1-16-2011 WiR

Remember last week when there were no pictures…I made up for it…

NORMALLY, I don’t hate the kind of weather that cancels school and forces you to stay home and do nothing…BUT this time I’ve actually been on a roll with getting things done and having everyone around and no way to leave has been cramping my style.  My “cleaner” house is constantly dirty with everyone hanging around and I’ve not been able to get in my much needed ME organizational time.  Tuesday was kind of cool but hard.  Ryan got to spend his first day telecommuting to work!  Normally he would have either braved the ice or just not gotten paid but not anymore!  Only problem was that the only table available was in the dining room and if you’ve ever seen my house you know that’s right smack dab in the middle of everything.  The only other 3 rooms anyone lives in branch off of this room.  To add to that, he wasn’t just working, he was taking customer support calls so any noise was carried through to California or Canada or who ever and filling their ears with screams of She’s hitting me! or I have to go Potty!  It was a rough day…for me…Ryan thought it was great.  Guess I shouldn’t complain.  Look how far we’ve come!

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By Wednesday the weather wasn’t so wet so after a 2 hour delay the kids headed out…but I just haven’t gotten my groove back.  I’m keeping up with the basics but haven’t done anything major (wait, Corben & I cleaned his room on Monday and that was HUGE).  Anyway, maybe tomorrow I’ll do better….right?

Here’s Sylvie dressed for bed…as Snow White with her Snow White dolls….

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Thurs – I woke up to my email flooded with comments on a photo that I'd entered in a contest a few days ago.  Why was everyone suddenly looking at it?  Why did it have almost 200 views??!!  No way…NO WAY!!  I rushed to my blog feed and SURE ENOUGH…I made it into week 2 of Pioneer Woman’s Photos of Food contest!! YIPPEE!!  These photos are picked from hundreds if not thousands of entries….it’s so cool to have been noticed.  Granted, my photo probably didn’t make it for skill (though it did have to meet strict criteria to be considered) but more likely for content.  It won’t make it to the finals BUT it made it into the weekly so I’m SUPER EXCITED….in case you wondered.

This picture is from a tomato story we did a couple of years back.  Here’s the link to the original Tomato Blog…

http://schnegelkins.blogspot.com/2008/08/attack-of-killer-tomato.html

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Friday I finally got a pic of Ella writing her name!!  She’s been doing it for a couple of days now and I’m SO proud of her!!  This is also the Earth looking like the Sun with Jesus on it…

Dade also had a wrestling match today and WON!! Way to go, Dade!!

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We headed out EARLY Saturday morning to go to Ft. Fisher to attend the events celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first battle there and the 146th anniversary of the day it fell.  My GGGrandfather, Ralsey fought there with the Bladen Light Brigade and was captured on January 15th 1865.  He spent several months in a POW camp in Elmira, NY before being released after swearing allegiance.  The soldiers were expected to walk home.  For years I’ve wanted to go on the day and see what it felt like and what he may have saw.  It was so exciting that they were actually having a huge event this year!

As we were on the tour, it was mentioned that we were kin to a Ft. Fisher vet and so the News asked if they could interview us!!  She filmed us on and off for almost 45 minutes but only 2 minutes of me being a baby made it in.  OH WELL!  My heritage DOES mean that much to me.  So fun!  Here’s the link if it’s still up…

http://coastal.news14.com/content/top_stories/635426/fort-fisher-celebrates-150th-anniversary-of-civil-war?ap=1&MP4

Here’s the video recorded off of my computer screen onto my little video camera so excuse the house noises!

Corben in the video…

WHY IN THE WORLD do I always get on TV the day I put on NO makeup and have my wet hair up in a bun…seriously…it’s like the 4th or 5th time…Maybe I should start looking nice ALL the time…lol

5:04 PM

Fort Fisher celebrates 150th Anniversary of Civil War

By: Breanna Walden

KURE BEACH, N.C. — The first commemoration event for the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War in North Carolina fired off at the Fort Fisher State Historic Site in Kure Beach on Saturday.

Visitors to Fort Fisher enjoyed new exhibits, artillery and infantry demonstrations and special tours. This is the first of many events planned for different sites across the state this year. Visitor David Vinson tried to soak it all up because his great great grandfather and other family members fought there during the Civil War.

"They were part of this and there's a lot I don't know about so this is interesting and I can learn about it," said Vinson.

Historians say Fort Fisher was the largest and most important earthwork Fort in the South, as two major battles were fought there. While 2011 marks 150 years since the beginning of the war, it also marks the 146th Anniversary of the second Battle at Fort Fisher.

"An estimated 20,000 canon balls have been throw at this fort. It was virtually raining iron," said Ray Flowers, tour guide.

On Jan. 15, 1865, Union forces took over Fort Fisher and the war ended only a few months later. And for the special commemoration event only, Vinson and other visitors were able to walk to the peak of the fort.
"It's really surreal, it makes me feel really close to my family, and to come here and see some of the sacrifice that my grandfather gave and all that he went through is really special," said Christy Schnegelberger.
Even 150 years later Fort Fisher stills stands in memory of those that gave the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

Anyway, here’s the run down in pictures….

First we watched the infantry demonstrations…

When we stood up we discovered we were COVERED in painful little burs.  OUCH!!

Then we went on the tour!

 

As a special treat to those on the tour we got to go up on the mounds…while up there we were interviewed and filmed by the News.

THEN, a HORRIBLE thing happened.  We’d been warned (but forgot) that there were cactus & burrs up on these mounds.  Suddenly I was in pain and looked down to find inch long cactus spines through my tennis shoes.  At the same moment Ella fell down.  She started screaming and when she got up it was like a cartoon but not funny.  Her bum was covered in huge cactus that had gone through her pants and were stuck in her little bottom and legs.  We carried her down and spent much time removing spines from her hands and feet and everywhere else.  She wasn’t the only one.  Dade’s shoes were filled with invisible spines that hurt him the rest of the day…

 

We then explored the Fort…and paused periodically to remove more spines from Ella’s socks.

We stopped to find my GGGrandfather’s name in the books…and buy souvenirs….

Then we headed to THE BEACH!!! (which was right across the street…)  I went a little picture happy.

                

Then we played under the beach trees until it was time to go watch the canons go off!

Here are some of Corben’s souvenirs…

No home birth pics for me…sigh.  CM was due today and I was supposed to be there to take pictures but despite the fact that I was back in town in time, she went so fast that the midwife didn’t even make it there.  Luckily, Daddy’s a good catch!  Congrats, C & R!!!!

And, once again, it’s Sunday and…I need a nap.  The End.