Sunday, November 29, 2009

Lots of photos

ChubChub worked diligently at his schoolwork this past week. He really enjoys his little books.
He also helped Mean Ol' Mama sort through pinto beans for supper. He's a good helper.Josiah and Branch have been working on their Christmas concert music. We have 4 family performances this week, 1 string performance with their ensemble group, and more performances with family/strings/and band coming up just within the next week. Ufda!
We had a good time with company in the home over Thanksgiving holidays. Aunt Barbwire and Uncle Trouble (as the kids call them) stopped in from Cincinnati/Bangladesh/Togo. They stayed for a few days, and we enjoyed singing with them. Uncle Richard came down from Pennsylvania. We had 2 family reunions to attend Thanksgiving Day.
Uncle Trouble regaled us with his accordion music. He is such a talented man with a very interesting life story. If you ever meet him, make sure you ask him why he doesn't like raisins.
Branch and Poppins finished working on a shed for Branch's tools and workbench. This may turn into a pigeon house in the future.
We attended the Swine Time festival on Saturday. Poppins was called up out of the audience to participate in the chitterling-eating contest. He was nominated by his friend Peter (on the right). What are chitterlings? Fried pig bowels, plain and simple. You wash them down with hot sauce and hope you survive. Poppins said they were actually kind of tasty.
The emcee and photographer had a good time with Poppins and Peter when they found out that they were both "yankees". The emcee told them they were disqualified from the contest, because only Southerners should eat "chittlins". Everyone on stage enjoyed a good laugh when Poppins turned his cap backwards; he was told that he had to put his hands behind his back and dig in face-first when the contest starts. Yuck!!!
Snapping photos for the local paper...
All done! Now, about this friendship, Peter...
Can you see ChubChub all the way to the left? Poor little guy wanted to participate in the hog calling contest, but then he was told that he had to be 8 years old. Waaaahhhh!
Josiah, Anders, and Branch enjoyed the corn shucking contest. Those kids were really moving up there.
Anders won! Fifteen dollars which were quickly spent on buying treats for Mean Ol' Mama, The Girl and her friend, and a family friend who was with us. He is such a nice boy.
Stennes and Levi also did the corn shucking contest. Levi won, but Stennes gave him a good challenge.
ChubChub's Italian Ice was a bit sour...
Even Poppins "shecked" corn. He did pretty well, but the man on the left won.
Do you see ChubChub in front of the pig on the right in the photo? He's going in for the finish with that little greased piggy. Run!
Yep, that piggy didn't stand a chance. ChubChub sauntered off casually and commented that he "...captured the pig!" Where does he learn those words?
He won the whole pot of money, which was soon spent on cotton candy for The Girl and himself. At least these kids enjoy sharing...
Branch won in his greased pig chase, too. He spent his money on a bow and arrow for him to share with ChubChub.
Josiah was very careful with his broken arm, so he didn't "capture" the pig, but we were proud to see him being a good sport with the other participants. It's hard to catch a greased pig with your arm in a cast, ya know...
We ended up back home with Peter and his family. He and Poppins are still friends; eating "chittlins" has bonded them. We had a fun time together, watching barbershop singing on the computer, playing games, and chatting about our good day at the Swine Time festival.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

We blinked and another week flew by!

Yep, a broken arm. Rip-stick riding can be dangerous. Don't be so sad, Josiah. Just four more weeks with the cast...
The Girl helped Teresa make jelly this past week. The jellies are quite tasty. That's better. A little smile from Josiah. He's on the way to the Post Office to pick up his new "babies".
A nervous daddy pacing the floor...

Aaah, the delivery went just fine, thanks. Now home with the new additions...
Let's put them here in the back.
Nope, they'll be cozier here in the front with me.
In their new home...
We attended the monthly homeschool meeting Friday morning. Everyone had a great time with the activities.
Poppins dropped by unexpectedly to surprise the boys. He's such a great father.
The boys enjoyed a game of football with their friends. Watch that cast, Josiah!
The girls entertained the little ones with fun games and silly challenges.
ChubChub wanted to play football, too, but he's a wee bit too small.
The kids watched a series of DVD clips discussing 3 American artists and their worldview. We were surprised at how attentive and interested they all were, even the little ones.
The little ones huddled around a laminated print in search of hidden objects that the artist may have painted in.
Whoa! What happened? Mean Ol' Mama started out this morning with 9 kids (3 borrowed) and came home with 10 kids (4 borrowed, not the 3 from this morning)! Neat trick!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Happiness a' Happening

ChubChub loves his school books. He colors, traces, works with a few numbers, and generally keeps a happy-go-lucky outlook on life, love, and learnin'.Italic
Stennes was kind enough to humor Mean Ol' Mama and cover a wall with chalkboard paint. Best thing we've done yet in ye olde hoose. The kids could hardly wait for the paint to dry. The Girl doesn't normally dress so "fancy" for chalk sketchings; we were about to leave for a large performance, which was #3 performance on Tuesday alone. Lotsa folks and lotsa good comments.
Even ChubChub had to share his interpretation of Mean Ol' Mama. Say, she does look mean, doesn't she? [If only her legs were as thin, too...sigh...]
Poppins perked the kids right up the other morning with exercises to get the ol' blood flowing. See the reflectors on his shirt? He really "shines" in our eyes...

Interesting photo title: Raggedy Boy Parses Koine Greek
New title: Raggedy Boy Sharpens Pencil with Ye Olde Fashioned Pocketknife
Yet another title: Happy Raggedy Boy Indicates He is Finished with This Number of Pages
What? Another title? Raggedy Boy Tries to Avoid his Math Lesson by Reading a Book
Stennes has been busy this past week making a bird house and a bird feeder for a local school. These were left unfinished so the classes could sand and paint them (hands-on time, ya know) and auction them off to the parents of the classes in a fundraiser. He's quite a talented young man. Now, if he could only finish his chapter on the First Aorist tense in Greek...[...sigh...]
The Girl was inspired to add a special verse to our family wall. Yep, good idea...
Stennes fixed a broken leg on Josiah's Pig Nose bass amp. He removed one of the legs and turned a matching leg on the wood lathe. Handy.
Josiah, Anders, and Poppins have been working on the chicken pen. Gotta be ready for those 50 roosters by Friday. Time's tickin'...
Branch wanted to show all our faithful blog-followers what life is really like here in our home. Sweep, sweep, sweep. Such is life with boys/gardens/boys/animals/boys/shop projects, and did we mention...boys?
Just look at these sweeties blessing Mean Ol' Mama by scrubbing the floor by hand. Gotta love it, and gotta love them!