been writing he likes to spend several days working on it. I don't mind because I certainly want to encourage his love of writing!

Calvin and Cecily

I took a few pictures of a rare chance for Calvin to hold his littlest sister.She gave me a nice smile.

You know I'm out of pictures when this is what I'm posting! We spent the day at a historical museum today, but I left my camera at home. Wonderful outing, with lots we could share, but no pictures this time. Samuel is working on a blog post. Hopefully it will be ready soon.

Have a happy Wednesday, anyway!

BRUSHING TEETH

Just what you always wanted to see: Calvin and Millie brushing their teeth!!I think one day I'll look back and appreciate seeing little Amelia kneeling on the counter to reach the sink.
Do you think she likes to brush her teeth? You're right. She loves it. She's always wanting her toothbrush and help from someone to give her some toothpaste.

What a helpful brother.

Showing me her pigtails.

And since it's so convenient, she might as well play with the mirror for a minute...

:-) Look at those clean teeth!!

VISITORS FROM TENNESSEE

Recently, we enjoyed a visit from Peter's brother and his family. It was great fun to have our kids together and spend some time in the same place for once!

Here are all the cousins together at the park. Mitchell and Tessa's kids are Emma and Ethan in the middle. Tessa is pregnant with their third child.

We squeezed this little excursion to the park in between rain showers.
Ethan is 3, nearly 4 and was such a fun playmate for Ben and Cal.

You can tell how much fun they had together.

All of these pictures at the park were taken by my sister-in-law, Tessa.

Looking at the Monongahela River outside the park.

It was just wonderful to get to watch Emma and enjoy the age she's at and get to know her.

Tessa with Emma. :-) Such a nice picture!

Peter's brother, Mitchell, with Ethan.

Back at home, rootbeer floats.

Not much more to say about that. Yum!

Floats all around.

Ethan too.

When my boys saw this picture, they literally said in unison, "Awwww, Emma!" They thought she was really cute. She sucks her fingers and carries around a little giraffe blanket that she calls Giraffee. I believe she is about 15 months old here.

Emma and Millie had a good time together.

One evening, right before bed, they got all wound up playing a game of chase and peekabo around this chair. It was absolutely adorable. It was great fun to watch them entertain each other.

Giggles and running. Tessa changed Emma out of the yellow pajamas so that she could have better traction to run.

More girl fun. This was a different night. Here they are having some more fun in Ethan's bed.

Reading to the kids while the parents packed up their car to leave.

Saying goodbye.

Cal will miss his buddy!

One last picture. We came outside to wave them off. What a fun visit! We're so grateful they made the effort to come! We love you all, Mitchell, Tessa, Ethan and Emma and new baby inside. So glad we're family!