Happy New Year!

I am wishing all of my blogger buddies best wishes and a happy new year! We really have no big plans tonight, just hanging with the fam, since we are all just getting over the bug. Well, I did some research, and these are what I found to be the top ten reasons to have a Happy New Year...

10. OK to wear funny hats

9. No more TV holiday specials

8. All visiting relatives go home

7. Mall Santas are history

6. Finally get to dump dried out xmas tree

5. Only 3 more months till spring

4. Get to return bad xmas gifts

3. Leftover turkey finally gone

2. Football season almost over

AND THE #1 REASON TO HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR IS...

YOU'RE STILL HERE!! :)

What is something that?

Well, this entry was posted on 2 of my favorite blogs (Life with Lily Lyn and The Jade Road) so I guess I'll give this one a try. Why don't you do post this too? Tag, you're it..... Becky, Beth, Mom, Mr. Brian, Pam, and Verna. :) So.......
What is something that?

Always makes you giggle? When our class has a substitute teacher and we all goof around and play pranks on them the whole hour. It's so much fun!
Always makes you mad? When people judge me for what I have or when people flat out lie to me.
Always makes you cry? When I try really hard but don't succeed. :( (maybe on a big test, sports event, etc.)
Always cheers you up? When my little sister sees that I'm sad and says, "Sissy sad but I love you," and gives me hugs and kisses.
Always makes you frustrated? When problems are put on tests or quizzes that were never taught by the teacher in class or were said to not be on there. I HATE that!
Always makes you hungry? The smell of nice, freshly baked cookies.
Always makes you tired? When my friends and I have sleepovers the night before and stay up all night.
Always makes you sick? Well, if you mean sick to my stomach then having to talk or perform in front of a large group of people. I just get so nervous.
Always makes you fall down? When I wear shoes that are too big or tall.
Always makes you nostalgic? Well, since I have no clue what that means, I don't know.

Sophia's new Christmas present

One of the Christmas presents I got Sophia was a chef outfit/set. Since we all know how much she enjoys baking she totally loved it! Of course, in these pictures we are once again making brownies, but I wanted to share these cute pics. with you all. She thought she was just the whip in this little outfit! What do you think? :) (Oh and by the way, whoever the anonymous person is that keeps leaving me comments needs to come clean! It's driving me crazy!)

My Christmas

Well, I had a great Christmas! On Christmas Eve my older brothers and sister came home and we had a nice dinner and opened presents. Later that night we all went to the latenight service at our church which was very nice I might add. Christmas morning I was woken up very early (around 8:00) by my very excited little sister! She came in and started jumping and wiggling all around on my bed. I wasn't even going to try to argue with that cute little face. I just got up and headed downstairs. She was so excited to open all of her presents. It took us an 1 1/2 to get all of the presents opened but we had a fun time! Later in the afternoon my Oma, Opa, and my two Aunts Corrie and Ingrid came over to exchange presents and just hang out. It was really nice to see my Oma and Opa since they live in Marshall which is a ways away and we don't get to see them as much as we'd like. Well, we spent the rest of the night just chillin and playing with our new presents. Here are some of the cool things I got.....a PSP, 2 Coach purses (1 from my parents and 1 from my Oma), Sweats and PJ's from Victoria Secret, Scapbooking supplies, clothes from Abercrombie and Limited Too, lots of cool bags and purses, DVD's, giftcards, and yeah all that good stuff!! :) It was an awesome Christmas!! Hope you all had a great one too!!

Christmas Disaster

As many of you already know from reading my mom's blog everyone has kinda got the bug over here at our house. But, we are very worried about Daniel. This morning my parents left with him to head to the hospital while I was put in charge of my little sister. So much for a great first Christmas for Baby Daniel!! Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Favorite Photo Friday

With all of the busyness around the holiday season I just haven't had time to post! I've had tons of homework and tests and a lot of wrapping and shopping to do! Yesterday the whole 7th grade went on a field trip to the movies, my friends and I all saw Unaccompanied Minors. It was really cute! Since the 6th and 8th graders went on their field trips today the 7th grade just had a fun/free day. We played board games, games on the computers, and hung out in the gym. It was pretty fun! I will definitely miss hanging with all my buds over break! Well, I've kinda noticed that I haven't posted really any pictures of Daniel on my blog, so for "Favorite Photo Friday" I will show him off! Although I don't really spend much time with him right now because he is still really young and sensitive I still love him. Growing up I always wanted a little brother or sister. When I was younger I didn't understand that my parents couldn't have any more children and would get angry with them for not giving me a little brother or sister. We talked about adoption a little when I was in 3rd grade but never thoroughly considered it! But, when I was in 5th grade we went to an adoption meeting at Bethany Christian Services and decided we were called and needed to adopt. Well then I finally got my wish, doubled, and I have two little siblings. Though I so totally love Sophia I am really excited to see Daniel grow up and see if there is a resemblance to the two of us. Everyone says we look exactly alike and he looks like me when I was a baby! :)

Baking Brownies

I know I posted about baking cookies with Sophia last week but I couldn't resist not posting these pictures. Well anyway, every weekend we always do something extra special when mom and dad go out- baking, playing outside, or making crafts. For both of us baking is the favorite activity. So, when I took out all the packages and let Sophia pick which one she wanted to bake of course she picks the m'n'm brownies-the most chocolaty. She helped me get out all the utensils and pour in the ingredients, but when it came to pouring it in the pan and sprinkling on the m'n'ms I thought I had better do that. So when I wasn't looking she took the spoons and just shoved them in her mouth and ran her fingers through the bowl to get the left over batter. It was hilarious and she was just a mess, as you can see in these pictures. When I brought her into the bathroom to wash up and she saw herself in the mirror she just started cracking up! Of course I had her all cleaned up before mom and dad came home or I know the sight wouldn't have been pretty.

Favorite Photo Friday

Well, through all of the stress and busyness I just remembered today is Friday, Favorite Photo Friday, and I need to post one of my favorite pics. We are having a big fundraiser right now for Children's Miracle Network at my school, and being the secretary of the student council I am in charge of dealing with all the money and organizing, which has been keeping me very busy. From missing so much class, I have a lot of homework on top all all of the projects we are working on before the break. So anyway, this is just a picture of me this past summer when I traveled to Euope. This when we were walking through the gardens in the city of Capri, Italy. When we were here, we also saw some of the most famous hotels, took a hike to one of its highest points to be able to see the whole city, and went on a boat ride to see many mountains and caves in the Mediterrean Sea. Since I can't really just take pictures of myself everyday to post I'll probably sometimes just post some of my favorite photos of me traveling to different places. :)

A Few of My Favorite Things

Ok so I've been tagged which means I have to take part in this. So, here's my list of a few of my favorite things...

1. 1. Spending time and going places with my family 2. Hanging out and talking with friends 3. SHOPPING 4. Clothes, shoes, and accessories 5. Chocolate and ice-cream 6. Soccer, tennis, swimming, and playing lots of other sports 7. Traveling, especially to other countries 8. Listening to music 9. Mexican food 10. Baking

Sisters Forever!!!

Well last night Sophia insisted on hanging out and chillin with her sis. Since I knew I needed to clean my bedroom and bathroom I thought it would be a good idea to do, since I had a little helper who could lend me some assistance. Apparently I thought wrong! When I tried to clean up and put things away in our bathroom, that we share, she kept getting back out all her hair clips and would beg me to do her hair. Well, you can't really say no to your cute little sister who is asking you nicely to do her hair, but of course I had to clean everything up when we were done. Then when we moved on to my bedroom I guess she just decided some of the stuff didn't belong because she would take stuff and chuck it down the staircase. When I told her to stop she said, "Oh no, opps." ;) After that, she started to help me a little by handing me my shoes to put away or clothes to hang up. I wish I always got that excited when I had to help clean! After all the work, we decided we needed to have a little fun, so we turned up the music and jumped and danced around on my bed. When the song "I'm Walking on Sunshine" came on Sophia kept singing "Sunshine, ooooo." It was soo cute. We had such a fun time and by the end of the night we were both pooped. To hear the screams and giggles coming from the two of us the whole night just melted my heart and brought back the memory of going to get her. I just love her so much and am so thankful that God has made all my hopes and dreams come true! My mom said as her and Sophia were going downstairs this morning and they passed my room Sophia said "me and sissy jumpin on the bed" and was disappointed when mom told her I was at school still and we would only be able to play on my bed when I got home. I just thought that was cute too! ;)

Baking Cookies

As many of you already know, every weekend my Aunt Ingrid comes to baby-sit the kids. Usually, since Daniel require's a lot of attention, I am put in charge of Sophia. So when my parents went out to dinner last night with some friends and Ingrid was putting Daniel to bed, Sophia and I decided to make peanut butter cookies. She was thrilled to be able to help me, the little cookie lover that she is. Every time I wasn't looking or turned my back she would pop in a little piece of cookie dough into her mouth. When I told her she couldn't have any more until we were all done she started eating all the little pieces she had on her hands. lol! She really loves that cookie dough. I let her help me roll the cookie dough into balls and criss-cross them but before she would give it to me to roll in sugar and place on the tray she would snatch a little piece from the ball to eat. ;) After all the cookies were on the tray she looked at me and said "eat it." She was disappointed when I told her they had to go in the oven and cook first. She would keep peeking in the oven and waiting for the timer to go off, as she knew that meant the cookies were done. Of course, when they were and I let her pick the cookie she wanted, she picked the biggest and most sugary one! :) From all the excitement of making cookies I even got her to smile in a couple of pictures.

Trying to help sissy

As I was trying to unload the dishwasher last night Sophia insisted on helping me. Of course only a couple of dishes I gave her went in the right spot. Her helping me made it an even bigger chore, but I still love her! It's the thought of her helping me that counts right?!

Lets give this a try

Yeah!! I've finally become a member of the "blogger world." Sitting there watching mom I never quite understood how she could spend hours updating and redesigning her page, but now I sure do. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure all this out! :) Well, not much happened today, no "hot gossip." We just had our combined band rehearsal for our upcoming concert on December 12. Well, you can probably imagine about 80 middle schoolers in a room against 1 teacher, yeah, lets just say it was a little crazy. Is it really too much to ask the "drummer boys" to just be quiet and pay attention?! Apparently guys at this age have a little bit of a hard time controlling themselves, if you know what I mean!! ;)