Guessing Game

OK, dear readers.  Let's have a contest.  Any guesses as to what dear little Rella was concentrating so hard on in this picture?  I'll give you some hints since I cropped a lot of the picture out (note, these hints are completely unhelpful...:).  1) She was wearing her leotard, tights and ballet slippers under that sweet sweater. 2) She was sitting on the steps. 3) She was having a super cute hair day and was in a fantastic mood and I was just so in love with her all day. :)

So what could she be working on? Leave me a comment with your guess, and I'll reveal either the winner or the answer, well, whenever I get around to my next post!  And if you somehow manage to guess it, I will most certainly give you a prize!  But only if you guess it.  And I'm not worried... 

Connecting

This weekend Geof and I have had a lovely get-away.  The kids are just up the road with grandparents, no doubt having a fantastic time.  And we are just down the road, playing tourist in a town where we've always been anything but tourists.  Lots of walking and relaxing and a little shopping.  Perfect.

Today we spent a very bright and sunny day on Jamestowne Island.  Thought it would be fun ot check it out after so many years have passed since we were last there (I'm thinking it had been since our first date, about 16 years ago!!!).  We're walking through the small museum, reading about the settlement, and, aha!  A whole section about William and Joan Pierce!  Very cool.  Then another small write-up about Joan and her lovliness and hard-working nature and the fact that she grew acres of figs (my mom and I also grow figs!).  Then a write-up about the adventures of Pierce's ship in Bermuda.  Anyway, all very interesting and made me feel a teensy bit connected.

Then we toured the settlement site and New Town site, and another aha!  There was the Pierce property, complete with signage and information about the family.  Here's the view of the river from the Pierce property:

We continued on and toured the church, the archaeological dig site of the recently found Fort and the Archaeum (museum of artifacts from the Fort). Here are some views of the church (reconstructed on the foundation of the 4th church at Jamestowne, the first stone church structure) and the Fort:

One portion of the Fort was marked with many of these crosses, indicating burial sites for many of the men who had arrived in the first wave of settlers to come to Virginia and perished in the late summer/fall of 1607.

ANYWAY, the point of this post is to provide a correction to the previous post about Joan Pierce and her 2-year-old traveling companion, Edith (and somehow it has just worked out that the correction occurs way down in the post.  I could run a newspaper after all!  Kudos to you for reading way down).  We found a book in the Archaeum gift shop that was a novel based on the life of Joan Pierce and her older daughter, Jane, who accompanied her to Jamestown and survived the "Starving Time." (Jane was the daughter who later married John Rolfe).  There was no mention in the book of little Edith Pierce (my family's descendent from Joan).  We came back to the hotel and did some more research.  Turns out I need a family fact-checker to go with the family genealogist.  Joan may not have been accompanied by a 2-year-old on her voyage to Jamestown.  She was accompanied by Jane and left a second older daughter, Cecily, home in England, perhaps to care for a younger sister, Edith (though we can't be sure of that yet).  Or, perhaps Edith's birth date was wrong and she was born in Jamestowne after Joan and William had settled here.  After our afternoon of research, the details are a little fuzzy, but it does seem that there was an Edith in the family.  But my awe of Joan still stands, whether she kept an elementary-aged girl alive during the first awful winter while wondering if Cecily and her 2-year-old were faring well across the Atlantic, or whether she gave birth to Edith later on.

Here I am in a really old tree on the Pierce home site.  Yes, I am wearing gigantic green beaded earrings.  I figured I could try something way out there since I wouldn't be seeing anyone I knew.  And now I am back to my trusty yoga pants, Life is Good t-shirt and little gold hoops and feeling much more like myself. :)  I think that if I had lived on this property and if I had had these earrings, I would have traded them to the Powhatan for cornmeal.  Yep.

Raising a 2 year old...

...400 years ago.  It's fun, funny, lovely and sometimes hair-raising and exasperating to be raising a 2 year old.  I know I sometimes post about the ridiculous stuff, the stuff that makes me think, "seriously!  Why am I havnig to deal with this?"  I'm finding it helps to take a step back (in this case a step WAY back) and put things into perspective.  Should I really bemoan a tantrum over pants with no pockets at Target, when A) I am able to go to a store that is 3 minutes from my house that provides me with just about everything I could ever need and definitely everything I don't need.  B) I have transportation to get me there. C) I have 3 healthy, (somewhat) educated children to accompany me there.  And so on.  The answer to the bemoaning question is definitely "no."  I imagine kids throughout the ages have whined, laughed, cried, sang, lied, hugged, spilled, cuddled.  But imagine dealing with all the hard stuff in circumstances where you aren't just trying to get the child to wear matching clothes or clean her plate or pick up his toys.  You're trying to survive and keep your precious charge alive with you. And you're on your own in a foreign place with your community dying around you.  I'd like to think that if I had to be that mother, God would equip me.  Well, actually, I know He would, I just don't know what that would look like.  The thought overwhelms me, especially when there are so many days when I take my eyes off God and try to equip myself to handle the life I'm living now, and I feel like I'm struggling to survive in what are relatively cushy cushy cushy circumstances.  I'm trying very hard this year to count my blessings and learn from what's hard.  To enjoy the smallnesses that can sometimes overwhelm, because someday I'll miss them.  And because the woman in the story to follow would surely tell me that she didn't go through all she went through so I could be content to bemoan blessings of abundance.

So with that introduction, please welcome my guest blogger for the day, Mr. Geof (who really needs a good blog name).  He's been knee-deep in genealogy research over the last few months, putting together lots of bits and pieces of family hisory that we've collected over the past several years and finding lots of interesting history.  Here's a part of my history:
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As the product of a family tree full of relatively recent (19th, some 18th century) and northern immigrants, the depth of Laura’s old Virginia roots has always intrigued me. To my knowledge, Laura doesn’t have a single ancestor who arrived in this country after it actually became a country. And most of them had been here for at least a hundred years by then.

I’m making I believe my second guest appearance on this blog to tell you the remarkable story of Laura’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great (that's 12) grandmother, Joan Phippen Pierce, and the role she played in the very early days of our nation 400 years ago this winter.

Joan and her husband Captain William Pierce were among what is referred to as the “Third Supply” of settlers to depart Plymouth for the Jamestown Colony in the summer of 1609. Capt. Pierce sailed aboard the Sea Venture with Christopher Newport, Thomas Gates and the as of yet unfamous John Rolfe, while his wife Joan and at least two daughters (Jane, about 9 years old, and Edith, age 2) traveled on a different ship. The fleet of nine ships was caught in a spectacular hurricane (that many believe was actually the inspiration for The Tempest). Eight of the ships made it through together, but the Sea Venture was separated and ended up nearly sinking, but landed at an uninhabited Bermuda. Captain Pierce and the other passengers of the Sea Venture spent the winter of 1609-1610 building new ships and also enjoying the endless bounty of food on the rich Bermudan islands. However, the remainder of the Third Supply had no way of knowing that their leadership had not perished in the storm.

Meanwhile, the approximately 450 settlers aboard those eight ships arrived in Jamestown in late summer of 1609. They arrived to find only about 75 settlers living in very poor conditions with little food and frequent hostilities from the nearby Powhatan. The 450 additional mouths to feed were not extremely helpful to the situation. The ensuing winter is one of the most horrific times in America’s entire history. Known as the “starving time”, only about 60 of all the residents of Jamestown survived until spring. While disease, particularly that pesky bubonic plague, was certainly prevalent, starvation was the main culprit. I’ll leave to the readers’ imaginations what horrors this led to, but trust me … whatever you’re thinking … it probably happened.

(Jamestown Colonists Dealing Out the Last Kernels of Corn During the Starving Time, 1609-1610)

Extraordinarily, Joan Pierce and her two daughters Jane and Edith somehow survived. I’d like to pause for a moment and just appreciate the magnitude of what she accomplished. I’ve got a 2-year-old. Somedays I wonder if we’re going to survive with our pantry full of cereal and macaroni and cheese. I picture little 2-year-old Edith Pierce doing the same stuff as our little Rella, only probably with markedly less cute clothes. She threw little temper tantrums, babbled about ridiculous things, announced that there were no woodpeckers in her bed (though perhaps there were!), and had accidents in her colonial pantaloons. And somehow this mom, Joan Pierce, made it through this horrible winter with her little girls in tact. I’m sure there are hundreds and thousands of similar stories of men and women surviving under conditions we can’t even imagine that helped establish our nation, but I must say I’m really proud that my children are descended from this extraordinary woman.

On May 23, 1610, a scene unfolded on the shores of Jamestown that 30 year-old Joan Pierce would never forget. Her husband and the other Sea Venture survivors, long assumed to be lost at sea and dead, arrived at the Fort quite healthy. While the joy amongst the Pierce family was surely long-lived, the implications for the colony were not so great. The new arrivals had only brought enough food for the Atlantic crossing, so they really just represented more mouths to divide already scarce rations amongst. Only two weeks after they arrived, the entire colony decided to pack up and return to England. They almost made it. While sailing out of the Chesapeake Bay, the party was met by a new fleet (The Fourth Supply) of settlers, this time with adequate supplies and leadership. They were turned around and returned to Jamestown Fort.

(Jamestown Fort, c. 1610)

Four hundred years ago this year.

Young Edith Parker (the 2 year old) grew up to marry Jeremiah Clements, a 1611 immigrant with his mother, who was the widow of a Virginia Company investor, Geoffrey Clements. They appear to have settled later at Wolfstelhome Towne, at present Carter’s Grove. Their son settled in Gloucester and the Clements family later relocated to Amelia (southwest of Richmond) and finally to Pittsylvania County in the mid-1800s. Laura’s great-grandmother was born a Clements in 1898.

Also interesting, Edith’s older sister Jane became the 3rd wife of John Rolfe after the death of his second wife, Pocahontas! So next time we’re at Disney, Fancy can tell Pocahontas that she is her great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- step-niece, or something like that. I’m sure that will be a special moment.

 And finally, interesting to probably only me, I find it really cool that Laura’s parents live only about 8 miles from the site of this drama. That means they have moved only about 100 feet every year!

Thanks for taking this break from the chronicles of our 21st century life to remember a spectacular life lived 400 years ago!

 (and Geof)

What's On Your Mind?

This was one of those projects that has been brewing in my head for a little while, but I just didn't have time to get it done.  Tonight I got it done.  I made a 2-page scrapbook layout of my 2009 facebook status updates. I started with December 2009 and worked backwards, update by update. It was quite tedious, and yet quite entertaining.  Kind of like watching that Seinfeld episode that takes place in reverse order.  Remember that one?  I'd read something and think, "what in the world was that about?" and then 2 updates earlier, "aha! now it makes sense!"  I tend to post a lot of updates throughout the day, and I'm finding it serves as a sort of diary.  It's interesting and eye-opening to see my days distilled to one-liners of sort.

Geof's doing a lot of genealogy research these days, and as I was cutting and pasting all these entries onto my page, I kept thinking of how interesting it would be to read such updates from, say, my Jamestown ancestors (though Geof says that the updates from the first winter would be quite disturbing as there was a lack of food and they had to - well, it wasn't pretty.  Another post on that later).  So now that these updates will make it into my family album, maybe one day someone will find it interesting. Or, at least admire the tedious work that went into preserving the updates.  And FYI - if you are thinking that this is a project you would like to undertake, I found that fb only lets you access updates for the last 6 months.  So get started now for 2010.  I am.

Here are my pages.  Not terribly interesting layouts since I needed to cram in lots of text.



And before you go hunting for your magnifying glass, I'll share a few highlights:

- Had the BEST Italian dinner with Geof and my new bag!
- Hot, tired, sweaty, belly full of berries and a car full of wiped out kids. How the end of a nice day in the country should be.
- oh no she didn't just color my new office door with a pink crayon!
- stood in the yard and ate figs off the tree for breakfast
- tests say ticker is fine
- EB keeps giving me hugs and tells me I am all better
- going to celebrate with some POANG, RIBBA and cinnamon buns with a candle on top!
- Bad dog.  Bad bad dog.
- EB's last statement of the day as I tucked her into her crib. "Well, there's no woodpeckers in my room!"
- Tomorrow is the first day of school for the third time this week!
- Y'all, I learned to make biscuits this morning.
- Preschool photo shoot in the rain
- Miss EB sets her cup of chocolate milk on the table and says, "I got no respect for this drink."
- I think the flu has hit our house
- Just renewed my web site.  Guess I'm sticking with this crazy little gig!
- I WILL NOT get out of my proofing chair and try to remember high school choreography to "Rhythm Nation."  I just won't do it.
- My 2 year old is too keyed up about Disney to sleep.
- She's so excited she's picked out which cheek she wants Minnie to kiss
- And we're now 3 for 3 on throwing up kids!
- We just passed the sock monkey outlet
- My diet today consisted of a chewy bar, mac and cheese, apple slices, and a pbj.  When did I turn 3?
- Searching for a deal on a dog sweater
- Thanks to the White Elephant is now a big fan of the Snuggie!
- Seems to me I used to know how to entertain 3 kids at home all day.
- Happy Birthday Jesus!

Want to read more? Head on over to facebook and look me up for daily updates! :)

Be My ...

...early Valentine.  Seems my last few posts have be void of pictures, so I must remedy this!  Enjoy some sweets. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

More craziness

So the little folks who live in this house seem to be a constant source of exasperation humor these days.  Tonight was pajama night at AWANA.  Fancy decided to wear her "foot-jams," which she NEVER actually wears to sleep in because they make her too hot and get too bunchy (you know, the zipper jammies with feet).  So she's walking around this evening looking like an over-sized 6-month-old.  Very cute.  Today was a day when I was home for no more than about an hour, so that meant Chick-fil-A for dinner.  AWANA nights are always hectic for us trying to get out the door, and while e weren't running late, we were cutting it close for being able to have a non-rushed dinner and make it to church on time.  Fancy runs upstairs to go to the bathroom just before leaving, and she came downstairs looking like said naughty little dog with her tail between her legs.  (I apologize if the remainder of the story is too much information, but it was just too ridiculous not to record.) 

Fancy, as she holds a wet wad in her hand and presents it to Geof, "Dad, I had to go potty, but I forgot to take my underwear off."  She's 5 1/2.  We were late.

Meltdown

While the rest of the east coast is thawing from all the snow this weekend, we're having our own meltdowns over here.  Two kids are in timeout as a result of the car ride home.  When I asked kid #1 a question about lunch today, he screamed at me that he didn't buy lunch.  He earned his ticket to timeout.  Then kid #2 had an absolute fall on the floor screaming fit during the 12 seconds we were in Target picking up some photos I had uploaded from home.  Several concerned shoppers looking our way, me just trying to complete the transaction and get out of there.  I turned around and asked her sweetly, "well what's wrong sweetie?" ('cause I'm always a cool, under control kind of mom when the whole store is staring at me and my darling charges)  Turns out the embarrassing fit - that required a 15 minute wait in the parking lot before she would settle so I could drive home - was over the fact that her green stretch pants don't have pockets.  Another ticket earned...

Keeping Track

For those of you keeping track:

- I did clean out the two bathroom drawers filled with the previously mentioned list of items that included a smocking guide, footies, invitations to my 5th birthday party and a tuner.  Now these drawers have been put to much better, much more practical use.  The smocking guide is safely tucked inside my medicine cabinets.  You can't expect me to completely change overnight.

- I also cleaned out my 2 silverware drawers and my casserole dish cabinets AND the pantry.

- My floor is still covered with laundry, in addition to a large pile of outgrown kids' clothing that needs to be put away.

- Timmy Thomas is doing great!

- Josh Wilson is a great up-and-coming (or maybe he's already arrived, I don't really know) Christian artist.  Go check him out on iTunes.  Hi-Hat has an autographed glossy hanging on his bedroom door.

- My fingers still retain lots of Super Mario Brothers muscle memory from when I was about 12.  Very weird.

Sledding Adventures

Well, it's snowing outside, but just flurries and probably won't stick.  So we'll just have to remember the fun we had in the snow last weekend!  Here's some sledding footage of the kids and our neighbors.  Can you perhaps see how Geof broke his finger (actual footage of finger breaking not caught on tape).  Enjoy!

Really Glad...

...that the kids have school tomorrow, because for an unsupervised craft project today, Fancy coated our bananas (unpeeled) in marshmallow fluff (you know, the spreadable, ultra-sticky substance that is the fluffer in a fluffer-nutter sandwich).  Then she covered them in chex mix.  The book-end children ate off all the chex mix, and now I'm left with perfectly good bananas that I won't throw out, but that are an unbelievable sticky mess.  I should stick (ha!) one in her lunch tomorrow, but I guess that would punish the teacher more than the kid. :) 

Yesterday, Rella (she's the 2 year old in case you've forgotten our cast of characters) was standing at the top landing of our stairs.  We have three steps, a landing that turns, and then the remaining 13 or so.  So she was standing at the top of the 3-step portion.  She did not see that I was standing at the base of the stairs, watching to see what she would do.  When she started rocking her knees (kind of 5th grade standing broad jump style), I knew what she was up to.  I then hear her whispering as she swings her fists front and back: "I can do it. come on.  let's go.  I can do it.  Let's GOOOOOO!" And then she jumped off, over the 3 steps and tumbled onto the landing.  When I called her name in a stern voice (though really laughing inside), she just about jumped high enough to clear the 3 steps again and she knew she had been caught.  Wonder how many times she's done that that I haven't caught her?  She was overheard today telling her daddy that she liked his blue cast.  Maybe she's trying to get one of her own.

Today, Rella was fussing fussing fussing about wanting a tube of chapstick on our way out the door to Fancy's ballet class this afternoon.  Just about at the point of falling on the floor whining.  We were running just-on-time, so I didn't have a minute to spare to 1) correct her behavior or 2) go find her beloved pink chapstick.  So I just reached into my purse and gave her a tube of mine.  Her response?  "CHA-CHING!"  And out she went to get into the van.  That kid and her hilarious mouth ...

Finally, for those of you keeping track, Timmy Thomas is still alive and finning, and he's even gained enough strength to hang out at the top of the bowl now and then.  He's been able to eat every day, and even though he is still scraggly looking and a little slow to respond to visitors to the bowl, he continues to make me happy.

My favorite model

I had to butter her up for this little session (promises of just 5 minutes, no bulky coat, just Fancy and Mommy, playtime afterward...), so I wasn't sure what to expect from her when I got her out there all dressed up.  She turned on the charm and had lots of fun, and I did, too. Lots of funny poses and laughing together. And now I'll have the cool photos to remember our just 5 minutes together in the snow (well, maybe it was more like 20 minutes). Now if I can just get Rella out there in her skirt before the snow melts.

 

Dashing Through the Snow

Tomorrow will mark our 4th snow day!  The kids are loving it.  The first day was filled with cries of, "my boots are too tight," and "my 3 pairs of pants make me feel bunchy," and "this hat is falling in my eyes," and "the snow is COLD."  But by today they had the routine down pat, and even Rella neglected to bat an eye when I dressed her for the cold overtop of her footed jammies.  The kids and neighbors created a sled run between our houses, and at any given time a dozen or so kids were lined up, toboggans/saucers/sleds-of-death in hand (more on that later) waiting for their turn down the slope.  The parents got smart this year and wrapped the little trees at the base of the hill in large outdoor furniture cushions, so the kids kind of bounced back once they got to the bottom of the hill.*

*This was not so effective for folks aged, say, middle school and up, and it was particularly ineffective when one's sled of choice was "The Torpedo."  We bigger people tended to fly at warp speed down the hill and blast through the cushions at a frightening clip.  Those intending to slow themselves down for fear of concussion were rewarded with a broken finger.  For the next 6-8 weeks, I am in charge of child-bathing, dishwashing and all things wet.

Here are some pictures from our past three days in the snow.