Growing Up Elsie

Elsie is already taller than her brother Buckeye. She is growing so fast and is quickly becoming the dominate one in the two, dog pack. Buckeye loves Elsie and their favorite game is keep away. We gave them a couple of squeaky toys to play with and just like toddlers each of them want the toy that the other one has. So around they go chasing each other after the sought after, favorite green toy that squeaks. Elsie has been a lot of fun for Buckeye and they entertain each other. She is a cuddle bug and has an incredibly sweet disposition. The children, especially Hope, have been diligent in training her. Recently they have been working on meal time. Elsie is highly motivated by food. So we took the "Dog Whisperer's" advice in training Elsie to be calm just before meal time. She has to sit without barking for her food and make eye contact with the person feeding her. When she sits quietly and makes eye contact then the food is placed in front of her. It has worked great. Now when it is time to eat she runs into the laundry room and sits and waits patiently. It also helps us to remember that she needs to eat twice a day. Buckeye is a once a day eater and is not motivated by food. Some days he even skips a meal?? Elsie says she can't wait to meet her grandparents and is looking forward to visitors!

Updating Our Home: Why Did We Wait?

Reading Area in Master Bedroom
........
All the children helped paint but Sarah was especially productive in her painting. She helped Aunt Leoni and I paint all the trim, doors, doorways, and closets. She did an amazing job! Thank you Sarah. You are a good little painter.

All the children helped paint the new dinning room. Rolling is so much fun!

Dinning Room: Thanks Aunt Mellissa for giving us a jump start in painting the old school room and helping with the transformation of the official dinning room. It looks so much bigger.

The other side of the Dinning Room: Notice the new light fixture. No more brass. The stars are especially for Lorimer. He's been wanting to decorate with Texas stars since we moved in two years ago. I found these on clearance at Lowes. Great buy! Lorimer loves the Texas Star wall.

Living Room: We rearranged the sofas putting the sofa table behind the sofa (where it should have been) decorated with candles and vases that we had around the house. Everyone has loved Lorimers custom made mantle, entertainment center, and updates to the bookshelves. Remember the scallops?

Breakfast Area: Over the last two years we have gotten lots of compliments on the color of this room. So the blue stayed with a few touch ups here and there. We made the table round and and added decorative pillows to the bench. My favorite decorative tip is to decorate in threes. For example a vase, a candle and fruit bowl.

The Master Bathroom: This space is warm and inviting now especially when the large shower behind the door is spotted. This was my favorite transformation in the house. Lorimer also put in a white, marbled tile floor. It looks amazing! Thanks to Dad for rescuing us and helping with the bathroom on the last day. Lorimer spent many weeks working on the bathroom late at night "after work." Thank you Honey!

Master Bedroom: Some rearranging of the furniture, a new reading area, and some splashes of color completed the master bedroom. The reading area is my favorite. I can enjoy it at the end of the day or as a retreat in the afternoon. I added a picture above.

The Guest Bathroom: This room got a fresh coat of paint by Uncle Jeff, touch ups by Sarah and trim painted by Aunt Leoni. I found a fun shower curtain at Kohls the finish off the look. The seaside arrangement on the counter reminds Lorimer and I of home (California and South Africa). Sandy wet hair, sea shells, dolphins jumping in the distance, cool breezes, beach volleyball....I could go on and on. Thanks Leoni for adding a little touch of home!

By now most of our friends and family know that we have been looking to move to Fort Worth, Texas to be closer to Lorimer's job in White Settlement. We have been searching for land since this summer. We recently stumbled upon a house in foreclosure (the Lord lead us there) with 5 acres that would be perfect for us in so many ways including being just 7 miles from Lorimer's High School. We have been praying about it for a couple of months and doing lots of decluttering around the house. Most recently we have done many fun things to our current home in Hurst to update it and get it ready for the market. It officially hit the market Saturday morning with an open house and two showings over the weekend. Leoni, my wonderful sister-in-law, helped us with much of the work at the house and did a wonderful job decorating for us. She has been such a blessing making the whole process go smoothly. Thank you to all who helped us and a BIG thank you to Hope and Sarah who helped babysit their little sis on alternating days. Thank you David for doing yard work and odd jobs every day. It was a lot of work but the end result paid off with lots of interested buyers looking in and liking what they saw. Above are some pictures of our new and improved home. Why did we wait so long to make it pretty? We hope not to make that mistake in our next home. It was worth every penny!

Hand Quilting

Since the fall, the girls and I have been taking a quilting class with a retired teacher from Brewer High School. We have loved learning this lost skill. Margaret Cook, our quilting instructor is so patient and we all adore her and appreciate her willingness to teach us to sew and hand quilt. Here are my first two completed quilt blocks. One is the Nine Patch and the other is the Ohio Star. It takes us about a month to complete a block. The Ohio Star

Hope's Nine Patch

Sarah's Nine Patch

Hopes Drunkard's Path

Sarah's Drunkard's Path

Margaret Cook and Sarah are working on a block the girls entered into a national contest. It is the School Block Challenge in Kentucky. Winners will be announced next month, February 20, 2010.

Hope is working on her contest block. The following day we sent the blocks off to Kentucky.

The Girls' Completed Blocks

Friends In Georgia

At last I got to see and cuddle Abigail. I wanted to bring her home until the next visit. I'm not sure why the Tully family did not agree to this?? Abigail is just too sweet to resist! She is a smiley baby who rarely ever makes a peep. I have to say it was hard getting all the cuddling in that I wanted. My girls were enjoying her just as much as I. Kathryn LOVES Abigail....

Moms' day out....planning our family albums together....and adding to each other's album each Christmas....Heather, I printed out pictures for your page....It's a start

One of the kids snapped this shot.... Love this angle

Kathryn adoring Abigail....common theme of the week

Cutie Pie Friends....out to play

Kathryn also adores her Auntie Heather....

Eric is such a good sport....and so much fun....I love to see him playing with all the kiddos....all ten

Girlhood....What else can I say? Fond memories....and sad good-byes

Favorite activity of the week....Cuddling Abigail

Boyhood....Knights....Kings.... soldiers....cowboys....You name it....They imagined it

Introducing Elsie

Miss ElsieLorimer's Surprise

The Children are so excited to have a sister for Buckeye. Buckeye on the other hand is not so sure about Miss Elsie. He has been watching her from a distance.




Elsie's First Training Session



Hope loves animals, especially dogs and horses. Hope has been doing a lot of reading about teaching dogs agility. The last couple of months Hope researched about what breed of dog would be a good candidate for agility training. She had no idea that Lorimer was considering getting her and her sisters and brother a dog. The Labrador Retriever, black or chocolate was on the children's top 5 List of favorite dogs that would be good at agility. Lorimer called home a few evenings ago with news of a black Lab puppy that needed a new home. We are all fond of this breed (My Favorite). When we moved to Texas two years ago, we gave our dog Sandy, a yellow Lab to our good friends, the Garretts. We were not able to bring her because at the time we had not purchased a home. On the way to Texas, the big move, we received a call letting us know that our offer on the home that we had hoped for was going to be accepted after all. We would have a yard for Sandy. We had already been on the road for a day and a half. As much as we wanted to we could not turn back. The children cried and begged us to turn back to get our pets that we left behind, but there was no turning back. We had a four car caravan, a semi truck and a moving truck. As a result, our first Christmas here in Texas, Lorimer gave the children Buckeye as their one and only Christmas present. They were thrilled! Again they are thrilled to have a new puppy, especially a Lab. We are thankful that we have been able visit Sandy in Ohio twice since we have moved. She is doing great with her new family and they love her very much.

Christmas In Ohio

December 19th we arrived in Columbus and to our delight, IT WAS SNOWING! Next day the children spent the day outside with Mr. Snowman. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Greyling for inviting us to stay with them the entire week of our stay in Ohio. The children enjoyed talking with Mr. Greyling and playing with his dog Magic. Mostly Buckeye enjoyed Magic, his new friend. Hope also adored Mrs. Greyling's parakeet. The Children had been praying for months that they would see snow during our visit to Columbus. God is good! It delights him to give us these pleasures. His creation shows us how much he cares for his children.

Kathryn 2 and Maddie 5
See the resemblance?


Candice with new Wyatt Woodward

Proud Mama



Stella (Star in Latin)

Baby Wyatt (3 months)




Or was Aunt Candice the Star?

Hello to Sandy! We have missed her. Thanks to the Garretts and their children for giving her a loving home.

See, Lorimer does love her. He would never admit it.

Distant Cousins

Dad and Al

The Girls with M Girl

Mom and long time Friend, Mona Admiring Wyatt

The Twin Sisters Together at Last

Sweet!

Noah 3 and Katie 2




M Girl and Buckeye

Nate Garrett and David

So good to see our friends.


More Cherished Friends

Joelle 11, Sarah 9, Hope 11, Dana 13



Rebbecca G. and Kathryn enjoy their visit. They were both infants when we moved to Texas. Oh, how they've grown. Sad face!

All the Kiddos--Christmas Dinner

Great job Candice. Everything was so delicious! Thanks for making our Christmas Holiday special. The kids are still talking about the trip. It was hard saying good-bye. We look forward to seeing you again this August for Alistaire's high school graduation. Thanks to you Brandon for opening your home to all of us. Your house is adorable!

Christmas In Texas

Good-byes to Alwin, Lorimer's brother, and his family. We celebrated Christmas early in Texas with almost the "whole" family. Alwin and Mellissa left on Christmas day to visit family in South Africa. If we could have just been a stow away! Cape Town is so beautiful...so I've heard. The rest of us would soon be headed to Columbus, Ohio to visit the family "left behind."Alwin? Ian 9, Jordyn 12, Mellissa? Megan 7, and Gavin 4
Ian, Jordyn, McKenzie 9 and Sarah 9(More Cousins)

Kathryn 2 was so excited about the Christmas season...but it is all so tiring.
.......
Next...
Winter Piano Recital

David played Cuckoo, Both Hands.


Hope played Minuet in G Major (A Duet with Mrs. Huff)and
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear



Sarah played Happy Farmer and O Little Town of Bethlehem

Then....

Family Christmas Cookie Bake...

Even Daddy helped!


We invited Marianne, the children's' closest friend from church to bake with us. We baked 24 dozen cookies. Snicker Doodles, Great Grandma Cary's Sugar Cookies, and Gluten Free Ginger Snaps for Daddy. The girls had fun coloring the dough after all that mixing. Then rolling, cutting, baking, icing, decorating, assembling plates of cookies, wrapping, adding ribbons...Whew! Finally, a chair to rest our feet and the taste test...It was all worth it.

Did I mention it took two days to accomplish all this?

Baking, Baking and More Baking!

I must have forgotten to take pictures the second day so I do not have pictures of the finished product. The children made 18 plates of cookies to share with some of the Brewer High School Staff.