Catching Up

Wow, as I am sure you can tell, I am not very good at this whole blogging thing. Elizabeth seems to be on it a whole lot more that I am.


December is always a crazy month and I am quickly becoming overwhelmed, especially when Henry is gone. The kids are now off school for "winter break" (I still call it Christmas vacation!) for 2+ weeks. Fun Fun Fun!

This picture was taken 2 weeks ago. Lizzy had a Christmas orchestra concert at a local mall. After the concert, the kids wanted to see santa, but the best we could do was take a picture in front of his workshop - he was gone for lunch or something.

Poor little (I use that term loosly) Nicholas had his tonsils and adenoids taken out last Monday. He has been a great sport. He has been miserable but has done very little complaining. In the 7 years that Nick has been alive, I have never seen him so still for so long. He has been so mellow for a whole week now. My poor bear!!

Yesterday I was feeding everyone else breakfast while Nicholas was still sleeping. I heard a huge thud and ran to Nick's room, thinking he fell out of the bed or something. He was sound asleep. I went outside to investigate, thinking maybe something fell on the roof. Nope . . . it wasn't the roof . . . well, not the roof of the house that is. A huge limb from one of our trees was on the roof of the van!! Merry Christmas huh?? I guess for my Christmas present this year we will be fixing the van. Fun stuff.

The Poll

Those are some pretty good votes for who's funnier, but, how come no one has voted for poor Matthew and Zach?!?! (And me?!?!?) Oh, FYI, Jason is a pretty funny baby...

You guys have until December 31 to vote, and I will allow you to vote more than once, so vote, vote, vote! (for me!)

Sorry!!!!

Sorry I haven't put chapter 6 on the blog yet! I have gotten lots of complaints, so I will post it very soon! (I was banned from the computer for a week, And, I lost the story!!!! AAAAHHH!) As, soon as I find the story ASAP, I will blog it!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 5

As we kept on driving, I thought to myself, Why does this guy have me kidnapped? How come the police are everywhere today? Where in the world is mom? I had been thinking these thoughts over and over again in my head. That is until I jerked forward - practically shooting off my seat. Then - just as fast as I shot off, I shot back. Again- does this guy have a license?! Besides Andrew's license? Anyway; I searched for the end of my seat belt while the man kept shouting, "Come on! Lets get a move on!" I finally found my seat belt and and let it quietly click out. Once I got out of the car, I stood in front of an old, rickety, cabin. Some of the roof's shingles were missing, the windows were gray and foggy - some of them shattered - , and the door was nothing but a screen door that had lost one of it's hinges. The rest of the house was full-out covered in holes.

"Nice house," I teased sarcastically. The man just grumbled.

We stepped on the porch - which almost split under our weight - then the man opened the door with a loud screeeeeeeech! Inside was ten times as scary as the outside and two times as scary as a haunted house! There were clothes scattered everywhere, old, rotten food lie on a water stained table - that looked as if it had broken, and got sealed together with duct tape - there was bits and scraps of newspaper strewn all over the floor, and the rest I'd rather not discuss.

"Um, try to make yourself at home." the man said, sounding somewhat shocked, as if he didn't notice that his house was a total pigsty until now. The man headed toward the refrigerator. "Looks like I'm all out of food. I'm gonna go to the grocery store. You stay here and uh, be good. Okay sweetie?"

"Sweetie?! I'm fourteen!"

"Oh, did I say sweetie? I, I meant uh, kid. I guess. Sorry, I used to have a kid. But, then I lost him, no, her, Ugh! It! I lost it! That was years ago, though."

"Uh-huh," I said blankly.

The door screeched close. Man, this place was a comeplete pigsty! Something just had to be done! (Ping!) Well, The dude's gone, I'm alone and I'm queen neatness, let's see what I can do here...

Chapter 4

Why on Earth were those police cars chasing us?! Man, I don't know what's up with all the sirens and police cars today, but it sure is starting to freak me out!

"Duck, kid! Lay down on the seat!" the man demanded, sounding panicky.

"Why?" I asked. I was starting to cry.

"Ugh! Listen to me! Just lay down and cover yourself with whatever you see back there! And quickly!

I was sobbing by now. This guy must be a criminal! The car, the police, me being kidnapped, EVERYTHING! This freak must have broken out of jail, or something close to that! My point is, I have to find a way to escape without this freakazoid knowing!

(Man, I seriously need to come up with a name for this guy 'cause I have given him like twenty names already!) Anyway; Back to topic!

I immediately found a quilt and bunched it over my body so it looked like there was just a piled, bunched up heap in the backseat.

We finally pulled over, or it felt like we did. I poked an eensy, weensy, little hole into the quilt so I could peek through it. I saw the man putting on a fake mustache and big, squarish, 80's sunglasses. Oh, man! He looked like Billy Ray Cyrus, when he's dressed up on Hannah Montana! Boy, is that dorky!? A cop was heading towards the car.

"May I see a license, please?" the cop asked. The man handed the cop Andrew Johnson's license. Andrew had on the exact same mustache and sunglasses in his picture. This man must have looked at the license ahead of time and observed the picture. Oh, so clever! This cop was pretty dang stupid to fall for that! I mean, come on! This dude looked nothing like Andrew Johnson! The police man took the license to his car for a minute. Once he came back, he asked the man to get out of the car for a moment. The police officer started talking to the man. I heard the door slam shut. I took the quilt off my body. I was sweating and my face was red. Man, that quilt would definitely keep you warm at night! You'd probably comfortable for only at least an hour, even if you were extremely cold! I saw the man with a piece of paper tucked in between his fingers. I had to think and observe for a minute. Well, the police had to talk to him, he was going pretty dang fast, hmmm, it's a ticket! The police were chasing us, this guy zoomed, I had to hide under a roasting quilt, and the moment got all dramatic, for this guy to get a speeding ticket?!?! Oh my gosh! How stupid!

Honors Orchestra

Okay, I might post a lot of stuff on here bragging about how smart and talented I am if you don't mind :) Anyway; So, On Thursday of last week, I auditioned for something called Honors Orchestra, which is a very, VERY good and advanced orchestra for 5th graders. I hadn't practiced at ALL the week before and knew that I just wouldn't make it - because obviously the piece of music I had to play was advanced - so, when Ms.Paule (the orchestra director) called me to audition, I started panicking and doubting myself. While I was playing the piece, I, of course thought that I was playing very badly. But, when I finished, I miraculously made it into Honors! I can't explain to you how shocked I was that I made it in. To make the moment even more shocking, Ms.Paule said that I had played amazingly! So, there is some sort of a moral in this amazing story, too. #1. Uh, always practice anything that may be unexpected. And, #2. Never doubt yourself, especially when you're really good at something.

I Think I Have Let the Suspense Build Long Enough . . .

Chapter 3

The gas station looked like an old, abandoned, shaft actually.It looked somewhat familiar , too. I think I used to go here all the time as a little girl when it was a, hmmm, what was it? Bingo! Now I remember! It used to be a very popular ice cream parlor. The wacko was heading back towards the car. I quickly smacked the blindfold on my face again. Ow! I gotta stop doing that! My face will turn red if I don't stop! Yikes! The man got into the car.

"Hey, kid!" the man exclaimed, his voice sounding a lot like my dad's. You know, low and sort of scratchy. But that's impossible. My dad was put in jail ten years ago when I was four. It couldn't have been my dad. Unless, neh! "Hey kid!" the man repeated."Do you like ice cream?"

"Do I like what?" I questoined.

"Like ice cream. Do you like ice cream?" the man asked.

"Depends on what kind. Why do you need to know?"

"Just hold out your hands."

I reached out my hands. I touched something soft and sticky. "What is this stuff?" I asked, sort of grossed out.

" Well, take off the blindfold!" the man demanded, really annoyed. "captain obvious" I heard him grumble under his breath.

I pretended to take off the blindfold.

"It's mint chocolate chip, your favorite," the man said, offering me an ice cream cone.

I took the ice cream out of the man's giant hands. The man's hands were the size of my dad's, too! Strange! Anyway; As I took the ice cream cone, I said," How'd you know mint chocolate chip was my favorite flavor in ice cream?" I asked suspiciously.

The man's eyes widened. " Uh, wild hunch?"

"Hmmm, I'll let that slide this once." I replied. "So, uh, why do you have me? You know, like, kidnapped? Do you need to get hooked up with someone? It looks like you could seriously use some company! Trust me, I'm an expert." I giggled. The man just glared at me and growled. "Sorry! No need to take offense!" I said quickly before he reacted to any of those words.

"Listen kid! It's best that you don't mess with me, okay?!"

"y, y, (cough) yes sir!" I stammered.

" I have you because, well, I need you 'cause, hmmm, how can I explain this to you with out totally giving away the whole thing?" the man asked, with suspense.

"Totally giving what away?"

"Ugh! Oh, just forget it! Sit back, relax, enjoy the ride, an eat your ice cream!"

Two, no, three things. 1. How can I enjoy the ride when I'm with a complete stranger?! 2. This guy is acting more and more dumb than he already is whenever I ask a simple question! And 3. Are those police cars on our tail?!?!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Thunderbirds!

Henry was actually home this weekend so we took the kids to the Air Show at Scott Air Force Base. Everybody thouroughly enjoyed it, except for Marky who is very noise sensative! Although, after it was over he couldn't stop talking about how cool it was - nevermind the fact that he cried the whole time. Watching the Thunderbirds is not a great place to be if you don't like noise!

I explained to Mark that he is not allowed to be noise sensative when his daddy is a pilot. Needless to say, he had earplugs and his hands over his ears the entire time.

Jason totally loved it - as you can see from his smile in the picture below. The only time it bothered him was when one of the jets snuck up from behind and scared us all to death. Other than that, he was smiles the whole time.

Basically we had a great time hanging as a family and the best part - it wasn't 120 degrees with humidity! We all know how much I love being hot . . . not!!!

Class Rep votes...

So, you guys may not have known this, but I was running for Student Council president earlier this year. I thought that I'd win, but I didn't. So, I thought I should run for class rep. I pretty much thought I knew that I wasn't gonna win. But, it was a pretty fun opportunity. so, a funny part was that there was a three-way tie between me and the two other candidates three times. Then, one of the candidates got enough votes to win. After that, the other candidate and I both had a tie two times. Then the last time we could vote, my teacher made the moment to see who'd win all suspensful. Then, to my surprise, I won! I was so proud of myself. (I bet it was my extra awesome speech!)

The Story Continues . . .

Well, we have let the suspense fester long enough. Here is the much awaited 2nd chapter to Lizzy's story . . .

Chapter 2

I just ignored the man and tried to calm down. Then, as quick as a snap, I feel a quivery hand on my shoulder. I dash around to see the wacko that had just been standing outside 5 seconds ago! He went right up in my face and he blindfolded me. I started screaming for help until his filthy hands covered my mouth. I didn't dare open my mouth. Who knows where his hands have been?!

The man took me out to his car. Well, I am almost positive he did. I was blindfolded of coarse, so I couldn't tell. But anyone can use common sense can't they? All of the sudden, I jerked forward. "Yep, I'm in the car. Jeez! When did this guy get his license? Does he even have a license?" I thought to myself.

I found a way to untie the blindfold from my head. I felt a sudden jerk again. We had stopped. "Yes!" I whispered, extremely quiet. I had gotten the blindfold off. The man peeked back. I smacked the blindfold over my eyes and leaned my head back against the seat so it would at least look like the blindfold was at least covering my eyes from any lights.

After the man had gotten out of the car, I immediately swiped the blindfold off my face. I scanned the location. I was pretty sure we were at an old gas station near the edge of town. Hey, wait just a darn second. This car looked just like the Johnson's car.

The Johnson's were my best friends who lived on my street. They were like a second family to me. They picked my up from school and took me to their house when my mom was at work. They watched me , took me fun places and all that sort of stuff.

Hey! This was the Johnson's car! This man is such a thief! But, I saw the Johnson's with their car before school this morning. Not after school though. Weird. The Johnson's only have one car, so they of coarse take it everywhere.

A Preview . . .

Elizabeth has been writing a story just for fun (she does not have a title yet, maybe you could give us some suggestions). Here is the beginning:

Chapter 1:

It all started when my mom was half an hour late picking me up from school. "This isn't like her," I thought very carefully to myself. I was getting a little spooked. Normally my mom was always ontime picking me up.

"Uh-oh!" I murmured quietly to myself. I saw 4 police cars racing as fast as high-spped race-cars heading towards my street.

I was thinking horrible thoughts in my head. My blood was boiling, and my heart raced nearly as fast as those police cars.

My street was rather, as some people call it, scrawny. On the other hand, very narrow and definitely vacant. Only about 3 families live there. A few lonely people here and there, but not your average subdivision. Our street wasn't the most enjoyable place on earth, not very much activity took place there. The only people who did live there seemed to be pretty friendly.

I couldn't stand any more suspense. All I could focus on were my thoughts: "Is mom okay? Did a police chase start? Is everyone secure?" And my biggest one: "What's going on and will we survive?" I was paralyzed with fear.

Finally my car, or something that looked close to my ride pulled up. Actually, to tell you the truth, this car looked like it was taken out of the junkyard compared to my families car!

Some wierdo stepped out of the car, made eye contact with me, and signaled for me to go into his car. I wasn't so sure about this after seeing those police cars race towards my street, and hearing some police cars actually drawing near. I didn't think getting in this wacko's car would work out for me - or anyone!!

Getting Started . . .

Lizzy wanted to start a blog together, so here we go . . . be prepared though, her writing is much better than mine. I am new at this, Lizzy is the brains behind it all :) Wish us luck.