31 December 2020

Splash - December 2020

 

I know I usually put up the splash picture first when I post my monthly picture of my BallTeam, but, man, is this a great photo of Ezamay, or what?  Charlotte caught this beauty a few days before Christmas.  I just love that smile....she's a precocious one year old, so don't leave her unattended, but, she's sweeter than peach pie.

Our December splash - on Grandmom's front porch.  I just love that they have fun together.

25 December 2020

Christmas 2020

Our sweet little tree.  I'm not one to decorate, so this is doing something.  One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is sitting out in the front room with our tree at night.  We talk about Christmas past and reconnect after a long year of duties.  It's a peaceful time.

And these five - our BallTeam.  Here we are on Ma's porch in Salisbury.  Our best Christmas gifts ever.  And more work than a new toaster.

The Brownie Bite had a big Christmas.  She was very entranced by the lights and packages.  She pulled at the ornaments, but, hey, you gotta learn, right?  Such a sweet and beautiful smile.  One year old.

Ma got the ladies mugs.  (Serendipitously, I had given Josephine a cappuccino mix I knew she wanted.)  They all had cappuccino in their mugs - the picture on their mugs is four young women, each with different hair and clothes, but, the caption says "We are more than just sisters.  We are like a really small gang."  Spot on, Ma. 

The BallTeam and its honorary captain, Ezamay.

Ma and her great-granddaughter, Ezamay.

15 December 2020

Five Below


 The little ladies were doing some Christmas shopping and I was hanging out with my favorite little human, Ezamay.  Shockingly, the staff at Five Below just laughed at our trick instead of asking us to adhere to proper shopping protocols.  Good for them.

11 December 2020

Beachy Winter

I had to take time off from the law office at the end of the year.  December is not an ideal time to go to the boardwalk and beach, but, it does have its own charms.  We picked up some sales and some warm Fisher's caramel popcorn.....
We walked the boards and strolled through the shops.  Josephine's friend Adrian came along.  This shot is off of the end of the island at the inlet - the VA line is just in front of these young men - about ten miles out.

Ezamay loved all the sights on the boardwalk and walked a lot of the way herself.  She greeted all the dogs and while we were pushing her in the stroller, she waved at all the people.

Charlotte says this will be E's Santa picture.  So cute.  She has fun wherever she goes.

James and I sat on the big Adirondack chair.  I love the beach.

And these angels.
James and Josephine sprout wings.

01 December 2020

Splash - November 2020


Our November splash is all five - autumnal colors were a complete accident - and the beauty only nature can express.  Beauties.


 

29 November 2020

Sunrise

 With a house filled with four pretty daughters, we have seen many boys come and many boys go.  Sometimes they stick around for a season, some, only a date or three.  The picture here was taken at sunrise at a dock not far from our house.  We happened to be on a dock at sunrise because Josephine was seeing a boy - Adrian - and it was his birthday.  For his birthday, Adrian wanted to watch the sun rise with his girlfriend.  So, James and I double dated with them and drove them in the dark to the dock so we could watch the sunrise.  Adrian and Josephine walked out to the end and sat on dock, but, since James and I have seen more sunrises, we stayed closer to the car.  The colors and the light were worth the early morning drive.  Josephine is no longer dating Adrian - they are just friends - but, what a great birthday request, right?

16 November 2020

School - socially distant

Maybe you remember in our story that our fourth daughter, Josephine, decided in the ninth grade that she did not like people  She began high school in a new town and made a valiant effort to be a part of her new community.  She tried out for the volleyball team but, decided it was not for her - she wanted to concentrate on academics.  After a few weeks of trying to start conversations with people she thought could be her friends, and a two weeks of being rejected, lunch in the library - poor soul - she was adamant that she could home school herself.  So, she found a program online and we pulled her out of ninth grade.  We enrolled her in Acellus - an online platform for home schooled kids.  She had straight As and she set her own schedule.  When tenth grade began, she decided it was time to return to school.  COVID, in the meantime, had closed the schools.  

Josephine sat for the ninth grade finals through Easton High School and passed with all As.  So, she enrolled back in school as a sophomore, but, was still online as was the whole county, and the whole country.

As the pandemic lessened, the high school offered that a small number of students could return to campus.  To my surprise, Josephine wanted to go.  Her thinking, she said, was that the social distance would make everyone eat lunch alone.  So this photo is her first official day of school in the tenth grade.  This patch would only last less than a week - COVID shut us back up in the house.  But - what I learned here from my beautiful little wonder is that if you want something, you have to make it happen.

She didn't like people - she found an online school.  She wanted an in person teacher - she went back to the classroom with all its restrictions.  Basically, if she sets her mind to it, she gets it.  

The outrageously fun part of all this for me is that I remember that house full of toddlers and babies and how James and I would always say to them, You can do this, you solve the problem, you fix it.  Turns out that might have been good advice, right?

Also, please note Josephine has ten fingers up - for tenth grade.  Also, on her hand, see where she wrote her classroom numbers in order?  Plus, she had a map in her pocket.  She never did get lost.  Why?  Because she was prepared.  Prepared is her middle name.  That black thing hanging from her wrist her is her mask.  She wouldn't let me take a picture of it with it on.....

31 October 2020

Splash - October 2020

The year of 2020 will go down in history as one of the strangest in recent memory.  What I want to remember about this often dangerous and confused world we call home is that I was blessed to call these five my children.  We are having a crazy year, but, we are still the BallTeam.

This photo was James' idea and I want to do it again, but better next time.  This hot was inspired by the Beatles album of similar design, and, of course, my pretty kiddos.

This spot on the side of the road is literally a marshy neck of the Nanticoke River about a click up from my brother's house in Mardela.  Rachel and Samantha took this route to sunbathe on the river's edge, and remembered this spot as pretty and outdoorsy.

We took quite a few pictures on this trip and hit this beauty from all her good angles.
The coastline was crowded with algae.  Thick and green and full of all sorts of thriving bacteria colonies, to be sure.  We didn't get too close.

The sunshine was beautiful; it was clear and humidity-free.  A nice breeze in the air.....don't you love what the sunlight does to JMichael's hair?  He's an angel.

We are guilty of posing on State property.  Testing the guardrails.  Safety first.

This is the strength of the guardrails on this side, closer to the water.  Yup.  It holds, too.

Rachel (22) and Josephine (16).
How time flies....

I love this shot for two reasons - first, Rachel looks glamorous and sweet at the same time; second, Samantha seems to be holding up the universe for her dear sister.

Standing on the deck over the waterfall area.  More quality engineering.  It's amazing how the water is so thick with life and so dense.  You can see growth on the water all the way to the mouth where it meets the Nanticoke.  While we were out and around a guy pulled in and put out on his kayak.  He had fishing gear with him.  On our way out, we saw a guy with what had to have been at least a five pound croppie, by James' estimation.  Rural Maryland is full of life.  It has stuff that bites and stings, true, but it is full of wonder.

the Ball Team
Rachel (22), JMichael (12), Charlotte (17), Josephine (16), and Samantha (21)

22 October 2020

Ezamay is ONE

Ezamay loves phones - she will nab yours in an instant if you let her at it.  She is quite the gifted photographer, however, so we are happy let her have it.

A cake for the birthday girl.

Our crowd for the big day.  Ezamay is still not sure what all the fuss is about.

Tanita is Markel's Mom and she threw Ezamay a big one year bash.  There must have been thirty people there, all with presents and tons of decorations and good wishes for our little human, who charmed them all with her sweet personality and infectious smile.

At one, Ezamay is well on her way to conquering the world.  She runs, jumps, climbs and growls more than any other child I know at her age.  She "talks" but we can only understand her when she says, No, or Mam, or Oh my.  So darn cute.

Ezamay answers to Ezamay, of course, and we all have names for our little human.  She is Eze, Louie, Bit, Ezzie Lou, Brownie Bite and baby girl.  Anyway you say it, you can't help but love her bright smile and tight hugs.  Beware, however, she will mean mug you and scowl - all that attitude in a sweet beautiful girl.

13 October 2020

BallTeam Homestead

This house sits back from the road about a half mile in a neglected field.  Isn't it sad?

James and I thought it would be great to save this old place by building it out from the inside but leaving the outside as a sad old mess.  Maybe there's a company somewhere, like a house moving company, that will make this house a structurally sound shell, and we can use a huge crane to lift it over the new modern house we build to go under it.

Halloween will always be a blast at our house.



 

30 September 2020

Splash - September 2020

Sepotember's splash is the Ball Team on a location hunt.  Rachel found that the oldest Quaker Meetinghouse on the Easten Shore of Maryland is located in Talbot County, so, without delay, we set out to find it.  This is the front gate to the property, which includes three little cottages, a brick meetinghouse and a large white painted commonhouse.  The grounds are in a terrible state and there are construction trucks working on the site.  We just caught a few pictures and left them to their work.  If I remember, we should go back and do an update.
We tried posing across the gated entrance, but, it was too wide for a group shot.  James, however, thought, he would help the trip by posing as Sasquatch.....
And Ezamay is getting so big.  She can do "so big" and clap.  Her laugh is like peace.
She's ten months old!

27 September 2020

Josephine is 16

Josephine is turning sixteen, so her requests included a trip to IKEA and a hike with her sisters.  Being the reasonable creature that she was born to be, she chose a hike on the western shore, near an IKEA she hadn't previously visited.

Later in the week we had cheesecake on the side of the road with her grandmother to celebrate.  Of course we did.

the masked hikers - 2020 manifested itself constantly, but, the fun doesn't have to stop.

The birthday girl and her prize.

It's hard to light a cheesecake on the side of the road, but, we did it.

Our October babies - this year Josephine is sweet sixteen and sweet Ezamay is ONE!

26 September 2020

Taming the beast

 James' hair is curly.  It's so curly that most people don't know how long it really is because all they see is curls.  It's beautiful, but it requires some work.  Here's James' before and after photos.

Very handsome!


14 September 2020

On The Road to Recovery ....

James has been "down" since January of this year with a back injury and the resulting treatments, physical therapies and surgery. It's been a hard year. Last week, though, he had his follow up with the surgeon and got great news - his vertebrae are fused! James can now get off of the couch he has occupied for the last seven months and join us in living life.

On the down side, I had to iron a shirt for church for him for the first time in seven months; I haven't missed ironing....
Now he'll have seven weeks of physical therapy and exercise then, after another doctor's visit - back to work! Wow. He will back to his old basketball playing, rough-housing with the kiddos self before long.

31 August 2020

Splash - August 2020

The August splash was taken in Queen Anne's County, at a nature preserve.  This park is filled with trails and backwater spots for putting out a canoe and enjoying the quiet beauty of a summer's day.

We hiked two of the trails in the park - the ladies went on a short hike from the woods to the water and were eaten alive by critters with six or more legs.  Charlotte fared the worst, with bites and itches all over her, especially her feet.  Rachel, Samantha and Charlotte all caught chiggers and Josephine and JMichael?  I suppose bugs think that the little two are just not as sweet as the big three.

James and I stayed closer to the car and just walked to the water and enjoyed the breeze on the seclusion of our little cliff perch.  There was a sailboat anchored out in the middle of the river, those aboard were jumping and swimming off of the boat.  We could hear them easily and they were about a quarter mile away as the crow flies.  Very nice.  No bugs....

More pics from the hike:

Charlotte, pre-chigger smorgasboard, had a wrap thing that she used to hold Ezamay in hiking terrain.
She really did have bug spray on.

Post hike group shot.  Samantha is deftly pointing out to you, our reader, that Ezamay has a flower in her hair.  Guess who put the flower in Ezamay's hair?

All five, with little bit in tow, walking off to hike.

20 August 2020

SnapChat Eyes

 SnapChat is an app on our phones.  The kids use it all the time, but, James and I only talk to them and use the filters for fun.  Are these fun, or what?

James, looking kinda crafty here....

Me, looking sleepy....

Rachel, 22 years old....

Samantha, 21 years old

Charlotte, 17 years old...

Josephine, 15 years old....

JMichael, 12 years old....

And Ezamay, ten months old and the cutest of us all!