Rainy Thursday

While it looked like this outside..........

it looked like this in the house.

Addan doing his math.

Tim doing his penmanship.

 I worked on getting apples ready for winter. Of course, this was with many interuptions on how do to a problem, what is a simple subject and simple predicate, etc.  Jordan's practicing his guitar and Brendan piano.  Oh the sounds of home schooling!  Such joyful, happy sounds!

 Chili is in the crockpot for supper and Titus is playing with his new mask!

Of course, Addan had to jump in the shot.  Titus brought his mask to church last night and got a thrill out of "scaring" the teen girls!  He's such a goofball!!!

*Sigh*,, I love my life!  I love the seasons changing,  the smells of fall, the deep colors, the memories of our home, the sounds of rain falling on the ground.  God is SO good and blessed us SOO much!!

Three New Rugs

Next week I'm going to Shiloh.  It's a cabin on the lake, we go every fall with my family.  I'm bringing my crafts there to give to my Mom so she can deliver them to the craft sale for me.  The sale is down in York County where my Mom lives. 

So I've been frantically trying to get them all done!

My goal was to have 10 rugs done by then.  I  failed and didn't reach that goal.  I got four done.  These are the ones I finished yesterday!  I was doing happy dances as I got the last stitches done!  Yippee!



Now I just need to sew up the 100 pillowcases I have cut out (not really 100 but it feels like it!)  :)

Once these crafts are done,, I have the goal of cleaning out my craft closet,, which has been poorly neglected!

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.  Psalm 116:15

When we started attending our church in 2006, we sat in the second to last row.  The building wasn't real big so we could sit in the back and still feel close enough to pay good attention.  Addan was a young toddler so we chose to sit there so we could slip out if he needed attention to help him sit well.   I was also close to having Titus and since we don't put our babies in the nursery, this was also a good location to slip out with a fussy baby and not be too distracting. 

The senior saints of the church sat in the very last row, the row right behind us.  This was great!  Our boys got to know many of the older people of our church family.  They encouraged us and we tried to be of encouragement to them!  Addan still has a special bond with one of the women.  She brings him stickers and goodies often. 

One of the seniors, Mrs Elliot, had knee surgery a couple weeks ago.  I went to visit her a few days after the surgery but she was busy with a procedure so I wasn't able to visit her.  It ends up, she had a heart attack from the surgery and that's what they were dealing with when I went that time. 

Mark and I went shortly after and Mrs Elliot was sound asleep so we didn't visit her.  She looked so different,, so helpless and tired. 

I went again last week to see her.  Her husband kept saying how she wanted me to see her and how she kept my card by her bed.  (The simple things I think lightly of can mean so much to people!)  I went in to see Mrs Elliot in the afternoon, and again, she was sound asleep.  I saw her nurse, and the nurse said to come closer to lunch because she sleeps in the afternoons. 

Mr Elliot told me Sunday, to wake her up!  Don't let her sleep all afternoon,, go in this week and see her again and DON'T let her sleep.  So, I hoped to go see Mrs Elliot this week. 

I won't get that chance.  Mrs Elliot went to be with Jesus early this morning!  I was so sad I didn't wake her but so happy that she's in a better place.  Safe in the arms of Jesus.  That sound has been in my head all day.  Poor Mr Elliot, as he journeys the rest of his time on earth without his dear wife!

Knoebels

Our family has never been into big, extravagant  trips.  Family vacations are usually times of visiting family that live far away.

One outing we've been doing for years, is our trip to Knoebels.  We love that place!  It's great, you don't have to pay to get in. You can buy tickets or a bracelet and ride all day but if you don't want to ride, you can enjoy your day and not spend anything!

Luke, Jordan, Brendan, Silas and Hunter

2004

Tim and Silas



   The park is gorgeous.  The whole time I'm there, I just look around and love seeing the gardening and feel the coziness of the big trees all around us.  There's a stream that runs through the middle of the park so the bridges add to the fun!

Levi and Titus

We started going when Luke was a baby.  The older boys have gone from the thrill of the spinning balloons to the Fandango and rollercoasters! 

I remember Brendan not being able to pedal the cars with his arms and crying half way through.  Now Titus flies through that ride. 

Violet, Levi, girl, Tim, boy

We always had a baby to tend, diapers to change, nursings to be given and strollers to lug around.  Gone are those days. 

Addan, Titus and Levi

This past trip was one of the best ones!  All of the boys could go on different rides together.  Hunter, Silas and Luke could be together and go on rides.  Jordan and Brendan went on rollercoasters with Aunt Ruthie again and again.  Mark and I went to the smaller rides with Tim, Addan and Titus.  We also met with the Wards and my parents!  What fun!  Titus loved going on rides with Levi .

Violet wanted so badly to go on the "cat" rollercoaster.  It was a smaller one in the kiddie rides.  She and Tim went on it together.  It was alittle bit much for them but they got to share their first rollercoaster experience together!  What fun memories with cousins!!!

My Dad just loves the bumper cars!  The ones at Knoebels are one of the best bumper cars!  You can fly and ram people so hard!  My Dad likes to talk the whole time in line so he gets everyone riled up against us.  Of course, there were 10 of us together and about 15 other riders so it's always a great ride together!

It's a long day but so worth all the great memories together!!

We all went on the Flume together.  It's the ride you sit on the log and go through water trails and down a big drop and get wet at the end.   Titus went with Jordan.  I wasn't to sure how he'd like the drop on the end.  He laughed and laughed the whole time!  He sat behind Jordan with his arms tightly around his waist.  It was so cute.  I sat in the log behind them with Luke, Mark and Tim.  As soon as it was over, Titus exclaimed he wanted to go again and again.  They did go one more time.  Titus wanted to then go on the rollercoasters with Jordan.  I think he would of loved that too but we decided to save some bigger rides til he's bigger :)

What a fun day together!

Tonya, Shawn

Jordan and Brendan

Seasons of Change

Gone are the days of afternoon coffee with Mark.  He's now gone all morning at school and then windows until supper.  How those times were sweet together.

The cooler weather brings change to our home. 

Evenings, you can hear the buzz of a chain saw off in the distance.  If you get closer to the buzz,  you will hear chopping and boy's voices.

It's wood time at the Philbricks!  This is our heat for the winter.

All must work together to keep us warm for the next 5-6 months!  What a time of closeness as we work together.

 All the seasons bring change.  Change is a part of life.  It's how we cherish the change and time together that counts.    What a joyful time together,, sweating, working and bonding!  I love fall!

Turning 40

The day started with relaxing in bed early in the morning reading a blog.  The Lockwood Family

Then the phone rang.  I ran down and answered it.  It was a man from church wishing me a Happy Birthday!  How thoughtful,, he had just turned 73 so I guess he wanted to wish me a welcome to the aging club! :)  (He doesn't act 73 at all,, I hope I can be like that!)   Then my Uncle Al called and chatted with me too!  How fun!  I felt so special.

Mark took the day off from school, so he went and did his window jobs early and came home at 11:30 and made me lunch.

 

He came home with a card, roses and my favorite ice cream! 

He's so sweet!!!

 

I opened my cards and gifts.  I got some Resee Cups, $15 to spend at shops,  a sweatshirt (I was told it was because I always borrow their's), a chocolate bar and a special gift from Titus.

 

 

Titus said this is a light up thing but it's all used up!  So funny!

Mark got me a swanky, fancy camera!  I wanted one that didn't take so long in between shots,, he went all out!

 

My favorite:  Mark's chocolate sauce!  SOOO yummy!!!

 

Then we loaded up and went to Wellsboro.  I went to the shops while Mark and the boys went to the park.  I spent my Birthday money on some much needed fabric (VERY funny, if you only saw my fabric supply!!!  You can NEVER have enough fun fabric though!!). 

 

Then we went to the PA Grand Canyon.  The boys flew down the hill.  I ended up staying at the near top with Titus.   I used the time to practice taking pictures with Titus.

 

 

 

 

Once the boys all made it down and back up, we went to the playground.  Brendan was throwing the ball in the field behind us and about six deer walked right up behind him!  It was so neat.

 

Mark and his buddies that made it back and up with him!

 

It was a fun day, filled with feeling special and fun memories.  It hasn't been so bad being over-the-hill, so far!

The Letter D

This year Addan is learning to read.  I have a love/hate for this time of their lives.  It's so exciting to see them getting it and starting to put words together but the selfish side of me dislikes it because it's so time consuming.  I've only got two more boys to teach to read so it's getting to be more on the love side :)

This year I added another curriculum to Addan's school load.  It's called Heavenly Homemakers.

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/learn-your-letters-learn-to-serve-complete-curriculum-kit

Each week we work on the a new letter.  The first day, I introduce the letter and it's sound.

Last week was the letter D.   So on Monday I showed him the letter D and said "dddd" over and over to him.  I sang the little song to him.

The letter Dd says ddd

The letter Dd says ddd

Like dog and dad and daffodil

The letter Dd says ddd.

tune is to Farmer in the Dell

Then we start the verses that start with the letter D.  We'll be learning them all week.

The verses were:

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Ps 37:4

and

Depart from evil and do good.  Ps 34:14

Once I know Addan knows the sound, I ask him for things that start with the ddd sound.  I attempt the draw those things.  This is alway fun!! :)

Then we think of people that start with the ddd sound.  Addan thought of  the Denses (a family in our church), his Uncle David,   David Boynton (his friend in ME), and David Brown ( a teen in our church).  We prayed for these people together.

Next he did his normal part (writing, coloring, tracing, etc). 

The activity for the letter D was to make donuts.  I have never made donuts.  I've always thought they were total junk food so why make them!  This recipe was made from whole wheat flour and I just read a blog that talked about the goodness of lard, so I thought I'd give these donutes a try.  http://trintje.blogspot.com/2010/08/adventures-in-lard.html

We needed to find a donut cutter.  Finally finding one at an Amish type store near by, we attempted the donuts.

This was going to be fun!  Addan was so excited! 

They turned out good.  It was a fun memory together and a fun way to learn the letter D!

Pillowcase Tutorial

I've been making lots of these lately.  They're a fun project and great gift.  It can be personalized to your receiver's most favorite things!

Here's the simple instructions (I hope!!!).

Get 3 coordinating fabrics.

Cut them into 3 pieces:  the main piece being 45"x27", the edge piece being 45"x9" and the little trim piece being 45"x2".

Iron the 2" strip in half.

Lay the 9" piece on the table you're working on. 

Lay the main piece on top,  lining the edges up as best you can.  

Next, lay the 2" piece on top of those two pieces-- the raw edges on the top.  I pin these all together with about 8 pins spaced apart.

Next is the tricky part to explain.   You will take the main piece and roll it up to just about the top.  The bottom piece (the 9" piece) will start to be uncovered.  Carefully take the 9" piece and bring that around and on top of the 2" strip.  Pin these all together very well.  Be careful NOT to pin any of the main fabric (the roll) in the edge

.

Sew this long strip together.  (a 5/8" seam is good)

Turn this inside out.

I lay it down, right sides out, line it up and trim the edges even.

I sew all the seems with a French seam.  This makes it so the edges don't fray and it looks neat.  You will sew the edges on the long side with right sides facing OUT.  I sew them rather close to the edge.  The edge of my presserfoot is lined to the edge of the fabric.

Turn that inside out and press the seam you just sewed.  Now sew that, with it inside out and with a 5/8" seam. 

Do the same process (the French seam)on the bottom  edge of the pillowcase.  If you prefer not to do the French seam, just sew the edges with a 5/8" seam, with it inside out. 

Viola!  You have a snazzy pillowcase to lay your head on!!!