The Junior Cotillion Spring Ball

Piano Recital

Evan played "O Come All Ye Faithful" in his first recital last Friday night.
This was Meghan's third recital and she played "O Holy Night".

The Hobbit Project

The Sixth Grade class did a major project based on the book, the Hobbit.  Each student was assigned a character.  Meghan was Bilbo Baggins.  Each student re-wrote a portion of the book from the point of view of their character.

Meghan (as Bilbo) reads her chapter to the kindies (see Tressa third from the left)!

Meg's 3D representation of the Wilderland

Is This How I Taught You?

I don't think so!

My girl needs a refresher lesson on POSTURE!!

Who would you have left...

this crazy dude...

...or this sweet girl?

Don't answer that.

Tomorrow we get our sweet girl back from 2 weeks of camp!!

Tressa Never Saw It Coming

...but Meghan did.

"OH NO!  Here we go!"

And the front of the tube sank, causing the girls to plummet headlong into the lake!

Swimming back to the boat... Tressa sporting the "drenched-puppy" look.

Eleven!

Meme, Pops, and Olivia came down on Sunday to help celebrate Meghan's 11th birthday!

Megs got lots of nice gifts, including these fabulous items from me:

A Hoops & YoYo talking card!

A Typical Friday Night?

It's Friday evening shepherd group at the Clowns' house!

Among the attendees are... One very pregnant goat named Lois.  Another goat, Rhoda, who needs to be milked.  A dozen or so chickens (also known as "the ladies") free-ranging about the yard.  Eight children (half of them mine) free-ranging about the yard.

From inside the house, I hear Hayden screaming.  I run outside and scoop him up.  The kids are quick to tell me, "Jack threw a chicken and it hit Hayden."  ??????  Well, it was an accident of course, Jack didn't mean to hit Hayden with a flying chicken.  I stifle a giggle in my poor baby's neck as I hug him.  For Hayden's mental health I think it would be a good idea for him to reconcile with the chicken.   Hayden runs in the opposite direction.

But Grace and I are determined.  She straps Hayden into the swing so he can't run away.  Then she chases and catches the offending lady.  (Actually I can't tell them apart.  Maybe it was the guilty chicken, maybe not.) 

Here, Hayden, pet the lovely lady.

He won't actually touch the chicken, but he does manage a reconciliatory smile.  What a good sport!

Meanwhile, Mrs. Clown instructs Meghan, her Friday night milking partner, to catch Rhoda and bring her to the milking shed.

It's a challenge to catch a goat, as evidenced by my blurry photography.  You know, it all happens so fast!  By the way, that's Jack (the chicken-tosser) helping catch Rhoda.  I've got to say that Meghan is fearless when it comes to animals.  And everything else for that matter.  She doesn't get that from me... I won't so much as make eye-contact with the goats and chickens for fear of provoking an attack!  I have recurring nightmares of being featured on an episode of "When Good Chickens Go Bad".  Shudder.

Walking across the yard to the milking pen, Jack points out a lifeless ball of fluff on the ground.  "It's a dead bird, Jack," his mom says.  With great excitement, Jack responds, "Can we dissect it?!"  I silently say a prayer of thanks that my kids don't make such outlandish requests of me.

At the milking shed, Mrs. Clown sets up the buckets and starts the milking.  Meghan joins in.  They milk in unison.  They squirt each other a couple times.  Then Mrs. Clown steps out and I take this picture of my very happy daughter:

Then I go to rejoin the adults inside, dodging chicken poop every step of the way.  Mrs. Clown comes in with the fresh goat milk and makes some home-grown-kefir smoothies.  We pray and begin our Bible study.  Seriously unconventional.  But somehow it works for us.  ☺

Brisk and Sunny

'Twas a beautiful Saturday morn in Leesburg, Virginia.

I ♥ Midgets

H-midge

Megha-midge

T-midge

another H-midge -- an oldie but a goodie

Wise Latina Girl

Yesterday whilst a Veggie Tales dvd played in the van, this question occurred to Meghan:

"Is it asparagusses or asparagi?"

Can you tell she's learing Latin?  She's had almost 3 years, in fact.  Well, according to my source (the dictionary), "asparagus" is the plural of asparagus.  Like deer is the plural of deer.  Booooring.

Going medieval with the fifth graders...

On Friday the fifth grade class held a medieval feast.  The kids each gave mini-speeches that explained the ins and outs of a medieval feast.   Fascinating!

Meghan was the court jester.

She had a slew of jokes.  Here's a sample of the best:

Who invented King Arthur's round table?  Sir Cumference.

What is Camelot?  A place where people parked their camels in the middle ages.

Why did the king go to the dentist?  To get his tooth crowned.

metal mouth meg

100% adorable!

Christmas Piano Recital

Meghan played Jingle Bells in duet form with her teacher.  Craig and I were a little apprehensive because the day before the recital Meghan was still making mistakes.  But her playing was surprisingly flawless at the actual recital!   Way to go, Megs!

Field Hockey

Meghan is having a great season! The 5/6 grade teams are so much more skilled than the 3/4 grade teams! That's Meghan by the ball -- red shirt #75:

Assistant Coach Daddy, below. Meghan has had the same head coach her whole FH career - 5 seasons. Coach Rob (not pictured) is from the Netherlands where it is common for men to play FH.

Spy Kids

I could tell you more, but then I'd have to... well, you know.

and from 2007...

All-Around Superstar

SB2W August 2009

This excerpt is of Meghan's camp counselors announcing to the parents the awards that each girl in Meg's cabin earned. (Though the competitions were camp-wide.) Meghan won the All-Around Track Medal as well as first place ribbons in the following events: softball throw, the 100-yard dash in the track meet, the backstroke at the swim meet, "ins-and-outs" in the canoe meet, and chess champion. A natural athlete like her daddy... way to go, Megs!

Taking Meghan to Camp

Daddy's going to miss Meggie... And she'll miss him too!

(Actually, Meghan was just pretending to be sad... she really couldn't wait till we left! Two weeks without us? Easy-cheesy lemon-squeezy, as Megs would say. I think she'll be fine.)

In case Evan starts thinking he's a big shot...

... big sister Meghan is there to put him in his place!

Meghan Saves A Life

This evening Meghan witnessed a fledgling fall from his nest. He was an adorable little thing! Meghan raced off to find a worm for him. A moment later she returned and tried to feed it to the bird. It was so sweet. I wish I'd had my camera with me! Meanwhile four other parents from the cul-de-sac gathered around and we discussed what to do with the little guy. Meghan wanted to keep him. She said she'd even let me cut her hair (gasp!) if I let her keep the baby bird. I was seriously considering that, since I'm dying to cut her hair off -- mainly because it is so hard to look for ticks in such long thick hair (it's a matter of practicality, especially since deer regularly visit our yard!) However, one mom spotted the nest and it was easily reachable by ladder. So we decided to return the baby to the nest. One dad got a ladder, another mom scooped up the birdy and handed it to him, and he set the bird back in the nest. And that was the end of that. Meghan was a little bummed that she didn't get to bring him home, but she was proud when I told her she saved his life. Later I read on the internet that you are NOT supposed to return fledglings to the nest. Babies, yes, fledglings, no. Oops. Who knew?