Drone's view of Green Harbor

This was shared by our school nurse: a drone's view of our favorite beach. 

We got Dave a drone for Christmas.....but it doesn't have a camera. Rats!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=-POhFug1hPo

First of snow of the year

We awoke to this: just a coating of snow.

Still, it was enough to get the kids excited about the idea of playing it. 

After breakfast, they put on their snow gear and headed out into the......rain. Somehow they found enough snow to make a snowman.

They came in soaking wet. Literally DRIPPING all over the floor. And of course, we're having company tonight so I will get to clean up the mess of puddles and the pile of sopping clothing.

Racing fun!

The racetrack from Omi has proven to be a fun gift for all!

https://youtu.be/1-ZElgf6__g

Christmas 2015

We had a fantastic Christmas Day with family. 

Ready to open gifts

Daddy was a big fan of the foot massager.

We opened gifts after breakfast, and the kids played while Dave and I prepped for company. It was a gorgeous 70* sunny day! The new sidewalk chalk was a hit.

 Omi and Uncle Jason's family came over in the afternoon.

Dave was proud to have finished restoring the antique chairs, one of his latest 'free roadside finds', in time for Christmas dinner.

Gorgeous lamp and table runner, courtesy of Mom!

The tablecloth from Omi perfectly matched the lamp and table runner!

  Amanda had her camera out, and got some cute shots of cousin Aubrey.

Eva received her very first digital camera this year, and it was unquestionably her favorite gift. She kept herself busy taking pictures all day long, and testing out the Blur Reduction feature. Liam was more than happy to be her photo subject.

Flying in his bedroom

Flying in the family room

Flying in the front yard

Flying in the backyard

We had an outstanding prime rib dinner, which Dave cooked just perfectly. After dinner, we shared a lot of laughs by creating Christmas Mad Libs.

Christmas Eve

We enjoyed a wonderful evening with close friends, and one of them managed to capture this precious moment with Eva and little Bea.

Surprise Breakfast

I wanted to surprise the kids with a special breakfast, using up some of the enormous fruit basket we received from Omi. 

I tried to follow this photo, but it was harder than it looks.

I got a little fancy and added a poinsettia, although it looks more like a red starfish.

Luckily the kids are forgiving, and they were thrilled with my efforts. 

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Liam's Musical Greeting

A handful of students opted to create musical greetings this year, and Liam was one of them.

He took it very seriously! He had seen the girls do this in past years, so I think he was proud that he has gotten to this point in his lessons.

Click the link below to watch Liam in action. 

Amanda's Winter Concert

Amanda had her Winter Concert at school last Friday.

5th grade Chorus 

(Amanda is in the center, top row of kids, wearing a scarf)

4th and 5th grade Band

(Amanda is to the right of the conductor, wearing the hot pink shoes)

Click below to see the video. (22 minutes)

Cookie Capers

The kids have been asking to make a batch of gluten free cookies for New Year's Eve with The Eight Chums.

They got busy decorating as soon as they got home from school.

In the meantime, Eva has been painting portraits of each "chum" to present to them that night.

I love how these all look, but the dog is my favorite. The detail she put into the eyes and nose are so realistic!

The story's hero: Will the Stick

Gingerbread House with Omi

Omi came over last night to help the kids out together the gingerbread house she had bought for them.

Looks pretty fancy, right? It's never as easy as it looks.

We put it on the cold porch so the frosting could harden up, and ate a delicious dinner: lamb stew. (Some of us were more fond of it than others. The kids did not like lamb...)

After dinner, they were back at it. They had plans of using the intricate stencils and designs, but quickly abandoned that plan, and chose to freestyle it.

Not bad!!!

Star Wars fever

Today Dave and the kids are going to see the new Star Wars movie: The Force Awakens. Is is a very special Daddy and kids day that they have ALL been looking forward to for quite some time. Dave screened the movie ahead of time on Friday, to make sure he approved of the content.

As you can see, the kids are all abuzz with excitement.. All are wearing Star Wars shirts and making light sabers out of wrapping paper tubes. 

Dave just texted this photo to me, as they make their way into the cinema. 

Meanwhile, I am at home - cleaning and preparing for Christmas. It gets done a lot faster without extra feet running around. 

Christmas lights

Last night we took the kids out to look at Christmas lights. 

We started at Ingham Way in Pembroke (one town over) and saw the most fantastic show at one house! We tuned our radio station to the correct channel, and all of the lights were synchronized with the music. Amazing! After five different songs, we decided to leave and let the other cars have a chance to see it. 

Click below to see Amazing Grace. I'm not particularly fond of this techno version, but it's neat to see how they synchronized it. (It really gets going at the :30 mark.)

http://youtu.be/Y-iKiSKdjlo

After that, we went around the corner to Lilah Lane. Eva's teacher had told the class about it earlier in the week. Every house on the street had lights, blow up characters, nativity scene, and visual animations. At one house, they had somehow projected a Santa Claus walking back and forth in a room, and then peeking out the window. Unlike the first place we had gone to, this was just a slow drive through around the cul de sac. 

They had an area set up for donations to the Food Pantry, so we dropped in our bag and continued on our way.

We then enjoyed dinner at Cancun...yummy Mexican food...and then came home and watched a documentary about George Lucas and the Star Wars trilogy, in preparation for seeing the new Star Wars movie. 

"Gee whiz, that's a lot of turkeys...."

...said Liam, as we approached the intersection around the corner from our house this morning.

Two turkeys were in a tree. So much for a partridge...

Victorian wreath and spray

Last night, one of my students presented me with a Victorian wreath that she had purchased for me.

I love it!

Front door

I had also bought a Victorian spray from her as part of a school fundraiser, which I hung on the side door.

Side door (studio entrance)

More photos..

I received another batch of photos in my email today.

This is the son, Arthur, standing in front of our barn. Notice the brick walkway, which is no longer there.

This is a picture of the children and the neighbor children, with their grocer.

The three children 

This is my very favorite photo from the bunch: Marion, the aunt of the woman with whom I've been corresponding. She looks like a doll!

Historical findings (updated)

'What an unbelievable day it was! My head is still spinning...

Today a man from CA randomly stopped by our house, and told us that his great grandfather had built our house. He was hoping to take photos to share with his family's genealogist. 

I showed him the photo of the original house, which hangs in our foyer...and he showed me the same photo that he had on his phone. He became choked up as I described how we have spent the past three years restoring the house to its former glory. 

We learned that the Lewis family came from the Midwest in a covered wagon and first settled in Jacksonville, FL. He then built this house in the 1880's. Howard Clinton Lewis was a builder, and built many of the homes in Marshfield. Our barn was his workshop.

Howard Clinton Lewis, the man's great grandfather, built our house and many others in our town.

Here is official letting him that I found online tonight.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20847094

Birth:	Jun. 2, 1870 Marshfield Plymouth County Massachusetts, USA
Death:	Aug. 6, 1952 Marshfield Plymouth County Massachusetts, USA
Howard Lewis lived his entire life in Marshfield. He was descended from a long line of shipwrights & mariners, a family that had arrived in Plymouth in the 1630s. He became master carpenter, and built everything from homes to fine hand hand-huned moldings & gingerbread of the Victorian era to (in his later years) small fishing boats. His daughter Marion wrote, "Howard Lewis was not only a carpenter and builder of New England style houses--Marshfield is dotted with pretty houses he built--he was a very good architect, and contractor too, usually hiring several men. He had a carpentry shop, a woodworking mill making interior finish, and a lumber yard. He was intelligent, honest, and hard-working. In the end, he would probably have been a fairly well-to-do man if the Great Depression had not hit him so hard." Clemmie May Ford & Howard Clinton Lewis were married on April 14, 1900 in Jacksonville, Florida. He was the much loved father of Marion Estelle Lewis (1902-1997), Arthur Raymond Lewis (1904-1959), and Grace Elinor (Lewis) Lovell Putnam (1907-2005).

His wife, Clemmie May Lewis 

The Lewis children: Marion, Grace and Arthur 

Grace, the middle child, died exactly one month after Amanda was born. She lived to be 98,

The guy stayed for nearly two hours, sharing stories and information with us. Dave gave him a complete tour, and the two talked shop. 

Tonight I received an email from his relative/genealogist, Dorothy, who lives in Washington. Howard and Clemmie May were her grandparents. She was so thrilled to have been connected with us, and sent photos of the family, along with this letter. It is fascinating!

She also relayed some other information.

Your home was designed and built by my grandfather, Howard Clinton Lewis, 
sometime before my grandparents marriage. My Auntie Grace told me the entire 
house was built of hardwoods - cherry, mahogany and oak. He made every 
molding and trim in his workshop. Grampa's power tools (saws, lathe, etc.) 
were all belt run, and powered by a steam engine. At some point after having 
lost almost everything in the crash of '29, the old steam engine broke down 
for good. Grampa, having to be a frugal man, just removed the motor from 
Gramma's Model A (or T... can't remember which), rigged it to the belts, and 
kept on working.

Finally, and before I forget, in the bay off the hall leading to your 
kitchen, you'll find some stains near the baseboard on the right hand side. 
This is where my father, a "lifetime" radio man, accidentally spilled a bit 
of the acid from the batteries to his crystal set. Needless to say, Gramma 
was fit to be tied that her beautiful floor was forever ruined!

Here is a letter from her Aunt Marion, the oldest child in the above photo, who died in 1997 in Florida.

Dorothy is going to be compiling and sending more information in the next few days and we can't wait. I sent her a few photos, after she had asked about things like the stained glass window. (Yes, we still have it! She worried that it may be gone.)

I relieved this email response from her:

Thank you so much, Carrie & Dave, for the wonderful photos.

Bless you both! You're doing wonderful work. I know my grandparents would be 
delighted.

Dorothy 

(Another interesting tidbit... The man who stopped by is in the movie industry, performing as a stuntman. He is driving the car in the new Tom Cruise movie that will be coming out next spring/summer. He also has a transportation company and transports custom classic cars (like those belonging to Jay Leno) and other celebrities.)

What an amazing day it was all around. We also learned that Howard and Clemmie May are buried in the cemetery in the center of town. I think we'll have to check it out.

Here is a picture of the original house. This is the one we have hanging in our foyer.

Here is a photo of the house is the 70's, which I just received today...

And here it is today.