We've all been doing well and keeping busy, of course! We are supposed to get snow on Friday; I'm not sure if I'm excited or not. I look forward to the beginning of winter, but I remember last winter and flinch. =)

Ben found this in an old scrapbook a while ago. It's me, for the record, and Ben says things haven't really changed much. Ha!

SOCCER!!

We played a good game this afternoon. We won about 7-2, and Ben got to score. YAY!!!! Katie did as well, but she was called offsides. Oh well, it was a good shot. Then we hurried home to make it to play practice at church. And now we are at home again listening to Daddy read the Fellowship of the Ring. Goodnight!

I love boats. Which is good, because we spent all of yesterday in one. We went to Tennesee this weekend with Aunt Audrey and Company. Apart from renting two pontoon boats on Sunday and spending all day in them, we managed to catch absolutaly NO fish, and it wasn't due to lack of trying. Oh well, fish must be smarter than we think. =) I also got to taste my first persimmon, before it was ready. Anyone who has done this can relate to the taste. Yegch!

Fall is definitely here and most of the garden is gone until spring. I'm looking forward to snow etc. despite the blizzard we got last year. I certainly hope we don't get that again!

And then the strangest news: we sold our milk cow. A family near us wanted to start milking and so we sold Maggie to them. We still have a cow that we can start milking whenever we want, but right now we're excited about a break and demonstrated that by sleeping in as long as possible on Saturday, BECAUSE WE COULD.

Last Saturday we went over to a friends house to make applebutter, which is delicious, by the way.

Nathan is playng in the fire. Who would have guessed it?

Basically, you start a fire and put MANY gallons of unsweetened applesauce over it.

And then you stir it. And stir it. And stir it. For about 8 hours. Fun, right? But it is really, because you're there with your friends and you can talk or, if your lucky, you can let someone else stir and then you get to run around other places. =)

More of it cooking.

And then, when it's all done, you pour BAGS AND BAGS of redhots in it for cinnamon, which is yummifying.

And then it all turns red like this and you add sugar to taste. Voila!

Besides applebutter we have been into lots of school and soccer. This morning I took the PSAT, oh my. We'll see how that turns out in December!

Many Meetings

Happy summer everybody! We've had lots of things going on lately. Most recently we went with Grandmother to Nashville to visit Mama's sister and her family. Somehow we managed to get back with only one picture that I could find. Lettie is on top of the pyramid and below her is Ben( with no hands!?) and Nathan. Then Katie, Justin, and I. James is in the middle of a baseball game, which he won. We spent most of the time swimming and had a blast.














Before that we went camping with Daddy's brothers. Uncle Mark's baby girl, the adorably cute Grace found something funny and nearly rolled out of the chair.


























Clark.



















Katie, with her hand made pipe, and Patience.

Justice

Daddy and Uncle Marshall.

Ben displays his crawdad.

Honor

The creek was a big hit, of course!

Grace eats a jacket.

Katie and her big buddy.

Ben

Quite awhile before that we went to a coal mine and got a tour. Everyone was impressed by the big trucks.

Spring has sprung!

Mama and Daddy. :)

Beautiful Maggie. She's 14.

Happy Birthday Ben!! Well, we officially have three teenagers in the house now, Ben is finally 13. Love you Ben!

Ornery!

His favorite game. Ben is on the far right.

Two weeks ago our youth group had a pancake breakfast and we sent the money from it to Haiti relief groups. It was immensely fun and we didn't poison anything and very little burned! Just kidding, everything went well. Ben, however, decided to be lazy and stay home since it was his birthday and all.

Ketchup anyone?

And here is the Pancake Queen of the day!

Mary Had a Little Lamb

These pictures are mainly for Grandmama, because she loves lambs so much. Of course, none of thema re like seeing them in real life, but I hope they are enjoyed anyhow.

The Earth Spins On

Ah, hot tea, biscotti, snowy day, and the thought of soccer practice this evening. We started our indoor soccer season this weekend, after basketball ended Thursday night. Ben and Nathan's team came in third place, with lots of good games. Ben also got the Heart and Hustle award for his age level, so Yay Ben!

The snow has yet to melt, and we have several inches of packed ice over nearly everything. My aunt has posted pictures of her daffodils that are trying to make an appearance, we are no where near that stage yet. I just hope that this funny winter doesn't make for a weird spring so that we loose our crop.

Love you guys! -Hannah

Aqua

Well, aside from lots of snow and some extreme cold, nothing much has been going on here, except for one major discomfort. Some time about two weeks ago we had a pipe near the bottom of the pump in our well get a hole in it, so we have been without water for two weeks. Which is, by the way, no fun. It took forever to get somebody to come with the equipment because of all the snow, and it was quite miserable. We got the first water last night, while most of the family was in town. Daddy said he and Ben spent all evening flushing the tiolets and watching water run down the drain. :) I forget how blessed we are to even have running water, electricity, etc. I can not imagine what it would be like to have to haul water all year long to do all of your laundry, dishes, and to bathe. Of course, being like this was nice in one sense that it got Mama thinking about Africa again, and so she told us more about that, where, guess what, they have no running water. Where she was anyway. But then again, they weren't in 21 degree weather either.

The boys basketball is winding down, and it looks like they might get to play in the championship game! I have tried multiple times to get pictures of them playing, but I have yet to succeed. And then right when basketball ends, the girls winter sport kicks in again, indoor soccer. :) It looks like we will have a really good team this year, and I'm so excited!

Ah yes, the big news, I really can't believe it, but my brother (Nathan) has randomly decided he wants to take bagpipe lessons. This idea came on a while ago, and his first lesson was last night. He loves it, which is good, and bagpipes are absolutaly awesome. I guess this means he will have to go to Covenant College.

Enjoy the winter everybody, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday to me!

This weekend I went with a friend to Virginia Beach. We had planned to go whale watching but he weather wouln't cooperate. And over the weekend I turned 16. My life is flashing before my eyes. Just kidding.

Megan(my friend) is trapped in a fishing net at the aquarium.

They had Komodo Dragons there. Why they were in an aquarium I don't know, but they were very cool.

The otters were my favorite part of the whole day.

This mama otter had babies behind the log pile. Cute!

The otters were great fun, but they moved so fast it was quite hard to get a picture of them.

Puffer fish!

Stingray.

One of the ugliest fish in the world.

Megan's new best friend!

The aquarium also had an aviary, which was neat.

A duck.

I wonder if these two are siblings. Somehow it looks like it. :)

More ducks. They had lots of them.

And more ducks.

And yet MORE ducks!

They also had a Great Blue Heron, one inside the cage and another out side, trying to get in.

A glareing owl.