North Country: 2019

Another year = another good visit with Scott, Leah, & Co.
Looking at these snapshots is bittersweet. None of us knew it at the time, but this was to be our last camping visit to this particular farm. Lord willing, we'll visit the new home in 2020!

All the cousins were good sports when I commanded them to freeze in front of the tree.

Skylark will miss this doggie bed more than anyone else will.

We met this smiley, little guy for the first time! He looks uncannily like the big brother who's holding him. :)

As usual, the whirlwind trip was punctuated by eating, games, eating, and more games.

Hopping around the circle like a leporadae lunatic on the loose resulted in smiles from every last one of them. My pride was worth it!

Little boys like binoculars.

Young men like guitars.

It was a pleasure to listen to Johnny, Noah, and Isaiah make music together. They are talented fellows (and, Isaiah, for the first time I heard singing from you instead of giggles! I love your voice!). :)

Mildred, bless her heart, saved them from the paparazzi....but I still got a video of Isaiah playing and singing on the sly, so THERE.

The drive home was quiet. 

Ahhhh. Camping at the cousins' will do it every time.

One Week Later: Manwaring Reunion

We knew we'd get to see Leah, Ethan, and Johnny again because Uncle Ron and Aunt Sherry were hosting a reunion, but when Noah showed up, too, everyone rejoiced. 

We were the happy recipients of more easy listening that morning.

This badly-lit and hastily snapped picture is close to my heart. This is the first time that Aunt Alice and her two girls have been in one place since cousin Dan's funeral five years ago, and to have that meeting place be the Old Homestead, a place that still feels like home to them, was pretty special. I still slip up when Aunt Alice is around and call this place "her" house, even though we've lived here for ten years now.

The most enjoyable part of the reunion for me was seeing these cousins who've never had a chance to truly meet and play together hit it off so splendidly. Most of them are teenagers, young adults with minds and bodies to match, but all it took was a day of play, and they're fast friends now. If only we could shrink the miles in between...

Here are more sub-standard photos that I include because shotsnaps is my visual memory cache. Sometimes reading my blog must feel like sitting in front of a long-winded great-uncle's projector screen after he returned from vacationing in the Adirondacks. (If the shoe fits...)

I forced these ladies to look at the camera for an awkward photo. All four Manwaring sisters! In one place! Hurrah!

Oops. No picture of the newlyweds Tom and Katelyn, but here's one of Cassie and Katelyn and Pippin. Let's not forget Pippin and his superb head.

Mopsy comforts a weeping Cadence. Sigh. This is the story of our lives.

More games!

I'm pretty sure that Noah was hiding jet packs somewhere.

He was skimming over the top of the ground, which is highly suspicious.

And to round out the bunch, here's Debbie grinning at her husband and Tadhg-baby.

 That's a good daddy.

The Eldest Turns 17

This Mildred-girl is so lovely and grown that my heart hurts at times. Thank goodness she's still goofy enough to try to foil me by blowing out her breakfast birthday candle a good half-dozen times while we sang.

I know August was crazy, but, really, now, I have pictures of a morning birthday girl at the breakfast table and then pictures of an evening birthday girl with  her dessert, and that's it. She and I share an appreciation for good food, though, so perhaps it's appropriate.

FAKER.

And here she is that night, full of enchiladas and ready to cut into two (accidentally smoked) chocolate-toffee-coffee cheesecakes.

I don't express often enough to this girl how precious she is. As she's grown, she's retained the qualities that made her so special as a little girl, only they've blossomed and flourished into something even greater.

What a gift you are and always will be, Mildred Elise. Apart from your abilities as my right-hand girl, you have so much in you that we cherish. Your deep love and care for those around you, even when you struggle to express it, your stubborn nature that now serves well to stand for truth, your tenderness to God's little creatures and to children, and as I listen, your voice raised in sweet and clear worship in the kitchen, at this moment as I type.

May our Father continue to guide you true and grow you strong through all the knots and tangles of this world. We love you, Bumpkin!

Sleepovers R Us

Sunday morning before church. "Eeeeeew!"


Big girls the following morning:

While the other children went for a walk in the Big Woods, these girls worked very hard at keeping the peace.

You won't know unless I tell you, but Ineke and Cadence beautified themselves with no help at all.

Don't worry. They used the screen to make romantic and highly dramatic movies...and to take pictures of the person taking pictures.

Ineke helped Skylark look her best.

These two! It used to be these two. How time flies.

Little Red Wren

Our blue-eyed Birdie turned 13 in February, which isn't the ideal time for outdoor parties in the Northeast. An August celebration brought home anew how relentless time is, and here we are with three teenagers in the house. Those days of three little girls in the house were so sweet, but these days are, too.

Her little girl's quirkiness has evolved into a young lady's wit; her wacky questions as a toddler have become a more thoughtful curiosity; she grows and changes and stays just the same in the important parts. Here's to more changing and growing and staying the same. We love you, Birdie!

The Day Before the Big Party

We celebrated Birdie's big thirteenth year in August and started preparing for guests the day before, focusing on the most important things first.

Dessert and messes: 

And animal ears, because what's the use of a party without animal ears?  (I won't mention that Susannah and Annika made only three sets of ears before petering out, leaving me to make the other nine-- necessary and vitally important!-- ears in the wee hours of the morning. I won't even think about mentioning that because the three pairs of ears they DID make were stellar.)

Annika kept laughing over how their ears reflected their personalities. Susannah's were lovely and elegant; Annika's were wild and wacky. Ah, these days. I will miss these days.

While I was outside taking a zillion pictures of bunnies, Skylark was keeping a Most Careful Watch over the cupcakes and cakes Mildred has just baked.

Good girl.