Meghan's 12

Meghan celebrated her 12th birthday last month!

She requested chocolate fudge for her birthday dessert.

 Two friends joined us for dinner and dessert.

 I think she likes being 12!

Jewelry Camp (Meghan)

The week after Pinebrook Meghan attended jewelry camp here in town. She loved it. 

When she came home after the show she took these pictures herself. 

Meghan's favorite piece of jewelry are the teal earrings that have an orange bead dangling from them. 

(Sorry the photo is sideways.) 

What you can't tell from the picture is just how large the earrings are! If you look closely at the ear piece you'll get an idea!

Cousins (NE PA)

Last week we went from Pinebrook to northeastern PA to visit grandparents. We especially wanted to visit Grandpa Jones. He was in rehab after a fall. (He is now home.)

We also saw some other grandparents and cousins.

But we didn't stay long. Well, some of us didn't. Last week while Meghan attended the jewelry camp (during the day), Evan and Esther hopped from grandparent to grandparent.

My mom sent this picture of Esther with her cousin, Evelyn.

My sister, Amy, didn't get to see much of Evan and Esther, but she did enjoy them when she wasn't working. These are fun photos from a walk in the creek.

Meghan's Handmade Jewlery

Last week Meghan attended jewelry camp locally. She loved it. 

She made a lot of jewelry, mostly from paper beads. Meghan has always been a crafty and artistic girl (even winning two art awards at school). Check out this talent!

Meghan's friend also attended jewelry camp. They made another friend, too. 

Meghan's New 'Do

Meghan decided to go with a short haircut and donate her hair. She looks great...but all grown up!

The Children's Sewing Projects

Meghan has been hard at work making a quilt for her 4-H club. So one day Evan asked if he could learn to sew. I decided to borrow a book from the library that had really cute stuffed animal projects in it. All three children were interested in sewing. (I taught Meghan hand-sewing first when she was six. This time, I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity when asked.)

Before the children could begin sewing, I had to applique and stitch the faces. They are not perfect, but the children like them.

Evan sewed first. He did well controlling the speed and guiding the fabric through.

 Esther was next. I helped her guide the fabric. She enjoyed it, too.

 

 Esther also had to do a little hand-sewing for the bunny tail.

 I didn't photograph Meghan sewing, but she loved the finished product!

 I believe Mookie is "photobombing" the children here!

 Meghan uses her kitty log as a pillow.

 Esther loves her bunny.

 Evan's cat turned out perfectly! He loves him!

 But sometimes...

Christmas Eve

The children were all dressed up for our candlelight Christmas Eve service at church.

Somehow, they all have the same smile.

Happy 11th Birthday, Meghan!

We had a lovely evening celebrating Meghan's eleventh birthday. Following her favorite pizza, we had apple pie.

She cares for her earrings by herself every morning and night.

 In addition to her pierced ears, she has a new journal, Calico Critter hedgehogs, blouse, and spider webbing.

Meghan has been asking for more Halloween decorations, so I decided she could decorate the bushes herself with the fake spider webbing. She loved it!

Meghan actually had a birthday sleepover with several friends earlier this month. I didn't take pictures that day but wish I had!

We're so proud of the lovely girl Meghan is.

Early Birthday

For her birthday, Meghan got her ears pierced! We did it after school today.

Congratulations, Meghan!

Last year Meghan participated in the local 4-H Textile Club. Mostly they sewed, but she also learned to crochet.

Her very first sewing project was a pillowcase. She chose the pink and green fabric herself. To coordinate, she wanted matching green.

In the 4-H competition, we're pleased to say that Meghan won a blue merit AND grand champion awards for her work. It was on this first project she learned the usefulness of a seam ripper!

 As a service project, the club members also sewed fleece blankets. This will later be donated to the Linus Project which uses these blankets in emergency situations. Meghan sewed a navy blue fleece blanket.

She was patient with this project and sewed straight and slowly. And she earned another blue merit award AND another grand champion!

 Unfortunately, we did not know the dates for the 4-H fair and did not attend. Next year we'll be asking early! (This is not part of a big county fair which draws big crowds. Instead, the 4-H fair is its own fair for the county.)

First Day of School 2017-2018

We officially have a fifth grader, third grader, and kindergartener.

Meghan awoke to Derek's alarm at 4:30 today so she was up extra early. We took these pictures just after 6 a.m. Evan and Meghan's bus arrived 15 minutes early. We had just pulled up to the bus stop when we saw it. Thankfully I planned for some extra time. (The bus is supposed to arrive at 6:28.)

 Today is Esther's first day of kindergarten. She is so ready!

 Her bus arrived at 7:15, as expected.

A Park, a Wedding, and a Whole Lot of Driving

We made a long weekend of our trip to northeastern PA and upstate NY.

Our shoe basket had boots, sneakers, dress, and flip flops in it. We had to be prepared.

Thursday night we drove to the home of Derek's parents. We made it in record-breaking four hours. However, by 7:10 the next morning we were in the van for another three hours as we drove out near Buffalo, NY to Darien Lake.

So much for being prepared. I forgot my bathing suit bottoms. I was sopping wet or damp ALL day.

 I didn't take a lot of pictures at Darien Lake, but this shows Meghan and Evan pulling themselves to the top. Esther and Derek were on the back side.

 This was taken at the end of our day. It might be our first family selfie.

 The drive through upstate NY was lovely. Lots of rolling hills and farmland.

Saturday my dad picked Evan and Esther up. (Derek and I couldn't bear to drive the hour there and another back again.) Meghan attended her first wedding. I took some pictures of her before we left.

 She had fun! So did we.

 Meghan took this picture of us dancing.

Sunday we had dinner with Derek's family at his grandparents' home. It was lovely to see those we saw, but with the park and wedding (and exhaustion) we really didn't get around to see my family like usual.

If you're curious what our first trip to Darien Lake looked like, this is a photo my friend shared with me recently. Derek and I weren't even dating then (but were within the month). This is from August 2000, Kingdom Bound!