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?

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.....

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)

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.

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.

 

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!

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!