Anything Can Be a Doll…Use Your Imagination!

Growing up, I was the oldest of seven children. There were four girls within about 6 years, then a 5 or 6 year break and then three boys within about four years. We always joked that my parents had two sets of children. But I was a teenager when my brothers were babies and toddlers and I remember my dad saying once how boys could make a car/truck out of anything! 

"Somewhere in the deep dark jungle," he would jokingly say, "there's a little boys pushing a rock in the dirt and going "bbbbrrrrrr" just like a truck!" 

And it's true isn't it! I've sure learned with boys that they can make trucks and guns out of just about anything. Two Legos = gun. Cardboard box = car. Of course their fascination with cars, trucks and guns just gets more sophisticated with age doesn't it? 

Case in point below! 

But I'm learning how the same principle can be applied to little girls as well!! They can make a doll from ANYTHING!! DR is often humorously perplexed by Yahoo as he listens to her play and the complex discussions and relationships that she weaves between her dolls. It's not uncommon for her to play for an hour or more in her room, all by herself, and the whole time she's talking to her dolls…or more specifically, her dolls are talking to one another. 

But this morning I realized that boys and girls are just the same….toys can be ANYTHING!! As I was getting Yahoo ready for school this morning in the bathroom, and then getting myself ready to go sub at the school today, she pulled open the drawer and started pulling out all her nail polish bottles and started a conversation!!

Yes, she was pretending that all her nail polish bottles were sisters and they were…well, I didn't follow along well enough to know exactly what was going on…but it tickled me to no end that she had no problem at all pretending that these bottles were real! Ha Ha! 

The more I think boys and girls are different the more I learn they are just the same! 

Orphan Train Museum, Concordia, KS

Over Christmas vacation DR, the kids and I took a little road trip and we found ourselves in the little town of Concordia, KS where we visited the National Orphan Train Museum. Before we visited the museum I had heard of the Orphan Train and I knew that it brought orphans from New York City and brought out west. I thought the train had only ran for a few years and only brought children to a few states out west.

 

 

In fact I learned the Orphan Train ran between 1854 to 1929. There were two main institutions in New York City that helped the children; The New York Foundling Hospital and The Children's Aid Society.

 

The relocation of these children was the beginning of organized foster care in America and many of children who were relocated were never formally adopted.

 

Over 250,000 children were relocated to all the 48 continental states. In fact it's estimated that 1 in 25 people in this country are related to an orphan train child.

 

With the large influx of immigrants to New York City in the late 19th and early 20th century homes were crowded and sickness and disease left many children orphans and many children on the streets while both parents worked.

 

Although the Orphan Train Museum was small it was set up in a way that was easy for children, who don't want to sit and read signs, to understand the concept of the orphan train. Large photos were mounted on the walls chronologically so that as we walked around the boys and I could discuss what was happening in each photograph and how the great poverty led children in need of help.

 

Though the Children's Aid Society did send many children out west on the trains they endeavored to teach children domestic skills and a trade as well.

 

What I found most interesting was that babies and older boys were the most popular children to be chosen from the trains and in fact children could be "ordered". Parents who were looking for a child could fill out a request form specifying gender, age, hair and eye color and organizations such as the Foundling Hospital who took in a large number of infants (foundlings) would do their very best to match children with parents.

 

It was interesting to find the National Center for the Orphan Train to be in such a little town of Concordia, Kansas but they received the records since Concordia was one of stops along the Orphan Train route.

So, I have to ask....can any of my readers say that they are a related to an orphan trian child?

 

Busy and Restful Winter Days

 

Our two weeks of Christmas vacation have been relaxing and it's been enjoyable to see, for the most part, my kids relaxing and creating at their own pace without having to rush to school or basketball practice or 4H meetings and such. I thought I'd take a few pics of the creations I've discovered the last few days.

 

 

Yahoo has kept busy prettying up her horses. One of the things that has tickled DR lately is to sit and just listen to Yahoo talk as she plays. She has these long drawn out, elborate and dramatic conversations with her toys that just leave DR scratching his head at the mystery of all ages of women!

 

Yip has come up with a new twist on his cardboard creations. I love the way that he used a root beer bottle as part of his ray gun.

 

Yap has slowly amassed a large collection of Legos. His most recent acquisition was the Lone Ranger Train that he made elevated this week.

 

A friend of mine just commented to me that she could see Yip and Yap both becoming engineers some day. I can see that too but I think they would bothe be very different types of designers. Their interests are just so different from one another!

 

Yes, this Christmas vacation has been rather restful and enjoyable.

Now, how to keep these restful days a goin' after school starts? Already this week we have basketball practice, a game, shooting sports, after school library....I need a nap!

 

 

Gingerbread houses, Year 5

The Christmas season was so busy that I didn't have a chance before now to post any pictures of our annual gingerbread house decorating day. Last year the kids decided to make one large gingerbread house but this year they decided to go back to little individual houses for each of them.

 

 

Once again we had just plenty of leftover Halloween candy to decorate with.

 

Wow, it's hard to believe that we've been doing gingerbread houses for 5 years now. I do believe that enjoy making gingerbread houses more than Christmas decorating!

 

Our "adopted" grandma Lavon came to decorate with us too. She brought tons of candy with her too. We were so overloaded with candy that I still have tons left a month later!

 

I wonder how many more years of decorating I'll be able to get out of my kids? I have a feeling that I may only get a couple more years out of my boys. I think they may feel like they are getting too old to do this kind of stuff.

 

Thanks Grandma Lavon for decorating with us!

All of the sudden I feel a bit tiny!

Now I've never thought of myself as a small person. I'm 5'7" and wear size 8 or 10 clothes and weigh 1** lbs. :) Growing up I played basketball and toted plenty of wood, buckets of cow feed and water and such. I've got enough muscles to make me feel not tiny but here lately that's exactly how I'm starting to feel.

 

All because of my kids!

They are a growing. Just look at Yahoo here. She'll be five years old in two months (holy cow) and look how tall she is!! She's already past my waist and 45lbs.

 

Do you like here hat? That's how she goes to bed after she takes a bath! She hates getting her pillow wet.

 

But here's the dude that really makes me feel little! Yap!

 



 

Look how tall he is!! He's a good inch or more taller than his twin brother Yip. In our stocking feet too he's already up to my chin! Heaven's sake!!

 

He's only 9 1/2 years old and he's a head taller than everyone else in his class. Of course he's skinny as a rail isn't he? He eats like a horse though.

 

And look at how big his feet are!! They are just as big as mine! Yip and Yap both received new boots for Christmas and I can wear Yap's now! I told him to choose a pink pair but he just sneered...ha ha!

 

I knew that one of these days my boys would get bigger than me but I didn't figure it would come quite so soon. At the rate these kids of mine are eating (I feel like I don't buy anthing but food)  I wouldn't be surprised if all three of them would be taller than me by next Christmas!

I guess I'm a snowbird!

I've done just awful at blogging for the last few months. I guess it's a lot of things.

I'm busy. (Who isn't?)

We've been fighting colds and little stomach bugs off and on and honestly I just haven't felt good.

Mostly though I think I've been bad at blogging because anything I feel like blogging about, I know I've blogged about before. Which, on the other hand, isn't so bad. I guess that just shows the cyclical and seasonal, habits and traditions that our lives tend to take. The last few years bring the same fall/winter traditions of trick or treating, school music programs, gingerbread house building and somehow I just don't feel like blogging about those things again!

This winter however has been a bit different. We've had five snows this winter! The earliest was way back in October and our big one, 6 inches, occurred right before Thanksgiving. After the last three years of living in the worst drought in Kansas history it's really nice to see all this white stuff on the ground. Really nice since the infamous Kansas winds have seemed to back off and allow the snow to stay put!

I remember winter days growing up in Indiana where I just dreaded the cold winter days. I'm not even sure what it was about a snowy winter day that bugged me. Maybe it was having to get so bundled up in so many layers to go outside and get chores done. Maybe I despised it because my sisters and I spent so much time outside during winter weekends cutting and splitting wood to fill our wood burning stove. Maybe I just got cabin fever being stuck inside with six brothers and sisters. Who knows! I just remember not really enjoying winter much growing up in Indiana. I would have been happy with snow on Christmas and that's it!! I lived for summer!!

But this past weekend changed my thinking. Saturday night we received a lovely snow, 3 or so inches. The kind of snow that you see on made for TV movies that just fell gently and looked lovely under the moonlight. Then yesterday after church we had a beautiful sunny day, cold enough the snow didn't melt and no wind. I felt antsy and even though DR and the kids were quietly watching a movie I just felt like I couldn't stay in the house one more minute so I decided to take a quick walk around town.

My intention was a brisk 15 minutes of fresh air but as I meandered through our sleepy town my walked stretched to much longer. My light excersions quickly warmed me up until I had unzipped my coat, dropped my hood and stripped off my mittens. It was glorious! The sun was bright, the snow was clean and I felt that with just a few more trees I might have been at home in Indiana.

And at that point I realized I really loved being outside in the snow. Or maybe I just love being outside and I haven't spent nearly as much time out in nature as I did growing up. I think maybe it was God's way of telling me that I need to spend more time outside. Either way, it was lovely and I think I'll be thinking of snow differently from now on.

Grain Elevators and Snowmen

I've been busy, busy this week! 

Tonight I had my very first home painting party! I had so much fun. 

Miss Cassandra was a wonderful host and she picked a grain elevator to paint. I love this painting because it is much more low stress than some of the other paintings I've led. 

Another funny thing about this painting was how all the ladies were worried that their husbands/fathers would be picky about their paintings if they weren't just right since this is a painting of the elevator in our town...a site we all see everyday! 

Then Monday I also led two snowman painting parties! 

Let me tell you too, that having two sisters paint together can be just hilarious! 

These two sisters bickered and bantered and were great entertainment for me. 

These paintings have been great to do and I'm having so much fun.