It's been a while since I posted here. Summer has been so full, so busy, but so pleasant so far. It is bittersweet for me since my kids are growing older and I know that these golden years will be the ones I look back on when they are grown. My oldest boys are around the 10 year mark. How fast the next 10 will go by! It takes my breath away and pulls on my heart a little. It's such a great thing to witness my babies growing into strong, independent and unique human beings full of so many different ideas and interests but it's a little sad to experience how fast this time goes by.
When I had my oldest son I was only 20 (ohmygosh that seems so incredibly young to me now) and really didn't think farther ahead than cuddling my newborn baby in my arms. But now I know that the role of a parent is so heavily based on learning to let go, and giving your kids the foundation to be compassionate, strong, happy adults; to survive and thrive. And it's so SO SO a 24/7 job. And it's exhausting and challenging (in good and bad ways! haha) and pulls every bit of you out and stretches you in a million directions. So, less time for both sewing and blogging. I kinda feel like I need to apologize but I know that everyone understands this! So here's some new pictures, anyway!
This past weekend we attended the Civil War weekend at Heritage Village. My oldest son is currently visiting his grandma so I had just five of the children with me. I wasn't sure at first if I would camp since the village is so close to our home but decided, what the heck, let's do this. And I'm so glad we did. It was the first overnight camp the two littlest remember and they were absolutely brilliant.
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Judah, Saturday morning before the gates opened. |
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Malachi |
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Confederate soldiers marching to drill on the lawn across the street from us. |
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We brought 2 A-frames. This one was for the girls and I.
I was pretty happy with how nice it was! |
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Sweet Rosie watching the soldiers drill. |
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Union troops across the street. That's our friend Scott in the background! |
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Union troops lined up for quinine call early Saturday morning. We had a really
great medical staff this year. |
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Rose and Anne at the train depot. We took a photo in this same spot last year! |
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Benjamin had so much fun playing in the trees behind camp. |
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PHOTO CREDIT DAVID BURNS
Judah and Malachi had a tournament game scheduled for Saturday so I thought
I'd have to leave the event for a little while to take them. It was cancelled due to rain the day
before, though, but they still got to play baseball! The Cincinnati Red Stockings (post
war team) and the Cincinnati Buckeyes (pre war club team) had a more pleasant battle
on Saturday morning. One of my sons played for one team and one for the other. Truly brother against
brother. I cheered for both. ;) Definitely a highlight of the weekend!
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PHOTO CREDIT DAVID BURNS
Judah up at bat. |
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Medical camp detail. I was up late the night before the event making
labels for their "whiskey" (diluted tea). I copied these from an 1859
whiskey label from the Library of Congress. Still need to refine the design a bit but
it's close to the original, minus the flourishes and embellishments surrounding
the text that the original had. (It was midnight, I was tired, and felt like plain labels
would suffice for one event!) |
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Malachi sharing pretzels with Rose. She is passionate about food. |
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Anne taking time to stop and smell the flowers. |
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PHOTO CREDIT DAVID BURNS
Doing some laundry Saturday afternoon. This was Rose's favorite activity, because it combines two of her
favorite things: cleaning and water! |
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Judah playing with a Jacobs ladder while visiting at the field hospital. |
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Federal troops on the road just beyond our camp. |
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Talking over war matters. |
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Confederate infantry during the Saturday battle. |
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Our brave boys in blue! |
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Scott, very much looking the part. |
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David, Shawn and Anthony, the core of our great medical staff. |
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The field hospital and camp across the road from ours. |
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Saturday nap time! |
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Judah and Rose on Saturday evening, on the porch of the house behind camp. |
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My two last babies. I loved wearing this sacque and petti outfit on Saturday!
I will be posting about this outfit soon! |
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Federal camp across the way. |
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She was delighted to discover my chap stick. It quickly became
Rose's chap stick, instead of Mommy's. |
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Flowers along the picket fence. |
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On the way to dinner. |
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Yes, it was 11 o'clock and yes, they were still awake playing with their dollies. |
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Judah and I sat outside at the table til the babies were asleep. Malachi campaigned
it with the medical staff and slept under the stars with the guys. "It's quite fun, actually." He told me that night,
as he grabbed a blanket before heading out. He's definitely got passion for this. |
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Melting wax is fun. It really is. |
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Sleepy boy early Sunday morning. |
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She vowed she wasn't tired as she ate her favorite part of a hard
boiled egg, the yolk. |
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Anne was up early to play with her new friends from our neighboring
camp. |
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Officers call early Sunday morning. |
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Mandy feeding the chickens. She let Benjamin help, which delighted his heart greatly. |
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Judah and Benjamin visit with the chickens. |
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They were very friendly. |
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This kid! |
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Rose preferred seeing the chickens from afar. |
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On our way to church. |
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Church. Rose played quietly with her doll for a little while before deciding she
greatly enjoyed the acoustics of the building and started screaming happily. |
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Rev. Powell delivers a sermon that was actually preached during the Civil War in Cincinnati.
Anthony later offered a prayer from the Soldier's Prayer Book. |
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He disappeared with his friend Ethan most of the day on Sunday. I came across him every once in a while! |
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Judah and Benjamin just before the battle. |
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Anne and her new friend, Harrison. |
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Confederate troops on Sunday. |
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Oblivious to the wounded and dead. |
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Anne and Ethan watching the battle. Ethan kept looking for his dad on the field. |
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Our boys! |
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Brent, looking weary with war. |
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Jefferson Davis, visiting with us a bit during the battle. He was
so kind to all of us, I felt bad I could not in good conscience call
him "Mr. President". |
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Benjamin looking very delighted with the card Mr. Davis gave
to him. |
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Anne plays her friend Arden after the battle. |
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Kevin |
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And Malachi! |
A huge thank you to all the volunteers and staff at Heritage Village for making this event happen. We can't wait til next year!
I like the idea of attending church barefoot!
ReplyDeleteLovely photographs. Beautiful children.
It's almost impossible to keep shoes on their feet if the weather is nice. Malachi always wears shoes though (and long pants and long sleeves, if he can get away with it!)
DeleteOne day, I WILL visit America.
ReplyDeleteOne day, I WILL take part in a CW reenactment.
One day ...
It looked like an amazing event. Judah and Malachi look so grown-up, and I can't believe how Anne has grown! Time flies, does it not? I hope time will slow down a little so you can enjoy their younger years for a while longer.
Annie x
I am so glad you decided to camp at the event. I is my favorite part of reenacting now and is my favorite memory reenacting as a kid. There is just something about sleeping out of the house without all the mod-cons that really puts you in the spirit. I wish I could have your kids at one of our events. I share children's games and entertainments and miss having littles to help me demonstrate. Can't wait to hear more about the outfit.
ReplyDeleteB from the Flying V S Farm.