Elks Club Harvest Fun

On Sunday our next door neighbors invited us to be their guests at the local Elk's Club Harvest Festival. I don't actually know what the official name of the event was, but that's just what I am calling it.

The kids had fun dancing to the music for the cake walk, decorating pumpkins, getting their faces painted, and most of all, getting to ride on a real horse!

It was definitely a sweet surprise and a beautiful afternoon to be outside enjoying the scenery of mountains in the distance and colorful leaves.

 I would also like to add a picture from a few weeks ago. I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and noticed a very unusual calm/quiet in our house. What a pleasant surprise to find all the kids sitting together on the couch with Mac reading Corrie and David. Sweet moment!

Lastly, some pictures of the scenery from our church's women's retreat this past weekend. Turned out to be the peak weekend for Fall color. I could have sat for hours taking it all in.

Summer Vacation, Part 1

Perhaps it is a bit overdue, but here are some pictures of summer 2015. It was a sweet one. 

Mac had been asking for over a year for a pet turtle. It was a lot of fun getting to keep one for a day!

We went to Sandy Point State Park on the Chesapeake Bay. It is right next to the Bay Bridge, and it sure makes for a fun and inexpensive "beach" day! (Shaded picnic areas included)

Mac and Corrie had a blast in the water. They floated for hours with their water wings, and even made friends. Davey was mostly just happy to play in the sand. 

And as always, Aunt Joyce's pool was a highlight of the summer!

Today

Corrie solidified her title of the best-dressed member of the family 

Mac's dream of getting to hold a yellow swallowtail butterfly finally came true 

And Davey helped harvest some carrots from the garden!

Meow Painting

A few weeks ago I opened our door to find a little note waiting for Corrie. She was still sleeping, so I waited until she got out of bed and showed her the little surprise that was waiting for her.

It was an invitation to a nail painting party!

(From her friend who lives across the street)

She was pretty pumped :)

The painting fun continued a few days ago, when Corrie invited her friend over to paint their nails together with some new nail polish that Corrie had just bought with her allowance. 

"Can I bring my face paint?," her friend asked. 

"Of course!"

Corrie enjoyed being a cat for a couple days. Everywhere we went, she smiled and loved the comments about her cat face and sparkly fingernails. 

After the "meow painting" party, they enjoyed a little picnic together in the shade. Very sweet!

David

David is the type of kid who is always on some kind of mission. He's either got a project in mind, or he is conquering something.

I recently came across a video on my phone that I took of David a long time ago. I laughed to see how much it captured his personality.

The sun was shining into our kitchen one morning, and he saw all of the dust particles floating in the air where the sun was highlighting them.

I remember when Mac and Corrie first noticed dust particles when we lived in Front Royal. They would see them sparkle in the sunlight and say, "Look! Beautiful fireflies!," and they would gently try to catch as many as they could.

Davey's reaction was just a little bit different...."DESTROY THEM ALL!!!"

That's Davey!

A Day on the Magothy

It was a bit of an adventure getting there, but we sure had a fun time visiting Grandpa and Grandma Johns last weekend.

Grandpa took some of us out on the river to go tubing on Sunday afternoon. I went along with the intention to supervise Mac, but I was pleasantly surprised by the chance to have a nice, long, relaxing "float" ride of my own. 

In the evening, Ellis and Grandpa took us to one of Ellis' favorite "swimming holes" growing up. Mac and Corrie enjoyed swimming at Dobbin's Island, and I enjoyed resting for a bit on the shore...taking in the scenery while enjoying the beautiful evening breezes and the long shadows being cast by the setting sun.

Later, Mac and Ellis braved the waters in the inner tube together. Here they are right before they flipped over backwards. At first Mac was really scared, but we decided to convince him that it was an epic, awesome flip, and we cheered and clapped for him and Ellis.

Surprisingly, our plan actually worked. Mac loves telling the story of the time he and Daddy flipped in the big tube. :)

Corrie was the last one to brave the "giant" water tube. At first she was scared, but Grandpa made sure to go very slowly. A few minutes after she got in the tube, I looked back and saw that she had disappeared!

After a few minutes of extreme panic for me, Corrie popped her head out of the tube and smiled at me. She had discovered that she could curl into a tiny ball and completely hide herself in the middle of the tube! She kept peeping her head out like a little smiling turtle for the rest of the ride. That's classic Corrie right there.

Thanks for a fun day on the water, Grandpa and Grandma!

Still Little

David is always acting so much older than Corrie or Mac did at his age. He truly does all that he can to manuever his way into whatever his older brother and sister are doing, and I think he is thoroughly convinced that he is just as old and big as they are (maybe older).

It's pretty sweet then, when I get glimpses of his "still little" self. The way he can still snuggle into a little ball on my lap, the way he giggles going down a slide, the way he insists on running everywhere instead of walking, the phrases that he tries so hard to articulate that betray his innocent toddler-ish understanding of the world...it is all special, and I appreciate it more with each child.

So, it warmed my heart to see him sleeping tonight in his crib when I went to check on him before I headed to bed: his cute, "still little" body was positioned with his face down and his bottom up in air. 

I remember when Mac and Corrie and used to sleep like that, and how they "grew up" and stopped finding that position comfortable. 

I am happy to see that Davey is still little, for little while longer at least. :)

Marble Shop 28

This morning I finished unloading the dishwasher to discover that Mac was passionately creating another "invention" at the kitchen table.

What did he need cardboard boxes, sticks, tape, glue, bath tub cup toys, paperclips, marbles, and a tape measure for?

A marble wash, of course!

I always wonder how these little inventions will turn out when they finally come to life, but I am happy to report that "Marble Shop 28," is a grand success! By "success," I mean that it has kept Mac busy for at least an hour, and has been enjoyable for all of us to behold.

Once the "shop" is really up and running, Mac plans to charge customers $28.00 for his marble washing services. (Which is how he decided upon the shop's name).

Who knows, maybe we will see Mac and one of his creative start-ups on Shark Tank one day. Good luck, Mac! :)

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day weekend was a pretty busy one for Ellis this year. He left early Friday morning, and we really didn't see him again until Monday. He ended up being on call on a weekend full of emergencies and babies being born. 

Thankfully, we were able to meet up with him at the hospital on Father's Day to bring him dinner, some special hand-made gifts from the kids, and cake that we baked for him. We all enjoyed our time together and Ellis seemed so happy that we were able to come and see him. 

The view of the mountains at the hospital is really beautiful. I hope I get a room with a good view in December!

I asked each kid to give Ellis a "free ticket" for something that he would really like, and we put them in a card for him. Corrie wanted to make her own special card for Ellis. She put her ticket inside, and it said "One free ticket for: You to come to my birthday party on my birthday!"

The rest of us gave Ellis a card with "free tickets" in them too. 

Mac's ticket said: "One free ticket for: watching a whole movie together!"

Davey's ticket said: "One free ticket for: wrestling! (but no biting)

My ticket said: "One free ticket for: playing soccer together!

Mac had made a little gift for Ellis at school for Father's Day:

I was reminded that Mac made a similar gift for me on Mother's Day. It is sweet to see the world through his eyes.

Happy 4th of July

The Lord really blessed us this Fourth of July. Ellis got the inside scoop from a co-worker on a sweet little parade in a town near us (Earlysville). We managed to get there just in time to find a spot right on the road before the parade started. 

The whole event lasted for a grand total of 13 minutes, and that was just right for us! The kids could hardly believe it when the firemen and parade participants started throwing out candy. The closest they have come to something like that is trick-or-treating (which has never really yielded much for them).

After watching the kids stuff their faces with tootsie rolls and twizzlers, we called Ellis' friend to see if we could meet up with him. It turned out that he and his wife were waiting for us at a little church near the end of the street: it was offering free hot dogs and two bouncy houses for the kids. What a treat! 

A few minutes later Ellis and I sat together in the little front lawn of the old church, savoring our free lunch and watching our kids fully enjoy themselves. The whole affair was so laid back and peacefully small - just the right amount of excitement for us. 

As the day went on, it became increasingly clear that there was no way Corrie and Davey would be able to stay up to see fireworks that night. I stayed home with them while Ellis and Mac walked up the street together and discovered a perfect spot to view (in Mac's words) "tons of bullets hitting in to each other and exploding!" 

I am pretty sure Mac had his hands excitedly squeezing his face the entire time as he watched (in his mind) and epic battle of exploding bullets in the sky. How sweet that they could see the whole city fireworks show right from our neighborhood!

We had a very happy 4th of July, and we hope you did too!