Monthly Archives: October 2009

So, this year I am not having a party, since Gaylon can’t be here.  Instead, I am offering this Halloween greeting from Kendall, Snoopy, and Woodstock. 

This absolutely cracked me up!!!  If you homeschool, then you’ll love it.  If you have issues with homeschooling, please watch closely. . . twice.

. . . taking my boys to the KISS concert down in Greenville tonight.   I will probably loose over half of my readers over this, but I may as well be totally honest here.  I’ve been a KISS fan for, ah, well, uh, a really, really, really long time.  Let’s just say that the first KISS concert I went to was 25 years ago, and I’d already spent the seven years prior to that concert trying to convince my mom to let me go to one!  So, uh, yeah.  Long time.  Gene and Paul don’t look quite as good as they used to, but then, I don’t either.  I’m thinking they look a lot better than me!

My Favorite KISS Album Cover

Anyway, we’re gonna have a blast, and we are really looking forward to the pyrotechnics and the ‘experience’.  I will be the first to admit that musically, KISS is not so great.  But second only to Alice Cooper, they are the original Glam Rock Superstars, and put on a show that just has never been beat. (Sorry Crue and Nickleback!)  Kendall is excited that Buckcherry is opening for them.  I think I got a better deal last time when Poison opened, but then I am really showing how old I am.

I just wish I still had the picture of me and some friends dressed up like KISS, one Halloween, many many moons ago. 1985?? Me, Michael Meader, Charlie Reppond, and Chad Coe.  It took me and Gaylon three days to wash all of that black hairspray out of my hair!! LOL

Like most moms, I think my kids are pretty amazing.  But I have to say that Alex and Faith are outdoing themselves, as I type.  I am upstairs, Photoshopping old family photographs and working on my new Genealogy Website.  Alex is downstairs, playing piano. I love listening to him play as I work on my computer, cook dinner, or whatever.  His songs are beautiful and haunting, and somehow, his music turns the mundane chores of my daily life into something holy and perfect.

But this afternoon is different.  It is better than I ever thought it could be.  Alex is giving Faith notes to play on her violin, while he plays piano, and she is sitting on the floor, beside the piano, eagerly gliding her bow across her strings, as he writes down the notes for her on a piece of paper he found.  I can hear them discussing their composition, talking about which notes are best, and how long to hold them. He is teaching her music theory as they work.  It is more precious than I can express.

Yes, there is a God, and He is amazing beyond my ability to describe.  Perhaps His perfection is best experienced in the song of my children.  Not only are my children playing a beautiful song together, they are putting my world in perfect harmony with each note they play.

I have been so busy lately, that I haven’t even had time to check my email, much less blog.  Faith and I have been trying to figure out why we are so much busier this school year than we have been in the past, and we really aren’t sure.  Maybe it’s the quilting, or the violin.  Who knows?  At any rate, we have been moving at the supersonic speed of life, and I am taking a few moments (that I really shouldn’t spare!) to do a little ‘catch-up’ on here!

Faith entered three items in the Western North Carolina State Fair this year: a appliqued denim jumper, a crib quilt, and a crocheted scarf.  She got 2nd Place Ribbons for the jumper and the scarf, and third place for the quilt!  I am so proud of her.  When I was her age, I didn’t know anybody who could sew or crochet or quilt who was under the age of, say, 110!  And I certainly didn’t have any friends who entered crafts in the County Fair!

We have also started “Quilting 102″, and it already seems like it is going to be a lot of fun.  In the midst of all the sewing and quilting, we picked up a bushel of apples, and have put up a run of apple butter, applesauce and pie apples.  Mom has baked and frozen several apple pies, and we have been enjoying fresh baked apple crisps, pies, and cakes almost every night.  (Yeah, I really need to get back on that treadmill!)

L-R: Kendall, Lishi, Faith, Alex, Valarie & April

Alex started classes at Blue Ridge, and that is keeping him really busy.  He is also still taking French from a private tutor, and that  seems to be going really well.  She assures me he’s doing great, anyway!  I have always thought French sounded like someone trying to speak with a mouthful of oatmeal, but that is, indeed, what Alex sounds like, so I’m guessing that’s a good thing?   In his spare time, he is working at the Outback and has just joined “Company” at the Flat Rock Playhouse. We had a really cool birthday party for him this year, too.  He decided he wanted a “Victorian Era Theme Party”, so we all dressed up like we were from that time, and had a blast!  We got a couple of cool family pictures, while we were at it. (I just wish Gaylon had been here.)

Kendall has been staying busy with his Journalism studies, and finally got interested in doing something with the blog he set up almost a year ago.  He hasn’t done a LOT with it yet, but it’s coming.  He is finally talking about it, and making plans, which is a huge step!  Check him out and leave some encouragement: Kendall Brooks, Unedited.

I am trying to find time to work on a genealogy website that I have been playing with for about a year, myself.  Hopefully, I will get some time this year.  I really have some great ideas, just no time to implement them.  But, hopefully I’ll get it up and running soon!

Anyway, that’s the update.  I have to get moving now, because Faith and I are headed to Mary Jo’s Fabric Store in Gastonia today, on our way to pick Gaylon up at the aiport!  Yay!