Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is the birthday of the most famous person to ever graduate from the class of 1948 of Castle Heights Military Academy.

Charles W Bryan, Sr!

What makes him famous?

He married a lovely young lady from Lebanon, TN, who is famous, too!

He was a hot-shot pilot in the US Air Force.

He has five children, all of whom think he's the best.

He was the best math teacher Boise High School has ever had.

He loves God.

He really should be famous.

So, to honor Dad, Luci and I ran off yesterday on an adventure. We headed to Lebanon to take some special photos just for Dad. (I forgot to tell John or anyone else that we were going!)

Luci has on a special jacket, too. I can't believe Papa was ever this small! Look! It almost fits ME!

Castle Heights was established in 1902 and was an exclusive military academy. Boys from all over the world came to Lebanon to be a cadet at Castle Heights. It was a special place. In 1973 the first girls were admitted, and in 1986 the school closed. (I'm not saying it was because of the girls. ;) Rising tuition, prevalence of private schools in the area, and reluctance of children to go away to boarding schools were probably what did it in. But it might have been the girls. Yes, I know I'm not politically correct. I don't care.)

We had a good time taking photos, and then, to Luci's dismay, I wanted to go inside the "castle." Surely you've had enough, hadn't you? No, Luci, we're going in. And my name's not Shirley.

So embarrassed to be put on the stairs and made to pose. That posture would never do at Castle Heights, young lady! (See? It might have been because of girls.)

There were two display cases of CHMA memorabilia in the lobby, which is now City of Lebanon property.

More posing.

Smile, Luci! I am.

Then I had the great idea to speak to the receptionist. Mom, really?? Dad would want me to, Luci. 

So I introduced Luci and myself, telling the oh-so-impressed polite young lady that we were the daughter and granddaughter of a CHMA graduate of 1948, and that tomorrow (today!) is his birthday. And yes, Dad, I mentioned your name. TWICE. Luci was very embarrassed. 

She pointed out that there was a little museum in the basement, and perhaps the library is open today, just across the parking lot. Luci and I headed to the basement.

The museum is a nice little thing. Little. And mostly it was a history of Lebanon. It tells the history of Lebanon very well. I'm sure every school-aged child in Lebanon has been through it.  Here are the displays pertaining to Castle Heights and the town around the time Dad was in school there.

Dad, this picture was from 1948. Was the flooding before you graduated? Do you remember this?

 

This was not part of the Castle Heights display, but I found it interesting. Engineer's tools for surveying.

Luci loved this display

and she found the tiny ring fascinating.

The library. Beautiful building.

The library was locked today. We were hoping to get in to see the ceiling--I hear it's gorgeous.

Afterward, we headed around town to see things that I remember from visits there with my family.

The Sonic Drive In where Janet and I would escape for "Happy Hour," where we could get a huuuge coke for a dollar. We could only handle so much excitement at Papa's house.

Mom! Quit taking selfies!

The town square.

Shoney's. It's an all-new building now. Janet and I remember riding with Granddaddy and Mary while Mom and Dad followed behind. Janet and I were sure we were going to die because, well, Granddaddy was not a very safe driver. Let's just say that the town square did not slow him down.

The big lunch! McDonalds. We had to get food to go so we could get home in time for art class. I was hoping to have time for a diner or something, of course making Luci wear Dad's Castle Heights jacket. Maybe next trip.

Papa's house, where Janet and I would sit on the porch swing and yell at boys passing by. No, we weren't wild children. What did we yell? Take a picture, it lasts longer! to boys staring as they walked down the road.

Sister's house (I think I got the right one!) where Mom and Dad were married. Sister (Dad's sister, that wasn't her given name, silly) had a passle of kids. One visit, at supper, Mom bowed her head for the prayer. She said, "Amen," and looked up, but no one had prayed yet. It was just raucous with all them kids.

I can't get the thingy on blogger to put the text to the left. Sorry about that.

Luci and I saw this in Lawrenceburg on our way to Lebanon. A pic just for Aunt Janet. :)

And, this is the expected weather today, which is why we didn't go on your actual birthday, Dad.

We love you, Dad! Happy Birthday!!

Beautiful Danger

Today, as I watched Luci trying to grasp her spoon to eat cereal, I asked her,

How do you pick your nose with those things?

Her answer? "I don't pick my nose."

Never?

"Never."

Even the Queen of England picks her nose! Even Princess Kate picks her nose!

"Not me."

John chimes in, "Bryan picks his nose. I have a video of it."

No way. I've never seen it! Are you sure it wasn't a video of Heath (because I'm sure I would have been the one taking the video when Bryan was little)?  How old was he?

"Uh, 23."

Oh.

Luci says, "I see these nails as weapons. Claws. Beautiful weapons. Like a .22. I mean, a .22 is beautiful." 

Uh-Oh. I don't think he meant it.

Last night, John looked at my new yarn and said, 

"What?  Where did that come from?

How is that different from all of that over there?" 

Well, it is COTTON.  And it's the same size as the other yarn, but it's COTTON.  

Which makes it special. 

Then I started hunting up crochet memes, and found this.  

I told John that this guy doesn't mind all the yarn.  

He asked who the guy is, but I don't know. 

I just know that he's a movie star, 

but I don't know what he's been in, 

except a bunch of funny memes. 

So we found some more funny stuff. 

...

...

Then I found this, which is exactly what I told John I'd like to do in our dining room, 

and smoosh the table over to the corner to use the new seating.  

And move the overhead light fixture.

And then put Mom and Dad's hutch in the (very small) dining room when it gets here, because it would fit if we did what Ryan Gosling said (again, I don't even know what he acts in).

Chicken Soup

Really, it was turkey soup.  Luci kept calling it chicken, so it's chicken.

This was the best supper we've had since the end of May.

It's been a rough summer with all the hoopla of kids growing up (one figuring out that he'd really rather go back to college, one graduating from high school and stretching his wings and having a hard time figuring out how to do that, and one hitting puberty).

That made Monday the best dinner we've had in months.

Even though it was just chicken turkey soup.

We even got in a game of Apples to Apples, which started out rocky but ended with lots of laughs.

I love my circus and my monkeys!

Everybody needs a Luci.

She's a real lovebug!

She has been planning an anniversary dinner for John and me for a long time.  She told the boys that they had to help, because "it's a family activity!"

JT stayed around to help, and they cooked two different dishes from Luci's Disney Princess Cookbook.

Here they are whipping up Bayou Meatloaf and Gus' Mac and Cheeseburger (without the burger).

And the end result at dinner, with the "fancy decorations, Mama."

 It was all delicious.  Of course, I am saving the menu!  It is priceless.  Luci still spells everything phonetically.  :)

JT and Luci also frosted John's birthday cake last week.  Luci did all the putting together, and JT helped to frost it.

I must say, I'm loving how blogger has changed and lets you insert videos quite easily now.

All because of one little girl...

Today I spent time clearing out   cleaning Luci's room.

This is what it looked like AFTER we got done.  Really, it was much worse when we started.

We worked a long time.  Now Luci has a place to sleep in her room! She slept in her room TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW all by herself. ALL BY HERSELF.

Which is two nights longer than she's EVER done before.

She's been in our room, on a mattress.  Or on the living room floor with me.  Or somewhere else with me, not by herself ever.

She got brave this week. I am so proud of her.

So, now she has a comfy spot up on the big platform bed that John built for her years ago.  There's a memory foam mattress thingy under her blanket there, because the twin-sized mattress that was up there before is still in our bedroom on the floor for when she still needs to sleep in the room with us.  Which will probably be tonight, because I jinxed this by mentioning sleeping alone here. :)

Which brings me to this post.

I was getting all hot and bothered (i.e., cranky) working in her room. And then it dawned on me.



If it were not for this little girl, I would be...

• bored.  JT graduates this year, and after 4 years of pushing and fighting with him over high school stuff, it would be all over.
• unsettled.  What would I do after JT graduates?
• forced to work on housework.  I do not want to do that.  No, never.

Because of this little girl...

• John and I learned that we could love a little girl who came to us in an unnatural way. We are head over heels in love with Luci. She's stretched us in ways we didn't know were possible, and it's all good.  
• I am relearning what life is really, truly all about.  It is not about reading and writing and arithmetic, although those are so important. It is all about learning to be a good person, to follow Jesus and lead others to heaven.  Learning to take care of a family.  Learning to be a good mommy (notice the baby doll in the picture!  All fed, diapered and has a binky.  Luci takes good care of her babies) and a good friend (can you see the iPad Mini in the picture? She's face timing with her bestie who lives too far away to have in-person play dates often).
• I am learning how to teach all over again.  Luci is my puzzle.  Bryan dealt with dyslexia and ADHD, JT with ADD and allergies to scented things, and we learned how to work around those.  Luci has quite a few letters that go beyond what the boys dealt with. I'm still learning what works best for her.
• I learned about classical education that I had thought was just "froo-froo" and elitist, that it was all just for those who were college-bound by age 12. Luci and I fell in love with classical education that a Classical Conversations group brought to us.  
• I've learned that standing up for someone who has been wrongly accused is always a good thing.
• I learned that, even though I'm not writing books as my parents hoped, I am writing!  I have learned to write a curriculum that my peers here are pleased with, and I am so tickled.

Makes all the mess worth it.

Tradition! Tradition!

When I wrote that title, I was singing the song from Fiddler on the Roof.  Go back and sing it, just for me, won't you?

Thanks.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day traditions.  What do you do for these?

New Year's Eve we are total party animals.

We start a 500-1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle and work to finish it by midnight.  (When I say "we," I mean mostly John.  I am ready for bed by 10 pm.) Whomever helps gets to sign the back of the puzzle after we ModPodge it together.  It'll be hung in the basement hallway later.

Party food for New Year's Eve consists of Velveeta-Rotel dip with tortilla chips, stuffed dates (cram a walnut half into a pitted date and then roll it in powdered sugar), popcorn balls (made like Rice Krispie Treats), and sparking grape juice (thanks Welch's, for making me feel guilty as I walk through WalMart with my bottle of bubbly, afraid that someone from church will think I'm buying wine).

 Puzzles from years past:

New Year's Day

We sleep in, because that's what wild and crazy people like us do.

This year for our New Year's Lunch we will have grilled pork chops, four bean salad (one of the beans will be black eyed peas for good luck--here's a recipe that is nearly identical to mine), turnip greens (for money in the new year) and corn bread.  

Do you have special traditions?  I'd love to hear them!

Mother's Day Surprise

I got the very best, ever, letter today. 

Bryan wrote a whole page of letter, saying such sweet things. 

He is my quiet one. He's the one, when he's sick, you never know it--when he mentions he doesn't feel well, call the doctor because it's serious! 

Before we started the Feingold diet, he never said, "I love you" without some prodding (I love you, Bryan, what do you say?). Never. 

He was 7 1/2 when we started Feingold, and after one week this non-demonstrative child climbed up into my lap (CLIMBED UP INTO MY LAP!) and said, "I love you, Mommy." 

I didn't care how hard Feingold was to do, I was in it for the long haul after seeing and hearing that! 

Today he surprised me by giving me that letter full of sweet, sweet words. 

Oh my goodness. 

I love that boy!

Palm Sunday

Luci has such a tender heart.

She can't bear to hear the story of Jesus' crucifixion.  She ends up in tears every time, sometimes running from the room.

The first time Luci did this was in second grade at Sunday school.  She sat at the table, tears streaming down her face as the teacher put up a flannelgraph of Jesus on the cross.  Our children's minister happened to be in the room at the time, and told me all about it.  She had never seen a child react that way. She took Luci out into the hall and talked to her, and calmed her down.

Fast forward twelve months, and it hasn't gotten any easier for Luci.  A few weeks ago during the sermon, the preacher talked about Jesus on the cross, and that was it.  Luci covered her ears and bolted to the classroom in the back of the auditorium.  I grabbed my purse and followed her.  John looked around at the other kids and none of them even looked up...they were going about their drawing or coloring, or whatever, as if nothing was going on.  I told John to be thankful at least one kid in there was listening.  :)

Then there was this morning.

It was hard to get Luci to the table for breakfast.  She was not interested in the bacon:  something was wrong.  I asked her if she felt well.  Are you sick?  I said if you stay home, no video games all day (that usually clears up any fake illness).

Huge tears began to fall.  What is wrong?  Please tell me.  I gathered her up and hugged on her.  She would not speak.  She left me, went into the kitchen and wrote a note.

(please remember that Luci spells phonetically)

Of course, Bryan cracked up and said, He did?   I told him to can it.

Luci stayed home with me.  I knew she'd be a basket case, worrying the whole time that the Sunday school teacher or the preacher would bring up Jesus' death, which of course, they did.

She knows that Jesus came back to life, that He defeated death.

We all should be so tender-hearted.