KC&TO - May 14th

So, what's been goin on since last Tuesday?  Lemme summarize it for you:

Had a picnic with this lovely lady on Saturday:

{...After a while, Ben got kinda jealous of all the snacks we were eating, so he decided to try to sneak up on us to steal them....}

{...Elizabeth quickly took care of that...}  

:D

He ended up making his own picnic spot not too far away in spite of her... poor guy  :P

  

. . .

Made a wordle for Mom on Tagxedo for Mothers Day.  

You know, where you have a whole bunch of words all jammed together into a shape?  It looks something like this: (although this isn't the one I made)

They're a lot of fun to make, and look really nifty too.

 . . .

I discovered at least 2 new things:

a nest of newly hatched baby birds up in one of our ferns...

...And this lil grump on the couch tonight...a newly acquired skill .... jumping up on furniture.  

. . .

And...lastly, I've been marveling at how big my little bro has become lately! 

 He's not so little anymore!  The best partner in crime there ever was.  

Both of them are such HUGE blessings to me, and I don't know what I'd do without them.

(can ya tell?)  :P

 Have a great rest of the week!  I for one am going to be frantically studying for another CLEP test that is comin up this Friday... 

...Prayers are greatly appreciated!!! ...

I'm sure there will be a story to tell the next time I blog ;)

Pssst....How do you guys like the new header?  :D

Keep Calm and Tuesday On - Modesty, Chickens and Cool House

Sorry bout this...I was almost done writing this whole post out last night, when my computer shut me off of the internet and wouldn't let me get back on.  :(  

So...KEEP CALM AND WEDNESDAY ON, everybody!

Wow!  It seems like as soon as I finish blogging one week, the next week has already rolled around!  Craziness!!! 

Ok, I was eating cereal this morning (my all-time breakfast fav) . . . and is it just me, or are there other sisters out there who get tired of drawing little dresses onto the pictures displayed on cereal boxes???

Seriously!  I don't know, it might be that I'm becoming more aware of stuff like that as I get older, but it seems like risque pictures are popping up more and more all over the place!  I suppose the best thing we can do as sisters for both our brothers and brothers in Christ, is to not only protect their eyes from unnecessary pictures, but to also dress modestly ourselves.  Being cognizant of tight shirts and pants, short shorts, or low necklines can really make a difference to them - whether we think it does or not.
Hmph.  Ya know the quickest way for you to provoke the wrath of a cashier at the store?  (...not that you or I would want to willingly, of course... :P)
Turn the covers of magazines around when you are in line to check out.  They probably wont sell as many copies of them, but who knows???  You might have just saved someone from stumbling in sin, and that is so much more important.
. . .
Ok, I kinda went off on that point, BUT!  It is one of those things that I feel very strongly about, and have become more aware of lately.
~
...So, what happened this week other than drawing on cereal boxes?  Well, lemme see...I went to a wedding over the weekend with Dad and Ben, which was fun.  I didn't have a single dress to wear, so Caelen gave me this beautiful navy blue lace dress from Kohls that she happened to have an extra one of.   

With leggings and a wrap, it worked out perfectly :)
...Ben looked fabulous himself in his suit and bow-tie....disregard the weird face there.  I'm sure that deep down he liked wearing it....really deep down.  :D

~
After the wedding, we went over to Dad's cousin's house which was super cool - not to mention ginormous!
It was absolutely covered with hunting trophies from all over the world.  Kinda looked like an old hunting lodge with all of the animals on the walls.  It was really neat, I'm just not sure that I would like to have to sleep in there alone at night.  :)

Love these raised beds!!!

Pretty cool, huh?
~
Switching to this morning again; I was just getting ready to go down to the mailbox to mail a letter to a friend, when I saw a pile of feathers on the ground beside the chicken coop.  :(
Seems like a critter got one of our best layers last night . . . sadness.

Whatever it was that got in there, will be deeply regretting his decision to mess with THIS hen house!  Nate and Ben set a trap for it tonight, so we'll hopefully see some results tomorrow.
There was a time a while back, when I might have cried over the loss of a chicken, but...I soon learned that chickens are good for 3 things - laying eggs, making you laugh, and .... chicken nuggets.
:D

Til next Tuesday,  (....or maybe Wednesday...)

~Hannah

Pssst.  The new header for Devoted Daughter has never really grown on me :(  I'm thinking about changing...again....  Any suggestions?  ;P

Keep Calm and Tuesday On - Different Styles and Short Film

I really should name these posts, "Keep calm and WEDNESDAY on" because of how late I actually end up
publishing them!  Night time is pretty much the only free time that I have left in the day anymore.

Whenever I do find the time though, it's been super cool to get into making hemp jewelry.  Ya know, the braided rope necklaces and bracelets with beads intertwined:

{google images}

...

The one I'm working on at the moment is going to look just like this:

(At least, that's what the plan is..) 

{google images}

. . .

These kinds of jewelry are super fun to make, and they really do go with any style of clothing...especially if you find a good pendant for them. 

 {Walmart has tons in the craft section} 

Hmm.  It is always interesting to me to see the various tastes and styles among different gals.  Each one has a  distinctive style to her...even if she doesn't realize it!  I've figured out that my style tends more towards the natural/earthy look, while Caelen's leans towards an elegant/vintage type of look.  

For example:  I would probably be more likely wear an outfit that looks something like this:

{google images}

...While Caelen would probably wear something like this:

{google images}

Cute, right?  :)  

What is your style?  If you're not quite sure yet, (it took me quite a while to figure out mine) try checking out  Fresh Modesty's Blog.  She's got a whole lot of great outfit ideas that incorporate all kinds of styles, and they are ...of course... all modest!  

{Not to mention, downright cute}

~

Aside from jewelry making, I've also been making some more short films with the bro's, which is so much fun.  Just a bit of random silliness, but .... what can I say?  Life's too short to make a serious short film.  

Ya gotta laugh!

Hope this makes you do just that.

Well, it is now officially past my bedtime, and if I want to finish my science test by tonight, I'd better hop off and get to it!  

Lots of Luvs

          Hannah

Keep Calm & Tuesday On - Minnesota

Well as you all know, I was in Minnesota this past week . . . lemme summarize:  

FRIGID

~

So I step onto the airplane in Charlotte, and it is a cool refreshing morning of 60° outside ... not so in MN!  

Snowflakes the size of biscuits...not to mention ice cold wind blowing around all week.  Thankfully, the homeschool conference was connected by skywalks, so we didn't have to go back out into the weather for the rest of our time spent there.  Phew!  :D

Anyways, the conference itself went really well, although very busy....but busy is good, right? 

My uniform ..... looks a bit yellow ....  :D

Woke up to this view on the first morning.  It was kind of fun, because we didn't get any snow here in North Carolina this year.....NONE!  Had to travel all the way to Minnesota just to see some whiteness! 

~

OK! 

 **Record Scratch**  

SWITCH!

When I got off the plane on my way back to NC, I was surrounded by blue skies and green leaves again!  It was fantastic!  Yes, the snow was nice, but short sleeves and flowers are sooo much better in April!  I mean, come on!  It's SPRING!!!

~

At home, all of the azaleas had popped out, the grass had grown, and all of the leaves were on the trees.  It was gorgeous!   

 

I have ambitions to turn this little wooden shed into a guest house someday in the near future (...when money starts to grow on trees, tell me! ...)

Oh yeah.  Poison Ivy.  Can't forget that lovely part of Spring.

He almost looks like he's smiling, the trouble maker!

Til Next Tuesday, Folks!

PS: I tell ya what was sad ...While in the airport, my friend and I were trying to make it to our gate, and we heard a mother telling her little son, "No sweetie, Daddy can't hold your hand right now - he's texting."

...Ouch...

Have we really come to this?

Keep Calm and Tuesday On #1

Ah Ha!  I finally figured out what I'm gonna call these Tuesday posts....

Whatcha think?  At first, I was thinking somewhere along the lines of, "Terrific Tuesdays," but then again....uh...nope...not the brightest idea. 

  

So!  What kinds of things are going to be going on during these Tuesday posts? 

 In a nutshell, I'll just be recounting various things that I've been thinking about lately, random pictures that I've taken throughout the week (which will also be posted on BLOOM, along with some bonus pics), and also what I'm excited about for the upcoming week.  In addition, I plan to include some thoughts on what I've found to be convicting, or challenging to me spiritually this week     

Speaking of.... last Sunday, Dad filled in for our pastor, and preached a super good sermon on passion.         Basically, the point was - WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?  

                               If you don't have anything that you are passionate about, WHY NOT?

If you are passionate about something, what in the world are you doing about it?

I really appreciated the sermon, #1 - because he's my dad, and I was so proud of him for stepping up and filling in the gap when our pastor was gone  ;)

and

#2 - because it was convicting to me in that I like certain things, and I have a strong opinions about things, but I haven't really become PASSIONATE about anything yet.  

So, right now, I'm praying that the Lord would stir up in me a passion for something.  Something AWESOME! 

#3 - He also reminded us that though we are be passionate, we are not to be passionate at the expense of our priorities.  (ie. God, family, friends...etc..)

Are you passionate about anything?  If so, what are you doing to CHANGE THE WORLD FOR CHRIST?  

~

After church on Sunday, Caelen and I got the opportunity to take almost all of the gals from our church, home with us for some chili and a hike....great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Love these gals!  :D

~

Whoa!  My trip to Minnesota is comin up fast, and I still don't have any good shoes to wear for the conference....Ahhhh!

I fly out on Thursday morning for my second homeschool conference of the year, working for Apologia, and if I don't have good shoes to stand on concrete all day.....I'm toast!  I looked around a bit today for something....ANYTHING!  But, little 'ol' Marion doesn't have a thing.  I did, however, find some interesting body spray at Big Lots, that made me smell like an overpowering pomegranate (nobody could stand to be around me for a while...I decided not to buy it)

 Oh well, hopefully our trip up to Asheville tomorrow will be successful.  :)  

~

Alright guys, that has to end my "Keep Calm and Tuesday On" post for the week.  Got things to do!  Places to go!  People to see!  

{In my dreams, as I'm heading off to bed now}

LoVe,

  Hannah**