Photo Perspective

For school this year, we are doing a whirlwind trip through U.S. history. We've studied the Native Americans and what life was like before the America's were discovered by the Europeans and now we are studying the colonial time period.

So we took a field trip to our local Landis Valley Museum thanks to a free family pass available at our local library. We packed a lunch and on our way, we "dadnapped" dad from work. :-)

We started with the leather working shop. An artisan dressed in period clothes was creating a box for storing things in. He also showed us a pair of straight shoes that he had made. "Straight shoes" have no arches and can fit on either foot. People would typically switch the shoes regularly in order to give them even wear.


As we walked along, we examined the different types of fences. S wasn't so sure about petting the lamb.

We learned the different steps to creating thread and fabric from flax.

We got a chance to lay on this bed. This one has two "mattresses". The top one is full of feathers, the bottom full of rye to keep the bedbugs away. Typically the parents and grandparents would sleep in this bed. The children under 5 would sleep in the trundle at the foot of the bed. And that pot under the bed? I'll let you figure that out. :-)


This was about 3/4 of the way through. We were all starting to get tired out.

Talking to a lady knitting sleeping socks outside one of the houses from a later period.

Outside of a one-room schoolhouse. The kids posed for me on an old hitching post. V was particularly fascinated by the thought of riding a horse to school every day.


The last stop of the day was the Gunsmith Shop. Everyone else was tired and hungry, but V? Let the expression on his face show you his emotions. He even got to fire an old pistol.

K and I visited a formal garden this evening in preparation for a few family photo shoots I have scheduled. K and I took turns posing for each other so we could both practice our photography skills. I would take a few of her, and then we would switch and she would try to imitate the composition. She's also been begging me to teach her how to work with Photoshop so that she can create digital scrapbooks with her pictures.

"Mom, this is my favorite chore! I LIKE handwashing. That's why I'm doing it so much."


We implemented a new chore schedule today, and the younger boys graduated to some older kid jobs that they had never gotten the opportunity to do. They were pretty excited about some of the new chores, and I'm hoping and praying the excitement lasts a LONG time.

Had the urge to take a few pictures tonight so that I could play with some new Photoshop actions from Pioneer Woman. I have to give a disclaimer for that link, though. A friend of mine shared it on her blog, and I lost myself in her blogs. Pioneer Woman is an engaging writer and awesome photographer as well as being a decent cook, rancher's wife, and homeschooling mom of four. So before you visit her blog, block out a chunk of time to really explore.

I took quite a break from scrapbooking lately for a number of reasons. I ran out of room in my albums and need to purchase a ton of album supplies to fit everything I have done. Since I use Creative Memories albums, they are very high quality, but also cost a good bit. I also have been struggling to figure out how to organize my freebie stash. The stash is getting too large for my hard drive, so an external drive is getting to be an necessity. I did figure out that if I tag/keyword my files in Adobe Bridge I can just use Spotlight to find all my files easily. Tagging thousands of files takes a bit of time, though. :-)

So here's the newest layout. We were so excited to reconnect with a niece of ours that we hadn't seen since she was an infant. Pete and I were talking on our way home about how our niece had totally stolen our hearts. We fell in love with her Saturday afternoon, and are looking forward to spending more time with her in the future.

This post is WAY late, but I have a friend who needs to know how to make a Mater cake. I made this one in January for Meister's 6th birthday.

The bottom is two rectangle cakes stacked on top of each other. I raised it off the serving board with canning rings and a wax papper wrapped piece of cardboard. The shape of the hood and back is carved from the top layer. If you freeze the pieces for a few hours, they are easier to carve. The cab is a mini loaf pan sized cake placed upside down. Frosting is used for glue in between layers. After piecing it together, put a thin layer of frosting on it and return it to the freezer. This will seal in the crumbs for you.

For the final layer of frosting, the brown is chocolate frosting, the blue and green is tinted vanilla frosting messily spread over the chocolate. The white is just the plain vanilla frosting.

Chocolate covered donuts were used for the tires. Green gummy Life Savers for the eyes. Large pretzels, Oreos and string were for the towing mechanism. I cut a 6 out of construction paper to hang on string. The black for the bumper and the eyes was a tube of black frosting with the tips that you can get at most grocery stores. The tips screw onto the tube.


My extended family has found that they like the cakes better mostly frozen, so I leave them in the freezer until the party. They thaw an hour or so during the gifts before we cut into it.

Well, Rocky is still here. He almost got put out, but due to a goopy eye and the trouper attitude of K, he got to stay inside a bit longer.

The plan now is to trap the other kittens, take them all to the shelter to be tested for leukemia and HIV. If they are negative, then we will bring them home to tame for a few weeks. After they are tame, we'll take them back into the shelter to be adopted. Apparently kitties with more than the usual number of toes are even specifically requested by potential families, so those with the extra toes will not be in the shelter long.

K discovered this cutie in our garbage can Saturday morning. There has been a set of 4 kittens living under our shed for a few weeks now, but they are wild and unapproachable. They've apparently been raiding the garbage at night, they must not have remembered that Friday morning is garbage pick-up in our neighborhood. :-( So in he hopped only to fall all the way to the bottom of an empty can. K discovered him the next morning as he cried for help.

Initially he hissed and spat at me as I wrapped him in a towel to extricate him, but he is has grown used to being cuddled now. K speeds through her chores to spend every free moment with 'her' kitty. Her plan is to keep it inside for a few days until it is tame, then let it go back out with its brothers and sisters.

She decided to name him Rocky because of his stone gray color. He also has extra toes on his front paws that make him look like he's got boxing gloves on, so Rocky fits just fine.

While waiting for the Creation Museum to open on Monday, we filled our time Sunday with a trip to Lexington, KY. Part of our tour group went to the KY Horse Park, and the other part went to the KY Aviation Museum. The docent, Mr. Peters, was extremely friendly, helpful, and patient with the kids' questions and attention spans. At the end of our personal tour, Mr. Peters allowed each of the kids to fly the flight simulator. He led them through a pre-flight safety check, take-off, airborne manuevers, and then landing. It was a lot of fun!

We had a field trip planned to the Creation Museum in KY, and in our search for hotels we found one with passes to the indoor waterpark next door. After dropping Meister, S, and Shadrach off at my mom's, we climbed in the van with Uncle Dan and two other families (13 of us total). We ended up hitting a blizzard on the way, so we never got to the Creation Museum on Saturday as planned since they closed down because of the weather. The kids in the van actually cheered when we discovered this because it meant they could go straight to the hotel and the waterpark.

I was amazed that after staying up all night, the kids had enough energy to play several hours in the water. I actually ended up finding a lounge chair and taking a nap. But those kiddos played and played and played. They were dead asleep within 10 minutes of getting to bed.

We'll go see what the surgeon has to say in a few hours. The kids have all kinds of questions about how those pins got in there, though. With a hammer? screwdriver? So far no one has asked how they will get out - but I don't mind waiting to answer that question. :-{

Meister with his special bunny. The time spent waiting for surgery went very quickly thanks to a few episodes of 3-2-1 Penguins on the video iPod.

Meister made it through his elbow surgery without complications and is snuggled in bed on his way to recovery. He was a bit upset that his elbow was in a cast and hurting when he woke up, but he was in much better spirits as soon as I got him discharged.

I picked up a bunny for him to take along with him, and the nurses had fun treating the bunny along with Meister. The bunny ended up with a blue surgical hat, mask, name bracelet, heart sticker, and a bandaged left arm.

I'll post a picture when I get a chance to get it off the camera.

Yesterday was rainy at the "park" in the backyard. (We were blessed with a large wooden playset that Meister likes to call "the park".) Meister's favorite way to go down the slide is standing up - surfing style. With his amazing balance and quick reactions he is usually just fine, but I don't think he accounted for the wetness of the slide. Anyway, you get the idea. We're not sure if he went sideways or fell at the bottom, but he must have landed with his elbow extended and taking most of the force of the fall.

Meister was outside by himself when this happened. He came inside and CLIMBED INTO HIS TOP BUNK to "rest". How many times have I told him that his belly/eyes/aches will feel better after a little rest? "When we are sick, we need to rest. We can't stay home sick from church/school and run around the house." So he was in his top bunk whimpering by the time I realized there was something really wrong. My final clue? V yelling, "Mom! The bump on Codey's elbow is not where it is supposed to be!"

So we scrambled. "V, pack a bag with my iPod, earphones, and some books Meister likes. Siah, get a blanket to wrap Meister in." I IM'd Pete to come home ASAP, then warmed the van up. We made it to the hospital about a half hour after the accident. On the way, Meister was extremely nervous. He was afraid I would leave him at the hospital, he would get shots, the doctor would hurt him, and they were "going to kill me." Those big, teary eyes combined with his adorable, little, buzzed head just about broke my mommy heart. I was so thankful I got to be there to comfort him just then.

Intake, pain meds, x-rays, and finally a diagnosis. Meister endured them all stoically - only a few teardrops escaped down his cheeks. The waiting was tolerated (even included a few giggles) due to a couple of movies on my iPod. The earphones didn't make it all the way into the ER, so when the doctor saw that Miester was watching a movie with no sound, he actually let him borrow his own personal earphones. He even had a couple more movies on his own iPod he was going to let us borrow if we ran out before Meister was discharged. I was really impressed with this ER doctor - not hurried, personable, and understood kids.

We were sent home with a disc of x-rays, an appt with an orthopedic surgeon, a splint, sling, and a prescription for some heavy-duty pain meds. Meister slept well, and we headed to the surgeon this morning. To summarize, a corner of Meister's upper arm bone was sheered off and displaced at the elbow. He is going to need surgery, pins, and casting to repair it. It should heal just fine, but we will not know for a few years if the portion of growth plate on the displaced bone will grow at the same rate as the undisturbed portion. If it doesn't grow at the same rate, he could need more corrective surgery in the future. We pray that won't be necessary.

So Meister is scheduled for surgery this Friday at 3:00 p.m. on an outpatient basis. In the meantime the meds are keeping him comfortable and life is actually a bit calmer at home than normal. No arguing - the others are concentrating on catering to Meister's every desire. "Meister, do you want a drink? Mom, can I read Meister a book instead of doing the dishes?"

Meister is a daredevil and we knew someday he would hurt himself. More details later . . . Off to the surgeon's office.

In answer to Jodi's comment: Yes, this is one of the actual x-ray images taken of Meister's arm!

Our stray kitty did find a home much to the dismay of our kiddos. Here's the layout I did chronicling the experience for the kids.

The excitement level in our house is sky high. You see, yesterday the kids discovered a poor skinny kitty in our shed. Normally the stray cats in our neighborhood are owned and cared for by someone, and are never allowed in the house. But, I had Meister holding my cheeks to look into my eyes and pleading, "PLEEEEEASE, can we save her?" I took a look, felt her bony spine, and saw how affectionate she was with people. What was I supposed to do?


We've called the Humane League asking them to check the Lost Cat reports, checked all the classifieds, looked for flyers in the neighborhood, and even had the vet scan her for a microchip. It seems this one is not going to be reunited with her original family. So anyone want a 6-8 month old very affectionate kitty who even gets along with dogs?


We have until the end of the weekend to find a good home for this sweetie.

Last year I really enjoyed the Project 365 challenge my buddy Jo and I did together, but life got busy and the picture-taking fizzled. This year I'm starting off fresh trying to make it through the whole year with only a few missing holes. We'll see how it goes. If you want to check it out, here's the link: JPPhotoblog