5-31-11 More Memorial Day

So Kate covered the day pretty well from her perspective. Here’s mine.

Morning jobs with the littles.

And Tori to help some too.

And I did NOT realized what a gem of a photo prop I was getting when Dad & I were planning this fence!! With our gorgeous Smokey Mountain (Hill) meadow view, our orchard, the barn, and the fence itself, I have a feeling I’m going to like this fence!

Birthday bars!

After lunch we all went swimming at Uncle Jerry’s – the water was a frigid 72 degrees but the kids had a ball anyway. Dad even swam for awhile, but I did one dive-in-swim-across-get-out-as-fast-I-can and spent the next hour thawing out. Whew, that was cold. Oh, Josh wouldn’t get in either, but he did have fun throwing things in and playing in Aunt Marcia’s wading pool.

Home for chores and a birthday party picnic.

 

It was such a treat to have Levi with us all day. We decided the last time that happened was The Blizzard Of 2011. Levi we miss you!

 

 

Happy Birthday, Sweet Sarah!

An interesting twist to cornhole…

(that’s Jacob)

…kind of backfired on Jesse!

 

Well ok, so it’s kind of redneck, but the kids love it!!

Did I mention it was a beautiful day?! And the evening was beautiful too, although rather I mean very windy.

5-31-11 Memorial Day

by Kaitlyn

Monday Dad was off work. Tori and I did some kitchen work and then we went outside to help Dad put up the fence by the barn. Saturday we put in all the posts so Monday we started to put up the boards!! We had it all done by 10:30 am. Here are some pictures of the day. It was Ben and my job to get the boards out of the truck and put them on the saw horses.Then I would mark the boards. We got it done before it got hot. We hope to someday put a horse in this pen but for now we are going to put the calves in it!!

 

Jesse brought home this rabbit that he got from someone he works with. We put the cage inside a pen that it can’t get out of (we thought). But it has gotten out a dozen times so we will have to do something different. But it is a very nice rabbit (besides the fact that it keeps getting out!!!).

We are glad that the fence is put up!!!

5-30-11 Happy Birthday Sarah

Our Sarah is lively and sweet,

A stranger she has yet to meet.

Friendly and fun,

Bringing us smiles and sun,

Her energy is hard to beat!

In our family we have two kinds of kids. One kind we call a mild child, and one kind we call a wild child. A mild child is relatively quiet (our society calls that normal), and a wild child has lots of excess energy and noise that is more challenging to channel. Sarah is our second wild child, and that is not a bad thing, no not at all. From little on up she just has had more energy, enthusiasm, curiosity, and imagination than our other mild children. I remember one day in church when she was pretty little (2 or 3) and Dad had her in church. He was sitting beside a friend that knows our family pretty well, and the friend just made the observation that we had us “another Jacob.” Yes, he’s right! There are many similarities between Jacob and Sarah’s personalities, and those characteristics are markedly different than those of our other kids. Jacob and Sarah both have boundless energy, and our goal is to help them learn to channel that energy in productive rather than negative ways. Sitting still is difficult for them, although definitely as they get older they do better. I don’t know that it will ever be as easy for them as it is for others, but they do their best and that’s all we ask.  Sarah just finished her first grade year in school, and, although she could read some at the beginning of the year, she never hit fluency until about a month or so ago - - - and now suddenly we find her sitting still much more often! Almost overnight, it seems, she has become a voracious reader, and since she loves to talk as well, she gives wonderful book reports of the books she’s reading. We have no doubt as to her comprehension – if she doesn’t understand something, or can’t sound out a word, she’s very quick to ask. Actually, Sarah’s like that in all of life – very quick to ask.  She has such a thirst to know everything, and NOW! I remember when she was about four, and I was teaching Ben to read. Sarah would bring me a book and ask me to teach her to read that book. Well that’s not exactly how reading works, but I started her on drills and sounds pretty early, and she did okay, but like I said, it took her awhile to reach automaticity. But now that she’s there – watch out, she’s reading up a storm! Math is pretty easy for Sarah too, although adding coins is her hardest thing. Time will help with that though, I’m certain. The other kids have started guitar/ukulele/etc. lessons  - - we have an extra ukulele from Grandpa Steiner that no one uses. Sarah has been asking and asking me to teach her the chords so she can play along with the other kids. I shouldn’t be surprised, because she always prefers to be right in the thick of life no matter what, but I haven’t yet taken the time to sit down and teach them to her. Now that she’s seven I will purpose to do that; it’s hard not to respond to such excitement and enthusiasm! Every morning Sarah does the things on her assignment list; right now she’s not doing any school, but the list still really helps her to focus on her morning jobs and get them done. On her list are such things as make bed, brush teeth and hair, pick up room, etc. She also sweeps the blue rugs every morning, and a couple days a week she sweeps the family room and living room. Her afternoon chores are folding laundry and emptying dishwasher; she also does a lot of other jobs when I ask her to. She’s usually very willing and eager to help, although she sometimes has a tendency to argue back and try to convince me that there’s some reason why she shouldn’t have to do whatever it is I’ve asked her to do. She’s learning that doesn’t work! Sarah is a great big sister and loves to play with Jewel and Josh, although sometimes she gets a little bossy. We’re helping her to do better at this, and she does good some days and not-so-good on others. Sometimes she and Jewel can play for hours without a fuss, and other times they can spat all day long. (Yes some of it is related to the weather, no doubt about that!) She also loves to play with Joshua, and they too can have a great time together. A funny thing with Ben is that more often than not they excel at spatting when they’re in the house, but outside doing chores or playing, I don’t hear a peep from them! I can’t quite figure that out, but suffice it to say I send them outside when they start spatting because I know they’ll suddenly start getting along. (Or maybe they’re still spatting but I just don’t hear them (?)). Anyway, it’s all part of growing up and learning to get along with others; she’ll survive these conflicts just like everyone else does.  One more thing about Sarah – she sings like a bird. (Hmm, I think I wrote that about Jacob too.) Well it’s true. She too has been blessed with a beautiful voice and loves to sing. I’m already looking forward to her soprano joining Tori’s when we sing. Sarah – I could write on & on about you because you’re such a wonderful energetic young lady, and so full of ideas and enthusiasm! Your smiles, stories, and laughter add so much joy to our family, and we are so glad God gave you to us!!

Precious smiley baby -

Precious smiley young lady -

We love you Sarah!!

5-29-11 Sunday Morning

5-28-11 Congratulations, Levi!

Well, in between rain showers, about three of them over the day, the fencepost holes were dug and the posts are now placed. The project didn’t end until a couple rows of boards were attached, ‘just to see how it will look.’ Conclusion – it looks great! Then after supper, Grandparents and A. Joyce and A. Sarah came for the third annual Meadowview Christian Academy Open House and Recital, which concluded with a graduation celebration for Levi. Oh, it was such a nice evening, and we had a such a good time! Hard to believe we have a high school graduate – I remember my graduation so clearly, and it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago – but it was. Time flies when you’re having fun.

The day started out sunny and beautiful! We were all so excited for a nice day, because we had borrowed a posthole digger and wanted to return it today too. So we had the self-imposed pressure of wanting to return the posthole digger the same day we borrowed it. Which we did – in spite of the rain and mud!

Another project of the day – a covered wagon. Littles had so much fun with it!

Josh wouldn’t turn around for a picture ‘cos he was too busy driving *smile*

   

First Jesse dropped Josh in – he was NOT impressed. Jewel however thought it was pretty fun!

Those posts were VERY heavy.

Ben & Sarah did a great job of getting the softener salt to the house. They’re strong little helpers!

Gate done!

This little machine was pretty slick. Thanks friends!!

Rainshower!

You can’t tell very well in this picture, but Sarah was covered with mud; her skirt is saturated!

The day was gray, gray, gray.

End of project for the day.

Just in time for chores, showers, supper, clean up all the MUD in the house, get curriculum out, and otherwise get ready for the Open House.

Our youngest student – probably the favorite but no one seems to mind :)

Learning to farm!

Audience.

Students and principal.

Sarah read one of her journals.

Jacob explaining Teaching Textbooks.

Jesse presenting his research paper…

and his Biology text.

Dad verifying that Jacob is correct – gold can be hammered so thin that 200,000 sheets of it make a one inch stack! In comparison, 200,000 sheets of notebook paper would be five stories tall.

Levi showing the books he read for American Literature.

Presentation of Levi’s diploma.  Dad read the seal on it, which is inscribed with Psalm 119:105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. In Dad’s speech, he pointed out that of all Levi’s accomplishments over the last thirteen years, by far the most important is his faith in Jesus Christ. His earthly studies and pursuits will take him through life, but his faith will take him past life to eternity in heaven.  Levi, we’re thankful that you have put Christ first in your life and are committed to following wherever He leads. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:6.

 

 

On to the recital. Sarah opened with the one song she knows, and then Joshua wanted a turn. He’s quite a ham!

Little bird, little bird, sitting in a tree. God made you and God made me. He made the bees that make us honey, he made the flowers in the meadow sunny. Little bird, little bird, sitting in a tree. God made you, and God made me!

Josh even knows part of it!

Ben’s turn.

Tori.

Banjo in the Hollow.

Jacob’s mandolin finally came in the mail!! He’s eager for a few lessons so he can start playing it. It’s a beautiful little instrument.

The recital concluded with everyone singing Amazing Grace while the five string students played. Beautiful!

Special people.

View Full Album

Time for cake & ice cream.

Looking for the mistake on the cake.

 

What a great bunch of kids!

A few gifts for Levi -

…and Sarah even got an early birthday gift!