NUMBER SIX!

God has a sense of humour, no doubt about it! Imagine SIX grand-daughters! But yes, that's what we have now---and I love it. I'm already thinking about the toy box....
I cried when David said everyone was doing well, and then cried some more when he said the baby is a girl, and then cried some more at hearing her name. Tears of JOY, that is!
It feels very special to have a baby named after oneself. Yes, her full first name is Anneke- but what you don't know is that as a youngster I was often called Maryanneke. Something else most of you don't know is that as a youngster I named one of my dolls "Shirley" because I really liked that name. And now little Anneke has a derivative of her Grandma Shirley's name. Leigh is a beautiful spelling (and meaning!).
How wonderful that the two grandmothers can be remembered in such a lovely way. Anneke Leigh - may God bless you as the blessing you already are to us.

Fall Fun

After my friend told me about the quilts that were to be displayed at Upper Canada Village for the Fall Fair, I thought I would see if my Williamsburg girls wanted to come with me for a day. Well, of course they did!

The weather this past Saturday was absolutely perfect for a day at the Fall Fair - sunny and not cold nor too warm.

We had a wonderful time going through several of the homes and buildings, had lunch on the grass outside the cheese factory, had a barge ride and a carriage ride, the girls played games and Naomi won the sack race, looked at the items and animals entered in the fair, had some really creamy, delicious, to die for, yummy fudge, came home with brooms and unspun wool, played in the telegraph tower, and, yes, we looked at the quilts. We saw one with horses on it, one with Dora, one that was all shades of purple, one with pictures of Snoopy, and many more. This Oma is wanting to get set up for quilting!!

We also came home with Village bread, of course. But I wasted an hour waiting for it to arrive in the store from the bakery. It was supposed to arrive any time after 2:30, but didn't arrive until 3:30. Lesson learned: no bread available, buy the flour instead!

Here are the photos that were captured (and I remembered why I didn't like the little camera when the batteries died after the 3rd photo!).

Naomi and Petra had fun using the pump for the water trough at the Louck Farm, but Rachel was more interested in getting her hands wet!At the schoolhouse, the girls learned about school days and how much it would cost to go to school, where to find a quill for writing (in the barnyard!), and how important it was to have a pocket knife with you (to sharpen the quill!). Writing letters and numbers wasn't easy, as the girls discovered. Both the chalk and the slateboards were quite different than today's chalk and chalkboards. Naomi managed well enough, but Petra showed frustration. Rachel, on the other hand, was quite pleased to be able to make a few marks on her slate!

All in all, we had a great day, and when I asked Naomi what her favourite part was, she replied "It was ALL good!" Petra simply nodded her head at everything we mentioned, so I guess it was all good for her, too.

Since the Village is one of my favourite places, I think we'll have to go more often - because it's ALL GOOD!