You Say It's Your Birthday!

Hear ye! Hear ye!!

Let it be known that on this date, the official birthday weekend begins!

Happy birthday to my wonderful, sweet, loving hubby, Stuart.

(homemade birthday bagels)



And while we pause to remember other memories that we'll never forget on this date, we remember God's goodness in blessing us with you! And blessing you with another year!

Enjoy 39, my sweet man!

100 Things...Part 2

I'm borrowing this idea from Jadie over at The World of Emilia. (It's a lot harder than you think...)

34. I got my first rabbit in 1982.
35. It was summertime, and I was 11-going-on-12.
36. She was a Himalayan Dwarf that I named "Mittens."
37. I was suddenly smitten by rabbits.
38. My favorite house that I lived in when I was younger was one that was built in 1767.
39 It was an old "inn" along the now-defunct Union Canal.
40. It came with 7 acres of mostly grass -- and an old swimming pool and apple orchard.
41. And lots of history...and mystery.
42. I lived there from March 1981 until June 1983.
43. My adopted grandmother, Tick, lived across the street on a farm called "Willit Run." I loved her so much.
44. Her farm was old and had lots of history -- and mystery -- too.
45. I had a huge imagination when I was young and could scare myself half to death sometimes.
46. I had a love/hate relationship with Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo.
47. I have always loved music.
48. I started playing the flute when I was 10.
49. Because I have allergies, I have never been a good singer.
50. I always wanted to play the piano, too. My sister and I got very good at playing "Heart and Soul." We could really jazz-it-up.
51. I traded babysitting for horseback riding lessons when I was 13.
52. I always wanted a horse, too.
53. Rabbits are my horse.
54. It was the best compromise my dad could offer.
55. He grew up chasing his sister's horse.
56. After that, he wasn't a big "fan" of horses...or anything to do with them.
57. When I was younger, I wanted to join the 4-H sheep club.
58. I never got to.
59. Not until I was grown up and my daughter joined the 4-H rabbit club.
60. I was a member of my high school's FFA club though.
61. For 3 years, I was the club's historian and won gold medals for the scrapbook.
62. All four years of high school, I took agri-science classes. I was in heaven.
63. I also was editor of the school newspaper.
64. And in the band.
65. It was fun...but I was so glad to be finished.
66. We moved to England a week or so after my 18th birthday -- the autumn after I graduated...in 1988.
To be continued...

Wordless (mostly) Wednesday

In honor of my soon-to-be "Birthday Boys!"

Particularly Poetic

One of our favorite-most poems, learned in school last year. Read and enjoy!!

The Duel

The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
'T was half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t' other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
(I wasn't there; I simply state
What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

The gingham dog went "bow-wow-wow!"
And the calico cat replied "mee-ow!"
The air was littered, an hour or so,
With bits of gingham and calico,
While the old Dutch clock in the chimney place
Up with its hands before its face,
For it always dreaded a family row!
(Now mind: I'm only telling you
What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)

The Chinese plate looked very blue,
And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"
But the gingham dog and the calico cat
Wallowed this way and tumbled that,
Employing every tooth and claw
In the awfullest way you ever saw -
And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!
(Don't fancy I exaggerate -
I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

Next morning, where the two had sat
They found no trace of dog or cat;
And some folks think unto this day
That burglars stole that pair away!
But the truth about the cat and pup
Is this: they ate each other up!
Now what do you really think of that!
(The old Dutch clock it told me so,
And that is how I came to know.)

~Eugene Field

Saturday Sweetheart

Well, the time has come for all sweet baby boys to have their sweet baby boy hairs cut.

So I present...

Ethan's first haircut...

Nags Head - Parting Pics...

The end of our beach week has come.

It's been a fairly "wet" week...and, sadly, not just from swimming in the ocean and pool. But we still had a nice time with my parents and oldest sister.

Sometimes, it's just nice to get away...

I'll end our vacation week with some more photos (in a slightly random order) of our time down here.

We had a lovely dinner out at a restaurant called "Tail of a Whale" on Wednesday night and then went to Manteo to have some ice cream (thanks, Dad!!) and wander along the Sound.

Then, after my parents and sister left early this morning due to the fact that it was meant to rain yet again, we spent the late morning through the afternoon on the sunny (yay!) beach and in the pool. It was fun to build and dig in the sand and actually get a little bit of a sunburn.



























Sigh.

Another vacation is over.

This Is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarium...

Oops! I think I got the words a little wrong on that song... But it kinda works for our trip to the N.C. Aquarium at Roanoke? *wink-grin*

Before we came to the beach, we explained to the children that we wouldn't be able to do many extra things since money has been a bit tight this year. So they decided to do another lemonade stand to earn some extra money to take on our trip. (I swear these kids have "salespeople" in their blood or something.)

Anyways...

They decided after an hour or so of selling lemonade that they wanted to earn enough money to go to the aquarium in Roanoke. They've always enjoyed it and thought that Ethan would, too. Plus, it would count for science in school. (Always a "plus," right?)

It was perfect! They earned all but $2. And all of us enjoyed the reward of their hard work!

I'll let the photos tell the rest...

Wordless Wednesday

Foote School by the Sea...

Wouldn't that be a cool name for a school? There really is a Foote School, up in Connecticut. We think we should start a branch campus for them down here in Nags Head.

Just saying...

So school started this morning. (Well, we actually did a week's worth of lessons last week, but we couldn't officially start until today. That freed us to just bring the major subjects and not have to spend quite so much time on lessons whilst we're here.)



We had our usual "numbered" pancakes. And then the "bus" took the kids off to school, and we paused by the door to get a few "start of school" shots. (We like to joke that the kids' busdriver sleeps with their teacher...and this same teacher sleeps with their headmaster, too. Sheesh. Of course, anyone new to my blog should know that I am our kids' teacher and my hubby is their "bus driver/headmaster." Make sense? Okay. Okay. Moving right along.)



The kids did fairly well, all things considered...especially for the amount of distractions they had. The weather has been somewhat cloudy and rainy so we didn't really lose anything by being inside at our lessons. We'll have plenty of beach and pool time afterwards.

It's hard to imagine that we have a third-grader and a seventh-grader this year. Wow!! And our little guy will soon be 1.

One day I'll invent something to stop the clock...if only for a little while.