Guess who is coming tomorrow?

The Twin Men! You know, Rachelle's twin men!


She is coming too!


And so is he!


So, actually all four of them! They've been taking a cross country journey and get to spend a couple nights with us!


I just realized I never blogged these pictures from when I went to visit them in July. 4 trips this summer and only 2 got mentioned on the old blog. *sigh*

Anyways, I learned from my visit then that I need to have plenty of Strawberry syrup.


I'm ready Zach and Coop! Welcome to TEXAS!

Living History Day in Pictures

What an authentic medieval experience we had. I learned so much...wait, it was for the kids. I can honestly say that I will enjoy learning right along side of my girls...I missed so much during school. Made straight As but don't remember a dern thing!

Here are our lady and her majestic queen:

Our little family, me as a "lady in waiting" and Jerry as a monk, or friar.

We met in Lily's class to gather her shield,

And then had a procession out to where we would have a fun filled day of activities...but first we met our twins! Parents of a little boy in Lily's class had our exact outfits!

Jade found some friends...
We observed a code of ethics presented by the 6th graders...

caught a pic of the "royal court" aka headmaster, his wife, and the head of lower school...

saw quite an amazing Maypole dance...

quite a crowd gathered...

one monk took his costume a little more seriously than my hubby...

Thank God! I kind of like his hair!

An evil black knight came and stole the school flag...Jade is still talking about that!

Then we started visiting different stations, the first housed various catapults...

where many poor pumpkins met their demise...

Then it was off to archery...


afterward we stopped for a play...

met the king...
observed a glass blower...

took a sneak peek at the feast layout...


ran into more friends...

then hunted for Lily's shield...


and finally found it!
then it was off to make scented oils...

tried our hand at calligraphy...

did a little dancing...
and then these little blondies had to wait while the big kids...

began to feast!

We did finally get to eat and then said goodbye to friends...
for a week long Thanksgiving break! Boy have we missed our friends this week...school has become an integral part of our lives...so thankful to be on this journey with some amazing people!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Living History Day: Our First School Project

As I approached the carpool line a few weeks ago, I was met with quite a sight. Each and every child was holding a bare shield cut from plywood. As Lily and her carpool buddy climbed in the van with shields the length of half their bodies, it was apparent that their anticipation of this little at home "project" was different than mine.

It was first the real project of their school careers. Their anticipation of it was rooted in excitement, creativity, boundless ideas, and hours of fun. Mine was rooted in fear, financial constraints, lack of creativity, wondering how to tie her ideas to the Middle Ages, and hours of work. MESSY work.

The Mission: to create a shield using whatever means necessary that conveys some meaning of medieval symbolism and a touch of her personality. I just made that up. There was actually a 3 page document that came home with it and several websites listed. Oh dear.

The Time Frame: one month...due the week before Living History Day...A day when the school comes together to experience all things...work, play, clothing, food, etc of the time period they are studying. This year the theme is The Middle Ages.


And so we procrastinated. I had costumes in the works for all four of us before the dern shield even made it out of the van.

And then it was upon us! Yet I put it off to the weekend. Then I realized that Jerry was going to be out of town. Ugh! What's a girl to do? Flee! Run! Quick, for the hills!

Actually we settled for the piny woods of East Texas. I had blessed my mom with an appearance a few weeks back and even brought my laundry with me...giving Jerry a break to study for a Greek exam one weekend. What? Kerry, is your machine broken or something? No, Mom....just behind as usual. So, I thought it'd only be fitting to spread the laundry love to my in-laws as well. As Jerry left town, I loaded up the girls, many baskets and bags of laundry, and a shield. And some paints and some brushes, and some clip art images and ....

The first evening my girls were a bit distracted by the spoils memmy had brought home from a Halloween clearance sale. Within an hour they had dressed as various princesses, witches, a senorita, a flapper girl, and even Cleopatra. Can you say spoiled?

The next morning we went to work on the shield. I traced images with a black sharpie and Lily went to painting. My mother-in-law set in on the laundry. The spoiling doesn't stop with my girls! By evening, my father-in-law got to get out clamps and his mitre box for some last minute touches. Oh a man and his tools!

I only had my phone, but here are some pics of our progress:

This is what we ended up with:

And it finally went to school (after daddy attached some straps for carrying it):

Tomorrow is the big event. It is supposed to be 42 degrees when we get there at 8AM.

I might have just cut the neck off a thermal shirt to match the neckline of my costume. And I might have just spray painted a couple pairs of old shoes gold for the girls.

I might be crazy.

The Lord's Prayer: Sung

The Carol and Chapel Choirs opened worship yesterday morning by singing The Lord's Prayer.

Here is our little choir gal with a couple of friends before her first choir experience in "big church".

And here's the video for those in our family that couldn't attend...and anyone else interested!

I am so thankful for our children's choir director and the ministry she has to our kids. She is diligent in teaching them scripture through music and about how they were created to worship.

It was beautiful.