Lazy Days

I thought I might put some pictures on of the stuff we are doing this summer, but I have very few pictures of the stuff we do the most. For instance, I don't have any pictures of us doing legos, or games, or art, or cleaning, which we do alot of because six kids (and most of them boys) make alot of messes.

Playing cards (we love games)

Wii

Listening to music (these two are also learning piano- although Nick won't practice for me any more)

AND THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER IS-

READING

We do it every single day. Unlike most kids, Mom and Dad rarely ever say "stop watching TV and go outside and play". They say, "stop reading and go outside".

Sports. The one sport I would really like to have a picture of is fencing. William and I do it with plastic bats (the kind you use for wiffle ball, only long).

Computer. Mom says we play it way too much, and she is probably right. :)

Playing Warrior with friends. In case you can't tell, that blur in the doorway is Will (or at least it is his "sword"). He hates pictures.

Doing Ripstick

Playing DS. Will is going crazy- we do that alot, too.

And running away from the photgrapher.

Sewing Project

I just finished my first-ever sewing project! (Well, once I helped Mom sew a skirt- I cut out the pieces- and once we started a skirt that was never finished, but this is the first thing that I did entirely by myself). I made a doll outfit out of leftover material. We did not have any doll patterns, but I did not want to waste tons of good fabric on my first project. So I designed my own patterns. I tested them by cutting them out of paper and taping them to my doll. After having Mom teach me the basics on the sewing machine (such as threading it- I am always forgetting one step or another), I threw the outfit together. Unfortunatly I forgot to give the pattern seam allowance, so the bodice is tight and the skirt doesn't go all the way together in the back. I also did not cut out enough material for a hem, so the edges are all frayed.

In progress. Please don't ask me why she is standing on a Frisbee- because I don't know!

The finished result.

The Tree

Yesterday we did the puzzle that Ben got for his birthday from a friend. The pieces were all sorts of wierd shapes and sizes. Everyone kept taking breaks because they got a headache from staring at the pieces for so long!

We had an old dead tree in our yard that we decided to cut down today. First, Dad chopped half of it off.

Then, the boys had fun digging a hole around it, to cut the roots and loosen the soil enough.

Then (and this is what I do not have a picture of) Dad took a cable, attached it to the tree and the trailer hitch on the van, and drove the van which yanked the tree out. It was really, really neat to watch. (It is times like this that I wish we had a video camera, not the twenty second videos on the regular camera. That would have made one great movie!)

The tree, dragged across the lawn.

We will be planting a new tree onve we figure out where the electrical lines and all are.

Pirate Attack!

Benjamin the Deadly (or just plain Ben) has been making some wonderful pirate ships lately! These are the first drawings of his that I have seen with such wonderful shading and detail.

This ship doesn't have a name yet, but it is Ben's favorite because of the variety in the sails.

The Dragon Slayer

Blackbeard's Revenge

The Dragon Wing

And this is a picture of mine. They are Elven clothes designed for my story. I am thinking about illustrating it, if I actually ever finish it. Anyway, these are the only ones I've colored. I like the rose one the best because it is a new style that I have never drawn before. Recently, when wondering what to sketch, I decided to look at the fancy modern dresses and re-design them (on paper, of course, because I can't sew for the life of me, at least not yet) in a more modest but still stylish style.

William is training for a mile-long race. He has run a mile in 8 minutes. I'm jealous- he can run alot farther than me!

Dancing

Marcus was so cute this morning. Adelynn was listening to some music, and he came up and started to do a strange sort of bouncy dance, and kept beat to the music with his hands. He didn't seem to get why we were all laughing with him, but just kept doing it more and more. Here is a short video of him:

Last night we watched The Water Horse. It was a very good movie. When we finished, it was lighting off in the distance. As always, I came up with a little verse about it.
There's something about this evening/ As I'm sitting in my robe/ Looking out through a silent room/ Out through the crystal- clear glass./ Far-off, in the distance/ Beyond the silhouettes of dark trees/ Lighting is falling and raining down/ A hundred-million waterfalls of light./ Each splash lights up the moonless sky/ And douses the clouds in pink light./ Like a candle the light flickers and wavers/ Shying away from the Earth/ It retreats into the darkened sky,/ Runs back to it's secretive home./ Behind it it leaves/ A shuddering memory/ Quick to fade as another light splashes./ Behind it it leaves/ A bittersweet touch/ And the thunder.
It was not really a "silent room" because Adelynn was screaming at me, with that relentless persistence of four year olds, to play tea-party with her. And I do not know if it really was a "moonless night": I just couldn't see the moon through the window.

Musings on Fantasy

Fantasy (the good kind) is like a crystal-clear veil that covers the "real world". It blurs some things and makes others clearer. After all, ho ever heard of a giant who eats children giving his heart to an eagle for safekeeping? (The Giant's Heart, by George MacDonald). Or a selfish young boy turning into a dragon? (Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis). Yet, when have relationships been more truly and heart-breakingly portrayed then when the future of a world is entrusted into the care of a young hobbit? (The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien). Through the eyes of fantasy, we see reality as incomplete. We see it's shortcomings; we want more. Reality wants to escape the down-to-earth cage it has built up around itself, and see things that can never happen. The reason that the impossibility of (good) fantasy rings so close to home is because fantasy is a mirror of what is. It is a mirror of the supernatural; it pays its homage to God. You suspend reality to appreciate fantasy; you do away with worldliness to love Christ. In the same way that you never realize how wonderful your house is until you look at it with fresh eyes from across the street, so reality is not quite right unless seen through the terms of fantasy. From there, you can see it through His eyes.
Fantasy is not reality, it is about reality; it is not our experience, but about our experiences; it is not our life but a mirror of our goal.

This did not turn out quite right... Like I said below, it is so very hard to express exactly what you mean. But it did do a fairly well job... I hope that you can understand what I wrote. Like most things, I did it in one sitting and mussed it up horribly. It is so hard to write serious stuff, and share it. The seriousness, no matter how funny you make it, is always so much more sensitive than fluffy funny things, because it hits so much closer to home.

Untitled

"Always remember that only if one builds, as St. Paul says, on the one foundation which is Jesus Christ, one will be able to construct something really great and lasting.
Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life. He alone is the real salvation of the world; He alone is the hope for mankind." -Pope John Paul II

I really ought to change the name of this blog to something of the effect of "The Nonsensical Musings of a Thirteen-year-old.", because I'm just putting alot of stuff on here. Though, that is what blogs are for- to express yourself, even if you do it in a way that makes no sense at all. :) It's very hard to say just what you want to in a way that is both legible and still captures your meaning. I mean, you don't really think in words. Have you ever thought about that? It's as if your soul talks to your mind an your mind just knows. Words only paint a living memory of that knowledge. And sometimes that memory is as messy as the window Marcus is smearing. You've got to hand it to him, Marcos really does know how to make a mess.

Ben's Birthday

Ben is 12 now. Happy Birthday Ben! (his birthday way yesterday)

This is the cake I made. It is suppposed to be a Lego, but I did not realize until after I made it that Legos have two rows of bumps on top, not one. Oh, well... And the red lego wall is for Redwall, Ben's favorite series of books.


Playing DS. Yes, they always watch everyone play it. It is hard for me to get a turn without at it least one of them sitting down next to me, intructing me what to do. :)

He may not like his clothes, but he sure likes the homemade wrapping paper. (We didn't have any B-day paper, so Mom and Dad made football paper)

Ben opening his present. That thing is fun!

Wii Fit in action.

Viel Glück auf deinem zwölftes Geburtstag, Ben!

Happy 12th Birthday, Ben!

Nick's Baseball Game

Nick had a baseball game at Lions Club on Ben's B-day. The birthday boy didn't watch; he played a card game with Will.

Nick got a home run!

Waiting to bat

An interesting view of the game

Lions Club is a beautiful park...

Update

Hello, everyone! I have changed the layout of my page. Do you like it?
-Shaylynn
PS Tommorrow is Ben's birthday, YAY! Oh, man, he'll be 12...