Yesterday, I had all the girls from my church over. We went ice skating, and played a game of Apples to Apples. Here are just a few pictures.

Oh, this is me with my new boots on. :) I like them, mainly because they came from the Goodwill! :)

At first we were trying to skate on this bumpy part, because there was a hockey team playing on the smooth part. But they left, and then we started really skating. ;)
All the girls: from the left: Kelsey, Britney, Mariah, Melanie, Laken, Danielle, and Annana.

This is me. Haha, I look TERRIBLE!

All of us

Making goofy faces!

Playing Apples to Apples, while waiting for the pizza. :)

This is a video of me ice skating (or trying) :)

It was a lot of fun. I hadn't ice skated since July last year (when i went to camp)

I'm hoping to go again this week!

Yesterday night I went to a Baby Shower. It was fun. This is me holding baby Abigail. She is SOOooooooo tiny!

Mariah Carey Holding baby Rebekah.

Mrs. Kohr. We collected all of the ribbons and bows, and then put them on a paper plate. That's what she's wearing on her head. :)


My mom holding the baby.

Mariah Carey ;)

My mom spoke to all the ladies. This is only half of them. I wasn't able to get them all in the picture. ;)

It was so funny to see all the little babies there. There were about 5-6. :)

But anyways, it was fun!

By the way, Here's a link to video with me, Martha, and Katie singing. I'm singing Soprano, and its pretty obvious that I'm stretching to hit the notes! :) I'm a mezzo or Alto. :)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4031647283586957497&hl=en

This is just a picture I found on our computer. Its of me in Arizona, with a historical marker of some sort. :)

Oliver left yesterday for a four day skiing trip in New York. I helped him pack some of his stuff, and then saw him off. I don't think I would voluntarily go skiing in 20 degree weather! :) But then, he's a Boy Scout, so maybe that has something to do with it. :)

This post will be full of some random things:

This is a video of my church choir singing "To Love is to Give" around Christmas time. If your wondering why I'm not singing, its because I'm playing piano! ;)Sorry, its kind of bad quality!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8569709554748515306&hl=en

This is a video that Mark took, after he and Lydia got engaged. :)

So, thats it for now, I suppose.

I'll have more pictures to post tomorrow. :)

Yesterday, I won an essay contest, so I had to go to the awards ceremony, and recieve my award.

This is me and Martha eating peanuts before we left.

Me and the Veteran, with my certificate
(and check):)

I said my speech then, to the other contestants and to the Veterans

This is me when we got home. :)

I look kind of like I was crying or something. I wasn't though. I was very happy! :)

So, that was my exciting day yesterday.

Today Martha, Daniel Katie and Ryan, are going to the March for Life in Washington D.C.

Oliver is going on a skiing trip this weekend. (I think he's crazy!:) So, its just gonna be me and my parents. It'll be very quiet. :)

NICE!;)

On Sunday I was able to go to Washington Pennsylvania with my sister and brother in law. I had a LOT of fun, despite our flat tire. :)

Yesterday I did normal things all day...School orchestra and such. This is our new "Music room." Me and my Mom redid it the other week. It used to be Oliver's bedroom. Which means that we redid the ENTIRE room. Believe me, his room was terrible!

Yesterday night, me and my Dad played a game of Hockey. He won, of Course, but it was fun.

Click on the link below to see a video of our game. :)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=488858036082811380&hl=en

Oliver and Daddy

This video was taken about two months ago. I think its funny! Oliver and Daniel trying to outdo one another in pushups. They did better than I could have, I can only do like five, and then I'm nearly falling over. ;)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2864102716978974892&hl=en

So thats something from my life. I'll write again soon.

The other day Oliver and I were playing pig pile. A mindless game, for inspiration.

We were gearing up for what we knew was coming two days after.

yep..We had to have our tree chopped down...I guess I should say sawed down.

Anyways.

Here are some pictures.

My parents got me these vanilla cookies for Christmas. I LOVED them. I think I ate the whole bag in two days. ;)

The sad day arrived:

That guy had to be a complete dare devil. He was up three stories just sawing away.
All he had were those spikes on his shoes too. I don't think anyone could get me to do that.

On the lighter side. Mark, Katie, Ryan, Martha and Daniel went to the livestock auction and bought this cow. I can't remember the CORRECT term for it. Its really cute, and has a HUGE face. They bought it for my Dad as a late Christmas present. He was very happy!;)

A poem

Hey Everybody,

I didn't have any pictures to put up today, so instead, I'm going to share a short poem. My mom was throwing away a really old book about a year ago. I thought that since it was so old, it may be interesting. After attempting to read it, I found that it was very boring. But while I was skimming through the book, I came across an old newspaper clipping. It had this poem on it. I thought that it was really pretty, and I thought I'd share it.

• Beyond the Gray

Bertha R. McDonald

The Firelight flickers and the icy rain,

Beats dismally against my window pane;

Out in the garden, 'Neath a robe of gray,

The Flowers lie dreaming of another May.

And so, Dear Heart, Although the wind blows cold,

And tall trees shiver as the days grow old,

So I sit dreaming; and afar I see,

Beyond the gray, another spring, and thee.

We had an ice storm yesterday. We had one just like it a year ago, and then, we lost our electricity for two days. We didn't lose any electricity this time, thankfully.

This is our poor tree out front. Its a white eastern pine and every winter its branches stoop lower and lower. We're (sadly) going to have to do the inevitable this year and say our farewells to it. :`(

Our orchard and Asparagus "field"


Those poor Apple trees

Our Pine rid itself of some weight. The big branch nearly hit Oliver's bedroom, and nearly punctured a hole straight through our inside porch. We're VERY thankful that it just missed.
Last year, The pine tree dropped a branch right onto Stuart's new Car. So that wasn't good.



The Holly Bush

This bush always stands about seven feet or so, now its about three.

You can see the spots where the Pine Tree has lost branches before.

When you walk out the front door, its Bang, right into a branch of the Pine.

Our row of Lilacs

So that was our EXCITING ice storm. ;) Unfortunately, Oliver and I didn't get off school. No snow days for us! :)

Oh well. :)

2009

This will be my first post without any pictures. :) Not because I don't have pictures, but because I have about five minutes to write this.
So, whats been going on here?
Well, its 2009, so I'm going to let you all know what I plan to do in 2009. (boring, I know)

In Early summer, go to markets on Tuesday's , Thursdays, and Saturdays. Since our work is seasonal, we work through the late spring, all summer, and all Autumn. Winter is our "off" season.
My mother owns a bakery, which we run from the house. But we also take baked items to markets. Thats my way of making cash in the summer. :)
In July I'm going to camp at Pensacola Christian College. I had awesome roomates last year, and I learned a LOT!
Right now, I'm trying to work double finishing this school year, since Markets start in May, and end in November. During those months, is usually when we're working.
I'm part of the Central Pennsylvania Homeschool orchestra Ensemble. We just had our first practice yesterday. I get to be Second Chair in the First violins this year. :)

The other day I was thinking about it...Time has gone by so fast...I know that sounds sappy usually, but its true. It seems like it was just 1999. (Thats the year I remember most, because before doing Math, my Mother always made me say the day and year.)
But anyway, thats basically what I'll be doing this year. I'm looking forward to it!

2009!

Well, I hope that all of you have a GREAT Christmas, and are having a Very Happy New Year!

Last week on Monday, my Parents went away for three days to do they're Christmas shopping. (We have our Christmas on New Years)

So, Sarah and i went shopping first thing! :)

This is me, wearing Sarah's hat. :)

Sarah driving

We then made a Candy Castle that night.

Mark with Marshmallow on his hands.

This was the base. Unfortunately, rather than use Icing, we used flour paste(which was really gross...it wasn't my idea!) and it tasted terrible!

The walls.. the pink one is mine!:)

This was my tower. its not very original, but I liked it!

The finished product

We even made a river, and a moat

Then, on Thursday, New Years, We had our Christmas! My parents always make up scavenger hunts for us, rather than just giving them to us..so I spent like a half hour running through hundreds of Apple trees looking for my clues. I actually never found one of them. ;) But i was still allowed to open my presents anyhow!:)

Daniel got Horns and a tail from Sarah. They looked hilarious!

Mark got some too.

Oliver is showing me his present. Ryan ate a bite out of all of these chocolates and then gave the box to Oliver. It was so funny!

Katie and Ryan

Tammy with HOT SAUCE! :)

Daniel, wearing his new glasses

Mark and Lydia got a wedding planner for Christmas. :)

Three of my presents...TWILIGHT ZONE!

Sarah got Ramon Noodle Soup from Oliver, since he knows that she LOVES it!

After we were done cleaning up, we had make-your-own-subs.

I had a great time at Christmas and New Years! 2008 is now in my past, and I look forward to discovering what all 2009 holds for me!