Peter....

Hello Everyone,

Peter was supposed to come home for Christmas and the holidays tonight... but his plane flight was delayed, (due to weather conditions) and instead of flying to Chicago, changing planes, and coming into Cleveland at midnight, he is flying to Washington D.C., where he will have to spend the night at the airport. Please pray that God will keep him safe at the airport, and that Peter will have safe flights to Cleveland.

Thank you.

Our Hunting Trip

This past November daddy went deer hunting... well, he took all of us with him, because he hunts on our friends' the Clarke's property. The Clarke's have five home-schooled children... I'm sure you can imagine what a time we have when we go down there.... They own 62 acres of beautiful land in southern Ohio, covered with trees, ponds, hills, etc., etc..

Daddy was blessed with a button buck, whom we named Rudolph. (Last year we struck up a tradition of naming our deer... So then we had Nora, Dora, and Mr. Buck). Duncan was with him when it "happened," and he told us all about how he held Rudolph's head in his hands while it died.... Sounds lovely, doesn't it? Actually, we all laughed because the way he told it was quite funny.... as everything that comes out of Duncan usually is.

























Luther hesitantly touches Rudolph.


























Getting ready to load Rudolph into the van.... Gabriel gazes farewell to the beautiful country.




My friend Rachel sent this to me in anticipation of the visit. This is a view from their kitchen window.

























Gabriel jumping on the trampoline with the little girls—he's such a good protector....







Don't we just look so happy and energetic???

























Eh, what country boys! Duncan and Jack....and Asher, everyone's favorite dog.


There will probably be more.... I have lots of pictures—but this is all I can do for now!

Thank you so much, Clarke family, for the wonderful time!

Posted by Ruby

Thanksgiving: Dinner and After Dinner

Here are just a few pictures of our Thanksgiving Day feast. Before we ate, however, Daddy read us an article about the five kernels of corn. It was very interesting, and made us all truly grateful for all the food around the table.

























Somebody's happy about this meal....




















Everybody excepting Conrad and Daddy at the table.

















Duncan and Tirzah at the foot of the table—Duncan thoroughly enjoying his food, while Tirzah daintily picks at hers, eventually eating it all up. :-)



















The after-dinner-but-still-at-the-table-conversation.

























So sweet.




















....Olivia making her "big-eyes" face. :-)





















When all the little children went to bed, my aunt, who is a poet and author, helped me with a book I'm writing. This was a huge blessing to me, and it was a lot of fun to sit down and talk with her. :-) Thank you, Aunt Paula.


Well, that about rounds up the Thanksgiving posts.... I'm incredibly sorry that it took me so long to get around to finishing it, and I will try to be more diligent with posting in the future. :-)


Posted by Ruby

Thanksgiving: Games with Relatives, Telephone

Posted by Ruby

Thanksgiving: Games with Relatives, Charades

For Thanksgiving we had our aunt and uncle and cousin over. While waiting for that delicious smelling food to finish cooking, we amused ourselves by playing various games, such as charades, and telephone. :-)

























Our cousin Conrad attempts to act out the "phrase" (er, book title) that the girls team gave him: The Acquiescent Villa, a book of poetry that my aunt has written.


























"Come on, guys!!!"



















Nearing the end....

Although many people came quite close, nobody guessed the right words. But Conrad did an excellent job acting.... :-)

























Chloe carefully planning her act.

The phrase that was given Chloe was The Spanish Armada.
























Small word.... "THE!!!!" ("yessss!")

























Again... "Come on!"


























Nobody could get this word, "Spanish", we were all guessing... 'dancer?' 'ballerina?' 'pirate?' But I think that after she acted out the word, "Armada" by acting out the syllables, we were able to guess the second word. :-)


























I think she's laughing at us! ;-)

Posted by Ruby

Going Out Of Town

Dear Friends and Blog-Readers,

Daddy is going hunting until Wednesday, and our whole family is going with him. He hunts on our friends the Clarke's property, so yes, we will have plenty of pictures to post when we get back!

Ruby

PS, we probably won't be able to post anything until Thursday or Friday...

Hmmm.... Interesting

November Days

Bedtime Snack at the Hopkins Home

Sunday With the Willeke Family

Willekes. Hopkins. 16 1/2 kids. Food. Fun. Ohh yeah!


















Little girls dancing...in the girls room


















Nick and Olivia


















Angela and Luther


















Us girls spent all afternoon in the back of my closet...talking. actually, there were really only three of who you see there for most of the time so it wasn't too cramped.


















Little boys dancing...in the girls room


















The Willeke Family: In age order: Mr. and Mrs. Willeke, Ashlee, Angela, Nick, Nathan, Noah, Nevin, Nolan, Aliza, and Anna Sophia


(Posted by Chloe...and Ruby)

Brothers and Sisters

In case your wondering why this picture looks kinda funny, it was taken with this Comic Book effect. :-)

Posted by Ruby

A Little Girl's Smile...and Frown

Catherine Clarke, courtesy of Rachel Clarke.

Posted by Ruby

Fun With the Computer Camera.... The Mirror

Hey look! It's a Push-me Pull-you!





















This picture is one of my favorites. The hands belong to Chloe and I, but by putting them in different positions, the mirror effect made it look like there were eight instead of four hands.



















Do you notice anything.... strange about Gabriel's face?? ;-)

Posted by Ruby

Fun With the Computer Camera.... Dent and Squeeze

On our computers, we have this "thing" called Photo Booth. It is a camera right in the computer, with a whole bunch of.... strange effects.... such as the ones below.



















I think that this effect was Squeeze....



















And this one was Dent.

Chicken Pot Pie

Tonight we had one of the most wonderful dishes—Chicken Pot Pie! Yummy! While Mommy and Chloe repainted our dining room, we sent the younger children upstairs to watch Western shows. This allowed Chloe and Mommy to spend the entire afternoon painting, and for me to prepare a good meal. :-) Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

Pie Crust:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces

2 large eggs

2-3 tablespoons ice water

Filling:

1 tablespoon butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 tablespoon cornstarch

1 1/2 tablespoon paprika

1 cup frozen sliced carrots

1 cup frozen peas

4 cups shredded cooked chicken

Directions

For Piecrust: Combine flour and salt.

Use a pastry blender or 2 knifes, cut butter into flour to form course crumbs.

Beat together 1 egg and 2 tablespoons water, add to mixture.

Mix till soft piecrust forms.

Add more water if needed. Shape into ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

For filling:

In a large skillet melt butter over medium heat.

Add chopped onions and thyme, sauté 5 minutes.

Whisk together cream, broth, flour, cornstarch and paprika.

Whisk into onion mixture.

Add carrots, peas and chicken to sauce.

Mix well, pour into 9 inch baking dish.

Pre heat oven to 400F.

On floured surface roll out piecrust into 12 inch round.

Place on top of filling. Trim edges of piecrust.

Flute the edges and cut a hole in center.

Roll piecrust scraps and cut leaves with cookie cutter.

Arrange on pie. Lightly brush with beaten egg.

Bake until filling is bubbly and crust is brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Serving Size: One pie plate or 6-8 people, depending on how large their appetite is. ;-)

Posted by Ruby

Reformation Celebration

It is tradition for our family to hold a party every year in honor of the Reformation. It is a wonderful alternative to Halloween since the date that Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the Wittenburg church door was October 31, 1517. As I said, this party is a tradition for our family. a couple of years ago, 55 people attended, and we thought that was alot. This year we were blessed with a crowd of 73...


























The honorable Host and Hostess: D'Artagnan and his lovely wife, Katharina von Bora



















Pre-event photos: L to R are, bonnie lasses Ruby and Rachel, and faire maidens Emma and Olivia


























Young maidens enjoying a new dish: Chili!















Some old costumes, some new......

























D'Artagnan impresses everyone with his knowledge of the effects of the Reformation















Trying out a new weapon of mass capture: the digital camera with flash
















Singing the Hymns "How Firm a Foundation", and "A Mighty Fortress is Our God"
























Harvest desserts and homemade pumpkin ice cream!!















Preparing to dance the "First of April"

How people can have a wonderful group together and not dance, I don't know. This group was sadly short of willing young men (WE MISS PETER!!!). But we still had some young ones, and some old-er ones. Getting ready for it was a challenge though as I (Chloe) do not have the vocal chords built for getting people's attention. Daddy was very helpful in this area.















Dancing the "Progressive Gordon"

I find this dance to be EXTREMELY popular. We had requests to dance it again even after the last round was NINE MINUTES LONG!!!!!




















Dancing an English Country style dance that Ruby and I choreographed but did not name. And yes I suppose it is possible to fall asleep dancing (notice Olivia).
















I had the joy of giving many different girls with many different hair types many different up-dos. Here is one of them (Megan Stonebraker). I love doing hair.
























Angela Willeke in one of her elements :)



















L to R: Megan Stonebraker, me, Angela Willeke, Olivia, Abigail Fedor, Ashlee Willeke


(Posted by Chloe)