My Life Lately!

School is beginning to "wind down" as my mom would say, but with end of the year tests and finals it seems to be speeding up. Thankfully, I'm not too overwhelmed yet, but I bet by Sunday night I'll be seriously stressed. I guess God never promised us an easy life though, and I think sometimes it's easier to walk with him when we're stressed and overwhelmed then when everything is going smoothly. It's also hard to find time to with Him when everything seems crazy, so I guess it can go both ways. Anyway, in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I really have been enjoying a few things.

1. Watching the kittens grow up. It is soooooo fun to watch them just be kittens. Clumsy, adventurous, and a little cocky. =) Maybe cocky isn't really the best word to describe them as, but they aren't very smart, and seem to overestimate their abilities!=) I guess all kittens are like that, but it's really enjoyable to watch!

2. Snow. It's so much fun to wake up and look out the window to a winter wonderland! The lake has partially frozen over, and it's been pretty cold out. Thankfully, there has been some snow though, and it's made the bone chilling weather a little more enjoyable.=) Maybe that doesn't really make sense, but it's just more enjoyable if it's cold AND there's snow.

3. Coffee! Ahh. My dad makes coffee every morning and sometimes he lets me have some. I know it's probably not the best option ever, but it's an INCREDIBLE feeling to hold something warm when it's so cold out.

4. Christmas preparation. We've put up the Christmas tree and decorated it, which was fun. I think the best part though is picking out the tree. =) I have so many fun memories picking out one with my family. Also I've been listening to TONS of Christmas music. It's been super fun. Some of my favorites are Carol of the bells by the Tras Siberian Orchestra and Pentatonix  Christmas music on Spotify. It makes the dreary days more cheerful!

5. Christmas shopping. Blaize and I went shopping at the mall on Tuesday afternoon. One of my highlights was that he OPENED THE DOOR FOR ME! Yup. On the way into the mall he opened the door and let me go first. Now if you know him, he usually doesn't do that, but I guess he knew it would bless me, and he was really trying to be a gentleman. He was really sweet the entire time. Another thing that really blessed me was that he was really patient and sweet when we were shopping in stores (Like Bath and Body Works and JC Penny) that he doesn't necessarily  like and he didn't complain or anything. I guess I thought it was really sweet that even though he doesn't like shopping and wasn't enjoying it he was making the best out of it and trying to be pleasant.=) I'm also excited about going Christmas shopping today. After my orthodontist appointment I get to walk down to Marshalls and Christmas shop for my mom! It might not sound that exciting, but I don't usually get to go places by myself, and it's kind of fun to have some freedom! =)
Anyway, that's all I have for now and I'd better sign off. I still have a bunch of school to do before my shopping excursion!!! until nest time,
Natalie=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas!

It snowed all day today on and off, and I bet we have an inch by now! We also found a tree on Wednesday, and we just finished decorating it today! Yup, it's starting to feel like Christmas! Friday and Saturday Hannah and I helped out with Bethlehem Revisited which is a reenactment of the Christmas story. It starts out with the prophecies about Jesus, and continues all the way through the resurrection. It was cold, but worth it.=) Unfortunately, I didn't help out tonight because I had several homework assignments to get to...=( Oh well, life is life! Things are starting to get crazier with tests stuff (since it is the end of the year!) I have a Biology Lab Final I need to study for (I'm SCARED!) and some other tests coming next week! Your prayers would be greatly appreciated! Here are some of my favorite things about Winter: 1. You get to wear scarfs and jackets! It's also nice and cold! 2. SNOW! I absolutely LOVE THE SNOW! It's so much fun to sled! 3. Getting snowed in, and not being able to go anywhere! It's so much fun to just hang out with our family when no one is busy! 4. Sitting by the fire! Ahhh. What a marvelous feeling to sit by the fire on a cold dreary day! 5. Warm drinks! (Hot coco, chi, and coffee are the best!) 6. Decorating for Christmas! I also love going and picking out the tree! 7. Soup. If you know me, its' my favorite meal! (Tomato, chicken, chili, and corn chowder are some of my favorites! That's all I can really think of right now! Have a great week!

Thanksgiving was really fun. We had our aunt, uncle, and cousins over (on my mom's side.) Grace and Chelsea are the closest cousins to our age (even though there is a fairly big age difference.) We played tons of games while they were here (blokus, 3-14, dutch blitz, dominion, etc.) We had a prize to give to whoever won the most games over thanksgiving and my dad won. The prize was a ceramic travel mug filled with Andes mints that my aunt and mom had found black Friday shopping. That brings up another highlight: Black Friday! We went with my cousins to the mall on black Friday, and shopped around for a few hours. Then, Chelsea treated us all to STARBUCKS! It was super fun! That night, we watched The Ultimate Gift, and if any of you haven't seen it, it's definitely one of my favorites! (a sequel is coming out on December 10th to redbox called The Ultimate Life! I can't wait to watch it!) Saturday, we held a family "Chopped."  Chopped is based off a TV show on the food network where contestants have to create meals with secret ingredients within a certain time limit. We split up into teams with my mom and cousins on one and my and Hannah and I on the other. The mandatory ingredients were sweet potato's eggs, and apples. We had 45 minutes to bake and plate the dishes for the judges (My dad, Uncle Greg, and Blaize=)
"We'll go and do archery while you guys bake." My dad told us as they headed out the door. We began discussing as teams what we could make.
"I was thinking we could make sweet potato pop-overs with caramelized apples, or something like that." Aunt Kathy told us in our group huddle. Hannah then suggested crepes. We all agreed that would work really well, especially with  caramel apple filling. Then, I overheard my mom's group talking about doing crepes. There goes THAT idea! We ended up deciding to make sweet potato waffles with caramelized apple and onion filling. We set the timer and began. I worked on beating the eggs while my aunt made the apple/onion filling and Hannah made the sweet potato waffles. By 30 minutes, we had put a waffle in the waffle iron and....IT WAS SUPER FLAT! Great. There goes the idea of  fluffy magazine cover waffles! (Fluffy makes me think of cotton, so maybe that isn't the right word choice...Oh well!) Time was running out, and we couldn't just serve the judges bumpy pancakes! Then, Hannah and my aunt had a amazing idea! We could make scrambled eggs and wrap them in the waffles like an omelet or something. Then we could pour the caramelized apples/onion on top and drizzle the caramel over it! Here are some pictures:

Hello all! Wow, has it been nasty outside! 27 degrees, windy, cloudy, and icy. Yup. COLD.  It's definitely winter. This week has actually been pretty good (aside from the weather). On Tuesday, I found out my math lesson had been canceled, so I got to go shopping INSTED! YES! Hannah and I went to the mall while my mom worked out. I got a really cute pair of jeans at Rue21! I was super exited!
I haven't really been motivated with school, and I'd really appreciate prayers about that. UGG! I'm ready for Christmas! I'm so excited! Thanksgiving is next week! Time to start baking! (Okay, maybe not just yet, but  I'm ready to taste that pumpkin pie!)
We've been playing more board games as of late. Tonight, I got absolutely annihilated by my dad. He had all the property's except for like boardwalk/parkplace and Indian/Kentucky/and Illinois, and he laded on Free parking about 5 times in a row. I am not joking. It was pretty miserable and I finally handed it all over. He was really enjoying himself.=) Imagine that.
 Guess what? My dad said we could go tuba caroling this year! We haven't set a date, but I'm pretty exited about the prospect. We haven't done that in years!
Finally, the last piece of news (which is quite a tear jerker) The kittens are leaving! I know he's going to a good home, but still. *sniff sniff* Okay, one of them is, because Blaize convinced Hannah of all people, (miracles of miracles!) to keep one. He's doing all the work for her though, which is a pretty good deal I'd say. We are giving one away, and the phone has been ringing off the hook because I posted about them on craigslist, and it seems EVERYONE wants a kitten. At least we have options. =) Anyway, someone is coming over Sunday to look at them and (hopefully) pick one out.  Well, thanks for reading my somewhat random thoughts! Hope I didn't boar you too much!

A dAy iN ThE liFE oF mE! (Thanks to Chloe for the idea!)

Hello All! You're probably wondering what in the world this blog post is going to be about, and I have decided to copy Chloe's idea and just tell you about an average day in my life.

 6:31 am- BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP! I'm startled awake to the sound of my alarm clock going off. I groan as I roll over to hit the snooze button. Just a few more minutes.
6:36 am- The alarm clock goes off. I hit the snooze button again.
6:41 am- I hit the snooze button.
6:46 am- Snooze button.
6:51 am- The alarm goes off again, and this time I just turn it off and go back to sleep.
7:56 am- I roll over and wake up. I glance at the alarm. ALMOST EIGHT! I fling off the covers, grab a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt, and thump down the stairs to the shower.
8:10- I eat my favorite breakfast:  Banana, chocolate, peanut butter smoothie.
8:30- I plan out my day using my planner/calendar.
8:45-I start school.
9:00- I feel terribly unmotivated today. I head upstairs to finish my art assignment while I listen to The Lord of The Rings audiobook. Then practice a few minutes of guitar. I head downstairs to conquer math...*groans*
1:00- I've finished math!!!! (also read history, done science, and some more guitar) Now I can eat lunch!!!!!!!!!!!!
2:00-My motivation goes terribly downhill (it already went downhill, so I guess you could say I'm buried  in  a 50 foot hole of unmotivation....I don't think that's a word, but it's true!)
3:01-I've wasted an entire hour! Oh dear!
4:00-I head to work (cleaning at my dad's business across the street)
5:45- I walk home and help with supper. I hope we're having soup!
6:30-Our family sits around the table by the fire. We each chat about our day, and make comments about each others.
7:00- I start on English-we have an essay due Tuesday, and I haven't started... OH DEAR!
9:00-DONE WITH SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10:00 I hunker down in my bead with a book.
10:10 Hannah turns off the lights (uggggg!). I fumble around for a flashlight and read under the covers.
10:30- devotions/journaling.
11:00- I turn off my flashlight and lie there in the dark, trying to sleep.

Okay, I know it wasn't the most interesting day. Maybe I've made you feel better about yours! To tell you the truth, I'm not feeling very motivated these days! I've also been sick with this cold thing for a couple weeks, so that hasn't helped much. I have been reading more lately, which I suppose is a good thing. It's feeling a lot more like winter, and it's starting to get dark around 6:00. I do love winter though! It's such a gorgeous time of year! Thanks for reading! I hope it wasn't boring!

HIIIIIIII!

It’s November!!! Wow…time flies! Thankfully, things haven’t been busy, and it’s been a really nice change from volleyball season! In fact ,volley- ball ended a while ago (okay like two weeks), but I went to Hannah’s weekend tournament in Omaha, so it felt busier because we were away. I got to take lots of pictures, and that was fun. It was also great getting to watch volleyball. Some of those teams are REALLY good!

 

 

Anyway, it was fun just watching volleyball! Another plus about going was that I got to go shopping with my mom (awesome, right?) at thrift stores which is really fun.  I found an almost new Aeropostal (is that how you spell it…I think it’s French or something.) sweatshirt, and American Eagle shoes. I was pretty excited anyway. It’s like finding treasure…(except with treasure you could buy a bunch more stuff which would be awesome…  but you get the picture=) . Anyway, coming back off that bunny trail, it was pretty fun.

     Speaking of bunnies, the kittens are doing awesome! (hehe=) They’re sooo cute and adorable. I’m still trying to convince Hannah to keep one so we don’t have to give any away, and am on the verge of success. Okay, not really, but she’s starting to actually go out there and hold them, so that’s a start! (Hannah thinks cats are a waste of time because you just get attached to them, and then they die. Uhhhh NO! Help me convince her!) Also, they stopped looking like rats and now are looking like kittens. My DAD ACTUALLY SAID THEY WERE CUTE! He never really said they weren’t, he just kept commenting on their rat likeness the first week (which is pretty much the same in my book) Here’s a picture I took of them today.

Anyway, thanks so much for reading this! Have a spectacular day!

 

 

Hi there! This week has been mildly crazy (If that's even possible). I worked 71/2 hours since last Wednesday, and had lots of homework (including another biology test). Hannah had a v-ball tournament (state) this weekend and she has another one (Nationals) this next weekend! We're heading down to Omaha on Thursday night to watch them play...pictures will be coming!!!=)

In art we've been doing charcoal!!! It's really messy and smears really easily.=)   Today we drew pumpkins, although mine didn't look right...something about the shape was a little off.

This year I decided to take guitar and in a few weeks I'll get Christmas music! I'm super excited about that!!! My hands are getting sore though from stretching to attempt to play the strings. Last week my string broke, and it kind of hurt because it snapped in my face while I was tuning it. I've been a little hesitant about tuning.

Biology has been...well, hard. This module is really hard. There are tons of definitions (45 to be exact) and I'm kind of feeling overwhelmed....Thankfully, there are deadlines, or else I'd be stuck on it the entire year!

And finally: KITTEN UPDATE!!! Okay you probably think I'm obsessed, and that's because I am. I love small cutely creatures, and they're getting cuter by the day. Sorry if I'm boring you, but their just SSSSSOOOOOO CUTE! Even Hannah, (animal not-so-much liker) says their adorable, and even goes out to pet them. I've been trying to convince her to keep one (so we don't have to give them all away) but she's not to keen on the idea.  =(