Tabitha

Pioneer Girls

| Stacy
We had a few bumps in the road in September as we awkwardly recognized that American Heritage Girls was not where we were supposed to be.  On a whim one Wednesday night at 6:10 P.M. I asked the girls, “Do you want to go to Pioneer Girls tonight?”  Pioneer Girls is a program that meets at our church and one we had never participated in for a variety of reasons.  Two of the girls quickly agreed and we were ready to be there by 6:30.  Marie was a hold out; she wasn’t ready to embrace something without some time to think about it. 
As I dropped off the girls the woman who would be Marie’s leader said she’d actually prayed THAT DAY that our girls would go to PG.  Mind you, she and I had never had a conversation about such a thing and until 6:10 P.M. I’d never considered it. 
The following week I made Marie go.  I said she had to go three weeks and at that point she could decide what she thought.  When I picked them up at 8:00 P.M. the first words out of Marie’s mouth were, “You were right, Mom.  This is great.”
It is by far the least structured evening programming we’ve ever been a part of, but it is working well for them.  I’ve been helping once a month and have gotten to be in different classes.  I’m not sure what next year holds, but it has absolutely been perfect this year. 
There was a little awards ceremony tonight. 
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Most of the girls loved it.
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Aren’t they sweet?
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At the mall…

| Stacy

We squeezed in a wee bit of Christmas fun tonight.  Around 3PM we piled in the car, picked up Tab’s sweet friend, and headed to the mall.  The littest two met Santa where Johanna told him she’d like a dog.  A plastic dog.  “That’s all I want.” 
Heh.  News to my ears. 
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I confess I don’t exactly know what my little ones think of Santa.  He shows up in the Rudolph movie, but not in too many of our conversations.  We’ve certainly never suggested he invades our house every 12/24.  But I don’t recall ever having a heart-to-heart about him.
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After that we poked around the toy store for a few minutes. 
This is the conversation I heard as I followed Tab and her friend around:
Hal: let’s find the girl aisle
Tab: look for the pink
Hal: that’s how you know
Tab: yeah it’s better…
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Christmas Caroling

| Stacy

My outdoor photos did not come out, so I can’t show you how much fun we had meeting up at church with friends, walking to a nearby neighborhood, and singing on doorsteps and driveways. 
The weather was mild (yay!) and the time went by too quickly.
We headed back to church for some snacks and additional singing.  Marie opted not to join us and stayed home with Dad who was working on a home repair.  The rest of us had a blast and are looking forward to next year.

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Mammal madness

| Stacy
Normally Hanny sits in on Tab’s science, but when we got to the end of the chapter and I wanted to do the review questions she bailed.  The idea of just droning on and on about what kind of mammal each creature was seemed boring to me, and would NOT have held Tabitha’s attention.  Enter siblings.  Literally.  Two of them entered the room on their way outside to play ball.  I asked them to grab markers and do an exercise with us.  For reasons known only to God they didn’t balk or ask questions; but, indeed, they each found a marker.
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And we had fun.  I think Nigel won?  Maybe it was Tab.  It didn’t matter. 

Silly Hair Night at Pioneer Girls

| Stacy
It was a busy week… but having visited Pioneer Girls the week before, Johanna and Tabitha were eager to go again.  I persuaded Marie to give it a try, too. 
It was silly hair night.  Johanna and Tabitha were eager to participate.  I failed to get a picture of Hanny.  But I think we nailed it with Tab.

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Some Sunday!

| Stacy
Three months of the year Nigel ushers each Sunday.
About 4 times a year Marie and Tabitha sing on the Praise Team.
On random days throughout the year, Stewart sings with the choir. 
On OCCASION the choir sings WITH the Praise Team.

Somehow.  SOMEHOW.  It came to be that all four of them would be participating this Sunday.

Our row was EMPTY until sermon time.  But in the best possible way.
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It was nothing but a FLUKE that my girls weren’t wearing pink, or orange, or floral!  The fact that they blended in was just cool.  The music was what stood out.  And it was delightful.
Because four of them were dressed up, I thought to throw the little girls in matchy dresses and threw my camera in the car.  As we left the church and walked to the grassy area, I decided to do the photos on the bench that was placed to remember Pastor Jeff.   I first just intended to grab some shots of the kids, but ended up calling over a friend to have him take some of the whole family.  I don’t know if we will do Christmas cards this year, but if we do – act surprised!
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Selfies

| Stacy

the girls and I went to what we thought was a play about Helen Keller.  It turned out to be some whacked-out, talk-to-the-fourth-wall, workshop, ballet thing.  Confused?  So were we.  But we did get a fun photo before it started.
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As the little girls were at Nan’s and she was happy to feed them, and the boys were at home with left over pizza, I took the girls to Subway for lunch. 

They took this selfie a little less seriously.
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I love that I have the privilege of doing life, every day with my kids. 
I love that Subway was an unusual experience.
I love that Tabitha shared her cookies with Marie.
I don’t love weird plays that don’t deliver…


Tabitha’s Office

| Stacy

Since we finished the basement some 3(?) years ago, I’d be suggesting to the kids to use that area for a quiet place to do school.  None of them ever liked the idea.
Til Tab.
Tab embraced it on day three of school.  And by day 5 I’d come up with an idea.
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She has her own space, complete with an orange stapler and box of Kleenex.