A City Life For Me

  This little German dress was one I wore as a girl.  Elaine also wore it – she is on the right.  Liberty had just been woken up from sleeping in the car, so she wasn’t happy about having her picture taken! The family that brushes together stays together.  The twins love brushing their teeth! Water fun at Grandma’s house!

Today we started homeschooling!  Although I was homeschooled, and Ben was homeschooled, and we always planned to homeschool, this was not something I was looking forward to today!  Actually…I was scared, and unorganized, and confused, but we made it! I had stashed a back pack away a while ago, so I pulled it out and filled it with Elaine’s school supplies.  It was waiting when she woke up.  She had been asking to paint her nails, so we did that before breakfast too.       Love that looK! Daddy came home with bagels for breakfast.  Brooklyn bagels.  ‘Nuff said – that made the day start off well!  Daddy also brought Elaine a rose, and Mommy got a bouquet of flowers (maybe because I was crying in overwhelmed-ness last night!).  That totally made Elaine’s day! We waited for the twins to go down for morning nap before starting school.  We survived Nolan’s interruptions, questions, and drawing on Elaine’s work pages...

:: Campfire S’mores and Sparklers       :: Tire Swing…they spent hours on it   He’s making a deputation call list! Where we were at this last week

My kids have thoroughly enjoyed this week in Maine.  They have gotten to explore and enjoy the Great Outdoors in ways they didn't know existed.  Living in NYC, rocks and sticks and leaves are the only novelties to collect on a walk.  Here they have hiked, canoed, chased butterflies, romped in the grass, picked up toads, collected wildflowers, foraged for wild berries, and enjoyed picnic lunches.   Yesterday we went for a hike in the Bigelow Preserve here in Stratton, ME.  We were hoping that the road would take us to the lake, but it didn't go all the way through.  We parked on a logging road to hike to the lake, but after a while the foliage became too dense for the kids (and for Mommy who was carrying a baby!).  We had a picnic in the woods.  The kids loved sitting on a dead tree to eat.    Elaine found some tiny toads and chased them.  Liberty got in on the action.  There were tons of wild raspberry bushes so we st...

We have had several meetings in Maine this month.  Last week we had to travel home on Monday so that Ben could finish a job he was doing in Brooklyn.  This week we decided to stay in Maine in between Sundays.  We had some accommodations in a prophets chamber during the week. But as we were leaving on Saturday morning, a college friend (who is a missionary in Siberia) emailed to say that she had seen we were in Maine, and that her parents would be glad to have us stay with them if we needed a place to stay.  The Lord answered an unspoken prayer to take care of our accommodations this week!    We have had a wonderful time in rural Maine.  The kids are experiencing parts of the "great outdoors" that they never knew existed in New York City!  We enjoyed a canoe ride (another little thing that the Lord worked out - Nolan has been asking to go on a boat!), a couple of picnics, a hike, foraging for wild raspberries, looking at the stars,...

Last week we traveled to Maine round trip in one weekend.  The kids were pretty tired of being in the car, so we made a fun stop at a farm in Massachusetts.   They had a playground, and ice cream stand, and a barn of animals - llamas, sheep, goats, a miniature horse, and a cow.  There was also a little creek where Ben helped the kids catch some frogs.   We arrived right at feeding time, and the kids loved it!  They have always enjoyed feeding the goats the NYC zoos, so this was right up their alley.  Liberty was old enough to get in on the action, too.  She was completely fearless as she offered bits of grain and feed to the goats!    Liberty discovered that she is a "big girl" now - we had a hard time pulling her off this swing!  We had "purple cow" ice cream covered in sprinkles - to Elaine and Nolan's delight!   Our kids enjoyed this so much that we stopped at the David...

My twins are showing an interest in the piano, and they loved the grand piano at Grandma’s house!  Everytime I sat down to play, I ended up being joined by one or both babies, and eventually they took over and kicked me out!  Maybe one of them will be my piano player…