Eat. Sleep. Dance.

The Language of Benjamin

2010-06-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

My little brother, Benjamin, has his own way of saying things. Below I'm putting some of his words, and then the translation:

Marmee=Emma

Nana=Hannah

Pwara=Clara

Pween=(Lightning) McQueen

SaSa=Applesauce

Breenbrow-Eyebrow

Ah Ru Roo=I love you

Pry=Cry

Shashie=French Fry

Oh Benjamin, we love you and all of your adorable cuteness :)

Locks of Love

2010-05-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to say that ~~last week~~ a few days ago I got my hair cut for locks of love! I love it soooooooo much :) Here are some before and after pics:

Before:

After:

My Best Friend

2010-05-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

My best friend moved right before Christmas and it is the hardest thing I've ever gone through. I've known her since I was two years old because our daddy's worked at the same place for a long time. She was a lot like me, yet different in many ways. We were gymnastics buddies for awhile, but that soon faded too. For a long time, I couldn't understand why she moved. Couldn't God have changed her heart here? Then I would still have her, she would still have me, and she could get closer to God. But God has His own ways that we don't understand, no matter how hard we try. Sometimes I even tried to pretend it didn't happen. I felt like Rob from The Tiger Rising, always keeping my suitcase shut tight. Because hey, if you didn't think about it, it's almost as if it didn't happen right? But keeping it closed doesn't make it go away. All it does is make it harder not to open it. Instead, I have to accept the fact that she's not here anymore. Now, as I make new friends, I'm almost hesitant, like when I'm feeding Clara peas (which she HATES) and applesauce (which she LOVES). Even after the peas are gone and she's only eating applesauce, she's holding back, as if at any second I might give her a bite of peas. That's how I was. I almost didn't want to make friends because anything could happen. Tomorrow I might find out that we're going to a different church, or one of my friends is moving. But we can't live our lives like that, because then we won't enjoy the time we have now. Below are some pictures of my half of our best friend necklace and some of me and her. The necklace was a present from me right before she moved.

I love you Haleigh!

Circus!

2010-04-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

My mom was able to get tickets to the circus for a cheaper price (homeschooling does have it's advantages ;) and we had lots of fun. I brought a friend and a couple other families we know came too. Sorry most of the pictures are blurry (as I type this Sam is standing over my shoulder telling me which ones I should delete and which ones are really blurry) but the lighting there was weird and even with my flash on some of them came out fuzzy. I will {try} not to overwhelm you with pictures ;)

Oh and did I mention Benjamin had an allergic reaction to pollen and broke out in hives? And had a double ear infection? No? Oh, well.

This is probably my favorite picture :)

On the way home :)

These people were on a wire right above us. No worries right?

Luckily these people were on the other side of the room ;)

The half man half woman. When we got home and Sam saw the picture, he confirmed that it was actually a man :D

Nano the midget :)

This was probably the most ~~boring~~ uninterested part of the whole circus

Nano and the ringmaster

These last five were taken before the show. We got there early enough to go to the floor and see the clowns and take pics with them.

Me and my friend Riley :)

Benjamin didn't exactly like the clowns ;)

Me and Emily <3

Bekah's Giveaway!

2010-03-31T15:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks Bekah for the awesome giveaway! Here are the questions :)

1. If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would you say?

Happy :)

2. If you could go anywhere in the world with anyone you wanted to, where would you go and who with?

Paris with my family

3. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Flying

4. What is one habit (or two ;) that you get teased about a lot?

Squirming around in bed alot

5. What is (or are) your food obsession(s)?

Steak

6. What is the best April Fools prank you pulled on someone or that someone pulled on you?

Never had one done to me, never done one to anyone

7. If you were an inanimate object, what would you be?

A book

8. Let's say you could change the world in one way. How would you change it?

No abortion (and no Bekah, I'm not copying you ;)

9. You have a million dollars (*gasp* ;). How do you spend it?

Buy a Nikon D3000, buy camera equipment, buy lots of books, get a mac and give the rest to my parents

10. What is one thing that always takes your breath away? (That could mean in a good way OR a bad way)

Rollercoasters in a good way :)

11. You are granted three wishes. What do you wish for? (Remember, you can't wish for more wishes ;)

My best friend to move back, summer be longer than the school year, and adoption to not be so expensive!

12. You can spend the day with one character from a book or series that you've read. Who is that character?

Kate from the Mysterious Benedict Society series

13. What is something odd or interesting about you that is not commonly known?

I have a crazy memory

14. What is one thing that you absolutely positively cannot stand?

People tapping with pencils or their nails on the table

15. Say you commited a crime. The judge gives you a choice between sentences: twenty years of complete solitude in the mountains or never having another moment alone for the rest of your life. Your choice?

Me commit a crime? ;) Hmmm probably the second one. But the people around me better be quiet ;)

16. What is one benefit that blogging has given you?

Being able to record my life so that I can look back on it

17. A perfect day in your eyes would be...?

All my favorite meals all day, have the mac all to myself, and getting to read all day :)

Playing Outside and When Dad Goes Grocery Shopping ...

2010-03-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

The other day was really nice out so we (Hannah and I) took the boys outside to play. All of the pics were taken by Hannah with Mom's camera except for the first one (which I took with Mom's camera too :).

If you can't tell by the picture, there's three movies (The Blind Side, National Treasure 2, and Up), two bags of jellybeans, two bags of sour gummy worms, a box of gumballs, and bunny shaped marshmallows :D

Dance and Co-op

2010-03-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's taken me sooo long to do a post. It's NOT because i don't have anything to post about, because believe me, there's plenty of things going on. That's the reason i'm not posting ;) So I will {try} to do some short posts of all the things we have been doing lately. First off, for those of you who don't know, I'm taking dance. I take jazz, tap, lyrical, and tumbling. I LOVE all of them. Except probably tap. That I just like :) Anyway, here are the songs that we are using for the recital:

Jazz- Bet on it (remix)

Lyrical- The Climb

Tap- Good Golly Miss Molly

Tumbling- A song from the movie "The Matrix"

Now, moving on to co-op. The co-op we go to is called CCA. This year I'm only taking General Science, but next year I'm taking Photography, Spanish, and Business Math. Business Math is basically a class where you learn how to run your own business and to run a bookstore. I'm really excited about Photography since I just got a camera for Christmas and I'm still figuring it all out :)

I will try to post some pics soon, because I've taken ALOT :)

Which ones?

2010-02-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to decide which pair I should ask for my birthday:

I would love feedback!

2009 ...

2010-01-03T17:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a video that Hannah made of 2009:

Christmas '09

2010-01-03T16:49:00.000-08:00

Wow I can't believe Christmas went by that quick! Here are the gifts I got for Christmas:

a digital camera!
camera case
calendar
necklace
rubix cube
ornament
guitar charm
gift cards for Barnes and Noble, Ulta, and Michaels
Hannah and I got the Love Comes Softly series to share

I LOVE all of my gifts!!! My camera is a black nikon coolpix s630. I took probably 100 pictures the day I got it :). Here's some:

{sigh} Oh Benjamin! Don't you know your finger's supposed to go in your nose?

Um there's something behind you.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Our Christmas tree :)

An attempt to eat the fooseball handle?

A Conversation with Sam

2009-12-09T12:49:00.002-08:00

This is a conversation I had with Sam a few months ago:

Sam: "Emma, what does God look like?"

Me: "Well, you can't really see Him; He's not a thing."

Sam: "But Jesus is a person, and Jesus is God."

Me: "Yes, but-"

Sam: "Emma, Jesus is a person, and Jesus is God, now don't argue with me again!"

Charlie Bit Me Remix

2009-11-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

This is so funny!

T-Pain and Obama

2009-11-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

This is hilarious!

Halloween

2009-11-01T14:02:00.001-08:00

This year Hannah and I didn't dress up, but Benjamin and Samuel dressed up as pirates.

Later at the house Benjamin traded his pirate hat for Dad's.

He found the pumpkin handle much more appetizing than the actual candy.

Whoa... Sugar rush!

Benjamin was very disappointed when he found out that inviting yourself into your neighbor's house is not what your supposed to do while trick or treating.

Even though Sam was a pirate a few years ago, he insisted on being it again this year.

Ignore the diaper hanging out, focus on taking the pictures.

Clara Hope

2009-11-01T13:25:00.000-08:00

Clara Hope came home almost two weeks ago. She's so precious, and I've been meaning to post pictures ever since she was born, but I kept forgetting. Here they are:

Tell Me He's Not Cute

2009-10-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

30 Things About Me

2009-10-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of things about me:

#1 I LOVE spaghetti!
#2 I'm the second oldest in a family of 5 kids.
#3 I play guitar.
#4 I'm 12 years old.
#5 I'm my dad's twin.
#6 I'm a BIG rollercoaster person!
#7 I did gymnastics for 4 years.
#8 I have a blue and brown polka-dot room.
#9 I want a LOT of kids when I grow up!
#10 One of my nicknames is pickle!
#11 I LOVE books!
#12 I have a dog named Tex.
#13 I enjoy doing the dishes.
#14 Whales crackers are one of my favorite snacks.
#15 I LOVE being on the computer!
#16 I cut my sister's doll's hair when I was five.
#17 My two favorite seasons are Fall and Winter.
#18 I'm hot-blooded.
#19 My middle name is Cathryn.
#20 I adore babies!
#21 My three favorite holidays are Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter.
#22 I LOVE pretzels with peanut butter!
#23 I used to only eat my green beans with ketchup.
#24 I love Addison Road!
#25 I'm home-schooled.
#26 I LOVE Switchfoot!
#27 I could eat steak or ribs all day!
#28 I despise crunchy bread or rolls.

#29 I'm not a girlie girl.

#30 I always wear the same hoop earrings every day.

M&M Puzzle

2009-09-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

This is a two sided m&m puzzle that my dad and I did. One side is the peanut m&m package, and the other side is the regular m&m package. We did the peanut side.

Pittsburgh

2009-09-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to Pittsburgh for a pre-season game since we're BIG Steelers fans. We had a lot of fun, and took a bunch of pictures!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2009-07-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy lately that I haven't been able to post for awhile. I'll fill you in on what's happened the past few months:

We're going to a co-op on Thursdays and we love it!
I just started doing dance again and I'm having a blast!
I got a cell phone a couple months ago!
My mom is having the baby girl in three weeks! We're so excited!
We just got a Mac!

Hopefully I'll start posting more often! :)

My Mom is Having a Baby...

2009-06-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're so excited!!! I've never had a baby sister before!!!

Disney Pictures, Part 1

2009-06-02T13:53:00.001-07:00

Pictures

2009-05-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, we went and got our pictures taken. Every year we get our pictures taken for school, and Benjamin had his one year pictures done, too. Here they are:

Disney World!

2009-05-07T12:43:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that in two weeks we are going to Disney World!!! It's Benjamin's first time, but for everyone else in our family it's a third. Since I love roller coasters, I 'm really excited! There's also a new thing called "The Jedi Training Academy" which Sam is thrilled about doing. Here's a video explaining what you do:

Easter

2009-04-13T14:55:00.001-07:00

We had a really fun Easter this year. This has got to be my favorite holiday. On Saturday, we went to an Easter egg hunt at our church and Hannah and I helped with the little kids. After church on Sunday, we went to a steakhouse to eat lunch and then went home and took lots of pictures. Here's our Easter pictures:

Easter Morning

Our Easter Garden

Easter

What's been happening...

2009-03-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been able to post very often! To make up for it, I'll fill everyone in on what's going on.

I just finished a book called Escape From Memory by Margaret Peterson Haddix and it was really good!
My birthday is in a couple days.
We went to the Science Museum last Friday and had lots of fun.
We're doing an art class at our house every Wednesday.
We're going to Disney World in May.
My mom is pregnant.

Here's some pictures from the museum:

Snow!!!

2009-03-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

After waiting and waiting and waiting for snow, we finally got 7 whole inches!!! For details and pictures, look at my mom's and my sister's blog:

Hannah's World

Mercy Days

Also, here's a map showing all the states I've been to:

visited 13 states (26%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Like this? try: Visited Countries

Benjamin's First Birthday

2009-01-31T13:36:00.001-08:00

It's so hard to believe that a whole year has passed since Benjamin was born. I am so blessed to have him as a little brother. Here's a slide my mom made and some pictures of Benjamin's birthday:

Benjamin on the ''Turbo Turtle''.

Balls, balls, and more balls!

Benjamin opening presents

Benjamin opening more presents

Benjamin

It took a lot of work to get that hat on Benjamin.

A very messy birthday boy

One of Benjamin's presents that Samuel labeled.

Peek-a-boo!

Did you know I'm cute?!

Superbowl, Here We Come!

2009-01-17T17:10:00.000-08:00

The Steelers have one more game to win until it's off to the Superbowl! I'm so excited because we are big Steelers fans, and every time they have a big game to win, we always cook all sorts of yummy stuff! Last week, they were playing in the playoffs, and we had a blast screaming and cheering for them. Here's some pictures:

All of us wearin' our Roethlisberger jerseys

Me, Hannah, and Sam

Hannah cheering for the Steelers

Me and Dad chompin' down on some yummy food

An adorable baby named Benjamin

Poor Benjamin...

2009-01-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

Mostly everyone around the house has been sick lately, including Benjamin. He had croup, but it has gotten a lot better. He ended up going to the ER at midnight on Sunday. That afternoon, we tried to use a nebulizer, which had medicine that comes out in steam, and when you breath it in, it opens the lungs. It worked pretty good. Later that night, around 11:00, when we did another treatment, it didn't help at all. Here's a picture of poor Benjamin:

He's back to his old self, including getting into trouble.

Sooooooo Busy!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't been able to post lately! Some close friends that we hardly see, got to come and visit for a week the day after Christmas! Our week was filled with fun activities, and luckily we got some great pictures!

All of us gathered around the Christmas tree.

Julia (9) holding Benjamin.

Julia

Jacob

Jeffrey (14)

Mom and Sam

Benjamin decided to start cheering us on.

Benjamin lookin' adorable!

Staring off into space...

Since they got to stay for New Years, we decided to have a New Years Eve party! We had a blast, and boy were we tired in the morning! Here's some pictures:

Some delicious sandwiches

Barbecue wieners

A yummy cheese dip with sausage

Some sweets to keep us up all night

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!

My e-mail and pics.

2008-12-17T15:09:00.000-08:00

Sadly, my email is having some issues with receiving messages, so I'm sorry if anybody is trying to e-mail me. My mom will have to call Comcast so we can fix it soon! Also, here are some pictures of our "normal" day homeschooling:

"How do ya' like my glasses? They're from Build-A-Bear!"

"Outta the way! Can't you see I'm coming down the driveway 100 mph?!"

"Get off of me Tex!"

"You're it!" "No, your it!"

"I look so innocent, don't I?"...

...until I rip up the calender!

The Winner!

2008-12-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry I didn't post the winner on the day I had planned on doing it! It was such a hard decision because everyone did so good that I did a random draw. The winner is...

NATALIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations! You have won a free bracelet! E-mail me for details.

New Template!

2008-11-26T13:56:00.000-08:00

My blog is now changed to Christmas! Tell me what you think!

P.S. The Bloggy Giveaway will end December 4th!

I have been nominated!

2008-11-25T11:02:00.000-08:00

I have been nominated by my sis, Hannah!

I nominate:

Elizabeth

The Kid (Kaitlyn)

Katie

Becca

Have fun!!!

Bloggy Giveaway!

2008-11-23T14:37:00.000-08:00

I have some bracelets I made that I will be giving away! Whoever can best name the picture below wins a free bracelet! Post a comment or email me with your answer. Here's the picture:

The Sound of Music

2008-11-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

The Sound of Music play is today and I'm so excited! We had our dress rehearsal last night and it was so much fun! I got home at 11:30, though!

Today the play will be done twice. We're going to have a cast party after the first play, and then do the second one. Tomorrow there's one more in the afternoon.

Sam quit the play (he said he didn't really like it!) but Hannah and I are still in it. Since we are only extras, we don't have many parts. We have a room that we stay in when it's not our part. Hannah and I and the other extras are up there for almost two hours , so we made sure to pack games and fun stuff like that. Wish me luck!!!! I'll post soon hopefully with pictures!!!

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-10T15:37:00.000-08:00

For Halloween, we went to a Fall Festival in our costumes. I was my dad's twin, including the beard and everything. My sister went as my mom's twin, and Samuel and Benjamin were Darth Vaders. After that, we went to our neighborhood with some other families and trick or treated there. Finally, we all went back to the house and had chili and played for a while. If you want to see pictures, you can go to my sister's blog. Click here.

You're the apple in my black eye...

2008-10-23T14:20:00.001-07:00

A couple of days ago we went to Carter Mountain to pick apples. It was beautiful. We got some delicious apples and it was lots of fun. When we were having a picnic for lunch, Sam and his friend were running around and bumped heads. He has a nasty bruise. Here are some pictures of our day at Carter Mountain:

Closing Down

2008-10-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

On my blog, 'Bead'iful Bracelets, I'm closing it down and most of them will be on sale!

My Blueberry

2008-09-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

This event happened before I got a blog, so I'm going to write about it now. I'll probably have alot more of these types of posts.

It all happened at practice at gymnastics one night. I was doing a back walk over on one of the low beams (a back walk over is like a bridge and kick over except you put into one)when my hand slipped and instead of landing on the floor I landed on the beam. My coach said I even made a mark on the beam. When it happened, the bruise was smaller than a golf ball. When I woke up the next morning, it was like a mini basketball! Here's a picture:

My Part

2008-09-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

I found out what my part is a couple of days ago. I'm going to be a catholic school student (part of the chorus). I'm not really quite sure how they are going to work that into the play, but I'll find out today. Everyone I went to audition with got that too, except for Hannah. She got the part of a nun. We're all really excited for today when we have our first practice.

Sorry!

2008-09-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. With school and our sports starting, life is pretty hectic around here. How is everyones school going? I'm doing pretty good (so far!).

I'm doing dance at a dance place I went to when I was four. I had my first lesson last night. It was so much fun! I'm doing tap and jazz with one of my friends.

Also, last night I went to the Sound of Music auditions. There's a church that has a theater with it that one of my other friends has been in two of their plays. She said they were really fun so I decided to try it, and it was awesome!

Sam, Hannah and I all auditioned. Along with my friend I do dance with and my other friend who told me about the place.

I don't know what part I'm going to be until around next Tuesday to next Thursday. I'm really trying not to get my hopes up because nine times out of ten I won't get the part I wanted. The good thing is everyone who auditions gets a part even if it's just an extra. I'm really excited to see what part I get. The part I really want is Brigitta. If you don't remember the movie that well, she's the ten year old with black hair.

I post some more when I find out who I'm getting.

The "V" Family Olympics

2008-08-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

Have you all been watching the Olympics this year? If you have, then these names should sound familiar: Nastia Luikin, Shawn Johnson, and Michael Phelps.

All of those names are the names we use when we play the "Olympics" outside. I'm Nastia, Hannah is Shawn, and Samuel is Michael.

Hannah, Sam, and I do the ''High Jumps'' on the swings. Sam also does the ''Rings''. This is all done on our playset in our backyard. While Hannah and I are swinging, we are also the commentators. We'll say things like, "Nastia told NBC News this morning that she is totally ready for this competition" or " Ooh, Shawn almost stuck that landing!" It's alot of fun. We enjoy doing it. We do it almost every day!

Sam's Artwork

2008-08-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Art Show! This is in honor of my five-year old brother Samuel! I hope you enjoy these marvelous masterpieces!

A Retired Gymnast

2008-08-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

I like to refer to myself as a retired gymnast rather than saying I quit. Saying I quit sounds like I gave up.

It was all a really hard decision. It all started towards the end of fourth grade. I went to the gym four days a week from 4:00 to 7:00. It was all very tiring. I barely finished my homework everyday, and on top of that, I didn't have any time to play with my siblings.

I thought it would all be better for fifth grade because I would start homeschooling. It just made it worse. I would be playing and all of a sudden my mom would be calling for me to get ready. I only got to eat with my family on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. The state meet was in May, but I never ended up doing it.

For as long as I did gymnastics, the thing I hated the most was the meets. Everyone else loves them, but I was always delighted when it was over. They were also very long. A normal meet is about four hours. Including the awards it was like an extra thirty minutes.

When I ''retired'', I was a level 5. That level was when the hard stuff came. Like jumping from the low bar to the high bar, or cartwheels on the beam. It all sounds so easy, but trust me, it isn't.

Here are some pictures of my past days as a gymnast:

Although I miss it sometimes, I'm still very happy with the decision I made.

Pocahontas Pool

2008-08-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

A month ago, we decided to go to the Pocahontas pool on a really hot day. It was a really great place to go. They had little slides, big slides, and just regular pools. We all had a really great time there. Here are a few pictures:

This was Sam's favorite part of the whole place. This is where the little
slides were.
This is where the bigger slides were and the 5 foot pool area is.

This was my favorite part. My friend, Haleigh had noticed a man with a snake over by the entryway. When we went over there, he said he was from the Pocahontas Wildlife Nature Center. We asked if we could pet the snake and he said sure. After that, I couldn't stop petting it!!! It's scaly skin was so smooth and slick! I actually wanted to kiss it, but I thought that was probably not such a good idea. We figured out it was a girl, with red stripes and red eyes. It was so much fun!!! Here are some more pictures of the snake:

Me and Dad

2008-08-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

People have always said that my dad and I look so much alike. I don't see it as much as other people do, but there are a lot of resemblances. Here are a few pictures:

Olive Garden-2008

Back Porch-2006

4Him Concert-2006