Family Camp!

It's family camp time again! I'm looking forward to hanging out with the nephews, enjoying the breezy weather, and maybe even collecting a few acorns. ;) Right now we're gathering our stuff together and preparing food. Since we are only coming for the daytime stuff, we're making our own food which will be fun. The list of snack jobs currently includes an apple pie and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (both regular and gluten free). Aimee and I are starting on those right now. Super yummy!

I hope to be back next week with some cute stories, great pictures, and a lot of acorns. ;)

Singing for Days Straight

We watch music videos the way sports people watch the Olympics. Cheering, judging, and enjoying. Then we come away inspired, stoked, and ready to sing for a couple days straight.

Whenever a video starts, my family and I gather from all four corners of the house. We squeeze in on the couch even sitting on the back of it (like I did last night when we were watching snippets of the actual Olympics), and time stops until it's over.

We recently spent a couple of mornings binge watching Peter Hollen's YouTube channel. We'd seen some of his songs but hadn't thought of looking at his channel until we discovered that he had covered some of our favorite songs. 

We love this one! It is not only beautiful but also filmed in an area in Oregon that looks exactly like our hometown. We have fun speculating. ;)

This one isn't the best musically; but it's pretty fun and we love how the mom looks like Maria from A Life of Music. ;) (Enjoy the goat scene!)

For some reason, this is my absolute favorite. I haven't even seen the movie, but this song is so hauntingly beautiful and he does such a good job singing it in Latin.

What music have you been enjoying lately?

Too Much Cuteness

Chap and I have enjoyed baking together before, so the other day I decided we should make shortbread.

It was extra fun because shortbread takes kneading, and he loved squeezing the butter and flour together. He's so precise and good at baking! (And thankfully good about not snitching.) ;)

Don't you just love that cheesy face? Sorry, Chap, but when you visit Grammy's house your only apron option is a flowered pinafore. If we make this a habit, that will have to be remedied. ;)

Time to lick fingers before washing 'em off! 

Oh, Chum wants to "dook" too? We ended up making another batch of what they adorably dubbed "cookies" just so he could have a turn stirring...

And kneading!

I love how his cheek is squeezed in this picture. ;)

This little friend was sitting nearby getting fed his lunch by the littlest auntie. So sweet!

Too much cuteness in one place! Love you, little guys. ;)

Geeky Sisters

My computer glasses came! Hope you enjoyed this super geeky picture of Anna and I posing for the camera. ;)

Chap & Chum Explain Fireworks

Last night, we went to fireworks with Perry and Tyler and several other families from church. Chap and Chum were outfitted with ear protection, snacks, and numerous aunties/friends to hold them if they got scared. They definitely stole the show with their adorable opinions (and shooter's earmuffs that squeezed their cheeks). ; )

Chap: They're like an earplane [airplane] that goes POP!

Chum: It's loud.

Chap: They go up in the sky like a cloud then BOOM!

Chum: Wow.

Chap: The fireworks come out of a hole in the ground.

Chum: Duck! (We were near a lake, just in case you wondered if a firework had come close.) ; )

It was so special to be able to celebrate with them! How are you celebrating?

Bookmark Buddies

Today my younger sisters and I made bookmarks. I had found the instructions on my Pinterest, and Mom and I both agreed that it was a really adorable craft. We want to make them with little girls at church sometime, but I thought it'd be fun to try it out today with my own sisters. ; ) 

We had a ton of fun!

Since they are bookmarks, we wanted to pose them with a book and chose this one because it is already about paper dolls. (Em said this makes them look like they are dancing.) ; ) It's a really cute story and one of our favorites!

These bookmarks are so adorable (and very small so it was hard to get good pictures)! The one on the left was made by Em, and Pearly made the 

other one.

Blue earns the "prize" for the most original dress. We all accidentally chose some shade of blue for our dresses. ; ) The stripey one on the right is mine.

Here's what mine looks like in the book I'm currently reading. Pretty cute, eh? (And yes, that's the corner of Triple Creek Ranch: Set Free.) ; )

We might add some glitter to them after school, but other than that 

our summer reading buddies are finished! ; )

Soap Factory

I pulled out my glycerin soap making supplies, and soon Em and Blue got in on the fun. They are having a ton of fun melting and mixing and experimenting with colors. ; ) Fun buddies.

Like Em's turtle?

These are some of the better things I made. I recently got white glycerin soap for the first time, so some of my projects this time were experiments with it. I LOVE the way the shells turned out.

Mom encouraged me to make some sparkly green bars to represent ocean water. I think they make a nice backdrop, and once I replace the paper plate with something a little prettier it will be just perfect. ; )

Next, I hope to make some peanut butter cookies, and after that we are going to a get-together this evening (which might have something to do with why I'm crafting for the first time in forever). ; )

Long Time, No See (Literally)

What have I been doing? And what am I grateful for? I'm glad you asked!

I'm grateful for...

1. Bible studies. Our Evangelism training and Reclaiming Beauty studies ended earlier this month. It was sad to say goodbye to acquaintances who have become good friends, but we all agree that we should do something together again soon. ; )

2. House cleaning! Top to bottom deep cleaning. And yardwork. ; ) I got to organize our history bookshelves chronologically which was helpful to organize my own brain. (Believe it or not, I had the Alamo in the totally wrong mental place!)

3. Out of town guests. It was so much fun to catch up with friends we haven't seen in over a year! Balderdash, Chik-fil-a, thrifting, Studio C, a water fight, and just plain hanging out... Good times. ; )

4. Family. ; )

(The crazy sisters on the slide. We're screaming because we're falling of the end as Anna is taking the picture. And yes, that's all of us, Blue is just hiding next to Aimee's head.) ; )

5. Homeschooled Authors work. I'm now officially part of the team helping out with emails and keeping the booklist updated. It's been a ton of fun to work with the amazing Sarah Holman and all the other authors I come into contact with. ; )

6. Short story inspiration. A couple weeks ago Em and I spent a couple of days at Perry and Tyler's. During our nighttime talking time together, we told each other stories. I recently expanded my idea into a full short story which I hope to have up on Noble Novels soon. I had her and Blue read the finished version to give me their opinions. They enjoyed it and found a few continuity errors/missing words which was really special. ; )

7. More book related stuff believe it or not. ; ) I'm part of a summer reading program on Homeschooled Authors (more details Wednesday!). It was quite a bit of fun work to get my entries put together, and Anna helped me a ton by taking the pictures for me. ; ) We had a hilarious time together trying to pick poses. I'm a bit of a photographer's nightmare since I like to photobomb myself; but she did a good job, and we got it figured out. ; ) Here's one of my favorite pictures we took...

The necklace is one of my birthday gifts from Dad and Mom this year. I put it together from components from Hobby Lobby, and it's now one of my favorites. (Chum loves it too. He'd open and shut the locket for hours on end.) Since it's a bit whimsical, what book could be better to pose it with?

8. Library books. We are so funny when we go to the library. We usually hit the limit of books that can be checked out, which means both book bags are full and still everyone has to carry something. ; ) I'm enjoying reading all the juvenile fiction that is too adult for it's age group but is just perfect for mine. It's a lot safer and more fun than the adult section! 

9. A store. Em, Blue, and Pearly put together a little store of things they had made and invited us all to come browse through it. There was some pretty neat stuff; and, when all the shopping was done and the store was closing, they generously gave us all gifts. ; )

10. Nephews!!! Like I said, Em and I were over at their house a few weeks ago; and there's been visiting between our families a few more times as well. We also get the blessing of seeing them at church (and chasing them all around the play area--in medium-high heels!). I'll post some newer pictures of the little friends sometime.

11. Grace. We are weak, but He is strong.

So that's what I've been doing in a nutshell! (Not that I've personally been in a nutshell, but what I have been doing has... Oh, forget it. Grammar.) ; P

Questions, Questions

The last survey I did was so much fun, I thought it was high time for another. This is borrowed and tweaked from Aimee's Google+, so you can thank her later. ; )

1. Name: Kate Marie
2. Age: Young enough and old enough. ; )
3. Role model: Jesus Christ, Mommy...
4. Hobbies: The three r's (minus the 'rithmatic), cooking/baking, nephew chasing, singing with my family, writing letters, test reading, amateur sewing, talking.
5. Favorite actor: Jimmy Stewart, and Gregory Peck. (And if you're asking about ones currently living I'll add Kirk Cameron, and David Tennant. And James from Studio C!!!)
6. Favorite actress: June Allyson, Julie Andrews, Donna Reed, and Amy Adams 
7. Best friend: I live in an artist colony (yeah, creative people who wear weird clothes--we qualify when we're still in pjs), so I'm pretty much best friends with everyone here. Outside of my family, I'd say Esther, Rebekah (both of them), Anya, and Susie.
8. Favorite band: Andrew Peterson and all his folks!!! (Though I'm beginning to branch out into some of the other Rabbit Room-ers...)
9. Favorite song: Kung Fu Piano by The PianoGuys and Rejoice by Andrew Peterson.
10. Favorite movie: Fireproof, A Man Called Peter, and Toy Story 3.
11. Favorite animal: Big dogs and small cows.
12. Favorite subject: English. (That covers about all of the wordy stuff.) ; )
13. Pens or pencils? Pencils, because I'm a fallible human. 
14. Summer or winter? Winter. It's so moody and good for inspiration and a really good excuse for reading.
15. Tea or coffee? Chai tea! It's like coffee without the dirt flavor.
16. Good day or bad day? So far, so good. I've made breakfast, read my Bible, and done my chores while talking waaay too much with my crazy siblings. 
17. Birthday: In the springtime. Lovely, lovely springtime.
18. Something that makes you happy: God's love, babies, books, breaking 13k words in my story, my family, our sweet dog Ella... I'm sorry, there are too many. ; )
19. Something you're looking forward to: In the future future, having a family of my own and Christ's return. In the present future? Eating lunch, publishing, writing more, and seeing the nephews again.
20. Tell a story in one sentence: Once upon a time, there was a problem that was solved so everyone could live happily ever after.
21. Nominate any number of people: I think it would be fun if Rebekah, Holly, and Lauren answered these questions! ; )

Now it's your turn! Answer the questions if you like or ask me an extra one. ; )

Ice-Skating on Mars

Dad, Mom, and us older kids watched The Martian on a filter together the other night. The next morning we were still discussing space travel, the theological ramifications of aliens, and different kinds of technology. Blue was busily eating her breakfast and not really paying attention to what we were talking about.

Someone mentioned water on Mars.
Dad: Yes, but it's mostly frozen at the poles since it is so cold there.
Blue, looks up from eating and yells: Ice-skating!!!

The conversation took a rabbit trail for a moment as we all laughed and imagined together what it would be like to balance on skates in a space suit. ; )

She's also been keeping us entertained in other ways like writing me notes during church in elaborate kid cursive to ask for something or imitating one of our favorite tenors as she goes about her day. (He has something of a jazzy twist to his style, and she can do it perfectly; though maybe not as well as she does Golde from The Fiddler on the Roof.) She also sings a crazy cowboy song from a vintage TV show, and it's even better when she has a sore throat. ; )

Love the littlest! ;)

Paul Bunyan

My littlest sister and I were sitting at the kid table together finishing up the last few possibly edible kernels of popcorn from our family's spontaneous "party".

Blue: There was a popcorn blizzard in the book I was reading today.
Me: Oh, really. That's neat!

We were quiet for a moment.

Blue: What I don't understand is how he got so tall...
Me (realizing she had been reading our book about Paul Bunyan): Oh, well that's just a funny story.
Blue: But they said that you can see the Grand Canyon 'til this day.
Me: Paul Bunyan didn't make the Grand Canyon. God did with the flood. People like to make up silly stories about it just for fun.

She nodded sagely. Then, remembering another funny thing similar to it, she added: Scrat didn't make the Grand Canyon either. God did with the flood.

She's got it down. Deep thoughts. ; )

Matching Sisters Day

All of us polka dotted and/or vintage-y sisters decided to pose for a picture together last Sunday. 

Our awesome brother Paul took the pictures for us (along with a friend from church who wanted to hang out. Hi, Liberty!). That's his goofy hand there as he waits for us to position our littlest sister in exactly the right place. ; )

It was a ton of fun, but we sure did miss our oldest sister, Perry, who wasn't able to come since she was sick. We'll have to match again another day, sis. ; )

I'm Back!

Yes, I'm here again. There's a lull in the storm of things to do, so I thought I'd pop in and tell you what I'm grateful for...

The auntastic adventures I had while Aimee and I stayed at Perry and Tyler's house for a few days helping out. Chap and Chum were so hilarious and adorable with their clip-on ties, cowboy boots, and sunglasses (that don't quite stay on their heads or their noses). Their two favorite things definitely are playing outside (except one time when the sprinklers were on--then Chum was happy to just sit on the porch with me) and eating. (Eating a lot. Especially if it is "callilip", known to everyone besides toddlers as cantaloupe. The score was 8 for Chap and 5 for Chum.) ; ) We also had a great time with Perry and Tyler when they were available. Perry took us grocery shopping and treated us to Starbucks. (I got to try out their Chai tea for the first time!!)

My birthday celebration. On my actual birthday, I had a nice quiet day hanging out with my family. My two littlest sisters treated me to a treasure hunt (with very hard clues! They had recently got a kid spy book from the library, so there were a lot of really creative ones.) with a package of cards they had bought together as a prize at the end. Then all of us sibs (and Mom for awhile) played a crazy game of Ultimate Monopoly. Near the end it was just Paul and I switching back and forth, back and forth. We called it a draw, especially since it was time to eat Chik-fil-a and ice cream since Dad was home. Soooo yummy!!!! After that they showered me with presents and appreciations (that were so sweet I almost cried). It was truly a great day!

My other birthday celebration. ; ) Because my birthday landed on a Monday, the Perry and the Tyler and their very silly babies weren't able to come so they had us over that Saturday for more celebration. Ice cream, politics, silly babies, my local aunt and uncle, and leftover wedding cake from my cousin's wedding combined to make it another great celebration. (And the gifts too! More on one of them later...) ; )

Evangelism training. We are going through the Way of the Master training videos with two different groups (north and south since we are so spread out!) from church. It has been great to be able to get to know these church friends better and to grow in our ability to share the Good News. (And this lucky pastor's family gets all the info twice!) ; ) Please pray for me that I would get over my shyness and actually reach out to people.

Reclaiming Beauty webinar by the Botkin sisters. My mom and a friend of hers are leading this study together for their own daughters (that includes me!!) and some other mother/daughters from a homeschool group. It has been so amazing!! I've been learning exactly what God thinks of the whole topic, that I must dress as His ambassador and an example to my younger Christian sisters, and that it really is okay to enjoy it as long as I keep it in its right place just like any other art. ; ) (If you want to find out more about it, you can download the first episode for free here.) It's also been a ton of fun too. ; )

Anna and I spent a several sister-ly hours decorating our study guide notebooks together. (Yes, that's us! Looking weird and horribly lit.) ; )

My book on the left, hers on the right. I love how our different styles came out in the process. ; )

Over the past several weeks, we've also gotten to know some girls that we had never met before, collected a ton of info for our style files, figured out face shapes and colors (vaguely, anyway) ; ), and I had the insanely irritating and wonderful privilege of doing an entire closet inventory. ; ) Which actually turned out very helpful when we went on our field trip to our local modest (unfortunately Mormon) thrift store together. We all found some amazing things and had a great time. ; )

Our Ladies' Bible study. It only happens once a month, but it has been amazing so far. We are studying through "Living the Gospel in Relationships" by Tara Barthel. We like it so much that we've actually been watching it as a family and gleaning a lot.

Stories. What would a blog post by Kate be without her stories? (Don't answer that question. It was purely rhetorical.) In my "Year of Editing Six Large Works", I have four down and two to go! I just finished editing "Fiddler's Bargain" last night, and I can't wait to move on to its companion story. (When I say these are edited that doesn't mean they won't get more later on, but it is a step forward.) ;) "The Book of Dreams" project has progressed in one exciting way--Perry and Tyler have offered to give me a free cover!!! (That's my birthday gift from them. Aren't they just the best?!!!) I have a story spinning in my mind, but I'm not sure it will ever make it out of the idea stage. (The fact that I have 7k+ words does help to encourage me a bit. I'll share an excerpt of the beginning some time here...)

My crazy family. Right now my mom and I have ganged up on my littlest sister and are tickling her mercilessly. Other fun times include another treasure hunt Em made for Blue and I yesterday, watching the second National Treasure movie together yesterday on VidAngel (Anna and I love quoting Riley Poole to each other), coming up with eighty business/book/movie/ministry ideas a day, and listening to Mom read a book about Marco Polo aloud. Pretty great. ; )

That's just a bit of the awesome things that have been keeping me busy. ; ) What have you been doing?

Gluten-Free Shortbread

I've been experimenting with using coconut flour for gluten-free, nut-free baking. My first project (that turned out surprisingly very nicely!) was a batch of miniature cupcakes.

This success, leftover cream from someone's birthday ice cream, and an abundance of frozen strawberries led me to want to experiment more. I decided I would make us gluten-free, nut-free, coconut flour shortbread with whipped cream and strawberry sauce for toppings. (That's a mouthful to say and to eat!) I would make it for breakfast. It would be awesome. I took this recipe but made sure to read the comments and eventually decided (after a couple of tests) that it needed extra butter and an egg. But some people said two eggs and some said one. And was I supposed to sift my coconut flour? It didn't say. So...RESEARCH! It was fun. And crazy. If at first you don't succeed, Google again. I found a great article about coconut flour in general, egg ratios, and sifting. Hooray! It's already hard in the first place to find an alternative flour shortbread recipe that takes just coconut flour and no expensive-as-ground-gold almond flour. If you find one it takes honey or maple syrup. Bummer! We were all out of alternative sweeteners, so I'd have to use refined sugar. People have filled the internet up with tricks for switching from cane sugar to honey but never vice versa. Except this article. Hooray again! (I just read the tips part, so I can't recommend the whole article.) Anyway, it turned out very yummy and successful; and I'll share my version of the recipe in a minute here.

I'm pretty happy with this alternative flour thing, but a couple words of advice before you get started. 1. Follow the measurements exactly. Coconut flour is a wild animal. 2. Make sure your flour is finely ground. Each of these recipes failed when I used a coarser flour (or the wrong one). 3. Coconut four and almond flour bought in bulk can be the same texture, color, and even weight. Careful, this is an expensive mistake to make since they act totally differently so there's no salvaging your recipe. ; ) 4. When in doubt--RESEARCH!

Coconut Flour Shortbread Cookies
You will need:
6 TBS coconut flour, sifted
5 TBS melted butter, cooled
1 egg
2 TBS sugar
1 1/2 tsp. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients until not lumpy. (Coconut flour can be weird!) Roll balls and arrange on a lightly greased baking sheet. Smash with a fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before removing from sheet. Serve with strawberry sauce and whipped cream.

And if you like videos... 

My younger sister Pearl made one of how to make it!

And whipped cream...

And strawberry sauce! (Yes, those are my clumsy hands.) ; )

Enjoy!

Filter It!

You all know just how hard it is to find a movie the whole family can watch. It's a little more complicated for us since we have such a wide age range; but lately we have found a couple of really, really good ones. Masterful stories that don't scare the wits out of everyone. Good acting. Great characters. Only problem is that they aren't always PG. So we use VidAngel! Mom goes through the list of filters and sets what she would like taken out according to our specific concerns. Then we rent the movie for just a dollar! It's really simple, and you can read more about it all on their site. They are better at explaining it than I am. ; ) So, about the movies...

Woman in Gold

"Academy Award-winner Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds star in this remarkable true story of one woman's battle for justice. Sixty years after she fled Vienna during World War II, Maria Altmann (Mirren) seeks to retrieve her family possessions seized by the Nazis, among them Klimt's famous painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Together with her inexperienced but plucky young lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Reynolds), she embarks upon a journey which takes them all the way to the heart of the Austrian establishment and the U.S. Supreme Court."

This movie was recommended to us by another homeschooling family with the only caution being about language in one scene. My mom was able to skip exactly where that was, but it would have been way easier to use a filter if we had known about it at the time. It was a really great movie! Set in modern times with flashbacks to World War II, we loved the biographical element of this story (especially since it's about one of our favorite people groups and parts of history). It's definitely not a pull-out-all-the-stops action movie, but instead it's a true to life drama based on a real life story. Really helps you to connect with history. ; ) There were a few intense moments, but never anything that was over PG. (Because you cannot filter out worldview, please be aware of some slight feminism.)

The King's Speech

"After the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon of HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE) and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce of MOMENTO), Bertie (Academy Award nominee Colin Firth) who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Golden Globe nominee Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush). After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually form an unbreakable bond. With the support of Logue, his family, his government and Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall of SWEENEY TODD), the King will overcome his stammer and deliver a radio address that inspires his people and unites them in battle. Winner of four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor, The King's Speech is based on the true story of King George VI's quest to find his voice."

[Eek! That was a long description!] This movie is another World War II biography, and the first R-rated movie I've ever seen. That's right, it was rated R for a bit of language scattered throughout and especially one particularly shocking scene. The filters took it right out, leaving us a family friendly movie with superb acting (Mr. Darcy and the fairy godmother, anyone?) and a marvelous story! ; ) I personally really enjoyed it. 

The Book Thief

"Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson star in this inspiring film based on the bestseller about Liesel, (Sophie Nlisse), a girl adopted by a German couple (Rush and Watson) who hide a Jew (Ben Schnetzer) from Hitler's army. Soon Liesel discovers that words and imagination provide an escape from the events unfolding around her family in this extraordinary film directed by Brian Percival (Downton Abbey)."

This movie, filtered of course, is another really amazing World War II story!!! (I'm seeing a theme here!) The worldview (especially the narrator) is a bit odd, so we kept this one just to the older kids. It's a really amazing biographical story that felt so real we had a hard time believing it was a fictional story.

I'm not biased or anything, but I'm gonna spend a little more time on this movie than the others. Maybe because the theme is about books. Maybe because I loved the characters so much. Maybe because Geoffrey Rush is so awesome (and he's been in two of these movies I've mentioned). Or maybe because there are so many good quotes. ; )

I loved the father/daughter relationship between these two! It was so amazing and sweet. ; )

Two main characters...an awesome way of putting their different personalities. Max was such a good older brother to Liesel, and his inspiration helped her very much through hard times.

So, there you are... just a couple of movies that we have all enjoyed recently. I hope you watch them (on filters) and enjoy them just as much a we did! ; )

Just a couple of cautions about using VidAngel: They don't filter the previews or the movie covers, so be careful in that area. Also, the filter descriptions are very explicit, so it's usually best to have an adult set them. We have noticed that a couple of times the filters are off and a few things have come through that we didn't want, so watch at your own risk! (We have watched both The King's Speech and The Book Thief on VidAngel, and the filters were just perfect.)

Discovering, Breathing, Enjoying, and So On...

Yes, I have been extremely busy! You can just look at our church calendar and see at a glance 2/3s of what is filling our time. Add to that birthdays, celebrations, social events, and family ministry--wow!

Today's blog post is going to be a little different. So many awesome things have happened that I'm going to just share a few pictures of some of my favorite experiences. ; )

We celebrated Chum's birthday by feeding "eatmeal" to ducks at the park. He had a ton of fun!!

Chap and Uncle Paul watching the ducks.

Love that sweet smile!!!

Yeah, this is what I mostly did. ; )

On that same day, Pearl and I discovered our first Little Free Library! We had the back of our van full of rejected stock for our used book business, so we decided to take the time to fill the library with an assortment of books. It was so much fun, and we can't wait to do it again! ; )

Our evenings have been mostly occupied by church Bible studies. It's been a really good time of learning and fellowship! Mom, Aimee, Anna, and I are also going through the Botkin's Reclaiming Beauty study with some friends of ours and their homeschool group. We just had our third session today, and it's been really good so far.

Anna and I spent a huge chunk of one day decorating the backs of our notebooks with things we love. (Mine is on the left and hers is on the right.) ; ) It was a great sister togetherness time, and we were sad when the project ended. ; )

What else have I been doing? Well, living, experimenting (more on that later), discovering (love this creative community!), editing ("Mara"), breathing (glad to hear it, aren't you?), cleaning, studying (real Mount Sinai!!!), enjoying, loving, and learning (the Levites were presented to God as a "living sacrifice" just like we are to be!). 

Oh, and um... stories... Perry Elisabeth is hosting a short story contest!!! I'm so excited, and I can't wait to start on my submission. Also, if you go to my page on Noble Novels, you'll find the fifth part of "The Twin Arrows". (The suspense is building!!)

It's been an awesomely blessed week and a half! How was yours?

Josh Gwoban

Happy Leap Day, everyone! I hope you are enjoying this day since it only comes every four years. (Well, presidential elections do too, but that's a totally different story.)  I don't have a lot of time for blogging at the moment even if this day is "extra", but I thought I'd share with you a few hilarious videos we recently discovered. (Please be mindful of the fact that YouTube is a secular site. I also cannot wholehearted endorse the words of the first song since I've never been able to understand them all.) ; ) Enjoy!

Let's say you take a dramatic song like... maybe this...

\

and you do something like this to it...

Then you get us singing along to the dramatic version in husky little kid voices and just cracking up over it. (Add to that that we are coming off a cold so we're husky anyway...it's pretty great!) Poor Mr. Gwoban, though. I bet he's never been able to sing that song normally again! Especially after this...

Pretty awesome, eh? ; P

The Misplaced, Normal Friday

Well, this post was originally supposed to be for Friday. I totally intended to draft it and post it that day. I had the time for it. Only problem--I didn't know it was Friday. I've been one day off all week. ; ) It happens like that when you don't look at the calendar for a week and a half because you really don't need to. We were too sick to go anywhere for several days so everything was on hold.

We were all flat out on the couches at some point or another watching probably a million movies and feeling worth half a cent. We recently pulled out of the fevers (although congestion still lingers), and it has been such a blessing to have our health back again!!! Friday (even though I did it the dishonor of thinking it was Thursday) was, consequently, one of our first nice, normal days in a while. I always love those.

There was weeding (gorgeous job, Mom!), PianoGuys music, first taste test of the homemade orange juice the little girls and I had made the day before (that day was pretty normal too--making orange juice and a doll tutu), the tail end of Sense and Sensibility (Aimee loves to watch movies while she does laundry), tons of work for our used book business (sorting through it all, listing some, and finding out that we have a ton to turn into the used bookstore for credit!), and then...an Amazon adventure.

That's right. An Amazon adventure. And I'm talking about the Amazon that has a smile instead of snakes. Just near the beginning of when we were getting sick, Amazon had me to do some focus group work for them and a phone call interview that included a complementary gift card. GIFT CARD. Thank you. Let's just say, without gloating, that it was a big one. So you might be hearing about some more Amazon adventures lately because--it was a big one.

Anyway, my normal Friday did have it's spark of the exciting because it is always exciting when you've been tracking your package while working on other things and "out for delivery" is staring you in the face. And then you take a few enthusiastic little sisters to the mail, and there is your gorgeous, fat yellow mailer.

And you have this inside...

Yay!!! You have been patient long enough and not bought "inferior" ebook copies! You may now hold, sniff, and love (that can also mean bend) real copies!!!

And take pictures of them with your dorky green couch in the background! Yay!

You may also see the back cover of the book you test read and point out to your siblings that your name (and your book's name!) got to be on the back. ; ) I always find it so cool to see something I've test read be published and know that I've helped in a tiny way to get it published. It's especially awesome because this time I get to read it with the illustrations. ; )

But back to normal Friday. I interrupted my siblings' projects to specifically show them Through the Tunnel since we had all gotten to help out with the snowflakes inside. They were all thrilled to see their own creations in a real book, and the credit with their names telling that they had made some. Even Anna who hadn't made a snowflake but helped me trace everyone else's was included with a special thanks that both surprised and delighted her. Here's my snowflake...

But the day wasn't over. Now I'm not so sure it was normal; because now that I think of it, it was pretty exciting. I guess I just use the word normal for "not-sick-or-too-busy-or-overly-stressed-out-day". Daddy brought home a little ice cream to celebrate how normal the day was and some Valentine's Day flowers for Mom. That ice cream was so yummy!!!

After the younger sisters were in bed (have I told you about their reindeer names? Hmmm... I may have to get special permission...), Dad, Mom, Paul, Anna, and I watched "Beyond the Mask" together on our starry projector. It was Paul's and my second time around (I enjoyed it way more this second time!), but the others had never seen it. Dad and Mom both really liked it (which is a huge compliment to an independent film!), and so did Anna; so altogether it was a hit! ; )

So, that was my nice, normal Th--Friday. ; P Lots of good excuses there for not posting. ; ) How was yours?

Busy and Blessed

This weekend has been super busy and blessed. Added to the regular activities of usual weekends, it’s birthday season for us! ; )

Thursday

Buddies' actual birthday; but, since we were going to celebrate it on Saturday (so we could have Perry, Tyler, and the nephews come), a school holiday was declared as long as we played with the birthday girl all day. ; ) After some chores, a little bit of school that had a deadline, and that silly selfie session from my last post, the younger girls launched into a game of dollhouse. It was, of course, only a precursor to the main event when they were allowed to go outside and build a town. That’s right—a town. Em set up a very nice Doctor’s Office in the tree house (which was kind of funny because “injured” people had to climb up the ladder to get there) where I got a real bandage for a real injury; and Pearly set up a sort of carnival/game tent (Literal tent and one of the walls was held up by a rock on the roof that fell off later. No one was hurt!) with activities including guess the number of Skittles in the jar, a penny toss, a raffle, a hidden object challenge (bottle of rice with small objects in it—the challenge was to find them all), and a ball ramp she had made by herself. There were prizes and even badges that said things like “Champion of the Skooter Race” that they got to wear all day. (Em had her doctor name tag and two champion badges, so let’s just say she was very decorated!) ; ) Also very popular were the bags of complementary popcorn  with a few turns at the games. (Which was really good, because we were so busy playing that our meals were a bit off schedule.) ; ) Speaking of lunch, the Birthday Girl herself served it through one of our back windows as a drive through. I made a big batch of chai tea and served it in my new adorable glass mugs. It went like hotcakes! Buddies even wanted seconds after it was gone so she went and made herself more (with a little help from Aimee). ; ) Paul spent most of his morning on the computer making something mysterious and interesting for our game. None of the younger girls were allowed to look at the computer, but if they had I don’t think they would have understood what he was doing. (I had to be told, myself.) He coded an app for our family phones that read smart tags off “debit cards” that were linked with play bank accounts. Talk about an advancement from the tinfoil coinage of the old days when the big girls were little! He set up a tent and chose Birthday Girl as his assistant. She was so cute sitting there reading a book as he explained the cards to his primitive customers. She had dressed up for her birthday complete with stick-on earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet. Anna had done her hair in a French braid and twisted little hair jewels into it. Very grownup! ; ) She got even more dressed up because of the salon hosted by Anna and I. Anna set it up next to Pearly’s game tent on an old bureau that decorates the back porch in it’s own rustic way. She took a mirror, all the hair stuff, and a ton of small decorating items (including Christmas lights!!) outside and arranged them to make a very pretty picture. ; ) My job was to paint fingernails and toenails while she did hair and makeup. Mom let us have the rare treat/torture of using some of her makeup like face paint. (I tried a little and it turned out like war paint so I washed it off.) ; ) Anna got into the act and dressed up as a crazy salon lady, and we used a little face paint to get the clown next door into character. The pictures say it all. ; ) Tyler surprised Buddies by dropping by on his way home from work to wish her a happy day. He was a little astounded by our costumes; but he seemed to enjoy seeing the town, and she certainly enjoyed showing it off. ; ) So we played until it was almost completely dark (or maybe it was completely dark), then came inside to warm up. My favorite part of the day was definitely when Birthday Girl thanked us all by saying, “Thank you so much for playing with me, guys!”

The lovely M.D (Mother on Duty)

The "clown"

Mayor and secretary

Getting dark!

The crazy salon lady, the M.D., and a little sliver of Yours Truly

Friday

We did do some school, and I did get some editing/writing in. I actually finished editing “The Book of Dreams” as much as I can, and I’m looking forward to sending it out to test readers hopefully soon. My current writing WIP is “One Day After Eden” and my editing WIP is now “Letters for Victory”! ; ) That evening, we went to some friends’ house to have dinner with them and learn to make their Paleo friendly apple cake. (It was so good!!! I’ll have to put the recipe here sometime.) We had a great and blessed time with them. ; )

Saturday

Oh, wow. We packed in four days’ worth of stuff on this day! The first day of this day was Dad’s birthday celebration (since it was actually his birthday) where Mom gave him a collage she had made to commemorate our years in the Northwest. The second day, Dad, Em, and I had to do some last minute birthday shopping for Buddies before her celebration later that included going to Barnes and Noble and the Christian bookstore. *angels sing* It was a ton of fun! Back home, I helped to finish cleaning the house and Em and Anna closeted themselves to wrap the presents. (They did an adorable job!) Day three: the relatives arrive! Perry, Tyler, Chap, Chum, and Brudder Baby as well as our local aunt and uncle! We had a nice party appreciating Birthday Girl, eating too much ice cream, and watching as she celebrated over each present. ; ) Dad also got another present—this time from us. Starbucks giftcard but since we only have non-birthday girly cards in the house, Aimee’s sense of humor told her to use a sympathy card. “In sympathy for all the health problems this coffee will cause.” ; ) ; ) ; ) And then day four, all the adults left for a courtship discussion with a few other families from church as they introduced the idea to a homeschool group. We got the babies!!!!! (All except Brudder Baby but I didn’t complain too much.) ; ) Chap and Chum kept us on our toes (and themselves happy way past bedtime) with dancing to “The Fiddler on the Roof”; cooking with kid kitchen (They both pray over food, and Liam loves “cutting” wooden food with a little wooden knife. He would have done that all day if there hadn’t been anything else to do!); playing doggy with streamer leashes; and just being generally cute. Buddies got to share one of her birthday gifts, the first volume of What’s in the Bible with Buck Denver, with them which was pretty fun. I think they liked it even if they felt the need to play a little Duplo when they got bored for a moment. ; ) So cute! Anyways, it was a great day!

Birthday Girl!!!

Chef Chum ; )

Sunday

Dad wanted to take us to Savers for his birthday, and since there was a big sale we thought we would snag a little time at the store before our afternoon church. We found some great things, but we were a bit rushed getting to church since it ended up taking a lot longer than we had thought. Dad preached some of the last few verses of the book of James this Sunday. It was so good! The sermon will definitely be posted here in the near future since it is about serving God in every area of life. The communion service was really great too, especially since one of our piano players from the church’s early days was in town so we resurrected a really amazing communion song we used to sing. Fellowship afterwards was simply amazing as I found myself talking to people I don’t usually get to, and we were discussing amazing principles from the Bible (and coming up with analogies that include water balloons so they definitely break down). And the nephews were awesome as always. That’s a given. ; )

Monday

Oh, wow, that’s today! The only reason I’m writing this right now is because I’m the only one up and my computer was handy, but today is going to be busy. We’re renters, so it’s time for the annual walk through and we have a few things to do. (Like yardwork—because weeds always grow.) Dad is home because it’s MLK day, so I’m excited to see what we’ll do when the work is all over. Mom’s birthday is tomorrow, and we have a good long week of school (and editing/writing!) ahead of us so I’m excited. ; )

What about you? How have you been busy and blessed?