Me through the ages...

 

Me through the ages at my homeschool umbrella group!

It's so funny sometimes to glance back and see how much I've changed in just four years...enjoy!

 

7th grade! My year of skinny jeans and big earrings with short and straightened hair.

 

 

8th grade! My year of naturally curly hair.

 

 

Freshman year! My first year of highschool!

 

 

Sophomore year! The proofs were just sent to yearbook staffers today!

 

I think the most recent is my favorite. It's the only one so far that you can clearly see my eye color.

 

Not only have I changed physically, but also spiritually and emotionally.

These last four years of CBA have strengthened me in so many ways.

School may be overwhelming this year, but there's always one year in highschool to everyone that is just overbearing.

 I'm halfway through the school year and I can finish it off with soring grades!

(But not until I've had Christmas break....haha)

 

-Stephanie

 

 

 

Bilbo's Handwriting

I decided to try some majestic handwriting today...

 

It really is amazing how many things I can find to do that keep me from studying for my biology quiz happening tomorrow. I should really stop procrastinating now and buckle down to study. *wink*

Farewell!

-Stephanie

P.S. I now realize that I forgot the I in Tolkien. Oh dear me.
It was fun trying to have Bilbo's handwriting never the less!!

 

 

First day of child care!

       I must say that it was much better than I was expecting. I was quite skeptical thinking there would be an overload of kids since we get $25 each time. But it was pretty evenly spaced out.  Mckenzie and I were first put in the infant room together, then they moved us to the older preschool kids. Then after 20 minutes of being in there, Mrs. Shrock asked if one of us could go back over to the infants, so I went. I was over there for about 20 minutes....but it was so chaotic. There was four helpers including myself and 8 babies. And the babies were all over the room, one in a swing, another in a bouncy thing, one crawling around and the rest were crying being held.
The other three helpers were older women, so they called me all over the room because apparently I had a better back, so I could pick the kids up for them. One time I just sat on the floor and looked at the babies crying and they all seemed to be looking at me as if saying "How dare you make me cry?" while a lady was pulling down a babies pants making sure she didn't have to change his diaper. At that point I was really doubting myself....I had practically had no experience with babies before, but I managed to make one baby stop crying by taking her out in the big room and just pacing back and forth.

Thankfully, Mrs.Shrock came back and offered to take the 20 pound baby off my hands...(Yes. The baby was that heavy.) and asked if I wanted to go back to the preschool room, and I said yes.

I really like it in the preschool room because it's more fun than work. We had snacks, sang Christmas songs, learned about leaves, colored coloring pages, put together a huge puzzle and had story time about foxes (which was sort of funny because Mckenzie and I looked at each other and mouthed the song "What does the fox say?" at each other!)

I really enjoyed being around this girl named Waverly! She was so extremely sweet and sat on my lap, or was always sitting next to me. She has perfect blond hair and beautiful blue eyes. She came in her Dora the explorer footed pajamas! (Aww!)
Then once the moms started coming to pick up their kids Mrs.Johnson wanted Mckenzie and I to help put away chairs, so I had to leave Waverly, but she was so sad about me leaving.
"I don't want you to go!" She gave me a hug and I told her I would see her next time.

Then Mrs.Shrock handed Mckenzie and I our $25 and asked if we were permanent helpers, we both said yes and she said "I'm glad we can depend on you!" as we headed to help put back the chairs for the moms.

Mrs.Johnson gave us a schedule of the rest of the dates and told us she would give us another one once MOPS starts back up in January after Christmas, but she made sure that we wanted to come back first.

I really had fun, and it gives me some good experience to be around younger kids. I don't have any younger siblings, so I'm kind of clueless when it comes to being around kids.

But as far as babies....I just can't do that just yet. The ladies were really happy to have me in there with them, but I didn't feel like much help.

So I'm glad I'm back to the preschool-I need to start out slow! Haha especially since I practically have had no childcare experience before.

Also, Mrs.Johnson said that the church was a perfect place to advertise for babysitting when I need some money.  Shannon (another girl that carpools with Mrs.Johnson) said she put up a paper with her number on it and her phone was ringing off the hook! I'm not quite ready to do that just yet, but it's good to have that avenue when I need more money.

Mckenzie and I were talking about how $25 is a lot of money to us and she's going to spend it on movie tickets, makeup and clothes and stuff and then she asked me and I was like "Um...books." Haha.

Now....to finish schoolwork I didn't complete before I left this morning...

-Stephanie



Pumpkin Carving

A little behind with the autumn festivities this year! Here's the pumpkin I carved last night!

 

 

 

Can you guess who it is?

Hint: Under the sea.

Good luck!

 

-Stephanie

A good day at last!

     I signed up for Nanowrimo for the very first time this year. I'm not necessarily trying to reach the 50,000 word goal. But I am trying to push my story forward. I just started it yesterday, and I'm already at 1,300 words. (That means only 49,000 more words to go, right? Haha) So I'm really excited about it. This is the first time in maybe 5 years that I've felt inspired to try writing again.
And whether I finish it in a month or not, I want this to be the first story that I actually finish. My first, decently long story.

     Today we went to sell soap at another flea market. I love going to this flea market! There's always great stuff being sold. And today was author day in the farmer's market building, just a short walk from the flea market building.
I looked through all the books from the authors but none appealed to me. It was nice to talk to the local authors though! I decided I was going to get a book if it was fiction and appeared my type, but most were nonfiction and romance , history and science fiction. There was really only about 10 authors too!
When walking out of the small room where the authors were, a violinist was playing a tune on her violin. I listened a few seconds and saw her case for her violin on the floor, it had a sign propped up saying "Tips welcome!" I reached in my pocket, I had 50cents from my last purchase, so I threw that in her case! I had always wanted to do that! It felt so cool.

I supported two local craft makers today:

 

 

A man was selling upcycled forks and spoons! He had chimes and all different sorts of little charms made out of them. Both my Britney and I purchased an elephant pin from him! He makes them himself, and they were only $5 each. I plan on pinning this little guy on to my backpack, it's so cute!

 

 

There was another man in the farmer's market building that was selling bookmarks. I was going to just walk by at first and then I walked closer. They were really cool! He had all different sorts of charms on the ends of his bookmarks and I had a hard time choosing which one I wanted at first, until I laid my eyes on the one pictured above.

It was $7.50, but he also gift packaged it!

It was altogether a well put together shop. If he's there next time, I may not be able to refrain myself from purchasing another one.

 

 

Pictured above is how you insert the bookmark into the book you're reading!

Such a cute idea, no?

 

 

Both Britney and I went to the jewelry lady that was there the last time we sold at this flea market.

Immediately we rushed to the bargain bin.

The bike necklace was $1 and everything else was 50cents.

Ha....and I can hardly get one jewelry item at Walmart for $5!

 

 

 

     When we got home from the flea market there was a call on the answering machine for me...from Mrs.Johnson! She's the junior high play director for CBA. She actually lives just a neighborhood away from me.

She was calling to ask if I was interesting in working with little children for MOPS two Tuesdays a month from 9:30 am to 11am. $25 each time.

And she could give me a ride there.

For now she just needs the two Tuesdays in November coming up and one week in early  December.

She said on the message that so many people were signing up, that they had to start turning them away because there wasn't enough childcare.

I called her back immediately and accepted the offer. I think she was more pleased than I was with me wanting to do it!

 

Of course, this means I'll have to be able to finish math before I go, and come back home to do history, language arts, and biology once MOPS is over.

But it's not every Tuesday, and I only have one in December.

 

Ahh!! This is my first job offer ever. Hooray for the chance to get some experience (and extra cash)!

Hmm, perhaps I should actually save that money up for something?

 

And tomorrow Britney is going to see a play called "The Importance of Being Earnest" She's required to see the play for one of her college classes and got two free tickets to go see it! Anddd guess who was invited to go with her? Me! I'm so excited. I love plays.

 

 

-Stephanie

A sneak peak into my sketches

I've posted before that I draw on blank notecards and bookmarks and now even blank tags and sell them at craft shows to get some income....

But I've never posted what I sell! Here's a sneak peak into what I do!

 

The bookmarks sell for $2 each, while my cards sell for $3 each and my gift tags sell for 50 cents each.

 

 

Sadly, nothing has sold just yet. But I still have hope for them.

Especially with Christmas coming just around the corner.

 

I'm having mixed feelings about selling my tags.

They're just too cute to part with!

 

-Stephanie

 

 

Home again

It was so wonderful to spend a long weekend away at Virginia Beach! It was in the 50's and the 60's the whole time we were there, but I didn't mind at all. It was beautiful!

I always love how fluffy the clouds are over the ocean on overcast days.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express again, I love it there. They have a huge pool and hot tub, and Mmm breakfast with bacon. ^_^
We were on the 8th floor in our hotel this time...which none of us were comfortable with....we tend to enjoy being on the 3rd or 4th floor, that way the ocean doesn't seem so...small?
( I don't know... is it possible for the ocean to look small? Haha)

I finished "The Final Storm" by Wayne Thomas Batson while I was there. I can't say that it finished the way I was hoping it would. I was thoroughly disappointed at first with the way Wayne finished the book, but as an allegory I guess it had to end that way.

One evening I went down to the lobby and finished replying to the two penpal letters I brought with me. It was so dark over the ocean, but the boardwalk was illuminated by several lampposts. While I sat there working on writing letters, I didn't see anyone walk past for an evening stroll. It was nice to spend sometime in the lobby when no one was there. It was eerie silent in the lobby and the only other person was a worker behind the front desk and my sister working on math homework for college.

The next morning we woke up to papers posted all over the hotel about a race taking place that morning and that our street would be closed until 10am. Sure enough, starting just before we went down for breakfast, we watched several people run by. Some were in Halloween costumes, which I found kind of funny. Some of the costumes made me laugh. One guy was crazy enough to wear nothing but a speedo in the cold temperatures. He was dressed as Captain America with a cape, but was missing the remainder of his apparel besides his speedo.
There were several others! There was a couple that dressed up, the lady was Peter Pan and the man was Tinkerbell- in a dress in all!

 

There were so many runners! It was fun to watch them run by in costumes, knowing that some were just in the race to have fun.

 

The gender-switch Peter Pan and Tinkerbell!

 

Can you guess who the people in the boat are?

I'll give you a hint, it's based on a show....

You got it! Duck Dynasty!

There were so many cargo ships that passed by our view of the ocean each day. I was always wondering where on earth they were going, and where they had been. I wouldn't mind a year full of nothing but traveling on the sea, but I always get a vision in my mind of huge waves and dark clouds threatening to topple a ship over. Then I snuggle farther down in my bed and decide that I'm content with staying on land.

It still doesn't stop me from wondering what life is like for those that travel by sea, or how far it is to reach the horizon, or how long it takes to be directly under those huge, fluffy clouds.

On Saturday Britney took me out for a photoshoot on the beach. She didn't want any pictures, which I was slightly disappointed at, but agreed. While I was out by the water, a boy around my age wearing a cowboy hat rode by on a horse. "Good day ma'am." He said with a tilt of his hat. I couldn't help swooning a little. And also being slightly embarrassed. I was in a dress! Goodness....I never wear dresses. I smiled back, but I was more intent on watching his horse. He was riding a horse on the beach! Have I ever mentioned how much I want to do that?

 

I made this my profile picture on facebook....and exactly 50 people liked it.

Whaa....? That's my highest record so far! Haha

 

I'm reading "The Curse of the Spider King" in this shot. I just started it on the ride back home.

It's also by Wayne Thomas Batson. I haven't quite decided if I like it just yet...

 

Dad took us to a restaurant called "Outback" for supper the second evening we were at Virginia Beach.

He let me order a side of four crab legs! I was so thrilled. I haven't had crabs since early summer.

Yummy, tasty, crabses, hobbiteses!

On our final morning there, we watched the sunrise over the ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous. We were all really going to miss the ocean, but we were all ready to come back home. I appreciated the escape. I had been needing to get away so badly lately.

Now, back into my daily routine of school and homework and school and studying and school and bible study and school and socialization.

And reading when I can, writing when I can, enjoying life when I can, and hopefully squeezing in time for drawing when I can...time doesn't allow for that currently. I hoping I can adjust something's so there's time for that  again.

 

Until next time! Bon voyage!

-Stephanie