Congrats to the Winner!

And now...we have a winner-a grand prize winner of the first "Picture of the Month" contest!

The stream/waterfall picture (above) got the most votes. It got 4 votes, while the dasiy and butterfly got 3 and 1 votes, respectivly.

A new poll will be posted on this blog soon! ;)

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The Great Poll of Spring 2008

Hi all!

Just a quick note to say that I have opened the last poll in the "Picture of the Month" contest-the Grand Finale! Vote for your favorite-your vote determines the winner! ;)

The poll (as always) is at the right in the sidebar, see the photo finalists here.

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Pictures Galore!

Pictures Galore!

Here are some pictures I took at my trip to the Tennessee Aquarium Tuesday. Also included (above) is a picture I took of my toddler sister, Alison.

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Finally-3 finalists!

Hi all!

Just a quick note to say that we have (finally!) 3 finalists in the first "Picture of the Month" contest. Below are the finalists. Thanks to all of you who voted. In this past category, the butterfly picture won, having 5 out of 9 votes.

Watch for the grand finale in the future when the 3 finalists compete for the "Best Picture Championship"!!

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A Barkin' Good Time!

Okay: Before I get to the content of this article, I must tell you this one thing: We have reached a milestone on this blog! With this post, there are 100 posts on this blog! And 100 posts in less than a year! (Early June marks me operating this blog for a year.) Anyway, thought y’all might like to know…

Lauren’s been having a blast! Why? Well, in a nutshell we got my service dog a new toy! It’s kind of like a hollow cone (called a “Kong”) that you can put dog treats in, and then the dog gets them out. Lauren’s had one years ago, and she defiantly hasn’t forgotten what to do with a Kong!
She plays with that Kong by the hour (well, almost) trying to get the treats out.
The reason we got my dog a Kong is because we realized that Lauren needed something to do while she’s in her kennel while we go away. We learned that she was barking (a BIG no-no for her) and drooling in stress. So we’re now trying to take her more places with us. And when she has to go in her kennel, we put a peanut-butter filled cow bone and/or a Kong with treats with her so Lauren has something to do.

So much for that. Today Dad put in the second of 2 gates in our backyard.
Dad, Alison and I also are playing today a game of croquet, which is a lot of fun. I haven’t played that game for at least 5 years! ;)

I also worked on my chemistry class today. Currently I’m learning about energy, heat and temperature. The subject’s challenging, but I am learning it.
One more thing I gotta tell y’all before I close off this post! Tomorrow night Dad and I are going to the Tennessee Aquarium for a photography class. I’ll get a chance to capture penguins, sharks, otters, butterflies, fish, and other animals too. I’m really excited! Wednesday there will DEFIANTLY be a post on this blog with the best of the photos I took at the Aquarium! ;)

Well, I think I’d better go. More later….

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A Honkin' Big Picture Post

Okay, I'm sorry I haven't posted for a while! ;) I just totally forgot about it. However, I haven't forgotten to take pictures! Below our some of the best pictures I've taken recently. Enjoy!

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P.S.-HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, MOM!

Isn't this shot (above) neat?

Two winners...and a new poll!

Hi everyone!

Just a quick note to say that we've got two finalist in the "Picture of the Month" contest!

In the "Wonderful Water and Mountain Vistas" category, Photo #2 won, having 4 votes. (see winner below.)

In the "Wildflowers" tie poll, Photo #2 won also, having 8 votes against Photo #1 with 3 votes.

(see winner below.)

And here's the last category in this "Picture of the Month" contest. It's entitled, "Smokies, etc." Here's the 3 contestants below.

Photo #1 (below)

Photo #2 (below)
Photo #3 (below)

Happy voting!

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An Awesome Graduation

'An Awesome Graduation' is defiantly right! It was a blast, and hopefully I can recount here what it was like for me.



Mom and I drove over to the church to be there at 3:00pm. Mom, I, and some other graduates carried the lemonade inside to the gym kitchen. (After the graduation itself, they had a reception in the gym. We signed up to bring the drink.)



Then I went into the church proper and had my picture taken with the other graduates outside. We (the graduates) also got separate pictures of ourselves.

After that was all done, we came inside and got started signing each other's yearbooks. The yearbooks were really nice. They had pictures and full names of all the 15 graduates. (12 8th graders; 3 seniors.) In the end, I got 14 out of the 15 graduates to sign my yearbook.



Then we all cloistered in a room while Pam L. (the marvelous lady who coordinates the homeschool graduations) pointed us on how to take off/put on our caps. Seriously, wearing a cap is like balancing a ball on your head! Well, almost. And the tassel kept getting in your face, and sometimes in your teeth! Trust me, 'tassel' is NOT a good lunch or snack! ;)

Our pastor and speaker both came in to encourage us, and then graduation was upon us!



Here I go, I thought....



When it was my turn to s-l-o-w-l-y walk down the aisle to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstance" I was very nervous! Even though Pam said to "smile, don't trip, and you'll do fine", still I went tense as a rock a few steps later as I marched down the aisle.



Thankfully I remembered what I was supposed to do, and honestly, all of the graduates did well.



There was the welcome, then a special music of flute/piano.



Then there was the speaker. His name: LeClare Litchfield. He is the chaplain of the local Adventist academy here. Litchfield was astounding! His talk was entitled, "What do you want?". He asked the graduates if God asked them "What do you want?", what they would say. He also asked us some other questions. Anyway, I'm sorry I can't tell about his talk in sufficient words, because Litchfield is beyond words!



Then my fellow 8th grade graduate Randy did an absolutely AMAZING, ASTOUNDING violin piece. It was a very complicated piece, and he did a job beyond words! ;)



After that, there was a little PowerPoint showing pictures of the graduates, along with a very nice complementary speech from the parents. ;)

Then Andrew D. (also an 8th grade grad.) thanked the parents for all their hard work. Then all thee graduates presented roses and kind letters.

After that all the graduates assembled for a group picture, while it seemed the WHOLE church turned out with their cameras to take a picture of us! ;)

Then, well...the graduates marched out and had a reception for the graduation attendees. We then got even MORE pictures taken with our families and friends. Also, the graduates worked on getting more signatures in our yearbooks.

And then, it was time to go. We left the church about 7:30, with me and Mom being there for 4 1/2 hours.

Lots of congratulations to my fellow grads and MANY thanks to Pam! ;)

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Lull in the Storm

Well, here I am on graduation weekend, at 2:03 with just about nothing to do!! Funny that I have a lot of time on my hands when this is SUCH a busy weekend.

Grandma and Grandpa came about 6:15pm Thursday, just in time to see me before Mom and I rushed off to my graduation recital, which ended up being about 2 1/2 hours long. We (the graduates) practised marching up and down the aisle, when to turn around, when to sit, etc. all in time to the music! My gut feeling is that there's be a few mistakes at graduation, but overall the whole program will go fine. Actually, the recital was a lot of fun.

Yesterday our family along with Grandma and Grandpa went shopping about 1/2 hour away. Grandpa got me two really nice ties. Instead of being tied, they have a zipper which is SO much easier!! Many thanks to Grandpa! ;)

Today Grandma gave me a really nice "graduate's bible". It's in the Holmes Christian Standard Bible, or something like that. It's really nice because there's a little strap and hole that keeps it together, as well as being small enough to carry around and the type is not really small either.

Church went very well. The sermon was very good!

This afternoon Grandpa and Grandma are going to visit an old friend they have here in Tennessee.
Dad's off somewhere doing something with his graduation. Dad is a chemistry teacher at the local university here. Well, their graduation is on the same day (tomorrow) that mine is on.

Tomorrow morning is pretty free for me, though Dad has his graduation in the morning. I need to be at church (where my graduation's taking place) at 3:00pm.

Guess that's all for now. More coming soon....;)

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ATTACK ON MULCH MOUNTAIN!!

It was absolutely gorgeous today.

This afternoon Dad and I joined forces and worked on “Mulch Mountain”. As you may already know, we have some woods behind our house and Mom and Dad want to get a path mulched out there, where you can be sure where you’re not stepping on poison ivy.
So after I worked on the problem a while Dad came out and helped me. That was very nice and thoughtful of him! I really appreciated him helping me on my job, and we got a lot done together.
The peonies are almost in bloom, and I got a really nice picture of a bud. (See picture). The dogwoods, as well as pretty much everything else are totally green. And I’m enjoying this “green” phase of spring very much! ;)

On a different note, I’m graduating from 8th grade Sunday!! Some of you may have seen my “countdown” to graduation I put up yesterday. A very nice lady at our church organizes this whole homeschool-graduation affair, and I have to admit, I’m excited!! Tonight Mom’s taking me to the recital. They’re having caps, gowns, pictures, speaker, receptions, and just about everything else!
Mom signed up to bring the drinks at the reception, and she’s bringing lemonade. Besides, I wanted it! So if any other 8th graders in my graduating class reads this post between now and Sunday, they’ll know that there’s going to be lemonade at the reception! ;)

Tonight my grandparents from Michigan are coming to stay a long weekend at our house to see me graduate and roll on into high school….scary to think of myself a high-schooler!!! ;)