Daddy's Birthday!

Last Saturday was Dad's 50th birthday! Mom and I tried to plan a little surprise party but it was waaay too short notice. Only a couple people made it. Pastor Per, the Belanger's, and the Kidd's were the only people who made it. Pastor Per and the Belanger's came over and talked for a bit. Mrs. Belanger made Dad a chocolate cake with Hershey kisses on top! :) It was delicious! After awhile the Belanger's and Pastor Per left.

The kid Kidd's visited us for the rest of the day. :D Us girls raked our front yard while the boys put dirt on the end of our driveway because we have a pretty bad sink hole kind of thing there. Then we all raked Claire's yard. It got REALLY cold by the time we finished raking so we quickly went home and drank some hot chocolate.

Us girls went to the Richards' house to have supper with the Durocher family, the Estes family, and some other various people. The purpose of the supper, I believe, was to have the Durocher family meet other Christian families and to be made welcome. :) It was ALOT of fun! I got to know Lydia and meet Susan, Selathea, Melanie, and Austin. We played Apples to Apples, and talked quite a bit during supper. :) We had to leave during Apples to Apples but I think everyone stopped playing when we stopped. We gave hugs and on our way out we had a little snowball fight with Catherine, Linnea, and Kenan because it was SNOWING! :D The snow is only like 2 inches deep but it was still nice!

Movie Review on Courageous!

Courageous was really good! I didn't cry though. :) Which is a very good thing! I was sitting beside Kenan and he was laughing alot so that was probably what kept me from crying. I ALMOST cried during one scene but that was because I was laughing so hard. My favorite character was Javier! He was soooo funny! Oooh, it was such a good, well rounded movie. There were sad parts, happy parts and funny parts! I definitely recommend it.

This afternoon, I am going to go Pumpkin carving with Sarah, Shannon and Casey. It'll be real fun!

Tonight, I'm babysitting two kids until probably laaaate tonight.

Courageous!

Tonight, we are going to see Courageous with the Estes, Mr. Farris (and maybe his family), maybe the Belangers, and maybe the Richards too! I CAN'T WAIT! Courageous is supposed to be a REALLY good movie. I'm excited that we get to see it with some REALLY good friends! :D

Today, I'm going to try and start working out every other day. I want to get stronger for Softball in the Spring time and I don't want to get lazy during the wintertime. The next few days are supposed to be really cold!  In fact, tonight there's a 40% chance of snow! I can't wait for it to snow!

Someone Like You

Today, Jenna is coming over to visit! It's going to be fun!

Yesterday, Leavitt Girls Varsity Soccer had their play off game. They lost 0-1 with five minutes left in a fifteen minute overtime. It was really intense and frusterating.

One of my first blog posts I shared with you Rolling In The Deep by Adele. Well, she did another song called Someone Like You. It's kind of a sad song but I like her voice. :)

A Fun Day!

On Sunday we went to church! I was blowing my nose all through out the church service because I have a cold. But, I believe the sermon was about God being in control.

After church the Kidd's invited us over to visit. First, we went to Hannaford to get some groceries. When we got the Kidd's house we ate lunch and watch a little kid movie called Jakers. That was cute. After the movie, Billy, Millie and Kevin played Risk while Shannon and I taught Gracie, Darby, and Lilly how to play President (the link to President isn't exactly how we play President but it's pretty close). Once Millie, Kevin and Billy finished Risk, they joined our game. We had President, Vice President, Positive Neutral, Negative Neutral, Vice Scum, and Scum. The Neutrals subbed in with the extra people we had so everyone could play. We played President until it was time to leave.

We were the first ones to arrive at the Richards' besides Malia. Eventually, Nick, Joel, Kenan, Mrs. Estes, Olivia, Evan, and Mr. Stuart showed up. We played Round Robin Ping Pong. I absolutely LOVE that game. You have two paddles in the game but anywhere from 3-10 or so people can play. Let's say we have 8 people playing, one person on each end and three people on each side of the Ping Pong table. One person on the end starts with the ball, serves it, and moves to the side of the table while the person to the server's left comes and takes their spot. You pretty much go in a circle around the Ping Pong table hitting the Ping Pong ball once and then you move away. If you miss the ball or hit the ball twice on your side of the table or hit it too hard and it completely misses the table then you're out. Once it's down to two people you just spin around after you hit the ball. You get pretty dizzy after awhile. It is SO much fun!

This is kind of a random video but it shows how Round Robin Ping Pong goes most of the time. I got a bruise on my hip from running into the corner of the Ping Pong table during one round. I think I came in second that round anyway. :)

After quite some time, people played Spoons, President, or actual games of Ping Pong, or just talked. Eventually we all played Ninja! I came in second like once and then I got out pretty fast in all the other rounds of Ninja. Billy, Tucker, Joel and sometimes Kenan would be the Ninjas that last the longest. I think Billy won the most. Before we left, we circled up, some people shared things they learned in church that day or that God taught them through out the week. We closed in prayer, then left. Thank you Richards' family for hosting it!

My cold is almost better already! :D

Tumbledown is Breath Taking!

Last Friday Corrie and Jolie were not able to pick me up for her Senior pictures. :/ But Around 5pm Mr. Estes and Mr. Cates picked Shannon and I up from our house. On our way to the Estes, Mr. Estes dropped Mr. Cates off in Augusta where his car was.

When we got to the Estes, we talked for awhile, ate mozzerella sticks, then Linnea, Catherine, Diana, Gretchen, Abby, Ellie, (Linnea's friends) Shannon, Kenan and I played Apples to Apples. We didn't get to finish the game because it was time to eat supper. I think Ellie had the most green cards though. We had homemade Mac and Cheese. Mmmm good! After supper we sang Happy Birthday to Linnea and had cake and ice cream.

Linnea blowing out the candles!

Linnea's cake

I believe we watched Singing in the Rain after that. I LOVE that movie! :D It's old but soo good! We only watched half of the movie because we had to go to bed and get up around 6am the next day.

The next morning we packed lunches, and bagels for breakfast on the road. When Mr. Estes, Mr. Stuart, Shannon, Ellie, Gretchen, Linnea Catherine, and I got to Tumbledown, we saw my friend Sarah's cousin (Aaron) who Rebecca knows from Tucker's soccer. That was kind of cool!

Tumbledown was AMAAAAZING! We got to squeeze through caves, admire God's beautiful creation, sing songs, and get to know one another better.

Us at the top. From left to right: Mr. Stuart, me, Mr. Estes, Catherine, Ellie, Rebecca, Shannon, Linnea, and Gretchen.

It was alot of fun as you can tell on our faces in the picture. :D

After the hike, we visited with the Estes until about 10pm. They are such an amazing family! We looked at cool and old pictures on their computer, shot rubber bands, talked about Fireproof and played Speed Scrabble.

Tomorrow I will blog about Sunday!

Yet Another Busy Weekend to Come

I was going to take a portrait of one of Dad's customers, and Senior pictures with Corrie but Dad had to go to Portland for most of the day so we had to cancel. If Corrie can pick me up, I'll still do her Senior pictures.

Around 4 or 5pm Mr. Estes will probably pick me up from the Donahue's to go to the Estes' house for Linnea's birthday party. A few of Linnea's friends that are her age, maybe Rebecca, Shannon and I are sleeping over and then going on a hike Saturday morning and afternoon. I wanted to go to Rebecca's concert tonight but it didn't work out.

After the hike, I'm going to babysit the Morrison's (Zack, Nikki, and Mitchell) until late Saturday night. I haven't seen them in awhile so I'm excited for that.

On Sunday, we're bringing Calvin to church again. We're just going to relax all day Sunday because it's like our only day off from being busy. :)

Pasta Dinner Fundraiser!

Tonight, my soccer team and I are hosting a pasta dinner as a fundraiser. It's $5 in advance (through me or one of my team members) and $6 at the door. It's at the Leavitt Area High School Cafeteria from 5:30-7pm. If you live close enough, you should come! It's going to be delicious! Mr. Bifulco, (one of the teachers at Leavitt) is Italian and was ever so kind to help us ALOT with making the dinner. It's more like we're helping him.

My niece still isn't born yet. Any day now! I'm SOO excited! You don't even know. The thing is, we're really busy this weekend so I hope she's born when we aren't busy. Haha!

Exciting and not so Exciting Soccer Games

Yesterday Sarah, Rebecca and I watched the Winthrop boys varsity soccer game. Sarah's cousin is on the team so that's why went to go watch it. They lost 6-0... We missed the first half but the other team scored most of their goals in the first half so it wasn't so bad after we got there. Heh!

Last night we also watched the Leavitt Girl's Varsity Senior Night under the lights. That was a very exciting and intense game!!! Leavitt was losing for most of or all of the first half (0-1) and then Desiree scored to tie the game! With about 5 minutes left of the game Tori scored the winning goal! It was SUCH an awesome game!

Senior Night

Today Sarah and I are going to her cousin's soccer game in Winthrop. Hopefully, Rebecca will be meeting us there. After that soccer game, Sarah and I are going to watch the Girls Leavitt Varsity's Senior night game!

Last Sunday was the due date for Tim and Angie's daughter to be born. She's not born yet but any day now she will! :D I. AM. SO. EXCITED! She'll be my first niece. <3

I'm considering doing Nordic Skiing this winter. Depends how much commitment the coach is asking for and how much commitment SMASH is asking for.

Strong Enough!

On Friday night Sarah, Mrs. Pare and I went to the Matthew West concert in Lewiston at the Vineyard Christian School. It. Was. Amazing!!! :D I had SO much fun! It was so cool! I didn't get to meet Matthew West but I was about four rows away from him at one point. One of my favorite songs that he played that night was Strong Enough.

I didn't get to buy any Matthew West CD's or anything because I didn't have enough money but I bought a guitar pick necklace that Jonny Diaz's (the guy who opened for Matthew West) wife hand made.  The guiter pick has "Stand For You" written on it.
I liked Jonny Diaz's song Beauty of the Cross.

On Saturday I had my last soccer game. The game was at Nokomis. We lost 1-0 but we played really well!

Saturday afternoon Millie and Grace came over for the night. :) We baked an apple pie, and an apple crisp. We also watched X-men: First Class. That was a very good movie!

On Sunday, Millie, Grace, my family and I went and picked up Calvin then we went to Church. The sermon was about "Paying Much Closer Attention" to God and not to drift away.

After church we went home for a bit. We played a little basketball, then we listened to a sermon from Saturday's Presbytery (which most of us missed because of soccer) thing. We wrote down points and illustrations from the sermon and at the end we had to summarize the sermon. When we were done that we got ready to go to the Donahue's for a bonfire.

We were the first to arrive at the Donahue house. We played pass with the soccer ball for awhile until we all went inside for a drink of water. We then played frisbee until the Richards' showed up. After they showed up, some people played ping pong, some played with the frisbee again. Eventually the Estes, Amanda, and Jenna showed up too. Kenan and I played Darts for a little while. We didn't really play an actual game we just tried hitting the bullseye and threw the darts from different angles and such.
Every one roasted their hotdogs over the fire. People roasted marshmallows afterwards too! We all talked around the campfire for quite awhile. Some of us went inside to hang out in the living room. Nick, Joel and sometimes Tucker entertained us with some talented piano playing and some singing. :D Most of us played Spoons for a bit until people had to leave.
Thanks Corrie and the rest of the Donahue family for planning such a fun night!

Matthew West Concert!

Today's Soccer game and practice was cancelled due to the rain. It's our last game too! It'll be rescheduled for tomorrow or Monday.

Last night Sarah texted me asking if I wanted to go to the Matthew West Concert tonight if our game was cancelled. :D I just hope the concert isn't sold out! Matthew West is one of my favorite artists! He has good lyrics and a good beat! I can't believe he's coming to Lewiston...TONIGHT! That's crazy awesome! So, if the concert isn't sold out by now, I'm there (with Sarah and her Mom, of course)!  My favorite songs by Matthew West are Something to Say, Life Inside You, and Stop the World. With his Fall Tour, I'm sure I'll come home with some new favorites. :)

Soccer Season is Coming to an End

Today is my last soccer practice of the season. It wasn't a very good season if you count how many games we lost but it was certainly a fun season. Soccer is a fantastic sport!

Last night we had a game at Camden Hills. We lost 5-0. The game ended early because it was so dark out. It was also REALLY cold! I could see my breath!

Tomorrow, I have my last game which is as Nokomis.

Fantastic Monday!

Monday morning my family and I cleaned the house. Later that morning Rebecca and Samantha dropped Calvin off for a visit. We ate lunch and then while Dad took a quick nap Calvin, Billy, Shannon and I played Hearts. We only got to play two rounds but, I had the lowest score so I won. :)

We went apple picking at Wallingfords. We only filled on big bag because we didn't have much time. While we waited for Dad to pick us up we took pictures of eachother in these wooden things where you stick your face through a whole in the wood and it makes you look like a cow, or a pig, or an apple.

An apple and I picked and polished.

Calvin, Billy, Abbey and Shannon at the apple orchard.

Those wooden things I was talking about.

The three kids in the tree aren't moved out of the house but Abbey is...

Naughty twins...

"Why so serious?" in Chinese.

"Colleen Clarke" in Chinese.

When we got home from Wallingfords, Shannon, Calvin and I baked an apple cake. Shannon, Calvin and I played Pig and Around the World with the basketball until the Estes came. Nick, Joel, Kenan and Linnea joined in on our game. Jenna, Corrie and Jolie showed up eventually. Nick and Calvin owned at Around the World! Shannon eventually quit and went and made Apple Crisp with Corrie, Jenna, Jolie and Linnea. I was about the same level as Joel and Kenan at Around the World. We eventually quit because the game was lasting forever. After a little while, we all got ready to drive to the local Soccer field to play Ultimate Frisbee.

We only played Ultimate for a little while because the Estes couldn't stay too long. Millie, Grace and Kevin showed up soon after we got to the field. The team I was on lost 3-5. Abbey, the Estes, Jenna, and Dad drove back home while everyone else walked back through the woods.

When we got home we started a fire in the fire pit. We cooked hotdogs, marshmallows, and apples over the fire. We made s'mores and ate freshly baked apple crisp and apple cake and we ate lots of Oreos! It was fantastic! While we were sitting around the campfire our friend Jenny from Deerwander stopped by with her mom and sister. That was a delightful surprise! After probably an hour or so of talking Jenny and her family left, and Dad took the Kidd's and Calvin back home. Jolie, Corrie, and Jenna hung around for a bit longer. We drew random things on each others arms. :)

Corrie drew this on my forearm.

And Corrie drew this on my tricep area. It wore off a little. :/

A Splendid Weekend!

On Friday we had a soccer game against Oceanside. We lost 0-1, but we played very well. I bruised my arm pretty badly during the last 10 minutes of the game. I got elbowed really hard on the outside on my left bicep. It hurt to bend my arm for about a day and a half. It still hurts a little to fold my arm as though I were flexing. I have a lovely bruise on my arm too. :)

EARLY Saturday morning (around 2am), Abbey got home! Late Saturday morning my family and I met Tim, Angie and Gabe at Wallingford's Apple Orchard to take some family portraits, pregnancy shots of Angie, just pictures of Tim and Angie, and just pictures of Gabe. When we were done we went over to Tim and Angie's to have pizza for lunch!

After lunch we drove to Bath to go to Erik and Hannah Simmler's wedding. That was such a beautiful wedding! Congratulations Erik and Hannah!

Saturday was also Rebecca's birthday! <3

On Sunday, we had church. I took the last few family portraits for our church. Then, my family and I just relaxed around the house with game of Catan and such.

Tomorrow, I will tell you about our fun day yesterday. I'm now off to play a soccer game against Anna and her team! :D

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer.

I ended up not having my game yesterday. Haha! Our soccer field is still just to wet! It's rescheduled to Tuesday. Our game has been rescheduled for a week now. Today, we are supposed to have a game against Oceanside. If we play them today, we'll probably play them on the middleschool field. That field is pretty much dry. If this game is postponed, I hope the don't move it to next week but the week after. We already have 3 games next week! On Monday, we don't have any soccer, Tuesday we have a home game against Morse, Wednesday we have an away game against Camden Hills, Thursday we have practice, and Friday we have an away game against Nokomis! Our game against Nokomis is our last game. :/

Yesterday during practice, I somehow hurt my lower back. Billy thinks it's because I jumped and landed a certain way which sort of strains your lower back. It's not too, too bad. It was worse last night. I just hope it doesn't slow me down today. Back pain is NOT fun.

It's Getting Cold Outside!

It looks like we'll FINALLY have our soccer game today! The sun is actually shining! :D It's REALLY cold out today though. I'm definitely wearing underarmor! I can't wait to play this game! I'm playing against my friend Anna which will be fun and interesting.

Yesterday, during soccer practice it was super duper windy (HUGE gusts of wind), icy cold, and it was sleeting! Let's just say...I. Was. Numb. The cool thing was that there was a rainbow for like 10 minutes. Supposedly, it's supposed to be colder today but just not as windy.

Converse!

Last night, with some of Mom's help I got Converse! They obviously are not REAL Converse though. I got them from Debs and they look really cool!

Tada! Aren't they snazzy?


Yesterday, my soccer game got cancelled because of the rain. The game was rescheduled to today! I hope it doesn't get cancelled again. The sun is actually trying to peek through today! :D If we do play, it'll be against my friend Anna and her friend that I've met through Anna named Ruth! It'll be interesting! I hope we don't woop them and they don't woop us!

Raaaain...

It has been raining almost nonstop since Saturday. Actually, it rained Thursday too, just not Friday. Today, I am supposed to have a soccer game against Morse, which is the school my friend Anna plays for. I REALLY want to play today because it'd be so much fun to play against Anna! The weather isn't looking very promising though... If my game gets cancelled we'll probably have indoor practice. I hope they reschedule our game against Morse if it's cancelled today.

Today or tomorrow, I hope to go shopping for sneakers (something like converse), dress shoes, jeans, and a white cardigan. :)

A Fantastic Weekend!

On Friday night, after school I went to Sarah's house for the night. While we waited for Jenn to come over we listened to music, went for a short walk, and hung out for awhile. When Jenn got to Sarah's house we went for another walk and picked leaves. :P Then we talked for a bit, ate a delicious supper and then played Just Dance on the Wii. Sarah and Jenn had much more experience then me so they were much better than I was but it was still fun! After that we attempted to bake a jelly roll (my idea... Not such a great idea either) and failed. After that, we watched a movie called A Crush on You, then went to bed.

Then next day, we slept in until like 10:30am. I took a shower and we had breakfast. After breakfast, Sarah got ready for the day while Jenn and I talked for a bit. Jenn left to go to her house to get ready for homecoming. When Sarah was all ready we headed to Leavitt to watch Billy's soccer game. They won! The score was 2-0. After Billy's game, Sarah and I hung out at the Junior's booth for a bit. Then we went and watched the first half of the Varsity girl's soccer team. I don't know what the score was at the end but when we left, we were winning 4-0. :D

My family and I visited the Estes family for the evening. That was so much fun! While we waited for the pizza to be ready we played around in the basement. We drew on the white board, did strength stuff like flag poles, ab strengthening stuff, pull ups, and flips on the pull up bar. Adorable, 2 year old Martin sat on my lap for a good part of that time too. :D When the pizza was ready we ran up stairs and gobbled down the delicious home made pizza!

After supper we watched a few videos of rally racecars hitting animals on accident such as a horse. If you are fond of horses, I wouldn't watch this.

After that, we all went downstairs to play Pictionary. It was guys vs. girls. The guys won just barely. They were WAY ahead most of the game but we caught up. The youngest boy on their team (besides Martin) was Kenan, and the youngest on our team was Catherine, so I'd say we did pretty well! We then played a loose game of Charades. There were no teams. Some one would just think of something like a movie, book or song and act it out and everyone would guess. We left soon after that game was over.

On Sunday, we had a good church service. I took a couple more family portraits for the church directory. After church, we invited Millie, Grace and Kevin to come to our house to play Catan and such. Grace and I don't really like Catan so we decided to paint our nails instead. I was planning on painting my nails yesterday for a wedding this weekend anyway so that worked out well. We both did French Manicures and French Pedicures. :) When Grace and I finished painting our nails we ate a snack while Millie, Kevin, Shannon and Billy finished playing Catan.
After they were done Catan we all played Spoons for a bit until Rebecca and Tucker stopped by. We then play Spoons with them too! Heh! I ended up winning. :D When Spoons was over the Richards left. They were only visiting for a short time because Mrs. Richards was bringing Calvin back to college in Lewiston.

Billy, Shannon and I went with Dad to bring the Kidd's home, then to pick up Mom. On our way to pick up Mom we rented Transformers 3 from Redbox. The movie was alright. :)