Edisto Beach: Family Photo

Somehow all of our family photos had someone's hands in their pants.  Hmmmm... This is the cleanest of the bunch, though far from Christmas card material :)

I also didn't get a large family photo, or a single picture of B-MA and Daddy-O!!  I don't know how this happened, other than the fact that I only really took the camera out twice, but my sis-n-law has some wonderful photos here.

We are so thankful and blessed by our family, and loved spending such a restful week together at the beach.  Thank you Hoovers for inviting us!!  And to our India family members, you were greatly missed!!!

Edisto Beach: The Rainbow!!!

Our last night at the beach we saw this incredible double rainbow.  The light was absolutely amazing, and these pictures capture it pretty well.

Raisin-bread helpers.

Edisto Beach: The Shade

Owey rolling around in the shade.

My beautiful sis-n-law and neice.

"I'm still hungry!"

Edisto Beach: Building and Repairing

The many-roomed fish palace.

"Work on the wall no matter what!!"

"Work on the wall no matter what!"

"Work on the wall no matter what!"

Reinforcing the wall.

The king fish.

"Work on the wall no matter what" (They really were chanting this over and over and over:)

Edisto Beach: The Fishing and Finds

Babies!

Crazy, crazy!  We had the nesting box in all week, finally took it out and decided she wasn't pregnant, then this morning Songbird came running in the house crying, "babies, babies, babies!" One baby didn't make it, but 6 are snuggling in the nesting box.  Praying Mama will take care if them!!!

Pioneer Day

It all started with Understood Betsy, my oldest's new favorite book.  Elizabeth Anne's fist 8 years of life are extremely sheltered, and then she is suddenly sent to live with relatives on a New England farm.  Today we read about her first day on the farm and how she watched butter being made for the first time, washed dishes for the first time, heard humor for the first time, etc...  Of course my little pioneer child asked if we could make butter, and since I happened to have some cream on hand I divided it into jars and let each of the kids shake, shake, shake. 

Since we had made the butter, she said we might as well grind some flour and make homemade biscuits to go along with it.  Since I had made yogurt the night before, we might as well make them "buttermilk" biscuits.  And since we had made such a mess in the kitchen, she might as well wash all the dishes by hand (and since it was so fun, she might as well wash the dishes all week long).

You never know what's going to happen when you open a book!

Paper Dolls and 2 Gentlemen of Verona

I recently found these historical paper doll figures over at Practical Pages blog.  They were linked up from Jimmie's Hands-On Shakespeare site.  After reading Two Gentlemen of Verona, I thought it would be fun to try to make a few paper doll puppets with the kids and have them act out the play together.  I was picturing spending an hour or so on this project, but one hour turned into another, turned into another... Once the characters and scenes were made, there was a dress-rehearsal, followed by an actual matinee performance (for Hubry).  I was amazed at how much time and energy the kids put into it all, and they even asked me to print up different historic characters so they could make some more during their quiet time today.  I love the details on these little dolls and am so glad to have stumbled upon them.

Princess Party

We were invited to a princess birthday party for a friend of ours who was turning 2.  Her parents are campus ministers, and the party was nothing less than spectacular.  They are so creative, and they hired a "real" princess to come and give the kids princess and prince lessons.  It was hilarious, and the kids had a magical time.

Welcome to our palace.

I'm just resting...

I just really love you.

Sir Reed at your service.

Just because I'm a princess

doesn't mean I can't play in the woods.

Silent awe at the princess :)

This is how you walk like a princess.