Back to Normal . . .

     With Christmas break over, things have gone back to the normal routine with school and church functions. The break was nice and we had a great time in PA, but I'm glad to be back home now and back to "normal."

Speaking of normal, I found this quote on a friend's pinboard on Pinterest, and it kinda cracked me up. =D

Also on pinterest, I found all kinds of cool ways to braid your hair! And Bethany volunteered to be my guinea pig! (Well, actually I volunteered her to be my guinea pig...)

They didn't turn out great... certainly not as good as they looked online, but it was fun.

A waterfall braid... I don't think I did it right. I think you're supposed to do only one braid around the side and I did one on each side...? Beth wasn't crazy about it, and neither was I. Looked much better in the picture.

She wasn't too crazy on this one either and, once again, I don't know if I did it right. I think I made the bun too high.

She liked this one the best, though this time I should have made the bun higher!! (Just can't get it right! =D)

But it was only my first try so, oh well. =D

So have any of you all done anything interesting this week besides the "normal?"

Happy New Year

Over the past few days here in Pennsylvania, we have gotten almost a foot of snow. We are enjoying it, although not everyone else is. =D The white scenery is beautiful...

Yesterday morning Beth, Daniel, Pap, and I went out for a snowball fight!

Then yesterday afternoon Gram and Pap took us bowling. (We also met up with some friends there, so that was fun!) Unfortunately, none of us did very well, but we still had a good time!

Did any of you all stay up til midnight to see the beginning of the new year? We don't usually but, this year (er... last year, haha) we did. Mom and Dad said we were crazy and went to bed. The rest of us stayed up... well, most of us stayed up. Pap and Daniel fell asleep. =D Then at midnight Pap, Beth, and I (we couldn't wake Daniel) went outside to begin the year with a bang! lol! Pap got the shotgun and I used the 22! =D

then Beth took a turn with the 22. (This was the only picture that didn't turn out dark.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

Merry Christmas!

We left for our grandparents Monday morning. It started snowing as we were going through Virginia, but it was just lightly snowing and the roads weren't slippery. 

light snow during the trip

 Nate got a hold of my camera and took some goofy pics of himself. =D

 Although it hadn't been snowing up there before, we seemed to carry the snow with us to our destination. It barely covered the ground that evening, but Daniel and Andrew (our cousin) wanted to build a snowman anyway.

a rather small snowman =D

Grandma' Christmas lights

Andrew being cute

Bethany thought Pap needed some extra hair =D

 On Christmas morning we had a late breakfast then, after clean-up, gathered in the living room for the Christmas story.

Pap reading the Christmas story

We then sang a couple Christmas songs with Nate accompanying on the guitar...

... and proceeded to open our gifts.

 Lunch/supper was absolutely delicious! We had turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, corn, stuffing, gravy, homemade bread, and red beets. (I think that's it... =D)

from right to left: Pap, Daniel, Nate, Aunt Jane, Uncle Time, Dad, Mom, Gram, and Bethany (Andrew was napping, and I'm taking the picture.

And had a good many pies including: cherry, blueberry, pumpkin, maple nut, and lemon meringue. And yes, they were scrumptious!!

Aunt Jane dishing up some pie for Dad

 After lunch Dad, Pap, Nate, Uncle Tim, and I went out to shoot guns, which we do every year (Bethany shoots sometimes too, but she didn't care to this time. Daniel likes to shoot the 22 pistol sometimes, but is afraid of the noise of bigger guns. Got to cure that boy if he ever wants to hunt! =D). We can't shoot much at our house, so we often bring our guns up here to shoot.

While Christmas is a fun time to get together with family and exchange gifts, let us not forget the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ!

Happy Birthday, Bethany!

Bethany turned thirteen on Saturday, Dec. 23rd. Leah, a friend from church, came over and spent the night Friday.

Leah and Beth

 We were going to have a cookout for her birthday meal, but it was cold and windy. So she decided on stromboli instead.


blowing out her thirteen candles

opening her gifts--She got a travel mug, a shirt, some pens and pencils she'd wanted, a necklace, and a couple soft blankets. (I think I remembered them all).


I hope you all are having a very Merry Christmas! We are having a fabulous time at my grandparents. Will be posting pictures later!!

Gingerbread Houses

You can't beat a tradition that is both fun to do and fun to eat! =D We've been making gingerbread houses every year around Christmastime for about twelve years now, and it is an unbreakable tradition!!

no store-bought kit is as good as home-made gingerbread!

 Let the building begin!

Dad helped Daniel out on his house

the architects at work =D

front of Daniel's house

back of Daniel's house

Bethany's house (front)

Bethany house (back)

My house (front)

(back)

Nate's house (front)

(back)

And we can already attest to the fact that they taste even better than they look! =D

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

...but it doesn't seem likely!! Though the weather is getting cooler now, the last couple weeks have been in the 60s! I hope there will be some snow when we go up to PA, though.

We've had our Christmas decorations up for a while now... I've just been too lazy to post them! =D But I figured that the fall decor on the blog was going out of season. =D So anyway, here are a few pics of some of our Christmas decorations:

our little tree. I sometimes wish we could get a real one--they're so pretty and smell so good--but several places I clean have real trees, and it's very annoying when tons of needles fall off whenever you brush against it...especially when you're trying to clean the floor!! =D

this is what I WISH our tree looked like through the living room window.... frosted with snow! =D