Bi-Weekly Wrap-Up - Oct 2

 I honestly have no idea why I didn't get a weekly wrap-up posted last week, I just didn't. So here I am, with two busy weeks to write about.

To stay chronological, LAST week started with a "fall festival" at the local church school. The girls had fun seeing animals at the petting zoo, playing games and winning an obnoxious whistle, and eating their weight (possibly more) in junk food. But it was to raise money for the school, so it was all for a good cause LOL.

Needless to say, cotton candy was a big hit!

My dad sent me an AIM message sometime near the beginning of that week and asked if we'd be around Wed. night, because they were thinking of going to Philadelphia on Thurs, and thought they might stop by to see us on their way up Wed evening.  I said that MiniMe and I were going on our "date" that night but that Rodney and the other girls would be around and then we could see them when we got home from our date. Dad decided he'd have to admit that the REAL reason they were coming up this way was to pick up the motorhome they had purchased, and then to come show it to us. So, we switched MiniMe's date to Thurs night (conveniently, she's so used to Daddy's work schedule being unpredictable that she didn't even ask why we were changing it, just assumed it was because something came up that Daddy needed to work late on Wed), so that we'd all be home to check out the new motorhome on Wed.

Wed. afternoon we went to Miss Judy's house to visit her. While we were there was one of our few rain-free moments this month, so we went outside. Little Bit decided I needed to take her picture, and then actually stood still long enough for me to take it.

That evening mom & dad got here and parked out of sight of our house without the girls seeing them, then just "showed up" at our door. Needless to say, the girls were very excited to see them.  And then Papa suggested a "walk in the rain" and surprised them with the new motorhome. It's MUCH bigger than the old one and comes complete with bunkbeds for the big girls (though I've warned them that when Little Bit gets big enough they'll have to rotate so that she gets a turn on the bunkbeds too. The big girls spent the night in the motorhome with Mama and Papa, and then they rode with Papa (while Mama and Little Bit rode with me) to an overstock grocery store near us before Mama and Papa left for home.

Thursday evening was, as mentioned, MiniMe's date. We had a nice meal together at Panera, and then, since she's my little "shopper", we went to Ross's together and had fun shopping together without the distraction of keeping track of Little Bit before we headed home.

Sabbath was perhaps the busiest (and least "restful") Sabbath I've had in a long time. I was in charge of craft time for the big girls' class, and then, their teacher wanted the Cradle Roll leader to help him that morning, so I ended up leading in Cradle Roll. The Sabbath School Superintendent had asked all the children's divisions to sing for the adult Sabbath School classes, so we cut our Sabbath School short and went to the sanctuary for that. The Cradle Roll children were too young to really know what was going on, but they stood up there during parts of songs at least. Little Bit was happy to stand with sissies. The lighting wasn't good, but at least you can see all 3 girls standing together.

After all the children sang a few songs, the leader had Sassy and MiniMe sing some songs they've been working on (they're the only children their age who attend consistently enough to have learned them).  They sang (acapella no less) "The Books of the Old Testament", "The Books of the New Testament" and "The Beatitudes".

As if that weren't enough, MiniMe and Sassy were also scheduled to tell Children's Story in church that week. So they had lots of up front time that day.

Sabbath was also communion, and we were on the schedule to help with the visitors dinner after church, so it was a busy day all around.

So that was last week.  This past week was equally busy. We had Sassy date (she decided MiniMe's date sounded fun, so chose the same thing, Panera's and then shopping, I think I can get used to "dates" like that LOL).

The big girls came with me to the church on Tuesday to help set up the Cradle Roll room for the new quarter. We're doing a forest theme this quarter, so the girls had fun helping to figure out where to put all the trees and such. They're definitely feeling ownership, they made sure to come in after their class this morning to see how it went LOL.

Wednesday morning we had a playdate at a friend's house. The girls all had fun playing cars and balloons with their friends E & J. And we all enjoyed lunch together before we headed home. After Little Bit's nap Wed. Miss Judy came down to visit us.

We also decided to celebrate Rosh Hashanah this year. For several years now I've been toying with the idea, ever since reading that the Jewish Fall Feasts point, not just to the Messiah, but also to Jesus' second coming. It seems to me, if this is the case, that they haven't been fulfilled and should still be observed. So every year I say I'm going to study into it more to decide, and every year I get busy and don't. So this year I decided to skip the studying part. I don't believe there is any command to NOT keep the feasts so, since the girls are happy for any excuse to celebrate, I decided we'd just start learning about them, and celebrating them as we get to them and not worry about whether or not we "have to". The girls were all over that idea! So, on Tuesday we made challah bread, but added raisins and formed it into a circle instead of the typical braid. Wed. night the girls made "shofars" (rams horns) by covering party horns with construction paper, and of course blew them as often as I'd allow it (it IS the "Feast of Trumpets" afterall). And for supper we decorated the table with a centerpiece of fruit and "cakes" (we used cookies, we like them better LOL). In addition to the challah bread we included apples dipped in honey (yum!) with our meal. And of course ate some of hte cookies from the centerpiece (we also had baked potatoes). At the end of our meal, we read Bible verses, both from Numbers (the original command to keep the Feast of Trumpets) and from the New Testament, where it talks about Jesus coming again with the blowing of trumpets.

Thursday we continued our Rosh Hashana celebration with more trumpet blowing, we made applesauce honey cake for breakfast (I think it will become a regular breakfast option around here). Then for Bible class I read to them some of the history, and current symbolism of the holiday. For lunch, we had pomegranate apple salad (it was yummy too!), and then after Little Bit's nap we went up to the pond and "cast our sins [bread crumbs] on the water".

I think the girls really enjoyed it, and so did I, just wish it hadn't been in the midst of such a busy week.

Friday we went to Grandmom's house to visit her, and Rodney's sister and her husband came too. It was a joint birthday celebration for me (Aug), and Rodney & his sister (both Sept). Sassy is trying to teach Grandmom to knit, and MiniMe is teaching Aunt Lynette to make handsewn felt pouches, so they were busy with that for quite awhile. And it was finally a non-rainy day, so they played outside some too. Little Bit is a BIG fan of Grandmom's "big gween swide" (big green slide for the rest of us).

This Sabbath was a much calmer day. Little Bit was cute, when we walked into her Sabbath School room, she stopped, looked around and said "wow! Something different!".  I think the forest program is going to be a hit, she & her friend, J (the only kids there today) had great fun gathering pinecones, going on a walk, and building a beaver dam amongst other things.

And that was our last couple of weeks. This coming week is hopefully going to be a little big slower, we shall see . . .

Lest you fear that no "school" is happening, we have managed to fit in learning about Leif Erickson, and later, Columbus, discovering America (though we did skip most of the "craft" things for these weeks, since the girls were helping me by making the props we needed for the forest program, they are now experts at cutting fish and clouds out of felt, making rattle snake rattles, a pretty cool leaf with a spider that dangles from it, and a mosquito jar. . . and probably more things that I forgot.), began our study of Van Gogh for art, and continued learning about ladybugs for nature/science.  The housecleaning, on the other hand, has pretty much fallen by the wayside these last couple weeks LOL.