Happy Easter!!

I love Easter.  I love the certainty of Hope, the Promise fulfilled, the Plan carried out. 

The crucifixion is over;

 the resurrection is REAL!!

   

I love the more temporal things of Easter, too... 

winter (at least around here)  is over...

dressing up for our Easter picture...

and, oh yes! Easter egg hunts-- the kind where the eggs are actually hard to find, which is how we choose to torture our kids every year.  

It's possible that Dwayne and I get more fun out of hiding the eggs and watching the kids find them than the kids get from the hunt and winning the candy, but as you can see, there are smiles all around.

October Field Trips

 October was a super busy month!!

First, we took a short trip with some other families over to Athens, Tennessee to visit the Mayfield Dairy Plant, where we got to do some (fake) cow-milkin',

some (real) ice cream eatin', 

and some cool porch sittin'!

 And don't forget some funny-face-makin'!

 After this, we headed over to the McMinn County Living Heritage Museum to take in some relics from the past...

some old, 

some not so old!

It was a really sweet day

 with friends.

Later in the month, our whole family hit the road for a whole weekend of field trips near Johnson City.    

First, we visited the Gray Fossil Site & Museum.  They had some neat activities for the kids.  It was great to learn about fossils found right here in our own home state.

Next came an unplanned stop, a little gem we found out about as we browsed the rack of brochures when we stopped for lunch.  Just down the road from the fossil site, on the campus of East Tennessee State University, is a cool railroad exhibit.  The George Carter Train Museum contains a very large model train layout which was built and is maintained by volunteer staff.  We were all very impressed by its size and detail.  (And it's free!)  What a great find.



The next day, we headed down the road to Greenville to check out the home of the Constitution President!  (Okay.  I don't know how broadly he is known by that title, but if you're going to choose a nickname as president, it doesn't get much better than that!)

  The Andrew Johnson home offers a lot to see.  From a replica of his birthplace, to his  original (!!) tailor shop, to two homes he and his family occupied during different periods.  A lot of information.  I'm sure the kids did not absorb it all, but we always have fun looking around old homes.




Last, but not least, we stopped at Davy Crockett's birthplace, which is a state historic site.  As you can guess from the picture, this was by far Andrew's favorite stop.  He had the opportunity to fire Davy Crockett's gun!!!!

We enjoyed looking around the historical exhibits and cabin (a reconstruction)... and the kids especially had fun taking every chance to photo-bamb.  :)

Strike a pose!

Andrew Attack!!

Ta-da!

Reagan on the prowl... and not quite sure
what Andrew and Ellie are doing to each other here!

And to close, some wonderful words to live by, courtesy of Davy Crockett himself:

Five on Friday-- Highlights of My Week

1. Reagan and I read The Hungry Caterpillar several times this week.  His favorite projects included building this caterpillar (and others like it); discovering lots of things around the house that begin with 'c' like c-cat, c-cake, c-car; and making a hungry caterpillar lunch, consisting of apples, a pickle, sausage, and chocolate cake!  Which brings up an interesting question:

if Reagan gets to lick the beater...

  ...WHO gets to lick Reagan?



2. Our family Bible study this week centered mostly on Jesus as the Way.  So much food for thought here.  We talked about the many different ways we could travel to a nearby city, and that all those routes would successfully take us to our destination.  Jesus is not like that.  Jesus did not present Himself as a way, but as the Way.  "No one comes to the Father except through me."  We also discussed how the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom at the moment of Jesus' death.  This is such a powerful image to me.  It was not torn from the bottom up by man's hands, but top to bottom by God's power.  Through His death, Jesus provided the way by which we can each draw near to God, without a human high priest needed to intercede for us. (Hebrew 10:19-22)

3.  We added math to our home school schedule this week... and pretty seamlessly at that.  Marian does her math mostly independently.  Andrew seems to have a better grasp on things than he did at the end of last year, thanks to a summer's growth and God's mercy!  Ellie is not always a willing math student, but she is certainly more than capable.  As for Mom, math is her favorite subject!

4.  The girls' ballet classes started back up this week.  I am so excited to see how much they will learn and improve this year!  Also, Marian joined Bryan College Community Children's Choir.  The girl loves to sing and I am excited to give her this opportunity.
 Andrew is halfway through the football season now.  Sometimes he has a rough or discouraging practice, but he has come so far and I know that overall, he loves it.  And we love attending his games every weekend and cheering him on!

5.  Last, but not least, even though I've already posted about it, I'm still feeling the urge to brag over the first 5K that Marian finished with me.  First of many!!

Linking up with:
Weekly Wrap-Up
Random Five on Friday
My Week in Review

Birth Announcement

"Excuse me!  We have kittens!"

Such was Reagan's exact announcement last Thursday, May 1st, in the middle of our homeschool morning.  How exciting!!  Of course, we all went running, knocking each other out of the way, trying to be the first to the laundry basket where we had prepared a comfy place for Calli's needs.

What a precious scene!

So we have five little ones:  a yellow and white; a black and white; a gray striped; and two calicos- one looking very much like mama kitty and the other all-over black with yellow and white here and there (called a tortoise-shell calico, I'm told).  We are very excited and Mama Calli is doing a great job!

How time flies!

My baby is 4 years old!

This little guy is so fun... a delight to his 3 older siblings and so many others.  What a blessing to have him in our family!

Reagan received several thoughtful gifts, but just one I wanted to highlight:  this Birthday Crown from his older sis Ellie.  He wore it with pride all day and for several days after.  Precious.

Is it just me or is it a bit harder to see the younger two getting big than it was with the older two?   Hmmm...  Like they say, how time flies.  (sniff)

Game Night

Game night with some or all of the kids is always a blast, but we've had a couple good ones lately with just the younger two, while Marian and Andrew have attended some exciting basketball games at the local high school.  Here's a glimpse at the hilarity.
First, Hi-Ho Cherry-O with goggles.  If you don't understand this, you've never played the game with this guy!

 Then a rousing game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, one of Reagan's favorites.  Goggles wouldn't be such a bad idea here, either!

 Uh-oh!  It looks like Ellie's hippo is still hungry!

Now, on to Hedbanz.  Check this out: an ant and a watermelon.  Does this strike anyone else as funny?

Also, if you've never played Hedbanz with three-year-old, you should!  At this age, Reagan has no idea what process of elimination means... or yes/no questions... or accumulating knowledge from one round to the next.  He's hilarious!  It didn't take long to realize that he was just making guesses based on what he saw on everyone else's foreheads, which made it really easy to guess your own card.  My telling of it may not do it justice, but trust me, we laughed 'til our faces hurt.

And one last look at our crazy cherry picker...

Where, oh where has the summer gone?

So, I had big plans to blog all about life this summer:  the garden, the kids, cookouts, fun at the park, work on the farm, friends, trips, firsts,...  Now summer is over.  I've lived all those things, but blogged none!

Incredible sunset on the farm

 All in all, we've had a very eventful season, so allow me to recap.

We finished up school in May with our annual Family Night event.  This year's program was as wonderful as ever, of course.  Ellie's class presented the fruits of the Spirit as we had studied.  Marian and Ellie sang a duet.  Marian and Andrew participated in some recitations with their class.  We handed out report cards, and ended the evening with good food and good fellowship.



Also as part of our end-of-school-year activities, our family went to a play at the Cumberland County Playhouse, "The Miracle Worker", which was the story of Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan.  As always, the playhouse put on a remarkable show.

 I guess the next big event was birthdays.  June comes with a bundle of them!  First mine.  40!  Wha-at?

 Then Marian's and Cecil's are a day apart, so we celebrated them together.  Marian requested a giant cookie instead of birthday cake.  She turned 12, Cecil 76.

Blow!!!!

This has been a big summer for Reagan.  First came the potty.  Mamma (and Mamma's wallet) says, "Yea!!  No more diapers!"

 Then came the big-boy bed!

Scooby-Doo sheets!  Awesome!

An eggshell discovered in the yard

And as always the everyday amazements of being three.

 Marian, Andrew, and Ellie all had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a soccer camp hosted here in Bledsoe County by nearby Bryan College.  They had a great time!  Shortly after this, Marian and Andrew had another first:  overnight camp!  They attended 4H camp in Cumberland County.

 It was an exciting week all around...

 Marian and Andrew experienced all sorts of new things at camp, while little brother and sister had some firsts of their own...

 One night Reagan slept with Ellie in her room, another night she joined him in his room.

 We finished up June with a bang-- a campout with our dear friends David and Tami, along with one of their daughters, Carly, and grandson, Kylin.  We had a fabulous weekend.  I must say, I do not remember the ground being anywhere near that hard!!  I was very glad that we were quite close to home because the second night, Reagan and I had to bail out!  But we were sure to return for the daytime fun, the campfire, cookout, fishing, the occasional card game, et al.

Breakfast for hungry campers!

Card game & lounging in the tent

 That was our May and June... at least the highlights!  The beginning of a great summer!