Tales of a Castle

Monday, November 24, 2008

We grew and partied.

I grew,

and grew,

and we had a party.

He grew,

and grew,

and we had a party.

(Click on this photo to compare Troy's one year old portrait which is on the left

and Silas' which is on the right. They cannot deny each other! :-)

There was a lot of balloon popping,

and a lot of laughing chaos with Silas' little friends!

Happy birthday, buddy.
We are so happy to have you with us!

posted at 11:24 AM
7 comments

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The rest of the story. . .

Hold on to your seats, friends and family, a "lotta" pictures are coming your way! My MIL will probably be the only one who cares to see all of these, but I thought she would be interested in knowing what has been going on in our lives. This was all pre-FL trip, and I knew if I didn't get them posted. . . who knows when they would be shared.

Our schedules have been humming with activity as we ~

are plugging along in school. 69 days are behind us.

Training - lots of training - as in this situation when I found the kitchen floor after Ethan had "cleaned up the Play-Doh." Hmmmm. Somehow we have a differing opinion of the words "clean up."

And the little lad keeps growing and growing and growing. . .

My parents and younger sister came for a visit, and I couldn't resist posting a picture of Silas' decoration on my Dad's head. :-)

The boys have been fishing. Well, one was fishing all the time, and the other thought the huge dirt pile was a bit more inviting.

The very patient fisherman. I believe he caught more turtles than fish.

While my Mom was here to watch the boys, Troy and I went away to a bed/breakfast in Asheville. Lovely time. I did offer to cut Troy's food as we were eating. I think I have lost the art of only messing with my own plate. And my food was hot, and I ate ALL of it while it was hot. I think that is a lost art as well - at least for now. :-)

The boys and I went hiking with my Dad at Table Rock State Park. It was a long and strenuous hike, but we were headed toward our reward - a waterfall high on the mountain!

Seth kept finding creatures along the way. He thinks this is great. I think it is great as long as I do not have to touch them. :-)

I loved the huge boulders!

The occasional view of the countryside was fabulous! And it all seemed so worthwhile as we climbed - heading for the beautiful waterfall in the mountains.

Several hours and miles later, this was the "beautiful" mountain waterfall we ascended to view! You have to look hard to find the thing! I hid my disappointment as my Dad went off on a humorous rant on how he could make a better waterfall with a hose. I had forgotten to take into account the awful drought and how it would have affected the waterfall! My Dad gave me a good laugh though. Poor guy! He said it was abuse to drag a 59 year old up a mountain to see that! :-)

Another picture of my cutie patootie.

Field trip time to Roper Mountain Science Center in Greenville. I love history, so this is my kind of thing.

Ginning cotton at the farm.

A scene from one of the Civil War reenactments we saw.

Another picture of my cutie patootie eating from a "big boy" plate for the first time.

Ahhhh - the lake at this time of year! Isn't it absolutely gorgeous?!

Attending a Greenville Chorale concert where "Daddy" was singing.

The boys and their kind Dad who agreed to sleep on the hard bumpy ground with them for a night.

And now you know. . .the rest of the story.

posted at 10:42 PM
8 comments

Thursday, November 13, 2008

And what a wonderful time we had!

Ahhhh. . .the ocean was so beautiful. I wish I could have bottled up the sounds and scope of it to bring home with me. Brought enough of the sand, but that wasn't what I was after!

We left on October 27th and returned home on November 3rd. All made possible in part by the beauty of homeschooling. :-) You can see the joy oozing from the boys' faces as they studied down the highway!

It was a busy and eventful week; one big milestone being the little lad reaching the one year old mark. We all may pause to sniff now! Hard to believe. Seems I was just on bedrest.

Time with friends was the best! We had such a good time catching up with "old" ones such as the Davises, Howards, Goings. . . What a great time I had MIRLing with bloggers. I always get a laugh when someone asks if I am tales of a castle! :-) You never know who is lurking. . .

Ethan thought Jim and Fredde's place was a little bit of Heaven. Here is the dear boy (as Buzz Lightyear) getting a motorcycle ride.

Bless all the people that entertained Silas so I could finish meals. :-) I missed the highchair.

And this one is for Aimee. I am not photogenic, and flash has always been my enemy. At least my dear picture partner found my blinking to be humorous.

Whew! Mission accomplished!

This charming picture of the ocean was taken on the day I got up to "see the sunrise." Hmmm. Just my luck - a rainstorm instead. :-)

My other bit of luck was to bring cooler weather and wind. While Floridians were loving the fact it was in the 40's one night, I was not. We looked like such diehards (along with the fishermen) on the beach. I am sure the lifeguard thought we were nuts as I tried to keep the boys warm while they played. Later in the week it warmed a bit. I even managed to sunburn my poor children.