Anna took Odds, Luke Took Evens

Having Peaches and Playing in the Water Hose

1.The shortest person in our family
2. The only person in our family that is not a teenager
3. He has the most amazing belly laugh. :-D
4. He talks a lot and sometimes (often) to much :)
5. He has great tastes in food (please, please pardon the pun). He asked for fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, cole slaw, and Mississippi Mud cake. Mama delivered, and we were stuffed.

6. He is very smart and has a great memory. He remembers some of the strangest things though (how many times he beat me when wrestling, how many times he was right and I was wrong, and things like that.).
7. He was THRILLED to hunt by himself for the first time ever, today.
8. He is the one that helps me do stupid thing, like when he helped me use an old tree-stand safety harness to hang (suspend) ourselves in a tree. Now that was interesting!
9. He's entertaining when he pronounces his English words wrong. When it comes to learning Spanish I always feel I have to correct him.
10. He is always talking about the stereo type of country and city people and people from the north and south.
11. He's had a kind of hard time with Laura going to college. He (and we) has (have) missed being with her and doing everything with her like we're used to doing but he (we) are making it. And hey, compared to some people we've got it easy.
12. He is the only person in our family that really has a motto: "Back of the pack, top of the stack". (Get it?) This really makes him happy and our family thinks it is really clever.

After Laura's Graduation

Have you guessed?
It's Caleb!
Happy 12th Birthday Caleb!!!!
Love, Anna & Luke. And Laura.

A Happy Birthday Wish To A Special Boy

Well today a very special (to us) person is turning fourteen. Maybe you can guess which of us it is.

1. He has very big feet, so big he can act his age and his shoe size at the same time.

2. He's taller than me, about 5'10'' or so.

3. He likes to be outside fishin' or trapin' or huntin' or workin' or just doin'.

Caleb Luke, a cousin and me drinking our punch at another cousins' wedding. 

4. He enjoys talking to Laura and I when we're all supposed to be sleeping.

5. He's come up with a few really funny jokes. A few.

6. He has the most adorable little giggle that just bubbles out when he gets really tickled at something. It reminds me of when he was just a little ol' feller. 

7. He's actually not so bad at creative writing. Laura can probably tell you about that better than I can.

8. He dosen't mind jumping out from somewhere and scaring me half to death with me, I'll say.

9. He gives me bunches of fist bumps, daily.

(Recent Graduation Portrait Attempts) 

10. He seems to get injured somewhat often. In fact, just today he got cut between two fingers by some briers and it bled a little ',:-\  

11. He's pretty good at herding chickens. (That's what he was doing when he cut himself.) 

12. He's real good at helping me write lots of silly, dumb song lyrics for silly, dumb songs.

13. He loves to eat. He eats a lot. Laura and I made him a 'Snick-a-loaf' for his birthday cake. (That's a whole blog post in itself right there, the snick-a-loaf.)

14. He's a mighty fine actor by Ad Libbia Productions' standards, and he's pretty good at making folks (at least folks in this family) laugh.

If you haven't guessed by now the special boy is Luke.

So Happy Birthday bud. 

On a Recent Visit to the Vicksburg National Military Park

Love Anna    

Chicken Memories

I remember when my family and I went to Lucedale to pick up some chicks to start raising chickens.


We got them at J & B Feed. They were in a cardboard box when we got them. There were 9 hens for each breed and 2 roosters for each breed, they gave us an extra chick in case 1 died which none did, and there were 21 chickens in all.

We cut the bottom of a water bottle off so the chickens could have a drink; we also used a water bottle lid. One of the roosters kept tipping their water over, we called him stupid rooster. There was a hen that just slumped in a corner it wouldn’t drink water it just sat in its corner, the other chickens picked on her. So we got her out of the box, and nursed it back to health. I sat in the back of the car along with Anna and Luke. We played with them all the way home.



Caleb

5-16-12

My First Deer

            POW!! It happened about 5:55 P.M.. I shot my first deer. I was so excited. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking. Looking back, I don’t see how I got a good shot off at that deer. Of course, it wasn’t that good, because we had to go and track it down.

            I had been hunting since 3:00 that afternoon and not much had happened. I had read some of a book that I had brought along, and watched a rabbit hop around the green field that I was hunting on, not much else. Then, about 5:00 o’clock, I looked up from my daydream and saw two does walking around at the end of the field.

            I was so excited about the possibility of killing a deer. But I managed to keep myself from jumping the gun. It was during rut so there was a good chance that a buck would come out so I waited. It turned out that no bucks came out so I settled on shooting the bigger doe.

            After I shot I got out of the stand and foolishly walked to the deer. When I had gotten very close to it, it got up off the ground and ran. I tried to get another shot off but couldn’t. I then called the house and asked for help to track it and soon Daddy and Caleb had come to my aid.

            After much searching and tracking we lost the trail. We walked a little ways looking and listening and then I prayed that God would help us find that deer. After that I looked up and saw a spot of blood on a tree not far ahead. We followed that trail for a while and then we heard a loud sudden flapping sound.

            I froze. I didn’t know what it was and after a little I kept moving. Then I heard it again, but this time closer. Daddy told me to look carefully around to see if I saw anything. I looked and saw a flash of white not to far away from me. It was a deer tail!

            Daddy told me to stay and watch the deer while he went to get the truck. When he got back we approached the deer carefully and when we got there it was dead. I had killed my first deer!

Happy Seventeenth, Anna!

Seventeen years ago today I received a most marvelous blessing. She was tiny and red then but now she is taller than me. She could not say anything then but now she sings, and plays piano, and talks. She talks to me and Luke and Caleb, and that is the most fun. She is a true kindred spirit. We are not drama queen girls (we have brothers to do that); we don’t go crazy for animals; we see books and movies differently enough to talk about them and similiarly enough to enjoy the talk. We make music together. We create stories and discuss them. We have different things we do and say, some borrowed and some original; we enjoy our inside jokes. 

Our award winning homeschooled scientists.

(l to r) Anna, Caleb, Luke, Jeremiah, Gracie, Sable, and Hannah

Anna and her scholarly project.

Anna and Laura playing chemists in front of the bread machine.

Pardon the blurry-ness; Luke took the picture.  

 Anna at her beloved piano.

This is one of those things we like to do and say ever since Geometry, but mine is not that funny:

If Anna has a birthday, there will be a family road trip.

If there is a family road trip, everyone will load up in Astro Mutt.

If everyone loads up in Astro Mutt, they will be stuck together for a while.

If everyone is stuck together for a while, they will talk and laugh.

If everyone talks and laughs, they will make memories.

If everyone makes memories, they will have more in common.

If they have more in common, they will be closer together.

If they are closer together, they will be hard to drive apart.

If they are hard to drive apart, they will fight to stay close.

If they fight to stay close, their children will become good cousin/friends.

 A desperate attempt at a winter family picture.

 Anna and I amongst the muscadine vines at our 94-year-old aunt's house.

So if all of the above statements are true:

If Anna has a birthday, their children will become good cousin/friends.

Mama and us four at the Christmas Festival at a local college.

Happy Birthday, Anna Elizabeth! May our precious friendships span generations and may Winsome, Ella, Lake, and Katia someday be best friends just like their mothers!

And I pray that through the work of Christ the relationships will last into eternity and be perfected there.

 Laura

Have I Mentioned How Much I Love These Guys?

 They make me laugh so hard.

 They help drive my sense of adventure.

 With them I learn, grow, play, act, dance, sing, celebrate, and cheer (go Dogs!!).

We have buckets of inside jokes. Buckets and buckets.

They're my best friends.

Don't miss out on time with your siblings. God didn't give them to you so you could have someone to argue with. Sibling relationships are valuable. Be thankful for these guys. It will make thing easier in the future. 

Thank you Lord, 

for Laura, Luke, and Caleb.

-A