The Little Boys

My three younger brothers were always referred to collectively as "The Little Boys".

Kent, the oldest, was always Kent. And, me, the only girl, Gisel. But Dan, Tom and Sam were always "The Little Boys" as if they were an ameoba and could not be divided into individual cells.

My mother would call us in for dinner: "Kent, Gisel...The Little Boys!"

When we lived in what we now call The Harvison House (because the Harvisons later bought it) the kids were delegated to the upstairs. Kent had his own room, I had my own room, but "The Little Boys" not only shared a room, but all slept in the same bed.

"The Little Boys" didn't have their own designated clothes but instead operated a shared clothing consortium - anything from the "clean" pile was fair game.

I wonder if the Little Boys have joint checking accounts...

once upon a time...

once upon a time a very, very long time ago, this little girl was dropped off to attend a week of bible school at the trinity lutheran church. now her family did not attend this church, but bible school was thought to be for anyone. plus her parents thought, hey, free babysitting and a week of peace without the kid!

so her mother dropped her off outside the side door of the trinity lutheran church, and despite her being quite small and never having been there before, just sent the child in without accompanying her. the child has a very clear memory of the crunch of the wheels of the stationwagon driving away on that little gravel road beside the church and how daunting that unknown door seemed. said child wandered in and some people talked to her, inevitably asking her her name. feeling a bit shy and out of place and perhaps even abandoned out in the woods as well as having a healthy imagination, she informed them that she was called snow white.

she was pretty steadfast about the snow white thing and it took those people 'til mid-week to figure out who she really was. i guess someone finally spotted her mother, who didn't appear to be accompanied by seven dwarves, picking her up.

and they all lived happily ever after, but she still really hates going in alone to a new place full of people who already know each other. and roger eastman teased her about it for years afterwards, as he apparently found it such an amusing story. she got so she hated to run into him.

a new blog to visit

sabin is involved in a new blog. it's a modern day penpal story and it's also a bit inspired by the Flat Stanley book. she and a girl in minnesota, who is also 8, also in the second grade and also a twin who lost her twin are (with a little help from their moms) blogging and learning about how it is to be 8 and in the second grade on two different continents.  pretty cool stuff. come and check it out by clicking here.

does anyone know?

i have this throw rug in my hallway that used to be grandma kate's:

do any of you know whether she might have actually made it herself? i have no recollection of her doing any craft-type things, but did she sew or make such things? can someone tell me a story?