Miscellany Monday

I am almost too late for this. ;)

On Memorial Day, Narthea and I went to a fair with some friends!  It was so much fun and I really enjoyed bringing my camera along and getting some neat photos. ;)

Since it was Memorial Day, they had all the veterans at the fair dress up and march around.

For lunch we had...

...and boy was it delicious! 

Check it out!  Pigs CAN fly! ;)

This was the first fair I've been to, that I can remember, and we had a good time!  I hope it won't be the last. ;)

I would also like to take this time to ask you to pray for my dad.  He's doing okay, but he's been very emotional lately.  He keeps telling us, "I'm losing my gumption".  Next Tuesday, June 14th, he is supposed to get his next Tysabri infusion, which will give him some more energy, but that is a week away.  Please pray for him to have some energy and for his emotions to get better. :)

{I apologize for the poor quality of the next two photos. They were taken on my phone.}

I was off of work for a month and a half, because my boss was on vacation from work, so she, munchkin, and her husband went up North, to visit some family.  I missed my little munchkin SO much!  His mom told me that she printed off a picture of me for him to take up North with him, and he showed all his family the picture and kept saying my name, asking where I was. How sweet! ^_^  When I got to work this morning, at 11, munchkin was so excited to see me!  He immediately wanted to go inside and show me all his new toys his family up North had given him when he went to visit.  We played with his new bubble maker on the back porch for most of the day. :)  Needless to say, it was a great day at work, playing with munchkin as he pulled me around, showing me around the house as if I'd forgotten what it looked like, and where everything was. ;)

On a side note, look at this awesome, old, Ford truck my friend Cici and I found!  I got my picture with it. ^_^  Couldn't resist...

Last Friday, I got to see Pirates of the Caribbean: On stranger Tides!  Oh my, it was a wonderful new adventure!  This time Jack Sparrow goes on a quest to the Fountain of Youth.  Some old and new friends tag along... ;)

The movie was full of fun and, as usual, Jack was always getting himself into trouble. ;)

Oooh, a love interest? Perhaps. You'll need to watch the movie to find out... *evil laugh* >:D

AND there's a "new" Will and Elizabeth. A love story between a religious man, and a man-eating mermaid. Eerie enough? Yeah, so go watch it! ^_^

Of course Barbossa is back! And with a surprising new "wardrobe". ;)  Let's just say his character is as interesting as ever!

Don't worry, lad! Good ole' Mr. Gibbs joins the fun as well! ;)

Guess what... Blackbeard makes an appearance!! :D  And boy is he a pirate! lol

So, ya still sitting in that chair, reading my post?  Well what are you waiting for?  Go watch the movie already!

It's SO worth it!!

Now, the GREATEST news for last...

Narthea graduated from high school!!

She had her ceremony at our church, Saturday, June 4th.  It was the best graduation ceremony I've ever seen!  Narthea's speech was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, very INSPIRATIONAL, and MOVED EVERYONE TO TEARS.  I  COULDN'T BE MORE PROUD of her! :)

Congrats, big sis!  *sniff* I still tear up when I look at all the pictures. :')

I hope everyone had a wonderful Monday, and may your Tuesday be even better! :)

Party

{First off, if you haven't read about my birthday, click HERE and HERE otherwise you might get lost reading this post} :)

I haven't posted in two days. Though you might not believe me, I had a very good reason. I was finally able to have my friends over for a party! Yippee! I shall refer to them as my nick names for 'em, Bubbles and Cici. :) I didn't take a lot of pictures at the party that I could show you, but I cropped some for ya, so forgive the blurriness in some of 'em. :)

After we picked up Bubbles and Cici yesterday, we took them to Chili's (my second fav restaurant. Olive Garden being my fav) for lunch. When we got to my house we baked the party cake. We used a recipe on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box. I've made it a dozen times and it's everyone's favorite! I mean, you can't go wrong with chocolate. :)

Left to right:

{Me, Bubbles and Cici} 

{Me and Cici}

{Moi}

They thought I should pose with the finished product. :)

I'm sure this cake has seen some better days, but hey, we had fun. And why does it matter what it looks like, as long as it tastes good?

Presents! :)

Swimming in the dark! *cue scary music*

{Bubbles, me and Cici}

Crafts! These are pics of mine:

{Love this shot!}

They spent the night and we had tons of fun!! I can't wait to have them over again. Bubbles and Cici are so much fun! Love you girls. :)

My Birthday

I had a wonderful sixteenth birthday yesterday. My dad had some doctors appointments in the morning/early afternoon, and mom has to drive him, so it was just me and my sisters from about 7am to 3pm. We had a job to do, though. Quite a big job, too. We had to clean the house. :O  I know. We vacuumed, swept, mopped, wiped counter tops, cleaned the bathrooms, dusted, washed dishes and did laundry. Haha, yes, we were busy bees until momma and dad got home. :) At 6pm that evening my Nana & Papa, Me-ma & Pa-pa came over for dinner. Mmm, mmm. So, here are some pictures I (or sometimes Narthea) took of my birthday. :)

Yesterday morning Caldirwen and I made breakfast.

Bacon!

Pancakes!

They smelt so good....

The finished products.

After breakfast Narthea was finally awake (okay, it was only 9am) and we all got right to work. Narthea was still not feeling well (she has had strep throat for the last week or so), but she's on antibiotics, so they're helping her feel a smidge better (that and Advil). She was able to help out. I was perfectly fine with cleaning. I actually enjoyed myself. :) Which is weird, because I normally hate cleaning. o.O  That's the effect birthdays have on you, I guess. ;)

For lunch we had Chicken Salad.

{this is not the finished product}

I never got a picture of the finished product, but we put 8 boiled eggs and 3 celery stalks (chopped up) in our chicken salad, along with (of course) the canned chicken and a few spoon fulls of Mayo. Mmm!! My favorite quick-fix!

Later that afternoon, after my parents got home, I got to work on my birthday cake. I insisted on making it this year. This was my first time to make Red Devil's Food Cake (my absolute fav!), and making the icing is really difficult, so I opted to wait for Momma and dad to get home, and mom volunteered to help out. :)

Me making the cake.

By the way, the apron I'm wearing, I made it the other day!! :D

This is the cake batter.

While the cake was cooking Narthea set up the morning room table with my gifts and our dry erase board with "Happy 16th Birthday" written on it.

{do you see my converse-look-alikes? Eep!}

"Happy 16th Birthday!!" Aaaaah! I still can't believe it! :)

....okay, I can now, but it just feels so unreal! I've been anticipating this since.... I turned 15 last year! lol :D

These are the gifts from my parents.

Ah, ze cake is cooling and waiting for ze icing.

The reason the icing is so hard to make, is because you have to stand over it while it's on the burner, stirring it constantly, for about 40 minutes. I know. My hand was cramping so bad. See why I took Momma up on her offer to help? :)

After the icing is done on the stove, you stick it in the sink in cold water with ice in it, while blending it with an electric mixer.

Now ze cake is done waiting. :P

Boy, oh boy, I couldn't wait to eat this cake!!

{see how messy I was being? That was my evil plan so I could "clean" it all up. *wink*wink* rofl :D}

When my grandparents got to our house around six o' clock in the evening, everyone gathered around the island in the kitchen to pray and then we dug in! We ate steak (thanks Papa!), baked beans (thanks Nana!), corn on the cob (thanks Me-ma!), rolls (thanks Momma!) and potato salad (thanks Narthea!). Mmm, mmm, mmm!

Word from the wise [Eldarwen]: When putting candles on your cake, try to remember your age. :P

{and yes, I seriously did not switch the '6' and '1' on purpose. It was a total accident. We laughed and laughed!}

Lit candles!

Mmm. Red Devil's Food Cake with Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla ice-cream? It just can't get any better than that....

....oh wait.... yes it can! Presents!

And that is where I leave you until my next post. :)

Oh yes, I love dragging these things out. ;P