White house visit

For those who don't know, my maiden name is White, so my parents' house (actually a log cabin) is referred to in our family as "The White house". On Sundays as we were leaving church, we kids would ask if we could go somewhere to eat and Dad would say, "Yeah, how 'bout the White house!" Groan. Now the White house is about my favorite place to eat, although Jared will tell you I still LOVE to eat out (anywhere except McDonalds).

The rock at the White house is one of the main attractions. Noah's even giving us a little presidential wave! It's hard to tell from the pictures, but there are 127 trees (just a guesstimate) on this 1+ acre lot. When I was a kid, it was awfully important that the sticks be picked up off the ground before Dad could mow. Now that there are no kids living there, it's somehow not all that important :-) Jared's found the same to be true at his parents' house about the apples in their yard being picked up...absolute necessity when HE lived at home, but once he moved out, suddenly not a big deal at all. Anyway, Mom told the kids she'd pay them a penny a stick for what they picked up (MY kids get paid, I did not, just for the record). Maddy picked up 175. Noah picked up about 16 and spent the rest of the time complaining that there were just too many sticks and he's always the one who has to pick up sticks. Jack picked up one stick and then used it to find bugs. That "experiment" pretty much sums up the Smalling children. I could SO write a birth order book!