{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
{this moment}
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Category Archives: life with girls
jacob and emily got engaged again! (*not really*)
Ah, young love in the springtime, is there anything better?
We were all outside and I was reading my book when Emily ran up to me all excited. Jacob proposed to her! This is his second proposal. The first one took place at the mall with a peach ring candy!
Don’t you agree that this ring is much better than a peach ring (which Emily ate)?
Jacob found it embedded in the mud outside on the lawn! Hard to believe, right?
It’s beautiful silver, heavy and well made, with a gentle rust design. Quite artsy.
I congratulated her over and over.
While Jacob looked on, sheepishly.
Oh no, a sneak attack!
Brothers are so disrespectful when it comes to ultra-romantic moments!
Admiring their ring.
Silly kids.
happy birthday emily
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
Dear Emily,
You have been Jacob’s girlfriend for almost a year and I just wanted to take the opportunity to write you a little note, thanking you for who you are and what you have added to Jacob’s life, with your love. I am thankful for you and that God has brought you into Jacob’s life and consequently our family’s life.
The kids adore you. Well, maybe not Ethan, but you know Ethan is harmless and he does certainly LIKE you, even though you take up too much of Jacob’s time and the two of you talk on the phone at night too much, causing Ethan to sleep on the couch at times. He also would appreciate a little less personal displays of attention when he is in the room, right? But yes, despite all that, I know that deep down inside Ethan is also glad that you are Jacob’s girlfriend. After all, you do a great job of turning the PS3 on and off for him.
Of all the children, Sarah especially loves her Emily. She woke up this morning remembering that it is your birthday, and she searched the house looking for things to give you. One of the things she picked out was a ring out of my jewelry box. I told her to color you a picture instead and she said accusingly, “MOM! That’s not a birthday present!” I’m not sure, I might have to take her out shopping, unless you really DO want one of her stuffed animals? She wants to give you Pepper (her black cat with the buggy eyes). She wants to know when you’re going to get here and if we are making your cake. She says she wishes you could spend the night.
I went through some of my photos from the last few months and picked out some of my favorites.
You are such a special young lady, Emily, and don’t ever forget that!
Parker the dog also wanted me to be sure to tell you that he adores you. He’s hoping you bring him one of those dog cookies soon. (woof)
Dad will be home from his business trip around 7:30 so he won’t miss your party, either.
First Christmas together.
family nap time
Parker the dog.
Jacob playing with Emily’s hair and reading her Edgar Allen Poe. She’s wearing his pajamas and hiding from the camera. They have also read Macbeth, the Bible, and I’m not sure what else. I love that they read together.
When she asked him to the prom, on Jacob’s birthday, December 31. She’s having a great time trying on Prom dresses whenever she can.
One day this winter they decided to paint. And they each painted the other’s EYE. Emily painted Jacob’s and Jacob painted Emily’s. It was the most amusing thing to observe them….they would keep looking into each other’s eyes but only as an art subject. LOL This painting is currently hanging in Jacob and Ethan’s room and it’s labeled “Jacob’s Eye. Emily’s Eye.” It cracks me up.
Wearing his sweatshirt.
After a wrestling match.
Reading to Seth and Sarah.
Making brownies after school, giving Sarah a taste of the batter.
I took this one yesterday. Superman isn’t smiling because Superman doesn’t smile. You can see the love that Sarah has for Emily.
Happy Birthday, Emmeline!
mascara: observations of a four year old
Yesterday Sarah was standing by my side, intently watching me put on mascara.
“Are you putting black on your whiskers?” she sweetly asked.
When I began to laugh she quickly corrected herself.
“Wait. Are those eyebrowls?” (guide to pronunciation: rhymes with growls)
****
Can you tell she’s all about animals these days?
New England Music Festival (with Grace)
The music for this post is a rendition of the song “The Road Home”, which was one of the pieces sang this weekend at the New England Music Festival. Unfortunately, I do not have video of the actual performance, but this is one from youtube, which gives an idea of the caliber of singing we enjoyed from Grace and her peers. (they sounded just as good if not better)…….
Grace and Her Weekend of Singing
My daughter Grace is 15 years old now and in the 10th grade. Recently, she tried out for the New England Music Festival and made it, so she has been extra busy with preparations for this important event.
We have three teenagers involved in High School extracurricular events and I feel as though I miss seeing Grace the most. Her older brothers are involved in sports which means during the competitive months I see them performing on a constant basis. But Grace is in music and drama both of which do not have as many performances, but a rather lot of practicing— so I don’t see her until about 6:30 or later every school night. I do miss her very much at times, but Grace is the type of individual who thrives on being busy. She is very much like her Dad in that way, but she seems like more of an extrovert. Although she does like reading and writing, she comes alive around her people, especially her role models (teachers and older students and friends).
I watched her get on the bus Thursday morning at 6:30 for school, with Jacob carrying her suitcase for her, and I felt a little anxiety knowing I wouldn’t see her again until Saturday. Thursday was the day she and the other students travelled to Keene, New Hampshire, for the music festival. She doesn’t have a cell phone so she would only be giving us brief updates using a friend’s phone.
It is amazing to me how much the dynamic of our family changes with just one person away! Each one of our children is a perfect fit into our family, we love them so much and thank God continually for this stage of life when all seven are still under our roof.
I prayed continually, asking the Lord that she would do well and that her cough (left over from a resent bout with the flu) wouldn’t be a problem. He answered those prayers and more; the girls stayed with a host family and one of the girls there was a believer. Rich received a text message from Grace that told us that she and her new friend talked about the Bible and sang together with two other girls. They tried naming the 12 tribes of Judah, sang camp and Sunday School songs, went through all the contemporary Christian songs and artists that they knew, and generally had a wonderful impromptu Bible study during one of their free evenings. Oh it just thrilled my heart to hear all about it later on. There is another girl from our town that Grace loves, her name is Isabella, and she is a believer also, and was on this same trip staying in the same home as Grace. God is so good in these small but oh-so-important ways!
Despite the fact that Grace is busy, she is faithful to attend the boy’s sporting events whenever she can. I thought it was only fair that with all the support the boys get from their parents and siblings with their sports, we should ALL go and support our dear sister/daughter in this special concert that she auditioned for, so I wrote a check for 96 dollars in order to purchase 8 tickets for Rich, myself, Jacob, Ethan, David, Caleb, Seth, and Sarah. We all eagerly awaited the day when we would take our little trip to New Hampshire, and Grace was happy and secure in knowing that her family would be there, enjoying the program.
Rich got a new watch that keeps track of his exercising and also gives him his text messages– and it came in the mail on Friday, which was a huge annoyance because he spent all Saturday morning not getting excited about the day trip, but silently in the corner trying to get his dang new watch all set up! It was a much needed lesson of patience for the rest of the family. Finally he got himself dressed and we got the children ready to go, too. We left the house at about noon and stopped for lunch on the way, at Crackerbarrel. My Facebook friends already saw the picture Jacob took of Rich and I together at the table. While we were sitting there at the table Rich asked me to text him…so I did…and his watch never received it…(can you believe it? after all that!) he was so annoyed. Thankfully, at the time of this writing it is working better, although still not quite right. (technology saves times and wastes time).
In any case, at the Crackerbarrel, four of us ordered breakfast and four of us ordered lunch. I had a chef salad and coffee. Caleb bought himself a new stuffed cat from the gift shop and named it “SeaCat” because it’s fur is blue and green like the sea. It’s one of those Ty stuffed animals that have HUGE glittering eyes. Those are all the rage in my house lately with Seth, Sarah, and now Caleb. Sarah has about six–all cats–, Seth has two dogs. They play together with them and it’s the cutest thing.
David bought jelly beans because he made a candy dispenser out of legos and wanted to try it out. It’s the neatest little thing. You have to insert a coin to get your bean out.
Jacob got salt water taffy.
Then we were back in the car on our way. The whole trip was only about 2 hours. I thought I had downloaded two new books to my kindle but alas when I went to read, I found that they did not download after all, so I passed the time by my iPhone and/or doing nothing. Rich brought his iPad and had the kids watch an inspirational message given by a military man.
We arrived in Keene with 45 minutes to spare and found a delightful BOOKSTORE of all places! We love bookstores and this one was perfectly charming, independently owned, containing new AND used books. I bought a few charming used children’s books (one of which was titled The Doll’s House, and was illustrated by Tasha Tudor). Then we went to the school to find our Gracie-girl again. I could not wait to get my eyes on her.
We already had our tickets, so we got in line, and I kid you not it was probably a quarter of a mile long. We were behind about 200 or more other people waiting to get into the auditorium for this choral concert. David almost died. But once the line started moving we were in there quickly– in the very back of the auditorium, second to the last row. Rich and I sat with Sarah between us and of course her little feet were in the air because she wasn’t heavy enough to keep the seat down. I had her on one side and Seth on the other and it was all I could do not to get irritated with them BOTH asking me questions DURING the gorgeous songs. I finally got through to them that the could not talk during the performance, bless their hearts, the music wasn’t moving to them, but I had tears on my face throughout all the pieces, it was just so beautiful.
I saw my daughter the moment she came into the room. All of the singers filed in quickly and she was the last in line on the stage bleachers. (there was another set of bleachers on the floor) I thought I had missed her and didn’t know how I could have, I thought my motherly eyes would recognize her even from such a distance away. The room was large and we were in the back, but then I saw her and my eyes teared up. Someone had braided her hair for her and she looked so pretty and energetic. She was wearing her glasses, I had been worried that she didn’t have them with her, but she did, and she looked beautiful, even Rich turned to me and said so. We were proud that she was in such a nice big group of singers from all over New England. We were happy for her in achieving this experience.
The music began, and like I said before, the pieces were beautiful. There were God honoring songs, to glorify Him, and then the last piece, a fun and happy number “Skip to my Lou” that made us laugh. They clapped during that song, I don’t know how the conductor kept the beat with all the rhythms going at once.
Speaking of the conductor, I noticed Seth (he is six) “conducting” in his chair as he watched the performance and it struck me that when I watch, I usually see the concert through the eyes of one of the SINGERS, but my small son would have none of that. HE was THE CONDUCTOR! I love it. I never pretended to be a conductor. The pianist, yes. A singer, yes. Conductor, no.
All too soon the concert was over and so we filed out of the room to wait in the hall with about a thousand other people. Finally I saw Grace heading toward us and the first thing she wanted me to do was take her picture with a set of twin boys. The boys were singers who were homeschooled and Grace loved them (in a friendly sort of way). Then she bid me to follow her back into the auditorium so I could meet the manager of the entire festival, who has a deaf daughter. Grace wants to be a deaf interpreter so she immediately began a friendship with this man and they signed to each other. He wanted to show her a video that his daughter’s deaf camp put together of the song, “Happy”. We all stood around and watched it on his iPad and then it was time to say good bye. He said he would be looking for her next year.
I took a picture of Grace with the conductor, Jerry Blackstone, too. He was a grammy award winning musician and from what I heard was very good with the kids. He certainly got them singing beautifully in only two and a half days of work!
Grace chatted to us all about her experience on the way home. We only stopped twice…once at a gas station to take advantage of New Hampshire gas prices and another time to pick up a pizza closer to home, for dinner.
Pictures
the text Rich received from Grace
Jacob and Parker, on Saturday morning before we left….hanging around waiting for Dad to get off his watch.
Ethan petting Sherlock right before we left for our trip.
New Hampshire mountains
the bookstore we found
just a small section of the audience waiting for the singers to enter and the concert to begin
Caleb, Ethan (with headband) and Jacob, three of Grace’s brothers
the program
The last pose of the last number, “Skip to my Lou”
official portrait-time
Grace and I meet once again.
Grace with the twins
watching “Happy” with the festival manager
Grace and the Choral conductor, Jerry Blackstone
Grace’s pretty braid
proud parents
snow
Our mailbox peeks out from a snowbank just like the majority of our neighbor’s mailboxes. I saw one that was wrapped around and around with duck tape, in a furious attempt to keep it from being broken off by the snowplows.
We haven’t had snowfall in a few days but what we have, old snow, is deep and interesting. Caleb’s school assembly was put off until the end of March because there is too much snow piled in the parking lot and as a result, not enough room for people to park.
Sarah keeps busy indoors. She especially enjoys making herself a house out of all the couch cushions. It’s good harmless fun and she’s always thoughtful to include her stuffed animals.
This is the look Parker always gives me when I go into the kitchen. “Are you about to give me a treat?”
Another thing Sarah likes to do is have hot chocolate under the table.
I made scalloped potatoes and ham yesterday for dinner.
With ham from a pig that Rich’s Dad raised and butchered for us. Delicious.
Dusted with paprika right before covering it with foil, popping it into the oven and heading off to the library.
She wore it in the car but not in the library, thankfully.
Our library looks different in the Winter.
Caleb requested books about Football. It’s his latest passion and interest, although he assured me that does still like snakes.
I usually peruse the “NEW” bookshelf and there were some absolutely delightful books to borrow. I read them out loud last night.
The Lion and the Bird. A Lion helps an injured bird and they spend the winter together and become friends. A sweet book with lots of pages of thoughtful illustrations. Heartwarming.
What to Do When You’re Sent to Your Room, Moms of boys will laugh through this one. I loved it.
Go to Sleep, Little Farm. Gorgeous artwork and a lovely soothing story, creatively worded and a joy to read aloud.
Sam and Dave dig a Hole. If only they knew what they kept missing! I read this to Seth and he said, “Read it again!” which is a sure sign of a good book. Drink chocolate milk and eat animal crackers while reading.
I Wish I had a Pet. Illustrated with whimsical pictures of felt mice and other animals. Very creative and my favorite book from the stack.
Davy’s vinegar egg experiments continue! This one is being turned to “rubber”. He is greatly influenced by youtube videos and he made his own tutorial.
Seth got home from school and got cozy on Sarah’s couch cushions with the remote.
Sarah’s been taking trips to the garage to ride her bike. She’s never out there for very long. She’s funny.
Grace has a leak in her ceiling so Rich went up on the roof to shovel off some of the snow and ice.
He said that when he was a teenager he and a couple friends drove around hiring themselves out, shoveling roofs after a heavy snowfall. They made a good bit of money doing it, too.
These pictures were all taken yesterday. Today Jacob is home with a bad cold. He is currently sleeping on the couch. Sarah and I are in the new room listening to iTunes “Princess Radio”. I have a sleeping cat by my side. David and Ethan will be home soon because they have a half day of school.
I have a 3:45 appointment to get my hair done.
How are you today?
Hope you have a wonderful day and spend a little time nurturing yourself. You are loved, my friends!
RECIPES:
scalloped potatoes and ham, my favorite way to make them
soft ginger cookies (easy–I didn’t even bother using the mixer)
grace the amazing corn bag maker
“I will love you forever and a day.”
Grace sat in front of the sewing machine last night and whipped up the remainder of her corn-bags to give as holiday gifts to her friends in Madrigals at school.
She sure knows how to get things done, this girl of ours. To begin with, she went through all my fabric and carefully chose just the right piece of material for each person, cut them out, ironed them, and put them in a neat stack by the machine.
When she ran out of corn she wouldn’t let up until I drove her back to Agway to buy more. We came home with a 50 pound bag of it. (anyone want a corn bag?)
She did everything herself, except, sadly, remedy the sewing machine problems. The first problem was the foot fell off (gruesomely). Then, she called me to come retrieve the bobbin thread four separate times (kept getting itself lost). As much I I hated leaving my book, I was honestly pretty happy that I was (only) called five times. She had the machine going as fast as she could and she completed about 15 last night, in a final rush to get the project completed.
When she was done I took a couple pictures of her beautiful work. I’ve made corn bags before, but not this many at once. Mama was impressed.
As soon as I took the picture she jumped up, put them all in bag, laughingly realized it was so heavy that Jacob would have to help her get them to school in the morning, and took them into the living room to sit with us and chat while she labeled them with tape and a sharpie.
“do feel
a little
crafty
at least
twice a day”
~dottie angel
grace and books
A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart. ~Author Unknown
*****
She is in 10th grade and cheerfully talks about leaving right after High School.
She wants to be in the military or go to Colorado for college.
Inside, my heart aches but I believe in letting the children go their own way, giving them freedom to make life plans.
In the meantime, my heart cherishes every moment with her.
On Saturday night, just the two of us went to Barnes and Noble to sit and read, sip chai tea, and journal.
After wandering the bookshelves, I joined her at a little round table to look through the stack of books I picked out.
1) By the Book was interesting because in each chapter, a different literary person is asked several questions about books– their favorite book, what they are currently reading, what book they couldn’t finish, and so on. I wrote down a few books that looked interesting. 2) I find the story of Chris McCandless fascinating, so I thought I would browse his sister’s new book, The Wild Truth, which gave her own perspective of the tragic events. All in all, I wasn’t interested in reading it in depth because it was more about her own life, rather than her brother’s. 3) Delicious Probiotic Drinks was great, and a book I will purchase through amazon. 4) A Room of One’s Own will be a book I borrow from the library. 5) Portraits and Profiles was a photography book with essays, well written and interesting.
“Whenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what excellence feels like.” David Sedaris, in By the Book.
“I like nonfiction books about people with wretched lives.” David Sedaris
“…she is joyously healthy and undoubtedly eats an apple a day….” Cecil Beaton, in Portraits and Profiles, writing of Katherine Hepburn
Eventually, we left our little table and went over to the children’s section to sit on the floor. We sat for quite a while, enjoying each other’s company and the wonderful new books we discovered. Grace especially enjoyed Nuts to You, and kept reading me parts from it while laughing. The Dark, by Lemony Snicket, was adorable. The Squirrel’s Birthday and other Parties by Toon Tellegen, was a darling new discovery for me, a book that was written over 25 years ago by a Dutch father who told the stories to his daughter as she was growing up. He eventually wrote them all down and it has become a beloved book comparable to Winnie the Pooh. Wainscott Weasel was about a weasel in love with a fish. Can you even imagine? Mean Margaret contains a story with animals that talk, and a terrible toddler from a family with nine children. It made me chuckle. Mister Max was written by a favorite author of mine, Cynthia Voigt. Roland Smith is a favorite author of Jacob, Ethan, and Grace. He has written a couple of series of books that they liked very much. It is sad that the boys have grown up in the midst of the series and have lost interest in how things are going for the characters in the books. Mutation and Alcatraz are two latest books in those series. Grace and I had a discussion about how “you are never too old to read a children’s book.” And I thought of C.S. Lewis, who explained it so much better:
“Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” CS Lewis
One of the wonderful blessings of having children of all ages is that you are compelled to keep reading books for all ages.
After filling up our minds with books, we meandered over to Moes and filled up our tummies with nachos.
Talking all the way, my Gracie-girl and me.
hands
I snapped these frosty photos the other day. Down at the edge of the pond the grass and leaves had beautiful long lashes of frost.
Guess what our little artist, Sarah, has been doing these days?
The first time she tried tracing her own hand I told her it looked like the hand of a monster. I did most of the tracing but eventually I became reluctant about stopping my own projects to trace *yet another hand* for her, so she decided it was more time-efficient to do it herself.
‘Mom! I did it! And it doesn’t look like a Monster-hand!”
(it doesn’t?)
I taught her how to draw pretty jewelry, and fingernails, too.
This one doesn’t have fingernails. But it does have a ring on each finger.
All that is required is paper and colored pens/crayons. It kept Sarah busy for a long time and it gave her lots of practice with tracing, drawing, and designing.
lady-bugs
I traced two sets of hands on some of the pages, trying to save time and paper.
As you may have noticed, Billy-Cat came over to see what I was photographing.
He communicated to me that it was a much nicer idea to photograph a handsome cat.
*lick-lick making myself ready for my portrait*
*wait, let me pose first*
*this is my best pose*
*how’d it turn out?*
I have happy cats because Sarah and I went to the grocery store to buy them food. They ran out yesterday and had to gag down dog food. All four of them have full tummies and are in various places in the house, sleeping it off.
This is what our mantel looks like right now. Jacob did the painting. I love how the red in it matches the mushrooms. Grace and Dave went for a walk and brought me the piece of wood (to the left of the painting, it’s the same color as the rocks so hard to see), they called it an octopus and plan painting it purple (I admit it would be easier to see). My felt mushrooms are from the Masonville General Store in NY. I pulled up some greenery from the woods and added artificial flowers along the mantel, too. The “give thanks” banner is from Pottery Barn (last year). I love how if you take the “e” off the end of “give” and then next four letters from “thanks”, it spells my son Ethan’s name. Sometimes I move those letters to the middle just for fun.
fiestaware in the sunshine
Tonight, I’m making meatloaf for dinner, with spinach and mashed potatoes.
I’ve shared Sarah’s hands and now I will share her song:
Won’t you give her a hand?
fifteen
Grace had a birthday yesterday. She turned 15 and woke up early to hug her Dad before he went to work. None of the children had school yesterday which was a treat for her….to have the day to celebrate. Just after 9a.m. her big brothers finally woke up and she could open her stack of gifts that Seth and Sarah had helped me wrap.
She received a candle, three fabric mesh bags for treasures, a book on nail polish styles, socks, a sketch pad, an art book, and a necklace.
Then we sat around trying to figure out what to do. She wanted me to take her shopping so we decided Jacob and Ethan would stay home with Seth, David, and Caleb. Grace and I took Sarah and picked up Aunt Cassandra on the way to the mall. It was a beautiful day. After our day of ice we had a day of 65 degrees. Grace sketched in her new sketch pad and played tunes for us, as we drove along.
We ate a nice lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.
Sarah needed to use the bathroom and I surprised Grace by asking her (even though it was her birthday) to take her little sister to the restroom. While she was gone I took the opportunity to flag down our waiter (whom Grace was in love with) and order her a piece of chocolate cake for her birthday. The girlies came back and after a while, Grace was surprised with a piece of heavenly cake with ice cream on top, placed in front of her by the charming waiter.
When it was just the four of us again she asked, “How did he know it was my birthday? Did you tell him or did he overhear something?”
There were four long handled spoons so we could share and it was DIVINE. Cassandra only had one bite because she has been overindulging in leftover Halloween candy.
Grace bought herself a new ring and a belt with her birthday money and Aunt Cassandra bought her some thick comfy socks from GAP (Grace has a thing for nice socks).
We left the mall way too soon because the boys needed to be taken to practice and Grace needed to go to Drama rehearsal. Before we left the house for practices, I took a few “Look Who’s Fifteen Now” pictures to document her special day.
Aunt Cassandra helped me with the children at the playground so I could get my Bible study lesson done and then we headed home so I could start dinner and make some phone calls. I picked up the boys at 5:30 while the rest of the family watched Tangled with Aunt Cassandra. Back home again (busy day), I finished Grace’s special requested dinner, chicken Alfredo. Uncle Isaac arrived and Rich picked up Grace at 7:30. We were all singing a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday by 8pm.
It was a Reese’s peanut butter ice cream cake.
*****
A daughter is a day brightener and a heart warmer. ~Author Unknown
Grace is an adorable, well adjusted 15 year old teenager who loves school, family & friends, sign language, reading, her pets, Jesus, singing & drama. She is a responsible and capable teacher’s assistant to her beloved chorus and drama teacher. She is in Honors English. She knows what she believes and she is not afraid to share her beliefs in a loving, respectful way. She has her tough days but has good friends to talk to. She is very loving and likes to give out hugs. She hates to see people she loves hurting and would do anything to help them. She likes texting, pinterest, and instagram (at home on the iPad). She is a jeans and cute/casual top, with sneakers or UGGS kind of girl. She has lovely long hair and pretty brown eyes.
I am thankful to have a daughter GRACE LILLIAN, watching her grow is a blessing and a joy.
She said when her Dad hugged her the morning of her birthday he called her a little girl about five times. She understood what he didn’t say, “I don’t want you to grow up too soon.”
Good to be Home 