After school we went out to do some errands. We went to a whole bunch of banks and then we went to Goodwill. Abbey bought two nice shirts, and Shannon, Mom and I just browsed. We also donated two bags of clothes.
After that we went to Wal-mart. We grocery shopped while Abbey got some more clothes. Well, she helped us grocery shop for most for the time. 
After shopping, we went home and watched part of Pride and Prejudice, and then ate supper. Then we finished Pride and Prejudice.
My favorite color is sky blue. It is a very pretty color. It is the color of the sky which is very beautiful. My eyes are blue, too!
My favorite dogs are pugs, huskies, Golden Retrievers and Chinese Shar-peis. I like pugs because they are VERY cute, small easy to walk and well, my pug has the funniest personality! I like huskies because they are adorable! I love their eyes and they are so huggable and fluffy. I sort of like collies, too! I like Chinese Shar-peis because they are SO cute and they are very interesting. Our neighbors have a long haired girl Chinese Shar-pei named Josie. She is so cute, so nice and loves to give kisses with her purple tongue. She looks extremely sad when we leave her. She makes you want to come back inside and give her a hug! I like Golden Retrievers because they are cute, handsome and very fun!
I love the piano! I really like it because it is so cool! I think it is pretty easy. I have a keyboard instead of a piano. I don’t know how to read music though. It sounds so beautiful! Mrs. Hollen plays the piano at our church sometimes and I look forward to listening to the music when she plays! She is SOO KEWL!!! Mrs. Hollen plays really well and she is a good teacher too! Zac plays the piano too!
We went to Tim and Angie’s house on Saturday night. Well, just Shannon, Abbey and I went. Mom was working, so she couldn’t bring us to church the next day. When we got to Tim’s house, Shannon and I helped Angie make Strawberry Supreme. We didn’t get to fit the whole recipe in the container Angie had, so we ate the leftovers as we talked with Mom when she came to visit and say good night. Tim showed us that he got a record player from Goodwill! It was so cool!
Here is the recipe for the Strawberry Supreme.
Strawberry Supreme
2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding (prepared)
2 large containers of frozen strawberries (thawed)
1 large whipped cream
1 large angel food cake
Layer…
1/4 of the angel food cake broken up
1/4 of the strawberries
1/4 of the pudding
1/4 of the whipped cream
Repeat….. ending with whipped cream.
After Mom left, we played a video game. It was fun! It had like 3 different races, where you had to try to make the biggest crash, and drive around making crashes as you go along. It is called Burn Out. I didn’t race because it was REALLY fast. I did really well on the drive, and make crashes as you go along. I beat a goal, but I didn’t get as far as Tim’s record. We went to bed after that game.
I woke up by Calvin sniffing my face. His whiskers are very good at tickling. Calvin then played with me. I stopped when he scratched me on my finger. It is painful but not very bad. When I close my hand it hurts. I slowly got ready for church. At 9am we left for church.
When we got to church, we sat on a couch for awhile. We got to meet Tristan’s (Tristan was in Tim’s wedding) mom. We sat down at a table until it was our turn to get our breakfast. Breakfast was sausage, eggs, pancakes, fruit and doughnuts. It was good! After breakfast we put our chairs away, and then went up to the sanctuary. I would have liked my church better, but it was still pretty good.
We sang some energizing songs, and then we listened to Pastor Allen preach. It was good! We went to the Poland Baptist Church.
When we got back to Tim and Angie’s house, we watched Abbey play a video game, and we had a ham dinner. It was very yummy! Good job, Angie, on cooking that ham dinner for us. It was DELICIOUS!!!
We went home after that and played Skip-bo, and played outside. Also, we watched two Whose Line Is It Anyway? episodes and one CSI. In Whose Line Is It Anyway?, my favorite actors are Wayne Brady and then Ryan Stiles. In CSI I like Grissom and Greg.
Today we went to the Lewiston Public Library. They have a big room called the Callahan Hall up on the third floor. That’s where an author named Tess Gerritsen spoke today from 12-1pm. I have never read any of her books, or heard of her until today. When I am older, I might read some of her books, but they are VERY thick books, from what I’ve seen. Mom and Dad have read some of her books. Tess Gerritsen was very funny, and she told us where she got her ideas for some of her books. Good job, Tess Gerritsen!
Sarahjoy came to visit today. She also watched Tess Gerritsen give a speech. We made brownies with chocolate chips, played Skip-bo, and played Uno Attack. We also talked a lot.
There is a severe weather alert of high gusts of wind. It says that the winds could get up to 50 MPH!!! That could knock down trees, and then break power lines! The weather warning also suggests you don’t drive in high places. Mom is working for a short time in the afternoon tomorrow, so I pray that Mom will be safe along with any other people traveling tomorrow.
This morning I woke up and it was snowing! Tomorrow it is supposed to be the first day of spring. I don’t think it’s going to look like it. Do you? My friend Anna lives in Bath, and she says that it’s spring there! She says she only has one layer of snow in her yard!
Dad and Billy have been gone for almost a whole week! They have called 3 or 4 times a day, though!
Billy and Dad have been gone since last Thursday. I miss them, and Shannon misses them. Everyone misses them. When we went to church, Zac was wondering where Billy was, and Shannon said “In Virginia, where it’s warm and sunny!” Zac was jealous! I told Rachel, and she was jealous, too! I think Daniel from co-op also missed Billy. I miss you, Billy! SOOOOOO MUCH! I miss Dad a lot, too!
On Sunday after church, Rachel showed me a penny whistle that her family got at a gift shop. Zac and Rachel know how to play the beginning of “This Is My Father’s World”. Rachel showed me the song. It looked kind of easy. If I had a whistle, I would try to do it. Rachel hid some white chocolate in my bag, and also in Shannon’s! It was REALLY yummy! Good job! Thank you, Rachel! When I called Rachel to thank her, I heard Zac playing the penny whistle. It sounded a lot different on the phone. The Hollen family ROCKS this world! I don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing the Hollen family.
On Friday, we had homeschool co-op. It was fun! We handed out sheets about free ice cream that night at Gifford’s opening. Art class is really fun! We were making little model things out of toothpicks, popsicle sticks, glue and a sheet of card board. I was making a bridge. I thought I wasn’t going to go to homeschool co-op next time because Dad would take me with him on his trip. But then I looked at the calendar and I found out that Dad is going to be home then! Yippee! I love co-op!
After homeschool co-op India and Tori came home with us. Well, we went to Walmart first. We saw Tori’s Mom and her brother, Cameron at Walmart! We helped Shannon get some paint for her DI practice later that afternoon.
Mom dropped Shannon off at DI practice at Tripp Middle School, then we went home. When we got home we walked Doug to College Road and back. It was so nice out, so when we got back we asked Mom if we could go on another long walk. Mom said, “Yes.”. First we had a drink, and wore shawls instead of coats. We walked to Rt. 202 and most of the way back. Mom came back from picking up Abbey from work and we rode with Mom the rest of the way back since she was driving by.
When we got back, we tried playing Blind Man’s Bluff but I had to start making supper. Richard played on the computer while Mom and I made supper. India and Tori played with each other while I was busy with supper.
When supper was finished being made we ate it. Mom took Tifani and Shannon to Patrick’s house while Richard stayed at our house. We were very goofy at supper! When Mom came back from dropping Tifani and Shannon off, India, Tori and I walked Doug while Richard and Abbey cleaned up. When we got back we left to go to Gifford’s.
When we got to Gifford’s it was FULL! We almost couldn’t find a parking spot! We saw Tori’s Mom and two of her brothers, Cameron and Garret. I got strawberry ice cream.
After the ice cream we went to the CLT play. We watched Once on this Island. It was okay. After the play we dropped off India and Tori at their houses and then we picked up Tifani and Shannon from Patrick’s house. We dropped Tifani and Richard at their house. Then we went home and went to bed.
The past few days we have been digging out the motor home. It has been VERY hard. Abbey and I had to go under the motor home. Under the motor home it was freezing and wet. It smelled like oil and rust. The first time I went under I didn’t wear a hat and I got a whole bunch of black rust in my hair! Yuck!
Dad has been planning a sales trip. Today Dad is supposed to leave. First, he is going to bring Billy with him for two weeks. I am going to go with Dad after Billy, then Abbey. I am excited but I am going to miss my friends.
On Thursday night we left to go to the Maine homeschool convention. It took us two hours to get there. In the car, I read with a little flashlight and I took a nap.
When we got to the Samoset Hotel, we got a cart thing and moved all of our stuff to our room. Our room was SO cool! I love hotel rooms! My favorite hotel that I have ever visited was the Great Wolf Lodge.
After we woke up, we ate cereal and headed downstairs. My friend, Anna was there! Her family was there, too. Anna hung out with Billy, Shannon and I most of the time, and Abbey sometimes hung out with us. Anna, Shannon, Billy and I went to most of Mike Snavely’s classes. My favorite one was the Spider one. We watched his one about the Flood, spiders, The Pillars of Evolution, and Ancient Civilizations.
We went outside a couple of times because it was so nice out, and it was fun to explore! One of the places we went was this big porch! It was so cool! A little house was next to it, but it was abandoned, and locked up, so we couldn’t go in the little house. It looked sort of like a very small church with a pulpit and a lot of benches facing the pulpit. One time we went outside and went onto the breakwater. When we got to the light house, we went on to the porch part of a house next to the light house. Shannon and I didn’t really have lunch yet, so Shannon and I ate lunch there and everyone else had a snack. The extra fun part was running on the rocks! Boy oh boy, was that fun!
When we came inside, we went to some more classes. Shannon, Anna and I helped out the people who weren’t sure how to do the ‘(not so silent) silent auction’. After all the classes that day were done, we went swimming for a short while, and then we had supper. Anna, Shannon, Billy, Mom, and I went swimming after supper, too! Micah and Abbey swam too! Poor Abbey got a bloody nose. It was fun, except for that! Micah and Shannon launched Billy and I in the pool. Poor Anna had some trouble going forwards. She didn’t go very far. It was kind of funny!
The next day we had breakfast and then went down stairs. Erica, who we met while we were doing The Merchant of Venice, was registering, along with her family! We hadn’t seen them in a long time! We talked a bit, and then we left to go to some classes.
When the convention was almost over, Anna, Shannon, Billy and I opened doors for people leaving and packing up their tables. It was more fun than I thought it would be! We joked around by saying stuff like “Happy birthday” or “Merry Christmas”! I said “Happy Patties Day” and Billy always said “Happy Birthday”. Sometimes Shannon and Anna would say “Have a good day”!
Anna, Shannon and I were really hoping that our family and Anna’s family could go out to eat together at Red Robin after we left the convention. But we didn’t. Anna, Shannon and I also wished could go swimming together again, but the Simmlers left. While Dad did the bulletin for our church, Shannon, Billy and I swam in the pool for a bit. Then we left. It was raining the whole way back to our house.
When we got back, we moved our clocks forward. We had bought Mike Snavely’s DVDs, so I watched part of one and then read the Abby Series book 5. Then I went to sleep.
Last Monday we celebrated Shannon’s 15th birthday! Yesterday was her real birthday. We went to TGI Friday’s! I ordered pizza and for dessert I had a cup of dirt. On that day kids that were 12 and under could eat for free if they ordered on the kids menu.
After we went out to eat, Tim and Dad went home while Shannon went shopping with Mom while Billy, Abbey and I went and shopped for Shannon.
Later that night we had Shannon open her presents.
From Billy: Turquoise duct tape, white duct tape, orange duct tape and a shinny silver duct tape.
From Abbey: Tobymac and Chris Tomlin CD’s
From me: Two funky scissors (the ones that cut different patterns) and 27 colorful elastics with a thing to hold the elastics.
From Mom and Dad: A temporary membership card to exercise at Fitness World.
