June 20, 2025 Driving

 Grace was finally able to get to the DMV to take the test to get her learners permit.  She had been studying for weeks and felt good about taking the test.  She passed!

On the way home I had her call her dad and say that we would be delayed a little bit.  She asked why.  So I told her that we were not going home yet, we were going to our church.  She asked why were we going to go to church, I said it was because I needed to pray (since she was now driving).  However, the real reason that I eventually told her was that I wanted to let her have her very first experience driving.

She had multiple parking lots, and lanes to go in and out of around our church.  The only danger were trees, poles, and one parked car.  She was still very nervous and cautious but soon became comfortable and very proud of herself.

June 15, 2025 Camping and Baptism

We went camping on this wet and wonderful weekend. Lots of good food, reading time, and fellowship with family and friends.

This was our church camp out weekend.  It usually does not work for us to attend, but this time we were able to attend AND Glen got baptized!

Glen got baptized during our church camp out. It was so special! He got to choose which pastor was with him, and also which parent was with him. He chose Pastor Jake and his dad (just like Grace did a few years earlier).

Our church makes these amazing towels for those who got baptized.  It has the person's name on it and also the date of the baptism.  It is good as a memory, but nice to have when you are wet and cold!

Now to dry out all the things from the multiple rain storms that we experienced during this fabulous weekend.

 

May 27, 2025 The Horse Show

Grace and Glen needed a few volunteer hours for their Scout advancements.  So we found out about an opportunity through a friend where they could volunteer at a horse show.  We know nothing about horse shows so this was all a new adventure to all of us.  They spent quite a few hours at the horse show, running papers from the judges to the stands where the scores were collected for each of the entries. 

They were both in awe of all of the horses and their riders.  They also were EXHAUSTED after a day in the sun, running back and forth.
 

May 22, 2025 Glen's Violin Concert

 Glen has been playing his violin since 3rd grade.  This was a hard start since he had to begin over video lessons (ZOOM) since he started during Covid.  He has keep up with his lessons and practice.

Grace has helped him learn a little.  But it is his teachers that have helped along his interest for violin and his desire to keep it up.  This is his 7th grade spring concert.

April 20, 2025 Easter

Happy Easter everyone!

 

April 16, 2025 Ginger

 Just a great picture of Ginger!

At this point, he was just 2 years old.

April 3, 2025

Spring break and we decided to have an adventure.  Glen needed to go to an art museum as a prerequisite for his art merit badge that he was going to complete at Scout Camp this summer.  So we decided to go to a few art museums, history museums, and science museums in DC.  It was a good reason to catch the Metro into DC and see the Smithsonian. 

Grace decided to invite one of her friends to come with us.  So as Matt and I walked around with Glen to fulfill his requirements, Grace and her friend went to explore other places in the museum.

We found beautiful art, historical items, scientific wonders, 

and fun fountains.

We also went to a few sculpture museums where fun sculptures were found in addition to pretty flowers.

Afterward, we were hungry.  So we stopped off at a Cracker Barrel and had a nice supper.  As a bonus, Grace won the peg game at the resturant.

 

March 15, 2025 Winterguard

One day we saw a few people spinning flags in the front lawn of TA High School, Grace looked at me and said "I want to do that!"  She was in elementary school at the time and I replied "Yeah, it looks like fun."  Little did I know that this would become her passion and where she would find her people.

In the fall she performs in the colorguard with the marching band.  She is spinning rifles, sabers, and flags.  In the winter she performs with the winterguard.  It is where she dances and spins rifles, sabers, and flags to popular music tracks in an indoor venue. 

This year we had our very first combined winterguard.  It was HHS and RHS and SKMS, and THMS.

Many of the people she was in colorguard with in the fall, also were in winterguard.

She found such a great group of people with these individuals from band and guard.

This show was called "Under The Rain"

Their show was amazing and beautiful, as always!

February 14, 2025 Time For Three

 Grace (and a few others from RHS, HHS, and JMU) had the amazing opportunity to play violin on one song with the string trio “Time For Three” when they played a concert at the Forbes Theater tonight. The first picture is before the show, the second picture is her showing off all of their signatures that she got as she was thanking them for letting her play.

January 16, 2025 Crocheting

Grace had been wanting to learn how to crochet for quite a long time.  I had taught her how to chain and started with some stitches but she did not seem interested in it enough to  practice and keep it up.  Matt decided to get her and Glen a beginner crochet set from Woobles for Christmas.  This set has all of the yarn, fluff, eyes, hook, needle, everything that is needed!  It even included a link to their online video tutorials of how to learn how to crochet. 

I like to think that I started her off with the basics, but I admit that Woobles taught her how to crochet.  After a few day of work she proudly showed up Pierre, her blue penguin!  She knows how to crochet and she is really enjoying it.

January 6, 2025 SNOW!

We finally got a good amount of snow, and due to that we also got a SNOW DAY! 

Here is Glen with his sled.  You can see the hill that he likes to sled down (between the two houses behind him).

Here is Grace.  I guess she loves shoveling so much that she decided that she needed to shovel our deck.  Kind of not needed, but she was having fun.

I love when the kids get out and still enjoy the snow together.

December 30, 2024 Happy Birthday!

Happy 13th birthday to Glen!  Here he is with his favorite kind of birthday cake, chocolate cake with chocolate pudding layers with chocolate icing!   

December 19, 2024 Happy Birthday!

 

Grace at Back Home at the Farm

Grace in her colorguard uniform as she marched and performed with her high school's marching band.  Their theme was forged together and she got to dance with sledgehammers and dance on anvils.

Grace dressed up for homecoming

December 8, 2024 Holiday Parade

Tonight was the Christmas Parade in our town.  We have not been going to the parade for many years.  However, Grace and her high school band were marching in the parade tonight so we made sure to be there to see them. 

It was COLD!  But Grace's biggest fan (Glen) made sure to bundle up completely and still enjoyed the parade.

November 9, 2024 Opera

 

Glen's middle school orchestra has been working with the local college to see the process of putting on an opera.  They have talked with the actors and they also went to a rehearsal for the opera.  At the rehearsal all of the students were paired off with one of the actors and the actors talked the students through what they were doing in the opera.  Finally tonight Glen and I were able to go and see the opera at the Forbes theater as they presented it to the public.  We both loved it.

November 4, 2024 Freshman Homecoming

Grace is not able to attend her high school formal dance next weekend because is going to be in Washington DC performing the field show with the band and marching in the national Veterans Day Parade the next morning. So the band is having a band formal tonight.

They held the dance at an event space downtown.  It was a fun time for just the band students.

Grace told me about this dance about three days before it happened.  So I ran to the thrift stores to find possible dresses.  I found this green dress, which was perfect for Grace at a local Goodwill...it was quite the find!

She had a wonderful evening!

 

October 31, 2024

Happy Halloween from

Artemis and a wizard

 

September 15, 2024 Back Home On The Farm

 Every year we make an effort to go to Back Home on the Farm in the fall.  We have tried (and I believe that we have been successful) to go to a farm/pumpkin patch every year with the kids.  We have found that this one is our current favorite

I always try to get a picture of the two kids together.  

And I also always try to get a picture of them by the love sign.

Then the fun comes.  The underground hill slide is always a favorite.

They go on the slide over and over and over.  I am glad that there are picnic tables near by where Matt and I can sit and wait for them to do this activity as many times as they wish.

They also love the obstacle course.  There are always a few races between the two.  We stay there till they have fallen off the obstacles too many times and are just done with it.

Next comes the animals.  There are always animals to pet.  There are usually calves, bunnies, chickens, goats, ponies, and many others.

The other must dos are the pig races and the sling shots.  But I did not get pictures of those.

However, I did get some wonderful pictures of my kids individually.  They are getting so grown up!