4/28/2012  Mary, Nathan & Savannah playing some of the games.

There were lots of people dressed in the traditional Scottish outfits.

Nathan loved this set!

Not sure why they had the Viking helmets at the Scottish Highland Games but the kids enjoyed them!

There was a groupon for the Highland Games that made going to them super cheap.   We decided to go because Mary LOVES bagpipe music and I really like it too- it was such a fun day- we’ll definitely go back next year!

We watched the mens games- they were trying to throw these poles and have them flip over- very cool!

Axe Throwing

4/28/2012

~~~Busy Girl~~~

Mary, 8 years old

Nathan, 7 years old

Savannah, 4 1/2 years old

Lyra, 2 years old

Savannah:  Mary, where are we going?

Mary:  We’re going to a baby shower!

Savannah:  (horrified voice)  WE’RE GOING TO GET NAKED???!?!?!?

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(At the Triad Scottish Highland Games)

Savannah:  Mom, why are all de men wearin’ tutus?

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Our neighbor brought us a homemade Banana Pudding.  This is a very Southern dish & not something I’ve ever made.

Nathan:  (eyes rolling back in his head, all blissed out) Mom, this tastes like romance!

Old Salem- 4/29/2012

We’ve been studying the Civil War for several weeks.   There was a Groupon for Old Salem, which is similar to Colonial Williamsburg but on a smaller scale- it is about 30 minutes from our home.   I’ve been to Old Salem before but only to walk around and eat lunch.   I’ve never had tickets to go inside the buildings.   Also, they have a nice little museum there and it had an exhibit on Abraham Lincoln on loan from The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.    We packed a picnic lunch and headed out for a day.    This was a really nice, cheap, field trip for us! 

The kids spent some time chatting with the one of the gardeners.

At the bakery- and they handed out fresh cookies afterward!

Picnic lunch on the green…

It’s almost impossible to get a picture of all four looking at the camera and smiling all at the same time…

The kids loved this pump!

Look at all those missing teeth!

Abraham Lincoln exhibit.

Nathan & Savvy

Fun picture of Mary trying to kiss Nathan.

As many of you know, our black cat, Red Jewell, died in October.  He was the smartest, cleverest, sassiest, bossiest cat.   He ruled this house like an English lord over his serfs.   We loved his attitude and I have missed him terribly since he died.    A few memories of Red Jewell…

-He sucked his tail like a baby sucked it’s thumb.  If he was happy & content, he started sucking on his tail.   You would think this would be cute but it was slightly obnoxious at 3am, curled up on the pillow next to your head.  We had to start locking him in the laundry room at night to keep him out of our bed.

-He went through a period of being totally *obsessed* with my gold jewelry, especially necklaces.   If I took one off and left it out on the counter, he would grab it and take off with it.   I eventually had to start locking up my jewelry in my jewelry box to keep him away from it.   One evening I heard a racket coming out of our bedroom.   Somehow he had figured out how to get my jewelry box open and managed to get 6-8 necklaces off the hook and around his neck.  He came trotting down the hallway, draped in gold necklaces, as proud as can be- he looked like Mr. T.

-He was the smartest animal I’ve ever known- definitely a genius cat.    Because he was so obnoxious at night, we would lock him up in the kitchen (at our old house) at night.  The kitchen had bi-fold doors with a small hook at the top- he figured out that if he threw himself at the door hard enough he could bounce the hook out of the latch.   Then we got bi-fold door locks that screwed the doors shut- somehow he managed to unscrew the locks and get out.   We tried tying the door shut & he figured that out too.   He was a houdini. 

-A few years ago, after we moved to our new house, the children were playing in the backyard.   A copperhead snake came out & got within about 5-10 feet of them.    Red knew that the snake shouldn’t be so near the children!   He threw himself between the snake and the children and attacked it- the kids came running for me and Red was just wild to kill that snake.   What a smart boy he was!

-Red Jewell did not think that his feet should ever touch the ground while he was in the house.  He preferred to be carried, held, waited on & served as much as possible.   He was happiest when he was being held by one of us.

A few years ago we took in Kip’s mother’s cat, Princess.   She was a nice, fat, sassy girl and we enjoyed her very much.  She died on Christmas Day this year.   So for the first time in 12+ years I was catless, which is not a happy state to be in if you are a true Fairchild.

Boss Jewell

I told Kip that I wanted another cat because a house just doesn’t feel like a home without a fat cat to sit in your lap and be bossy!     I’ve been searching for a cat on and off for a few months but I had a long list of criteria- either black or tuxedo, male, affectionate, not a “hider”, good with kids, etc.      Mary & I stopped at Pet Depot one evening and they had about 20 cats, 10 of them were black cats!    We spent an hour or so getting each one out of his cage, playing with him and assessing his personality.

It was quickly clear that this was the right cat!   Super affectionate, happy to be held- I even thought initially he was declawed because he never tried to scratch me or Mary.   He never tried to wiggle & get down.    I took the baby back to spend time with him to make sure he would be good with her.   The animal shelter lowered the fees to only $20 and that included all of his shots, he was fixed, etc.   They even gave us coupons for free catfood, etc.     We brought him home that day!

4/23-  Here is “Boss” Jewell.   Although the kids are undecided- some want to call him Jaspar (which is a type of black jewel) and some want to call him Felix (after the cartoon)- they can call him whatever they want, Boss is his name as far as I am concerned.

He spends quite a bit of time sleeping with Nathan. 

He had been at Pet Depot the longest of the cats.  He was a favorite of the volunteers but they said no one wanted to adopt him because he was all black and many people consider black cats to be bad luck.   What nonsense!   Their foolishness is my good luck though because they missed out on a super nice cat!

4/27- Lyra screeches “Kiiiiieeee!  Kiiiiieeee!!” and “hugs” him a little to tightly.   When I took this picture I was holding the gate open so he could get away from her.   He could care less- he laid there for 20 minutes while she mauled on him & he was perfectly happy.    He’s been dressed up in dolly crib sheets, hauled around in a doll stroller, carried & petted & squeezed and has never clawed, scratched or bit even once. 

April 16, 2012- Lyra, in her high chair at lunch time- I think she found all the reading aloud tiring.     

12:49pm

12:50pm