Cider & Cheese

We have visitors! On Friday we drove out to Coatesville, PA and picked up Robert and Narda at a campground where they wisely decided to park their RV instead of driving it into Philly. We have been walking their legs off ever since! As soon as we got Grandma & Grandpa safely into the city we took them on a walk down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, through Center City and had dinner at Reading Terminal Market. After driving through all that open space while traveling across the country we thought they would be ready to jump right into the heart of the city. Yesterday, for a change of pace we spent a idyllic autumn day enjoying the mums and water lilies at Longwood Gardens. We spent the entire day exploring the grounds and the conservatory, watching the fountains dance, smelling the fresh air, and taking a million photos.

Because I don’t want to neglect my company, I will keep things shorter this week. But, I do want to record a few funny stories. I am reading Little House in the Big Woods to Kate. She loves it! I realized in the first few chapters when the girls are playing ball with a pig bladder and Pa is slaughtering animals to store food for winter that this might be a shocker for a girl growing up in our boneless, skinless chicken breast society. Kate, however, seems to take it into stride that they eat their pet pig and the bears they come across in the forest. In fact this week we read the chapter about making cheese. It talks about how they needed the lining of a calf’s stomach so they had to choose which calf to slaughter. I was worried that Kate would be upset, but instead she looked up at me and said, “Mom, can we make cheese?” I began to reply, “Well....?” and she jumped right in again with, “We would need to kill a cow. So maybe we will wait until we kill a cow and then we can make cheese.” I’m sure she will hold me to it, so I hope I never find myself with a dead calf on my hands.

We went to our first Little Explorers program at Bartram’s Garden this week. Since I decided to do preschool at home with Kate I figured I need to involve her in a few things where she was learning from someone other than myself. We signed her up for gymnastics, which has been a huge success, and then I also found this program at Bartram’s Gardens. This week we took a walk around the garden while Mr. Zach taught us about seed pods, fragrant berries, toads, herbs, etc. and then we made apple cider on an old apple press. One highlight of the garden tour was the Sensitive Plant. If you go up to this plant and stroke its leaves, it folds up to protect itself. Yesterday while we were at Longwood Gardens looking at the lilly pads Kate discovered a Sensitive Plant. I looked over and could see her bubbling over with excitement. As I got closer I realized she was teaching Josh how to stroke its leaves to get it to fold up. It was so fun to see her remember something she learned, especially because she was so excited to teach her dad about it.

Kate and Jane are the perfect age to play together now. I love to watch them sing, play, and imagine together. The other day I heard Kate reading to Jane. She said, “Come on , Jane. I will read to you.” They sat down and Kate began by reading, “Little House on the Fairy.” It was a mix of bears, panthers, princesses, bad guys, flying, dancing, never land, and singing. Jane was completely engrossed. Every night the first thing Jane thanks Heavenly Father for in her prayers is “my Kate.” I hope they always stay close.

Next week we will give you an account of all our adventures with the Woodfords. Josh is on break right now, so he is actually around to join us in the fun! Even the weather is cooperating.