Today Kip’s cousin Amy and her two girls came over for a play day… and they brought hand-me-downs- PERFECT! 
Mary and Jenna- both 5 years old.
Left to Right- Mary and Jenna, Jewell and Nathan.
Jewell (7 years old) and Nathan (4 years old)
Mary and Jewell- Beautiful pictures of the girls!
July 3, 2009
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned numerous times before, Mary was named after my grandmother- Mary Elizabeth Caster Fairchild. She was such a wonderful, Godly lady. I was just thrilled when Mary was born- I had a blue-eyed little girl to name after Gramma Mary.
She passed away in November, 2000. Every year since then, I make Buckeyes on her birthday as a way of remembering her. I make Buckeyes because I have this really clear memory of spending the night at her house one COLD winter night in Upstate New York. It was early evening, pitch dark out and I remember the warm glow of the kitchen and the two of us rolling the little peanut butter balls and dipping them in the chocolate. Such a fun night. 
Here are pictures of my three kids helping me to make Buckeyes on Friday, July 3rd. She would have been 89 years old.
Mary (5 years old) and Nathan (4 years old). The large tupperware bowl we used to mix the ingredients was Gramma Mary’s bread bowl. I use it all the time and it makes me smile.
One of my all-time favorite posts EVER-
When Sullen Teen Meets Frumpy Mom
Whether you are a Mom of Many, a Mom of Some, a Mom of One or a Mom of None, read this oh-so-fabulous post….
Who Will Lead the Children? The comments on this post are *really* good- don’t miss them!
The other night, Kip and I went upstairs to go to bed and I did my last minute bed check of the children.
Nathan? Check. Tuck the covers back around him.
Savvy? Check. All cozed up with Giraffy.
Mary? Not in her bed. Not under her bed. Not in her closet. She’s not in the school room. Not in the hallway bathroom. Not in Savvy’s room or our room or our bathroom. No where to be found. We’ve just come upstairs so we know she’s not in the kitchen, living room, laundry room, or study.
By this point, Kip and I have been searching for her for about 10-15 minutes.
I’m starting to panic. I’m starting to have visions of Elizabeth Smart. I’m really starting to panic.
Empty bed. Where could she be? Did someone kidnap her out of her room????
I say to Kip- you know, the only room we haven’t checked is the dining room. So, I start to head downstairs to check the dining room. Kip was in our bedroom and as I got several stairs down, he said something to me. I turned my head to look through the stair banisters and into the bedroom to answer him. Because I’m several stairs down, I’m at eye level with the floor when I turn and look through the banisters. And guess what I see?
.
.
.
.
.
.
One of our neighbors had been setting off fireworks. Mary is TERRIFIED of fireworks. She had grabbed her pillow, her meme and crawled under our bed and fallen asleep. Because the other children were asleep, when Kip and I were searching and calling for Mary, we were doing it quietly. And because she was asleep, she didn’t hear us calling her.
My Mother gave me this picture of her maternal grandparents several years ago. There was no frame and half of the picture has reversed itself- so one half is convex and one half is concave. I looked into having it restored and the estimate was $500-$600. OUCH. No can do- that’s a lot of money. So, I ended up having a copy made and having the copy restored. Cost- $60. Ahh, much better.
This is their wedding picture- she was 14 years old and he was 16 years old when they married sometime around 1914? 1915? 1916? Not sure of the correct date off the top of my head but I do have it written down somewhere.
THE ORIGINAL (now stored carefully away in the top of my closet)
THE NEW COPY- Doesn’t it look great?
“Bert” and Pearl had one child- Marvel. Marvel Barcomb went on to marry three times. Her first husband died after getting a tetnus shot. Her second husband ( Corporal Carmen Catania) was killed in action at Okinawa on May 10, 1945. Her third husband was Lyle Johnston. Marvel and Lyle’s second daughter was my Mother, Joanne Marie Johnston. So Bert and Pearl are Mary, Nathan and Savvy’s Great Great Grandparents.
We’ve been camping at Raccoon Holler for ten years. I had no interest in the traditional type of batchelorette party so instead Kristen arranged for a whole group of us to go camping and canoeing instead. That was the first time I camped there and we’ve been coming back ever since. This is the second year in a row we’ve gone up for their 4th of July celebration. YOU MAY REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED WHEN WE WENT LAST YEAR- NOT GOOD! This year we reserved a tent site but only stayed for the day.
We got up there around 11am, in time for the Dog Costume Contest.
Afterwards we went to our camp site, ate lunch, played with the kids.
There was a family behind us with a 5yo girl and she and Mary became fast friends. They had a golf cart entered in the Golf Cart Parade and they invited Mary and Nathan to ride in the parade with them and throw candy. They LOVED this!
After the parade there was (some) nappage, playing at the playground, hotdogs and s’mores over the campfire.
Then we went down to the lake- we listened to the Bluegrass band playing and the kids played on the playground until the fireworks started.
We left around 10pm and headed back home. SO much better than staying the night!
Dog Costume Contest
Campsite
Savvy tickling Mary.
Golf Cart Parade- Mary and Nathan ready to go!
Other golf carts in the parade.
AT THE CAMPSITE
Kip teaching Mary how to work the slingshot.
More campsite pictures.
All the kids. Left to right- A-5yo, Mary-5yo, N-9yo, Nathan-4yo, G- 11yo, C-13yo holding Savvy, 22 months.
AT THE PLAYGROUND waiting for the fireworks to start.
Mary and Nathan’s version of Noah’s Ark using Nathan’s pirate ship and our basket of animals.
June 30, 2009
Mary and Savvy on the 360 degree see-saw.
Tough Boy.
Getting to be a big kid.
WHY is Mom forcing me to smile and taking my picture??? (Because I want a picture of those gorgeous blue eyes!)
Ohmyword, she looks so BIG! Getting ready to go to a neighborhood friend’s pool.
Later that evening- both girls waiting for our company to arrive. Savvy looks more like a KID and less like a baby…
Mary and Nathan were both signed up for the 6:15 swim class- I think because it was during dinner time, no one else was signed up. This meant that they got private lessons without Kip and I paying the higher price for them! They each had their own teacher and they made wonderful progress throughout the week, especially Nathan.
Nathan and Ms. Amy.
Mary and Ms. Amy
Nathan and Savvy cuddled up on the couch after spending the morning in our little pool. Kip bought the kids an inflatable pool. Last week they were in the pool by 9:30 most mornings and stayed there until 1:00pm, with about 10 minutes out to eat lunch. Then they slept until 5pm, ate dinner and went to swimming classes afterwards. They spent lots of time in the water and were WORE OUT.
Nathan with Ms. Kendall, learning how to float.
Look at Savvy with my sunglasses on her head.
My word, What a POUT that is!
