For Pippi in the Alaskan Tundra (and all you Devoted Hang-er On-ers)

 I am quite sure, if anyone other than my girls even still pops on here from time to time, that you must believe me to be a goner.  And if not me, certainly the blog.

  The blog seems to be a goner.  You aren't wrong.  It is just laying here, silently, comatose, waiting for life to be breathed into it once again- or waiting to finally just be put to rest.  But, I stubbornly refuse to pull the proverbial plug and let it pass over in peace.  Nope.  It will just lay comatose for how ever many months it will take me to get my ducks in a row!  And that is just how it is going to be.

And life keeps... LIFE-ing so it keeps beeping those steady, silent beeps- waiting for some life support that I don't give.

But I like to think of my blog less like a dying patient and more as a tucked-in seed, lying dormant until just the right moment to blossom.  

Yes, we'll go with that image instead.  It's much nicer.

And right now, it is BLOSSOM time.  Because a little Addie bird told me, Pippi, that you've been checking this dormant blog for photos & updates since you've been in Alaska... 

What a terrible tragedy that I am the worst blogger in the world!  

So even though I have a Newunion to prepare for this Saturday... and food to make and a house to clean... (or, more likely, DUE to the fact I want to procrastinate on preparing for said party)...

Today, because I love ya, I'm bringing some life to the ol' blog.  

(And for MY GIRLS who will say "What?!  But WE'VE told you that WE want you to blog TOOOOOO and you never have done it for UUUUUUSSSSS... just know that I have also listened to you say "HAVE YOU CHECKED MY BLOG YET?  YOU MUST NOT LOVE ME!" and so all Renaissance-blogging was put on the back-burner to visit YOUR BLOG and show YOU that I LOVE YOU!"  (And all those caps are the proper emphasis I need to convey my message... am I right?!?)

(Either that or Piper is my favorite. hehehe)  

(And for all the rest of you who may have given up hope on the Rebecca from Renaissance, I'd love it if you left a comment so I could see if anyone other than my children or children#2s still pop on by.  Not because it will make me give up blogging if nobody does... this is too valuable a memory book...  but just out of curiosity to see who I might be talking to.  I ask at my own peril, knowing that curiousity has been known to kill the cat.)

And before I start, A WARNING:

I haven't been taking many 'nice camera" pictures just because a cellphone is small, light and handy.  Unfortunately, I own the cheapest, most pathetic cellphone available so the photos are not great quality.  Nevertheless, they are memories and snapshots of the last few months... and here they are for you to enjoy too!

                                                        PHOTO DUMP: COMMENCE!

 

 

I like to imagine that the cows are reacting to Naomi's wig.  Try it, it's fun.  :-)

See?  That is hilarious.

We love pizza!  And now that it stays light out longer- it actually looks yummy in pictures too!  So I can't help but take pictures of them.  Naturally.

This was one of three philly cheesteak pizzas I made- one of which I gave to your family, Piper, when you ladies were on your girls' trip.  So, it looks edible- but you'll have to ask them if it TASTED good.

All the babies!
This party happened the FIRST time you went to Alaska, Piper.  

So STOP GOING TO ALASKA ALL THE TIME!  Sheesh!

If Naomi is fussy- take her outside.  Even if it is cold.  Even in the rain. 

It cheers her right up!

We went to the greenhouse to get plants and I came home with a watermelon baby!

Moses found a fossil rock and apparently, it was a dream come true.

He was very, very, very, VERY excited about it!

I went to my first ever homeschool conference and this guy had a whole booth of amazing handdrawn maps of ANYTHING you could possibly think of- and of things you never WOULD have thought of. 

 They were so amazing!  Try and make the photo bigger to see them!  There were things like 'A Map of the Human Brain';  A Map of Odysseus; A Map of Misused Words; A Map of the 100 Acre Wood.  I bought a Map of Dante's Inferno.



My friend Delphine and I inadvertantly matched the colleges' mascot where the conference was located.

I caught Ineke snooping on the neighbors as they installed an above-ground pool!  ha! 

 I think she is now trying to find ways to become friends with them so she might be invited for a swim.

Turns out, Judah is a great golfer!  I think his secret is in his lip pucker.

Books are always better read in a boat

Speaking of boats...

Judah in his new white tank top.    Are sleeveless boy shirts called tank tops?

Corynn's Mother's Day card was made with pressed flowers from our weekly woods' walks.

 I also made a little Mother Daughter-Dress for them from some Walmart clearance- I think Corynn now officially appreciates the fun of matching her girl!  :-)

We had a swim day at the lake.  I took pictures of Luci and Gnomi because they are both so stinkin' pretty.  

When you stop all your travelling... maybe we can do it again?!

More swimming... this time with Nanny and Poppy.

(I wish I could switch the Nanny's in these two pictures.  That would be perfection!)

And you may think:  Well, I've seen everyone except Andrew in this post!  Soooo.... I include this last picture as the cherry on top.  Andrew is featured in sticker form on Naomi's head.

And she LOOOOVES it!  ;-)

Eastering, in reverse

 I uploaded all these Easter photos in reverse and I am too lazy to put them in the proper order.  That's okay... this blog post is a whirl, just like Easter week was! 

Onward, ho!

Uncle John and Aunt Holly hosted Easter- and it is always such a delicious feast!

Look at those twinkly eyes..... gah!!!

And those PIGGY TAILS!  Oh my word.  

(There's always ONE....isn't there?!)

I got an itch to draw something other than just words on the chalkboard.  This fox, while fun to draw, seemed to freak everyone out except Adele' and I.  

Well, maybe me too, sometimes.  ;-)

For some reason, I always seemed to have the sensation of being watched...

My egg dyers are dwindling...

I am always slightly jealous of Aunt Holly getting to host the holiday with the fun Easter egg hunt!  

Call me a kid, but I *LOVE* Easter egg hunts.

And this year, I thought, well, who says we can't have our own egg hunt?  And with all the woods walks, I've been taking, I thought about how fun it would be (and challenging for bigger people) to take the hunt into the woods.

So many rocks and crevices and wonderful hiding places!  

Easter Sunday was too busy so I planned it for Saturday evening instead.  

(The weather was perfect.)

We invited David and CC along too.

What I didn't figure on, was how walking intensive this idea would be!  

(If you want to know why I am wearing ears and whiskers... well, it should be self-explanatory.  I'm a dork.  Also, I live for making children smile.)

Day 1- I hiked out alone with the easter 'baskets'.  I used large plastic eggs to keep the moisture, bugs and animals out so those could be hidden the day before.

Day 2, morning - I hiked out alone to hide all the small, individual candy-filled eggs along the path.  Everyone got 10 eggs each.  (WHY do those eggs have holes in them?!!  One egg, once found, was a perfect little ant hotel.)

Day 2- evening- I hiked out with everyone for the actual hunt.

It made it a lot more time-consuming, but it was SO worth it!  I loved every minute of it and plan to do it every year from now on. Woods walk egg hunts are 10/10.

(Andrew joined us eventually.  That's a working man for ya.)

If you look really closely at this photo, it looks almost like Andrew has some elfin in him.

I tried to make it extra hard for the bigger boys.  They are hunters, after all.  (And it worked!  They were the last to find their treats!)

Afterward, we had pizza and watched a movie.

Easter morning~ I made sourdough cinnamon roll foccacia, among other things.  It was edible.

A week or so later, our church hosted an Easter feast.  I heard an idea on a podcast about how a family had the idea of a dragon pinata that the children can 'slay' for Easter, just as Jesus slays the dragon of the garden.  I loved the idea and wanted to steal it.

So I made a pinata.  Originally, I was going to make it dragon-shaped, but since I am Rebecca, procrastinator extraordinaire- I wound up slapdashing it together at the last minute and calling on Moses to color a dragon to paste on instead.

We took it to the feast with the glue still tacky in places. 

But it was a hit.  

Literally.  

;-)