Fall Break

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted.  I don’t feel like retracing all the things we’ve done, so I’m just going to pick up with where we are.  If you want to see what we’ve been doing before this, check out my Mom’s blog.

Ahh, Fall Break has been soooooo nice.  On Thursday we cleaned up the basement and I had a sleepover with Rachel and Becca to help them get ready for their Harry Potter party. 

On Friday we bottled a ton of pears.

Mark and I went to Rachel’s Harry Potter party that night.  Someone *Mark* brought the camera and didn’t take any pictures, but Rachel has some, so I’ll have to get them from her.  The party was soooo fun.  She cooked all day and we had a start of term feast to start off the party.  I had chicken, french fries, jello, mashed potatoes, a roll, apple pie, chocolate truffles, lots of jelly beans, and chocolate frogs. 

It had the wizard card and a frog made of chocolate in it….. just like in the books!!  Then we had a trivia game-which I totally rocked- and then talked the rest of the time.  It was way awesome. 

On Saturday we took a drive in the mountains.  The leaves were so pretty.

We had a picnic up there, and then Mom, Dad, and Neil went to go get birthday pictures while the rest of us went to Rachel’s apartment and watched a movie.  That night Abbie and I made masquerade masks and did makeovers.  It was fun.

Hope you all have an excellent week !!

Number Six!

One night I was staying up a little extra to practice my flute.  I was sitting on the couch assembling my flute, when a purple paper sitting next to me caught my eye.  I glanced at it and saw the word “maternity”.  I read the front and back, and by the time I was done, I was convinced that my mom was going to have another baby.  The paper was about the ultrasound my mom was going to have in October.  I was so excited!  I bounced around the house, and decided to ask dad in the morning, so nobody else would hear.

The next morning when dad woke me up, I told him about the mysterious purple paper.  He grinned, and said yes,mom is going to have another baby.  I had to keep it a secret for six days so we could tell Grandma.  My parents always think up clever ways to tell everyone.   Two Christmases ago when my mom was pregnant with Neil, she made a card that said on the front, “Unto us a son is born, unto us a son is given….”, making it look like a Christmas card.  When you flipped it open, it said “Or maybe a girl but you’ll have to wait till June to find out!”  Dad told me that we would announce it when we went to Whiting Campground for the Brian Memorial Cookout.  We had gone to the Payson Pond a few days earlier to get new birthday pictures.  They would give Grandma the new pictures to put on her wall, but inside would be tucked a picture of the ultrasound.  Grandma would look through them, see the ultrasound and know that a new grandbaby was on the way.  But I couldn’t tell anyone until then. 

It was so hard not to tell Tori, but I managed to keep it a secret.  We went up to Whiting, and I finally got to hand grandma the pictures.  Her face when she ran into the ultrasound was priceless.  Now I finally get to tell everybody!  That happened about two weeks ago, but then I still couldn’t tell a lot of people, because Mom still had to tell her mom.  She sent her a picture of the ultrasound with a post-it note over it that said, “Oops, forgot one!”.  Mom had sent her the birthday pictures a few days earlier.  So now I finally get to post it on my blog!!!!  

November Family Letter

Today I didn't feel like writing an e-mail, so mom helped me come up with a blog, and here it is!   (click on the pictures to see them bigger!) Today we went to take birthday  pictures.  Kind of late, but still fun.  We went up to Salem Pond, and man was it pretty!  There were fall leafs everywhere, and a small group of curious ducks!  One couple was throwing a ball in the pond for their dog to go catch.  In the process the dog got interested in one of the ducks, and when he got close, the duck flapped his wings furiously and got away.  It was pretty funny.
Some other fun things have been happening this week.  I got my glasses for one thing.  The other thing, is that we were outside for four hours yesterday taking out our cannas that we planted this summer.  The house looks so bare without them!
After we were done pulling out the cannas, it was about eight o’clock, so we decided to go out for dinner.  We went to a Mexican Restaurant and I ordered tamales.  Instead of getting a tamales, they messed up and gave me a stuffed pepper!  I decided I like it when they mess up , because then you get more rice and beans (besides the tamales, which were very good) for no extra charge!  He, he! 
This Halloween we had a family party!  It was a ton of fun because it was warm and we were with people we knew the whole time.  The grownups each had a different room.  At each room we would knock on the door and say “trick-or-treat!”  Dad’s was my favorite.  He had a cootie catcher that would say things like “Give me one piece of candy and I’ll give you a two”  or “Ask for a piece of candy in Spanish.”  So I knocked on the door and said “Hola gato!”  Which means ”Hello cat!” in Spanish.  He started to act like a cat, meowing and pretending to wash his ears like a cat!  My fortune was that I had to sing If You Chance to Meet Frown while I spun in a circle.  Instead I said “If you chance to meet a kitty do not let him stay” “MEOW” “Okay okay!  If you chance to meet a frown””Meow” and so on.  It had Mommy, Grandma, and I laughing the whole time! This Saturday was a blast!  We my best friend, Tori, had her baptism!  We are all so excited that she did!  I really liked the talks.  Tori picked some really good speakers!  Her grandpa baptized her, and her other grandpa confirmed her.  It was a wonderful experience!