So its 7 in the morning...I went to bed at about 1 last night and I finally gave up sleeping well and got up. The thing that I am thinking of is time. I remember things taking so long when I was a child...it seemed like forever before the next Christmas, Easter, Birthday, school year. As I got older things seemed to move at a much more pleasing pace and then 8 years ago I gave birth to Kaytlynn and now, it seems to me, all I do is wish for time to go backwards or at least stand still so that I can enjoy the things in my life for just a little longer. Its not that I don't like who Kaytlynn is...its the exact opposite. Its that she is absolutely perfect and I don't want that moment to slip away.
Some things about Kaytlynn this year...
1. It was our first year to homeschool...and thank goodness she loves it! She is in love with Five in a Row and math is her favorite subject (although math is not her strongest subject...by far).
2. One of her favorite things to do is spend time with her cousins Jacob, Emily, and Gracie, her Nana and Papa, her Grandma and Grandpa and Buddy and Nancy. She is a people person...and I think she always will be.
3. She absolutely loves the song Saturday Night by the Bay City Rollers...she was evidently born too late, just like her momma.
4. She still loves all of the Barbie movies...Rapunzel, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Mariposa, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The 3 Musketeers, etc. but she is starting to like other stuff too.
5. She loves dressing her barbies up and having fashion shows...
6. She loves to paint, or do just about any craft.
7. Her favorite snack is a packet of fruit snacks. Each night the girls can choose a small snack if they have had a good day and have eaten well. Their choices can be some halloween/Easter candy, ice cream, Popsicle, cookie, chips, etc. 9 times out of 10...she chooses a nasty gummy fruit snack!
8. Her favorite color is blue. Her color choice used to change from time to time, but blue has been her favorite this whole year. It might be the one she sticks with.
9. She is the bubbliest little girl I know...seriously. She can find ways to be happy pretty much all the time. She didn't get that from me, but I wish she did! She is hopelessly optimistic and I hope it stays that way.
10. She is one of the most spiritual children I have ever met...She is constantly reminding ME to pray when I'm nervous or scared or someone is sick. She loves church...her favorite thing to read is a book of small Bible stories...and not a day goes by that she doesn't speak of how wonderful and mighty God is and ask a question or 2 about Him.
11. One of her favorite things to do is listen to the music on my I-pod and dance around the living room to it with her sister.
12. She loves people...she is always concerned with people and wants them to be happy. A friend recently came over and she offered them a coke. They accepted. She went to go make the coke and when she presented it to Anne, she said..."just let me know when you need more coke, because I'm your coke getting girl". That is soooo her. She is definitely our Miss Congeniality!
13. This has been the year that she has become a big kid. I don't know how to say it other than that. She just doesn't look like a little girl anymore. You can now see glimpses of what she will look like when she gets older...her frame has changed, her face has matured a little...and sadly...her play has changed quite a bit...certain things are for "little kids" now.
14. She is wild about Webkinz, playing on the computer, and she recently received a hula hoop...and she is becoming quite the expert.
15. She loves gymnastics. She is flexible just like me...pulling her legs this way and that way with complete ease and enjoyment! She also doesn't have a lot of fear...which makes me a bit nervous :-)
16. She has gone from hating to read to in not being so bad. She LOVES being read to though. Peter Rabbit is still her favorite story. But Madeline runs a close second. She has also become quite fond of A-Z mysteries by Ron Roy and The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. She likes non-fiction books more than fiction. She is a factoid!
17. She is my little crier! Not when she gets hurt though...she completely sucks it up and moves on with injuries...its usually when she is sad at a circumstance for someone else or better yet, she will cry tears of joy for herself or other people. She walked into the living room the other day and she was crying. When I asked her why, she told me she was watching Dumbo and he finally got to see his mom. I comforted her, and later she was crying remembering how they made fun of him. It was a perfect example of how tender her heart can be! If we go visit family, she cries for a good hour in the car after we leave. Its not a boo-hoo cry...and she tries to stop, but her eyes are filled with water and she's very quiet as she thinks of those she loves that she will miss.
I hope that she continues down the path she is taking, because I can't imagine her becoming a better human being that I could be more proud of. She truly is an amazing person to me and it boggles my mind that I have been so blessed to have her. I hope God gives me the chance to live a long life with her to see just who she turns out to be!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Missouri...
We drove a good 6 hours to Nixa, Missouri. We found a nice Super 8 to stay in and pretty much collapsed from exhaustion. The next day we went to Laura and Almanzo's home a few miles away in Mansfield, Missouri. This is the home that she lived in the last 40 years of her life. Almanzo built the house just for her...The kitchen is the first thing that you got to walk in and you see the little bitty countertops made just to suit her 4'11 stature! The day that she died her daughter had the house closed up...and had it ready for tours in just a few months...making sure everything was exactly the way it was the day she died. The calendar still hung on that day...the mail still on her kitchen table where she had read it...it was quite amazing.
1. Some things that were neat that you got to see...Almanzo died several years before she did. She missed him so that she slept in his bed...right next to his medicine bag...still filled with all his ointments...his Vicks, etc. kinda sweet and sad all in one.
2. You see all the things she bought from the Sears catalog and Montgomery Ward catalog...and it was quite a bit of stuff! She still had her Montgomery Ward Catalog in her bedroom...I wanted to see what she had circled or marked inside of it. She loved the luxury of being able to look at and buy all of those things...vs. shopping at the mercantile in Walnut Grove.
3. The house was built bit by bit. The last edition was not built by Almanzo and it was a parlor, tiny music room and tiny library. The parlor had a table built out of a tree trunk that Almanzo had built...it was beautiful. Also, he became interested in needlework in his later years...In the parlor you can see a couple of rugs and pillows he had embroidered. It was kinda funny to see this manly farmer do something so domestically focused. And he did a good job.
4. The land was almost 200 acres. Her daughter Rose was concerned about her parents living in such an old house..no a/c, no water, etc. That she had a house built for them on the land. Its made of stone that was collected from the area and has pecan floors, from trees right off of the land. They never really liked the house but moved into it to make her happy. 7 years later...they packed their stuff up and moved back to the little farm house. The floor plan was bought from...The Sears Catalog, of course.
5. They have a museum right next to the farm house. It was FULL of memorabilia from Laura's house and Rose's. It had tons of pictures, letters, articles of clothing, etc. Most importantly...it had Pa's fiddle...and Laura's favorite porcelain trinket. One day a year, Pa's fiddle is played for people to hear. That would be neat to see one day.
The girls dressed up in their "prairie dresses" that Nana made them. Everyone thought they looked adorable...including me! They bought lots of postcards of the place, since pictures are not allowed to be taken. Kaytlynn got a snow globe, Delaney bought a Christmas ornament and they both bought bonnets for their head. Ma was always getting on to Laura for not wearing her sun bonnet...claiming that they would be as brown as Indians. The girls think that is funny and joke about it all the time! After all the touring...the kids spent a good 30 minutes on the property just running around chasing one another. Kaytlynn found a limb that she used as a walking stick...she played like a little old lady the whole time and was quite the sad girl when she realized she had left it.
We decided to stay in Missouri another day...just to rest. The heat wiped us out and Nixa seemed to be a nice lazy town. We spent our evening at the pool watching the girls swim.
On a side note. The girls were able to see Amish people riding around in their horse and carriages for the first time. They loved it. They would wave at them and sometimes they would wave back. It made you wonder if they got tired of cars driving by looking at them like they were part of a carnival... But who can resist staring, ya know? It makes you kinda wonder what life would be like if you lived so simply. I bet they are happier due to so many fewer distractions in life...and I bet they have a better understanding of what is important.
1. Some things that were neat that you got to see...Almanzo died several years before she did. She missed him so that she slept in his bed...right next to his medicine bag...still filled with all his ointments...his Vicks, etc. kinda sweet and sad all in one.
2. You see all the things she bought from the Sears catalog and Montgomery Ward catalog...and it was quite a bit of stuff! She still had her Montgomery Ward Catalog in her bedroom...I wanted to see what she had circled or marked inside of it. She loved the luxury of being able to look at and buy all of those things...vs. shopping at the mercantile in Walnut Grove.
3. The house was built bit by bit. The last edition was not built by Almanzo and it was a parlor, tiny music room and tiny library. The parlor had a table built out of a tree trunk that Almanzo had built...it was beautiful. Also, he became interested in needlework in his later years...In the parlor you can see a couple of rugs and pillows he had embroidered. It was kinda funny to see this manly farmer do something so domestically focused. And he did a good job.
4. The land was almost 200 acres. Her daughter Rose was concerned about her parents living in such an old house..no a/c, no water, etc. That she had a house built for them on the land. Its made of stone that was collected from the area and has pecan floors, from trees right off of the land. They never really liked the house but moved into it to make her happy. 7 years later...they packed their stuff up and moved back to the little farm house. The floor plan was bought from...The Sears Catalog, of course.
5. They have a museum right next to the farm house. It was FULL of memorabilia from Laura's house and Rose's. It had tons of pictures, letters, articles of clothing, etc. Most importantly...it had Pa's fiddle...and Laura's favorite porcelain trinket. One day a year, Pa's fiddle is played for people to hear. That would be neat to see one day.
The girls dressed up in their "prairie dresses" that Nana made them. Everyone thought they looked adorable...including me! They bought lots of postcards of the place, since pictures are not allowed to be taken. Kaytlynn got a snow globe, Delaney bought a Christmas ornament and they both bought bonnets for their head. Ma was always getting on to Laura for not wearing her sun bonnet...claiming that they would be as brown as Indians. The girls think that is funny and joke about it all the time! After all the touring...the kids spent a good 30 minutes on the property just running around chasing one another. Kaytlynn found a limb that she used as a walking stick...she played like a little old lady the whole time and was quite the sad girl when she realized she had left it.
We decided to stay in Missouri another day...just to rest. The heat wiped us out and Nixa seemed to be a nice lazy town. We spent our evening at the pool watching the girls swim.
On a side note. The girls were able to see Amish people riding around in their horse and carriages for the first time. They loved it. They would wave at them and sometimes they would wave back. It made you wonder if they got tired of cars driving by looking at them like they were part of a carnival... But who can resist staring, ya know? It makes you kinda wonder what life would be like if you lived so simply. I bet they are happier due to so many fewer distractions in life...and I bet they have a better understanding of what is important.
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