Stone Family Surprise

Hey y'all!

This past Friday, I hosted a surprise party for my family. The special occasion? you may ask.

• Anna turned 19 in April and graduated in May.
  
• Olivia will be turning 13 in July.
  
• My parents will be celebrating their birthdays in July.
  
• And mom and dad are going to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in July.
  

Why were all these occasions rolled into one big event?

'Cause I wanted an excuse to throw a surprise party, of course :D. It was also an attempt to cheer up my family after our hard year.

Friday is the day Ms. Kricket comes over to give Anna fiddle lessons, so she was able to stay and help with so many details. She had also agreed to play the fiddle for the dance later that night. Here we see two of her children, Audrey and Johnny.

Matt came over Friday afternoon and practiced with Ms. Kricket. He also put the tiki torches up that we used to form our "dance floor". Thanks, Matt!

Getting ready for the party

Here they are practicing together for the first time. They did a wonderful job.

The first bunch to arrive was the Amundsen family. It was thought that everything was done, so we just took our time and fed the goats oranges...

Jean Marie, "my right arm" :D, preparing to exit the house to retrieve something for me! Thank you, Jean Marie for being so willing to do... stuff! :D And Josh looks stuck behind the door. LOL!

Waiting for my family to arrive... They had to leave the house around noon so that the party preparations could begin.

Peter, one of the faithful photographers...

"EMILY STOP!" called Peter to me amidst my frazzled nerves and frantic "powerwalks". "I can't stop Peter!" But he succeeded in getting me to stop and smile for 5 seconds! :D

Adam and Matt

Anticipation... EXCITEMENT! Not meditation (says dad! :D)

Here they.... go? Wait, where are they going?

Daddy was very courteous to let mom drive in first.

SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNIVERSARY...

AND GRADUATION!

Next, in came Dad.

greetings

the party-goers

Da Boyz...

Find Mr. Fambrough's glasses :D

Most of the young ladies. Front row L-R: Gabbi, Melody, Olivia, back row L-R: Kathleen, Elise, Mariah, and Hannah... what precious gifts!

Gailanne and I pause for a pic... :D

Mattie Amundsen! What a peach!

Audrey Morose! Anna teaches her piano.

The lovely salads.

The "goods" (desserts!) LOL!

Anna really likes this pic, so... here ya go! LOL

Gracia Campana, Clair Orenczak, and Emma Bohannan

Chatting soon after the arrival

Me loverly mum!

Preparing to bless the meal!

Abigail's "tired" pose!

Anna and Paulina chatting

Providence Orenczak and yours truly

It was quite warm... 94 degrees I believe, so... everyone made good use of the pool!

On the porch getting dinner... "Hi Jeffrey! Nice smile."

Mrs. Krause and Mrs. Fambrough! What wonderful helpers they were!

Ms. Kricket chatting with my aunt Treva and Uncle Matt

The Three Musketeers! (Johnny Morose, Frankie Campana, and James Bohannan)

Hearty conversation... :D

Bliss!
Little girls feeding oranges to the goats...

Retrieving the oranges for the little girls to feed the goats...
Christian Fellowship

Abigail, Anna, and Lauren

Look at 'em eyes!

Paulina, Peter and Abigal

And whilst Jean Marie has the camera...

Kim and the photographer (Jean)... sisters

Paulina and Jean... the photographer again!

And again... only with me this time... :D

Gabbi Campana

Hannah Bohannan

The beginnings of the Virginia Reeling... note it was said "beginnings"... :D

How Sweet. L-R: Mattie, Emma and Gracia

1 2 3 4... 1 2 3 4...

The "band"

A side view... L-R: Ms. Kricket, Anna, Roger, and Matt

Some of the guys L-R: Joshua, Adam, and Joseph

The band playing "Rakes of Kildare"

Don't ya just get tired by watching them? Right arm, left arm...

The onlookers/dancers. L-R: One half of Mr. Hope :D, Mrs. Hope, Lauren, My grandma (Mrs. Wilbanks), Mrs. Amundsen, Jeffery, and Gailanne


Thank y'all SO much for making this a memorable occasion for my family! I couldn't have done it without ya! :D
~Emily

Barberville Spring Frolic 2008

Hey everyone,

I'm updating you about the Barberville Spring Frolic we attended this past weekend, April 26-27. We had a wonderful time jamming, dancing, listening to bands, learning about all sorts of instruments/types of bluegrass music, meeting new people... etc. :)

The Spring Frolic was hosted at the Barberville Pioneer Settlement. The buildings were so unique and beautifully old! Sorry that we don't have many pictures. The memory on mom's camera was almost full when we got there and we really didn't want to take a ton of time to clear pics off. Anyway, hope y'all enjoy...!

I will begin my post with a random picture of a peacock! :) Not only were we at a pioneer settlement, but it appeared to be a zoo/farm as well! LOL!

Here is the first group we got pictures of :) Jubal's Kin. L-R: Gailanne (fiddle, banjo), Roger(guitar, mandolin), and Jeffrey Amundsen (bass).

Gailanne and Roger playing "Blackberry Blossom"

And... a flower setup mom really liked :)


Here we see myself, Olivia, and Anna preparing to enter the old school house. This is the only "posed" picture that was taken of us :)

Anna and Olivia contra dancing together, here shown promenading.

I sat this round out, so I was able to take a few neat shots of everyone dancing. In this pic, you can see all my lovely family...

The Morse Family band. L-R: Matthew: Fiddle, banjo, guitar, Leah: Fiddle, Abigail: Guitar, Seth: Guitar, Aaron: Mandolin, Dawn (mother): Mandolin, bass

Coty Granatosky and the Men of the House perform "Tammlin"

LOL (lots of lawnmowing) just like the good old days!

A sweet display of affection between the sound man and his wife...

Anna, Mrs. Kricket, and Seamus Chalmers jamming with a big group

Mr. Ty Chalmers and his wife, Marguerite

Anna and Mrs. Kricket

Mr. David, Anna, Mrs. Kricket, and Seamus playing "The Ashokan Farewell"

All in all we had a wonderful time at the Spring Frolic and hope to go back for the Fall Jamboree!

~Emily

Yearbook Pictures

We recently had pictures taken for the homeschool group we are a part of. Below are the Stone Ladies photos. Many thanks to Mrs. Krause for organizing and coordinating the event!

Anna - Grade 12 - Senior

Emily - Grade 11 - Junior

Olivia - Grade 7 - Middleschooler :)

We had a jolly time fellowshipping with some dear friends, long after the pictures were taken. They are all such a blessing!
~Anna

Barberville Spring Frolic

Hello Everyone!
On April 26-27, our family will be attending a Spring Frolic.
"What is that," you may ask.
Let me tell you about it. It is a family-friendly music festival. The days will be filled with live music, barn style dancing (and classes), music workshops, jam sessions, a crankin' A model car show, and much more. We are really looking forward to this 'frolic'. The reason for our posting this is so we can invite our blog viewers to attend this festival (if you would like :). The information for the frolic can be found on the links below...or...if you have great eyesight, you can read the information on this teeny tiny flyer (only jesting). :D

We greatly look forward to attending our first music festival as a family and seeing what the Lord will do in our lives through this experience together.


http://www.floridafolkmusic.org/springfling2008.htm (this link takes you directly to the flyer shown)
http://www.pioneersettlement.org/
http://www.folkfiddle.com/barber.htm
There are also camp sites available in the area. We plan to pitch camp for the weekend.
If any of you out there plan to come, we would love to hear from you about it!
May the grace of our Lord overshadow you.
~Anna

77 years...November 8, 1930- March 28, 2008

Hey y'all...
I'm just posting to let you know that Walter Wilbur Fitz (mom's dad) just passed away today. He'd been in the hospital for a week, he went in with a high fever and the next day he was in ICU. The doctors believe he died from septic shock, which is brought on by an infection in the blood. We were blessed with the opportunity to go down and visit him for a few days. He wasn't cognizant during our whole visit though... We know that the Lord will be glorified in this. Please pray for our step-grandma. We don't know a funeral date yet. I'll post more when we know more! Thanks y'all!

~Emily

This is a pic of Mom and grandpa in 2005 at my aunt and uncle's wedding.

Time Spent with Mimae and Pop Pop

Several weeks ago, our family traveled to Inverness to help Mimae and Pop Pop (daddy's parents) with some spring cleaning about their grounds. We had a lovely time serving them!

Daddy and his noble father.
Here we find Pop Pop's workshop. Think you not it a most interesting shape? Mimae said it holds up very well to hurricanes, I guess the wind just blows around it.

Pop Pop is an avid guitar player and has several beautiful guitar bodies like this that he works on. I love the carved eagle bridge, it's so unique!

Here we find the tractor shed. It also houses lots of Pop Pop's tools.

The wash house and green house.
Momma's artistic flair.

Mimae has many lovely plants that she diligently tends.

Clover

Gorgeous!

I don't know what this striking plant is.

A charming wagon

Olivia was having great fun with Pop Pop's grabbing tool. She went about grasping things such as hands, feet, oranges, and even B.B. :)
Huzzah! We got to jam with Grandpa! Pop Pop used to fiddle with his grandfather Delmar Stone. It is fun to continue the legacy and learn a lot of family history at the same time! Come to find out, Great-Great-Grandpa Delmar was a 6 ft 4 inch Scotch-Irishman with flaming red hair.
I think our playing put B.B. to sleep. :D
Now for a brief intermission from playing. Mimae and Pop Pop showed us a program from a church show they had once. We were thoroughly confused about how to pronounce one last name.
Okay, we will give blog recognition to the person who can tell us how to pronounce the last name, third up from the bottom: Hrynczyszyn. :D :D
Like father, like son.
Playin' a Polka...

Olivia learning the art of crochet at Mimae's knee. Precious moment.

The next day, we all threw ourselves into work around the house. What fun!
Daddy and Pop Pop worked on jacking up the trailer. The settling trailer had pulled away from the addition built around it, letting in cold air and small pests. Praise the Lord, they got it fixed!

In addition to stabilizing the foundation, windows needed washing. Momma and Emily diligently performed that task.The Stone family patriarch overseeing the activities.
The bliss of modern day clothes washin'.
Sigh... :)Fantastic job Daddy! Nobody jacks up a house like you do!!! :D
Still washin'...

Mimae sweeping after the house was raised.

...and washin'. :) The widows were spotless and beautiful by the time Mom and Emmy finished. Well done, I say!
I spear-headed the kitchen clean-up.
Hi B.B.!!
We brought Mimae a rose bush. The blooms reminded us all of brilliant Florida sunsets.
We were so blessed by spending time with Mimae and Pop Pop! They are such a joy to all our hearts. God bless them!

~Anna