Happy 12th Birthday, Joe!!

I'm Back!

It feels like it's been forever since I've last posted. Our Internet hasn't been working for a couple days, but last night, a man who works at Azure came over and fixed it! Yay! (Opening my email and finding somewhere around ten unopened emails does not happen every day! =)

This last week, we safely delivered Gracie back to her parents, went shopping, all came down with colds, and this morning, Hannah, Laura, and I headed over to S&S's house at to paint Gracie's room, the kitchen, and a few other doors, etc. We're not quite finished, so we'll go back tomorrow to finish it up! Sar and Stephen will be back from their trip Sunday and will come back to a new house! =)

Taping the floors with blue tape, the smell of paint, and paint on my hands brought back floods of memories from this past summer. Of my friends coming over and working with me, late (and sometimes stressful!) nights working, hours sanding doors and painting the house, and volleyball in the evenings, big painting mishaps and paint spills, and just laughing when we've made another mistake and have to do it all over again. I found out today that, I'm beginning to enjoy painting! (A little bit, anyway. =) I'm getting excited about finishing S&S's house, then painting our house!

My posts have been getting randomer and randomer (new word! =P). Even now, a thousand different ideas are flooding my head and my brain's telling my fingers "Write this, now write that!" But, alas, I must leave and get my reading done that was left this morning. Until next time!

Random Stuff (I know. So creative)

This weekend, we're watching Gracie while Sarah and Stephen are on their trip! She's such a cute, fun, sweet, adorable baby and we've been having boatloads of fun with her! It's fun watching her grow up - she's now eating more foods like meat, (gluten-free) breads, and un-mashed bananas and peas. =) She can really get around on all fours - it's dangerous to take your eyes off her! She loves to sit on the piano bench and play the piano. She loves music and swings and claps her hands to it. She likes watching the cats, being thrown in the air, tickled, having songs sung and books read to her, likes chewing everything and puts everything into her mouth. When she's finished eating, she'll either shake her head "no more food", or do the sign language "all done".

Yesterday, due to the weather, our power went out! Since it was getting rather cold in this house and we were going to pick up Gracie that day, Hensie and I went to S&S's and watched Gracie their until our electricity came back on.

Today, after lunch, we all went sledding by the school. The hill we found isn't very steep, but is still fun. It's kind of a semi circle surrounded by school buses, so if you don't turn just right, you'll end up smashed into one of those yellow things. We stacked three people on one sled and tried several times to fly down the course without losing the top people. After a couple tries, we did it. (The people on top are screaming at the person controlling the sled "turn! TURN! Watch out for that bus!") When we came back from sledding, we had hot cocoa with whipping cream, then played all twelve rounds of Scatagories.

Snow Pictures!

The side yard.

Lydia's throne



Smile Joe! =)



After the snowball fight.

Hensie

   

Susi, hold still for the picture!

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Someone's snow angel. =)



Our Snow is Here!

Yesterday, it snowed all day long...but no accumulation. When it got dark, it started snowing really hard! Sarah had come that day to work on making dinners for their trip next week, but when it was time to leave, the roads were slick (and their car didn't have snow tires), so Stephen went back home, and Sarah and Gracie spent the night. (This is totally illegal in proper paragraph writing...hope you don't mind if I break some rules by slipping these next few sentences in...=P We girls talked for a long time in the kitchen over tea and chocolate dreams, then headed upstairs and saw "The Mark Of Zorro" on YouTube with Sarah. We ended up going to bed at 1:30 a.m. Such fun! =) Anyway, this morning, Hannah opened the curtains and outside was a winter wonderland! There was at least a foot and a half of snow out there! Joe and Lyd bundled up and are now playing out there having snow fights and making a snow man. Our neighbor, Don Degrange, has pneumonia, and some nurses are going to be coming to his house later today, so he paid Matthew to shovel his driveway. I went out briefly (without any coat...pretty fun. I didn't stay out too long. ;-), jumped in the snow and threw snow at Joe before I froze and came back inside. The children kept coming in begging us to join them...Hannah kept saying "It's too cold out there", then she went out there, and came back saying "It's so amazing out there! I did everything - ate snow, threw snow balls. So much fun." =)

I might head out there later with the camera, so keep tuned for pictures!

We're making frozen strawberry/peach/pineapple shakes...

...and it's snowing outside! =) As Hannah would say, we're making memories! =)

Things

Okay, this is different than my "Stuff" post. A "thing" has another meaning to me, one that I made up. A synonym to a "thing" to most people would be a pet peeve. I use my word like this - I have a thing about bandAids - used bandAids that are stuck or even just sitting around...like by the sink, in bathtubs, or on the carpet. Unlike a pet peeve, a thing isn't just a slight annoyance - it's a big thing (okay, that's the regular "thing"). I get totally grossed out, very irritated, and extremely annoyed by "things". I have a thing about bathtub rings, computer games, bread dough eaten by children, the inside of the trash can lid, our door being left opened, and dirty dishes being put in the stack of rinsed dishes.

What are some of your "things"? =)

Day at Sar's

This afternoon (after I had finished my reading and school. So glad I got that all done in the morning!), Mum and I went to Sarah's house to help her go through, organize, fold, box and bag baby clothes. We were there about five hours. I washed dishes, helped with the clothes and played with/watched Gracie (that child is getting around! She can now stand on her own...soon she'll be walking!). Going through those baby clothes, I was amazed at how much Gracie has grown...I mean, she was just wearing those three-month clothes...and now she's actually going into 18-month clothes?? We also went through some of Sar's boy baby clothes...they are so cute!! I simply can't wait for the newest Hainline!

Ice...

...on the inside of the window this morning!

The Tale of the Three Beds...

This bed was too hard...
This bed was too soft...

And this bed was just right, so Hannah climbed up on it and spent the afternoon - on my bed! Sin'kin must have thought it was a great idea, so she joined Hensie. (That bookshelf looks rather...unkept. I think Lydia was pulling books out and looking at them. =)

New Shoes!

I've been looking at these shoes for a couple months, and finally bought them last week. And they arrived today! They're so cute and I totally love them! I like walking around the house being three inches taller...it's a nice feeling. =P

New Books!

Last year (okay, December 29, at ten o'clock, right before the New Year in Texas) Hensie and I bought these two books from Vision Forum. Krista, Laura, and other ladies have read "Large Family Logistics" and have spoken highly of it, so when it was on sale for somewhere around ten dollars (50 % off!), I had to buy it! And Hensie has been wanting "To Have and To Hold" for a while, so was excited to see that it also was around 50 % off!

Next Book on my Reading List - Ike the Soldior: As They Knew Him

When I pulled this book off the bookshelf, I was so shocked (and horrified) at the size, but was a little comforted to find that although the ruler says two and a half inches thick, there is about a quarter inch of stuff that I won't read at the end (appendixes, and lists on names, numbers, and dates that are only understandable to the author.) And, the pages are deceitfully thick and the font is large (not LARGE, but bigger than normal. =) Even so, I wonder how long it'll take me to chew through this book (and I wonder if it'll be so dry I could crumble it in my fingers.)

Thankfully, this isn't my only diet of books - I do have dessert for a little washing out the bad taste in my mouth after each chapter - Louis L'Amour books, "Treasures  of the Snow", and "Jenny's War" (Which I just started reading with Lydia the other night.)

Yesterday's Shopping Trip

 Yesterday, we all went to The Dalles and Hood River to go shopping. It's been a while since I've been shopping (I normally stay home since I get so sick on the forty-five to hour and a half long drives), but today, I needed to buy a couple things. We stopped at J.C. Pennys and Cash N' Carry (in the Dalles), then went to the Hood River WalMart, then back to the Dalles where we stopped at K Mart, Rite Aid, and Fred Meyer.

I've been needing a jump drive to store all my stories and other important stuff that is currently on my laptop since my lappy is dying and I don't want to lose all my hard work. I had the choice between blue and this pink jump drive  (I really wanted a light pink one like yours, Krissy) and Matthew told me to get the pink. =)

Every trip we take, after it's dark, we girls always ask, "Do either of you boys have your flash light?" So, Hensie and I both bought one of these cute, little flash lights.

Our new calender! All the calenders were on sale, so we, Laura, and Momma each bought one. They only cost $5, but they look like they would cost $20!

500 posts!

Finally out of those 400s! =)

Stuff

Now that Christmas is over, I've started up my school again. I haven't been enjoying it since I've forgotten everything I learned and had to relearn it (to a small degree. =P). But, I'm glad to be back to the books. Science has been really interesting...I'm loving Ken Ham's "New Answer in Genesis" books!

Around Christmas, I was too busy to read all my books, and so after Christmas, reading started up again, too. I finished one thick WWII book and started another (thin one ;-) about Eisenhower. Since Christmas, I've also read "Star of Light" (by Patricia M. St. John. She is an amazing author and even though her stories are written for an 8-13 age group, I love her books!) a short book about Robert E. Lee, and I've started "Treasures of the Snow", also by Patricia St. John.

Today, Gracie has been here all afternoon. The poor thing has a bad cold, but still smiles and giggles, and makes funny faces that make the rest of us laugh.

Jon sent us a movie of Betty Jean and we are dying to see that li'l lady! Can't wait 'till they are able to come and visit us!

Matthew has been wearing Phil's old shirts, and so whenever he passes by, I have to look twice.

As a closing note, I'd like to share one of my New Years resolutions - That next New Years Eve, when I look back over the year, I won't be disappointed at any of my decisions or how I lived 2012.

Happy New Year 2012!!

On the way home from church this morning, we children were saying how old we'd be next year...I'll be 19!! And behind me, Matthew said, "I'll be 16." Good grief! I mean, I'm sixteen, well, I was a couple days ago. Where has the time gone??