Homesick for a land I've never been to

I have been pondering lots of spiffy blog posts in my head, but I have been too darn busy to write them down--and then I forget most of them.

I recently read the sequel to one of my all time favorite books "Anything Can Happen" by George and Helen Papashvily. It is a charming little book* (literally--because it was published during WWII while there was paper rationing, the hardbound book is only a little larger than the size of a paperback) which I found at a library book sale in my early teens. George was a natural storyteller, and this delightful autobiography of his adventures of coming to the US from Georgia (near Russia, not the state of the US) influenced my life for ever after. I just found that he wrote (in his book "Home and Home Again") about his return to visit his home village in Georgia after 40 years in the US.

Reading his books makes me homesick for a place I have never been to--and, because of the political instability in Georgia (which, for those who are not totally up to date on their former Soviet countries, is located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe--bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan) I probably never will.



Which is a shame, because I would LOVE to visit a country with over 9000 years of history! It is one of the oldest countries in the world, which has retained its own culture, language and traditions in spite of being smack in the middle of the territory everybody else wanted--which brought about hundreds of invasions.



Ahh, well--I am a great armchair traveler, and Google Maps has made it even more fun!

*and because it was a bestseller and book of the month selection, it isn't very hard to find a copy--the reissued 1984 paperback lists on amazon for .40!

This pretty well sums up our Family Portrait Session

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. We got to go to both family dinners. We left LargeBoy at his Grandma & Grandpa W's house to play with the boy cousins, and have a sleepover. Then, we left BigGirl to have a sleepover with BigCousin on the other side. We saw cousins that we don't get to see very often, and it was wonderful!

We have so much to be thankful for. I personally LOVE to have light, heat and hot water so easily--any time, as much as I want! A miracle. I am surrounded by the love and support of wonderful family and friends.

I am so truly blessed.

WOOT!

I am so SUPER PROUD of my "little" sisters! They both decided what they wanted to do with their lives--what would give them deep soul joy, every day, and they went back to school and worked very hard (while taking care of many little children, hubby, church responsibilities, social lives, etc.) and last week THEY GRADUATED! WITH HONORS!





This is the first official graduation either of them have had, since they both chose to be entirely schooled at home. I have known the painful lesson of the oldest child for many years--everything I did right, my younger siblings took, and improved upon. (It is like having the gold medal from the 1920 Olympics--yeah, that record has been obliterated since then!) They are much better than I am, and I love to see how wonderfully they have turned out.

WooHoo!--Now with pictures!

I haven't been able to post for two reasons: 1) I have been attempting to dig out of the more chaotic than usual chaos that the kitchen rebuild created, to get ready for a Halloween party here, which leads to 2) I didn't want to leak the surprise that we had in the works--a surprise for my dad who faithfully reads this blog!

For a couple of months we sisters have been planning for SisterM & HubbyO to come from the Bronx with their cutie boys, and for SisterA & HubbyA (and SisterR!) to come from Indianapolis with their cutie girls, and have a great Halloween party at my house. And the sneaky bit--we didn't tell Grandpa they were coming, we just set it up so that he would be in charge of handing out the candy, and every one of the Trick-or-Treaters who showed up would be his grandkids (or kids).

Everything was going great. The plans were in place, Grandma had been enlisted to get him here on time--and to give us a heads up when they left, so we could get everybody stashed at the other location (so they would be able to surprise him).
The boys who couldn't be here (BrotherN & WifeS in California, BrotherB & WifeM in Pennsylvania, BrotherE in Utah and BrotherR in Virginia) were scheduled to Skype or call during the party. We were very excited to have more than half of the family together--5 out of nine siblings!

M&O were scheduled to arrive around midnight on Fri, so BigGirl and I were staying up to finish the cleaning. I was so tired that I was just about to take a little nap on the couch, when headlights pulled in, so we ran out to see the cutie babies--except there were no babies--just awesome BrotherR, and his good friend S, who had made the 9 hour drive from Virginia! Much happy shrieking happened at that point!

Shortly thereafter, there were more headlights and sure enough, it WAS the cutie babies, with their cute mommy & daddy AND BrotherE! They had picked him up from the airport as the ultimate surprise! WOOT!!!



In total, we ended up with 7 out of the 9 siblings! And it was (as always!) hilarious! Didn't get to bed until 2:00am. Worth it.

On Friday, we got ready for the party, and had actual (technically unrelated, but well loved) party guests here, when finally it was time for the surprise part. We sent everybody "unexpected" down the block to the library, where they got into their costumes, and waited for the signal. We decided that they would arrive in "order of unexpectedness".



IT WAS AWESOME!






"Do my eyes deceive me? Can it really be?"




Yes--it really is!

My favorite part (besides the look on Grandpa's face!), was the fact that he didn't seem to catch the pattern--that every single one of the Trick-or-Treaters who showed up were his progeny! It was classic!

After the surprising part, we had a massive pumpkin carving festival, played some awesome games, and talked and laughed until 2:00am. Worth it.




(this kind of nonsense is what happens when you let the uncles loose with the pumpkins!)


Grandpa prepares to show the young'uns "how it's done!"




In Church yesterday, our family took up the first 3 rows in the Chapel. The Bishop announced that all the Anderson's were officially welcome to move back--it was great! After Church, we had a Soup and Bread (and Chili & Baked Potato) supper together before people had to leave.

I am so grateful for a family that I don't just love--I like--thoroughly enjoy them! We have so much fun together--and we always have. The blessings of the gospel radiate through our lives, making everything so much better, and I am (possibly) the most blessed person on earth.

The light at the end of the tunnel--possibly!

The chaos is slowly beginning to ebb. I came up with a brilliant plan for putting all the stuff away in the new kitchen cupboards. First I mapped out the old cupboards, and listed everything they had in them. Then I made a map of the new cupboards, and a list of all the items, and, using old fashioned cut and paste, I made a new map of where everything will go, and posted it on the fridge. Then (here's the brilliant part!) I labelled every cupboard, so everyone knows what is supposed to go into it--and my big children have been putting stuff away--even when I am not here!

I am SO busy, and I have such a huge to do list crying out for every second of my time, but my friend Miss K (Oh wait, I already have a Miss K--what do I do when I have 2 friends with the same initial? Alright, we will just call her Miss Kitty, and the original Miss K gets to keep initial rights!) Miss Kitty dragged me out to have fun in the incredibly beautiful fall weather--and boy did we ever!

Specifically, at the Renaissance Festival! They have a permanent "village" set up which really adds to the atmosphere.

Of course we dressed up! When she asked if I would want to go with her to the festival, I asked if she would be interested in dressing up, and she responded "why do you think I asked you out of all the people I know in Ohio?" So we did--but just as peasants, because we only had 2 days to plan and I couldn't really sew very much, so most of it just came out of the costume box(es!).

LargeBoy got an ocarina as his "so sorry you had to stay home and help the Boy Scouts with the Popcorn Fundraiser instead of going to the Ren Fair" gift. He has already developed some serious ocarina skills! It came with two little books of music--one of lullaby's and simple songs, and the other with "geek favorites" like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Zelda music. Guess which one he prefers! (HINT: Harry Potter sounds really great on the ocarina!)

BigGirl also got something awesome--but you must hold onto your curiosity until the big reveal at the end of the month--since hers is now an integral part of her Halloween costume!

SmallDaughter just got to ride a bunch of rides. She enjoyed trying on the princess hats, but wouldn't hold still for a picture and told me no when I asked if she wanted one. So--just rides!

So much fun that I am still recovering! I will post pix when I get them from Miss Kitty's camera!