Joseph Crawling

Joseph just started crawling:

This week is Corn Fest like I mentioned earlier and today we went to the Log Home Festival and bought some muffins, and kettle corn, and some somewhat local honey. A lot of us kids brought little pots home from the potter who throws them while she's there.

A little later we are going to go to the Hobby and Handicraft Fair to see everyone's entries and see if we won any ribbons...

School and Party

Today I did school, and I've been excited today because I figured something out with Christmas presents, and hopefully I'll be plowing through them. I was kind of scared when I found out how close it is to Christmas.

But...

I also went to a friend's birthday party, Katherine and I. We had a lot of fun! And the weather is sooo nice! I like that it's becoming colder. Sweater weather, every knitter's dream, or wool weather rather.

Finished!

Finished-with school, for the day, that is. Hurray!

I had piano lessons today. Other than that not much has happened. I did school all afternoon, and some housework as well.

So, b o r i n g post. :(

Long Day

Like yesterday, this was my first chance to post all day.

I did schoolwork in the morning and then we had a friend over for lunch, and then I did schoolwork until supper. After that we went downtown because today is the first day of Corn Fest and we watched the water fights, where one group of firemen try to push a little barrel on a wire to the other group of firemen's side using their hoses. Yes, we got wet. :)

We also heard a little of a talent show, ate some kettle corn and then we went back home where I did more school. Fun, fun, fun. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, schoolwork wise that is.

I Know It's Late

...but we had a busy day.

First, we had school from about 10:30 to 3:15.

Immediately after that we left to go to the opening ceremony for the new and renovated Natural Science department at JJC (where Dad works). Dad helped with this project (apparently they've been working on it since 2007!), and it was cool to hear him mentioned in the ceremony (twice!). Dad took us on a tour, and it looked really nice.

We stopped at Burger King for supper, since we wanted to go to the dance, and it was already after 6:30, and the dance starts at seven.

Then we were at the dance until ten something. So now is the only time I've been on the computer at all except this morning when I checked my email.

Acorn...

...Cakes?

Yes. Johnathan made cakes out of ground acorns today. The younger kids were learning about the Indians and how some of them ate acorns mostly, and he decided to research cooking with acorns.

It took him about three hours to make them. They were pretty good actually, though there was honey and cornmeal in it.

I finished my school, and I'm 30% done with Christmas presents.

That Grandt

About a week ago Grandt told me that he had a 'scholar-bone', pointing to his head.

He told Mom the other day that he had figured out how to fall asleep. "You close your eyes and it helps you fall asleep!"

Last night we got Little Caesar's pizza, and Dad bought a deal that included pop. We got Sierra Mist, and Grandt was calling it 'Sarah's Missed'.

Trio of Tyranny

Stephen called us the Trifecta of Tyranny, but I looked up trifecta and I don't think it means what he thinks it means. (Sometimes, make that ALL the time, you can't resist quoting Princess Bride)

Mom and Katherine went to a woman's conference this weekend. So all day yesterday and today, Stephen, Josiah, and I were in charge. Hee-hee-hee-hee! Wha-ha-ha-ha!

OK, so we didn't abuse our power...much. Throwing footballs in the house isn't like making the little kids do all the housework while we sit around. Though we did do a little of that.

You didn't hear anything. Besides, we let them watch a movie after that. 

The kids behaved pretty well. I guess they knew what they'd have to deal with...

The Trio of Tyranny!! Bwa-haha-haha!!!!!! 

It's A Birthday

Happy Birthday Kylee!!!!!!

Regular Wednesday Post

Last post was a little unusual and I wanted to say some other things.

I've been pretty sick today, woke up with a cough, and have a little drainage and a sore throat. :(

Did you notice my new background?

I thought my other one was too summer-y. I thought about using this one last time, but it wasn't summer-y enough. It just depends on what I want. Maybe when it starts getting cooler I'll change to something autumn-y.

I'm a Hist'ry Myst'ry Hater

Let me explain...

I like history. I like mysteries. I've read a few Hercule Poirot mysteries, and I enjoyed reading them.

But I don't like history mysteries. I wouldn't mind reading a historical fiction mystery or a piece of history that was once a mystery and now is solved, but history mysteries drive me crazy...

Today for school I read about one of the first English colonies in America that was on Roanoke Island near North Carolina. You know, the 'Lost Colony', where when Sir Walter Raleigh returned, there was no one there, and everyone has speculated what happened to them ever since?

Or the story of that one ship, Mary Celeste, where the crew disappeared, and when the ship was found later showed no sign of distress...

...I could throw in the Bermuda Triangle for good measure...

...or Amelia Earhart.

I guess it just bothers me that no one knows what happened in these cases. Not really bothers me but drives me a little insane. Surely someone somewhere knows!!!!!

So I shouldn't say I'm a hater of them, sometimes I find them quite intriguing. Maybe I just dislike them a little. But I pulled you in didn't I?

Tuesday Facts

I'm 10% finished with Christmas presents. Hurray!!!!!!!

Second week of school today.

We are reading The Scarlet Letter, which is written in a way that is difficult to follow. I enjoy reading it and figuring out what it means.

A Plea to the World

For English and Bible we had to write a page about the gospel to the world in a way they would understand, like Paul did to the Greeks in the Areopagus.

As Americans, most of us have heard of God, and many claim to believe in God. But how can we when we do not know who He is?

God is and always was; there has never been and there will never be a time when He is not there. He created the world from nothing. A perfect world from a perfect God. Then Satan, the devil, entered that perfect world and, we, the human race, accepted his view of the world, a world of the knowledge of good and evil, a world of sin and despair.

Where was God in all this? you ask. Didn't you just say He's always been? Did He just go and leave the world to fall? No! He was there. He knew this would happen. He planned the story of the world as something that would happen as a result of this. So He made this happen? No! God created us as people, not puppets. He wanted us to bring him glory to Him, and the way He decided to do that was to give us a choice. We chose to sin when Satan tempted us. Wait...Adam and Eve did it first, we say. No, think about the last time you did something wrong. Who do you have to blame but yourself? You would have done it too. You would have eaten that apple. I would have eaten that apple.

There's no hope now, we say, we messed up, that's all there is. But...wait...God promised after the fall to send someone who would crush Satan. He promised Jesus. Jesus came to earth, giving up his throne in heaven for you. For your wrongs. For your sins. He died, a perfect man, for all the sins of the world, past, present, and future. Will you accept this free gift, the gift of eternal life, and believe in Jesus, who died for you?

Yesterday; Today

Contrary to the last four or five posts on my blog, I don't know what I am going to write about today.

Last night Mom, Katherine, and I went to a church recipe exchange. We all brought a dish and the recipe and got to try new recipes and then take them home to use. There were many delicious things; I liked everything I ate.

Today some people went to a nursing home to help the residents play bingo, and after that we went to Le Mouton Rouge Knittery to drop off the leaves we had made for Kelly's fall store decoration. Whoever knits or crochets one is entered to win a gift certificate to her shop. Kelly said that only seven or eight people had entered so far and so we had pretty good odds.

Gumdrop Indian Long House

Look what Mom and the younger kids made today for school:

Yes, there's Julia eating sugar off the plate...

Door to the house.

Hurray!

The Miracle of Mary Ann

It's impossible for Mary Ann's birthday to pass by without me thinking of the miracle that it is.

A week from yesterday will be 8 years since she had surgery to remove some of her small intestine. The doctors said she would die. They said that if she didn't she would probably have severe brain damage, and wouldn't be able to function mentally and physically as well as a healthy child would.

But that's not what God said. All those people who prayed knew that they weren't praying in vain. God's will would be done. He willed a miracle.

The Miracle of Mary Ann

Only God could work the miracle of healing a little girl from being sick, and having possible brain damage to a bright, healthy child like the girl who could think of this and put the whole thing into action by herself:

Mary Ann wanted to watch the Bears game for her birthday, and created this fun outfit for her doll to cheer them on.

Autumn

I like autumn better than fall-the word I mean, there's not too much, if any, difference in meaning. It sounds much more whimsical. My friend Sharyssa would be proud. :)

Today felt like fall autumn to me. (Just because I like one word better doesn't mean that I don't accidentally use the one I don't like as well sometimes.)

I wore leggings and a long sleeved dress all day, and I was never really hot, maybe a little warm though.

And...

We had soup for lunch, and chili (nachos) for supper. It was wonderful.

Plus, it was dark when we ate supper. Though it would be dark quite a lot of the year when you ate supper if you ate it at eight o'clock...

Birthday Greetings

Happy 8th Birthday Mary Ann!

Did You Know?

For school we had a choice of a writing assignment for the week and I chose to write about the history of my town.

I was looking at the official Morris website about it and found out some pretty neat things:

In 1877 Morris boasted 15 groceries, 4 butchers, 6 cigar makers, 10 blacksmiths, and 20 saloons. 

W.G. Norton and Conrad Elerding started the Morris Oatmeal Co. in 1901. Eventually, Quaker Oats Co. bought it and 'Morris, IL' was written on product boxes that were shipped all over the world. As a person who enjoys Quaker Oats products I found this especially cool.

Old Stage Road which runs through some of Morris was originally a ''buffalo trace'', a trail first cut by bison and used by Native Americans, covered wagons and stagecoaches.

First Day of School...

...and I am LOVING the curriculum this year. Approaching history as a fun thing to do, Exploring America is making me very excited about what's ahead.

I have finally started working more on Christmas presents! Plus, I figured out something that was causing trouble so I am very happy about that too.

Monday: Bits n' Pieces

Johnathan made banana bread for breakfast this morning. It was delicious! Though I've never met a banana bread I didn't like...

School starts tomorrow! I'm sort of excited.

Choir starts tonight...

...and I really need to work on some Christmas presents.

Flying

On Saturday, Johnathan and Anna went up in an airplane, well two different airplanes:

Johnathan and Mark, the pilot.

Classic...

Up, Up...

...and away!

Anna, the other passengers, and her pilot.

Kids playing tag, L-R: Stephen, Grandt, Johnathan, Mary Ann, Natti Krippel, and Kristian

Anna, Up...

...and away.

On solid ground again.

Medieval Lego Village

Johnathan got a cool new LEGO set recently:

I love this picture; it's too bad it's blurry.

It's easier to see the set in this picture.

Grandt thought it would be funny to milk the cows on the tree.

Johnathan let me build the blue house. Here it is shut.

Here it is open with the outside showing. Yes! That LEGO girl is waving at you.

"Romeo! Romeo!"

The other side when it's closed.

The inside.

I call this her powder room.

Her bedroom.

The cute little fireplace.

"It is so lovely of you to drop by!"

The dining room.

The sweet, sweet balcony. (According to Anna)

Kristian made this.

Photos and Joseph

Finally! ::drum roll:: The photographic evidence we've all been waiting for! (hahahaha)

A silly picture of Joseph. Why not?

I think Joseph just discovered he has a tongue. He was trying to move and manipulate it in different ways, and it looked like he was trying to imitate what I was doing with my tongue.

Cue Spooky Music

It was a dark and stormy night...

...a branch on my grandmother's tree that was around the size of a grapefruit...

...was tossed...

...and turned...

...by the strong winds...

...until it snapped...

...and fell to the ground.

There is no photographic evidence at this time.

Reporter Josiah wishes to be acknowledged as the person who suggested the first line of this public service announcement.

Easy Street

This song has been stuck in my head a lot recently so I thought it was a good time to post this video:

Grandt was helping her at the end; that's why there was a bit of a tempo change. :)

Labor Day

We had a great weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Saturday night Uncle Jeff and Aunt Melissa came for supper; it was very nice to see them.

On Sunday we sang at the labor day church service and watched the parade where we caught lots of candy. Thankfully, it did not rain on our parade.

We came home this afternoon and I've had a great labor day, with free slushies at a gas station on the way back and a delicious cookout at Grandma B's house.

Rain

It's wet...

...and groggy...

...and sleepy...

...and I don't know what to write.

Some other people are with Grandpa and Dad at the old roller rink building, but I decided to stay here because I didn't feel like skating.

And I'm going to stop and blame it all on blogger's block.