August 4, 2008

• Frequent Fellowship Miles 

  We have two families who we are friends with who know each other through us and so we had them both over on Memorial Day.  One of the families has nine (4 girls and five boys) children and the other has four five (all girls).  All the children except the two youngest and some of the dads and a mom played one of our famous whiffle ball games in our back yard.  It was wonderful to see everyone getting along so well and just having a good time together.  We had such a good time that we decided to have them all over again for the 4th of July.  Well, it was a little rainy....but that did not stop us.  Will grilled us hot dogs and burgers and we spent most of the time inside our wee little house which no one seemed to mind.  The kids decided to strike up some 1860's dances and we moved some furniture out of the way and off they went.  Dads jumped in because the girls out numbered the boys.  Each family has attended some  balls together so everyone knew the dances....just needed some reminders.  Then we all grabbed umbrellas and went outside to observe Will's fire works display.  What's a little rain when you are with friends?!   The dancing went so well that we decided to meet again the next week just to dance outside where we'd have more room.  In the meantime one of the dad's mentioned that he thought it be neat to "surprise" his wife and turn the evening into a surprise birthday night too.  Oh GOODIE!!!!  I said.  I love things like this.  Meanwhile...the family of 11 came over to our house for lunch and dinner after church and we had a beautiful time of walking down memory lane.  You see, we have been friends for 13 years and, at one time, most of those years they were our neighbors.  Their little ones and our little ones got together every day.  My husband would mow a path between their house and ours and the kids wore that down so well that even now, years later, you can tell where it was.  They had a small "woods" and it is so neat to hear the kids talk about all the things they did.  They each made forts and played all kinds of things...mostly old day prairie living.  Our walk down memory lane means even more now because our dear friends are going to be moving many miles away....they will actually really be living on the prairie.    We are going to miss them so much and our life will never be the same because so much of it involves them.  Our daughter is the oldest of them all and she was the one who would be on call when a new baby was born.  She would stay with the little ones and be there in the morning when they all woke up.  They fished together, camped out together, put on plays together, played store and house and wagon train and acted out movies like  Little House on the Prairie or The White Wolf.  They made radio shows together...we still have them on tape!   They took swimming lessons together and would sled together and one of them managed to break a leg on one of those sledding parties.  They have skinned deer together and the kids processed the meat of everyone's deer last year. 
  They have built bake ovens together, baked together and played hide and seek together.
  One of the grandpas even thought Will was one of his grandsons one year when he visited. 
  So...our hearts are a little heavy right now considering such a huge change in our lives.  (Some of us in my family are secretly hoping to follow them to this remote and beautiful place they are going to, to  homestead.)  We've sure got a lot of memories together, a lot of good laughs, and a few tears.  We almost lost one of them as an infant because he got botulism.  That was a very trying time.  But...he is alive and well now, very alive!  The Lord has a special plan for that little one. 

  The other family we met when Elisabeth met their oldest daughter Mae at a History Day Camp when they were 8.  They became instant friends and have never parted and have only grown closer.  They both celebrate their 21st birthdays this fall.  We've come to love her family too...all sisters (two of them are a set of twins.)  Elisabeth was officially adopted by the sisters as a sister.  She even has a framed certificate on her wall as confirmation. 

  We've sure managed to pack quite a few get togethers in here these last two months.  At our last get together we did indeed surprise the birthday girl and we had our dances outside.  The weather was perfect, the food was scrumptious and the company divine!

  A ton of photos for your enjoyment or curiosity. 
  

  
  

  
  

   The Fourth of July Cake
  

  
  

  
  Back yard whiffle ball

  
  Scrunched dancing in the living room...and a very happy little one!  She LOVES to do Civil War style dancing.

  
  The Virginia Reel.....I liked the picture...it features movement. 

  

  

  

  
  Nine Pins....if you know this one you know how goofy the guys can get to the poor guy in the middle.

  
  Moms relax...

  
  Our little sweetie

  
  Fireworks in the rain.....

  
  The back of my adopted parents...they have been a real blessing in our lives.

  
  Will always puts on a little show for us every year...this year had a lot of booms too.
  The rain only added more ambiance. 

  
  Table of many conversations

  
  This cake was so beautiful in person...I could not believe it when I picked it up...at our local family owned grocery store.  (Shop local, family owned when you can!)

  

  

  
  What is a party without the Limbo?!

  
  We played frisbee.....and look where it landed.

  
  And where else it landed......
  
  Way up in the tree.

  
  One man down due to an accidental pitch fork stabbing
  in the knee at the farm where he works.  Ouch! 
  No frisbee or dancing that night. 

  
  The outdoor dancing where we actually had room.

  

  
  I was in charge of the music and some of the calls and for the life of me I can't remember the names of these dances right now.  See me sitting there in the right hand corner?  I decided to wear my genuine 1940's muumuu.  I wear it once every year to the luau on the eve of the WWII weekend and it is so much fun I decided I would wear it for that evening.

  

  
  Okay.....this is where my son and three of the other boys decided to have a fire starting contest, each starting a fire using their favorite method.  The race was on!

  
  The winner...his lit up first.

  
  Looking out from way up high in Will's home made fort.

  
  Remember my post about the friend who backed into our mail box and we had to replace the post etc.?
  Well...there he is....and below is a sign I found at a flea market that we thought most appropriate to display at his next visit...we only needed to tape off the C... it was so convenient that his name is Ross. 
  He had a good laugh when he saw it.
  

  
  You can't really see BUT they are playing Old Maids. These cards are the same deck that Elisabeth use to carry with her when she began babysitting so many years ago.  The kids got such a kick out of it when she went and got them.  The sad thing is that the youngest children never got to play them before because their sister was then old enough to babysit when they came along.  But now they have experienced The Old Maid. 

  
  Some of the sweetest girls I know. 

  
  

  • 12:14 pm
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