Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, the theme was Narnia. Sydney was Queen Lucy, Ethan was King Edmund, and Reid was Aslan. Thanks to the Garretts and the Gentles for lending out costumes to us!

Great-Grandma Barto's 95th Birthday Party

Last weekend we went to Tennessee for my great-grandmother's 95th birthday party! There were 60 people there from all over the country- California, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maryland, North Carolina, and Florida.

5 Generations of Women: Millie Barto, Marie DiGiovanni, Pamela Wentworth-Tyler, Melanie Chandler, Sydney Chandler

Millie Silverthorne Barto has 8 children: my grandmother, my 6 great-aunts, and my 1 great-uncle. While I lived in NY, I grew up with this family, but many I had not seen in over 2o years!! It was amazing to see my family that I had not seen in over half my life, to see cousins I had played with as a child, and to see the youngest family members (that I met for the first time on Saturday) playing with my own children. It was an experience so deeply amazing, I have a hard time putting words around it. Sydney and Ethan were thrilled to meet cousins they didn't even know they had! It made me miss living near family, and made me sad for my kids as I realized they are missing out on these rich extended family relationships.


Grandma Barto blowing out her 95 candles (with a little help from Raven and Mason!)


Our trip home was detoured as there was a big rock slide on I-40 outside of Asheville, which will take several months to clean up. We ended up stopping off in Elizabethton, TN, where Jeff lived from age 4 to 4th grade. Here we are in front of his old house. We drove through Boone to get home, and with the nice weather, the whole drive was bliss (minus Sydney getting carsick!)

More Stitches and More

A few updates from the homefront...

Here are Sydney & Ethan in their Old Testament outfits eating a lunch of lentils & rice with flatbread (corn chips!) and dates for dessert. We are studying Ancient Times in history. This week we studied Abraham and Joseph, hence the Genesis clothes and food! We also have a chicken we are in the process of mummifying from our study of Ancient Egypt.
Ethan and his second, yes second, set of stitches. Last Tuesday we were at a friend's home when Ethan scored this injury. Thankfully, a friend of ours from church was there within 5 minutes, and had us meet her at her office to stitch him up. Since this is his second set within one month, he felt like an old pro. He laid there still and silent the whole time, holding his piece of gum from Otis...the promise of good things to come when "my surgery is over!"

With our friends at the Baa Moo Farm, where the kids got to do and see all kinds of fun things, like milking a cow!

Dates on the cob...a Sydney invention.

Reid at Old Salem. Twice a year Old Salem has Homeschool Days; it was fantastic!

Copying scripture with a quill pen in books the kids made.

Walking over the bridge on our way home.

Reid lasted till about 2pm, but finally gave in to a nap.