Celebrating Anna

For more than a year, Anna has wanted a Fin Fun Mermaid Tail. I have tried to convince her that she won't get to use it very often, but she has stayed steadfast in wanting one. So we got her a mermaid tail for her birthday. And she was thrilled. Of course that meant that we needed to go swimming on her birthday. The pool we went to doesn't exactly allow mermaid tails. They let her use the fin without the skirt in the deeper pool and then an hour later when the shallow pool opened they let her use the skirt. She was disappointed, but she kept a good attitude and had fun.

On Saturday, Joel and Brandi came to celebrate Anna's birthday and to keep Brandi's promise to watch Frozen 2 with the girls in the theater. This has been a highly anticipated event as the girls had never watched a movie in the theater. I'm glad I waited for just the right movie. They loved the experience....and the popcorn!

Everything for Anna's birthday party was unicorns and sprinkles. It's been a few years since she has had a family birthday party at home and she loved it.

She opened her gifts and played with her cousins and ate lots of food. Not much can beat that!

Happy 9th Birthday Anna!

I'm pretty sure the next 2 days are going to be memorable as we celebrate you. 

You are so special.

My Grandad

This week was so very normal--no extra activities on the calendar--and I loved it. On Friday, though, we had a special birthday to celebrate. My Grandad turned 92 years old. He looked at a picture of himself that I had printed for him and said, "Everyone tells that I look so young for being 92, but I look at that picture and see that I've never looked so old!"

Ezra made his Great Grandad the sweetest bag of gifts. It melts my heart when the children give gifts on their own and from their heart.

After everyone left I was talking with him, Grandad had just pulled out his Bible to read a verse to me when the phone rang and it was his son. So I waited until he was finished with his conversation because how could I leave when Grandad had something else to tell me?

Isaiah 59:21
"As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants--from this time on and forever," says the LORD.

When your Grandad is 92, you know that every day is a gift and every conversation is precious.

Field Trip Day

What a day Aliza, Josiah and I had on a big kid field trip to the National Museum of Natural History in DC. I navigated the Metro for the first time on my own. With a little help from the attendant at the metro terminal, we had a smooth trip in. It was actually a straight shot to the Smithsonian stop and only a short walk to the museum.

 Christie and her boys got to the museum first so we hopped in line with them. First stop was lunch where we quickly decided, based on cost, that we will pack lunch next time.

 We decided to start on the second floor with the bones and skeletons exhibit. It was fascinating to see the bone structure of so many different (very large and very small) animals.

 Next up was the insect zoo where Aliza and Josiah held a grasshopper.

 An exhibit on Ancient India and mummies was a little unsettling at times, but especially interesting because Josiah just studied India, mummies, pharaohs, and religion as part of his Ancient History class this year.

The museum's collection of gems, crystals and minerals was beyond what I could imagine. Every color and size imaginable. Of course, the entire museum was based on the theory of evolution, but the children and I walked away even more convinced that only a divine Creator could orchestrate all of this beauty and intricacy.

 The largest blue diamond in world, the Hope Diamond, is on display in it's own room in a huge case that turns a quarter turn in 10 second intervals so that it can be viewed equally on all sides. We were looking forward to this exhibit because it is pictured and highlighted in Aliza's Earth Science textbook. It is something like 122 carats, so you would think that they would be huge. And it is, but in the case that it is in, it doesn't look *that* big.

 Aliza would have liked to spend more time in the volcano exhibit since she just finished studying volcanoes. Instead we headed down to the first floor to the ocean and dinosaur exhibits. By this time, I was on visual overload!

 It was really great to be with friends who kept that same pace we did. We were all pretty well finished at the same time. We could definitely go again some day as there were exhibits that we didn't make it to. We stood in line to get into the National Archive building, but the line didn't move fast enough. Instead we walked to Union Station, got a snack and then it was time to head for home.

Riding the Metro during rush hour was a completely different experience and this time we had to change trains. But we made it! I was very happy to be crossing the bridge back to the Shore. I had to chuckle at myself because as I was so happy to be out of the city, I remembered that days when I felt like I was leaving the mainland of society when I crossed that bridge. I'm not a city girl and I'm perfectly ok with that! Aliza and Josiah had their own conversation the whole way home which made my heart smile.

Meanwhile, Anna and Isaiah had a day with Grandma and Grandad. They were pleased that they got to go fishing.

On a scale of 1-10, Isaiah rated his day a 20!

Joy Dare::October

6558. Sending Aliza on her adventure with her Grandma

6559. Focusing on my younger 3

6560. Wearing shorts and sandals in October

6561. That texts that asks how you are doing on a really bad day

6562. All the birthday party supplies

6563. Watching the flock of black birds with Isaiah

6564. Aliza's home!

6565. A little craft and talk time

6566. Isaiah is 5!

6567. Van and Karen could come early

6568. Isaiah had the BEST time with his Grandad

6569. Cashing in all of my "neighbor points"

6570. Taking Aliza to tea for the first time

6571. Having Isaiah's birthday party outside

6572. Aliza and Joel talking theology

6573. Josiah telling me about the Star Wars movie

6574. "Better than I imagined..."

6575. Sleeping boy beside me

 6576. Aliza and Josiah washing dishes
6577. Reaching out
6578. Jeremy was away and I slept all night
6579. Lydia was exceptional tonight
6580. Early bedtime
6581. Watching a deer graze in the back of our yard
6582. Isaiah was a champ at the Dr.
6583. Kitchen productivity: brownies, strawberry jelly, and biscuits
6584. Anna cooperating with school more
6585. Knowing that tomorrow I don't have to set the alarm
6586. Aliza's heart for her aunt
6587. Extending friendship and hospitality
6588. Saturday with no plans
6589. Discovered spray paint again
6590. Family pictures in the back yard
6591. Family movie
6592. Making a phone call
6593. Serving lunch
6594. Shopping for "sunshine" with Aliza and Anna
6595. Much needed rain
6596. Sitting with other people for Wednesday night supper
6597. Aliza enjoyed her first book club
6598. At least handwriting is being done happily

 6599. Jeremy and Josiah playing games together
6600. Cheesecake and Disney night
6601. DJ Daddy on the car ride
6602. All the nostalgic feelings eating at Friendly's
6603. Swimming
6604. Learning about the Amish lifestyle
6605. Enjoying family time
6606. Brown butter noodles and shoo fly pie ice cream
6607. Riding the Strasburg train
6608. Given a second coupon for a whoopie pie
6609. Safe trip home in pouring rain
6610. My mom letting me tell her all about our weekend--after Aliza told her all about it too
6611. Anna finished school by 1:00 with a good attitude
6612. My boys with fresh haircuts
6613. Cleaning out drawers
6614. Long talk with my Mom
6615. Isaiah and his school time antics
6616. A perfect fall day to be out

6617. Pumpkin doughnut
6618. Remembering why I do what I do
6619. Delaying bedtime to look at scrapbooks

6620. Meeting the Share food truck
6621. I almost didn't--but I got myself up to walk/jog
6622. Sitting on the porch kind of morning
6623. Anna got to do some gymnastics
6624. Isaiah had fun at a birthday party
6625. Candy collecting
6626. Spending some time with Janell
6627. Anna said, "I've never seen a shooting star." Believe it or not right after she said that I said, "Woah! Look at that!" We saw a shooting star.
6628. School on the porch

6629. Anna got up and started school right away
6630. And then she had the best time at dance
6631. The last of the warm fall days
6632. A little time alone
6633. One more school afternoon on the porch
6634. Fresh sea bass for supper
6635. Candy and a movie