Ahmed Family Blog

4th of July

2011-07-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

The 4 cousins ( L to R):

Tytus, Noah, Katy, and VJ.

July 3rd we went to our friends' house in Gurley, AL, for the evening. After it was dark, the dads shot off fireworks.

4th of July night, we went over to T-Bone and Stephanie's place to have dinner and watch the fireworks. They live less than a mile from Dublin Park, and we were able to sit in their backyard and watch the fireworks that exploded above the park. The pictures above are of several of the fireworks. A friend of ours gave me a tip on shooting fast pictures: focus the camera, then when the image you want ( in this case, the firework you want) pops up, push the button all the way down. The reason it takes so long for the camera the shoot, is because it has to focus.

.." Stand beside her, and guide her..."

2011-07-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a small peek of our Fourth of July, yesterday. I will put more photos later.

.." stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with the light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam. God bless America...my home sweet home!" - God Bless America

.." let music swell the breeze, and ring from all the trees, sweet freedom's song..." - My Country Tis' of Thee.

Sad Fact of Life

2011-06-27T15:45:00.001-07:00

The sad fact of life is death of animals( people too, but this post is about a bird). Noah found out the hard way...finding a extremely hurt little bird, fixing a home for it, and then having to dispose of the dead little thing two days later. This little bird was hurt badly, although the picture doesn't show it. We think both its wings were broken, and one of its feet had a claw missing. Mom called Animal Services, but found it would cost something to have it put to sleep. We ended up not needing that, for it died a couple of days later. When Noah came to me the day before the poor thing went away, he asked for a picture of it. I thought he was going to cry...literally sob over it. I don't blame him..for he was attached to it.

This is a picture of the littel bird in the nest Noah

made for it.

Rangers' Apprentice

2011-06-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

The books that I described as " GREAT" in the last post, are in a series called " The Rangers Apprentice". My friend Joelle recommended it to me, and although I was hesitant to read it at first,..it has turned out to be a fascinating series, so far. I've finished book 6, already, and hope to read the whole entire series( 10 books total, I think). The author, John Flanagan, mixes everything that is needed in a book ( romance, fighting, reasoning, adventure, mystery and time setting), in a great way. It's set during the Middle Ages, and even though the first couple of books have what mom said was the " Grim Reaper" on them, the book is actually good.

I'd recommend it, for probably about 9-10yrs and up. It's got fighting and some bloody stuff ( no pictures), and some touching parts,...and I know some people are emotional to that kind to stuff ( I can be with movies..which is why I don't really like the theater). Mom bought the first book at Sam's, and is going to read it to Noah, and I think he will really like it. It's got a boar fight, a Kalkara fight ( the Kalkara are mean creatures that fight for someone else..who I forgot. I don't remember much about them). He will really enjoy the fighting parts...and Mom will delight in the romance. ;)

Catapult Camp

2011-06-27T14:49:00.001-07:00

my poster

Last week I had Catapult camp, which was pretty cool. Honestly, I didn't want to go, as I had a couple of GREAT books to read. ( I'll post on those later). It turned out to be really fun and the teacher, a graduate of this past year, was really good. There was math involved...such as the mechanical advantage, but Bethany explained it great. Her Mom, Dad, and sister were a great help too. Mrs. Johnson helped with the posters and such; Mr. Johnson designed and built the catapult; and Bethany's sister helped with the speech and launching one of the catapults.
There were two catapults, but I used the smaller one, since all the kids couldn't use just the big one. I'm sorry we don't have a picture. We kids each shot it 25 times, to get our data, then with the help of technology, we graphed it...on paper and on Microsoft Excel.

If you can't read the title ( which is supposed to draw attention), it reads: Heads of enemies. Dead animals. Burning Straw. Underneath, is the whole introduction, question, hypothesis, method, discussion, and conclusion. A lot of work...if you ask me.

Dinosaur Exhbit

2011-06-27T14:40:00.001-07:00

I'm off schedule on posting, so first...sorry for that. About a week or so ago, the whole family went to the Dinosaur Exhibit at the US Space and Rocket Center. Pretty cool place. After that we went into the Davidson Center, to see that huge rocket ( it DOES have a name, but I don't remember it) that is spilt apart into sections and hanging from the ceiling. They had a graduation from Space Camp going on, so we heard a lot, thanks to speaker all over the Center.

Noah with a skull

Junior Paleontologists...a sandbox with

shells and "dinosaur teeth".

Sue, the T-Rex. This is a cast of her real bones.

We actually don't know if it is a boy or girl, but the "she" part comes from the person who

found her.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T16:40:00.000-07:00

The three dads in our family:

Papa: dad to Mom and T-Bone. ( T-Bone is below w/ VJ)

T-Bone: dad to Tytus.

Dad: dad to me, Noah and VJ.

Fun with cousin Tytus

2011-06-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

We watched Tytus for a little bit yesterday, and we all had fun with him. He is a cutie, and no one can resist cooing over him. He had grown up so fast!

Sugar~ the dog we are babysitting.

2011-06-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

Sugar sleeping in our computer room. I had been watching my math lesson, and she

came in to keep me company...and fell asleep.

Noah and VJ love her! ( as do all of us)

I was so happy to get this picture of her smiling.

Sugar is a great dog. Golden retrievers are so cute, but she is an attention/love-magnet..nobody can resist giving her loves.

Birthday cake/cupcake pictures

2011-06-11T06:49:00.000-07:00

These cupcakes Mom brought to VJ's preschool for his b'day.

The thing on top is a monster truck.

A better picture of his birthday cake.

VJ's birthday

2011-06-10T16:22:00.001-07:00

A fork-lift birthday.

VJ's actual birthday party..with a cake.

T-Bone ( uncle), Stephanie ( aunt) and cousin Tytus,

Mimi and Papa ( grandparents), and mom, dad, bro and sis attended.

This " party" was when Nana came up from Birmingham.

She would have come up the week after ( the top-most pic), but

I had my dance recital. So she came up for my recital, and we had ice cream

sandwiches after the recital. It was Mom's idea to stick a candle in the ice cream sandwich.

As said above, Nana came up for my recital, a visit, and ice cream sandwiches. After we got home, we had the desert. That worked for me...I didn't want to puke on stage ( and I didn't. ;) )

ASAP, I will get Sugar's adorable photo up. I got her " smiling". I still have to load it up on the computer, and then it'll get on the blog.

Pictures from past few weeks.

2011-06-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting. A friend of ours who reads the blog reminded me to post more after we saw him at Dad's work today ( it was " Take Your Children to Work" day)..so I will try to do better.

Before school took their summer break, Noah had a report due about Russell Cave. Below aways, you can see the pictures that I posted from when we visited the cave. Here are some pictures of his diorama and poster board. I might explain a little below each:

He made a cave out of a box and Play Mobile figures, and then a poster board to go behind it.

the inside of the "cave". There is a better picture later.

This part was like the outside of the cave,

and the stream ran into the cave. This was "attached" to

the "cave". There are several animals

that the Indians hunted.

The set-up with the poster board behind it.

His poster board.

This is the inside from above.

In the last picture, you might have noticed that the mother is grinding corn, with a baby on her back. The little girl is on the brown "bear skin" with her doll. The blue on the left is part of the stream that into the cave. In the "south-east" part, the little brown thing with blue in it, is a basket with blueberries. On the "north-west" part, there is a snake. In the middle of the "north" part is three little clay pots of corn. In the "north-east" corner, there is another little clay pot of corn.

Noah worked hard on the research, and Mom offered help and suggestions. It turned out great. I'm not sure what kind of Indians there were, but they hunted and fished. They relyed on plants a lot.

Family News:

1~We are babysitting an elderly Golden Retriever named Sugar for a friend. The mom is a friend of Mom, and Noah goes to school with one of the boys. She is really good...she sleeps a lot, and doesn't like the sit outside while we eat dinner ( I don't blame her...it gets hot around these parts). Noah wants a German Shepherd in a couple of years, and he's getting a bit of training. I think babysitting an elderly Golden Retriever is a bit different than having a puppy German Shepherd and training it, but Noah will do fine, considering that he's read up on it, he has parents that had two Chocolate Labs ( when they were married...Mom had a dog when she was growing up, but Dad didn't), and he has two siblings. VJ likes the dog, and so do I. Sugar's really sweet, and likes attention..just like kids ( I admit it..I do too.). Funny thing is, she sleeps everywhere,...in our computer room, in the threshold between our living room and kitchen, in the kitchen, under our dining room table, in Mom and Dad's room ( for a little while), in Noah's room, and in the hallway between the boys' rooms. ( I have our spare room, across the house, near the kitchen, and right beside the laundry room. My bathroom shares a wall with the garage). When I say Sugar is "elderly", I mean she's not young. I believe she is about 8-9 years old in dog years ( about 48-52 human years). Sugar likes to be with people..so when I'm watching a math lesson and Mom is outside playing or watering the garden with VJ, she will come in and sleep on the floor.

I can't get a picture of Sugar up at the moment, but ASAP I will.

2~ We are watching " Liberty's Kids". It's a show that came our in 2002-2003, but we are watching it on Netflix..on Roku. It's a great show about the Revolutionary War..where these 3 kids ( Sarah, James, and Henri) note, question, disagree, discuss and help out during the War. I really like it. It starts with the Boston Tea Party, and goes through Bunker Hill and the Declaration of Independence..and a little further. We're watching the series.

I hope this satisfies you for the next couple of days. ;)

Happy Birthday, Vj

2011-05-30T18:46:00.003-07:00

This is after the fact, but VJ is now 5 years old. It's amazing how much he has grown!

Recent family news:

Dad, Noah and a friend went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 this afternoon. Mom, VJ, and I stayed home...the older two happy that 2/3rds of the boys could FINALLY see the movie that Noah has been talking about for ages.

11 more days...

2011-05-17T15:19:00.001-07:00

..until VJ turns 5!

Here are some baby pictures of him...the first is from 2006, the 2nd and 3rd are from when we took him home, and the last two are when we are home and holding and feeding him:

The only times Noah and I could feed
VJ a bottle was on Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day.

On his actual birthday, in about 11 days, I will post his "growing -up" pictures, from the top of this post's picture, to his birthday picture now...

Russell Cave picture

2011-05-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

The left part is the part we COULDN'T go into

the right part, the one with the bridge, is the part we COULD

and that is where are those pictures on the last post

were from.

I can't remember where my notebook is, and I really don't want to do a fact post right now, since we may not have another OK-day for a while, or for tomorrow. Plus, my 20 minute computer time is almost done, and I want to get outside!

I may be able to do it during the week, or I'll do it next weekend.

Russell Cave

2011-05-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

Noah and the sign to Russell Cave.

These are FAKE snakes.

Do you notice at all that I wasn't tall enough

to take a good picture, and held the camera above my head?

The same for this one, although it didn't

turn out as good as the other one.

We could only go in the non-watery part of the cave

and these clay people met us.

Noah liked this one.

L to R:

Mom, Monica,Frider, and Dad.

This is the part of the cave we couldn't go into.

I will post another picture of the one we could go into

later.

Nana's sister and brother-in-law came from Germany two weeks after the tornadoes came through AL. Nana brought them up to us from Birmingham, and we went to Russell Cave. Noah got Russell Cave to do his project on in school, and we went there for more info, to see the cave, and get more info. If he will let me, I'll take some pictures of the project when it is finished, and post them.

Here are some facts ( from Google, since I don't have my notebook right now):

It is the 3rd largest mapped cave in Alabama. It is ranked 90th on the U.S's longest cave list, and is currently 314 on the World's Long Cave list. Has a mapped length of 7.2 miles. A natural spring flows into the cave and travels 1.5 miles underground, before joining Widow's Creek and the TN river.

I might be able to put some more tomorrow.

On- the -way-to -Athens storm pictures

2011-05-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

I'm quite suprised that this

picture turned out well, since

I had to zoom in too much.

That poor family...:(

Nashville during AL power outage

2011-05-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

Nashville Zoo sign.

About to get out and walk around the zoo!

Birds..I forgot what kind.

Meerkat.

On the Historical Farm part of the zoo,

there was a plantation. The plantation house,

and cooking house, and herb garden and farm

animals were there. Above is the slave quarters.

You could look in the windows, but when I got

up there, this man told me there was a snake...

a copperhead snake...right above me. Believe me,

I got off there as quick as I could, told Mom and

Noah and Stephanie and VJ, and we got away.

Donkey, in the petting area.

This isn't a very good picture, but see the cross on

the back? We think that Jesus may have ridden

on one like this on His way into Jerusalem.

Rinoceros Iguana.

Bactrian Camel

did you know that they made the sound

for Chewbacca for the Star Wars movies?

and that they store fat in those humps,

which can be converted to water and enegry

when food isn't avaible?

I'll post storm damage pictures that we got on our way to Athens, on our way to TN, next.

Nashville during AL power outage #2

2011-05-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

the science museum.

Tytus was amazed at the air and

ball flying!

VJ loved the ambulance!

Up against the sky line. You could

go up even further ( to the "3rd floor")

and see even more, but it was hard to get a picture

because of all the netting to keep you in.

Dinosaurs.

Interesting, huh?

T-Bone thought it VERY funny...and put it on FB( FaceBook).

On Friday, Mom and Stephanie ( my aunt) took me, Noah, VJ, and Tytus up to Nashville. T-Bone followed, but Dad stayed home to guard the house. We only had half a tank for gas, but made it up past Ardmore, TN, and to Exit 22 and got gas. T-Bone, however, only had a quarter of a tank of gas. We miscalculated the distance, and said it was about 40-something miles to Exit 22 from Madison. T-Bone said it was 62 miles. I learned a important maps lesson, there! Especially if your gas light is on for the last 8 miles, like T-Bone's was!

Above, are some of the pictures of the Adventure Science Museum, like the first pictures says. It was great, and Tytus, who wouldn't take a nap that day, had a wonderful experience crawling around in a place other than his home, our house, and the hotel's hall and room.

The next post will contain some of our zoo pictures.

A few storm damage pictures.

2011-05-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

broken off branch

big uprooted tree.

a huge branch that fell in our yard.

Those tornadoes that road throughout Alabama, and other states left plenty of damage. The first two pictures above are from a bike ride that Dad and I took the day after the storm,( we rode down to the Kroger's on Hughes Rd (Madison AL)...4 miles down and 4 miles back ( 8 total). The third is a branch that fell in our yard.

Mom and Aunt Stephanie took Noah, VJ, Tytus ( our cousin), and I to Nashville, TN on Friday morning. Dad stayed home, as did Uncle T-Bone. We had half a tank of gas, but we made it past Athens and,I believe Ardmore, and got gas at Exit 22, wherever that is. Well, we went to the zoo, and T-Bone called and said he was coming up because he didn't have to work. He made it...on a quarter of a tank of gas to Exit 22. We also visited the Adventure Science Center, on Saturday. I took pictures, and Mom did too, at both places. I will post some of them later, when I get them loaded on the computer.

We stayed at the Comfort Hotel in TN..near Nashville somewhere, but I rate the Hampton Inn 100% more that the Comfort Hotel. It was okay,...and it did the trick....still Hampton Inn is better, in my opinion.

On our way to Athens, we saw a couple of houses leveled, trailers tipped on their sides, power lines on the street and down, etc.. I got some pictures and I will post those also, later on.

We have survived!

" The fear of a man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe." Proverbs 29:25

Easter- He is Risen.

2011-04-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

Some of the things Jesus told his disciples ( and us) before his betrayal, denials, sentence, crufixion, burial, and rising.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, " Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, " I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really knew Me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him." John 14:1-6
" Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.." John 14:9b
" You heard Me say, ' I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on Me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded Me. Come now, let us leave."
John 14:28-31

" I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener." John 15:1
" I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit; ap[art from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
" My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down hsi life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. "
John 15:12-14
" This is my command: Love each other." John 15:17

" I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. " John 16:33

THE EMPTY TOMB:

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went into the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said," They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have put Him!". So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. he saw the strips of linen lying there. as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself , separate from the linen. Finally,the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.( They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead).
JESUS APPEARS TO MARY MAGDALENE:
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, " Woman, why are you crying?". "They have taken my Lord away," she said. " and I don't know where they have put Him." As this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. " Woman," he said, " why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, " Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him." Jesus said to her, " Mary!" She turned toward Him, and cried out in Aramaic, " Rabboni!"( which means Teacher). Jesus said , " Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them,' I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: " I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that He had said these things to her.

The red: Jesus' words.

The disciple Jesus loved: John. was the son of Zebedee, and brother of James, who was also a disciple of Jesus.

Simon Peter: either the son of John or the son of Jonah. was crucified upside-down, because he didn't feel worthy to die the same way his Lord Jesus did. his brother was Andrew was also a disciple of Jesus.

Mary Magdalene: Jesus cleansed her from demons ( Luke 8:2 NIV).

I will post a picture of VJ's empty tomb, and my painting of one later.

Good Friday post

2011-04-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

The prophesy:

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot,and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised , and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgement he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord's makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life, and be satisfied; by his knowledge , my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear the iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sins of many, and made intercession with the transgressors. Isaiah 53

The prophesy fulfilled:

"Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up with spirit.
John 19:28-30

The brown: What happened to Jesus.
The purple: Great verses about how the prophesy would be fulfilled

The blue: What he did.

The red: Jesus' words.

Easter Eggs

2011-04-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

my Easter eggs

I believe these are VJ's

VJ whacked one, and it cracked.

Noah dyeing one...he doesn't really like

his picture take, but I got one!

Mimi and Papa came over Saturday morning, to dye Easter eggs with all of us. It ended up that some weren't hard-boiled, so ( like the picture above) when VJ whacked a couple, they cracked open . After Mimi and Papa left, one rolled off the table and spattered on the floor, and another got somehow broken.

A Rainbow in the storm

2011-04-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

Favorites

2011-04-10T14:10:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd put a post on my favorite songs. There's A LOT...just to let you know. I will first put the artist in italics, and then the song/songs that they have that I like, in bold. Just so you know, I don't listen to the whole album..just a few song off of 1 or 2.I mostly listen to Christian music...but a couple ( like Taylor Swift, a Rascal Flats song, and Lone Star), aren't really, but still I like 1 or 2 off of 1 of their albums. My friend from church will be the one to introduce me to Lone Star. :) : CHRISTIAN ARTISTS Mikes' Chair- "Keep Changing the Word"; "Can't Take Away" NewsBoys- " We Remember" Addison Road- "Fight Another Day" Me in Motion- " Eye of the Hurricane" FM Static- " Last Train Home" The Afters-" Light Up the Sky" Tenth Avenue North-" You Are More"; Sidewalk Prophets- " You Can have Me" Kutless-"That's what Faith Can Do" Disciple-" Dear X: You Don't Own Me" Brandon Heath-" Your Love"; " Give Me Your Eyes" Sixteen Cities-" Sing Along" Matthew West-" More" Matt Redman-" You Alone Can Rescue" Bethany Dillion-" All I Need" William Reeves- " Here is Love" John Rippon-" How Firm a Foundation". Natalie Grant- " Held". Switchfoot, " This is Home."

Other Artists: Taylor Swift-" Love Story ( based on Romeo and Juliet);" Mine";" You Belong with Me"; "Back to December" Rascal Flats- " Life is a Highway ( from Cars) Lone Star-" Mr. Mom" ( very funny...about a dad taking over the mom's job when he loses his job and she goes to work...and how everything is wrong) Here are my favorite movies/TV shows..though I don't watch many: Narnia- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian( I've yet to see Voyage on the Dawn Treader) ICarly..we don't watch it all that much. The A-Team The Brady Bunch...Mom picked it up at the library a couple of weeks ago, and Noah and I are now hooked to it..it's a very funny, old show. As you see, I listen to music much more than I watch TV...I mean..I do watch some..but not all are my favorites...get it. I do watch SpiderMan sometimes, Cars, Madagascar, and Noah and I used to watch Annie Oakley, and The Lone Ranger.

Happy Birthday, Papa!

2011-04-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

The birthday boy Tytus' birthday was just a few days before. He is now 1 years old.

Old Botanical Gardens photos

2011-03-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Noah's favorite.

VJ ( about 1 yearold)

little siblings

Elvis Presley, Nana, me, and Dad

a Tug-of-War statue

In case you haven't noticed, I've been looking through all our old photos on the computer. It's amazing to see our growth...thank God we have cameras! These are from October 14th, 2007!

Younger Boys

2011-03-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

I found this picture, and thought it was the cutest thing. VJ was so little, Noah was younger, and Dad was...yes..younger and still had a headful of black hair( not saying he doesn't still...but you get my point).

New Countertops

2011-03-25T13:31:00.001-07:00

our new, quartz counter tops!

we were SO happy to have them back!

We got our quartz counter tops last week. They were supposed to come last Thursday ( March 17th), but didn't. They were scheduled to come Friday morning ( which messes up Mom's alone-time/cooking/cleaning/shopping time), but had a tool-malfunction. So they came Friday afternoon...finally. We had to reschedule the plumber to put in the sink a few times, but oh well ;)

We are very happy to not have to eat on paper plates, use paper forks/spoons/knives, and etc ..anymore. If something that is necessary in your life it taken away ( aka: sewer line, counter tops and sink and for a time the hot water), you will realize how much you really need it, and TRY not to take it for granted.

Kids...now and then

2011-03-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

Doing Advent...December 2009

Christmas 2007

Family:Now and Then

2011-03-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Now...(2010 Christmas)

Then..( spring/summer 2007)

"Darth-Gator"

2011-03-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

The REAL baby VJ.

2011-03-11T13:30:00.001-08:00

(L to R)
Noah, Mom, baby VJ, and me

in his little carseat

His baby-shower cake

Mimi and Nana introducing him to one of his toys.

a gurggly little pumpkin

There hasn't really been many pictures to put on, and after posting the post of "baby" VJ in the baby swing, I thought I'd put some real pictures of him as a baby. I can't believe how much he's changed:

He used to not be able to:

eat himself, dress himself, move around well, talk well, and make huge messes ( compared to what he makes now).

Now, he can:

eat himself ( with messes), dress himself ( with an occasional pants on backwards, and mixedmatched socks), move around ( oh, yes), talk well ( totally), make huge messes ( take a look at his room...whew..it's AWFUL!)

"Baby" VJ

2011-03-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

The other day, VJ wanted to be in the baby swing. We still have it from when he was little.

Space Shuttle Discovery's last launch to the Space Station

2011-02-26T16:07:00.000-08:00

Discovery ready for lift-off!

pulled-out view

Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)

5-4-3-2-1 : BLAST OFF of Space Shuttle Discovery,

serving the United States faithfully, as has

it's crew. This is Discovery's last mission.

( I made that up..but not the last mission part)

the launch pad after lift off

Dad went to see the Space Shuttle Discovery lift off from the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday. He left on Wednesday, and came back yesterday. To all you folks out there: traveling with no kids is easy...kids slow you down ( and yes, it's true..they got down there to Orlando in one day, and when we went down there it took 2 days). Anyway, they got to see Discovery lift off, and we got to watch it on video Thursday night. Here is a link to see it if you want to:

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG-_pPeQ_tU

We've seen it go off once, as a family, but that was at night. I will post a couple of pictures of that launch back in 2008 or whenever it was, in the next post.

Katy

Homemade Applesause

2011-02-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

Here is our picture-and-recipe mix for our homemade applesauce. The ingredients are:
apples (I don't remember how many we used, but I'm guessing about 5-8), cinnamon, and honey.

Cut up the apples ( do it into slices/chunks), and

put them into a pot with some water

Add honey ( I did about a spoonful, but Mom had to add
some later on...just how much you think is enough),
and cinnamon.

Mix well, and put on high

When mixture bubbles, turn down ( we did it to low)
and put a lid on it. Mom checked it a bit later,
and said it was done ( and she also added a bit more
honey). It's probably good to check and taste to make
sure you don't burn it.

Enjoy!

Katy

Driveway Dig-up.

2011-01-30T12:23:00.000-08:00

The CAT that pulled up our driveway.

Step 1: Cut the cement.

Step 2: Pull the cement up with a CAT.

Step 3: Start digging, but make sure NOT

to pull up OR cut/break the gas line!

Above is the gas line ( the yellow line)

The cement at the end is to hold the sewer line ( the

white PVC) in place.

Overall view.

Gravel goes next

Then VJ gets to sit in the CAT's seat!

We kids have all had a virus, and luckily we had our new sewer line put in then....when VJ wasn't tugged off to preschool, and making a big racket. So, yes, we got to watch. Dad stayed home for a little while, and we got to see them make a big deep hole, and jump into it once or twice. Afternoon action is what that was....expensive, of course....but fun to watch.

Look at the gravel photo. As you can see, it was only that one square that was pulled up and the ground underneath exposed. Thankfully...cause it was a big job.

We are all feeling very much better....and yes, that includes VJ. He has gotten into mischief, and everything else he does. We thankfully got to go to church today.

Cement Mixer!!

2011-01-30T12:15:00.000-08:00

Pouring and spreading.

Pouring...a picture from inside the house.

If you know VJ, this was his delight....a real cement mixer in the yard/street in front of the house is a real treat!

Snowman

2011-01-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

Above are some pictures of the snowman we made when we had the 8 inches of snow. You might notice that he has a long carrot nose, celery eyes, and a piece of rosemary for a mouth. VJ couldn't resist and a few days ago, he got the idea into his head to smash his head in...typical little boys.

Katy

2011-01-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

When we drove around our neighborhood yesterday, we found this dragon. The red stuff is ( I think) tissue paper and is supposed to be fire.

Mom, Noah, VJ, and I were impressed and Dad was too when I showed him the pictures today. I can't even picture myself doing that...even the snow man ( with out a face) that I built ( with VJ trying to knock it down) isn't the best, and was hard. I'll try to post pictures of our snowmen in the next post.

Katy

"Sledding" pictures

2011-01-12T12:52:00.000-08:00

VJ found it easier to slide on his butt

We used inflatable pool boards

Couldn't be easier

All three kiddos

Noah

We tried sledding yesterday, and in some places it worked well, others it didn't. Going to the Gooch Lane park, VJ was OK, but the way back wasn't the same story. It's not easy to walk in snow, but and VJ found it harder than I did. Bundled up in snow pants, a big coat, mittens, rain boots( the only boots he had), a pair of socks, and two WalMart bags on each foot underneath the boots, means that he is heavy ( besides his regular weight). Unfortunately, Dad did not join us, or else I would take many pictures. Don't worry, you will see plenty of funny, but not embarrassing pictures of Dad on either his birthday or Father's Day ( probably both).

Noah came up with the idea of sledding in our yard. When we take pictures, if you have seen our yard, you will know where it is. Even though you do have to squeeze in some kinda sharp bushes, the rest is bumpy, slick,and makes you feel like you will break your tailbone ( you have to lay down on the flat pool thingy). We are making it feel less bumpy. The only thing is that if you make it too slick, you will slip( it was very funny to watch Noah slip and slide trying to get on the top to slide down on the pool thingy.

Katy

January 10, 2011 had snow.... the biggest since 1996

2011-01-10T09:10:00.001-08:00

The footprints very deep

the creek..it's snowy, but

not frozen over.

VJ loved the snow

Wall Triana Hwy ( to the right)

Wall Triana Hwy( to the left)

on the opposite side of the street

The sign in front of our house

Dad

ending our walk

starting out....

Dad loved it!

I'll explain whose idea it was to ride the

bike in the snow later,

but Noah decided to give it a try.

Doing this is very unusual for Alabama

we did see some other people doing

it on our walk( pics above)

I will now explain whose idea it was to ride the bike in the snow. If you know me well, you will guess that it was me...and you are right. It was hard...but fun. I'm pretty sure ( even though it's impossible to tell yet) that we aren't going to have a big snow when I'm able to drive...at least when I'm 16-17...so biking through snow it good enough ( Dad doesn't want me to grow up too soon).

We've stayed out there for 2 hours..and even though Alabama doesn't get a lot of snow..2 hours is enough.

Christmas Eve service @ Valley Presbyterian.

2010-12-29T14:56:00.000-08:00

Bradley and I waiting to play/sing while

Bible verses were being read.

Sunday School kids ( that were there, there are

more,) singing The First Noel with us.

Casey is the keyboard player in the back.

Our Christmas Eve service @ Valley Presbyterian, was awesome! Since around the end of August, during Sunday School music time, Bradley and I were teaching the kids you see above, The First Noel. They learned quick. Except for brunches ( Thanksgiving brunch and Christmas brunch), we learned really well. VJ wasn't learning it all too well, so after Advent, we would sing ( at first without, then with guitar) that song. Believe me, it wasn't all too easy to get that song out of my head.

Bradley and I did it last year, but this was the first year with Casey at the keyboard. Our songs were: Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful and ( this one with the kiddos) The First Noel. I loved doing it...it couldn't have been any better!

Speaking of music, I finally taught myself to play a few chords while playing the notes( on the keyboard that I got from Nana for a birthday/Christmas gift) for What Child Is This?

Katy

Present time @ T-Bone and Stephanie's.

2010-12-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

Me...
VJ couldn't have been happier..
now , including two small ones and another big one,
he has 4 garbage trucks.

T-Bone..and his new kitchen
equipment

Mimi and Papa with one of their gifts
a photo album with printed
pictures of Tytus.

Parents couldn't have been happier...
a gift card for P.F. Changs, and two Monaco
Pictures gift cards will complete a date....

Tytus' first Christmas..

Noah, also, couldn't have

been happier.

Aunt Chris, and Tytus ( with Mimi in the
background).

This was Tytus' first Christmas. We opened our own presents the next morning, and then Nana's presents when she came up for Christmas Day dinner.

Katy

"..Walkin in a Winter Wonderland..."

2010-12-27T10:53:00.000-08:00

Totally uncommon to do this

Noah

This is VJ's first big snow
probably all of ours, too.

We've never seen the house have
this much snow on it....

..nor the van....

nor have we had enough to make a
very small snowman...with carrots....

If you noticed at all the in some of the background that the picture of VJ has, there is the bottom part of our garbage can. Of course he had to check that thing out!!

Katy

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-21T10:18:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from all us Ahmeds!
Raf, Chris, Katy ( 12), Noah ( 10), & VJ ( 4 and very mischievous)

More helicopter pictures

2010-12-21T10:02:00.000-08:00

This is the picture that I told you about yesterday.

You can see the whole helicopter in the photo.

If I remember correctly, this is a Black Hawk, ( & VJ...
who could forget him?)

This helicopter is pretty cool....the front opens up
and a jeep can be stored and rolled out.

This is the big helicopter that VJ and Dad were in
in one of the other pictures.

Katy

Helicopter Museum outside of Dothan, AL.

2010-12-18T12:25:00.001-08:00

Entering into

The Army Avation Museum.

Some helicopter

Dad inside a big, long, helicopter

VJ. You can tell this is big, just by looking!

They had some pretty nice pictures upstairs

all painted, too!

In a little cut-off cockpit

One helicopter that looked like the 'copters that brought wounded soldiers.

Do you see that side piece that has the red-white-& blue star

on it? Underneath, that is where the would lay you when they found and brought you home.
Imagine laying in that during the trip home...and being in pain, sore, tired too!

VJ was very impressed with this, and asked to be held

to see it multiple times. The mud isn't real.

If you thought the other picture of laying on the side

during the trip home, this is worse! You might have

been the target for the enemy! Only your head was covered,

you were strapped in, and your body was visible, covered in

a blanket!

We do have a full picture of the whole scene for that picture right above, but I will post that later.

Katy

Holy Land Experience

2010-12-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

We went to a place called Holy Land Experience while in Orlando. Here are some pictures from it:

VJ on a camel

Noah's Ark

a mistake ( don't know how to delete it...yet)

Zacchaeus was a wee little man....

"David, Goliath, and a Hebrew woman" ( more on that later)

Herod's big model temple

VJ on a model lion

a mistake ( I'm not sure how to delete it...yet)

thrones

The bigger model of Herod's temple

a small model of Herod's temple

A model of Jerusalem

Roman soldiers

There were plays, like David and Goliath. The Roman soldiers were probably part of a play. Above, you saw a picture of Dad with another man and a woman. The woman ( we'll call her Lily) was supposed to be a Hebrew woman, on David's side. The man ( we'll call him Johnny) was Goliath. They got Dad to be David. If you've read that story, you probably know that Saul had David put on his armor, to be safe when he went against Goliath. Well, they didn't have any armor to put on Dad, so that's the cloths they put on him. I can tell you that Goliath would have been doubled over in laughter if David was dressed like that! No, David ( in the real story) refused the armor,and set out with the Lord on his side. Still that was kinda funny, but Mom said that she wished they would be more realistic. David DID NOT dress like that, and Goliath didn't either.

The only one I really liked was The Wilderness Tabernacle; Mom really liked it too. They didn't allow cameras in there, or else I would have taken many pictures. It was bascially what the High Priest did in the Holy Place ( place where people could come) and the Holy of Holies. It was AWESOME. I loved that one more than anything, probably. It wasn't really suited for VJ. Since Noah had to stary with grandparents because of his school, VJ was there, and I kinda wish ( not to be mean, but really) Noah was there instead of VJ. I mean, there were many more people there who looked like grandparents than there were 0- 50 year olds. No offence to anyone who is a grandparent. But really, it really was more for adults than children. Plus, it was a lot of walking around, and more advanced things for adults, than getting to ride around with a horse and buggy, and have granola bars. ;) And, of course, ICarly or A-Team in front of you. ;) Anyone could guess that for me ;> But it was interesting, at first till I started getting tired and hungry.

I'll post more pictures of a helicopter museum we went to on our way back from Dothan later....

Katy

Orlando

2010-11-23T12:30:00.001-08:00

Turtles and alligators

Reporter VJ

VJ as.... I don't know who....

Dad and VJ driving a race car

Me, doing my horrible job ( driving a race car)

Race cars at the Orlando Science Museum

Resting on a bench in our hotel room

Sleepy VJ

In case you are wondering where the first six of these eight pictures take place, they take place at the Orlando Science Museum. The last two take place in our hotel room ( Hampton Inn if you're interested. Very good hotel, and of course, free breakfast..one of the reasons Dad likes it).

So yes, we went to Orlando about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like posting anything till now, and believe me, there are PLENTY more. From the helicopter museum outside of Dothan, to the beach ( if Dad got them from his laptop to this computer), and to this science center, it's a lot. Many from the helicopter museum...different helicopters, and some airplanes. Anyways, that's a different post. ;)

As above it says, " Me, doing a horrible job ( driving a race car)". I will explain. At the museum, there was this simulated race car thing. I now see why they do not allow 12 year olds to drive ( or in that case, almost 12 year olds). How ever you say it, I now understand why they do not allow 14 and under to drive. I did HORRIBLE. Dad said I could fly a P-40 on his flight simulator here at home better than I drove that thing! The car looked unbeatable, for it never showed a sign of damage. The whole thing was on a beach, which thankfully no one was on. A race car is supposed to go fast, and there was this other car I was supposed to beat. Even though it was on the beginner level, I drove it off the roads and onto the beach, in the water, hit the sides constantly, and turned my car upside down. I know that the wheel in real cars are firmer, and have that certain texture, but that was smooth. It was too easy to turn, and the pedals were easy to push. Dad said I needed real training, but that will come all too soon for him ( after all, he will be the one teaching my in Discovery Middle's parking lot).

More pictures soon,

Katy

12~ my new age!

2010-11-09T12:24:00.000-08:00

November 9th ~ a blessed day! I'm 12 today! Yes, go ahead and say happy birthday!
Only 3 more years till Dad starts teaching me how to drive, and 4 more years till I get my drivers' license. Dad was a little frightened ( as I saw) at the thought, but after I said that me and Noah could be twins, or all three of us triplets ( we'd all be learning at the same time) he said that one and a time was better than two or three ( or even more) at a time.
Katy ~ now 12!

Nina and Pinta

2010-10-30T11:26:00.001-07:00

Me on board one of the ships...I think the Nina.
Noah looking at the Nina, ( while waiting to get on).

VJ looking at the Pinta, while waiting to get on the Pinta

A cannon
click on the picture of read what it says...

The Nina

The Pinta

I'm sorry that I didn't post these pictures before. I was too busy,I guess. Sorry about that.

The Nina and Pinta, replicas of two of Christopher Columbus's ships where in Guntersville, back on October 10th. They were in Huntsville, but we weren't able to see them. I labeled them, but I don't have the pamphlet that we got there...at least not at the moment. Go ahead and look on Google to find information about them. We were able to get on them, too! I felt seasick by the time we got off...wasn't I glad when we got off! Can you imagine getting on board for the first time,and you sail off for months?! Sea life is not for me, I can tell you that much!I took a lot of the pictures, and I got some crazy ones, that I wouldn't be able to label anyway..of the mast, sails, and such.

Katy

More on guitar

2010-10-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to put a quick post on guitar:

Mimi and Papa laughed when I said this: for some songs I start out by getting the notes...trying to get all of them, and doing it slowly. Then I try to memorize it, just by playing it over and over again.Song like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen ( that I'm going to play for my Christmas guitar recital) is one I really know, for when I do PowerPoint and the music team sings that, I have to switch the slides quickly to keep up with them. Because I know some so well, I can play half by ear and half by looking at the notes. If that's too confusing, I'll word it this way: I play by ear as well as skim over the notes. If one notes doesn't sound right, I find where I am in the music( really quick) and play by looking at the notes. I still have to look at the notes, in case I get mixed up, but I'm able to glance up for a moment. I have to sing to myself in my head, while I play.
Katy

Afternoon Action

2010-10-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

Thank the Lord that the danger has passed. We heard all the sirens, pounding of the rain, and the gusts of wind that came across Madison this afternoon. The Lord protected us from damage from our house. I'll admit it was a bad one...
You might have seen of the WHNT Chat that someone said that a Wendys got destroyed. That's not true. T-Bone and Stephanie just left a few minutes ago, and said that the Wendys is still up. Supposedly a church was set on fire....or damaged.....I'll have to look it up on Google later on...I'm not sure if it's true. I guess a lot of people wanted to make a bug show. Stephanie said that when the forecasters said that it was rainy and windy in Huntsville, it was bright and sunny! I still don't understand how that happened, but the Lord's in control!!

School has been great. In Anatomy and Physiology we've started on the Respiratory System. I've already done the skeletal, muscular, and digestive systems. I'll say that the one I most enjoyed was the skeletal and probably muscular systems. The ending of the digestive system wasn't that great...but it's facts of life ( I'm not going to tell you about it...if you are reading this you are human and you know what happens in the end of digestion).. and if you don't Google will probably tell you. Math is getting harder, but I'm still able to do it. And I might as well, for if I take a break ( which will never happen considering Dad's a big math fan) Dad will certainly make me catch up, which will make me do math in summer ( unenjoyable). I really am in 6th grade, but I do 7th grade math. Vocabulary....learning new words( aka: voc means voice; man means hand; and ped means foot( as in vocal, manicure, and pedicure).
Guitar is my favorite subject! I love playing, and figureing out different songs. I did figure out the melody to Be Thou My Vision and ( a higher melody without staring at the notes on paper...I got the first two notes and played by ear the rest of the way) like I just explained... Joy to the World. Dad's been really impressed. Also, for Christmas, two of my friends ( Bradley and Casey) are going to do a little Christmas program. I, of course, am playing guitar, Casey will use the keyboard ( we have a keyboard player at church so Casey will use that), and Bradley will sing with us. For our first song, The First Noel we're having some of the other kids in the Sunday School sing with us. It's just the first three verses, but I'm praying for patience, and willingness to do that..for kids VJ's age will sing with us. I already said yes, to the offer by our children's coordinator, but I know I can be impatient and known to bark out orders to kids younger than me (usually not one older kids, because they're probably able to sit on me....no thanks). Mr Mike, my teacher, said I really need 30 minute lessons, but the reason he put the classes back to 20 minute lessons was because the children didn't need 30 minute lessons...20 minutes was good enough.
Mrs. Melody came back to dance, the other week, after having her baby in August. I missed her a lot, but Ashley ( filling in for pointe class) and Elizabeth ( filling in for ballet, tap and modern ( I don't take modern) ) did really well. They taught us well. I'm almost down in the splits...with my right leg. My left leg and down the middle aren't my best, but the right certainly is!! Just a little more practice, then I'll get Mom to take a picture and put it on here.
Bike riding has really strenghend me. I ride down ( on Mom's bike) to my friend Alisa's and back, and riding around the neighborhood in sight of her house or mine. I love to bike...this time , when Dad and I go riding...I'll be much faster!

Sorry I haden't posted more...school, dance, guitar, LCA, church and a lot of otehr stuff has taken up my time...not to say that I don't like that...I do !

Time Enough for Drums

2010-10-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

I promised that I'd try to write a little "report" on this book later on..and now is later on. Here it is:

Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi is a book set back against the Revolutionary War, like Johnny Tremain( if you've read it). It really is a good book, but it shows how Patriots felt about Loyalists and Tories back in those days. I'm going to use the back of the book as a guide-line as I tell about it:
Jemima Emerson, a fifteen year old girl, is shocked that her father,( a Rebel) is actually allowing her to be tutored by John Reid! John rules her studies with a very strong hand, and steps in the rules her life the same way. John is a noted Tory and a bully. Jemima fights back until she finds a dangerous and private secret about him, and makes her drastically change her mind about him.

This book is an excellent story about a family's hardship and romance during the Revolutionary War.
Read the book to find out the secret, and find out what happens in the end to both John and Jemima!!

I will do more, like about the book Gentle Annie and more!
Katy

New Happenings....

2010-10-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

I'm really running out of titles for blog posts.....I'll have to really think!

Yesterday, at Valley Presbyterian Church in Madison, Alabama, something special went on today. ( For more info, go to " Our Church" thing) Our church has been made a particular church. Throughout last year, it was just a mission church. We didn't have elders, deacons, and Mr. Plott wasn't really the pastor..just the church planter( although we thought of him as "pastor". The Presbytery ( search on Google or somewhere for that meaning) helped us a lot through finances, and there was the Session ( a group of elders from other Presbyterian churches that helped us out).......please DO NOT ask me what all these words mean..because I'll have absolutely no idea...
Yesterday was special, because we became our own church. We may not have a real building, but you can still worship God even if your aren't in the White House or the Queen's palace. After Peter and John were put into prison by some king, they still prayed and sang to God in the midst of their troubles....( just some advice to all...). Anyway, yesterday, the Session, made up of 4-5 men backed-off, and they are currently letting us be on our own. Dad was elected,ordained, and installed as a deacon, along with one of my best friend's dad. I told Dad afterwards that now that he's a deacon, that he can't say "umm.....well..uh..." trying to find an answer while I'm asking a question( Bible related).OK..well I was joking ,but he might have some better answers now!

Yesterday night, was A*W*E*S*O*M*E*!! Totally! I love K-Group, but last night was better than all the others! There was only one other girl, Olivia, so she and I were a team, while Alan, Ryan, and Noah were another team. No, it wasn't hide- and -seek, but a Nerf-gun fight in Alan's basement. Alan's parents host the K-Group, so all of us kids were in the basement. It was awesome. We all used Alan's guns, and Olivia and Ryan used slingshots ( made out a some wood, a clothespins, and a ping-pong ball. I got hit somebody it never hurt a lot. To avoid getting hit by the other team, you have to be a real hasty shot. It's like, you hop up, shoot, real quick,and duck! At least 3 times, I hit a forehead, or, as in a hit to Noah, and hit close to the eye( which I didn't mean to). Still, besides that...it was awesome!
Next time we meet, Mrs. Bowden ( Alan's mom) said, to bring Nerf guns if we have them, and Ryan's mom said that Ryan'll bring some of his...and we're going to do it again! Plus, next week, we'll have Katy and Sarah ( Katy's one of my best friends) and Trey and Julia!( Sarah and Julia are close to Noah's age, and Trey is two months younger than me..Alan and Ryan are either 12 or 13). And VJ..of course...
We only meet every other week, but that'll be OK...it'll still a LOT of fun!!

I'll put some pictures later on...
Katy

My few favorite things....

2010-10-02T12:58:00.001-07:00

After seeing a friend's blog, I thought I'd do this too:

1~ What is your favorite music?

I love listening to 88.1 Way- FM. ( link is http://wayfm.com/)!! It's an amazing ( Christian) radio station..and I try to listen to it all the time..although Mom says no radio during school. Some of my favorites are: ( some are and some aren't from 88.1))
"Keep Changing the World" Mikes Chair
" Your Love" Brandon Heath
" One Step At A Time" Jordin Sparks
" More" Matthew West
" You Alone Can Rescue" Matt Redman
" Healing Begins" Tenth Avenue North
" Be Thou My Vision" Michael Card..can play this song on guitar
" Fight Another Day" Addison Road
" You Belong with Me", " Mine", " Love Story" Taylor Swift

2~ Favorite Books?
The Boxcar Children ( series)
The Royal Diaries ( series)
Childhood of Famous Americans ( series)
Johnny Tremain
* Top Fave!* Time Enough For Drums( during Rev. War and quite a bit of romance. I'll write a little report on it later)

3~ What is your most favorite thing to do?
Listen to 88.1
play on Dad's ITouch
play guitar
bike and roller blade
play with friends

4~ Least favorite thing?
watch Indianna Jones& Spiderman 2( worst movies I've seen..including more..I'm sure, but I just can't think of them)

5~ Favorite movies?
The A-Team!! Those who know me well know that I love it! plus Knight Rider,AirWolf,and the always funny/ interesting Emergancy( which I haven't seen in a while..they are old movies.)
Kung Fu Panda
Star Wars( 1,4,5,&6 esp.)

That's all for now. but this past couple of weeks, I've been thinking about what this boy in our K-Group told me: " I feel sorry for you because you have to watch all thses kid movies." I told him that if VJ weren't here,and some of girls that are with us ( they are 9 or 10) could stand some more grown-up movies, I'd bring Star Wars or something more our age to K-Group!!

Katy

2010-09-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

Tytus is a great sitter!

VJ and Tytus sitting together ( with help from Mom).

As noted in the pictures, my aunt, uncle, and cousin ( Tytus) are here. They are trying to move her, so while looking for a house, they are staying with us. i was kicked out of my room ( not too bad), and plopped onto Noah's top bunk in his room. I have to admit.......I'm not enjoying my stay. For instance, he's been complaining about my favorite radio station...I listen to it to much! That's what you do when you have a favorite radio station!! Today it was that I left my guitar stuff out...and in front of his bed. Sorry!!

OK, back to the relatives....they are wonderful guests! They now have a car, and can get themselves around! Am I glad!!

I'm also glad for Fall Break!! Wha-hoo!

More later..including pictures!

Katy

2010-09-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Noah's 10th birthday cake

VJ's our new little drummer!

I had meant to post a few pictures of Noah's 10th birthday party, but I forgot too. Sorry

Katy

Busy Buddies

2010-09-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

VJ loves Noah's old karate outfit & pictures!

Ready for school!

Happy 15th Anniversary!

OK, super sorry that I haven't written, but life stays busy as always!! Dance, school, BSF, church, and soon guitar classes ( for me) are starting up!! Dance is super fun~ I am taking tap this year, along with pointe, and ballet. Mrs. Melody had her baby: Kadee ( short for Kadence), and Kadee is adorable!

Yes, school has started up as usual, and math was like kindergarten for a little while. Now we're talking....area of squares and rectangles, perimeter, square roots, prime and composite numbers, prime factorization, and so forth.

BSF's first class is tonight, and yeah! finally! This night is my break from VJ...besides Tuesdays and Thursdays..when he's in preschool. (We bumped him down to home on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and at preschool form 9-1 on Tuesdays and Thursdays).

Guitar is the same as always...practice makes perfect!I'm excited to start up classes again, but this year will be my last.. :(

I'm now addicted to something: a radio station. 88.1 is an awesome Christian radio station, and I listen to it a lot! Especially Wally..who comes on in the afternoons, from 2pm to 7pm. He does talk a lot,but can be funny! A lot of my favorite songs can be found on this radio station, like Mike's Chair: "Keep Changing the World"; The Afters' "Light Up the Sky"; Jason Gray's "More Like Fallin in Love"; Britt Nicole's "Hangin On", Group 1 Crew's " Walking on the Stars; and Matthew West's song ( my number 1 fave), " More". I know that's a lot, but I love them all! Totally A*W*E*S*O*M*E*!!!! The link to this radio station's website is : http://wayfm.com.

Wally's thing ( Total Axxess) is : http://totalaxxess.com

Got to go,

Katy

Counting Down The Math

2010-09-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

120-16= 104 math lessons 2 go!!

Dad and I went to an Appleseed Shoot in Gunersville, AL last Saturday. Thank goodness that .22 didn't kick! I thought the recoil would be terrible! I hated to standing position! So hard, and especially if you haven't shot in a year. I like the prone ( laying down) position,and the kneeling position was my second favorite. It wasn't that hot, and we had a good time. The first time, I've eaten lunch around 1:30pm! Well, it wasn't that bad, because I was snacking on granola bars during the history parts. Here is some of what I learned:

Hezekiah Wade( I think that was his last name) got out of range of the Lobsterbacks' muskets ( 250 yards), and stopped his horse. He laid the rife on the saddle of the horse, and every time he shot, a Lobsterback officer fell.

Paul Revere, Samuel somebody, and another guy got captured. While being herded into a little fence thingy, Samuel, who knew the area said," Let's make a run for it". They tried, but only Samuel escaped.

I've sorta forgot, and they had some math something or other during lunch..never wasting a minute, but I didn't remember his last word, after it was done..... It is the weekend, you're not supposed to think about math....

Katy

Doulbe Digits!!

2010-08-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

Happy 10th Birthday, Noah! I know I haven't put pictures on yet, but 1) we're busy with school and everything 2) Dad hasn't loaded up pictures for me, because the party was less than an hour ago. I'll try to get some on soon. Maybe next weekend.

The party was fine, and we all enjoyed the cake. :) Even though Mom and I had a misunderstanding, and I put it in the big, 9x13inch pan, and it wasn't thick....it still turned out fine!! Yes, you can guess who was cooking it...me and Noah, while Mom was playing with VJ outdoors. Still, it turned out well!!

Katy

First Day

2010-08-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

I will post pictures later, when Dad or I get them on the computer, but for now, I will say, that the first day of school(from my side) was not bad at all. I was done before 9 :30am. Getting up at 3:53am with a bad nosebleed and back to bed at around 4:30am or so..plus staying awake till 5:10am or so , on account so that I wouldn't end up with a lot of blood on my pillow, and sleeping on and off was morning action. Good thing about waiting till 5:10am: I got to listen to 88.1 and hear what happens when Brant comes on. He was telling about this book, the title like" How to Find Something Lost " or so, and all these tips to find something lost: 1. Don't look for it. 2. What ever it is, it isn't lost; you are. 3. Remember the three C's: be comfortable,calm and confident. 4. Sit down, and have a cup of coffee/tea ( just to name 4)....I don't know....I'll have to try it out...
Another nosebleed started around 6am, and Mom and I had to control that too. Noah was off to GreenGate by 7:45am, and we got home around 8:15am or so...along with 4 chicken biscuits from Chick-fli-a.
Having your math and grammar done ahead of time, really helps! All I had to do was A&P, Vocab, and a little of Maps & Geography. Plus playing guitar...
I figured out ( myself) how to play the notes of Be Thou My Vision! Totally kool(cool)!

Katy

School ALREADY?!?!?!

2010-08-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Exactly...school's already starting up next week?! A week from today?! I really can't believe it! I guess I need to have some "end of summer" plans....

VJ has a new toy, a little tractor, who's "dumper" really dumps. VJ loves it...and he's not the only one. Noah and I have been really attached to it...until when Noah was riding it around the bumpy backyard, it stopped, and I had to tell him that it was to heavy. Then VJ rode it around, and it worked! Guess we are putting on weight...and height! I'm already at least 5 ft 1 in....according to the pool depth. Part of my forehead is above water in the 5ft end.....I'm really growing! I suppose I'll be able to drive at the right time!!..and not be too short! I'm almost as tall as our pastor's wife, and a little taller than my friend Bradley...I'm not a shortie anymore, that's for sure!!!

Katy

Happy Birthday, Valley!!

2010-07-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Valley Pres.!!!!! :) We celebrated our birthday with an old-fashioned block party.
We had a lot of fun. The guys ( and boys...not so much the girls..except me, Bradley, and two other girls) played Ultimate Frisbee, and the fire trucks came and sprayed some kids down! ( I wasn't one.....didn't really feel like getting wet). ...actually....a lot of kids got sprayed!! They had a snow cone machine, dinner, and fun! The weather looked bad, at first, and we heard a lot of thunder, but, by God's grace, the weather cleared up, and we had TONS of fun!
The principal of Horizon Elementary ( the school where we have church) came with his wife and daughter; Mom said it probably was a complementary visit. We had, instead of Mr. Plott talking for 45+ minutes, we had different people come up and say something, how Valley had impacted his or her life. After Mr. and Mrs. Tan had come up, Mr. Plott let anyone else do it. The principal, Mr. Richardson, stood up , and said that he wouldn't play golf against Mr. Plott, but Mr. Plott said that Mr. Richardson would beat him on the basketball court. A few other people stood up, including Mr. Plott's mom...said said that he was her "baby"....awww....

I'll see if I can get a few pictures of Valley/Horizon, and them post them... I just wanted to say...last year, this very day, Valley Presbyterian Church had it's first service. It's first service was "Beginning with the End in Mind." Sorry, but I don't remember the songs..... :(
Mr. Plott said that a goal for this new year was to get out music guy to take a Sunday off from playing. Our music guy has come to church every single day this past year....pretty amazing....!
Katy

Piece of Work #2.....

2010-07-25T12:38:00.001-07:00

I guess I'll be putting plenty of "Pieces of Work.." posts on here, but I really can't resist telling you about VJs cute little comments. I'm going to tell you the background of this cute story....
Mimi, Papa ( Mom's mom and dad), and I went to VJ's and Noah's big VBS thing at Madison Baptist on Friday night, while Mom and Dad went out. It was Missions Week, and they had many missionaries, and one who practically preached a sermon~only about 15 minutes, but that was long enough. And it wasn't that interesting...just the bad news about where you'll go if you don't have Jesus as your Saviour...which is hell...I have to say....Mr. Plott's ( church pastor), and Mr. Swinney's ( LCA chapel instructor) sermons and chapels are better.....no offence..... Anyway, when we were in the car, I told Mimi that I practically fell asleep while that guy was "preaching". Then Mimi went on telling us of this guy, in the Bible, who, listening to one of Paul's sermons, fell out of the upstairs window...because he had fallen asleep. Here is the text printed in the Bible:

" And in a window sat a certain young man, named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him, said, " Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him." Now when he had come up, had broken bread,
and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak he departed. And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.

Well, I wasn't sitting in a chair by a window, so I didn't fall asleep or out of a window. I was tired, a bit, though. ( Being a sister to two boys can be hard work.. no joke...). Anyway. Mimi was telling us that story, and I told her that the music leader at Valley, the first part of his email is " eutychusrocks". She thought that was funny. VJ caught on to the part of " falling out the window" , and "that guy".
Mom and Dad came home a few minutes after I had put VJ down, and I had gotten in my PJs. Mom kissed VJ, and then told Dad VJ wanted Dad to kiss him. Dad came out a minute later, and I told them about VJ's saying that " the guy fell out the window". Dad goes, " So that was what he was talking about. He was talking about the music leader falling out the window.......
Yes, we all laughed....I don't think VJ's said anything since......

a Piece of Work

2010-07-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

A Piece of Work...yes, that describes VJ just fine. Both boys have gone to VBS this week ( while I enjoyed the quiet at home), and today Noah came home with at least three bags of prizes he had won. A 2 liter bottle of diet, caffeine free Mountain Dew and a 2 liter bottle of Fruit Punch are just two. He share some with me, VJ, and Mom, which was very nice....along with three pieces of candy out of a huge bag he brought home. We were eating lunch, and VJ was sipping his mountain dew out of his small cup, and suddenly announces that he " is a potty". I popped my nose out of the book I was reading ( yes, I follow Dad's example and read while I eat lunch and breakfast, but not dinner, because Dad's home, although he knows I do it), and said " What did he say?" VJ responds, " I am a potty". Mom said that he is sucking up the urine ( aka: Mountain Dew). Then while he's swallowing, he acts like he's pushing the handle to make the toilet flush. Noah said, " It does look kinda yellowish...."

Oh, the joys of little boys!!!
Katy

Wedding Bells

2010-07-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

( BTW, this is late...posted on August 5th. I had to get permission from Meghan first, but for some reason it says it was posted on July 19).

Are you thinking it's my wedding?! Well, I thank you not!! No, it was my baby sitter's wedding, that Mom, Dad and I went to. Aunt Stephanie was here, and she invited over Mimi and Papa and watched Tytus, Noah and VJ.
Here are some photos are we took. The first ones are from the reception, and the last to are from the actual ceremony.

They did have some fun with the "feeding of the cake" part....

Look at that cake!

The inside of the church they were married in.

Pressenting toyou:

Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Lee Roe!

It was really nice. The catering was good, and everything was fancy and pretty. Meghan ( or whoever) had tied ribbons to small while stick, and we shook them when they came out of the church to the limo. I suggested different things to Mom, which ended up me saying," Why not rice balls?". Mom said to remember that for my wedding, so I'd get rice balls in my hair. She and Dad totally cracked up, saying that I'd have my peanut butter crackers in the limo, waiting for me, so that I could have a snack. Or, better yet, just eat the rice balls people throw at me. Very funny....not! I must say, Mr. and Mrs. Plott ( our pastor and his wife) thought it was funny too...as did some other Valley folks. I'm not getting married tomorrow, so no worries. I think I'll let Dad recover from my getting to be a teenager, and then teaching me how to drive ( saying that he's going to get a beat-up thing, that still runs and sees if it makes through all three of us), and then deal with the worries of giving me away. I think that'll be a treat!

Katy

Happy Birthday!!!

2010-07-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Mom, Dad, Nana( grandma), and T-Bone( uncle)! All July birthdays, and all not looking their new age....ha ha!
Happy birthday, guys! I'll put pictures later, when I'm not ready for bed....
Katy

New Neighbors!

2010-07-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

That's right, new neighbors! A family moved into a house that is down the street and around the corner from us! Noah and I went over on Saturday, and got acquainted with the children. This family has a 12 year old girl, an 11 year old girl, ( I'll call her Elizabeth),a 6 year old boy, and a 6 year old girl.

Everyone is fine, and thank God that Dad didn't lose his job in the NASA layoffs.One reason I enjoy being a kid!

Katy

Garden photos.

2010-07-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

See the Lams Ear, and the Latina? Also, there

are Zinnias.

VJ with his little plant from preschool.

This is my flower garden, and I luv it!

What's in my flower garden? The big thing, in the middle is a purple butterfly bush. On the sides, those greenish looking things, are Lambs Ear. Latina are those red things you see, and I do have pink ones, but they aren't doing too well.

Later,

Katy

Fathers' Day

2010-06-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

I know this is kinda late, but I didn't feel like posting yesterday. Sorry, Dad, for this funny, corny pic... ;)...but I totally thought it'd be perfect! BTW, I did put it in blue, cause it's your favorite color.

OK..now to the point. Happy Fathers' Day to all you dads. Dad got a froggy card, from me, Noah, and VJ, and I'm not sure if he got a card from Mom...don't remember. His gift was a delicious one, and I totally agree: 3 Toblerones, a Swedish chocolate. He said it's famous all over in the Asian part of this world. I really like it.

All for now,
Katy

Stuff 2 tell

2010-06-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a quicky post. I do have some things to tell y'all.

1~ We finally got my A & P ( sorry i can't spell them right) book, for science this fall! I've been waiting for it, for months, and I really wanted to look through it, but Mom insisted that she look through it first. If it makes her happy, might as well do it. " Don't want to upset the Lone Granger." BTW, that was from the book Frindle by Andrew Clements.

2~ I went to my second bridal shower. It was for our babysitter, who is getting married in July. I think this was her 3rd shower or something. She's really nice, and for those of you who go to our church , Valley Presbyterian, she goes there. She and her soon-to-be husband closed on a house in Pensacola, Florida. She said it's VERY close to the beach, but it's got oil, so they can't go to that part. But she can go to the bay side, and play there.
p.s. I will give info on church later on.

3~ The Maxwell Family is coming to Madison on Sept. 24th or something like that!! We do follow their blog ( http://titus2.com/blog) and I've always wanted to meet them! Mom did go to one of their conferences, in Athens, when they came here, and that's where she got Sarah's books, The Moody Family series. I just gave you the link to their blog, but also check out this link: http://titus2.com.. That's their website.

4~ I really don't know!!

More later...and I'll also try to get pictures on here.

Katy

God anwers prayers.

2010-06-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, Noah is going to a Summer Reading Camp, at this expensive school in S. Huntsville, near the Lincoln Village School. It's a 25 minute drive, and for us, in Madison, it's a long drive. As we were getting in the car, going to drive back from picking up Noah for camp, earlier in the week, this lady with the little girl come up to Mom and said, ( I'm going to use different names from their real names for safety reasons)" I see you have three kids. Do you happen to know Julia Orz?" Mom goes," Yes, we do." The lady said, " Well, I'm the grandma, and she told me to look for you. I already asked another lady, with three kids, and she had no idea of Julia. " Mom introduced herself, and us kids, and the lady said, " My name is Karen, and this is Kayla," Mom replied, " Where do you live?" Mrs. Karen said, " Wood creek Dr." ( a made up street). Mom: " That's close to us!" Mrs. Karen: " Do you want to carpool?" And Mom's all excited, and said, "YES!!!!" So they exchanged addresses, and now we picked up 6 yr. old Kayla, this past week, and Mrs. Karen picked up both, and dropped off Noah here. Next week, Mrs. Karen does the pick up and drop at school thing, and we do the pick up after school thing.
The bad thing of this is that everyone ( minus Dad) gets up at 6 am, which is totally not normal for VJ, Noah and me. I guess Mom is used to it, since she probably did it as a kid,while in school.

God does answers prayers! Amazing!! :)

My ears aren't infected, thank God! I've been cleaning them,, morning and night and they look really healthy! Only three more weeks to go, after tomorrow! Then I can wear different kids, but no long, heavy, big dangles.

Katy

Swim lessons!

2010-06-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

We've had almost one week of swim lessons already. It was Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.When we went today, and Noah's class had already started, there was thunder, so the kids had to get out, and we had to get off the pool deck. my class is after Noah's, at 9:45am, and my class was canceled. They are both for tomorrow, but we are going to Dad's work, for Take Our Children To Work Day. I'll ask Dad if I can bring the camera, to take some pictures.

Noah is going to miss next week's swimming lessons. He has a summer reading program,and he is going to that. I'm still going to swim lessons ( they are SO fun), after we drop off Noah. It is another Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

We have gone swimming a lot, and it's been good for Noah's arm,which is gettig stronger by the minute.

Katy

Fun! :)

2010-06-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

We've had so much fun, swimming,and just enjoying the sunshine,and spring these past few weeks. We've gone swimming quite a few times, lately, and it's been really fun. We go to Dublin, the indoor pool, for now, because you can swim laps, and the outdoor pool gets way to crowded,and it's just for fun.
I will take a picture of my and the square-foot gardens, when I get a chance. We've got plenty of veggies planted: lettuce, radishes, spinach, beans, and then more beans, marigolds,tomatoes,peppers, dill, and a few others, that I don't remember. I am steamed about our garden this year. Peas are one of my two favorite veggies ( corn is the other one... I LOVE it), and Dad said we could plant some. Well, we didn't. Dad said that we couldn't, because it went from cold to warm/hot, all of a sudden. It's was such a good bribe to get VJ into his car seat, if he wasn't behaving... :(
More later...
Katy

Earrings!!!

2010-05-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

I've got my ears pierced; I got them done yesterday! At Merrel Norman's, in the mall...Parkway Place Mall. So far, so good....I've got them in for 6 weeks.

A before picture....

....and after!!!!

very tender ears....

Katy

Pictures!

2010-05-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

We finally have pictures! I know, y'all have waited so patiently! Thank you!!

We did have a good birthday party,and a a wonderful visit with T-Bone, Stephanie,and Tytus!

I gave Tytus his last 2-3 baths.

VJ loves his garbage trucks!!!

Mimi feeding her newest grandson, Tytus.

VJ and his garbage trucks.

Blow out the candle!

VJ's birthday cake!

The little man, and the garbage can were in his gifty,

and the "4" we bought, along with the cake.

More coming soon!!!

Katy

Happy Birthday, VJ!!!!

2010-05-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday little rascal! We love you dearly!
Thanks for making this family fun these past 4 years. We'll have even more fun these next years with you. I must say, it's been very interesting watching you grow up in our family...arguing with me and Noah..saying, " I go tell Mom", and marching off to the house, and everything....*sigh*.

Happy 4th Birthday, VJ! Love you so much!

You've been a joy in our family..even if you might get on my nerves( which happens a lot)!!!! You've been really creative!!!

Katy

p.s. we went swimming today, and Noah's arm is better. Haven't gotten a picture yet...I'll have to catch him by surprise!

Finally Off!!

2010-05-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

Noah finally got his cast off! After 2 months and 6 days of having a cast on, he finally got it off. He's still not used to having it off, so he's got that thing, that looks really shriveled,close to his body. And I'm stating the facts...so no one get mad at me. hehe...

I guess that's all. Now, he can start doing the normal things, but no bike riding, skateboarding, or rollerblading for two more weeks.
Katy

Slow Pictures

2010-05-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry about being really slow on the pictures. I'm really NOT an expert on loading pictures on the computer/

OK, the news of this week. We've had a busy one, with my dance recital, and everything. My recital went fine. One girl( who I particularly love), let's call her, " Abby", fainted Saturday morning in the back dressing room. "Abby" was there on Saturday night, and did the first few dances. She was in 10( in all) dances and coaching one or two of them. Then, at her 8th or so dances( that she herself was in), she fainted again, and when she revived, was stretching at this bar that was lining the backstage( cause it was dark). She kept saying that, " I've got to do it," and " It's a trio, and I have to". "Abby" did a trio( that she and two other girls made and danced), and fainted on stage after the lights went out ( according to another girl who was on the other side of the stage when it happened and she came over to tell me). Someone got her off stage, and they went on with the show. So she didn't do the last dance, which was probably good, because it was a fast one. When I got over to the other side of the stage, "Abby" was lying on the floor with plenty of people around her, and she was saying," I ruined the show," and stuff like that." Which wasn't true, because she didn't....at least what I saw.
I was in three dances this year, and they were FUN!!!
Love dancing!
Katy

Tytus' Visit

2010-05-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

We had such a good visit with Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Tyrone( T- Bone) and Cuzin Tytus. (Forgive me my spelling, on "Cousin" mom....he he.) They didn't come to church on Sunday; T-Bone said that he was being a "heathen", but they missed out on one my my favorite songs, and communion! Mom stayed home with VJ, cause he sprouted up a fever on Saturday, and he has to be fever free for 24 hours to be in the nursery. BTW, the favorite song I had in there was " You alone can rescue."

We also had VJ's birthday party on Monday. VJ had his wish of having a garbage birthday party, and he got a small garbage truck from T- Bone and Stephanie, and a bigger one, with men, and actual, mini, garbage and recycling cans from Mom and Dad. He also got a " Ice Cream Play-Dough" thing from Mimi and Papa. He loves all of them.

Dad was on a work trip, for the past two weeks, and he got back around 6:35pm the same day T-Bone and Stephanie came.

School's almost done, and we've only got about 8 or so more days to finish up before we are done with our 180 days of school! I think we're probably on 172 days right now.
LCA, and BSF are done, now, and I'm SO sad that BSF is over! I loved it, and I hope my same teacher, Mrs. Cardno, is going to teach my class again! She's a wonderful Bible teacher, and I LOVE her Bible lessons. I always look forward to the weeks that she does the Bible lessons. My other teacher, Mrs. Wright, wasn't bad, but she has a different style of teaching than Mrs. Cardno has. We did the Book of John this past year,and I really enjoyed it! We're going next year, also, and the study will be in Isaiah. LCA, I haven't missed badly yet, but it's different not going to a place for 4 hours each Friday. But we're still doing school on those days!!!

Going back to Bible verses at the end of my posts!!!Sorry i haven't done them lately;

John 21: 17
" Feed my sheep."

p.s. this was our last Bible verse for the book for John.

Katy

Busy Bees

2010-05-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have been running around like busy bees. Everyone's doing fine, and we've finally got the tomatoes planted in our square foot gardens. I'll take and post pictures of them later on, including the directions....which aren't too hard....if Dad will take the patience to tell me all of them.

The peppers at Lowe's are expensive!!! If I remember correctly, they are around $2.50 for one pepper! And we need 12 of them! OK, so round 2.50 up to 3,and times that by 12 and you get 36...that means $36.00 for 12 pepper plants!!

VJ's gotten into his usual mischief, such as telling the babysitter, " Mommy said I can!!" and " Yes! She did!!" when he wanted to tip the garbage can over and crawl in. BTW, Mom, Noah and I were at BSf, and we had a babysitter, for Dad was busy.

Well, I guess that's it, for all the posting we have lately. Our Aunt Stephanie, Uncle T-Bone ( his real name is Tyrone), and Cuzin Tytus are coming tomorrow..at 9: 35pm or so...and I'm SO excited! I've waited a while for Tytus to get here, and he is now!
My dance recital is a week from Saturday! And I can't wait!!
Katy
p.s.I've got this BIG Alabama Trivia game tomorrow! And I hope it's boys against girls! We've done that a lot, and we girls have beaten the boys..even by 2 points! It's going to be on all of the info that we've covered this past year..( it's our last class). What's interesting, it that there are 7-8 boys and 4 girls!! I love it!
Katy

I DETEST THE NAME " TORNADO",.....

2010-04-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

I really do..the title says it all. There's going to be tornado watches this evening..I think, and WHNT says that there's a LOT of damage in Mississippi and they showed a picture, of a tree uprooted, a church building's roof damaged, and the sign blown over, and everything a mess.
Here in Madison it's all rainy, and windy. T-Storms are expected,and I hope there aren't any tornadoes...watches or warning. I hate that sound that the warning make...VJ was all scared of the thunder this morning. I'm not to afraid of that., but tornadoes...they're a different story. One time, at LCA, we were having a tornado drill, and my friend Jenny and I went to look for our art teacher. She had been in the office,and when we looked towards the door, she was standing between us and the door. She goes," I thought we had to go outside." And then, before I said anything, Noah's PE teacher, says," No, we're supposed to go into the bathroom." So we got in there. Why would anyone go outside if there's a tornado?..not that I'm hoping for one while I'm there.

i had dance pictures today, and they went fine. We got there around 12:15pm, and then were there till about 2: 05 or so. My two first dance pictures went fine, but then Mrs. Melody had the little kids that we're dancing with, do their pictures...why I don't know. Mom said that it would have been a better idea to have the older girls go first..as they don't take as much "putting in the right place,and fixing of the hands/arms/feet.".

Anyway, that's it. If I post more, than I survived the tornado/T-storm!!! Pray for the storms this year...such stuff can get pretty wild.
Katy

Bontanical Gardens.

2010-04-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

I know, I forgot ot post about our educational field trip to the Bontanical Gardens, but sorry! here are some pictures, and they even have creative treehouses ! We only saw one, the one in the first picture:

Me, and VJ in the treehouse.

VJ had his swimming runks underneath the shirt.. and he got wet!

We fed ducks old mushy salteen crackers..and they had

a regular pinic!

Two mallards, and a turtle, enjoying the pinic!

old, Mr. Turtle

VJ loved the water rocks!!

Katy

100%~ Alabama History!!!

2010-04-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

I got an 100% on my Alabama history test today! I had been studying for the past week, and I am so glad!!! :) Also, we have a new trouble. I didn't know, till about this past Monday, or Wednesday, that my book report for Alabama History, is due next week! I haven't even read my book! I wanted it to be on Wernher Von Braun, but it's got long chapters, and it's going to take a bit of time. So, I think that I'm going to to my report of George Washington Carver,because, 1. I've read it over and over, and 2. because it's short, and won't take long. We just got my book on Wernher Von Braun yesterday, April 22nd, and I won't have time to do the whole thing.
The test was 3 pages, and had some really hard questions, such as, " What is the chief mineral product of Alabama?" The answer is coal. " What is the chief agricultural product of Alabama?" the answer is broilers. " What is the chief manufactured product of Alabama?" the answer is chemicals. So A lot of them i knew, but the " fourth-largest city", " fifth-largest city",third- largest city", and the " leading steel center" stuff, is very confusing. But I will tel you the answers:
First- largest city, and the leading steel center: Birmingham.
Second-largest city is Montgomery.
Third-largest city: State's only seaport, Mobile.
Fourth-largest city: Rocket City USA, Huntsville.
Fifth-largest city:Tuscaloosa, the Black Warrior.
I bet y'all don't know what the Alabama Platform is about. Here's the real definition that I have memorized: " The Alabama Platform: declaring that the federal government did not have the right to prohibit settlers in the new territories from holding slaves". Easy, but sometimes tricky.

OK, now, house-hold news: We ( Mom, Noah, VJ, and I) have to take Mimi and Papa( Mom's parents) to get Papa's surgery done, outside of Huntsville. Papa has something, who knows what, and they are going to remove it. They are going to drive by here, and we are going to take them, go to the McWane Center while we wait for them to get done, eat down there, and then come home. The surgery should only take about 3 hours, but that is a bit of time. Mom said that the actual surgery should only take about 14-15 minutes, but it's the getting the medicine down, and then the recovery time, that will take up most of the 3 hours.

Well, I guess that's all the house-hold news, unless, that y'all have forgotten that Noah got his bright green( not lime green though) cast, perm. cast, and he's perfectly fine.
Katy

NEWS!!!

2010-04-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

OK, so Dad and I were going to go to an Appleseed Shoot but it was cancelled by me, and I wasn't feeling well. I'm not going into what I have/had but I will tell you that it doesn't feel good!

Anyway, there's other news...nice news too!
Noah got his permanent cast on Monday! It's green, I think because he wanted it to be Mom's favorite color. I thought he was going to get orange, but no! not that!
It was interesting how they set it. It wasn't Dr. Griffin who did it, but this other doctor. He had to put quite a bit of pressure on it, and Noah could still feel it Tuesday.
I've got a story to tell you:
There was this little boy who Noah made friends with. ( Let's say his name was Blake.). So Blake was in there because he had been hanging off the back of the lawn mower. He fell off and his leg got in the way of the blade,and it gave him a deep cut in his leg, from his ankle to about halfway up to his knee...he actually showed us that bandage. He said that it was so deep that you could see the bone...eww. Anyway, he would have a good job of making people laugh. So VJ told Mom ," Mommy, I go it potty." . So Mom took him,and while she was getting her purse next to me, and everything near me, Blake was making up this little song. I don't remember all of it, but it was sort of like,"He's goin to the bathroom", and that thing. I was doing spelling, so I could hide my laughing face. Noah laughed so hard, I thought he'd pass out.He laughed, and laughed so hard, and he fell out of his chair( not on his arm..though), the chair's legs hit the wall , ( loud enough so that everyone on that side of the waiting room could hear it), and everyone in that side were looking them. Blake's mom was like, "settle down, and don't rock on that chair or else you'll fall"
I hide my face behind my spelling and grammar books, but Noah had everyone looking at him...so embarrassing.
Oh, yeah, I locked us out of the house this morning. We had to call Mimi and Pap to come and give us the spare house key, because they had the only one. I don't think that Dad was very pleased...but no swear words came out...very interesting....I witnessed plenty of them.

Well, that it's for a little bit. I'm sure that there will be more coming up. Dad got this thing for his radio( which he spends a lot of time on), hooked up, and he's on it now.
I told Mom and Dad, earlier," You know, you really do ' cross the Rubicon' when you have kids"
If you remember from when you had history, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River. He had been fighting the Celts. The Senate had told Pompey, " Tell everyone of Rome that Caesar is a traitor, and isn't loyal to Rome. You will be able to take away Caesar's power before he returns to Rome. " This wasn't easy, because Caesar's daughter was married to Pompey. Pompey wanted to by popular, and was jealous of Caesar. So Pompey told everyone just that, and sent a message to Caesar. It said that Caesar would be arrested if he stepped foot in Rome.
Pompey and the Senate were trying to get together an army of there own, but nobody wanted to fight against Caesar's army..who had fought a lot, and in different countries.
Caesar made it to the Rubicon River, and stood there for a long time..staring at the bridge. Finally he swept out his sword, and said," My enemies have forced me to do this. We will march into Rome, and let the die be cast. " And he crossed the bridge. But Pompey didn't make an army in time,and Caesar made it back to his power.
When someone is about to make an important decision, we still say, " You are about to cross the Rubicon." Crossing the Rubicon means that you are about to do something that you can't undo.
Now, I'm all caught up about this history thing. Let me tell you about Cleopatra. Some of you may know about her, and she's a very interesting charter...even though she should be shamed( our neighbor's oldest daughter told me that). She wasn't a Christian, and just reading her story will tell you right off. She had herself delivered to Caesar in a rolled up rug, interrupting his meeting. Everyone was charmed by her beauty. Caesar agreed to her request to secure her throne in Egypt, and he helped her kill her brother. Now Cleopatra married her brother. I do think that that's gross, and now a days it's be sickness and everything. So she had married her brother, and when he died, she married her other brother. Simply disgusting. For her first brother, when they reigned first together, ( and they argued a LOT), she was 18,and he was 10. G-R-O-S-S. The neighbor girl said that she'd NEVER marry her brother( who's 8 or 9, Noah's age, ), and who'd want to marry him. I didn't think that was nice, but he's not always nice to me,and I'm not always nice to him either...so I understand. I wouldn't like to marry Noah...or VJ for that matter.

Anyway, she got in relationships with Marc Anthony, and Julius Caesar. She married Anthony, but ' dated" Caesar. Gross..again

more later.
Katy

Dance dresses, and Communion...and Rooms.

2010-04-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

Plenty of things to blog about.. Here's some pictures of our ( kids') rooms, just so y'all can see the color ,but try not to make a fuss about the mess( directly to you, Mom :) )

Noah's room, and you can tell where he has his

arm propped up every night.

VJ's room, and I took the picture of the crib, because

it's where he still sleeps. His room is yellow...

it used to be Noah's old room, ( Noah room, now, was the playroom).

A picture of a " Love is.." picture above my bed.

My room is a terrible mess, and if I were

to put a picture on here, Mom would

surely turn of me( and faint).

My " I AM" dress. It really does look like water

doesn't it??

My " When you believe" dress.

Or Hebrew Ladies' dress,

very fancy... and hot.

My Gypsy skirt. We'll have black leotard

on too.

That's it for tonight. I'll post pits on the Botanical Garden tomorrow...if I have time.
Also, Noah and I get to take our first communion tomorrow! Sorry but I haven't time to do anything for a verse.

Katy

Dance Recital!!!!

2010-04-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

My dance recital is coming up! Finally! I've waited all year for this! This is my first year in Ballet III and pointe. Pointe is hard, especially rolling up onto pointe. I'm in three dances this year( 3, I still can't believe it!)!!!! I'm a Gypsy, after the Burning Bush( don't know exactly what I am), and then a Hebrew Lady. In pointe( the Hebrew Ladies/Girls), I am dancing with the little, pre-ballet girls, and there's only two of them, so Mrs. Melody said for them to dance with us. So my pointe class are Hebrew Ladies, and the little ones are Hebrew Girls. ( I've really grown up fast! ha ha).
Now the costumes: for the one after the Burning Bush( " I AM" is what we call it), we have this beautiful green dress; that looks like it can be used for water. And we have a flower in our hair, and then one on the bottom of the "V". Mrs. Melody said that she wants to move it, but i don't think she's noticed that it's glued, and Mom said that she doesn't want to rip the dress. My pointe dress is green on the chest, and then a puffy while skirt, and Mr.s Melody's, I think, has found someone to put on purple, as the little ones are wearing purple.
For my Gypsy dance, I'm dancing with 12 little girls, and dancing in a circle around them, doing turns( I'm not going to do their real names, for I don't know how to spell them, and y'all won't know how to say it/ know what it is). It's really hard not to "suffocate" them, as Mrs. Melody says.
If you want to hear my music, go to YouTube, and type in " Heaven's Eyes" , " When you believe", and " I Am Mark Schultz". Play the video. Heaven's Eyes,and When you believe are from the prince of Egypt.
Katy

Easter!

2010-03-31T12:36:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter! I don't have much to write about, so I'll do some verses, instead.
By the Way, Noah's arm is doing okay. Dr. Griffin said that he can't take the cast off ( same reason: the bone will break again), and we have another appointment next Monday. Still itchy, and sore. But tonight, I found out how Mom has that boy take a bath: wrap his arm/cast in saran wrap! Interesting, but it works.
We went to church today, and had a wonderful brunch( I managed to choke down two small spoonfuls of hash browns, ( Mom made me) and gobbled down a very small piece of chocolate cake,( that Mom didn't see) and a chocolate chip muffin). And then the kids 6th grade and younger had an Easter Egg Hunt. The older kids( 7th and up...what Mr. Plott calls " youth") hid them. Or " threw" them around the playground. The pastor's son, Hunter, and his friend were throwing them around the playground, according to Catharine, the pastor's other daughter, ( he has 13 year old Hunter, 10yr old Bradley ( my friend), and then 6 yr old Catharine.)... :) Pretty easy to find those ones.
Here are the verses:

John 19: 28-30
" After this ( telling John to take his mother into his home), Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, " I thirst"( other versions say " I am thirsty"). Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said , " It is finished." And bowing His head He gave up His spirit. "

John 20:1-18
" On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved( John), and said to them, ' They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him'. Peter, therefore, went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb. So they both ran, together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief, that had been around His head, not lying with the other cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first went in also, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went away to their own homes. But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her,' Woman, why are you weeping? ' She said to them, ' Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have lain Him.' Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you seeking?', supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, ' Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him and I will take Him away.' Jesus said to her, ' Mary!' She turned and said to Him , ' Rabboni!'( which is to say " Teacher"). Jesus said to her, 'Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren and say to them, ' I am ascending to My Father, and your Father, and to My God, and to your God.' Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her. "

I'll do more this next week. BTW, Noah and I each got a Webkinz today, as Easter gifts( from Mom and Dad NOT the Easter Bunny...don't believe in that.). I got a giraffe, and Noah got an donkey. I thought that was a perfect thing to get, ( it was only $12.99, according to Mom), but Jesus rode on a donkey, and a donkey means " peace". He could have rode anything, and cow, horse, pony, but He chose a donkey,because it means " peace".
Katy

A Noah Update....

2010-03-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

Now about Noah's arm: We went to see the Orthopedic Doctor ( Dr. David Griffin, a very cheerful doctor if you ask me). He looked at Noah's arm, and then went to look at his X-rays. He came back and said that he's not going to take of the cast Noah has on right now. If he does, then the bones will be sure to pop out of their position. The ER doctors had set them fine, not perfect because kids' bones reform anyway, he said. We set up an appointment next Thursday( while VJ's in preschool) , and if there is no sign of healing, then it'll probably be surgery, to fix it. To have surgery, it's a pretty bad break, obviously. Noah does have a red color wrap ( forgot what it's called) on his original cast that they put on in the ER. It's colored, but it's not the permanent cast.
We're ( and hope y'all will do the same) praying that he won't have to have surgery...it's enough to have a broken bone and not be able to ride bikes, do karate, and all those fun stuff. But a broken bones does not stop Noah from watching SpongeBob Squarepants! We're replacing the A-Team, and Star Wars with goofy movies! ...to Noah, VJ ( who hardly ever gets to watch SpongeBob...Cars, Magic School Bus are his ones), and I like them! Mom says it's better than kids getting the act of killing and murdering in their heads.
VJ, now, was a very different story in the waiting room. Running' around and asking Mom if she had a lollipop, is just VJ. He finally ran up to the counter and asked the lady there if she had a lollipop, and she gave each of us a piece of candy( after Mom's permission), and that quieted the little fellow down...until we got to the room we were going to be in. We had a room right over the trolleys , from one hospital to another. He got a big kick out of that, telling Dr. Griffin to look, ( he said " Oh, yes, I've waited all my life to see those!" ), and asking Dr. Griffin's assistant to " sit down and look". And he chattered on and on about " Look! there's the trolley!" and " where it going , Mommy?" and " here it comes! it coming Mommy! it coming, Katy! it coming Noah! ", and " Mommy! Mommy! Look!!" And he told the nurse, who was wrapping Noah's arm in the red color stuff, " See? There's a trolley! It coming for me!" . Little boys. " I want to ride it a trolley , Mommy."

I'll update y'all later. Since I'm on the computer, I want to find out the answer to a bonus question for Alabama History : Why is the Redstone Arsenal called Redstone Arsenal? I was the one who brought it up. We get 10 extra points on the quiz in 2 weeks if we find out what the answer is.

Happy Palm Sunday!

John 12: 12-13
" The next day a multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out, " Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel! "

Katy

SATs.

2010-03-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

I had my 2nd day of SATs today. Here's the schedule that Mom printed up that my teacher send:

Monday:

Reading Vocabulary -...9:00- 9:30
( stretch break-5min)
Reading Comprehension... 9:35- 10:35
Snack Break... 10:35- 10:50
Spelling- 10:55 ... 11:40

Tuesday:

Social Science ...9:00- 9:35
( stretch break..5min)
Mathematics Problem Solving...9:40-10:40
Snack Break...10;40- 10:55
Listening...10:55- 11:35

Wednesday:

Science...9:00- 9:35
(stretch break)
Mathematics procedures...9:40-10:20
Snack Break..10:20- 10:35
Language...10:35- 11:30

That's my schedule. We followed it, and it went pretty smoothly.....although there is this talker in my class.( not to say that I'm not a talker...cause most of you know that I am). Today,he yawned-sighed loudly during math and got shushed my my teacher, and some of the other boys at his table, and tried to start talking before we started Listening. And my teacher( Mrs. Giles) actually told him to "zip it"! Imagine!!!... He did look like he was gritting his teeth to keep from spilling his guts after she said that (when I looked at him).
p.s. I'm, now calling " talking back", "spilling your guts". just so y'all know.

More updates later. Noah's arm is doing better. He had a lot of swelling yesterday( Monday) but, his arm is doing somewhat better today.Mom said that it's probably because he didn't have it propped up enough yesterday. We have him watching Prince Caspian ( one of the Narnia movies) right now, sitting with him arm propped up. He actually found out a way( a tiring way if you ask me) for having his arm "propped" up: hold you arm like you're doing a high block.
I guess it works....never tried, it and I don't feel like trying it either.

Revelation 4:8b
" ' Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty. Who was and is and is to come..."

Oh, Easter and Palm Sunday are coming up!
Happy Early Easter!
Katy

Changed Household

2010-03-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, a changed household it is. Noah had an accident yesterday( Sat) on his skateboard. He said that he stepped to far one the back end of his skateboard,and fell. He said he heard a pop,and Mom said he hollered for her. He basically broke both of his bones in his forearm. Mom: " They are both broke, but the radius is separated." There you are. Mom saw the X-ray, so I'll believe her.
Noah went to the ER,and Mom said that they were let out a little bit after 9pm. He has temporary cast, and will get his real one in a few days.He also has his arm in a sling, which I think is super cool. From what I can tell, he's getting better at eating with his left hand. I did have to help him with pouring ketchup...for lunch...but besides that, he's OK. But, Mom's helped him the changing clothes, and that thing. When he came inside( after it broke), it sorta looked like a banana( believe he told me to put it one here!). Here's Noah in his words:

" It's very annoying when I'm itchy under the cast. It hurts when I move my arm to fast. I got an IV and it felt weird. I liked the ER, and watching the nurses and doctors do stuff on my fingers. I really want an orange cast, and my friends will sign it. I liked the help I got from the people. I even got carried into the bed...that was really nice! The cast feels really weird. They put me to sleep when the set my arm. Please pray that my arm will heal well, so that I may go back to playing with my friends, and doing things I enjoy."
Noah Ahmed

He made a deal with me: He'd say things for the blog, if I'd watch an episode of Sponge Bob Square pants with him. Oh, well.:) I like that silly creature too. By the way, Sponge Bob is a sponge, his friend Patrick is a starfish.

Sponge Bob time!
Katy
p.s. I have SATs tomorrow! I hope I do well!

Burial at Sea

2010-03-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, a burial at sea is what happened today. Wondering who died,and is now in Davy Jones' locker? Not Noah, VJ, Mom, or Dad, or any relatives, only my two poor fish.....Carly, and Goldy. They died last night or at least Goldy did; Carly had been dead since yesterday morning. I ended up pouring them down my toilet, trust me, I would have been even more pleased to pour them ( with all my fishy sick water) down Noah and VJ's toilet, but that big medium size bowl is WAY to heavy to carry around the house. I'm planning on getting ( this Friday/tomorrow) and beta( BA-TA), which is what Noah has, and is so much cleaner. Just need my allowance! Well, I'll probably need to use a lot of my allowance to pay off my library stuff that is WAY over due!
Just for y'all who have/have had fish, they stink when you have to pour them down the toilet, or just feed them( their food stinks worse).I put my nose to their food( when I had to feed them for the first time) and practically dropped it!
I hadn't really "bonded" with them, so it wasn't like Noah and VJ had to hear me wailing from every corner of the house. I held my breath instead. One of the reasons was that I petted them. And the other reason( for Goldy) is that when I was going to put him/her the new cage, I put the twist tie, on the table and held the bag with he poor things on the bottom of the bag, not near the top. All that water made the bag tip over, and Goldy and A LOT of water spill out onto the floor. ( Carly was okay. still in the bag). I screamed for Noah to scoop the poor thing up, and he did and plopped him in the tank. I, not risking another spill, dumped Carly and the rest of his dirty( already in the bag) water into the tank. Then came the messy job of cleaning up all that dirty fishy water. Eww! Anyway, I lived through that, and may of y'all can see, as I'm posting. Mom thinks that that might have terrified him, a bit,and the fact that I was petting him like an dog. The weird thing is that you don't know how long they've been in the pet store, and how long they already were when they came to the pet store.
Anyway, after all that bad stuff there is a very good part. Mom and I have finished painting two walls , and I hope we'll be able to finish filling in the cracks tonight. By the way, we stayed up past 10pm last night!....SWEET!!! :)

I guess that's it. No more.....yet. I'll see if I can get more pictures of Noah and my betas. I'm not sure how it' exactly spelled, but I believe it's close enough.

Katy

Spring Break....yaaa! and boo.....

2010-03-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

Spring Break! Wow, spring should be just around the corner.........at least I hope so! It seems that winter has been trying to hold on for a while, but spring will defeat it! The "ya!" part is that I'm getting my room painted a nice "aqua haze", and that there is time to play. The "boo" part is that we have to do school. It'll be a tight squeeze this year, but next year, my school won't be at squished..at least I hope so! I'll have Study Hall in LCA next year, Lord willing, so I can do my math in there, along with spelling and whatever else that needs to be done. But we are only doing math and test prep for me, and math and phonics for Noah. VJ has been missing preschool. He asked Mom yesterday, " We go a preschool today, Mommy?". Mom feels sorry for him, but I'm, sure she's missing it, herself, as she really enjoys having him away for four hours. Preschool will be here soon, to VJ and Mom's great enjoyment...but that means SATs for me ( next week) and playing in a room for Noah. One good thing about SATs is that is I do really well in the spelling part of the test, then I won't have to do spelling next year; I'll do Vocabulary in Greek and Latin prefixes instead. Only one subject out and another to take its place.

Also, today, Noah and I each got at least one fish. I got two goldfishes, and Noah got a Bata. i have this medium goldfish bowl,and Noah got this kit( it happens that he only spend $27 something, and I spend over $30) that has a little tank, food,cleaner, gravel, and fake plant. I ended up buying( not choosing a kit) a medium tank, two goldfish, food, and a 5 lb bag of gravel. I have the little things in my room, on a table under my window. When my room is painted( and neat, for Mom), I'll take a picture of it, and then a close up of the fish. We're thinking of putting the tanks in the laundry room so the fish don't get cold, in a house that has me cowering under my covers cause Dad turns it down to 62 degrees or whatever. It'll keep them warmer; it was Noah's idea. Pretty good one.

Well, I guess that's all the news. Tytus is doing fine, so it Aunt Stephanie. I'll email her and see what's new!
Katy

G.O.L.F., Marriage and Children.

2010-03-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

We got home from church today, and when we stepped inside the house, Noah goes,( it's not exactly but it'll work) " Mom, do you know what ' GOLF' stands for?"
Mom said " No."
And Noah replies," It stands for Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden."
I said," Your kidding. Mom, I think he made this up."
And Noah says, " No, my friend Andrew told it to me.
"I said , Maybe he made it up,"
And Mom said," Just let him be.".
I still don't agree with that, but it'll work for the men's bathroom, and possibly Noah's bedroom door....( haha). Guess I've got to think up something for my bedroom door.
To the marriage part: We were in the car, and headed for the gas station, and then to church, when VJ started reciting ( Noah taught him this by saying it over and over) the marriage part of The Princess Bride. He goes, " marriage a dream" ,and then says , " marriage and a fun!" The car became a laughing party, and Dad said that will be a FaceBook worthy quote. I said it'd be a blog quote, and here it is. The real quote, for those of you who haven't see that movie( it's pretty good, execpt some gruesome parts), is this:
' Marriage, marriage is what brings us together, today. Marriage that blessed arrangement as a dream within a dream." The guy, who plays the old man who " marrys" Buttercup and the prince, has this old toddler-like voice, and says things wrong.

Children: Well, church's sermons and our chapel @ LCA are a bit alike. Mr. Swinny( our LCA chapel teacher) said that when your parents discipline you, it because God instructs them to, and because they love you. He said that when you misbehave, that must take the rod and put it to the seat of knowledge. He told a couple of stories. I'll tell you them, the way he told us( act like I'm him):
" I had a bee-bee gun. . Once, I accidentally shot my brother in the back( ouch).
One day, I was carrying the gun in my hand, and I went up to my mother, who was on the couch. She said,' Make sure that thing isn't cocked.'. And I said, ' Nah, it isn't.' My mother said, ' Point it at the ground, and do not pull that trigger.' I didn't listen, and said, ' It's not cocked, Mom.' I pointed it at this big mirror, and pulled the trigger.The bee-bee flew out, and went straight into the middle of the mirror. It didn't shatter, and today you can still see where it went in. I remember running and hiding behind the TV, when my dad came home."

Well, in church today, we were talking about Eph 6: 1-4: " Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. 'Honor your father and mother for this is the first commandment with promise', that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."
He started with the kids, and had first the oldest kids raise their hands( including me), and then the ones with older siblings, and then the ones with out any siblings. Dad was the only one who was a only child....amazing. Mr. William Plott ( our pastor) said that verses 1-3 are commands not optional. You are supposed to obey your parents. When you obey your parents , you are obeying God.And Mr. Plott said that he's not just speaking to the children, everyone is a child, a child of God is they know/believe him. ( By the way, this is the first sermon that I've really listened to, usually I'm play tic-tac-toe,a or something with a friend). For verse four, he said this verse is a do-not and a command. I can't exactly remember all of this, but he said it pretty clearly.

I guess that all. Noah went to District, but didn't win anything; he and Dad haven't see the results yet, which are on the website, or in an email. I'll see if Dad can load up a few of the pictures, and I'll put them on here later.

See y'all! Sorry, Mom, if I'm acting southern....:)

Katy

PJ Day! ;)

2010-03-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

VJ had "PJ day" at preschool today. He got to wear his cozy red-flannel rocket PJ's, and I think he's really enjoyed wearing them. Tomorrow is "pj day" again, for the Mon. Wed. Fri. day kids.Don't I wish I could wear my nightgown all day.....I think I'll try that out on Mom either Mon. or Wed. this next week. I can't wear it Sunday, Tuesday( BSF), Thursday( dance) or Friday( LCA).

Well, I guess that's it. Just felt like posting something. Well, one more thing. I am liking math better( than before). I think Dad's going to like that. And for y'all who don't like math, or anything to do with math, it's not all that bad. Once you get to the difference of that area of a parallelogram, and the area of a triangle...there's a real difference between those two!! I'll tell you...to find the area of a parallelogram, take the base and times that by the perpendicular height....but to find the area of a triangle, take the base,and times that by the perpendicular height, and then divide by 2.

A real difference. Mom and I had gone over that about 5 times, and I still missed it on a test.
Oh, by the way, I have SATs coming up .....I think Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I'm not sure.

Katy

Eye Appointments.

2010-03-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

We had eye appointments yesterday. Noah went too; Mom wanted to make sure that nothing was wrong with his eyes, besides his reading problem. I'm getting my prescription changed( in case you didn't know, I'm near-sighted), just a little bit( who knows what it going to be changed to...).
Anyway, I think that's all. Mom is in need of some help, and I don't blame her...she's had a hard morning/afternoon( homeschooling wears her out, completely...in my eyes).
VJ got a hair cut, and I'll post those pics later.
Katy

Tytus Nathaniel Barton.

2010-03-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

Tytus Nathaniel Barton was born March 2nd at around 2:30 pm. He was 7 lbs. and 13.9 ounces, and 19 1/2 inches. Congrats, to T-Bone and Stephanie!

Tytus, and Mommy ( Stephanie).

Warm and smiley.....

Stephanie ended up having a C-section...something about her cervix not opening up well, and the medicines they gave her to start contractions, made Tytus' heart rate drop...all nurse stuff.....

Anyway, he's home now, and fine. We have a cuzin! ( I know, I spelled that wrong...sorry Mom... ;) ).

If I can get a video on here( didn't work last time...perhaps I did it wrong), then I will. I'll ask Dad later.

Big news:... Noah and I each are probably getting a goldfish. Mom and Dad are fine with it..( cause we're buying it), and Noah and I have always wanted one.

I guess that's all of the big news....I'll see what other things come up...

T-bone took more pictures, but couldn't load them up till he got home( he took the other ones with his cell phone.). When we get some, I'll post them.

Katy

Book Report

2010-02-27T17:29:00.001-08:00

So, I have a book report due in May, for Alabama History in LCA. I'm doing it on Wernher Von Braun. He's a German guy, and really famous for his rockets, and NASA work. I've almost finished reading the first chapter( which is, by the way, about 13 and 1/2 pages long), and it's been pretty interesting. Here's some of it, which I revised :

Wernher was the middle of 3 boys ( their poor mom :( ), and was born March 23,1912 and into aristocracy. His father was a wealthy farmer and minister under the Weimar Republic. Wernher was a charming, and attractive boy , and given to intense but enduring enthusiasms. Wernher was barely 6 when World War II ended. Max Valier made a rocket vehicle, and being inspired by Mr. Valier, Wernher put his brain to work. He put several fireworks to the back of a coaster wagon, and set them all off at once. The wagon went totally out of control,pulling along a comet's tail of fire, but the rockets went past his dreams. But, in the end, Wernher's "rocket" drove through Berlin's most packed thoroughfare, the Tiergarten Strasse, and Wernher, I'm sure, was very scared, but pleased that his rocket car was actually going. Alas, Wernher was arrested, but was released by the Minister of Agriculture, his own father.
Wernher daydreamed about space,and that it might be possible for a man to travel among the planets, and stars( which is true now). He saw himself as a person building rockets, and sending explorers into outer space. Maybe he would even travel in space himself!!
Without knowing it, the young, 13 year old Wernerher Von Braun had just mapped out his future: 44 years later, he would really send explorers to the moon, but he would never make the trip himself. Wernher did grapple( I still can't understand what this is saying)," Building a moon rocket was engineering of high order. Braun realized, after talking with one of his teachers, that building such a thing, would take grapple more seriously than math or anything else."
( I promise I revised this stuff). Ina year, eh had risen to the top of his class in Hermann Lietz School on Spiekeroog Island, in Germany's North Sea. He persuaded the principle to buy a large telescope - a preview of Braun's further study of astronomy.Wernher graduated from high school a year early, and in his final year, his math teacher was taken ill, and Braun, a student himself, was asked to take the teacher's place. He did well, for not one of the students ( including Braun himself) flunked the official math exam at the end of the year. after graduation,Wernher attended the Charlottenburg institute of Technology in Berlin.There, he learned what being a engineer really was like. He was asked to make a iron lump, the size of a child's head, into a cube. After about 5 weeks, he turned the little thing, the size of a walnut, over to the foreman. After measuring the sides, the foreman said, in one word, " Gut!" ( that means good in German.. i know some German)."

OK, I think that's enough. I'm getting a little tired of looking at my book, revising in my head, and typing. I'll do some more in a few days, or so.

Anyway, I hope this book will be finished by the end of March or beginning of April. It has about 146 pages, including preface.

Well, I guess that's it.
See ya later!

"Then Go said " Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."
Genesis 1:6

Katy