May I introduce you to...

So, this is a month long blog event designed to let all of us find out some fun trivia about your families. All you've gotta do is to answer these questions in your own blog post and link up at the bottom of this post. :) It will be fun to hear all the different family facts! We will be scattering family-themed posts from now til June 2, and it would be fabulous if any of you wanted to join us. :)

1. What are some of your family's favorite phrases, exclamations, or sayings?
2. What's the number of boys to girls in your family?
3. What is your favorite tradition your family has?
4. What do you call the midday meal at your house?
5. Is the majority of your family morning people or night owls?
6. What is your favorite vacation location? :P
7. Are your family's weekends usually full of activities such as sports, parties, and outings, or are they more of around the house, fix-it-uppers?
8. What is the nationality/ies your family comes from? (i.e. Scotch, Russian, etc)
9. Do you go away for holidays, or celebrate at home?
10. How did your parents meet?

A Post Every Follower Should Read :)

I have left our poor readers in the dark long enough. I have mentioned this topic far too many times to leave you without an explanation. I blush at what some of you must think. And now I must put your minds to rest on a certain subject. I've meant to do it for ages, but the topic is so integrated into my daily life that I forget. This ought to be an interesting post for some of you who have had the wrong ideas the whole time we've kept this blog. Get ready to have your minds at ease about us now! :)

Ready?

Okay. I'll build up gently to the stunning climax.

Most of you know that The Gentleman From Virginia

Is our dearly beloved brother, Daniel. (And that's a cookie he's eating, by the way! :)

But we have left you wondering, doubting, and finally jumping to conclusions about the other young man who frequents this blog. He leaves very familiar comments, calling us by nicknames like "Rach", and others. You know him as Oldest of Many, and to make things more shocking, he isn't our brother...

No, Matthew is....

Our cousin! :) (This is his Mr. Thornton pose, courtesy of Sarah ;)

So there you have it. We haven't gone off the deep end and got any sort of beau. It's only Matthew...as harmless and honorable a personage as our Gentleman. I just sorta thought I should explain that for any inquiring minds! ;) ~Rachel

You Might Be A Homeschooler If.....

You might be a homeschooler if:

During family devotion you depart from the main topic to get a dictionary and determine the difference between "effect" and "affect", and debate the point for 1/2 an hour. :)

When you watch cable t.v. at your grandparents' house, you blush every five minutes, and finally stick to the food channel where the worst thing in the recipe is wine! :)

You know your multiplication super well from doubling recipes, but your division...not so much. Who ever heard of making half a recipe of something? :P

Someone asks you what grade you are in, and you proceed to give them a lengthy answer comprised of "well, technically", "but didn't finish my physical science" "so really" "But by April", "While we were building our house", etc. Or worse yet, if you are a little kid and say, "I don't know." or "We don't do school."!!! :]

You go out to the mailbox and periodically find it is a holiday you hadn't seen coming, and the post office took a break for the day. (i.e. "Presidents' Day", "George Washington's b-day", etc.)

You perfect your handwriting (or not) in the places most inconducive to such an occupation, like reclining on the couch, sitting on the trampoline, around a baby in your lap, or while mixing up a batch of cookies! ;)

You are out in public on a weekday, and begin to wonder why all the adults are looking at you askance, as if either you must be sick, or playing hookie. :D

You finally are in highschool, and comfort yourself that no truant officers can nab you, even if they wanted to, because you are allowed to drop out of highschool if it pleased you to do so! :D

Homeschooling is great! Thanks Dad and Mama! :) -Rachel

p.s. I want that shirt up there! :D

The Town Bedlamites

I feel as if I want to write something clever but can't....ever feel that way? Or at least, I want to write something that will make people leave comments on our lonesome little blog but...can't. :)
Anyway, I guess I'll write about a bit of a funny incident while gardening yet again today. First off, you must realize that we are the talk of the town. Around here we, (Much to our embarassment and chagrin) are recognized as "Those big house people". Yep. And especially since the Walkers are living with us, we have become a local curiosity. Really. People slow down as they pass our driveway, probably counting the children and wondering what on earth we are. I think it is so funny. We constantly repeat the classic penguin line from a movie I can't exactly recommend: "Smile and wave boys! Just smile and wave". (Which we do) But one can scarcely blame them! I mean, my inquiring mind can see how juicy a story it would be to know what on earth was going on in a big house with 21 people. Is it an orphanage? A daycare? Are they from some strange religion? (No! To all of these questions!) I wonder if they'd be disappointed to see what we really are?Anyway! If it isn't the hunt club after us, it's the feedstore man who about went into cardiac arrest when Mama informed him very politely that we fix an average of 60 plates of food a day. So, we were all down weeding the corn patch which is very near the road, when a whole troop of elderly bicyclists rode by. One man said, "Whatcha planting?" I smiled, "Actually, we are weeding our corn!"
Another man called out, "Make sure you plant lots of asparagus!"
At the tail end of the posse I heard a couple discussing us: "What are they picking?" one lady asked her companion. The man, evidently thinking himself an expert gardener answered her in a patronizing tone, "They aren't picking! They're planting!"
I laughed to myself. His companion was closer to the truth. We were only picking weeds. I went closer to house-end of the garden and told Mama the story. We laughed together about it. I was only joking, but perhaps it was a bit close to the truth when I pretended to be the town-gossip and said, "Oh! You gotta come by that big house! They're all close to the road today! We can get a good look at those Bedlamites and count `em!" :) I hope not. We really are only a "normal" family in our circles, although sadly, in our culture you could box us up and sell tickets to watch our "strange" way of life. Hee-hee. I don't know why, but I find I get a funny thrill from knowing I'm normal, but letting people wonder all about me...:) :) :) -Rachel

"Don't Lollygag!" (That's one too!) (doddling)

Hey~ I don't know about you guys, but one thing I love about different cultures, countries, and people, are the things they say! In my family, we are constantly using various sayings that would sound pretty strange to our own countryman, much less a foreigner. So below, are first, some strange things we say in our family, and then, things that I've heard some English people say in movies- (they caught my fancy)

Jack-bo-diddly: This is something that expresses the same idea as slim pickin's. Basically, when used in a sentence like, "There is Jack-bo-diddly growing out in the garden" that means: "nothing is growing out there." Chiefly used by Mama

Fiddlesticks! : An expression used when something goes wrong, to express irritation-"Blast!" "Wretch!" and "For Pity's sake!" are frequently used in addition.

You Can Teach a Monkey To Behave! : This is used when a young child is misbehaving, and someone says, "Aren't they too young to know what you're saying?" :) A pet-child-training-word in its second generation.

"If I don't see you in the future, I'll see you in the pasture!" : Need I explain? This is an amusing way of saying goodbye- put into use by one of the laundry fairies. (If you do not know who he is, click on the label and read.)

"Don't be a little peacock!": Of course, this is used when reprimanding vain little girls! :)

"Goodness-me-in-the-morning-john-henry!": A conglomeration of words meaning, "Oh my goodness!" same meaning as "Oh my stars and stockings!" or "My sainted Aunt Fanny!"

"For Pete's Sake!": same meaning as "Oh for Heaven's sake!", etc.

"Ding-dong": A term used in affiliation with a foolhardy person. Example: "They were just being a little ding-dong!" (No clue how that started! :)

"He was a little firecracker": a term used to describe a feisty person

Okay! Those were a few of our family's terms. Now the English ones! (I often use a few of these :)

"Put to the blush": Meaning: embarassed, ashamed, etc.

"Fair dinkum dolly":This is used when you are trying to say, "Everything is fine or great!"

"Constitutional": a walk

"Badly done!": A reprimand, very useful! It is general, and does not sound petty like, "You're mean!" or "That was rude!" you can simply say, "Badly done!"

Okay! That's all! Hope it was entertaining! -Rachel and Mama