June 2016

We all met at Pirate's Landing restaurant in Elkin on June 4 to celebrate Phillip's birthday.  It is rare for all of us to be together so it was a special occasion.

Front row:  Jonas, Lucy, Lilly, Sam

Back row:  Caleb holding Abram, me, Phillip, Jack

We were able to attend Sam's choir recital.  

Sam's 9th birthday was in June.  We weren't there for the actual day, but we did some special things with him while we were there for the recital. 

We visited Shot Tower State Park.  It is a fascinating historical site where shot was made by pouring lead into colander like objects.  It fell through the shaft of the tower into a barrel of cold water.  As it fell, it shaped into round shot.  When it hit the cold water, it cooled. In the first picture, Sam and Phillip are looking down into the bottom of the tower.  The picture below is the outside of the tower.  

After we saw the tower, we had lunch and ice cream.  It was a treat to spend time with Sam.

I canned 28 quarts of potatoes from the potatoes we planted. I made several bags of frozen potato wedges as well.  Canning potatoes is  labor intensive but it's the best way we've found to preserve them.  

In one of my worst experiences ever, there was a large rattlesnake on our patio.  It was in the exact place that we step from the patio to the yard.  We know that there are rattlesnakes here, but it's unusual for one to come that close to the house.  We are thankful for God's protection.

June 2016

May 2016

Abram's dedication was held on Mother's Day.  Jason is in the plaid shirt holding Abram and Jennifer is beside him in the blue dress.  It was encouraging to see these young parents pledge to teach their children to follow the Lord.

After church we had lunch together.  Hannah is on the left, then me, Jason, and Laura.  Rachel's family was away on a camping trip and Jaclyn and Emily weren't able to make the trip from Virginia.  I did get to talk to all of them on Mother's Day.  They make me very proud and happy to be their mother.  

Phillip, Hannah and I took a day trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We stopped at the Moses Cone House.

Phillip and me on one of the trails

We celebrated Jennifer's birthday.  I'm embarrassed that the only picture I took was of her birthday cake.  She requested a hummingbird cake.  Mama used to make them but I had never tried one.  It turned out well.  Jennifer liked it, and that's what was most important.

Daniel is the director of bands for Radford City Schools, and both Caleb and Jack are in the band.  This year is the first time we've been able to attend a concert.  We're proud of all of them.

Daniel introducing the band.  (His jacket isn't green.  The lighting is just weird.)

Caleb is seated. He plays the French horn.

Jack plays percussion.  I had to zoom in to get this picture.  They were doing a fun piece using garbage cans and buckets.  Jack is playing a plastic bucket. It was great!

Jonas graduated from Pisgah Weekday School.  He's ready for kindergarten now, but I'm not sure we are.  We'd like to keep him little for a while longer.

It was Jonas's turn to spend the night with us.  He worked hard building elaborate frog traps.  Surprisingly, he actually caught a frog.  He was quite proud.  The frog did survive his brief captivity, by the way.

One morning, Phillip was horrified to discover that deer had invaded his garden.  They did quite a lot of damage.  This was all that was left of his green beans. 

April 2016

  

 We celebrated Rachel's birthday.  One of the highlights of the day was Jonas explaining each of the birthday drawings he made for her.  Our favorite was a drawing of Rachel in a donkey suit with the caption, "Oh.  I'm itchy in my donkey suit."  

 Our sweet Jonas turned 5 years old this month.  He celebrated with a superhero party.

Phillip and I spent a few days at the Outer Banks.  This was our first time to visit there.  I was forced to confront two of my great fears:  bridges and stairs.  I still don't like either but I survived.  I did not manage to climb any of the lighthouses.  I saw all I needed to see from ground level.

 

 It was a wonderful trip but I was glad to be back home.

 Abram is growing so quickly.  He loves his jumper and we love his happy smile.

 Lilly played the Dormouse in Alice in Wonderland at school.  She did a great job!

Lucy spent the night with us.  She picked flowers and made a lovely arrangement for the table.

She close both blueberry and strawberry muffins, and bacon of course, for breakfast.  I love her smile with those missing front teeth!

We ended the month by celebrating Jason's birthday.  It's hard to believe that this little boy

 is now this man with 2 little boys of his own.  Where did the years go? 

March 2016

Phillip and Abram did some serious napping.

 

  Abram explored the living room.

  Lilly was surprised by a bear at the sporting goods store.

 Easter dinner

 

 

 Jason's family spent Easter in Roxboro this year so Lilly and Lucy ruled the egg hunt.

 

 Going through their treasures

 

 They are growing up so quickly.

February 2016

 

Jaclyn got some snuggle time with Abram.  

We went to Lilly's A Honor Roll award breakfast.  It was fun to surprise her.

Libby got a new toy.  She loves her duck, and it's pretty tough.  It still squeaks, and I've only had to sew it up once.

 Buzzards decided to sit on the roof of the workshop.  There was quite a flock, but the others flew away when we snuck out to take this picture.  It was an interesting sight.

We had the septic tank pumped, not the highlight of the month but a necessity.  

We had some candy canes left, so Lucy crushed them and we added them to a cookie recipe.  They made delicious cookies.

 It was Jonas's turn to have a sleepover with us.  He made this lovely sand cake.

He made pancakes, too.  They weren't as pretty as the sand cake, but they were very tasty.

January 2016

 

Our new year started with Abram in the hospital with RSV.  We're thankful that he recovered quickly and is fine.

 Phillip got a giant tub of pork rinds for Christmas.  Jonas enjoyed sharing them.

 For the first time in quite a few years, I got a significant hair cut.  

 Phillip had an appointment with his cardiologist to check the stent in his shoulder.  As far as they can tell, it is fine.  When we left the doctor's office, the "Hot" light was shining at Krispy Kreme and he couldn't resist.  Not the best way to celebrate a good cardiologist visit.

 Sam was sick and missed our family Christmas party, so he got a late Christmas present.  I love his smile!

 Jack's birthday was the 9th and Jaclyn's was the 19th.  We were able to take them out for lunch to celebrate.  It was a fun day with my favorite January babies.

 It snowed, and Phillip and I went walking in the snow together.  It was a beautiful snow.

 Jonas and Abram stayed with us for a couple of days while the road to Rachel's house was icy.  Jonas turned us into robots. His robot hat was too big and mine was too small, but we overcame that obstacle and had a good time.

Lucy spent the night with us in January.  She chose Bojangles for breakfast.  We couldn't resist the heart shaped biscuits.