work and play, day by day

Some of the super yummy onion rings my mom made. I could stop eating them! :)

My brother blowing out his candles on his birthday.

MeMe, Jeremiah, and Lilly sitting at the table and chair set that MeMe got for her birthday.

I think this is how that little rhyme goes...work and play, day by day. That's been the summary of the past few weeks! Although there is much more emphasis on the work part. :) My days have been filled with homework and school. It's been getting easier, though.

Poor Lilly has been fighting something for the past few days. She's had a fever off and on all day today...hopefully she'll get better soon and it won't spread!

Sorry this is short...I'm rushing off to go finish some homework and study for my science quiz tomorrow! :)

Carlotta

pictures + randomness :)

My DIVINE cake. Ohmigosh, was it yummy. :) I'm very proud that I made if all by myself! haha It's a layer of vanilla ice cream mixed with crushed oreos, a layer of uncrushed oreos, just like on the top, a layer of chocolate ice cream, and uncrushed oreos again on the top.

My computer camera. I named him "deep sea diver" (creative name, I know). Doesn't it look like one of those old diving helmets, though?? A Nancy Drew computer game. I LOVE (capitals weren't emphasis enough :P) this game!! Yumminess. So. Good! Earrings and wallet from my friend Emily. LOVE. THEM! Thanks, Em!

My floor lamp...I was too impatient to wait to take a picture when it was all set up. :) The pictures are pictures of some of the presents I received on my birthday. I love all of my presents! I know, you all probably were looking forward to after my birthday so you wouldn't have to hear anymore about it, and here I am still rambling about the - gasp - same topic that I've been rambling for weeks! Sorry about that...I'll try to keep them to a minimum now. :)

Things have been kind of settling down now. I've gotten into the rhythm of juggling all the things I have going on this year.

On Friday is our OktoberFest at church. My parents were among the planners of it, so we'll be helping at it. Our friends the Hintz's kids will be sleeping over that night, as Mr. and Mrs. Hintz have need to go into Oklahoma City. I'm excited about that. They have Louis (12), Caleb (9), Anna (6), JoJo (4), and little baby Samuel, who sadly isn't here with them. He entered Heaven, 1 day after his due date, last October.

We are so close with the Hintz family - the kids are like cousins to us. They lived in Tomball, then moved away to Wisconsin, and then 1 year after we moved to the seminary, they moved to the seminary as well! I didn't really know them before the sem...I was too little to remember when they moved away to Wisconsin.

Then from the 22nd to the 24th of October we're spending two nights at the Hintz's house while my parents are on a mini vacation for their anniversary. My mom knows that she's going on a trip then, but doesn't know where. My dad told me, but I don't want to post it on here in case my mom reads this. :) I know she's going to love it, though! Those two nights will be Lilly's first time sleeping away from home without my mom or dad. We'll see how that goes...but as long as I'm there I think it'll be ok. I can't believe that she'll be 4 in February! I always think of her as a baby, but she's definetly not anymore....

Alright, off to finish some school!

xo Carlotta

a busy sunday!

Yesterday was busy day...Right after church we had a couple ove for lunch, and right after they left some other folks from church came over to visit and they brought some firewood and a rack for it for us! We'll love using the wood this winter. :) Then my dad visited a lady who had surgery, and my mom had a book club meeting.

My brother and I ate the remains of my birthday cake today...soooooo yummy! I think there's still a little but left over that I plan on eating for a snack tomorrow. :)

Above I posted some pictures of MeMe's birthday...I'll post some of mine tomorrow. :)

my party + updates

I apologize for not posting yesterday - it was a busy day! My party was so much fun! Unfortunately, one girl had to cancel due to being sick, and even though we missed her, we still had a blast. We made s'mores, and watched a movie (not outside, though - it was too wet), ate candy, got hyper, and had lots of fun. MeMe had a good birthday as well. Some of the things she received were an adorable table and chairs, a tea set, which she later had a tea party with, and candy. She got some othere things that I can't remember right now. Our neighbor Danielle, MeMe's friend, is spending the night with us tonight. Her family is in Arkansas for soccer tournaments, and she didn't want to go...MeMe is so excited to have a friend sleeping over! :) There is a wedding at church soon...So we need to leave for that...PICTURES COMING SOON!! Carlotta

back to normal - sort of

I was about to go to bed when I realized I hadn't posted yet for today! Ack! :) Life was a little "back to normal" today...It was a pretty normal day. We're preparing for MeMe's birthday tomorrow...I can't believe she's almost 6! I remember when she was born...time flies! Tomorrow is going to be a busy-busy-buys go-go-go day...I'm going to be cleaning and getting ready for my guests of my party...I made my cake today (an oreo ice cream cake - yummy!), and that's doing its thing in the freezer. We won't have any school, so that'll be helpful - we don't usually do school if some one's birthday is on a weekday. I'm glad I have my cake out of the way! Not to mention, we'll have MeMe's birthday, and she's inviting a couple of her friends over for a tea party tomorrow afternoon, probably right or right before my guests come. I'm really excited about my party - I hope everyone has fun and enjoys it! I'm glad that the weather's looking good for tomorrow...I have s'mores, a movie, games, and so planned, and of course cake and presents. :) Ok, I'm off to bed...I need to get up a little earlier tomorrow... Carlotta

woot woot!

YAY!!! I'M OFFICIALLY 13!!!!!!! :) (pictures to come....) Today was one of the best days ever! I got sooo many nice presents...I took pictures of all of them, but I'm too lazy to get them off my camera right now. I promise I will post some soon, though! I got a webcam, so all my friends that I talk with via Skype can see me (our family has one, but it's good to have one just for me) - it's soo adorable! :) It's about 3 1/2 tall, blue, and the camera part looks kind of like the old diver helmets from the 1940s! I don't think it's modeled after that or anything, though. I also got an ADORABLE pink wallet with black polka dots (it's one of the long flat ones, so my bills don't get crinkled!! yay!! I really hate it when that happens. It also has TONS of pockets inside, which I love!), along with earrings and a bracelet from my friend Emily. MeMe gave me Ferrero Rocher chocolates...YUM YUM YUM! I haven't eaten any yet...I'm trying to save them, but it's kind of hard! Jeremiah gave me a $15 Starbucks gift card...can I get a woo to to hoo??! I see some double chocolate chip drinks in my future! :) I also got a Nancy Drew computer game, The White Wolf of Icicle Creek, and I've been playing it in my free time this afternoon. :) If you're not familiar with the Nancy Drew games, you are Nancy Drew, and you have to solve a mystery. You look for clues, talk to suspects, solve puzzles...It's pretty realistic. Another thing I got was a floor lamp that has 5 bendable heads...It's super cute (if the picture doesn't show up in the link I attached to the lamp, click on the "zoom" button)! From my grandma, I got a bag and $100! :) Lilly gave me a pink pencil/pen pouch. You could see how excited she was to give it to me! It was just precious how much she squealed and jumped up and down when she saw that I had put my pencils and pens in it. :) Oops, almost forgot! My parents also got me $50 to Target!! I think that will be spent on clothes and room accessories! Oh, and I will also get a Facebook on October 23...There were some...um...reasons that I'll be getting an account in a month. **sheepish grin** I'm so glad that even though my birthday date is almost over, my birthday will still continue to Friday and Saturday, at my party! I got the rest of some last minute things yesterday, and I'm making my ice cream cake tomorrow! I promise I will get some pictures up soon! Carlotta

a video + flooding

Here's the video my brother took when I found out my laptop had arrived... :) I'm pretty excited, so excuse the weirdness. :)

I guess that thunderstorm I was loving wasn't so good for our house. Yesterday when my mom went down to the basement to do laundry, the club room area was flooding (there was about a 1/4 inch of water down there in one section. Which also reminds me I need to film an 'after' video of the house....). The former owners of the house removed the gutters (why, don't ask me...it was a really dumb idea!), and since it was poring rain outside, the water had no where to go but into the concrete holes that let in the light where the windows are in the basement. Then from there, the water was somewhere leaking into the basement. We're still not quite sure how the water got in, because all the windows were dry, but somewhere there must be a hole (or holes!) The former owners also installed a French pump several years ago to help pump out the water, and that helped a little. But we still have a problem on our hands! My dad plans to put up gutters in the very near future, and hopefully that'll help a little.

Tomorrow I'm pretty busy, I have a Latin mass at 9am, then Latin class at 9:45, science at 11:30am, and piano at 3pm. I hope I can squeeze a post in (and my birthday celebrations! Of course that's a priority. :P), and I'll take lots of pictures (well, I'll least try to remember....heehee)! Next time I post I'll be 13! Yippe! :)

Carlotta

i love thunderstorms!

(No, I didn't take this picture. I wish.)

This morning I woke up to a beautiful day, complete with singing birds. By 2pm or so it started getting dark, and by 3:30 it was a full blown thunderstorm, there was even some hail. Ok, this is really boring. I mean, when you talk (fine, write) about weather that means you don't know what else to write about. Anyway, I love thunderstorms!! They're so cozy...perfect for snuggling with a blanket and a good book. And since I was done with school (well, not really, I just wanted to be finished, and then decided I would be :P), that's just what I decided to do. I just finished a book called Aftershocks by William Lavender (the most ahmazing book eVeR!!!). It's historical fiction, set in the early 1900s in San Francisco, from a time period from 1903 to 1908. Of course the main part of it is about the San Francisco earthquake. The main character, Jessie, has wanted to become a doctor, since her 3 year old sister died from diphtheria. Her father is a highly respected doctor with a really good reputation, and he disapproves, saying that women doctors were unheard of. Then there is a family scandal, and if it gets out, her father's reputation is ruined forever. If I tell anymore, I'll ruin the story. :) It sounds really boring at first, but I couldn't put the book down!I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited about my birthday!!!!!! 2 days from now (gasp!) I'll be 13!! I CANNOT wait. Everyone I invited to my party replied and are all coming. :) Yay!

brr

Have you ever tried to wash your hair with cold water? Let me tell you four words about it: NOT. FUN. AT. ALL. Our hot water heater is out, and it's not going to get repaired until Monday, at the earliest. I didn't want to take a whole freezing cold shower, but I needed to wash my hair (the rest I can do with a wash cloth). I thought that I just need to lean over the bathtub, use the handheld shower thing, and that's that. Simple enough, right? Wrong. It was 10 minutes of torture! The cold water itself wasn't that bad, but it was getting my hair wet and getting all the shampoo out that was hard. Especially when I had to do it myself. Now my neck and back are sore. :( I will be jumping for joy when the water heater gets fixed! Yesterday I went to Target (love that store!), and found three adorable shirts on sale for $3.98. Score! I also found some shorts on sale for $4.88 and a tanktop for $2.98! I love a good bargain. :) Carlotta

challenging myself

So, I'm challenging myself to see if I can post at least once a day for the next month, starting now! I'm going to see if I can make it until October 19 or longer. The only exceptions will be emergencies or when I don't have any time because I'm slaving away on science and latin homework! :) I just finished mowing the lawn. Our property isn't exactly small - it's two lots - but it's not super big either. But let me just tell you, if I did this every week, I would have some arm muscles! :)The weather is beautiful today, and even though it's only 83, I feel like I'm going to die from heat exhaustion! Well, not really, but you know. I'm just overly warm. By the way, I've discovered a love for italics. I might tend to overuse them, so beware! :) This morning I actually cleaned my room! It was getting a little too messy. I love having a clean room, but I don't always, you know, like keeping it clean. Although, I don't think anybody like picking up. Sometimes I wish I were a clean freak. I think it would make my life (and my room) a lot easier, but then it would also be hard living with a almost 6 and 3 year old mess makers! This afternoon I'm planning on going shopping for my party (yay!). On birthdays we have a rule that the person whose birthday it is gets to pick their meals, and can do whatever they want (within sanity :P), which means no school! Although on my birthday (Wednesday) I'm going to have to do some school because that's the day all my classes are on (science, latin, and piano)! :( Anyway, I got sidetracked. What I was going to say was that since my party is on MeMe's birthday, she gets to pick what dinner will be (along with breakfast and lunch), so I'm trusting her to pick something good for all my guests! :) I'm making an oreo ice cream cake, and we might have s'mores once it gets dark. I'm getting a couple movies that we can choose from (Enchanted, Nancy Drew, and a Veggie Tales in case we want to laugh. My dad would probably say that we're too old for but oh well. I happen to like Veggie Tales! :P). Depending on the weather, we might watch it outside. The church has a projector that we use, and there is a perfect spot to project the image in our backyard onto the wall of the house. Since our house is white brick, it works really really well! Ok, I have to leave now to go shopping (yay!), but I'll try my best to post every. single. stinking. day! :) I am so proud of myself for finding so much to write about, especially when I just posted yesterday....heehee Carlotta

pictures + updates

In the 'candidate's chair'

Laying in front of the altar

All the attending pastors after the service

Little Miss Lilly Billy with her necklace that she got for spending the whole night in her bed. :)

Some of MeMe and Lilly's friends from the neighborhood

Amanda and me with Lilly in the backround. :)

Lilly, MeMe, Amanda, and me (not the best picture I know!)

Amanda and my grandma

Andi and me at the ordination :)

OK, so I'm FINALLY getting some pictures up of Amanda's visit and my dad's ordination! As for the pictures of my brother's birthday, I forgot to take any. Oops.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, with my blogging break and everything, but Amanda had to leave 2 weeks early (she was supposed to stay a month). As you might know, she has anorexia, and she was relapsing and didn't know how to handle it and felt that she needed to go back home. We were all saddened by the news, but we are still extremely glad that she was still here!

The ordination was AMAZING. The people at Grace did an unbelievable job with everything. The dinner was so nice + fancy, and we were surprised how many people from out of town for it! My best friend Andi and her dad flew up to be with us the ordination weekend, and it was so fun to have her with me for this special day! :) Our house was pretty full with 4 extra people staying with us (my grandma, my sister, Andi, and her dad), but it was so fun to have so many of our loved ones around us. The day after the ordination, some friends that came from Tomball invited us to breakfast at their hotel.

It was very cool, very elegant + fancy, and breakfast was so delicious! It is so picturesque - overlooking the Arkansas River, sitting on top of a tall hill...very grand. I think it's used for weddings a lot, and I can totally picture it!

Things have been quieting down a little bit at our house, but we're about have some excitement next week, with 2 birthdays, parties, and everything. I'm inviting over 3 of my friends for a sleepover, so that should be fun. There's a little girl that lives down the street, Skylar, that's exactly the same age as MeMe, down to the day. I feel kind of bad for MeMe, because on her birthday there's my party (that was the only available Friday for about a month!), Skylar's birthday party (that she invited MeMe to), not to mention MeMe's own birthday! :)

But I'm pretty excited about next week. It should be tons of fun! Not to mention that this is a monumental birthday - I'm officially going to be a teenager! lol
I'm taking a science class this year online through Veritas Press (It's exactly like a regular class, live and everything, except that it's online). It's kind of neat to have classmates that live in France, Hawaii, and all over the world! The class itself is ok, but since the orientation session was canceled due to site problems, so we had to do the orientation part during the first class. Needless to say, we're behind, so that really increases the work and stress load! But I guess it's ok. Science isn't really my thing, so I'm not to crazy, but ANYWAY! Enough whining! :)

I have to go put a movie in for the little girls. Whew, this was a long post! I'll try to remember to take pictures of all the birthday craziness. :)
Carlotta

now THIS is funny!

This is a picture of my parents that I thought was hilarious! My friend's mom took is a year or two ago at the Valentine's dance at the seminary.

Don't ask my want my dad was trying to do there....It looks like he's about to fall over! :)

love!

I am just in love with my background! It's elegant, yet has a funky feel to it...I love the colors grey and pink together, and the black adds a little bit of interest. To see more backrounds like this, visit I love my Blog Makeover. Carlotta PS 6 days until my birthday (the 23rd)! I can't wait!!!

apple and cream cheese wrap

Sorry about the picture....It isn't the best, I know. :) Our family has a new favorite recipe - apple and cream cheese wrap. I know that it sounds like an unlikely combination, but you might be surprised how well they work together. It's easy, fast, and so yummy! In fact, this was my lunch today...and my breakfast... :) What you need: -an apple (gala or granny smith work best, but you use any you have on hand) -cream cheese -tortilla -butter (for frying) -a pan What you do: 1. Take the pan and put it on medium heat with a little butter. Spread around the butter as it melts. 2. Take the tortilla and smear it with cream cheese. You have to put at least 1 thin layer on. 3. Thinly slice 3-4 apple slices and place down the middle of the tortilla and roll it up. 4. Place the tortilla in the pan and fry until golden brown, about 30 seconds on each side. Enjoy!

happy birthday, jeremiah!

Today is Jeremiah's 9th birthday! He was pretty excited about it. I will post pictures...But I have to get them off my camera first. :) So they'll be coming soon! Among his presents were: candy and more candy, trash can (hey! it was on his wishlist!), a laser security thing for his room - if anyone breaks the laser an alarm goes off...of course he loved that! -, an alarm clock, and a tshirt. There were a couple other things that I can't remember right now. His menu is cocoa puffs for breakfast, backed mac and cheese for lunch, and Umberto's pizza for dinner. Sounds good to me! :) His birthday is viewed (at least by me) as the unofficial "kickoff" for all the September birthdays...11 days until mine!!!!! I'm so excited. Today we're heading out to Claremore, about 20 minutes away, for some raw milk, cream and cheese (there are a couple other ladies that also like these things, and they all take turns to go get it for everyone else - today is our turn) at Swans Dairy. It is not fancy at all, but it's pretty fun to go there. Right next to where they sell the milk (in the same building, just separated by a glass wall), you can watch the cows get milked. Then after that, I think we're planning to go to a "bluegrass festival" that is also in Claremore this weekend. So that should be fun to check out. I'll post more pictures later... Carlotta

this is pretty cool

I love this video. With this kind of beat, I can't help tapping my toes...And you have to admit that this is pretty creative. Although my dad told me not to get any ideas from this for my wedding... :) This is probably one wedding that nobody in attendance forgot, though! If I understood it correctly, there was only one 90 minute rehearsal before the wedding. It was posted only a month ago, and it already has 24 million hits. Wow. Enjoy! :)

such a tragedy

Yesterday a small private plane crashed in a park here, killing all five passengers aboard (to read more about the crash click here). The Lester family, Dr. Lester, his wife, and two of their four kids, as well as a family friend were all killed yesterday while flying to Dallas to a OU game. It was foggy, and they all of a sudden ran into a guide wire from a tower and crashed. A couple witnesses said they when saw the plane crash, the wings flew off, and it flipped end-over-end several times. Some friends of our from church who live very close to the scene of the accident, said that they saw the plane flying really low seconds right before it crashed. The other two kids in the Lester family did not go with the rest of their family. Can you imagine that? That very morning they probably said goodbye at the airport, and then those two children suddenly find out that their parents and their 16 and 13 year old sisters are dead. A girl in my confirmation class attended school with both sisters, and was friends with the younger one. It was a a shock to learn about the tragedy from a personal point of view. Please keep the Lester family in your prayers.

i still cannot believe it

I still can't believe that I'm sitting here writing to you all from MY (I love the sound of that :)) laptop. I'm am totally head over heels in love with it. I ordered it on Saturday, and it was due to come today. When I came home from latin class today (more about that later...), I asked my family (who had already come home) if it had arrived yet. The answer was no. Darn, I thought. I hope it would be here by now. So I went to the computer to check the status. It said that the truck was on stop 10 of 25. The page said your number is: . Yep, it was black. NO! It turned out that there was just trouble loading the page, and it was way over to the right instead. Hehe. ANYWAY, my number? FIVE. That took a minute to register. Then I thought, "Wait a minute. If the truck is on stop number 10, and I'm number 5, it's GOT to be here!" My dad walked into the library (where I was), and simply points upstairs. I dash upstairs, and what did I find? Sitting in the middle of my room was a COMPAQ BOX!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed, then turned around and saw that my brother was filming me. Oh well, at least he documented my extreme happiness! :) My family had LIED to me and said it wasn't there so I would be surprised. Actually that was Jeremiah's idea, but I think it was so sweet of him to think of that. Actually, now that I think about it, my mom told me to go put my purse away in my room...she was trying to get me upstairs! Oh, I have a silly family. hahaAnyway, this laptop DOES NOT disappoint in ANY way. I am SOOO happy with it!On another note, Amanda left a week ago today. She was scheduled to go home a week from today. She was having a hard time with her eating (she is the one with anorexia), and was losing weight. She didn't know what do to, and asked to go home early. I know she didn't want to leave, but what is going to do? We received word today that she's back in the hospital. She was released about 2 months before she visited us. It's so heartbreaking. But we had a wonderful time while she was here. The ordination was absolutely amazing. The ladies at the church did such a good job. All our vistors where stunned. My best friend, Andi, and her dad came up for the weekend - it was SOO nice to have her here with me for that. Pictures to come (I don't have any on my laptop yet). School started on Monday - I was really sad that summer was over, but I was kind of glad to get back into a real schedule again. Latin started again today (triple blech) - my friend Reagan, her brother, Pastor and I are all in the class. I'm already swamped with homework. :) I'm taking an online science class this year with Veritas Press, and that starts a week from today. I'm a little nervous, but a little excited too. For those of you who have been asking - YES, I will take a "after" video of the house. I am sooooo sorry it's taking so long! I'm sorry about my "bloggy break"...With the ordination and my sister and everything, not to mention school, things have been just a little chaotic! Thank you so much for all your patience...I'm not a very good blog author. :)-Carlotta

you'll never guess

You'll never guess what I'm writing this from.... (drumroll, please) My BRAND SPANKING NEW Compaq Presario laptop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SOOOOOO excited. I bought it on Saturday, and it arrived today. Kind of an early self birthday present. More later, but I just had to post this jaw dropping news. :)