Still going strong...

   I have fulfilled my 10 book quota for the summer reading program!  And without a notion of stopping, have completed four extra.  I plan to read at least 20 extra books.  For every ten extra books one more ticket for the drawing is added.  If you win the drawing, you get a free dinner at Pizza Hut and get to ride there in a limo with four friends!  I really want to win, so I'll quit typing and get reading!

My big backyard...full of cows!

     A few years back the field behind our house had cows in it.  Then ownership of the field changed and the cows left.  Now they are back, but there are many more bulls than there had previously been.  There also are two cute white calves.  Here are some pictures I took of them.  After I took the picture they all scattered, they were frightened by the flash.

Ready...Set...Read!

Yup!  I'm doing a summer reading thing at the library.  I have to read at least ten books.  If I read longer books, 100 pages counts as a book.  Or, instead of a book, you can listen to an audiobook or do a research paper on something.  I already have 100 pages of Emma: by Jane Austen done.  I also got two audiobook podcasts off of iTunes to listen to on our trip to MN.  They are also Jane Austens.  I am glad I have an iPod, so I can listen to things in the car.  Especially since I have an 11 hour drive coming up from Wednesday to Thursday.

Costume Corner

The dress is going great.  I have most of the bodice done and will put the sleeves on soon.  From there it is all gathers.  Lots and lots of gathers.  But that is basically all you do on the skirt. then I put it together.  I will post a picture of me in the dress when it is finished. 

I have not started the recreation of the green dress, but we did get the fabric.  The fabric is a sparkly, stretchy, red stuff.  I have not got fabric for the sash yet.  Stay tuned for progress!

14th Birthday

I'm fourteen!  Yeah! ... Now what?  Well, I don't know.  Here is what has been happening lately.  I went over to a friend house to clean and paint, it is a paying job.  What makes it fun is that my brothers and my friend are there with me.  In the car on the way home we played the three phrases game.  Also with this friend we (my two younger brothers and I) play a game called "password".  We use the cards and card reader that come in the actual game called password, but we have distorted the rules to make it more fun.  It gets very noisy and there is a lot of laughter.  

Sorry..

I am very sorry if I mislead anyone.  I have had  shocking remarks from people about the picture of the tornado.  I did not take the picture, it was taken from the internet.  I never did see a tornado.

Costume Corner

Yippee!  The Pattern arrived!  I can't wait to get started on this pattern, I am going to do pattern "B" but I will put the short sleeves of pattern "A" on it.  I am going make it yellow.  What do you think?  

Vacation 6 - Homeward Bound

Yes, those are tornados.  Now you are probably wondering why I have pictures of tornados here.  I have put these pictures here because the last couple of days of our journey we were either driving through a tornado watch, or, delayed by a tornado warning.  It was quite exciting.  At one house the power went out quite often.  Thankfully the temperature was not dreadfully hot, because we had to cook on the grill and eat outside.  We never saw a tornado, but the wind was very, very powerful.  

Vacation 5 - Waterbury C.T.

After our visit with family, we headed down to Connecticut for the end of the year GNOM surge.  GNOM is "Good News On the Move".  It is a group of young men that go around the United States sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ every year.  There were kids' clubs, door-to-door outreaches, and car washes.  Along with the other outreaches there were things for believers to do as well, such as, hymn sings, ultimate frisbee, and stuffing seed sower packets for the next day.  On the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of that week there were also meetings at the hotel on things like, "Can I trust the Bible?", "How can I know my future?", and "Does God care when I suffer?".  One of the speakers was in the Twin Towers on 9/11, he had lots of stories and was very interesting.  The other speaker was a well known author and actually started the "Good News On the Move" (GNOM) Bus.  It was very fun and I met a lot of new people.

Costume Corner

<- This is a dress that I got from a garage sale.  You can get really nice stuff from garage sales for really cheap.  This dress has become to small for me, so, I am going to try to recreate it with a lot of my mothers help.  It is a regency style dress.  It was very popular around the time of Jane Austen.  I am really excited and can't wait to get started.  To watch my progress, look for more "Costume Corner"!

Vacation 4-Connecticut

Happy 2nd Birthday Wo-Wo!

While we were in Connecticut, we celebrated my cousins 2nd birthday.  He is so cute, and he is just learning to talk.  It was very fun.  We also got to see our grandparents.  <- Here is a picture of him.

We stayed at our grandparents' house when we went to Connecticut.  They live in W. Simsbury, which isn't super industrialized, but still, it didn't prepare me for what we saw.  There was a big black bear in their back yard!  Two days earlier, when my grandma was having breakfast on the porch it walked behind her and brushed the back of her head.  This bear had been seen all over the neighborhood.  When we called the police, they said that they were not going to do anything about it because it hadn't hurt anyone.  Hhmmmmm.......

Vacation 2

In Philadelphia we were very privileged to have our own tour guide, Mr. K. He has a history major and made Philadelphia very interesting. He also accompanied us to Valley Forge. Valley Forge is where George Washington and his men camped during the winter for 1777. Valley Forge is huge, it was picked because of the ease with which they (the colonists) could watch the the british (who were down in Philadelphia). This winter was not the coldest winter, but because of the lack of supplies and disease, Washington lost over half of his 12,000 men. Later, in the spring, Baron Frierich von Steuben came from Europe and drilled the lagging group of men into a well working army. There is a statute of his likeness now erected in Valley Forge to remember him. In Philadelphia we went to one of the first cheese-steak stands, it is called "Pats Steaks". People say it is the best. They were pretty good. Part of a movie was filmed at Pats, it was "Rocky". There was a plaque on the floor showing where he stood. After that we went to see the Liberty Bell. The Liberty bell was really cool. But I never realized how small it actually is. Well, it isn't that small, but I always that that it was gigantic!

Here are some more pictures!

An original "Philly Cheese-Steak"

Order line

Emmy

Lunchtime!

(the Organizingmommy:

http://organizedeveryday.blogspot.com/ )

Have you tried parking in Philadelphia?

The Liberty Bell

Centennial bell in Independence Hall.

Independence Hall

Statute on Philly.

The valley of Valley Forge

Welcome center

Hudsonhornet and statute of George Washington.

Helping with the building.

A remake of one of the cabins George Washington's men would have built.

Family in one of the cabins.

Emmy

Home! Sweet Home! (Vacation 3)

We had an amazing time in D.C. But with only 1 1/2 days, it is impossible to see everything, however, we did see almost all the memorials. We saw(and touched) the Washington Monument, but did not go up in it. We saw the White house, but from around 500 yards away. We made it to the National Archives, but there was a 2 hour wait and we had to be somewhere else in an hour and a half, so we did not go in. We went to the Library of Congress. Did you know that there are two libraries of congress? We got mixed up and went to the wrong one first, it is mainly conference rooms and offices. So we went across the road and saw the old one. Part of National Treasure 2 was filmed here.

We did not see everything, but it was still really fun. Here are some of the hundreds of photos that were taken. Enjoy!

Corinthian pillars on the Archives of the United States of America.

Library of Congress from the outside.

Architecture in the Library of Congress.

One of the many interesting ceilings in the Library of Congress.

Flag and the Washington Monument

Here are some flags that surround the Washington Monument.

A long way up...

National Archives

Lincoln Memorial under construction. (bummer)

Washington Monument and the reflecting pool.

(more construction)

Statute of Abraham Lincoln

Water Break

Vietnam Memorial

Central fountain at the WWII Memorial.

"Sunglassed" brothers under our state at the WWII Memorial.

One of the may inscriptions at the WWII Memorial.

Lincoln Memorial

Staring at the sky from the Lincoln Memorial.

"Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear."

Than and Emmy in front of a moto of FDR.

Kids at the FDR memorial.

~Jefferson Memorial~

Statute of Thomas Jefferson.

Staring at the sky from the Jefferson Memorial.