From Friday to Friday {And a Special Birthday!}

I am ever amazed at how quickly the days roll by. Just last Friday, Ron was off and we were preparing for a little dinner party. Now here it is Friday again. And there has been a lot of living in between! 

Setting the table for our dinner party.

This dough bowl is one of the treasures that I brought back from our trip to Lancaster.

(Of course, I had to move it when we sat down to eat dinner.)

Dessert was an apple affair!

Harvest apple cake . . .

. . .  and homemade apple butter ice cream!

Also this week, Pineapple House hosted its first piano recital!

It was a first recital for Bekah as teacher, and it was a first recital for each of her students.

Such fun!

This boy had a birthday!

Ben is 9!! 

And also this week, we hosted another Shakespeare Reading Day, this time reading Hamlet.

We have enjoyed many of these (six? seven? I've lost count!) over the years,

but this may have been our best one yet! 

It was definitely our longest one yet.

We began at 9:30 am, took a break for lunch, and finished Act V at 4:45 pm! 

Sound tedious? Sound like a l-o-n-g and dreary day? 

Not at all! The readers were fully engaged with the play.

~ From "Laertes" when her mom came to pick her up: Mom, I can't leave until I avenge my family!

~ From "Hamlet" when he needed a potty break: To pee or not to pee. That is the question. 

~ When "Ophelia" did not want to sing her lines, the group decided to quietly hum "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" while she read to indicate that she was singing. 

~ When we heard a famous line from the play (i.e. "to be or not to be . . . ," "something is rotten in the state of Denmark," "neither a borrower nor a lender be," etc.), everyone stood up or shouted out.

~ Although we were reading, not acting, more than one reader fell dramatically to the floor when their character died.

No, it was certainly not tedious! 

Today is a special day: It is the day that my dad turns 80!

I am so proud of him! 

At age 80, he is still working full time! He started working the day after he graduated from high school and he hasn't stopped yet. He likes to be productive and keep busy. 

He has always been a good and faithful provider for our family.

My dad taught us to be respectful of our elders. He taught us to work hard and to be responsible.

I always knew that I could depend on him for care and protection. I felt safe.

And I have never doubted his love.

Today, I wish him the happiest of birthdays, with much love!!

Fall Getaway

As Bekah was telling our granddaughter Nora (8) about our family's plans for a little getaway, Nora wondered what we were going to do. Bekah told her we were going to go antiquing and do a little shopping.

Nora's response: "That's a long way to go for stores."

I suppose Nora has a point. But that's just the kind of outing that we do best.

Especially when your shopping destination is surrounded by gorgeous countryside AND your sweet blog friend lives nearby and you have plans to meet for dinner!

* * *

Deanna of Creekside Cottage and her husband Tim treated us to dinner (thanks again, guys!) and we sat at the table and talked until the hour was late. That's the kind of friendship we share . . . the kind where you can just pick up where you left off and not run out of things to talk about.

(I wrote about our first "in real life" meeting here. Hard to believe it's been five years, but we all look five years different!)

But not one single picture did we take. (What kind of bloggers are we anyway?!) Fortunately, we also had plans to meet up the next day to exchange birthday gifts, so Deanna and I posed for this one. 

I stole this photo from Deanna's Instagram because the ones on my own phone were dark, even after I edited them to the best of my ability! 

In addition to Deanna and Tim, we also saw Deanna's mom Phyllis and had a chance meeting of Emma and Isla (Deanna's daughter and granddaughter) while we waited in line at Chick-fil-A! CrAzY!

* * * 

Our outing was not just shopping. In addition to sharing time with friends, there was coffee . . .

 . . . and the girls loved feeding these darling pygmy goats. Several dear little goats were inside the fence, but the instant that a quarter was put into the feeding machine, goats came out of the woodwork! They poked their heads through the fence and ate pellets from the girls' hands. About two dollars later, they were all fast friends. :) 

But, yes, we also did some shopping. 

Here we are in front of one of my favorite stores in Lancaster: Olde Mill House Shoppes. 

And this one is fun too . . .

. . . especially if you have a napkin fetish.

Honestly, I did not buy all of the napkins I am holding in this photo. I was making my selections. :) 

We were only away for a couple of days. We had both obligations and house projects to call us home. (Ron is still working on some outdoor painting and repairs before cold weather arrives.) But we came away with a few treasures and some treasured memories. 

Morning Time ~ Autumn 2017

Another school year, a new season...and we continue collecting our little grains of sand.

I first wrote about Morning Time here on my blog back in 2010. Kati was a junior (as Bekah is now) and Bekah was a little third grader, and we had already been doing Morning Time for several years. These many years later, Morning Time remains a foundation of our day. It is a time that has enriched us, one that is well worth the minutes that are sown in exchange for the bounty that is reaped.

Morning Time currently looks something like  this...

BIBLE READING

We are reading and studying the book of Colossians. We read a chapter to get an introductory glance. Then we go back, breaking that chapter down into smaller portions to read again with some discussion. A third time we read, this time also reading corresponding thoughts from Believer's Bible Commentary by William MacDonald. After we have completed our study, we will listen to a series of messages on Colossians by Dave Hunt. 

BIBLE MEMORY

We are learning Malachi 3:16, 17.

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name.  

"They shall be mine," says the Lord of hosts, "on the day that I make them my jewels. And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him."

SING A HYMN

Our hymn for the month of September is "When He Cometh (to Make Up His Jewels)" by William Cushing. My daughter-in-law introduced us to this song when she taught it to my grandchildren and they sang it for us. The words are beautiful, the thoughts born of the verses from Malachi that we are memorizing.

POETRY STUDY

We're reading the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. We began with "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." If you haven't read this in a while, you'll be amazed at how many commons phrases come from this poem!  We will read more Coleridge poems, read some biographical information about him, and perhaps choose a poetic passage to memorize.

COMPOSER STUDY

This term we are listening to the music of British operatic composers Gilbert and Sullivan. Bekah read H.M.S. Pinafore, a retelling by Opal Wheeler. Then we watched, over a period of days, a concert performance of H.M.S. Pinafore from the BBC Proms in 2005. (Following a rabbit trail, we also read about the Proms.) Next, we'll look for a performance of Pirates of Penzance.

ART APPRECIATION

After a couple of brief dabblings (because as homeschoolers, we give ourselves the permission to leave something that doesn't bring "shining eyes" in search of something that does), we settled on Rembrant as the artist for our fall term. 

The Night Watch (de Nachtwacht)
Rembrant van Rijn, 1642

We watched a fascinating video from Khan Academy in which we overhear art historians discussing Rembrandt's The Night Watch while we are looking at the painting in the Rijksmuseum. Special effects highlight and outline the details on the painting while we listen. (Sound boring? Not at all! We felt like "experts" after we listened. We'll be looking for more of these videos!)

HISTORY READING

This is a new addition to our Morning Time line-up. Certainly not a new thing for us to share a history book together, simply a new place in the schedule. After a couple of years of Morning Time in the afternoon 😉, we have returned to gathering in the morning and it makes sense to do all of our "togethers" when we're . . . well . . . together, rather than carving out a separate time later. Simplify!

Our current history book is The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster (love her books!) which covers the years 1451 to 1522. We read ten to fifteen pages a day as we are immersed in the world of Renaissance and exploration, wars and kingdoms, enlightenment and discovery, spiritual darkness and persecution.

Morning Time continues to be a wonderful way to find joy in the journey of homeschooling!

For more reading about "Morning Time":

An introduction to our own "Morning Time"
Cindy's Inspiration for Morning Time
Kathy's "Morning Stack"
Confessions Regarding Morning Time
Morning Time 

Pineapple House | Autumn Living Room

Now it's official. The first day of autumn is finally here! 

Be still my autumn-loving heart!

However, I did not wait for the official first day to begin fallifying my house. Nope. I started taking summery touches away little by little. And then I couldn't help but pull my new wool pumpkin out of the closet. "I'm not going to go all out yet," I told my family. "Just a few hints of autumn."

But after we went to the farm stand, I gave in to all the autumn goodness!

Fall is my favorite! 

Cozy. Warm. Colorful.

I know the trend is decorating with neutrals. I see creamy, dreamy fall homes all over the internet, and they are beautiful. But in my world, fall is COLOR!

The mantle is decorated with a mixture of faux and the real deal. Can you tell which is which?

Every year I say it: "I'm not going to buy any more fall decor. I have enough."

But then this wool pumpkin won my heart and found its way into my cart at Marshalls.

Pinky likes it too.

Autumn potpourri in an old dough bowl.

I am having fun with my new table. It's the perfect place for seasonal decor. (To be honest, I've already tweaked it. This is what it looked like on the day that I took pictures.)

Autumn makes my heart (and my home) sing!

Do you add a little fall to your home? (Or a lot of fall?) Neutral or colorful? 

Sunday Snapshots: A September Birthday

This little girl missed the August Birthday Train by one day. But she's okay with that. She gets to ride the September Birthday Train all by herself! 

On Sunday, we celebrated Alaine's 7th birthday. Homemade banana ice cream was on the menu!

We had a special guest at our party: Lucy, our granddog, who was spending the weekend with us while her family was on a camping trip. We ❤ Lucy! 

(Okay, maybe we don't all ❤ Lucy.)

We even had some Wrapping Paper Antics. Uncle Ryan would be proud!

I think this face is a sign of a successful party!