Happy Birthday Abigail

I told you I would post when something exciting happened :) my sister Abigail is turning 15!


Abigail is:
Beautiful
Imaginative
Graceful
Amazingly talented
Ingenious
Lovable



It all started when 2 people fell in love and decided to get married. I arrived 7 years later…and then 29 months after; on January 28 my little sister was born. I wish I could tell you that I remember her coming into my family, but (to be truthful) she’s just always been there. I can’t remember life without her, and I can’t imagine it without her either! She’s my best friend, and (being sisters) we spend tons of time together. She is so amazing :) Her musical talent continues to astonish me, and her bubbly exuberance makes me laugh till tears flow. She sets goals for herself, and with a look of determination, she always reaches them. She is the exercising queen and health food nut of our family. (She gets up at 5:00am to work out!) She is always provoking others to better health and fitness, and she’s a daily inspiration. She plays both the cello and piano…and have I said she’s amazing? Yeah, that’s my sister.


Now, because I know y'all love pictures, here are some of the Birthday girl ...

(told you she was beautiful)

With her cousin Lilly 

With friends 

Being helpful 

going hunting... 

at a concert 

Playing the piano with her nephew 

feeding calves 

Beating us a ping-pong 

jump-rope 

With Stonewall 

and there is that look determination I was talking about....

eating her birthday dinner

 

Happy Birthday Abigail, I love you.

Winters’ Writer Block

Winter, the very word makes me shiver and think of warm scarves, hot cocoa and snowflakes. I’m shivering as I write this, Mom has us opening all the doors and windows for 5 min intervals; to let all the germs out. (If I were a germ I wouldn’t want to leave, it’s warm inside!)

This past week has been spent in bed with our faithful Kleenex’s. We’ve all been laid up with Winters gift of flu, and haven’t really felt like doing much, if anything. Thankfully were all on the mend. Which I know makes you happy to hear =)
Getting back into the “old” routine, doing school, cleaning, practicing, blogging (wink)…is taking up most of our time. We haven’t had much time for recreational activities, a.k.a anything exciting to post about! Everything (and one) is doing fine. Our Winter is going along as planned, if we had planned it =)

Time seems to fly and yet on the other hand stand completely still. It’s a strange combination. Well, I guess I’ve taken up all this time to tell you that were having a good winter, feeling fine, and that I hadn’t forgot about having a blog =)

Have a wonderful week, and I’ll try and post about something more exciting later!

Christmas & New Year

The usual Christmas parties are over, the annual family gatherings are finished, and all the Christmas gifts have been opened. On Monday we will begin a new year and the moments in 2012 will be just memories. Now is the time when we all start asking ourselves; “what have I really done this year”?

Hello Folks! It’s me again. Bringing you the scoop this Holiday Season. Yes, I know…I’ve neglected “bloggy” once again. But {on the oft chance that you’re still there} I’m posting.
Well, It’s snowing outside, but, thankfully its warm and cozy inside! I’m having a fantastic winter... Despite the snow, clouds, winds and ice. If you haven't guessed it, my favorite season is summer! I do love the four (various) seasons we have here though :) Burr...all that snow outside is making me feel chilly. Mmmm, I'm thinking about making myself a mug of hot cocoa, or better yet a cup of chai tea! I’m using that thought as my motivation for this post. If I don’t write a post I don’t get it. (Really, it’s simple, I’m bribing myself)

Here is a slide-show for your enjoyment...now I shall go and put the kettle on now for that cup 'o tea!

Christmas & New Years - slide show

A Post

I gasp. I point. I shudder. Has it really been that long since I’ve posted? It sure doesn’t feel like it… Did I just admit to not missing posting? I think I did.

Lately I’ve been having difficulty with Picasa Web Albums {the storage center for bloggers pictures}. I’m almost past my limit of picture storage space!!!  I can’t decide if I want to buy more storage space or to switch over to a different blog sponsor.  That and the fact that I’ve been lacking a little in the “inspiration department”, doesn’t make for “happy” blogging.

So, while I’ve been wondering what to do, I have left you behind in the dust.  My life has kept moving even though my blog has gotten behind “in the times”. 
I think I'm going to share some things about our latest Keepers meeting :) Enjoy!

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Last Thursday, there was a Keepers meeting at our house. It was the last meeting of the year!
My Aunt Jen was kind enough to teach us the art of Canvas Painting. It was amazing. I think we all walked away a little overwhelmed with the all possibilities of Canvas Painting!

Pictures:

The 4 Steps to Canvas Painting

 above: Hard Workers                               below: finished products

Busy Bees.

I don’t know where to start. So many things have gone on in the 3 weeks since I’ve posted! I have lots of excuses for not posting though...

The Wallace’s came down to visit us and so did my Grandparents from Illinois. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. We moved 60 dump truck loads full of dirt out of our backyard. We took care of 48 calves for a friend. We played Ping-Pong, Foosball and Basketball uncountable times. 2 Birthday's happened. The first snow of the Winter fell. We went to Sight and Sound to see Jonah, we went shopping {a lot}. My little sister Bethany lost her first tooth, and my younger brother Lincoln shot his first deer. We talked and laughed a lot… and I made a slide-show full of pictures... take a look:

Blog PO\st - slide show

Now, that is why I haven't posted {are those enough excuses?}.

Thanks for coming over!!

Iris Folding

You probably wouldn’t believe it, but we had another Keepers meeting yesterday.  It’s hard to fathom how time can fly so fast!  Aunt Jody hosted this week’s meeting and taught us how to do Iris Folding!

-  If you’re anything like me you might think that Iris Folding has something to do with folding flowers… or bits of paper. So, just to prove myself wrong and teach you some new things… I’ll give you a little background  info on Iris Folding -

Point 1: Iris Folding originated in Holland.
2: The word “Iris” refers to the iris of an eye or a camera.
3: Iris Folding is a  paper craft technique that involves taping strips of paper to form a design.
4: In Iris Folding, strips of paper are layered upon each other to give a dimensional/layered look.
5: It has nothing to do with origami and it does not involve folding of any kind.
Iris Folding can be put to use on cards, scrapbook pages, envelopes, etc.

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Here are some pictures of us girls hard at work:

Elizabeth 

Joanna 

Abigail 

Bethany

Grace & Emily 

Lillia 

Faith

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It all starts out with a pattern. {You can find patterns online or in a book}

Here is a sample square pattern.

Trace the pattern to the front of a card. Cut out. Lay pattern face down and tape onto the front, turn card inside out [You should be able to see the entire pattern]. Start with the number 1 and lay a piece of paper over it {to the line} and then go to number 2, number 3 and so on....  When all pieces are taped, take off the pattern and turn it over....then you can embellish to your hearts delight!

When you are done it should look something like this:

Cute :)

If you need ideas...just check out some of these awesome cards:  

Lillia 

Anna 

Grace 

Joanna

Keepers ended with choir...

...and singing Happy Birthday to Joy :)


So, what do you think? I hope you are just as inspired by this Keepers meeting as I am... You should try it! It's a ton of fun... if you do try it, be sure to tell me! I'd love to hear about it and see it :)

                     Z♥ë

I Went to a {Gospel} Concert

4 girls, a concert, gospel singers, high anticipation, night out, music, and 1 chaperone!
What could be better? A night out with girlfriends and other kindred spirits to enjoy a night of gospel music...Could you blame us for being excited, giggly, hyper and totally thrilled?

We couldn’t wait for the concert to begin!

The Collingsworth, The Hoppers & Tribute Quartet were on the program for the night.  Settling back into our seats we waited as the lights dimmed and the concert began. Tribute Quartet came out on stage and we climbed the clouds into 7^th heaven!

We decided that our favorite song by Tribute was  Homecoming Day [listen for yourself]!

[right to left]

Riley Harrison Clark,Gary Casto, Josh Singletary & Anthony Davis

Tribute Quartet whetted our musical appetites, then The Hoppers came out! [You might know them from one of their “hit” songs:  Jerusalem]  

The Hoppers

And last [but not least] The Collingsworth Family! Perched on the edges of our bench we listened to them sing and climbed a little higher {all the way up to cloud 6}….what awesome harmony! Listen to this: I Found it All

Collingsworth Family

After a short intermission we came back for more… When the concert was over [4 hours later], we pushed our way through the crush of people, then we stopped {in the freezing cold} to have our chaperone take a picture of we girls, by a lovely bush… for y’all [and to prove we had been there]!

Kaitlyn, Joanna, Me & Abigail ;)

Then we had a short stop @ Micky Dees for smoothies {and a Peppermint Mocha for the chaperone} After that we headed home for a sleep {less} sleep over! A perfect way to cap the night off, dontcha think?

{compliments of an i-pod}

 ~It was a wonderful night-out with you girls, I loved it and had such an awesome time...thanks for wanting to go! Thanks for being such a willing cohort Papa, you were the perfect chaperone ♥

~Well, I hope you have a very wonderful rest of the week...
                   

             ♥ Zoë