So Sweet

Adelynn was going to see "It's a Wonderful Life- The Musical" over at OAT, and asked for "curly" hair. It just turned out so cute! I think that I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

And- of course we can't forget Marcus!

Swim Team

Whew! I had swim team tonight (my second time), and BOY am I tired. I am amazed at how well the other kids did- they kept passing me up and one girl was only half a foot higher than my waist. lol. I have alot to work for, but even though it is so hard it is tons of fun. Apparently, though, I have been doing the breast stroke wrong all along, and now in addition to having to learn the stroke from the top, I have to unlearn what I have been doing for ages.

Prayers

My cousin Kaleb was in the hospital. He had an asthma attack while watching his dad coach a basketball thing, and was unconscious for a long time. Last we heard (a couple days ago) he was in the ICU. Prayers, please.

Solved- finally

My aunt just told me that they finally solved the crime and the guy who killed my great-aunt Joyce (right side of the picture) 8 years ago is in jail for 27 years. Here is a link to a (really) short report on it:
http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=160621&catid=3#c

UPDATE: There is a video in the right-hand corner.

Crocheting

This volleyball season, we had Secret Sisters. The coaches paired us up with other girls, and throughout the season, we left our Secret Sister gifts without them knowing who it was. My secret sister was Megan Reifer. She made me a cute crocheted hair scrunchie. So I decided to teach myself crocheting. Of course, Adelynn wanted to learn, too.

Some of my creations so far. I do not have any patterns for these, so I had quite a time figuring out how to do it! Adelynn's favorite is the doll scarf. It got progressively smaller. No clue what I did!

I like posting about random things- closets

The other week Adelynn and I cleaned out our closets. I took out the clothes that don't fit, then organized it all. First my old fancy dresses, then dress-up dresses, then dresses, then skirts, then sports Tshirts, then short sleeve shirts, then long sleeve shirts, then sweaters. Now Adelynn's dresses are all in my closet, too. Plus my art supplies.
Adelynn has got all of her summer clothes packed away and her shirts are in her wardrobe. Note the takeover of the doll clothes on the bottom of her closet.














Now if only the rest of our room were that clean.

TG! Magazine

TG! Magazine
This is a really good Catholic magazine for preteen to teen and older teen girls! They only recently started up again, and the new issues have been wonderful! It was previously called TrueGirl, but changed because of a copyright issue. Their website is www.tgmagazine.net

Growing Up

Guess what this lil' boy has been doing alot of recently? Growing up.
He now says four words (and this is the order he learned them in)- light, out (for outside), Dada (for Daddy), and "din" (for again).
Mom is upset that he does not say any form of "Mommy".
Marcus now identifies noses and ears, spoon-feeds himself, and stands next to the trash can trying to peel a stubborn orange. He pulls out the recorder and blows. He spins around in circles, a little miniature tornado, when we have the music on.
I can't believe how big he has gotten!!!

He also gives hugs. But only to Adelynn. There must be something with Addie, because both Rebbecca and Marcus have given her some of their very first hugs. Marcus will not hug anyone but Adelynn. Rebecca will always go to Adelynn first.

Projector!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dad has wanted one of these for years! He got it as a "Christmas present to himself and Mom". It is really awesome! So far, we have only done it on the living room wall. We found out today that it works better on the blank wall, rather than on the sheet that is puckered up with the furrowings of wrinkles. (I have no clue if "furrowing" can be used as a noun... the spell check thinks that it cannot). It gives an amazingly clear picture, even on our brown walls! The first movie we watched was Kung Foo Panda. In my opinion, it was cheesy. To many Yoda scenes. :) And the one 'master' looked like a cross between Yoda and a Furby. Oh, yeah, we pulled out an old Furby recently. It does not appreiate being revived. It no longer speaks Furby-ish and sings, it just says, "Mumblejumble creak creak crack mumblewumble yada yada." There I go again, getting side tracked. ANYway, this evening we watched The Princess Bride with the Woelks (because we just had to show it off!). The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favorites!!!

THE SCREEN

THE PROJECTOR
*applause*

THE MARCUS

Daylight Savings Time

Um, this is a quick poem written in the car awhile back on Daylights Saving Day (or what is it called, the switch from Daylights Saving into Standard?)

I wonder where that extra hour
Has been biding its time.
Maybe it's been in the fruit bowl
Next to apples and lime.

Perhaps that hour had disappeared
Where the electrons go
When they, from the exothermic
To endothermic flow.

Has the extra hour hidden
With the missing pencils
In a box with socks and needles
Tiny toys and stencils.

Maybe its stashed itself away
Inside the pages of a book
Or curled inside a leaf
Or in any cranny or nook.

I don't know where that hour went
Whether it hid or flew
But I do know that I slept in
And got up on time, too.


Please don't laugh. Yes, I was having trouble with my chemistry assignments when I wrote this (I still don't know where those electrons go). And that drawer with all the stuff also has batteries, hair ties, books, erasers, flashlights, etc.
What does that "missing drawer" have in your house?

Say What?

My brother is sitting next to me as I am typing (we have the old computer next to our family computer) and is playing Pinball. He is sitting there talking gibberish in a strange accent that is a mix between English and Spanish. And Yoda. And Gollum. Appearently, the balls are having a sort of battle trying to take over someone's mind.
Say what?
Mom just walked by and gave us a funny look. lol :):):):):):):)

Volleyball

Volleyball season is over! What can I say? I had a great season, even though we did lost many of our games. We had new coaches, who were awesome. (But I do miss our old coach...) I learned so much and had so much fun!

I have a funny story to share about the pictures. The photographer had photoshopped our pictures. When Adelynn saw my picture, she said, "Aww, Shaylie, the guy took off your owwie spots!" Gotta love it.

Rolla was in a book!

No, way. Yes, way.

Actually, it's not technically ROLLA, but the University. It's a little funny, actually. Mom got this old copy of World Records at a garage sale. I was flipping through it and saw Rolla, MO in it!
Apparently, some students from UMR (before it was MS&T, obviously) got together to make the longest paper chain- 40.67 miles long. It used 450,000 links!
Anyway, its not every day that you see Rolla mentioned in a random book, so I thought I would share it with you!

St. Joesph

Guess who Marcus was for All Saints' Day! Somebody who gets to play with tools- St. Joesph , the carpenter, foster father of Jesus, husband of Mary, etc.

"Mary" and "Joesph"

Here is a link to a thing about St. Joesph.

All Saints' Day Party 2008

For those of you who do not know- All Saint's Day is a feastday on the first of November on which we celebrate and remember the lives of all the saints in Heaven. In particular we remember the canonized saints (people who we know for sure are in Heaven on account of miracles and other things). This year we went to an All Saints' Day party. Everyone dressed up as a saint. We played a guessing game where we guessed what saint people were. Sometimes it is pretty obvious- a boy dressed as a knight is generally either St. Micheal or St. George, but sometimes we have some pretty obscure saints.
Here are (all!) the pictures that I took:

Mary, Queen of Heaven

Adelynn, who has a very special love for the Blessed Mother, chose to be Mary for All Saint's Day. Actually, she chose to be Mary, Queen of Heaven so that she could wear her crown!
I won't post a story about Mary, because everyone should know about her. She is not exactly wearing a crown of twelve stars on her brow like in Revelation (please correct me if my memory is wrong on that point) but I think that with her petticoat dress, Nick's king cape, crown, veil, and rosary, she makes a fairly good Queen of Heaven!

Adelynn said that she was frowning because "Mary is very sad that people don't love Jesus."

St. Thomas Aquinas

I think Ben has an awful fear of cameras- this is the only picture I got of him! This is a last minute costume. You'll notice that he is carrying a book of Charlotte and Emily Bronte's books! I've never read them. Anyway, Ben was St. Thomas Aquinas:

Philosopher, theologian, doctor of the Church (Angelicus Doctor), patron of Catholic universities, colleges, and schools. Born at Rocca Secca in the Kingdom of Naples, 1225 or 1227; died at Fossa Nuova, 7 March, 1274.

St. Thomas is VERY well-known, especially for his book Summa Theologica or something like that. Here is a story about him: St. Thomas Aquinas
For anyone wanted to read alot about him, I suggest the book by G.K. Chesterton. We also have a small chapter book on him for anyone who would like to borrow it!

St. Gaius Francis

Will was a rather obscure Japanese warrior saint named St. Gaius Francis for All Saint's Day. This is a classic case of trying to find a saint to match a costume! There are saints for EVERY kind of person, believe me, including St. Gaius Francis, who was a ninja-like warrior!

Not much is known about him, but this is what I found:

Feastday: Febuary 6
1597

Martyr of Japan. He was a baptized Japanese military man and a Franciscan tertiary. When priests were arrested, Gaius demanded that he also be imprisoned for the faith. He was crucified with his fellow Christians at Nagasaki.

Also known as Caius Francis

Memorial 6 February

Profile Japanese soldier. Convert. Franciscan tertiary. When soldiers came to arrest the friars, he insisted he was a Christian, too. They took him, as well. One of the Martyrs of Nagasaki.

Born Japanese

Died crucified on 5 February 1597 at Nagasaki, Japan

Beatified 14 September 1627 by Pope Urban VIII

Canonized 8 June 1862 by Pope Pius IX