Happy New Year!

I am sure we will have a happy new year with all our new things but I'm sure you will too. I have been trying to get fireworks to be put on this post but I cannot so just picture them as you read this. I also want you to pretend you are here, at this exact moment I will tell you.

You are sitting on green grass clutching a mug of hot chocolate and watching the fireworks burst out into the sky. Counting begins as people are waiting for 2008 to finally come. You whisper to your friend sitting next to you and as you say that, think: I am the luckiest person I know!

Anyway, have happy holidays and keep reading for more excitement. Bye!

Fiesta Ware

Santa Claus brought us 10 different colors of 4 piece sets of Fiesta Ware. When Anna and I saw them we started doing our happy dances because after we saw it advertised at Macy's, it was all we wanted. Say goodbye to white ware, at our house, we are going to have a new year's fiesta! The colors we got were peacock, tangerine, cinnabar, cobalt, shamrock, sunflower, scarlet, evergreen, turquoise, heather.
This is a four piece set and here, is a bonanza!


Happy New Year!
Happy Fiesta Year!

Sorry

On my newest post I put the same picture twice. Here's the last one.

Just for fun!

More Pictures!!!!

This is me at age: 2. I am so cute, aren't I?? I look a lot like Kate somehow. :( I want my own special touch not in personality, I have that, but, in looks. Whatever. Scroll down to see more pictures.

This is me and my dearest mommy. Without her, I'd be lost.

This time, it's Hannah and Elizabeth Busey and Kate and Mummers Peckham/Raphael. I'm not there. Boo hoo.

Now, it's only Mommy, Lisa and Helena. AT a lunch I'm guessing.

This is the last one. It's Kate and I in Tae Kwon do. We are orange belts then but now we are purple. Here is the order so you can keep track: white, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, brown, red, black. As you can see we are not so far along. Too bad. So sad. I DON'T CARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's new????

That's what's new!!!! We have a cellphone and are using it big time! We used to be like the only people who don't have a cellphone but lookee here! We have one. Anyway, I gotta get ready for school. That's my second post. Bye!

That is me holding a newborn puppy from my grandma's neighbors' dogs' litter. We petted them for a long time and they still had their eyes closed. Kate made a really big deal out of it. There were like nineteen puppies and I wish I could buy one or have one. They were soooooo cute!!!! You might want to be there right now in California but you can't so ha ha! I had that experience and no one else except for the other people that were there. Anyway, I will put more pictures on. Here.

That other picture of the german shepards I find just adorable and here, I have Daisy too!

All dogs are so cute except for ones that are not. Those are bull dogs, and other really big dogs ect. Thank you for reading and looking at my photos. Love ya! Bye!

The Sweet Smell of Christmas

I was inspired for that story by a blog I posted a little while ago. "Frosty the Snowman and Delicious Christmas Smells (plus presents!)" :)So read it!!! :P

The Sweet Smell of Christmas

I am posting Anna's latest work-in-progress, without her permission, while she sleeps, knowing she may well choose to delete it tomorrow, but it is very much in the spirit of what is going on in our house at present, and where our thoughts are centered at the moment. The last two sentences are, alas, straight out non-fiction!

"Cakes are baking and presents are being wrapped. Cookies are being iced and candy-canes are being sucked on. Children all over are dressing and rushing through the days until Christmas. Chocolate doors of advent calendars are being opened and the sweet taste is being tasted. Mothers are shaping the dark brown dough of gingerbread men onto cookie dough trays. They are placed in the hot oven and people are waiting. Downstairs mothers are rushing to get wrapping paper for the clothes they shopped for at stores all over the town. Kids are reading books of different Christmas stories and making nice presents for parents or friends. They collect nice shells or pictures, old pictures and make them into collages on frames of pictures that they took. They make cards of all kinds with flaps and pop-ups and tape paper around the gifts they made. Kids go shopping with their friends for little bars of soap or brushes to add on to presents. They take their dirty clothes down to the washer as an early present for their mom. Parents blast Christmas Carols and clean the house for the relatives who are coming. They place more cookies in the oven and pick up toy after toy off the ground. They throw them in the kids’ rooms and ask them to clean them up."

Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I now have a 12-year-old daughter. Several women I have told of Kate's birthday today have said what a very special year 12 was for them. Not yet a teenager, but looking toward a new phase of life, middle school, a whole new set of challenges and abilities. Even though we are sad that Chris is gone in British Columbia for this day, so many people have reached out to let Kate know she is important in her world, with flowers, cupcakes, earrings, presents, phone calls and poems.

I remember the moment of Kate's arrival in the world so very clearly. Suddenly, there was a new presence in the room, fully aware, highly observant, endlessly fascinating. Not much has changed since then.

Happy Birthday Kate! The next years are going to be so interesting and exciting!

Frosty the Snowman and Delicious Christmas Smells (plus presents!)

We have been having snow and frost for a couple days now and the smells just keep getting better and the secrets just keep getting bigger. Various other things have been happening around here like violin recitals and bookworms digging in. In fact, Anna has almost read fifteen hours. (that's me!) :) Thank you all for reading our blog and for doing the quizzes when we needed more votes. More details are to be given and more secrets revealed!!! Keep on reading and marking that advent calender! Keep it up. We can do it.

Question of the Week

Hey all! I am going to announce the winners and the right answer of the question of the week!!! The correct answer is: Iris, Joy, and June!!! The person right is Anonymous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I think it's Mommy)

Why aren't people reading this thing?

What aren't people reading this thing. I am getting ready for Christmas and have no time but when I have a moment I look at blogs and comment. Then, I check ours. Sure there are quick comments from family and friends but this cannot go on like this. So, I'm taking charge. I am going to post like crazy and comment on other people's blogs so much they will freak!! Ha ha. So there! I am a teacher/student/house keeper/Anna Peckham Raphael/present giver and now I will add one more thing. Blog goer crazier! Katie's blog has some interesting thoughts on it about me and other things like Alan and clarinet. This is a family blog though. Get it???

It's coming close to Christmas and I'm going crazy with cards and presents and other stuff too.

I'm going to ask if I can bake something. Bye!

Braces

OK, my braces are really hurting right now and it is only the first day. I did get colors, lilac and teal, but that doesn't make them hurt any less. Hmmm...right now I would love a milkshake. Not just any milkshake, a cold soothing milkshake. Probably chocolate. Yummy! I just got back from band and using my mouth to play the clarinet does not make my mouth feel any better! Owwww!

Hey people!!!

Peeps, what's up? I am going to be sleeping over Saturday night! Sweet niblets. I was thinking real hard. I need to solve this brainteaser: Why can't a man living in Maryland, be buried in Texas? Kate says: because he's living. I have my doubts. Thanks but it's not goodbye yet, no suree! Keep reading. Sorry, but keep it up. You're almost there.

If you are in utter shock about the geography bee say I, if you want to know go to: kakeykatie.blogspot.com and look for GEOGRAPHY BEE.

Anna

On Being Bored

Anna, if you cannot tell, is not having the year she hoped for in third grade. When we first moved here, Kate had such a miserable year in third grade that I was really worried, but I thought that the move, and a totally inappropriate class assignment, and the difficulty of making friends in a class of kids that weren't really on Kate's intellectual wavelength, were to blame. I didn't blame it on third grade.

Now I understand that third grade is a hard year, a year of a lot of changes, especially in expectations for the third grader--both in what she expects and what is expected of her. At University School, they even put the third graders in their own hallway (along with the art and music rooms) between the 1st/2nd graders and the back hallway where 4-6 grades are. Now I see that this arrangement makes more sense than I ever understood.

Change is hard. I am only beginning to get a handle on managing change in my life in my 40's. And things seem to change faster for kids than they did when I was a kid. I hope we can all help Anna realize how totally special she is, how great she is at making things happen, how MANY things she makes happen that wouldn't without her (like this blog), and how SHE, with all her amazing powers, can make this year interesting and memorable, even if it doesn't seem like it will be now.

Being Bored

I am bored. I am sneezing like crazy and just am typing hoping it will make me less bored. I watched a whole movie on Youtube and am still bored. I am about to email some peeps in hope of getting some news. I want to get some ideas for what to do. If you are a warm hearted soul email me and list some things I could do. I want to watch TV but don't at the same time and so I just don't know what to do. I have no lesson with Emily and just sat for a while, while jumping up and down when I had to go to the bathroom. I have to do that same thing now but I will wait 'till later and see what happens. I got home from school and had a snack and I cannot eat more although I will. Thanks!!!!

Question of the Week

Q: What is Anna's favorite violin song???

email me the answer at: annerg@sbcglobal.net

Thanks and good luck!!!!

Holiday Thoughts (from Mary/Mom)

This morning I am moved to write about the girls' very best side, exhibited by the amount of thought and love and creativity they always display this time of year in the matter of holiday preparations. Both of them are wracking their dear little brains to think up handmade Christmas gifts they can bestow upon their dear family members. We have, since moving to Indiana, spent Thanksgiving with Chris's family and Christmas with mine, and this year may be the last gathering at my folks' home in Sioux Falls, so there will be lots of family to gift. Each girl sets her standard very high: the gifts are to be their own conception, small enough to transport, handmade for each of at least ten extended family members (not counting animals), preferably tailored to each recipient, humanly possible to make in the available time, and ideally something that can actually be used or displayed by the giftee.

We leave for California in just three days, and are barely in that mind-frame yet, and not remotely ready in any practical sense. Chris's dad is very sick with late-stage pancreatic cancer, and we hope to spend what time is possible for him, with him.

Slump

Today I am in a slump and if you know Dr. Suess' words you'll know that it is very hard to get out a slump so I have been doing things in my dark room with a candle and small desk lamp like reading and doing stupid ol' math and other homework that takes up my un-slumping time, which if you know what I mean, is valuable time. Mrs. Darby chose today, Thursday to give homework on a dark gloomy day and cold, cold day, she choses to show up with bad grades and loads to do. So... What do I do? I go into my room with a cup of hot chocolate and a small Halloween lantern and do that adding and subtracting decimals page and then fall right asleep. My brain stops thinking. I am not actually asleep but I choose to say so. I take a little real nap before ringing my puny bell for Mummers to come and look at my "hard" work. It is right and so I go into her bedroom and feel the warm bumpy laundry on my face while I listen to the lecture of neat handwriting and grades. Sure I listen but I don't want to. I guess the point is we all feel in a slump sometimes so we open up a window on your bright desktop and bring up your blog. I start to sign in when I notice and old second grade paper lying on the desk and pick it up and see how bad a artist I am. I finish signing in and write this long thing. Dinner is ready so I have to go but you stall time and read this thing, k? Bye!!!!

Puppy (A Story by Anna and Zoe)

Brianna's mom had baked the brownies freshly for a book group coming to their house. Brianna's mother had left the warm chocolate brownies cooling on a rack when Brownie happened to jump up and eat a few. Brianna came into the kitchen and saw the missing brownies and scolded her naughty puppy even though she was only 2 weeks old. Brownie got to know the house better and was always learning new things about life. She saw the toys in Brianna's room and laid on them but jumped up as she saw they were not comfy. Brownie was hoping to see deer in the backyard as she looked through the big glass windows in Brianna's kitchen. This time Brianna's mother had baked blueberry and chocolate muffins for a bible study she had coming to the house. The rooms were tidied and everyone was washed and dressed in their best clothes for the preacher and his wife and all of the congregation. Brianna took the pink platter out to the guests and made sure the back door was locked so the puppy could not get in. All the people gathered into the rather large living room and poured glasses of punch and grabbed a muffin or two before opening the bibles. They all talked and read for four long hours before they bid their goodbyes and headed for the door.

Puppy

Brownie the puppy got her name on Christmas Eve when Brianna heard noise coming from the brown paper box that her mother had just given her. "A puppy!" said Brianna She named her Brownie because she was brown and the first day living at the house she got into their brownies.

Christmas

I have only two things I want for Christmas and that I cannot tell but we might go to South Dakota and see Grammy and Gramp. It will be very fun. We usually go there but in the past we have had people to our home. I had to give up my room. And my cousin sleeps really late so I could not get my toys. Pathetic! I am blogging while I am sick and my mom is not here and I am here with Daddy. We played Jenga. Any who, back to Christmas. We made cookies and had a lot of fun opening presents and if it was a movie we would all go down to the television and watch the movie. We did that all day and I fiddled and we ate chocolate and ate cookies (and Daisy got a little too) and just had a fun time. I love Christmas not because of the cooking (well, I love that I have to say) but about the spirit and Santa and all being together with each other. Love to all on Christmas Eve and of course Morning (when the fun begins).

Sincerely,
Not Just Anna's Blog

Stuff

Today I am sore, as well as yesterday. I was not feeling well and could not speak. It was S-O-R-E!!!!! Anyway, I went to bed feeling horrible and slept in for maybe 5 minutes after my sister's alarm woke me up from my sound sleep. She got up and even turned on the light like she does every morning. She puts on these clothes that I don't pay any attention to and to wrap it all up she comes over to my bed and hugs and kisses me, which is fine (I guess), but I don't like the light and the alarm. So, I am not feeling good, so if you could save your voice for me that would make it much easier for me to try to speak.

In class we are reading Helen Keller by Margaret Davidson. It's a good book even though I'm only on the third chapter. Helen gets sick and becomes deaf, dumb, and blind and is torturing the baby named Mildred and might be sent away. Anyway, Mr. Keller writes to a school that taught a boy who was both deaf and blind, so the Kellers thought she might be able to learn braille.

More stuff will be written on Stuff #2 which will be happening tomorrow if not before! See you all later. Tootles!

Mary/Mom's Turn

Anna (and Kate) had asked me to help them get a blog going this summer, and in my usual way, I procrastinated, for no particular reason. This morning, Anna (in her wonderful usual way) just made it happen, as she makes so many great things happen in our lives--no fear, no hesitation, cut through and make it happen. So begins our family blog.

We all await Daisy's return to us in the morning. We adopted her at 5 (2 years ago now), and she was already not programmed to be the dog she once might have been, but as Chris says, (in his wonderful usual way) "Daisy, you are My Dog, and so I love you." We all follow his (wonderful usual) example.

I expect that this will be mostly a girls' blog in this household, as the lone wolf of the house tends to be a man of few words (as few of them typed as possible). I hope we will all learn some valuable skills, like how to use Chris's cute little computer camera, perhaps, and how to load photos onto a web page, etc.

It seems appropriate that we begin this blog in NaBloPoMo--National Blog Posting Month (not to be confused with NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month). Too bad we are late for the formal beginning, but that is our (wonderful?) usual way....

Anna's Time the 2nd :)

Hello everyone! I just want you to have the details for Daisy's surgery. She is in the operation room. She tore a ligament while Daddy was walking her when she tore it! Now, with my dad's back stuff he could not pick her up and carry her back so she had to limp all the way back and that only made it worse so she will have yet another torn but replaced ligament when she comes home. Last time she came home with purple stitches and now hopefully pink. Pink and purple are my favorite colors so she will be perfect. I want everybody to know she is alright I think and will be in good care when she comes back. I don't want any offence taken by the vets but she'd rather be here healthy than there sick. So, she will love to be home! Thanks for tuning in to hear the boring story that I needed to blog.

Anna's Time :)

Hey, Everybody! This is Anna talking here. School just started and it's going swell! Daisy our dog is at the vet right now. She tore a ligament. Anyway, Mark Kruzan has won the election, but guess what? He doesn't read. So, I went and wrote him a letter and he hasn't responded! Bla, Bla, Bla. No time to READ a child's letter! That's my question. Maybe he won't even read my letter. Wah Wah! :( In my classroom of B-134 Mark Kruzan won once again and that was before the election. I voted for David Sabbagh and was one of the four that lost. :( (frowny one again) Today is a Wednesday and that mean Computer Lab and Library and that is a treat! I have to go now. But, I'll write in again soon and tell you loads more! I'll keep you posted.

Anna's Time