April Highlights // Exciting News

It's that time of the month again! How did April go by so fast? Time really does seem to fly!

Life 

Where oh where to start? April's been busy - but then when isn't life busy? ;)

As you might have guessed by the cover photo, I got my G1 license!!! I was super nervous, but there really wasn't anything to worry about. The questions were super easy; studying well works well ;) But  just the same, I was very happy when I found out that I'd passed! :D
That day, I had to take my picture a couple of times too. Once for the licence, another for my health card. Dad gave me warning before we left to "go get ready; you'll have these pictures for a long time!" I had to tell him there wasn't really much that I could do to "get ready". He was like "Oh, right" -_- I don't wear make-up, so the only thing I could really do was brush my hair. Which was what I had already done :P

First time driving down the country roads was fun, but nerve-racking too. We were approaching a stop sign and Dad said "Okay, now ease slowly on the brakes. That's it. . .  Now ST- . . . op"
Yep, I eased. Yep, I went slowly. Yep, I all of a sudden slammed on the brake. Oops ;)
But it's gotten a little tiny bit better. I'm able to drive around the block without jerking so much anymore. I'm so glad we're in the country though. The roads are so nice and empty, I don't have to worry about cars - for now ;) Dad just taught me how to do a 3 point turn today. On a narrow road with ditches on both sides. Not THE best place to learn, just to let you know. But we didn't fall in :P

Oh, another exciting thing that happened! Snow White got her new doll, Saila!

She's been very happy with her new doll. Been doing a lot of things together! Including flower dissections, which you'll see later :-)

We watched Woodlawn yesterday night and today I was looking at the cast. I like to do that for some random reason. Don't you find it fun if you recognize characters from another movie? Anyway, there was this one particular man who had played a coach in Woodlawn, and I was wondering which other movie I had seen him in before. I was at the point where the name was on the tip of my tongue, yet it just. wasn't. coming. Then Tiger Lily came in. Conversation went something like this:
Me: Doesn't this man look familiar?
Tiger Lily: YES!!
Me: Which movie did he come from?!?
Tiger Lily: Woodlawn!

Baking
Not too much baking done this month. Just two chocolate layer cakes :) One for Dad's birthday and one for my English assignment. Which cake do you like the best?

Couple posts ago, I mentioned that I was baking something, and I left you all with a hint. Rebekah guessed a cupcake, which was pretty close! That picture was actually the imprint of these red flowers on the top of this cake!

My English project was to create something that had to do with one of the books that we had read that year. I chose The Scarlet Pimpernel. 

I might do a separate post on this cake with more specific details :D We'll have to see!  

OH, and then with the scraps left over from the scarlet pimpernel cake, Tiger Lily and I constructed a mini "garden" cake. I was practicing with my piping tips and made a tiny little rose and leaves. 

Tiger Lily made a beautiful piece of wood with brown frosting. Doesn't it look amazing?  

Tiger Lily and I have also taken over a major part of the cooking. One of the meals we concocted: Shepherd's Pie! 

School

TIGER LILY AND I GOT GOLD MEDALS FOR OUR NATIONAL LATIN EXAM!!!! And I got an absolute 100% perfect paper on the NLE!! It was sooooo exciting to hear Mrs. Barr (my Latin teacher) announce the results *does the happy dance*

I also did a frog dissection last night. It smelled - BAD. *shudders*

I'm taking a live virtual biology course, so my teacher is on my computer. But she used her camera so that everyone could see what she was doing. It was kind of gross watching her do it. She didn't use gloves. She moved her thumb and fingers over and under and into the frog's guts. Down its mouth. Under the liver. Through the intestines. It was gross.

Whilst cutting it, I apologized multiple times to the poor frog. Went something like this:
Teacher: Cut through the skin and muscle tissue
Snip
"Sorry frog!"
Teacher: Now use your scissors, insert above the sternum and close until you hear a crack. That's the bone
Crack
"SO sorry, frog!"

It was a girl. 

Snow White and DareDevil are also doing a botany course with me. We're using Apologia and it's been super fun!

Drawing plants. 

And we also did a dissection! (But a MUCH nicer one than the frog :D)

Ripping off Peeling off the petals

Removing the corona

Snow White: Queen Saila! 

Gluing on the stamen!

Snow White also had her first test! She was really interested and excited about taking tests, so I came up with some questions and made up a test for her. (playing school and pretending to be teacher when I was younger all of a sudden came in handy ;))
100% on her first one! YAHOO!!!

Books Read

1. The Scarlet Pimpernel
2. The Return of the Indian
3. The Secret of the Indian
4. The Disappearing Stranger
5. The Hidden Message
6. The Creeping Shadows
7. The Vanishing Footprints
8. Trouble at Wild River
9. The Mysterious Hideaway
10. Grandpa's Stolen Treasure
11. The Runaway Clown
12. Mystery of the Missing Map
13. Disaster on Windy Hill
14. Not Regina
15. The Chosen
16. Mockingjay
17. Persuasion
18. Philippians 
19. Colossians
20. Hebrews (first half)

Books Bought (15 total)

Thriftbooks

The Disappearing Stranger
The Hidden Message
The Creeping Shadows
The Vanishing Footprints
Trouble at Wild River
The Mysterious Hideaway
Grandpa's Stolen Treasure
The Runaway Clown
Mystery of the Missing Map
Disaster on Windy Hill

Town Thrift Store ($8 total)
Return of the Indian
Secret of the Indian
Mockingjay
The Upstairs Room
The Golden Road

Music 

I have listened to sooo many songs this month, but I think my absolute favourite would be All This Time by the Willis Clan! 

Ever since the song came out, I've listened to it every. single. day. 

Here's a question for all of you: Can you listen to music and still concentrate on school/work? If yes, what kind of music? Classical, contemporary? 

Movies

These would have to be my two favourite movies from this month! 

The Scarlet Pimpernel

You're all probably tired of hearing me saying this, but IT'S AMAZING! It's so much FUN! I get shivers of delight just thinking about it! The costumes, though some of the women's are rather low, are so beautiful! The disguises, the acting, the balls, the accents, the poems, that drawl, the escapades, and THE DUEL!! It was hilarious! I love the whole movie to bits!! :D Seriously, if you haven't watched it before, you really should!!! 

 Woodlawn

Just watched this movie last night. Thanks to Dad for finding it! I'm not really into football movies - all that head crashing and body crashing and everything crashing :P, but I actually didn't mind this one too much. The story went so much deeper than just playing football. It's an amazing and really inspiring movie. And it's a Christian one, which is a big bonus! :D 

Oh, and you remember last month I said that there was some big news? A wonderful surprise? Something SUPER EXCITING?

Well...I get to tell you all now! :D

We're having another...

Counting Our Blessings // Hamlette

Happy Wednesday, everybody! 

Today, our special guest is the one and only.... *drumroll* Hamlette! 

~           ~           ~

My name is Rachel, but I'm known around the blogging world as Hamlette, and I blog at Hamlette's Soliloquy and The Edge of the Precipice.  I've been a wife for almost fourteen years and a mother for eight.  I'm also a writer, and I homeschool my three kids.

Right now, I'm thankful for all the beautiful spring flowers that are beautifying my part of the world.  

I'm thankful for good health that lets me get outside with my kids to enjoy the nice weather. 

I'm thankful for having had a wonderful Easter celebration with family and friends.  

And above all, I'm thankful for the reason we celebrated Easter -- Jesus dying to take away our sins and rising again so we know we'll have eternal life with him.  

Little Brother Talks // The Crayon Song

Me: What are we going to do for lunch? What am I going to make for dinner?

Toblerone comes and sits on my lap

Me: Toblerone, what do you want for dinner?

Long stare from him

Toblerone: Food

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Me: Alright, let's go inside and find something for snack!

Dare Devil: I can't eat!

Me: Why not?

Dare Devil: 'Cause I'm too hungry!

Me: Oookkkaaayyyy .......

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cleaning up the kitchen and hearing your sister singing The Crayon Song. Green's part :P 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To end on a rather random note; I was working on something all day today. I'll be posting laster on about it, but does anyone want to guess what made this imprint? Here's a hint: The white stuff is wax paper.

Liebster Award....Take 2!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Faith from Stories by Firefly tagged me for the Liebster Award and let's just say she comes up with some of the best-est questions ;) They're an awful lot of fun answering! :D 
So, let's get started! 

Ze Rules: 

Link back to the person who tagged you.

Answer their 11 questions.

Tag 11 bloggers.

Ask them 11 questions.

(and you should probably let them know you've tagged them ;)

What is your personality type? 

I took the 16 Personalities Test and it turns out I'm an INFP-T. (aka Introverted: 58%, Intuitive: 92%, Feeling: 93%, Prospecting: 61%, Turbulent: 96%) 

Kinda summed up here:

Oh boy, is this ever me! XD 

What part of writing a blog post takes the longest for you? (Ex. In my case, it takes me longer to find/stick in links and pictures than to actually write the post.) 

Well, that depends. If it's a tag, like this one, then it's usually the writing part that takes the longest. Mostly because I'm trying to come up with what to put down on the spur of the moment. And then there's the editing and deleting and retyping and more deleting...you get the point ;)  If it's a post that I've got more or less planned out in my head, then it's usually the pictures that take the longest, choosing the right ones and then downloading it. (btw jpg's take longer to download upload than screenshots :P) 

Would you rather smell fresh-cut grass or campfire smoke? 

Fresh cut grass! Especially on cool spring/summer mornings :D 

What's the last song you listened to? (And did you like it?) 
Tell Me A Secret by the Willis Clan. And yes, I did like it! 

What's the last movie you watched? (And did you like it?)

The last movie I watched was The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982). I've been reading the book over again for Literary Analysis and I decided to see if I could find the movie for it on Youtube. There were several different versions, but the one that drew me the most was the coloured ;) And am I ever enjoying it! Marguerite is absolutely beautiful and I can't get over those amazing disguises that Sir Percy pulls off. It's positively astounding! 

They don't even look remotely similar!!! 

But I will refrain from doing a movie review on here. Since this isn't a movie review, this is a tag, right? ;)

What's the last book you finished? (And did you like it?) 
I just finished The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. (did you know her full name is Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála "Emmuska" Orczy de Orci?!) It's one of my favourite books and rereading always helps me discover new things that I had missed in previous readings :-) 

Do you have a reading goal for this year? 
No, I don't. I probably should though! Currently, all the books I've read were ones found either in the library or the thrift store. Or were needed for school. Or were rereads. But yeah. No specific list. 

Would you rather use a pen or a pencil? If you chose pen, what color of ink? 
Ohhh...definitely a pen! Fountain pen to be exact. They're so nice and smooth and flow-y. Black ink would be the most ideal colour. 

What's your favorite historical time period? 
Goodness, Faith, did you have to ask that question?! You just love finding the most torturous questions, dontcha? ;) Let's see - I really like WWII - but then there's Laura I. Wilder and the 1800's - and Ancient Rome - and basically the whole history of England - *throws up hands* It's impossible to choose a favourite historical time period! I'm a history lover.... I like 'em all! 

Describe yourself in one sentence. (It's almost a question.) 
I'm a 16 year old girl who loves Christ and my family, enjoys singing, photography, listening to music, baking, and analyzing, is rather quiet and not supremely talkative, loves curling up in a corner with a good book, values friendship, is sometimes quite the country mouse, loves writing and receiving letters, emails, and comments (hint, hint :P), adores babies, has a hard time choosing favourites, procrastinates, uses emoticons too much, and apparently also uses too many commas :P
('Course, Faith didn't say that it had to be a grammatically correct sentence, but I'm fairly certain that this is a run-on. XD)

Do you enjoy tags? (Or are you only filling this out because you feel obligated? B-))

Yes, indeedy, I do enjoy tags! They're lots of fun to answer, even if a certain someone makes some rather -ahem- hard questions ;) 

Thank you for tagging me, Faith! :D 

Now for the people I tag: 

Victoria N. from Blessed Beyond Measure
Rebekah Morris from Rebekah's Reading Room 
Miss March from Sunshiny Corner
Sarah from Trusting in the Lord
Sawyer from The Maretzki Family
Emma from A Lantern in Her Hand


I've taken a few of the questions Faith asked me just 'cause they're really interesting ;) 
Anyhoo - your questions are: 

1. What is your personality type?
2. What part of writing a blog post takes the longest for you? (writing, pictures, links, etc)
3. Your favourite song from this week?
4. Has spring arrived for you yet? 
5. Tea and toast or a bowl of cereal for breakfast? 
6. Favourite singer?
7. What is one of the wildest, most beautiful dream you've ever had? (can be either a daydream or a ... night dream. *crickets chirping* Is there such a thing as a night dream? ) 
8. Playing the piano or running outside with a cool summer's breeze blowing in your face? 
9. Favourite author? (or if it'll make it easier, favourite book? ;)
10. Emails or letters? 
11. Do you like collecting things? And if yes, what? 

Guess What. . . . ?!?

Guess who just got her license?!

A Few of My Favourite Things

Rebekah  tagged me for the A Few of My Favourite Things tag. Thank you, Rebekah! :) 

The Rules:

-Write down ten of your favorite things

-Tag at least three others!

Okie dokie, here are a few of my favourite things! 

1. My Family!

I could never make it without my family! 

2. Books
I have finally figured out that I do like to collect things. Books! I don't think I could ever get tired of collecting books :) Or reading 'em! 

Don't judge; I like to dream ;) 

Imagine if you owned a library like this! :D Ahhh..... 

3. Music
Music. It can be so powerful at times, and it's a magnificent way to praise God! Listening to it, singing it; it's just something that will always be in my life. Music is so beautiful, especially when harmonies are added. It's a gift that God's blessed us with, and I'm SO thankful He gave it to us! 

4. Friends

I don't think you could ever live a truly happy life without good friends by your side! Good friends are with you through thick and thin, you can trust them (and talk their ear off XD ) I'm so thankful for each and every one of my friends, including those from the blogosphere! ;) You're all so special and  I'm so glad I met you! :D

5. Surprises
Who doesn't love a good surprise? Life is full of surprises, some good, some bad, some good and bad. But all in all, I like 'em pretty well :) 

6. Nature
The fragrance from a newly bloomed flower, the sound of waves lapping the sand, the smell of freshly cut grass, the tips of tiny green shoots breaking through dark soil, raindrops reflecting the golden gleam from a setting sun, and the cheerful songs of birds flying through the sky. All a result of our Maker's creation. God must really love us to bless us with such wonderful things, don't you think? 

7. School
Okay, so not all of my school is .... well liked (hint, hint - math), but for the most part, I love learning about new things. Literary Analysis has probably got to be my favourite, though. First, because there's LOTS of reading; second, I found that it's really fun to dig deep into something and well - analyze! :D 

8. Animals

Sooo...animals probably belong under the nature category; but I'm giving their own section. 'Cause I say so ;) 

9. Babies
Babies are SO adorable! Puppies, kittens, chicks, calves, foals, and especially human babies! :D
I've missed having a baby around here, actually. Tiger Lily and I have been asking Mom if she's going to have another one ;) 

10. Thrift Book Stores!!!
Clothing thrift stores are pretty awesome, but my favourite has got to be thrift book stores.  It's SO nice finding copies of books that are almost brand new but are priced at a dollar or two each. Sometimes even $0.25!! There is hardly ever a time when I go into a thrift book store without coming out with a pile of books. Actually, I just went to the store on Thursday :) I found the 3rd book from the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay, for only $1! It was barely used and it was a hard cover. Later on that day, I looked it up on Amazon and found it priced at $19! I could probably ramble on and on about thrift stores and how much you save there....but I'll spare you all from myself and stop :P 

And that's the end! Of course, that isn't ALL of my favourite things...but then the tag said only a few, right? ;) What are some of your favourite things? 

I tag: 
Olivia
Hamlette
Lea