Hair-cut Time!

If you've ever seen my dogs you know that they have long black coats. Not the best for Missouri summers. So...........I decided to give my dogs both a haircut! Before we've tried an electric razor thing meant for dogs, but I guess their hair was too thick or something because it didn't work. Last year I gave Joy a terrible hair-cut w/ scissors(one of Dad's clients even asked if she was part poodle! she is NOT!). Today, I started on Joy(w/ scissors again, but hopefully it won't be as bad) and got most of it done. I still have to do her hindquarters, but I couldn't see, so I had to stop. I did the first half on the trampoline, and it's got a LOT of hair on it! I'll hopefully get you some 'before and after' pictures(and maybe half-way in-between) and I'll take one of the trampoline too.

Sisters and Shopping

For those of you who aren't Becky's sister, and who aren't completely lacking in anything that even resembles style, you can't know how truly amazing Becky is. If I ever match, it's because of Becky. (*warning*- totally random) For the end of the year basketball thingy for RHAA, coach had all the girls write something nice about each girl. Either a word that described them, something you remember from the season, whatever. One of my things was most stylish. Becky and I looked at each other like "what?!?!" and it was very hard to stop laughing. I have no idea how I got that one, but the only thing I can come up w/ is that when I play sports, sometimes I wear long socks. I have 2 purple pairs, 1 red, 1 rainbow, 2 yellow, etc. I guess someone likes fun socks as much as I do!=) Anyways......................................before we go anywhere away from home(except for sports) I usually ask Becky for advice on what to wear. She's kinda like my personal fashion advisor.=) The only time I don't ask is when I know whatever I'm wearing matches because she's told me before that it matches. Well, since Becky will be going to college this fall..............................I won't have anyone to tell me what matches. Mom's ok, but I don't like to bug her 'cause she's usually dealing w/ the little kids. Anyways, Becky offered to go through my wardrobe w/ me and tell me what goes together and what you never ever ever ever wear together and fun stuff like that.=/ She also offered to take me shopping because, as it turned out, I had a few things that didn't have anything that went w/ them and I didn't really have any "spring" outfits or shorts(besides sport shorts). So today, Becky took me shopping and we went to 3 thrift stores and Wal-Mart(for flip-flops) and got everything I needed. OK, I didn't really need any more clothes, but I did get ride of some when we went through my wardrobe. THANK YOU BECKY!!!!!!! Love ya sister!=) <3

Isaac

Our family tends to have a game that we play a whole bunch for a while, then we play a different game 37 times in one week and so on. Right now the game is Ticket to Ride. After I finished beating Isaac(he didn't mind, we're on good terms most of the time), he started singing this song he made up which includes the colors of the playing pieces.

The Colors of the Alphabet
Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Black,
These are the colors of the alphabet.
Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Black,
These are the Alphabet colors!

The colors, the colors, these are the Alphabet colors!
These are the colors of the Alphabet,
These are the colors of the alphabet(repeat about 6x)

I really should have gotten a video of it or something, but I have failed. Sorry.=(

Oww

You know what hurts?? Getting a hot glue burn. I was playing around w/ the hot glue gun and a little bit got on the palm of my hand under my pinky/ring finger on my right hand. Also got a little burn on my middle finger on my left hand which I discovered when I just now started typing. Ouch. Of course I probably won't learn from this and I'll be playing w/ hot glue sometime in the near future. Then I'll get burned again and it will hurt awhile then I'll do it again. I've done this several times before, that's how I know. You something else that's fun and I always end up getting burned by?? Making wax balls when the power goes out. I'm sure there's a better way to do it then the way I do it, but........... I just pour a little melted wax(which is super hot) into my hand and shape it into a ball. I go around to different candles and just keep adding wax. Next time you happen to be at my house I can show you the one I made before Mom made me stop.=) I would take a picture of my hot glue burn but it's not very impressive. It definitely hurts though!=) I guess that's what I get for playing w/ hot stuff.

Oh Yeah, School! Oops, Almost Forgot!

Umm, about that. I'm hoping to go up to Michigan again this year to visit my Aunt and Uncle, but I have to finish my school before I can go. I have 3 or 4 weeks to finish 6 or 7 weeks of school. I'm done w/ science, but that's it so far. Of course, you're probably wondering why I'm blogging when I could be doing school. Actually I'm wondering that too. OK, fine. I'll go do school. I hope I don't fall asleep on my book again.......

Random Spotlighted Flowers

While I was wandering aimlessly through the long grass(see previous post) there were some pretty flowers that I took pictures of. Zeke was looking over my shoulder as I edited them and commented," Abby, you use spot-light waaaaay to much!" As I looked back over my pictures I discovered that I do use it a lot. But, in my opinion, it makes the pictures look soooooooo much better! Anyways...........Here are some amazing, spot-lighted pictures!=)

Flowers

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've either been too busy or too tired.=) The Hike was so much fun!! I am finally un-sore!!! Still pretty tired though. Anyways........for those of you who don't know, I play trumpet in Miss Kay's homeschool band.......Last night we had our Star Wars band concert. It was.......interesting. The band played ok. Miss Kay dressed up as Yoda! It was pretty funny. Kinda hard to hear her through the mask though. They were going to show some Star Wars clips on the side of her house w/ a projector, but it wasn't dark enough. So.........we had a 10 min. break to wait for the sun to go down. Kinda strange, but I guess that's Missouri for ya.=) At one point, some of the kids(dressed up as Jedi and other stuff) had a battle. I think everyone ended up dead. It was................indescribable. We carpooled w/ the Hickles though(all 12 seats taken) and that was fun. Except for Zeke and Isaac yelling in my ear the whole way home. But other than that the ride was enjoyable. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures at the concert. O well.

At the cast party(which was really fun), we got the audio CD of PoP(Pirates of Penzance). We've pretty much been listening to it non-stop. Elizabeth loves it! Now she and Isaac have something to dance to and sing along with.

Dad and I have been running almost every morning, but he hurt his calf or something, so we haven't run lately. We did go for a walk in the woods Mon. morning(we jogged part of it). I didn't take my camera that time because I was w/ Dad and wouldn't be able to keep up w/ him. One thing I discovered is that I am terrible at walking(for exercise). I have short legs so I'm super slow. I jog/run slow too, but it's easier to change speed and keep up if you're running or jogging.

Whenever I walk in the woods and around our property(and I'm not trying to keep up w/ someone), I try to remember my camera, because you never know what you'll see! Here are some flower and animal pictures I've taken over the last month or so. Hope you enjoy them!=)

This is a dragonfly I found on our pond.

As I was wandering aimlessly through the long grass in our backyard(don't ask me why, it is kinda fun though), there were a whole lot of butterflies and I finally got an ok shot of one. I love butterflies!=)

Tadpoles!

My Day

Just got home from soccer practice, we got rained out a lot so they extended the season a couple of weeks. Not the best for people going on a 21 mile hike the day before the last games, then playing at a graduation, doing other stuff I can't remember right now, and going to a cast party. O well. We might make it to the first game. Anyways.................Zeke had a baseball game so I got to walk to the baseball field after soccer practice. I forgot to bring other shoes, so I was stuck w/ my cleats. Not the best for walking semi-long distances on concrete. I did seriously contemplate taking off my cleats/shin guards/socks and walking barefoot, but....................I saw a broken bottle and there weren't any nice places to sit in the immediate vicinity, so I suffered in my cleats. It actually wasn't that bad. I almost missed my parents though. I was going to meet them at the game and I got there right as Dad & Zeke were leaving(Mom had already left). We went to Mobil on the Run and got amazing 25 cent slushies. They were good. When we got home dinner was lentils and rice. So good!=) Well I'm going to go wash all the sweat from soccer practice off and go to bed. Good night!

p.s. for those of you who care, I am keeping up w/ my running. In fact, I beat Dad this morning!=) We might extend the run to 3 miles tomorrow, so this might be my last post. It won't be such a bad way to die........=) TTFN! (or forever...)

The Beauty of the Storm

I love storms!! Storms remind me how powerful God is. There's also that felling(unless it's a really really bad storm) that you're safe inside it can't get to you, kind of a cozy feeling. I don't really know how to explain it...of course it's also fun to go out in the storm sometimes.=) So much fun to sing in the rain, and dance too!=)

I tried to get a few pictures, but they're not very good quality. You can't even tell it's raining in some of the pictures. Oh well...

The pond got really full...

We now have a little river running through the yard...

The wind was really strong...

Puddles on the deck...

Water from the roof...

Running!!!

Most of you probably know that I LOVE running. My problem is that I usually don't have enough self-discipline to make myself get up early every day and actually do it. Well I'm on a roll right now.=) I think I've run every morning since Mon. The past 2 days Dad's run w/ me and the dogs always go along.=) I've been using leases for the dogs(for when we meet cars on the road) and they've been doing pretty good. My dad is convinced that, given a year to get in shape/train, he could win the marathon for old people his age next year. Like I said, I love running, but I'm really super slow.... when Dad gets in shape I'm not sure I'll be ale to keep up w/ him....oh, well.......I beat him yesterday!=) Wow, not much of that goes together real well. Anyways, I'm hoping to get in shape for volleyball and because I get depressed when I'm really out of shape. What's really hard is staying in shape during summer(I know, you're probably thinking, "Don't you run around outside all day during the summer? You'd think it'd be easier......."). The problem is that I want to sleep in and by the time I wake up, It's too hot to do any running(for a long time that is...). That will be my goal this summer, to stay in shape(after I get in shape...=)! Oh, I almost forgot!(actually, I did forget but now I remember!) I'm really weird and I don't know if this is normal, but running gives me energy!! Yeah, I'm tired for a few minutes right after I run, but in the long-run it makes me less tired. If I don't run for a long time I get really tired and lazy.=( Anyways, time to go babysit!

So Tired

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am really tired right now. And what's really frustrating, is that I can't seem to be able to take naps. I think my problem is that whenever I do try to sleep, as soon as I lie down I start THINKING!!! I guess it's because I'm not doing anything else, but it's really annoying. What would be amazingly nice is if I could stop time in the middle of the night and sleep for about a week. I might be rested after that....maybe. So for those of you who will see me in the near future....I apologize in advance for being dead(or very close to death).