Summers End

Hello there! I’m starting up my blog again and if this is your first time on here, than be prepared for some extremely random blog posts!

Yes, it's still hot out, but summer is coming to an end. School has started up again and so has volley-ball, football, guitar and piano. It didn't really feel like summer this year (except for the hotness factor) because this summer has been really busy, and I didn't exactly get the long anticipated break I was hoping for. Along from doing math and history this summer, I also went to an intense 2 week training camp (CYIA, also known as Christian Youth In Action) which equips you to teach 5-day bible clubs. After camp, we went on a vacation up to NJ for one week to a family reunion. Then after coming home for about a week, we headed out to IN for my Grandpa's 80th Birthday party. The summer concluded with rushing around wildly, trying to get procrastinated 4-H projects done (with a few v-ball practices in between), going to CO for a few days with my family while my dad worked there, teaching 2 five- day clubs, finishing up a Danial bible study, (by Beth Moore) and the grand finale’? A weekend volley-ball tournament in Kansas City. =) It wasn't the most relaxful summer I've ever had, but I'm excited to get back into the normal daily routine!

This week, we celebrated my little brother's 12 birthday, and he truly is a miracle. Although I sometimes don't admit it half the time, he's  a great brother, even if he does annoy me sometimes! My little brother was born early at almost 5 pounds, and most doctors thought he would either be severally handicapped, or autistic. As soon as he was born, they transferred him to Topeka to the neonatal intensive care unit. All I really remember is going to see him there. I don't really remember a whole bunch about it (because I was only about three at the time), but all I do remember walking into the room with my dad, and seeing him hooked up to a bunch of tubes and stuff. I don't think it quite "registered" that this little guy was my brother. After about 2 weeks, he was released from the hospital, and named Blaize (my dad wanted the "i" ) because they knew he would have to fighter to survive. Anyway, I think he turned out okay (ha ha). He's really a comedian, and loves making people laugh, and being the center of attention. He's really into air soft guns right now, and loves tramping all over the property with his friends, and playing war. Not really my idea of fun, and he hasn't convinced me yet to play with him either=) He's also really good at math, but he'd rather be building Lego's, or color sorting his air soft pellets, or Lego's (yup, he's pretty strange=). We love him though, his quirks and all...=)

Last Tuesday, I had standerdized testing in the morning. Yuck. I was incredibly happy that we were doing more of the English side of testing that day though, because I don't like the math/science end of it that much! After testing, we went home, then did our daily rutine of going to piano lession, math tutoring, (hannah) and while Hannah was at math tutoring, we shopped for her birthday presents. I got her a hair defuser (don't ask me what that is!) and gum. =)
Wensday, we celebrated Hannah's 16th birthday, and went out to dinner, then went shopping afterwards=)!
Thursday, I had testing again, and was a pretty normal day.
Friday evening, we had Alpha (a course designed to introduce and explain christianity to people) and my parents and I (Hannah had another commitment) all went to a weekend discussing what the Holy Spirit does, and who he is. It was really interesting, and I learned a lot!
 Then Saterday, finally, after weeks of waiting, our cat had kittnes! Sadly though, three of them were still born=(. The last one though survived the birth, and soon after, Missy (our cat) carried her to the box. The next few days, we peeked in on her, and watched her and her kitten (which we had recently named "shadow") Then, Monday night, we relized that her kitten wasn't breathing=(. Missy, our cat is depressed, and I feel sorry for her. I think they were born prematurely...Blaize is really sad. It was going to be his cat, but now he's looking to see if there are any avalible kittens around, so if anyone knows of any, let us know!=)

First movie in the movie theater!/What I love about spring

Most people, when they hear I've never been to a movie in a movie theater stare at me and gape like I'm a foreign object...well not anymore! I can truthfully say I've been to a movie once in my life (as of this past thursday!) and have hope of going to another one! My dad (miricles never cease) said he wanted to go to Despicible Me 2 (for those of you who havn't seen the first one, it isn't like it sounds...it's accually really funny!) For those of you who have met my dad, you probobly know that he isn't a huge fan of movies (he dosne't have anything wrong with them by any means). Well, he's just not a big movie fan...that's probobly why we haven't been to many yet!=)Anyway, we went to a movie called the Croods, and I enjoyed it a lot. I deffinatally wouldn't really recomend the movie we saw. It wasn't terrible or anything, but it had some messages that wern't the best in it. The experience was really fun, and all too!

I love spring! Everything is so green, and it smells so amazing after it rains! It's so awesome to see the flowers comming up, and the red bud trees blooming! The weather has been really nice lately...not too hot, and not to cool...I loved the rain yesterday! I sat out on the front porch under the roof and ate supper with Blaize out there. I love rainstorms (as long as they arn't too seveare!)  Blaize and I put on boots and sloshed around in the rain...that was super fun! Spring seems the perfect time for them too!

Spring Break

This year, right before we were about to go to Indiana (to see family over spring break) our van kind of broke down...well, okay, not really broke down, but we were afraid it might on the way because it's becoming more unreliable. Long story short, we decided to take my dad's truck, insted of renting a van 'cause it's spring break and there were no vans to rent(they were all out.) We bagged up our luggage into trash bags, secured them into the back of the pickup, and headed to Indiana. We're used to a van, and usually, we get our own (seperated, meaning not squished together) seat. It wasn't terribly sqished...it was almost better because we had most of our luggege in the back. But when we needed to get out, the people on the sides of the van dumped all their stuff (coats, pillows, bags, blankets) onto the person in the middle so they could open the door. I didn't like the middle seat. Well, anyway it went pretty well...the best part was we got to watch a few movies in the back (we played them onto the computer)=) We stoped at our Aunt's and Uncle's on the way there. We played dutch blitz, and that was fun. Then, we went to our grandparents house and played lots of games (Connect Four, Spades, Upwords, Rook) Watched old TV shows (Andy Grithith, Perry Mason...etc.) and stuff like that. It's a super small town (like two football fields) and so we walked around it a few times a day. They had some old railroad tracks that went through the town that were really fun to walk on. We also went to stay overnight at my Uncle and Aunts house while my Mom was having a sisters weekend, and my dad was in Ohio working. We also got to play with our cousins (ages 3, and 1 1/2) We played with them for almost the entire time... I caught "butterflies" with Lily (grasp wildly in the air and exclaim "Look, I have 10! and it's blue/pink/orange etc.) and read to Conner. It was fun. Nothing much else happened...we traveled home, got stuck in a 2 hour long trafic jam, got lost for about 10 minutes, and went to a fudge shop while my dad had a meeting, and watched Ratatouille on the way home. =)

The Alarm Clock...A Thing That Should NEVER Have Been Invented.

First of all, I want you all to know that I'm dedicating this blog post to my alarm clock, the object in my life that has faithfully and repeatedly awakened me from blissful sleep with it's ear screeching siren, and traumatized me forever. First of all, in my mind, alarm clocks are the most disturbing inventions in the world. Why, you say? Because for years, they have traumatized humans anywhere from toddlers to adults. Imagine, (okay don’t. I know you can identify) that you're sleeping peacefully, and all of a sudden, an ear defining siren screams from behind you. I ask you this question: Is this a humane way to awaken? OF COURSE NOT! I suggest that instead of traumatizing humans with its ear piercing blare, we should invent a peaceful way to awaken humans from their sleep. I can almost imagine how the alarm clock smirks before turning on its sirin, knowing it will scare me half to death. This outrage must be stopped! Perhaps we could create a better way to wake up in the morning? Music? Anything! Will anyone save us from this tireless burden, or will we be forced to surrender our morning routine to this villainous, and cruel awakener?

When I try to bake... it all goes down hill from there.=)

Hi there! Have I already told everyone on this blog I'm not good at cooking?=) Since nothing way out of the ordanary has happended lately, I thought I could tell you about some of my more recent baking fails.=)
Okay, this valentines day, I thought it would be fun to bake some of my friends cupcakes...it bakefired.MAJORLY.
 Okay, so first I decided I wanted to make chocolate cupcakes (my favorite!) Beacause, you know, chocolate is the most AWESOME desert in the world ever invented. I also decided I wanted to try an idea on pinterest where you stick a marble inbetween the cupcake pan, and cupcake holder, and it makes kind-of a heart shape because the cupcake holder is indented because of the marble...that probobly didn't make sence. I'll see if I can find a pictue...ah ha! here:



So anyway, I decided it would be really cool to try it, and put pink swirly frosting on the top, and sprikles! Problem 1: I didn't know where the marbles were, so Blaize hunted them down.
Problem 2: I didn't get all the ingredients out, and half way through baking them I relized I didn't have butter or vinilla.
Problem 3:We had no cupcake holders.
Problem 4: We had no milk or creamcheese to make frosting with...whoops.
Problem 5: The batter was really soupy.
So anyway, I worked through problem one by having Blaize go find them!=) (I told him he could have a cupcake if he did.=) Problem 2 was a bit harder, I used oil insted of butter and didn't use vinilla at all!
Problem three...yeah, the idea didn't work out too well. I ended up finding mini cupcake holders and the marbles were kind of oversized. I ended up pouring too much batter in, and when they baked they overflowed! Now I had these discusting looking cupcakes, and no frosting.
For the frosting end of it, I found left-over's from another batch, and used that. Then I added sourcream and powdered sugar...and that worked okay...
Okay, back to the cupcake end of it...I just sprayed regular sized cupcake holders with cooking spray, and it ended up okay, except that I added too much flour to the batter ('cause it was soupy.)
So they tured out being dry cupcakes with interesting tasting frosting...Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?