Easter Photos

I know I am a bit late, but I wanted to post a couple of pictures of the twins from Easter Sunday morning. We had two very wonderful services at our church on Easter Sunday. We always start off with a sunrise service at 7:30, followed by a wonderful potluck breakfast. This year we had a tremendous turn-out! After breakfast, we do our usual Sunday school. At 10:45 we have a Resurrection Sunday service. This year we had the children's choir sing and the choir did two pieces as well.  It was a wonderful and exciting service.

So thankful for the resurrection of Christ. Easter is truly THE MOST IMPORTANT holiday a Christian can celebrate. Without the resurrection, everything would be in vain.  I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well.

I apologize for the squinty eyes. At 7:30 in the morning, there was a thick fog outside. So, we couldn't go outside for pictures. Then, after church, the sun was high in the sky and sunny. I couldn't win. Oh well.

Heaven On A Plate

This, my friends, is heaven on a plate. I decided to make these delectable delights for dessert this coming Sunday afternoon. I have a feeling Taigen is going to have to show some restraint because these look very  tempting, and we all know he has a weakness for cookie dough. These are Cookie Dough Truffles. Yes. Truffles. That would be chocolate dipped cookie dough (minus the eggs...it's held together with butter, sweetened condensed milk, and lotsa love). Believe it or not, they were super easy to make too. I got the recipe here. I decided to dip them in milk chocolate and then pretty them up with drizzles of white chocolate. I had so much fun! Don't you all just want to come on over and try some for yourself?

A Different Way to Play Chess

There's a gentleman in our church who absolutely loves to play chess. Apparently he's really good too. The other day he brought Marshall and Shaylen some chess pieces that he had found or had been given to him. The goal is to teach them to play. I've delegated this job to Taigen since I have forgotten everything I learned about chess in 6th grade. (I'm thinking that's the last time I played it too. Let's see...that would be 1986. I'm old!)

 The kids have made attempts to learn how to play, or maybe I should say that Taigen has made attempts to teach them, but I think Marshall prefers letting his imagination run wild with all of the pieces in a different way. He managed to play with his "team" one afternoon by tying up Shaylen's "team" with silly bands.

I think I can say with confidence that Marshall definitely won this match.

The Furnace: On Again, Off Again

The weather here in New England has been extremely unpredictable. Late last week and earlier this week we had such beautiful, warm weather that we turned off the furnace. We were thinking that we were done with it until late fall. Then, we got a cold snap toward the end of the week. The highs were only in the 40's! We bundled up, but when I saw that the living room was 59 degrees one the morning, and the classroom was 57, I caved and flipped on the big red switch again. I knew with even the sunshine streaming in, the temps weren't going to get high enough to heat the house to a comfortable temperature. 

I was able to snap up a picture of the twins in their short-sleeved Seattle t-shirts while the warm weather lasted. They have enjoyed finishing up their school, chores, piano practice and other responsibilities quickly so that they could head outdoors. It's so good to get outside again after a long, cold winter.

From the Backseat

The kids love to play with their puppets while we're in the car. They enjoy having them wave at those driving by and seeing who will wave back. Today on our way back from piano lessons, the kids were playing with King & Queen Castlehoff. Shaylen was making the queen speak in a wonderful southern drawl.

"I speak this way because I am from the South!"

Marshall made the king reply, "Well, I am from the North. I speak English."

I about busted a gut from the front seat, but because I knew it would interrupt their "royal" conversation, I refrained from bursting out with a loud guffaw. The things kids say!

"Don't Wake Up Daddy!" - Game Night!

When we find ourselves with a free evening, we throughly enjoy spending some quality time with the kids. We love to sit, snuggle, and read through a book (We just recently finished a wonderful book entitled Ginger Pye, and just started reading through a short, easy book entitled Did You Carry the Flag Today Charley?), OR we often play a game.
One of the kids' favorites is a game called "Don't Wake Up Daddy." The way this game works is by slowly working your way on the game board toward the refrigerator to get a midnight snack. On certain colored squares, there are pictures of things that would make noise (screeching cat, broken vase, musical toy, television). If you land on these squares, you must press a button on the bed for an assigned amount of times. No one knows when the button will cause "Daddy" to wake and spring up wide awake and make you go all the way back to the beginning of the game board. It's hilarious.

Of course, as you can see in the pictures, Taigen and I milk the suspense for all it is worth. These pictures and the video make me laugh! When we first got the game, Marshall was actually afraid of it, probably because of the noise and suddenness of the springing up and startling him. He's gotten used to it, but now, he covers his ear to muffle the inevitable. It's hilarious to watch. We had a wonderful time and got a good many laughs together as a family.

Strange Rash

Taigen and I got up this morning and got all ready for our Sunday services. We went in to the kids' rooms when we were all ready and woke them up. I love smooching their rosy, warm cheeks and gently waking them. I had awakened Shaylen and was getting out her Sunday outfit when Taigen called me back into Marshall's room. Marshall's cheeks weren't rosy from his warm bed! Marshall's face, belly and back were covered in a strange rash! Since we have no idea what the rash is from, we knew it was best to keep him home. No sense in starting a Plague through the church. Marshall is in good spirits, but looks miserable! Poor Buddy!

April Fool's Snowstorm - No Joke!

We got a beautiful snowstorm early on Friday morning...about five inches worth. What a hilarious April Fool's joke on New England! We were just getting used to the idea of SPRING!

April Fool's Prank - A Day Late

When we came home on Saturday from the Leadership Conference, we pulled into our driveway to see our garage plastered with painter's tape! We instantly knew who did it: our sweet and quiet friend, Amy. Remember her? She and her family were the ones who foiled Taigen's office last year and came up with the colon dough. They are hilarious. What will they think of next? It's those quiet ones you have to keep your eye on, you know. Well, April Fool's Day happens to be one of her favorite holidays and it seems that she plots and schemes all year long (at least we think she does)! You should hear of some of her antics! We laughed SO hard as we pulled into our driveway. Taigen drove through it and we got out and looked it over. We decided to leave it up for the kids to see. They were away with Auntie Janelle (who was in town from MI).  They drove down to MA to see Jason, Joni, the kids and the new baby Gianna! (Hopefully I'll get pics really soon so I can show you.) Look at the sign! I love the fact that she still got her joke done in spite of the huge snowstorm on April Fool's Day. She is hilarious!

Leadership Conference Ministry

This past weekend was the annual Leadership Conference at Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, NH. We look forward to this every year. It's a great time for fellowship with people from all over New England and a wonderful opportunity to glean wisdom from preachers and fellow Christian workers. There are guest speakers for the two general sessions, and many different workshops to choose from during the two mini-sessions available in the morning. The church (Trinity) typically brings in guest musicians to do the special music, and every four years or so, they change things up by bringing in a speech person to do a dramatic presentation. This year, they brought in Jeff Stegall, a speech professor at BJU. He did a dramtic presentation chronicling the life of John Newton, known mostly for penning the words to "Amazing Grace." It was a moving presentation. Jeff did an amazing job.

Instead of having the home folks from Trinity fill in with the musical end of the program, they asked Taigen and me to do it! We were completely shocked and VERY honored. It didn't require much of us, just one duet in the morning general session and another one for the afternoon session. We haven't sung for this large a crowd (around 800-900 people) in years. We got together with Trinity's music pastor and wife on Monday to do dinner and then practice. We had a wonderful time! They are such dear, dear folks and we appreciate their years of ministry and sound wisdom.

Friday we drove over to Concord for the Pastors/Wives' Dinner and then rehearsed again in the big auditorium. It's a lot different singing in there. Saturday  we arrived early and warmed our voices up a bit. I can honestly say that Taigen and I were very nervous. When we sang for the morning session, Taigen said his knees were shaking and I know my hands were shaking! It took a good five minutes after we were done before my hands finally steadied. God is good, though, and we were able to accomplish this very special ministry. It was an honor to sing in this way and I'm very thankful that I can serve alongside my husband with music.

Playing Catch-Up...Attempt 2

Hopefully y'all will be able to view this video now. Sorry it was giving fits to those of you who tried before.

Boy am I behind! I meant to post this video of Shaylen last Wednesday night. My sweet Peanut was scheduled to play this past week. She decided to play "Whiter Than Snow" and did a wonderful job! We are so proud of her.

The twins continue to practice hard at all of the pieces that Mrs. Endean assigns. I would say, on average, the kids practice about 45 minutes a day. The practice time does decrease slightly as we go through the week and they become more comfortable with the pieces. They never complain (really...never) about practicing and are eager to sit down at the piano. They even go to the piano periodically throughout the evening when they get "bored." We love it that they are enjoying this and are so thankful for their love of music.

$5 Well Spent

Marshall and Shaylen love pretending and making up various and sundry scenarios to act out. When they play they sound like an audiobook:

"King Nate waved his sword in the air wildly." --Marshall

"The ferocious beast is after me!" she shouted from her ship. --Shaylen

"I am going to slay the wild beast, Your Majesty," said Nate loudly. --Marshall

It's so funny to listen to them play. They could really do this for hours. They do it with their Lego men too.

A while back, Marshall asked me if I could make him a cape. It would add to the effect of their adventures. I didn't have any material floating around that would be sufficient so I told him that I could maybe run to JoAnn's and see what they had. I happened to also have a coupon that I could use.

We went in to the store and looked at their remnant section, but everything was priced too high. At least, too high to make into capes! We then looked over in another section and they had the perfect colors for the twins. The material was on sale for only $2.50 a yard. Marshall picked out blue and Shaylen picked out purple. I used my coupon and got 20% off of my total purchase. Boy were the kids excited! I came home and as best I knew how, sewed up two adorable capes for "King Nate" and "Queen Sally."

I made straps to go in front so they could easily get them on and off. I had some industrial strength velcro that I sewed in and then placed an official looking button over it so that it looked like it was buttoned. They were just odd buttons that had been sitting in my sewing box for years. This was the best use of them ever! They even have a coat of arms on them.

Marshall has been using a painted dowel for a sword (or pointer, or flute, or flag pole...depending on the day) and wished he had a belt he could place it in so he didn't have to constantly hold on to it. I looked at his cape and discovered an opening where two hems crossed. I experimented and voila! the dowel fit in perfectly. I measured where it would need to go so that a bit of it hung out for quick grabbing and then sewed the end so the "sword" rested there. I repeated the process with Shaylen's and now they can walk around with their crowns and capes on and swords safely sheathed in their capes. (If you look closely in the picture, you can see Marshall's black dowel hanging out just to the right of his right hand. Their plastic bats are substituting as scepters. So cute!)

These capes have provided hours of entertainment already. This has got to be one of the best uses of $5! Remember my other $5 purchase that has also provided hours of entertainment? Well, it's still going strong. Who needs TV? Let kids use their imaginations!

Would You Like That Supersized?

Today was our much-anticipated Spaghetti Dinner and Men's Dessert Contest at the church. This is probably our most popular fellowship because it is just SO much fun! The guys pretend to not be serious about the desserts they make and bring, but trust me, they are! Taigen worked and worked on an idea and researched it on the internet. He even watched tutorials! I think the fact that we get Food Network now on our itty bitty cable plan has not helped matters either. Words like "fondant," "ganache," and "blast chiller" have been rolling off of his tongue lately. What is this world coming to?

Sooo, Taigen got in touch with his inner Duff Goldman yesterday and today and put together this supersized dessert that would make any man's mouth water. The burger is basically a yellow cake with a brownie in the middle, fondant tomatoes, lettuce and cheese and frosting for the mustard, ketchup and mayo.
I love how he even sprinkled the sesame seeds on the top for the effect. The steak fries are shortbread cookies that are outstanding! We all loved them! I think he had a lot of fun making it.

  

Can you imagine how much I laughed when we saw another man walk in with his dessert, unveil it and lo and behold! It was another burger & fries and a milkshake to boot! How funny is that? What are the odds of that happening? Allan is notorious at our church for making award-winning cakes. Remember last year's vegetable cake? and the year before? and the year before that?  This year was no exception. He won in the category for most creative. I don't think anyone was surprised. He is just SO good!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to taste the Best Looking dessert, but I was thrilled because it was entered by a guy who just joined our church a few months ago. We love him and his lovely wife already! His dessert looked light and fluffy and then had a yummy berry drizzle on top. Very tempting. I'd say that winning on his first try was a great introduction to the Men's Dessert Contest, wouldn't you?

The best tasting award went to one of our teens, Matt Dustin. He made a maple dessert that, according to Taigen, was just AMAZING. Kudos to him! I was impressed!

It was a wonderful night. The spaghetti and meatballs (made by our HBC ladies) were outstanding. There were salads and homemade bread too. Let's just say that if anyone went home hungry, it was their own fault. I absolutely love our church family and have so much fun with them! If you're ever in our area mid-March. Plan on joining us for this memorable occasion.

A Sweet Field Trip

A dear, sweet young lady in our church works at a local farm that sells supplies for draft horses. During this season, Meader Supply also taps maple trees and make their own maple syrup. Emily was able to work it out that all of the homeschoolers from our church could come and learn how to make maple syrup, get shown around their supply store and also spend some time with the horses.

Today was the perfect day for it. It was a beautiful 64 degrees outside. It felt so nice and warm! Only here would we have this kind of weather with several feet of snow still on the ground in our front yard!

We all piled into the sugarhouse and listened, watched and tasted! Making good maple syrup is a fascinating and painstaking process. No wonder it is so expensive! The lady walked us through each step and explained everything thoroughly on a level that everyone could understand. It is so interesting. If you're ever in New England around this time of year, you really need to go and learn because I can promise you that Aunt Jemima's syrup is not made with this kind of love!

After we were done in the sugarhouse, we wandered over to the store and discovered that there's more to draft horses than just bridles! The place was huge! Emily showed us several different sizes of horseshoes and talked to us about the makeup of the hooves of a horse. It was really interesting.

Then the moment came that a lot of kids were excited about: petting the horses! We walked over to the corrals and got acquainted. The kids especially enjoyed plucking up the grass and feeding them. It was a wonderful field trip and a beautiful day. Thank you, Emily!

All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name

This past Wednesday night, Marshall had the opportunity to play again in church. He chose "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name." He did a wonderful job and we are so thankful for his willingness to serve in this way.

Post-Winter Cat Update

Several of you have asked about the stray cats that had taken up residence in our neck of the woods this past summer. Well, we noticed that the cats didn't come and hang out on our deck shortly after Taigen stored our deck furniture and blew the leaves off. We didn't know what had happened to them. Marshall and Shaylen missed them.

In fact, I assumed that they had either died or moved away. When I was talking to my neighbor on the phone in November, she told me that she often saw them in our driveway or meandering in our yard. I guess they were just avoiding the deck. Maybe they got scared away by the leaf blower?

My neighbor was a little concerned that the cats wouldn't make it through the winter. She called the local Humane Society and they assured her that unless the cats were diseased or severely sick, they would take them and try to find good homes for them. Margo was able to capture the smallest one (the one the kids had named Oreo...he has the slight black smudge on his nose). Well, of course he didn't like it and meowed the whole way there. When being taken out, he scratched the worker. She told our neighbor that unless he calmed down, they would put him down. This did not sit well! To make a very long story short, my big-hearted, sweet neighbor managed to get the cat back from them and brought it back to our neighborhood. She decided to set it free &  let "mother nature" take its course through the long, cold winter. Between her and some neighbors a couple of doors down, they were being well-fed and I guess they found warm places to stay.

Well, imagine our surprise the other day when one of the cats was up on our deck and looking in our patio door. The kids got down on their bellies and talked with it through the glass. Oh! Did he rub up against the glass and practically begged them to pet him. So, I let them open the door and lay there and pet him. He loved and loved on them. Shaylen has named him "Patches" (he's pictured here staring in the patio window at Shaylen). We fed him some scraps and he was content to sit there and eat and then sit at the glass door and watch Marshall and Shaylen practice their piano. He's a sweet kitty.

Soon, we saw Oreo (the runt) come up on the deck too. He's a bit skittish with us, but at least we know that the runt made it through the long winter too. He loves sitting there, sunning himself. The cats look extremely healthy and happy, so we are glad.

Let's Just Add One More!

If seeing a fisher wasn't enough, the other day we added one more animal to our list! We had company over for dinner the other night. While the kids were playing in the living room after dinner, they looked out on the deck to see one of the cats (yes, they made it through the winter JUST fine and have reappeared on our deck. More on the cats later!). We gave him some leftover meat and he happily gobbled most of it up.

A moment later, the kids looked out on the deck to check to see if the cat was still there. Nope. Think again. Boy were they in for a surprise! It wasn't a cat, but it was their first, up-close and personal view of a LIVE opossum. Yes, you read that right...a live one. Typically the only ones I see are...well, uh...roadkill. He sat there cleaning up the leftover leftovers (what the cat hadn't eaten) and wasn't concerned that we were all gawking at him and snapping up pictures. I was disappointed...he didn't even "play possum." He cleaned the plate, sat on the deck and groomed himself and then meandered off into the woods. Cool!

Missionary In the House

One of the blessings of having a guest room that is somewhat disconnected from the main part of the house is that we can allow people an opportunity to stay in their own little world for a night or two. Another blessing is that we can house so many missionaries! We love building a personal relationship with them so that we can pray all the better for them. Having missionaries exposes the kids to different countries, the culture there, and the different needs that are there. We love it that they already have new friends their age in Austria, South Africa, and Cameroon.

We had the opportunity to house a friend of Jon and Janelle's the other day. Alex is going to be headed to India to help translate the Bible into a particular "state's" mother tongue. This is no small task! Basically, he's the Hebrew/Greek "expert" that will check the homework of those that live there and speak the language. It's a wonderful concept! He's working through a wonderful organization called Bibles International.

We enjoyed the company and the kids ate him up. He did "show and tell" with some items he's picked up on his journeys: puffer fish, seashells, and Bibles in several languages. The night before Alex left, I just had to snap up a photo of their new-found friend.

They're Coming!

We are rejoicing that our friends Jason and Joni have a contract on their house! We are so thankful for this next step in their lives. Please continue to pray that everything falls into place with the buyer so that everything can progress.

Jason and Joni were up here two Saturdays ago so that they could go house shopping. We were able to watch the kids for them. Marshall and Shaylen were really looking forward to it. The kids were SO good. Not only were they well behaved, but they cleaned up after themselves so that I wasn't scurrying around cleaning up the wake of four tornadoes (Lily doesn't make a mess!).

We, as well as our church family, are eager to have them in the area. I'm sure Jason and Joni are looking forward to a shorter commute and more time together as a family.

By the way, Joni's new little baby girl is due in March. When she comes, we don't know, but as you can imagine, we're praying that Jason would be home when the Grand Event arrives. We want to be sure he is present and not having to fight rush hour traffic in order to get home in time.

HBC Homeschool Fine Arts Recital

One of our homeschool moms organized a homeschool fine arts recital again this year. It was scheduled long ago, but then about 75% of our kids, including our munchkins got hit with The Plague so there would have only been a few participating. It got rescheduled. Then, we were supposed to have it at the end of February. That day instead of getting 3 inches of snow in the morning, we got 7 inches and it snowed ALL day. It got rescheduled again. We were finally able to have it this past Friday night.

Remember last year's? It was a huge success! This year, Marshall and Shaylen were so excited to participate and worked really hard on their piano pieces. We were proud as punch of all of the Heritage kids as the recital was really wonderful. Marshall and Shaylen did a great job as well. This was their first time playing piano at a recital. Hopefully it will be the first of many.

The kids involved did a plethora of speeches and music (vocal, strings or piano), so there was a nice variety. After the recital part of things, we were directed downstairs to view all of the artwork that the kids submitted. We have a talented group of kids at Heritage! The drawings, photos and crafts were really, really good.

Marshall drew a castle (don't die from shock that it wasn't an airplane) and Shaylen drew a dragonfly. Shaylen wanted me to be sure to clarify to people that she was "taught" how to draw a dragonfly by a how-to book. It had step-by-step instructions. It's so funny how this was so very important to her. She didn't want to be accused of tracing or of cheating. She is a darling girl!

I am posting the video of the kids playing their piano pieces. Just so you know, Marshall asked that I not post his recital video. He lost his place on the piano on the very last chords so there was a small mistake. While it is small in the grand scheme of things to us adults (and I really couldn't be prouder), it was a HUGE ordeal for my little man. I thought he was going to cry. When I downloaded the videos from off the camera this morning he really was embarrassed, teared up and practically begged me to not show anyone. I promised him I wouldn't. I "compromised" and said that he could play it for me this afternoon and I would share it with you all.  We all know mistakes happen and he will learn and grow by this. One day he will look back on the video and not be so mortified.

I'm so thankful for the fact that there are lots of other wonderful, dedicated homeschool families in our church so that we can do this kind of thing. It is a wonderful opportunity for our munchkins.