BUSY

Hey everyone,



Sorry I haven't been posting in a while but I have been really busy helping my family paint the deck. We didn't do any school Tuesday, Wednesday, or today because from 10am until almost 6pm everyday, we were outside painting our deck! So I have to do school on the weekend now! It will be an interesting schedule until we finish sometime later this week. Fortunately the only painting left to do is the floors and my dad is doing that part with my mom! *sigh of relief*

So besides that let me tell you about the past week.
Last Thursday evening, I went out to a local city for a Ladies Night Out event. They had contests, giveaways, smoothies, free totes and all sorts of goodies. I went with one of my best friends, Katelyn, and we had a blast! My mom and I both brought a friend and we had lots of fun. It started at 6pm and we stayed until a little after 9pm. Katelyn and I bought ice cream around 8pm and we were sitting in the park across the street eating our ice cream and talking about homeschooling and such (she is homeschooled like me) and then these two teen guys in a car drive by with the stereo blasting some dumb music, well anyway, five minutes later........ they drive by, AGAIN and the guy in the passenger seat shouts over the music to us "Whats up!" Katelyn and I were hysterical with laughter and couldn't get over this hilarious happening! I told my mom and her friend and they laughed and even my dad thought it was funny! LOL I don't think I will ever forget about that fun night!
Friday I went to go babysit in the morning like I always do and it was nice because it was just me and the girls (Noah is in school now). After babysitting, my mom and I stopped at a few local garage sales and I got 9 tops and a never used suede purse for a low total of $12!!!! Can you believe that!!! Also my grandma came over and visited with us and we had a nice time talking with her.
Saturday, we went to the chiropractor in the morning and then we went back home and cleaned the house most of the day.
Sunday, after church we went to the Cider Mill by our house and enjoyed donuts and cider after eating a quick burger at a fast food joint. Then we went to a cider mill that has a really nice gift shop and play area. They have a kids barn that has slides and peddle tractors of little kids and I took AJ down the slides on my lap (they were looooooooong slides too!). Then we had to go grocery shopping and bring our yummy food home.
Monday, I was actually able to do all my school work and get it done before 2pm! That is good since I have 6 hours of school every day! I helped my mom tidy up the house because she was having a Ladies Night neighborhood moms get together at our house. I had to babysit that night so I can't tell you how the evening went for my moms party.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and today didn't have much difference between them. We did our devotion Bible reading in the morning after breakfast and then went out to stain the deck.
It was nothing fun and if I had had the choice, I would rather have done my homework than paint our deck because we had soooo much to do. We had a huge three level deck (I will take a pic to show you later) and it has waaaaaay too much detail to express the massiveness of it all! (I am not sure if massiveness is a word or not but if it isn't, don't tell me.... LOL!)
Anyway, that just about raps it all up! Thanks for reading my blog and don't forget to comment!

Blessings,
Butterfly

Mocha chocalatte

Hey girlfriends (sorry if there are any guys who read this),

If you are a coffee drinker and love Starbucks coffee, you will love this homemade recipe for a great iced or hot coffee!



Butterfly's Mocha Chocalatte


Things you will need:

• A coffee mug or glass cup like in picture


• A pot of hot coffee

Ingredients:

• Coffee (at least two cups for each glass)


• Chocolate Syrup (optional)


• Cream (also optional but most girls and moms like it with cream)


• Ice cubes (optional, use for iced coffee)


• Whipped Topping


• Cinnamon

Take your mug or glass cup and fill the coffee about 2/3 way into glass. Add chocolate syrup while still hot. Add ice cubes (three - four). After its cooled off, add more ice cubes (if others melted) and add whipped topping. Sprinkle on a little cinnamon and Enjoy!

This recipe is great for a cool day outside or a hot Summer drink! I hope you like it as much as I do!

Blessings,

Butterfly

Three Things

Dear blogger readers,



First, my hives are doing better today but I did break out this morning at 2am! I haven't had a breakout since so I am hoping that the worst part is over and that I am hopefully in the clear of it all.




Second, I took this totally cute picture of AJ yesterday in our front yard which is sooo green and beautiful from all the rain we have been getting from God!

Third, check out my recipe for this great homemade coffee drink! If you don't like coffee, make it for your mom on a special day or just because you love her!

Blessings,

More later,

Butterfly

PLEASE PRAY

Dearest, beloved, and appreciated blog readers,

I pray that you are going to read this soon and pray for me.... why do you need to pray? Well since last Friday, every evening I have been breaking out in HIVES (once again for this year) and its awful! Last night it was all over my face, neck, arms, and legs. I felt like crying out to God asking, "Why me Lord?!?" I know God has his reasons but I just can't see the purpose of this. But what I really need prayer for is that we will discover what it is I am eating that is causing these breakouts. Normally hives lasts only a couple days but its been four days since I started breaking out and as I type to you, I have hives on my face, arms, and hips. I know that many people are in worse conditions than I am but still, when you think of me and my blog, saw a quick prayer for God's guidance to see what is causing this irritating thing to happen to me. Thank you so much! I can't express how grateful I am that you support my blog and pray for me but I must say thank you to show my appreciation! God bless you all and may you have a blessed day (or night)!

Love,
~Butterfly


P.S. If you have a prayer request as well, please comment and I will pray for you too!

Jeans Book Cover

Jeans Book Cover
Decorate a 3-ring binder or a composition notebook and use the pockets to hold your pens and pencils.

You need:
Old Jeans
Trim and Appliques
Gemstones
Gem Glue
Low Temp Glue Gun

Instructions:
Cut the legs off a pair of jeans. Cut open the front, cutting off the entire zipper. Turn jeans upside down. Place the binder on top and line up the top edge of your jeans with the top edge of the binder and the back seam with the center of the spine.
Trim both sides and the bottom of the jeans 1" bigger than the binder. Hot glue the top edge securely. Tack the other three sides with dabs of hot glue.
Turn the project over. Tuck in along the back seam to fit the jeans to the spine. glue in place.
Wrap sides and bottom of the jeans around the edges of the book. Glue in place.
Glue trim over raw edge. Decorate the outside with gems and appliques. Glue trim under belt loops and around top of book.

This is a craft that I will be trying this week. Tell me if you try it too!

Enjoy,
Butterfly

The beginning of a new week

Hey blog readers,

Here is the latest and greatest!
So tomorrow will be starting our second school week for my family. The first week I didn't even get to start my Geometry so that is my major goal for this week. So far my Chemistry is going really well and I am enjoying Physics. For devotion and bible study, my mom and I are doing Beth Moore's "Living Beyond Yourself" bible study and we have been doing the homework at every chance we get. I really like Beth Moore's teaching style and how she makes it fun and enjoyable. God truly has blessed her with a talent to tell it like it is! LOL

I am currently job searching for next Summer (planning ahead never hurts). Since I am babysitting only once a week, I wanted a job to have for next Summer so I can make enough money to get a nice car (used of course) and afford gas and insurance. I am not quiting my babysitting but I just want to add an extra paying job. So...... I am probably going to take drivers ed this fall starting up either this week or next month or if not this fall, early spring. I am going to pray for God's wisdom in all these things and see how God works this out. I know he has a plan, I just don't know what it is yet! LOL : )

That is about all that is crossing my mind for now but have a blessed evening and enjoy God's love!!!

Until l8r,
Butterfly

Our Vacation to Mackinaw City

Hey everyone!

I just got back from vacation late last week and we had a great time. I will tell you what happened;

Monday: We left our house at 8:45am (must later than planned) and we arrived at our destination at about 2pm. After checking in to our hotel, we went out to see the beach. It was gorgeous!

Afterwards, we brought all our luggage into our hotel room and put our swimsuits on. We played in the water and my baby brother AJ loved the sand and water!!! At first, Lake Huron was pretty cold but I got used to the temp after a bit of swimming. We went back to our hotel room a couple hours later and went into the Mackinaw Crossings outdoor mall. We bought some FUDGE and looked in the shops. We ate dinner at our fav restaurant up there, Darrows, and I split the huge chicken dinner with my brother. We wanted to get a dessert but they were all our of Coconut Creme Pie! We were very upset! : ( After eating to our content, we again went to the city and bought ice cream for dessert. I wanted to get my fav flavor Mint chocolate chip but my mom got some almond flavored one instead (it was nothing special). We looked inside a store where almost everything is made of wood! Here is a pic:

We went back to our hotel after that and my brother and I went swimming in the hotel pool. We went to bed after showering.

Tuesday: We got up early, went to breakfast, and left for Mackinac Island. We took the Arnold boat like usual. We were going so fast! If you don't believe me, look at this:

We passed the Mighty Mac on the way. Here is a pic of the port:

It was a great day to visit the island. We went to Fort Mackinac and watched them shoot the canon, looked in the tiny schoolhouse, and went in every building we passed.

We were starving when we finished up looking at the fort so we bought sub sandwiches at a deli and they were really good! After eating in the park, we took a long walk and sat in the same gazebo Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour sat in to make their movie "Somewhere in Time"! We are now part of that history. We stopped at a shop in a hotel and I bought a Starbucks iced coffee for us to share. That helped us make it back to the main downtown area again.

In a fun store called Shirt Off My Back, I bought a nice zipper hoodie that says Mackinac Island on it, my brother bought a camo hoodie, my dad bought a Mackinac sweater, and my mom bought a Mackinac Island shirt.

We shopped around more, bought a suvenior for Hallie (she was taking care of our garden while we were gone) and then had to head back to the boat to leave! We were so sad to leave the island but our feet were sore and we did enjoy the boat ride. When we got back, we ate dinner at Mama Mia's Pizzaria and we looked in the Mighty Mac Museum upstairs.

Wednesday: We went to Mills Creek, a historical area and we did something we had never done before! We all went on the ZIP LINE! It was sooo fun!!!!! Here is a video of me on the zip line:

We also watched a demonstration on how the old mills worked and I took a video of it:

After the zip line and the mill demo, nearly three hours had passed! But here are more details on the zip line. We had to walk across a cable bridge that was 40 feet above a creek, we hiked up the hill on a trail til we got to the drop off for the zip line which is over 50 feet in the air, and once all hooked up to the cable line, we put up our feet and took off on the nearly 500 foot long zip line! It was soooooooooo amazing and I felt like I was flying across the water! I loved it and it was just sooo cool! And it was only $5 a person too! After the zip line you get to go on a rock climb wall for part of the Adventure tour. Only me and my brother and sister did the rock wall. Here is a picture of me on the rock wall:

I was a bit nervous because at the very top, you are 4 stories high! That is like scaling a New York tower! Only my brother and I made it to the top but my younger sister made it half way up which is pretty impresive! Also, I did the difficult side that had less rocks but I like a challenge now and then and it was very rewarding to push the bird call at the top! : )

We went to Scalliwag's for dinner and my brother, sister, and I slipt the chicken basket which had 9 pieces of chicken (like chicken strips), four hush puppies, french fries, and cole slaw. I was a really good meal for a fair price too. My mom had their fish basket which is the same thing except fish instead of chicken. My dad had a beef pastie from his favorite pastie shop and AJ enjoyed a jar of baby food. : )

We shopped around after eating but didn't purchase anything. A few hours later, we went to dinner at Darrows. I had the vegetable beef soup which was very good. We finally had our piece of coconut creme pie too! Andrew got crabby from lack of a good nap so I took him to the gift shop area and he smiled and giggled for the lady at the cashier. We went back to our hotel after dinner and went to the Pirate Waterpark. It was lots of fun! There was waterslides and I huge bucket that dumped tons of water on us! My brother and I went down the waterslides backwards just for fun and we had a good time. When we had to leave it was so nippy out and it didn't help that we were all wet! We showered and hit bed soundly.

Thursday: We packed up everything after breakfast that morning. We decided to leave one day early because Friday was going to rain all day and be yucky and gross outside and before 50 degrees!!! But we made the best of the last day. We went to Fort Michillamackinac and looked around the artiface museum under the fort. It was lots of fun and I think Andrew liked it too! We went into a few of the buildings but after a while it started to sprinkle rain out so we went back to the main building and looked inside the gift shop. We went on the beach and I took this video for you all:

Thursday evening: We stopped at Taco Bell on the way home for dinner because it was almost 9pm and we didn't feel like we had enough stamina to make ourselves dinner (dramatization). I had a nacho supreme. We all went to bed after eating and Friday morning we unpacked, did about 5 loads of laundry (i did most of it but everyone helped fold) and we tried to get back into our routine.

Saturday: we went to a Fall Festival in a local city and saw our Aunt Tina and cousins and some friends of ours. We had fun talking and enjoying the music.

Sunday: we worked the Rotary Chicken Dinners from 10 - 1pm. It was lots of fun! I worked with my sister bagging cookies, then I put alluminum foil in boxes (not so fun), and then the best job was putting the boxes on the assembly line. The girl working next to me was very friendly and we talked together most of the time. After working the chicken dinners, we got a free one for our volunteer work and enjoyed our lunch and saw our Aunt Tina and cousins AGAIN! We were so happy to see them!

Monday we started up school again and my dad had to go back to work. Sorry it took so long to make this post but I had to wait forever for the videos to load. Enjoy and tell me what you think!!

Blessings,

Until Next time,

~ Butterfly