Seven Sisters

Wordless Wednesday: Down the Front Walk

 

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Payback for the Seven Sisters!!!

 

 

 About 2 months ago, we received a mysterious letter….

           …from a mysterious person

 

…trying to keep us in suspense!!!  Can you imagine?!  Why would anyone want to keep us in suspense?!!!

 

   This mysterious person is extremely good at keeping a secret, because we haven’t said a peep about it for two whole months! 

 

 Not that we were trying to ignore anybody…it just kind of happened that way!  When we first got the mysterious letter we were very puzzled…who on earth was this?!  Then we noticed that the mysterious person had put their return address on the envelope, and, well, it looked a little familiar!  We got to comparing, and sure enough, we had solved the mystery!  Though I am afraid we solved it quicker than said person wanted us to!!! 

 

 The reason we took so long (it was only supposed to last 6 or 7 days) was because we found out that we had opened some of them out of order…and then things got crazy with canning and getting ready for Susannah’s open house, we never seemed to be all together to open them up for all of the Seven Sisters to see at once.  Tonight we finally called everyone together and opened them in order, and for all to hear..er…read

 

   I’m telling you…this person is extremely good at keeping secrets!  They never once hinted in these two months anything about it, and we correspond with them somewhat regularly

  So…we are now asking them to step forward and tell everyone else who it was who sent us the mysterious note!!!

  That was so clever, you!

 

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Tropical Traditions Giveaway…

 

  Rachel over at A City on A Hill, is giving away an unscented coconut soap bar  from Tropical Traditions   I so very much would love to try their soap!  Go over to her blog by clicking on the button below, and read all about it!

 

 

 The giveaway ends on Sunday, September 14th.

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Golden Corral, Relatives, and a Corvette

 

  This past Saturday we met at a Golden Corral to see our great-uncle who lives in Virginia Beach, and had come over for a short visit   That was great fun!  I’m not sure which was more fun…getting to be around all our great aunts and uncles and our grandma (who are a lot of fun–more on that later!), or noticing all the comments and/or stares you get when a family of 11 shows up at Golden Corral  

 When we pulled up to park, Noah noticed a fancy car and began giggling, “Look at that dee-dee car!” or something of the sort.  “Dee-dee”, by the way, is the boys’ word for “ridiculous” or “strange”.  They came up with it all by their own selves, though it has spread to the rest of the family!

 

 We don’t often all go out to eat, so it was quite funny!  Our great uncle came over to Daddy’s side of the table and was teasing him about how he didn’t see how Daddy did it…he had more responsibility (with all these kids!) than Uncle George did but he said Daddy looked younger   Daddy then began to tell him how he didn’t have to mow the yard anymore ( a couple of us actually fight over this job), or do any dishes, and how he has breakfast and supper made for him every day, etc, etc.   A lady sitting behind Daddy was just smiling, enjoying the whole conversation!  Then after we were done eating, we were sitting around talking, and the boys were getting restless and were sitting on our laps.  We, being the good big sisters we are, began to tickle and play with them, resulting in a few loud giggles from the boys, which resulted in more people turning around to look–and smile!  At least we made them smile, but we tried to tone it down after that!

 Afterwards, we all went outside and discovered that the “dee-dee” car (more commonly known as a Corvette) was our great uncle’s   We got pictures of it for you to see

 

  Now, you have to know my grandma and her sisters…I just love being around them when they are all around each other!  They tease, they laugh, they’re just hilarious!  And the way they say things is hilarious!  They say things like “Well forevermore!”  and “I just about died!“   I wish you could meet them! 

 

 There are 4 sisters, our grandma being the oldest, and then it goes Aunt Ruth, Aunt Lois, Uncle George and Aunt Gladys.  Aunt Lois was just going on and on about how low that car was (it was low…only a 4 inch clearance from the ground to the bottom of the car!  We girls were wondering what would happen if you ran into  roadkill…would you end up just pushing it the…nevermind!)  Anyways, she just couldn’t believe how low it was, and couldn’t imagine how that could be comfortable, admonishing Uncle George in good big-sister style!  Uncle George showed her how he got in (because she wanted to know) and she  kept teasing him the more, “Just look at that!  It looks like he’s laying in bed!  Like he’s going to go to sleep!”  Oh, it was so funny!  Did I say that I wish you could meet my aunts?!

Two of my aunts joined the German Baptist church, and the other three didn’t.  Then there is our family that wears dresses and headcoverings, but not like the German Baptist’s do.  Some people were trying to figure us out, I think! 

 

 

 “How do these people go together?!” 

So here we all are gathered around Uncle George’s  Corvette, talking and laughing.

 

 

“Look at those Amish going ga-ga over the Corvette!”

Nobody’s Amish, of course, but often people associate long dresses and headcoverings with the Amish

Then when we were leaving, a couple of our aunts were talking by one of their cars, and Grandma, in her van in front of us, had stopped to talk to them, too.  We were behind her in our big van.  Then Daddy, being the ornery daddy he is (I wonder if he got it from his aunts?!), honked at Grandma  

And there was a man standing by his vehicle (which was parked next to our aunt’s car)  with a slight smile on his face, just taking it all in!

That man had a story to tell his family when he got home that night!!!

 

“Martha!  When I was at the Golden Corral tonight, I saw the strangest thing…”

 

 “..tons of kids, all different kinds of Amish, some other people who knew them and weren’t Amish, and they were all admiring this Corvette.  Then man who drove the Amish bus honked at the lady in front of him…my!  They were strange!”

Martha: “Well forevermore!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Brush & Floss

 Tonight I was helping Isaiah get ready for bed, and let him floss his teeth all by his self while I did mine.  The deal was when I was done, he was done   He was so cute, standing in front of the mirror, that I let him go longer than I did, just so I could take some pictures!

I told him, “Just floss, don’t be silly.  Floss just like you usually do.”  He is the camera ham and if he sees me taking pictures of him, he is sure to put on the funny faces   I was hoping to get a little of what I was watching while I flossed my teeth, and it worked out fairly well…

 

 

 

Of course he had to sneak at least one face in there!!! Hee, hee!

 

 

 

 

 

Then we brushed our teeth.  I was sitting on the side of the tub, watching him, and then ran to get the camera when I saw this!  He suddenly realized that the water goes underneath the sink and got down there saying, “I hear water under here!”

 

He then got back up on the stool and turned on both faucets…I suppose so he could hear the water better!

 

*back down to listen!*

 

I love you, Zay-zay!

 

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It’s Graduation Day!

Last Saturday (August 23rd oops! 28th) was my high school graduation open house…But I’ll start with the very beginning when I made and sent out my invitations…

This is what they looked like. I painted the sunflowers using the One Stroke Painting technique like Cassia and I did for our room.

 

My senior pictures that Leah was so kind to take

Thank you Leah!

 

This dress is one of my 4-H outfits that went to state fair. My state fair projects came back just a few days before my open house so I got to wear my dress for my party!!

 

 

 

 

This one is my favorite

 

 

I put a few of them together as a collage…

 

And, um…yes. We did get quite a few goofy pictures.  It looks like I have no idea that they are behind me. (and is looks like my cello is too big for me…which is not the case at all!) :)

 

Jessica was so nice to decorate my cakes for me!

Thank you Jessica!!!

 

 

One of the things on the menu was broccoi cauliflower salad…a couple of friends spent the weekend with us and so graciously helped chop all those vegetables and cook the bacon!

 

The gluten-free cake (below).  I made one from scratch using a recipe that worked before, but turned out dry this time I sure didn’t want to serve a dry gluten-free cake, so I ended up using a gluten free vanilla cake mix (adding a hint of lemon flavor). I layered the cake because one package made a one-inch high 9″X13″ cake. It was quite good! Our uncle came on Monday for lunch and helped himself to a big piece of cake…but he accidentally got the gluten free cake and after taking a bite, he asked daddy if he noticed something different about the cake.

 

 

 

This one was my cake of interests…crocheting, music, cello, llama, sewing, herbs etc.

 

 

The backyard right before the party…the picture must have been snapped in a hurry because it’s a bit blurry.

 

 

The Menu:

Sloppy Joe with bread and butter pickles for those who like them with their sloppy joes

watermelon

potato salad

broccoli and cauliflower salad

vanilla cake

chocolate cake

gluten free vanilla cake

chocolate kisses and hugs

lemonade or water

 

 

Yum yum!! I love watermelons!  I guess that is why we had them   We ended up only using four…of the other four two were bad and we ate the rest up soon after

 

 

I love making lists! So I made sure I made plently of them during the planning process of my open house because we failed to do that when Leah graduated and no one could remember where so-and-so’s address was (or maybe should I say everybody’s addresses? We now have a proper address list!), or how many batches of broccoli cauliflower salad we made and had left over (I now know that 16 batches of BC salad is way too much. 8 is plenty!), or how many tables and chairs we rented. I wrote it all down. We bought too much lemonade. Way too much. I think it might last us until Cassia’s graduation Thankfully we did manage to remember how many pounds of hamburger we got for Leah’s open house. We still over shot a bit, but not as bad as the salad! We also discovered that we got too many cups, packages of powdered sugar for the icing, too many hamburger buns, that spoons really were not needed, 4 lbs. of sunflower seeds was kind of over the top, and that we could have done just fine with 3 cakes instead of 4!  

  Note to self:  If you think you need celery, just look in the freezer because you forgot that you chopped the 3 packages of celery and browned it into the hamburger and went and bought 3 packages more. After you chopped it you then remembered that you already mixed the other 3 packages in.  So you’ll find plenty in that gallon size zip-lock bag in the bottom of the freezer. Oh, and don’t forget that you still have 11 gallons of water sitting in the pantry and garage.

And a bit of wisdom? Put a check mark beside each person’s name in the address book as you write it on the envelopes or when you go back through the address book you’ll wonder if you really did send them one (and you already took the first fifty to the post office). And then you’ll have to embarrass yourself and send another one with a note saying your sorry if this is the second one that they received.

 

My diploma!! (Sorry for the white marks…but our last name is not to be given!  If you already know our last name, then you’ll know just what is under those white marks! )

 

 My “colors” were yellow, green and blue (just look at those plates). I really like yellow and green best…but I do not like John Deere…so I added blue in with the mixture

 

 The left half of “my table” with all my loot (as a sister called it).

 

and the right half…

 

 The table where guests signed, picked a picture, and dropped off their card

 

 And last, but certainly not least, me with my boyfriend, James (he’s the brother of missladybug) :) Isn’t he adorable!?!

 

So now that you’ve read my crazy post, what’s something funny that happened at your’s or your child’s/sibling’s open house?

And check out Commencement of Insanity by Chautona at the official HSB Community Blog about how to ensure your graduation event is chaotic in 101 easy steps…it’s quite funny!

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