Yippee!!!

My Aunt and Uncle bought me this wonderful new Janome sewing machine!! No more handmade projects! YAY!!!

Just look at all those stitch designs! AND, it has 3, count 'em, 3 button holes!

I love this thing. LOVE.

Christmas morning, sleepy dogs, and curly hair

Merry AFTER Christmas everyone!!! Oh my word. I can't believe how longs it's been since I've posted! Insane.

As I do every year, my parents and I drove down to Columbus OH to spend Christmas with Aunts, Uncles, and cousins..........

We opened presents in the morning :)

Which tired the dogs right out :)

Yup. That's me! Erin, Queen of the dogs!

Sweet Sophie :) My cousin's puppy. She was so tired, she fell asleep in the usual puppy fashion.....wherever she happened to be at the moment, which was right on top of Kody's head :) So cute!!!

I curled my hair with the spiral curling iron I got for Christmas from my mommy and Daddy! Yay!! I love it :) ♥

Merry Christmas everyone, and a happy new year to all the world!

Christmas Carol 2011

In September, I auditions for "A Christmas Carol" as usual. This year, I sang "On my own" from Les mis(love that song!!!!)

No surprises there, until I got a call back, and they asked me to be Martha Cratchet!!!!!! WHAT'S UP! Yay!!!!!! I was so excited, I'm still a little excited, actually :).

My mom auditioned, too, and she got a part in the Chorus, which is exactly what she wanted. She's going to wear the blue dress I made two years ago, and she looks great in it :)

~Erin ♥

PS
I have yet to bring my camera to a rehearsal....I believe it's time for a change, don't you?

Manicures

Yesterday my mom and I got manicures as a super-dy duper-dy late birthday present{for me} Neither of us had ever done that before, and let me tell you, it was GREAT!!!! I never really understood the appeal of manicures before yesterday{other than the obvious:looks. Not overly important to me} But then I saw my nails, now I'm a believer!!!!

My mom's polish has been described as pixie dust. I tend to agree

The lady who did my nails described my color as so hot it burns!!! {LOL}


I'm officially a fan of manicures!!!!

History night

Not too long ago, my homeschool group held what we call "History night". Basically, each child will pick a time period{or specific person/event in history} and create an elaborate report on that topic. I say elaborate, because it's not just an essay, it's a display board, food, costume, and sometimes, a skit. The whole thing is pretty big, and I think this year's history night was the best we've ever had.........and that's saying a lot! Two years ago, I had a mini drive-in movie theatre as part of my report. Cool, right?

Amelia Earhart

The 1950's

Annie Oakley

The wright brothers

Anastasia Romanov

Eleanore Roosevelt

Cowboys

Daniel Boone

Plantation life during the Civil war

See what I mean about it being elaborate? The girl who did the 1950's had an ice cream shop, complete with laminate checkerboard flooring, swing music, and, of course, ICE CREAM!!!! And the little wright brother would twirl his little painted on mustache while he talked {AWWWW!}
Annie Oakley showed me and entire show of her shooting tricks, finishing with the one where she is riding her horse and shoots a moving target while she herself is moving. The kids really went all-out this year. I was very impressed!!!

Happy anniversary

For this week's Inspirational Monday, I shall share with you a short video. This is my favorite scene from my favorite episode of the Cosby show, Starring Comedian Bill Cosby. Full episode upon request.

In this episode, called "Happy anniversary", Heath-Cliff Huxtable and his family are celebrating his parents' 49th anniversary with a very special{and entertaining} gift.

In which we get snowed in

Snow. The world is covered in snow. And ice. The trees a coated with it, and the power lines are heavy with snow. So far, my house retains power, but that is not the case with many in the surrounding areas. So, no going anywhere today. yeah.{she said listlessly}

A walk down memory lane...part 2

To continue.........

My dad took these pictures of my sister, who now has two kids of her own. I think they look like something from a parenting magazine, don't you? I mean, they're so clear and cute!!!! That poor cat. LOL

This is me. I'm just a few weeks old here.



This HAS to be one of my favorite baby pictures. See? I was a camera hog from birth, and I can prove it! LOL


Me again, a few months old. I think there are a thousand pictures of baby me playing with the top of my bottle. My mom says she would take the top off that thing and I would sleep with just the lid of my bottle. :)

My brother, sister and I for a family photo.


This is me and my mom when I was, oh, I think about 2.


In our old house, there used to be a gigantic tree in our front yard that would shed so many leaves, I'm surprised it didn't tip over with the weight of them! One year, my dad built me a huge leaf pile, and I jumped in. I think I was about 6.



And that concludes our walk down my lane of memories!!! I hope you enjoyed it!

~Erin

A walk down memory lane....part 1

Well, really, it's a first-time walk for you guys, because they're my memories{some of them}. My dad and I were going through our endless boxes of pictures earlier, and we had a great time laughing at all the awkward perms and "baby's first bath" pictures of my brothers and sisters. I had so much fun, I just had to share some of my discoveries with you!!!

These are my grandparents{my mom's parents} I really love this picture, mostly because of my grandma's dress and my grandpa's making a funny face!

Baby mommy. As I look at it, I really see myself here. But you can be the judge of that!

One of my aunt's graduation. My mom is the short one in the blue dress.

This is my dad. Isn't he handsome, with his bow tie? I don't know how old he is here, maybe 12 or 13?

That's my dad in the middle, considerably older. Hee, hee!


And this is my dad with my mom. They look great together, no?

This is my big brother. He's 27 now, or, at least he will be in a few months. Isn't he so cute?! I love my big bro!!


This is a family shot,minus me, because I wasn't born yet, and my other brother and sister, but I don't know why. Can you see my mom peeking through in the back?


This is a camping trip the family wnet on{without me, cuz I wasn't born yet}, and, apparently, my father was pretending to be an ax murderer while my brother played the victim, and my mom documented it. yup.

An outing

Tomorrow night, my mom and I are going to a local old school theatre, called the Valentine, to see Casablanca. I'm really excited about going! The Valentine has been having classic movie nights for the past month, and, excepting Gone with the wind and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, I haven't missed one!


I have seen every move the Valentine is showing before, but being in a vintage theatre, sitting in a box seat reminiscent of "The Phantom of the opera", eating popcorn and candy bars that cost a total of $2, just seems to make everything better.

I'll take my camera with me, and get some pictures, if you would like to see them!

~Erin

A man and his pie

This his how my father eats his pie. The problem is, he often can't find his pie under all that whipped cream.......

Just a trim

The other day, my dad trimmed his beard. I thought I'd post pictures, because of what it looked like before. It's pretty spectacular!


Before:




After



Really different, right?

A voyage on the Dawn Treader

Yesterday, my parents and I saw the new Narnia Movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia:The voyage of the Dawn Treader" and I must say.........AWESOME!!!!! For all you Narnia book fans, you will be satisfied, I think. I know I was! Having remembered the great disappointment that was Prince Caspian{The last movie} I was less than excited to see the newest installment of C.S. Lewis's popular series. I went into the theatre prepared for a good movie, but not for the Voyage of the Dawn Treader!! I was very plesently surprised, to tell you the truth. They stayed true to the story, while still making a good, action-packed movie for all ages.


But before I talk more about the movie, I would just like to point out a few things about the actors themselves. First, Lucy and Edmond, oh, how they've grown! Look how cute Georgie was in the first movie!!!



And look at her all growed up, and looking mightily like her older sister, Rachel, who, incidently, played Lucy all-grown-up in the first film.


Now, let's look at Edmond, who, in the first film, was not only a snot of an older brother, but the actor was only 13!!!

Huh, that's funny. He has the exact same look on his face!!! {LOL}




And, let me just say.....Eustace, Oh. my. WORD.

Doesn't he just look so sour? I swear, the moment I saw this kid on the screen, I was in love. I mean, seriously! The boy was the bestest Eustace EVER! I hated him for being so annoying, but at the same time, I was in full admiration for his acting ability{Well, I hope he was acting, because I don't think I'd like to know him in real life, that is, until after he becomes a dragon} I would seriously go see that movie again, just for him. No lie.

Now, for those of you who don't already know, I thought I'd give a little summary of the film:




The film is set three years after the events of the previous film in Narnia, and one year in England. The two youngest Pevensie siblings, Edmond and Lucy, are transported back to Narnia along with their cousin Eustace Scrubb. They join the new king of Narnia, Caspian, in his quest to rescue seven lost lords in order to save Narnia from a corrupting evil in the form of a sinister green mist that resides on a dark island. Each character is tested as they journey to the home of the great lion Aslan at the far end of the world. Lucy wants to be beautiful, like her sister. Edmund still has that nagging feeling about what he could have been with the White Witch, and Caspian is doubting his abilities as King, and wishing his father was there to help.Along the way, the children meet invisible one-legged people called Dufflepuds, Eustace gets turned into a dragon, and Caspian meets a star named Lilliandil, daughter of the great Ramandu. Can Aslan help the Pevencies and Caspian overcome their temptations, or will the mist destroy them all?


In short, go see this movie. It's worth it.

~Erin