A Birthday-ish Sort of Post. :)

Hey!
So, in case any of you followers didn't know, these 2 months of the summer (July and August) host more than 1/2 of our family's birthdays! Which means, a lot of celebrating, a lot of wrapping-of-presents, and a lot of cake! :D
Today I'd thought I'd show you how a normal birthday in our house works. :)
In the days previous to the birthday, Mom goes to the future birthday girl or boy and gets their preferences for the meals on their big day. Then there's the question: What kind of cake will it be? Mom is very kind and lenient in that area and allows us kids to pick whatever we want! :)

So "the" day has come. You wake up, realize it's already 8:30, and slightly panic that you slept in too late!---But then a delicious realization comes upon you that it actually is your birthday!! :) You cautiously proceed by going downstairs (making sure that the way is clear from all secrets) and look at a beautiful array on the table! Alot of times it's something like cinnamon rolls, fruit, sausage and one of our favorite drinks: Orange Julius!

(One of Leah's "birthday breakfasts" :)

Ahh....after a delightfully full tummy, you are told that you are totally off of chores and the day is your own to do anything your pretty little mind thinks of! We all enjoy this special treat of being completely free for an entire day. :) It's usually spent reading that book you've only had a few bits of time to spend on it, playing your instrument, catching up on writing to your dear friends, drawing, writing, etc. Meanwhile, the rest of your family has been covering for you in the daily schedule and preparing your birthday cake and dinner! :)
Now---before I go any further I need to tell you something:
Mom is a fabulous cake-maker.
She really is.
You know, icing and flowers are all pretty and nice most of the time....
But I absolutely adore the way my Mom makes ours.
Every birthday cake feels, unique, different, and even more special and creative than the last. :)
Let me show you:


(One of my personal favorites: A Candy Land cake! =)

(Benjamin's birthday is Dec. 21st, thus a Christmas Tree Cake!)

(Isn't this so cool?! The Bag of Skittles cake! (and see how the "corner" of the bag is ripped open with Skittles pouring out?!)

(Wow! I forgot how great this cake looked! It was my "Black Forest Cake" from a couple years back. :)(This is what Daniel chose for his cake a while back! :D)

(Mom also does great "Teddy Graham Beach Party" cakes!!)

(A Cat Cake....actually this was a hint to what Rachel's main present would turn out to be! :D)

(Haha! An interesting picture of Gracie, but it's the best one of the cake I could find. :) A birthday princesses' dream cake! =)

(An icecream cake Mom made for me last year! :) I don't really know what's up with all the different number candles! :P)


(And yet again, I have forgotten how fantasticly she did this one!:)

Okay! Well, anyhow, later that evening, all the local extended family comes over and you have a PARTY!!! =) Which includes opening presents, playing games, and eating your cake!
I hope you all enjoyed this post :)
~Sarah
p.s. there is another reason I thought to do this particular post......I'm really looking forward to my birthday in 3 days!!! :D

Happy Birthday, Rach! :)

Happy 19th Birthday Rach!!! :)

You're a great sister and godly example to all of your siblings. I know that the Lord has great plans in store for you, and I love you lots!

Your sister,

Sarah

Miny 'appy Reterns! ;)

HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY, DANIEL!!!!!
We love you and look forward to seeing the Lord working in you this year. :) Here are 20 things we love about you:

1. Your sense of humor
2. Your loyalty
3. Your character
4. The fact that you like to take us places. :)
5. Your passion for the Lord
6. Your passion for culture-changing
7. Our escapades with you. :)
8. Your accents
9. Your thoughtfulness
10. The fact that you're a gentleman
11. Your "witch" laugh (...long story, it's not what you think.;)
12. Your pride in your little car. ;)
13. Your stinkin' new jeans!
14. Your love of reading
15. The way you steal tastes of everything we cook
16. Your patriotism
17. The carnivore in you
18. The retriever in you ;)
19. Your musical talents

20. Your songs you write and share with us!

Love,
Rachel and Sarah

Yet Another Double-Birthday! :)

Happy Birthday Mama and Gracie!!!!!!!!!!! :D

(By the way, this is a picture from a couple years ago, but I couldn't take the time to find another, but it's still cute! :)

We love you both soooo much! Mama, thanks for being the best Mama a family could ever have! You are always ready to have fun, and think up fun things for us to do!
Gracie, you keep us laughing at your ridiculous Eighth child antics! :) You are a sweet little girl with a personality big enough for any grown-up! We love you!!!! <3
-Rachel and Sarah

p.s I get to vote for the very first time today! :) *Yay!* :) ~Rach

Some Pictures!:)

So.....I thought I'd do an update:
Saturday was Leah's 13th Birthday Ceremony!:) We were preparing for it all week. Cleaning, making cakes, doing presents, decorating cakes, going to florists, making several grocery outings, etc. Rachel and I (with instruction by Aunt Christy) decorated the cakes! We got to do basket-weaving with the icing and use flowers whatever way we wanted! Here's a picture of the finished product:

Aren't they pretty! We're very proud of the way they turned out.:) "As is tradition" (in our family;) Dad made Leah a hopechest! It looks beautiful!

Here are some random-ish pictures: (the reason I'm posting all these pictures is because I got a new camera for my birthday!!:)

My Icecream cake!:) The magnet for the film-tour van!;) ^

Here's cute little Gracie doing a "curtsey" :)

Alright! I'd better go! Hope you enjoyed the pictures. :)

-Sarah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH AND LEAH!!!

Happy Birthday Sarah and Leah!!!!

Yes, Sarah and Leah share the same birthday! They are three years apart, but born on the same day: Aug. 6! :) Happy birthday girls! Here are the 6 top things I admire in each of them:

Sarah:

Her craziness (This includes "Mrs. Ricardo?", "The Beggar", "The Blind Girl", and many other things, Sarah! :)

Her love of, and great skills with young children

Her aptitude for mechanical and technical things (Sarah was the one who finally found the right breaker to turn off all our fire alarms the other night, Abigail! :)

Her generous spirit

Her practicality (The Lord put us two as sisters for a reason dear! You balance out my fancies with a good dose of reality, presented in a polite way, and I educate you on how to dream! ;)

Her love of tradition- Sarah's kids will never lack a holiday. She'd be the one to visit Mount Vernon on George Washington's b-day, or something equally fun!

Now for Leah:

Her generally peaceful attitude about pretty much anything! :)

Her gentle manner when in a conflict (She proves out the "gentle answer turns away wrath")

Her "tee-hee-hee-shiver-the-pop!" laugh! :D (anyone who has seen Beatrix Potter's "Peter Rabbit" will recognize this laugh as either Flopsy's, Mopsy's, or Cotton Tail's! :)

Her willingness to do things other won't do

Her preference for being an early-bird and waking up perfectly cheerful and ready for anything! ( :D )

Her vision for our home

Happy birthday girls! I love you both and can't wait to see all the Lord has in store for you as you get older! :) -Rachel

Bits and Pieces

Have you ever felt that your life is so full of wonderful things that you can't decide which to do first?!?!?! I am feeling that way right now!
I wanted to do a blog post to give ya'll an update
I want to start "The Maiden's Bequest" by George McDonald (courtesy of Marybelle)
I want to watch episode two of "North and South" (Gaskell, not Civil War)
I want to watch episode two of "Cranford"
I want to put away the remainder of my presents from all my very generous friends
I want to write a letter
I need to put my room back in order
So what first? Well, obviously the blog post! :P

Sarah and I had a GREAT time at our combined birthday party!!! (Sarah's b-day is Aug. 6) Thanks to all you people that came, including Abigail, Morgan, Katie, Maddie, Oliver, Elliott, Shi of Narnia, Always Narnian, King's Daughter and sisters, Alaina, and all the others! :) It was great fun! Thanks for putting up with intense reels and Harpers' Ferry in 105 degree weather! (I actually got kinda faint and had to sit out a dance :/ ) And I apologize for all those hard Pictionary clues I made up! :P
(Is "man in a kilt" that hard to guess? ;) It was really fun! :) In case ya'll are wondering why our blog has been kind of slow, it is because we are cutting back to 20 minutes of computer time a day (each) and so it's usually email or blogs, but it is actually nice to have a true limit! :) Nothing like structure! :) Talk to you guys later! I'm off to start my new book! (A Scottish novel with an intriguing title! Bliss! :) -Rachel

Describing Rachel :)

All right. Rachel, here are the words that you're friends described you with:

Entertaining

Insightful

Helpful

Artistic

Pretty

Kind

Endearing

Fun

Passionate

Writer

Inspiring

Kind

A writer

Fun

Happy

Lovely

Funny

Cheerful

Honest

Observant

Humorous

Sweet

Helpful

Adventurous

Romantic (the other kind:)

Imaginative

and the Best Oldest Sister!!!:D

-Sarah

18!!!!!!!!:D

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Rachel, Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!!!!!

-Sarah

Birthday Wishes

Hello Everyone! Just wanted to thank Brooke and Bethany for following our blog! We hope you'll enjoy reading all our anecdotes and musings!:) I don't know about ya'll but I think we need to check the pulse of the blogging world(just kidding, but we haven't seen a lot of action on the blogs:) So today is my brother Benjamin's 8th birthday and we're having a party this evening for him. Here is a picture of the John Deer cake Mama and Rachel made for him! (Mama did most of it but Rachel supplied a pair of hands for icing it, and ideas of how to make it look less like Tin Lizzie! :)
Happy Birthday Benjamin!!!!!!


Ta ta for now!
-Sarah

An Eventful Day

Hi Everyone! This is Sarah. Today was Grace's 3rd birthday and Mom's 44th birthday! I know that Daniel's already posted on this subject, but hey! Anyways, this morning we worked on a nice breakfast for the birthday girls- cinnamon raisin rolls and sausage. We gave a few presents to Gracie, and while she was slowly unwrapping them, Rachel was looking antsy and agitated. I asked her what was up, and she whispered that the Thompsons were on their way over here for a surprise birthday visit! So we finally finished the gifts, and tried to get Mom to go upstairs and get showered and changed. After spreading the news, all us kids were hurrying around getting chores done and the house presentable for company. Daniel pulled me aside quickly telling me to meet our visitors-they'd just pulled up and Mom was barely upstairs! So, after meeting up with them and letting them where Mom was, we caravaned up there with flowers, presents, and the whole kit and caboodle into the hallway. Mrs. T. knocked on their door, and eventually Mom opened the door to find us! It was a great birthday surprise for her! We went downstairs and she and Grace opened the presents that our guests had most graciously brought.

Then, once they had left, Mom and I started on Grace's Princess Castle Cake. I'd already made the cakes last night and some icing this morning so we weren't off to a horrible start, but it was already around 12:30, I think and our family was coming at 4:30. Here's a picture of the finished cake.

It took awhile, but I have to say, it turned out great!

Now don't think our adventures were done for the day! Dad and Mr. Scott had hooked up and apparently, Mr. Scott was coming over this afternoon to pick up our pigs to be taken to market.

So, after cleaning up cake-making mess in the kitchen, I went on out to watch the hog-tying. :)

Mr. Scott, Dad and Daniel were out there and right as I'd come up the one that had just been caught and was in the trailer, got out! I eventually got in there with the men and brought over pallets and other bigger pieces of wood to fashion a make-shift chute leading into the trailer. (Now Mr. Oliver, Rachel says to say that the next sentence is a result of you not telling us how to catch a pig and us forgetting to ask Will) After about 2 hours, 4 moldy English muffins, 2 carrots, some scraps of miscellaneous food, and a pinched finger(mine, to be exact), we had both piggies in the trailer! Oh, I forgot to mention the fact that also, after wrangling those pigs for a long time, Rachel couldn't get the gross piggy smell off her hands, even after trying: Baking soda, lemon juice, salt, vinegar, soap, Germ-X, and finally rubbing alcohol.

Okay, so after that was all done, my smushed finger looked after ;) , the party went on! The Walkers had already arrived as had our grandparents. We had dinner, did presents, and dessert.

Cleaned up , and now I'm sitting here after putting now 3-year-old Grace to bed; Very Tired.

Happy Birthday Mom and Grace!