Vacation Bible School...

Last week was Vacation Bible School.
The theme was "Dino Detectives".
I thought I'd share some photos of the great week.
(You can click on the pics to enlarge them)

Mom and I did registration and handed out snacks...

We were wearing dinosaur hats that the
2,3,4 class was so generous to lend us ;)
(Excuse the photo... it's a bit grainy)

All of the children(and adults) had a great time.
We were very blessed to have quite a few visitors!
Here is Carolynne in her class(2s,3s,4s)...


Beth in her class (K-3 grade)...

It is very strange to say that my younger
sister is going into 'first grade'!
It's bittersweet watching them grow up so fast!

Here is Will in his class (4-6 grade)...


I took advantage of the quietness,
before handing out snacks, by reading "A Virtuous Woman"...


I made all of the snacks during VBS
and I think Tuesday's was the favorite...


I'll try to post the recipe for these sometime.
It literally took me almost all day to make them!

In addition to Rally Time (singing, penny offering, etc...)
there was a nightly puppet show...


I did the radio while the others did the puppets...


Here is my dear friend and I...

Miss Stephani in the 2s,3s,4s class.


Miss Ally :)

The last night was an ice cream fellowship.
All of the children (and adults :o)
enjoyed ice cream after the VBS classes.
For every night a child was there,
they were able to get an extra topping.
Mom and I (and 2 other workers)
helped with dishing out the ice cream...


It was a great week of Vacation Bible School.
Sorry it has taken me so long to update.
This week my mother came down with bronchitis/pneumonia.
I believe she is starting to feel better, praise the Lord :)
So we've been pretty busy.
I hope you all are enjoying your August!

Here At Home...

We arrived home last Saturday!
It has been very nice to be back home
and reunited with Daddy.
We also took an additional member home...

Suzie. (She just had a haircut before we left.)
She was my Gramma's dog but she decided to give her to us.
I must admit, even though I'm not much of a dog person,
she is a cutie and, overall, I do like her a lot :)

It sure was nice to be reunited with my babies, though!

I missed singing with them and training them.
I'm glad to say that they are both now quite tame!
I clipped Fluff's wings the other day so
now she can't fly away from me :)

It was very nice, too, to fellowship with my best friend
after so long of being apart!
We had a sleepover last night to make up for the 5 weeks :)
We had a great time and recorded some songs I thought I'd share.

Since I was/am teaching her violin,
we've been playing a lot of violin duets, as well
as with the guitar and banjo!
Here's a song that she can play very well
and I accompanied her with :)
(Excuse the editing on these clips...
the move clip editer wasn't behaving right)




We also decided to record a few of our favorite songs
that we sing everytime we get together...
(Double click each one to play.)

What A Day That Will Be
(My birds were happy to sing with us too ;)




Well, just thought I'd share!
I hope you all have a great weekend!

Tidbits From Our Trip

We've been here about a month now
and my Gramma seems to be doing a bit better.
We hope to travel home in the near future :)
It's been very busy between doctor appointments,
visiting other family, cooking, cleaning, etc...
I have, however, found time to upload
some pictures online for viewing. :)
Since I had some extra time on my hands today,
I thought I'd post some pictures of the trip here.

One of my favorite highlights of our trip
was watching baby sparrows grow up...

The mommy fed them nonstop from 5am to 9pm!
They're now all out and flying!

My Great Gramma likes it when I play music for her.
It's a great blessing to me to bless her
with good, godly songs...


While staying at Gramma and Great Gramma's,
we often visit my Grampa
who lives only about 20 min. away.
A few weeks ago we went fishing at the pond near him.


My aunt and uncle came as well...


One day there was a great
storm while we were driving...

Tornado sirens were going off and I think it
may have been a funnel cloud that left a lot of damage.

For the 4th of July we went to my aunt and uncles'.
The children had a watergun fight and as I was taking
pictures I noticed it wasn't just the children who enjoyed it...

:o)

Later on we drove up to a park and watched fireworks.



A few projects I've done are
repainting my Gramma's flag...


Also, sewing myself, Beth, and my mom's friend's
2 young daughters dresses...


Wednesday we celebrated my
Great Gramma's birthday at her son's.
My Uncle now owns, what used to be
her business, cottages on the lake.
It was nice to revisit the familiar place that I knew as a child...

He had done a lot of renovating and remodeling as well,
but Lake Huron was still as beautiful as it ever was...


I also had fun attempting to
tune his baby grand(!!!!!)...

I only fixed a few notes because I bent his tool!
The piano is extremly old and the pegs were firmly set,
thus they didn't want to be moved to tune :)

Also, my dear cousin had her baby.
I confess I miss holding babies,
since my siblings are bigger now... bittersweet.
It was nice to hold my 2 week old cousin...



Well, we need to get going
to take my grandma to the doctor.
I just thought I'd share some pictures!
The next time I post I hope to be back home!
Have a great week!

Bloggie Break!

I'll be taking a long break
as we are taking care of my gramma for a while.

I hope you all have a great month
and enjoy your summer!

Farewell to Cutes

I'm so very sad to say that my precious
Cutes (the blue one) was not a healthy bird.
I noticed that she tended to pluck her
feathers out, breathe with her mouth open,
and not like to hop around.
Today I noticed she had a red and puffy eye
and that she was itching it against the perch.
I called the vet and he said it sounds like she
had a respiratory infection and needed to be treated.
MY POOR BABY!!!
I don't have the money to take her to the vet,
so I had to exchange her for another parakeet.
(Thankfully there's a 7 day warranty on them.)
I felt so bad and sad giving her back and
knowing that she's suffering. :( :(

Now that I've been able to read about how to tell
if a parakeet is healthy or not,
I chose a (hopefully) healthy new one.
I was going to name her Cutes in honor of the last one,
but she looked like something different...



I love her white colors!
So I took to naming her Fluff.
So now I own Fluff and Puff.

Fluff is still a bit shy in her new home,
but is a great singer and loves Puff!
Puff is still as lively as ever.
He's such a singer too!

My New Pets!!!

After a long time of planning and preparing,
I finally purchased my own pets last Friday!
Can you guess what they are???
Lets see, some hints can be...

They have no fur,
2 legs,
don't lay down to sleep,
can be trained to say words,
have no teeth,
(but they can nip you hard!)
like to play with toys,
and can even sing and talk.

Also, they're really the only
animal I would want as a pet...




Parakeets!
The blue female is Cutes,
green male is Puff.



They are so precious and cute!
They particularly like singing with me
every time I sing and play my guitar!
I love waking up and seeing them preen and poof up!
I keep them on my dresser so they can get sun.

But of course, upcoming is a few weeks
of taming and training.
I've been able to get Puff to perch on my finger
and to let me pet him and take him out of the cage,
but Cutes nips hard and won't perch yet.
Although she is getting closer to saying 'hello'!

Right now I'm borrowing my friend's cage and plan to
get my own cage after my next paycheck. (piano teaching)
Cutes somehow squeezed out of the cage yesternight
and my brother found her in his closet!

Also, I wanted to share a special event last Monday...



Happy (belated) Birthday Mommy!
You are such a wonderful Mother and friend to me.
Thank you for your love and care for me,
and for guiding me and helping me in my Christian walk.
You've always been such a great example to me.

"No man is poor who has had a Godly mother."
-Lincoln

"The mother love is like God's love;
He loves us not because we are lovable,
but because it is His nature to love,
and because we are His children."
-Riney

:)

Well, I need to go finish making bread.
I hope you're all enjoying your week so far.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
Ephesians 3:20-21

Weekend 'Sleepover'...

It was a bit impromptu last Friday as my parents
decided to go down to SC to get our house ready for selling.
Unfortunately, the house wasn't kept up so well
so it took them a few days to get it all nice and clean
after the renters had left.
So from Friday to yesterday,
we stayed at our close friends' house.

I had a wonderful time! (It was my best friend and all ;)
I enjoyed taking care of my siblings and
spending a lot of time with Stephani and her mom :)
I, being my mother's daughter (lol), took loads of pictures;
but will reluctantly choose only a few to share :)

The childrenreally enjoyed playing outside.
They loved riding their bikes together down the dirt road...



Stephani and I enjoyed relaxing inside.
We had fun chatting and holding guinea pigs...



Saturday was pretty busy.
The children played outside more.
They also had fun playing games inside...



Stephani and I rearranged her room and deep cleaned.
It was quite some work since she has 2 excersise machines in there!
We later sat around and sang a lot...



Sunday was more relaxing...



Also, I got a picture of our orchestra at church!
Since I started playing my violin (sometimes fiddle;),
another lady started playing her flute,
and our pastor's youngest son plays with us sometimes...



We really like having the orchestra, especially since
our church has only about 50 people (including children)!
A small church, yet so many ministry opportunities!
I'm very thankful for our church and being able to serve!
We then went home and took a wonderful, much-needed nap!
Pastor's message in the evening was very powerful.
I plan to post my notes on it sometime soon.

Monday, we had a Memorial Day grill-out.
The pastor and his family came over as well.
I laughed at how funny Mr.C was in his 'head garb'.
I told him that he must have been in Iraq too long!



While he grilled, we were preparing the other food...



I must admit, after weeding the garden and getting prepared,
my friend and I had to rest for a little while.
But, we didn't wake up until after pastor arrived!
It was kind of funny/embarassing, since we were on the couch!
We all had a good laugh, though!

After supper, the children all played kickball.
I came out to read and take pictures...





Tuesday was even more relaxing.
Stephani and I took a 2 hour nap!

Carolynne had fun dressing up...



It was good to have my parents home again.
They arrived in the evening and we all grilled out for supper.

It was a great few days.
I particularly enjoyed having
my quiet time early in the morning!
I liked being able to sit outside on their
porch swing and listen to the birds while doing it.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

Finished school, picking strawberries, dress details, & my first bloom!

Busy, busy, busy!
That's why I haven't been very consistent with posting.
But now that I'm finished with 11th grade (!!!!),
the busyness should die down some.
(Although I do hope to start 12th in a month or so!)

Earlier this week, we went strawberry picking.
The weather was beautiful and we had a great time...


My friend and I

Beth and Carolynne

Will

Me

Afterwards we went to our friends' house to jam it.
Well, actually just the moms jammed.
My friend and I were exhausted and decided to rest

and then we sang a while later.
The jam turned out really good...



I was also very excited this week to have my first blossom.
I've never been able to grow things before,
but back in November I decided to try my hand at day lilies

(at least I'm pretty sure they're day lilies).
I've been taking care of them every day since,
and on Wednesday I saw my first bloom!
I was so happy the Lord blessed me with my 1st flower!

It was so pretty and smelled good too!
I'm glad to say that today I found 2 more
and lots more are about to bloom!

Recently, I was asked in a comment

about what dress pattern I use.
I make most of my dresses the same,
using the 'Women's square neck dress'
from Common Sense patterns. It's pattern 416E.
I adjust the neckline and the sleeves to my liking.
Also, I do not use the skirt pattern it gives.
I like my skirts really full! (Mine have a 12 foot hem!)
So I use the 6 panel medieval skirt pattern from NEWLOOK.
It's pattern 6614.
I slightly adjust the top of the skirt to make it wider
for more gathering to my bodice

and I also add on 4 inches in length.
Here's another sample of the dress.
My friend and I just recently made ourselves matching ones...

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend!
I plan to post again soon!


"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:

the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Matthew 26:41

Kindred Spirits In 2008

Best Friends In 2008
Originally uploaded by hskubes_gal

Here I am 15 and Stephani is 12.
We were sitting on an antique bike in my backyard
wearing our matching blue dresses.
(Click to see a larger view!)