Stagestruck

A university in the town where our kids take violin lessons has an excellent opportunity for the community.  They have a program for Jr. High/High School students to play in their Symphony Orchestra, and also include staff and some others from the community.  Laura, Charlotte and Emily (on violin) and Abigail (on viola) have participated this year and have really enjoyed it.  This is a very short, not super clear, clip of one of the songs in their rehearsal today. (The name of the concert is Stagestruck)

Fun and Games

Our family new year's resolution this year was to have game night on Monday evenings and music night on Tuesday evenings. We've actually done a pretty good job keeping those evenings reserved for games and music, and it has been about the best tradition we've ever started.

Tonight, Garrett chose to play Old Maid (several games are a little too advanced for him and he ends up playing with his tractors or wandering around the house, so everyone was a good sport and participated in the game so he could enjoy game night, too). I think we ended up having more fun playing Old Maid than any of the other games we've played so far.  You probably had to have been here to really appreciate the hilarity of the evening, but I'm pretty sure the neighbors 1/4 mile away could hear our rowdy laughter. Somehow, our Old Maid card is ripped and crumpled and VERY obvious. She made her way around the table - not the traditional way, by being chosen from the hand of cards, but by being passed under the table by siblings old enough to know better. None of the younger kids would pick the card, so the older ones, trying to get the game to move along, would pass it along to someone else so an unsuspecting player would end up with it.

After a couple games of Old Maid, we moved on to a few hands of Rook - the noise level and laughter carried over to that game too. 

City Museum

Yesterday, we kids went to the City Museum in St. Louis for the day. It was originally a shoe factory but someone turned it into a climbing museum. Almost everything is made from old junk welded together.

Climbing, climbing, climbing

In the "Electric" chair

An abandoned airplane to climb through

Through the castle window

Pretending to be Rapunzel

Driving the firetruck

The roof was closed yesterday, but usually you can go through the school bus that is hanging over the roof

Through an old cooling duct

All worn out

- Abby

Missing his sister

Today, Garrett and I were working on grammar, and I was reading through a list of nouns to label as common or proper. One of the nouns happened to be Laura. I asked him, "What is Laura?" He answered, "Missed!"

Laura's travels

I don't know if she'll actually update while she's there, but Laura has a blog to journal her trip to Ecuador. Thelowlytraveler.blogspot.com

Recital pictures.

Garrett

Lincoln

Heidi

Emily

Charlotte

Abigail

Happy Anniversary!

Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad. Love you!

Happy 15th Birthday, Charlotte!!!

We love you very much!

Happy 7th Birthday, Garrett!!

We love you very much!!!

Dinner Party

The other evening, Todd and I were gone at supper time.  I just found the pictures of the evening the kids had.

Greeting the guests

Providing the entertainment

Happy 11th Birthday, Heidi!!!

We love you very much!!!

2 Down - 5 To Go!

Happy 18th Birthday, Laura

We love you very much!!

Bunnies

Abigail has a really wonderful talent for crocheting stuffed animals. These are her latest creations. She made this family of bunnies (it also has a baby bunny which we didn't get a picture of) and stuffed kitten for a couple of our young friends.

A dog who hates a bath

Loyal can't stand to have a bath, but Monday was beautiful and pretty warm and Loyal definitely needed to be cleaned up, so the kids decided it would be a good chance to get her smelling a little prettier.

This is Loyal's normal color

As soon as her bath was over, she ran to our burned out bonfire pile and rolled around in it.

Apparently the shampoo didn't work so well...

Her bath was Monday - this picture is Friday. I wonder how long she'll be a gray dog!?!

Sending her off with lots of love!

 

A new phase begins

It is a little emotional around our house this weekend.
On Tuesday Tamara will be taking Laura up to Chicago to start a new job.  We have known we would have to cross this bridge eventually, but it is much harder than we expected.
On one hand it is a perfect job...
Ralph and Evelyn are a dear older couple in Chicago that Tamara knew when she was growing up.  Evelyn is getting forgetful and Ralph can't drive anymore.  They have been able to live on their own until now, but now need someone to live with them, take them to doctor appointments and be available to help them if needed.  Laura will be able to continue working on her online Associates degree and she will will only be a couple miles from Grandpa and Grandma.

But it was a little sudden...

Earlier this week Ralph and Evelyn asked Jeff if he knew anyone who would be available to help them and Thursday after Daryl's funeral, Jeff mentioned it to Laura.  Thursday evening Laura talked to Ralph and Evelyn's daughter and all of the sudden she is leaving!

We are going to miss her

She has been a big part of our life for almost 18 years (she will turn 18 next Saturday) and we can't imagine what life will be like with out her here with us.  We will miss the times she sits at the piano and plays by ear.  The times she and her sisters sing together and make up harmonies as they go.  We will miss piles of clean laundry (several years ago she appointed herself the chief laundry lady and does 3 - 5 loads everyday!)  We will miss her Godly influence and kind heart.  Her sisters are going to miss their best friend.  Her brothers are going to miss their piano teacher and tutor. We're going to miss her.

We know this is not a permanent arrangement and we will see her again, but we also know that she is leaving home and it will never be exactly like it was before.  It is hard to let go of our little girl, but we are glad she can stretch her wings and fly on her own.  We are looking forward to her coming back to visit the nest before too long.
-Todd

Ladd

Last Saturday morning was a sad one around here.  The kids spent a lot of time outside Thursday - and spent a lot of that time playing with and brushing Ladd.  Friday he was lethargic and didn't seem to want to eat.  When we checked on him Saturday morning, he had passed away.  We are glad we were able to have him with us in his last years.  He really was a good dog, and we miss him.