Christmas Weekend

Yesterday, we woke up to a cloudy sky and rain.  Later in the morning,  the sun broke theough for a few minutes.  The last bit of ice (you can kind of see it on the right hand margin of the pond) melted.  The temperature got up to 60 degrees.  We were beginning to think there was no chance for a white Christmas.  But, this morning the temps are down to the low 30s and there is a little snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  Yeah!!  Hopefully, it will cover the ground.

Last night was the christmas program at church.  There were some young people that played or sang hymns.  They all did a great job.

Grandma read a poem.

Mr. Morris played Simeon in the skit. He did a great job.  The traditional nativity scene was told from the perspective of Simeon.  He reminisced through the Scriptures, thinking of different Bible Stories and how they foretold the coming Messiah.  He started with Adam and Eve after they were kicked out of the garden, and then went to...

Abraham and Sarah talking about how God had provided a lamb to take the place of Isaac as a sacrifice.

The third part, was Moses (played by Mr. Pile) leading the complaining children of Israel out of Egypt.  The kids loved getting to fuss and complain.  They did a great job, you might have thought they had been practicing for years.  (LOL).

They all got bit by snakes and fell down very sick.  (The kids seemed to like this part as well).

 

Then Moses tried to convince them to look at the bronze serpent and live.

Then the young children came out and did the traditional nativity scene.  Gabriel was an angel. Very appropriate.  We had a very active lamb who ran the entire time he was on stage.  (Phillip) and an angel who waltzed and danced while she was up there.

The end of the skit came when Mary (Reagan) and Joseph (Ian) presented baby Jesus to Simeon.  It really hit home to hear the words of Simeon presented.  It was excellent!

On our way home we stopped at a house that has really gone all out decorating. We have been seeing it from the highway when we would drive past, but I decided to get off and see it from the front.

Despite all the glitz and Santa's and reindeer, they did have the true meaning of the season front and center.

Labor Day 2013

One of the main purposes of my blog posts is to keep family that are far away updated on our lives...
(ie. This is not a profound post.  Just pictures of the latest family event)

My sister and her husband, enjoying the beautiful weather. I really like this picture.

Levi and Ian playing corn hole with their Grandpas.

 Ian

Sadie was tired.  School schedules are in place.

Isaac 

My DH and Dad enjoying some down time.

 Eating in the garage.  It was a cool evening.  All the food was delicious!

The corn on the cob has been delicious this year.

 Michelle's pies were present.  They were soooo good!  One was peach and the other was cherry, made from cherries from our own tree.  They were GF too!

After the little ones left, the older children got in a game of pinochle with Grandma and my DH.  Dad was giving coaching to the beginners.

It was a lovely evening!

Memorial Day, Our Town's Style

This year was the first year that Dallas was ready for attending a parade and public event. The children have sort of trained him to ignore other dogs and to not try to eat the little ones for a snack. They are not big chipmunks.

Last year we were visiting some of Roger's family up in Wisconsin.

Our family tradition is to eat breakfast at the park. We used to try and get the charcoal going and cook it over the coals, but we found that it took too long and was too stressful. We all seem to enjoy it more when it is cooked at home and brought along.

DH bought and brought the OJ. He knows that otherwise we don't have it unless it's a birthday or holiday. He likes to get the children treats.

Michelle and JoAn were big helps in preparing the food.

It was really delicious. Scrambled eggs, grits, sausage, and GF coffee cake that was made in muffin pans instead of a 9x13. They cooked quicker that way. Easier to handle also.

Then we walked down to the big road to see the parade.

Michelle used Dallas as a back rest. He didn't seem to mind.

The ground was so wet and muddy, that it was hard to find a place to perch.

Recognize these faces? Any long term blog readers will see that they are Chance and Ulysses. The two little guys that joined us for homeschooling last year. They are doing well. Chance is going to a Christian School and Ulysses is home with his mom.

Our parade is pretty basic. The marching band, Brownies and Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Softball teams and some old cars and fire engines.
There are plenty of politicians throwing candy and dog bones too. It is a real dog friendly event.

The gentleman in the light blue coat is Al Smith my principal from Junior High. He was a nice guy, but very strict, an ex-marine I believe. He swung a big paddle when students misbehaved. It was displayed prominently in his office. Such things were legal back then. Every year I am sort of anxious to see if he is still around. His traditional job is to read the names of all the soldiers who died in the military from our town. They go back to the civil war.

This year the speech by the honored guest was a little strange. The Pentagon wrote the speech and ordered everybody giving a speech on Memorial Day to use theirs. I'm not crazy about that idea. It is not very personal and I kinda feel like it's a little 'Big Brotherish'. (You think?!!!)

This was definitely the wettest Memorial Day in the park that I remember, and it didn't even rain. There was standing water everywhere. The mud splashed up to our knees as we walked. I think the local farmers might be better off planting rice than corn.

~Mom

Reformation Festival

Halloween is not something the Mangos choose to celebrate. This year we had the opportunity to do something different. Some friends of ours were having a Reformation Party in honor of October 31st being the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door.

They had some stilts out for the children to play with. Mr. Boots did very well on them.

T-Bob stood around and was cold. It was very frigid that evening!

The boys checked out 'the door' with the Thesis printed out on it.

They listened attentively to our host.

Olivia, our host's youngest daughter, was dressed for the occasion. We all enjoyed the chili for supper, especially when it was such a chilly evening.

Our host gave a short history lesson and explained the significance of the evening. We also sang some hymns, including, of course, Martin Luther's famous 'A Mighty Fortress is Our God'. Being that our host is such a music guy, he had us sing it to a totally different tune than usual. We made it through.

Thomas and some of the rest of us snuck in the house for a bit to warm up.

The garage was the place to be, though. They had decorated it so nicely with Christmas lights and other things. The rest of the evening was spent in doing English country dancing. It was so fun to see the children enjoying being together and having fun. JoAn, Mr. Boots and Elizabeth had a good time dancing together. T-Bob didn't want to participate at all. Michelle and Thomas did join in.

The parents were the wall flowers. There was between 40-50 young people. There wasn't room for us more mature people. As it was the dances extended down the driveway quite a bit into the cold, dark, evening. It wasn't too bad as long as they kept moving.

Gabriel, one of the host's sons, was all gussied up.

Many of the guests came dressed in as close as they could get to period style clothing.


Here are JoAn and Mr. Boots dancing down the line. This really looked like fun!

Michelle and Thomas went swinging down the line as partners as well. It was a great evening. Not sure what Martin Luther would have thought, but we enjoyed it.

~Mom