High Summer

High Summer has come and gone and new the last days of August are here, filled with school books arriving and schedules being made! Our summer took my breath away filled to the brim with so many things.  We volunteered again at the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival and the girls spent two days cooking and making potato candy. It was hot and tiring but full of so many memories with good friends.  We love the old ways! There have been trips to see old tractors and lots of make believe, preserving and harvesting food from our garden, flower bouquets made from the perennial gardens, snuggles with big sisters, books read (oh so many), mud kitchen baking, Shakespeare plays put on, chickens cared for and music made!  Everyone grew so much and we're thankful for a summer full of blessings. 

 

And then you were six

 Our Phoebe bird is six! What a marvel she is.  She's tender and loving with a kick of fiesty energy. She can "talk the hind leg off a mule".  She is starting to read and draw some really lovely people. She is a good encourager and a very loved big sister and little sister.  Phoebe has an incredible ear for music and has figured out how to play Bach Inventions on her own. She can speak French and German and plays piano and recorder.  This year she really came into her own as the chicken whisperer.  She loves her flock well.  Phoebe loves fruit and veggies and "snacky" lunches.  She is a wonderful ballet dancer and loves to play in imaginary lands with her fellow actors.  She is potty training Levi now and has learned to get him dressed and do diaper changes. What a girl!  Phoebe loves being outside, in the vegetable garden, in the fairy garden or mud kitchen, getting muddy and gathering wildflowers or watching the birds. She is really great with numbers and is also learning to be a good cook! Phoebe is our darling girl who is fast becoming a big girl now with a big and beautiful heart.  She loves Jesus and asks so many good and hard questions about the world she lives in.  How we pray for a good year and for many blessings as she grows and learns and lives. Happy birthday birdie! We took a trip to Crystal Cave together on your day and enjoyed a Beatrix Potter themed cake! 

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Through the Wardrobe

For Lena's 11th birthday we took a trip through the wardrobe and traveled through all of the Chronicles of Narnia.  Lena read them all this year and we had so much fun planning this event. We had a Cair Paravel cake for her actual birthday but a turkish delight cake for her party. We had tea with Tumnus, the white witches drink, a Narnian salad, Edmund's stale bread and cheese, we searched for the magic apples and rang the bell, found magic rings and jumped into pools of water. We found the missing twin and raced on horses to warn Narnia that the Telamarines were coming. We toured the ruins of Cair Paravel, blew the horn, found the missing swords and jumped like Dufflepods.  We played wink and sleep with Ramandu and searched for Reepicheep, we went underground and searched for the silver chair, we drew Puddlegum and repeated the four signs.  Then we did archery for the last battle and had a feast. 

In the last month our days have been rich and full of beauty but also stressful and exhausting with illness and worries.  God's goodness continues to break through our darkness! We enjoyed a trip to Tyler Arboretum, made strawberry jam, had more parties, took a trip to the hospital, had icecream with friends, jumped in puddles, had a ballet recital and choir concert and finished our school year,