Merry Christmas!

Wow. Ever since I turned thirteen, this year has been going by so quickly. One day I just got my ears pierced, and the next I'm tearing into presents on Christmas morning! It's weird . . .

For Christmas Eve, we went over to my aunt's house (mom's side). We had amazing rib-eye roast for dinner and then opened presents. Hanging out at her house is definitely one of my favorite Christmas traditions (even if her cats do make me miserable! =P)

The cup-stacking game . . .

No, this is not the cup-stacking game. This is my brother trying to touch the ceiling with cups.

Presents!!!!!! (No, she was not the only one to get things. I just obviously didn't put any other pictures in.)

 We left there around 8:30 or 9.
 What happened next is another one of my favorite traditions. We snuggled up in the living room and enjoyed The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. Best. (Christmas)Movie. Ever!

As our parents do not like to wake up at the break of dawn on Christmas morning and tear through the packages accumulated at the base of the tree, they give us books. The wrapped awesomenesses are placed at the ends of our beds at the beginning of the night, and are usually kicked off our beds by the end of the night. Once we wake up, we cannot unwrap our books until 7pm. So, you ask, what happens if we wake up before 7pm?? We have to wait. And, as always, when you are waiting for something, the minutes drag by as slow as they possibly can. Oh, the agony!! But then, when you are finally able to open them . . . you have to painstakingly separate the tape and the paper so as not to wake your slumbering siblings. Double agony!! Don't worry. Everything turns out fine in the end, but before that . . .
For our traditional Christmas morning breakfast, we get to devour my mom's homemade egg casserole. Oh, it's so good!! As soon as our grandma arrives (mom's side), we tear into the stockings. Then come the presents. =D

Both Emily and I got the same things (magnetic utility cups)! I got mine from Annie, and I gave Emily hers!!

Emily gave all of us our own towels! We obviously decided to have a little fun. (I guess that's what you get for having a sister who works at Bed, Bath, & Beyond!)

We all received matching red, plaid pajamas from my dad's mom, and wore them while we skyped her and my aunt. =)

And then disaster hits!!

Guess we didn't have enough nails in the base! Oops!!

As I continue to grow older, Christmas becomes more and more fun for me. And it's not just the receiving of presents. I now really enjoy giving presents and seeing the reaction they create on the faces of the people I give them to.
Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, actually it is my favorite holiday, and I love the reason behind it.

 "For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." 

Isn't that the best kind of present ever!

Merry Christmas everyone! And have a happy new year!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll!!

This year, we hosted again. We had fourteen people in our house this time! That was including us . . . otherwise, it'd be pretty squishy. =)  
Mom had us making all kinds of projects the days before. We made a big sign with the words Euchcharisteo (meaning 'give thanks' in Greek), we painted many centers of golden chargers with black chalk paint and wrote our guests' names on them, and more! We had Thanksgiving week off, but were kept busy making the above. So, it didn't really feel like an off week. =)
 

In the process . . .

 . . . after the process.

These went on our dog crate/buffet table.

Hanging up our 'Eucharisteo' sign.

We also made homemade pies for the first time!!! We made with them with friends from my ballet class and had a ton of fun!! It was a bunch of work, though . . .

This was so helpful with the many, many apples we had to peel, slice, and core!!

There was still another bowl apart from these! There were a lot.

Making the pie crust . . .

Delicately decorating the edges of the crust . . .

Whoohoo!!! Our first pies EVER!!!

 Thankgiving day itself went really well! The food was amazing (as usual) and I'm pretty sure everyone had a fantastic time! (I did have a cold, though, so that wasn't very fun . . .)

I hope ya'll had just as good a Thanksgiving day as we did!! (But on second thought, maybe you wouldn't want the cold part . . . .)

It's Fall Time!!!!!!!

    It's fall again!!! My absolutely favorite season of all seasons!!! The time when it's cold (or supposed to be cold . . .) and rainy (or supposed to be rainy . . .)! The time for pumpkin pies, hot chocolate, cozy blankets, and fires dancing in the fireplace (scary!!). The time for red, orange, yellow, and brown leaves that drift through the frosty air and decorate the grass below. And the time for the carving of the pumpkin!!

     Mom bought a lovely pumpkin at the store this morning, and Annie and Jonathan had the honor of slicing it open and ripping out its intestines.

Jonathan digging eagerly into the helpless orange blob.

Annie pulling out what she calls the 'soapy hair' strands of pumpkin intestine.

The now separated seeds and pulp.

And here, is the poor humiliated un-intestinalized pumpkin.

 They had a lot of fun as they complained about the slimy texture of the pumpkin pulp. We now wait eagerly for the seeds to be sprinkled with salt and toasted in the oven. (It's a delicious snack that we all enjoy.) And I'm not sure what will happen to the pulp . . . poor pulp.

Happy fall to you all!! 

(Hey, I rhymed! I guess I'm a poet and just didn't know it!)

Sixteen Years and a Hot Challenge

    No, it's not me. I still have quite a few years before I turn sixteen. Sorry to burst your bubble! =)
    It was actually my big brother, David's, sixteenth birthday!! His real birthday was on Saturday, October fourth, but he had his party on Friday. He invited a few boys over for dinner and games on Friday and I'm sure they had a blast.
    On Saturday morning, we had delicious Winchell's donuts for breakfast!! (Yum!) Nothing happened during the middle of the day, since we had things to do and places to go. But that night, my grandma (mom's side) and my aunt (also mom's side) came over for dinner.We had beef stew, really amazing homemade garlic bread sticks, and a super sweet and syrupy fruit salad. It was scrumptious!!!
    After dinner, we all situated ourselves in the cozy living room to watch David open presents.I got him a really cool ultimate survival guide. =)
    Then, on Monday morning, to complete his advancement to age sixteen, David was given the challenge of eating a pepper. (Quick background story: On Emily's sixteenth birthday, my aunt [mom's side] brought a hot pepper to show us and challenged Emily to eat it. She did and got twenty dollars. So, obviously, David also wanted to do this!) The pepper my aunt got for David, was a habanero pepper: one of the hottest. David completed the task and almost drank all of our milk in the process (it was super hot!). He recieved his twenty dollars and is now an official sixteen-year-old Miles teenager!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!!!!

A Puzzling Adventure

Something happened today that made for a very interesting, and painful, experience.
Annie, Jonathan, and I were having our botany class with Mom. We were working on germination (the process of a seed growing into a plant) flip books. I was sitting on the floor and I went to straighten my leg out. But I couldn't. It was as if something was there holding it back from unfolding.
Now, I've had this happen many times and I have always been able to force it back out and continue on with every day life. But this time, it hurt too badly that I couldn't pull it out. I alerted my mom and she tried to help me pull it out. It was still hurting too much, so we tried to put heat on it. The heat helped a little so that I could inch it out a little bit, but still couldn't straighten it out all the way. Then Dad said that we should put ice on it because there was nothing online about putting heat on something like this. We tried that, but it only seemed to worsen it. We then brought back the heat and Mom and Dad discussed what to do.
Finally, they called the doctor and made an appointment for about 45 minutes later. It was a little painful getting in the car as my knee hurt whenever I moved it, but God was good and got us there. Dad stayed home and Mom drove me to the doctor. We stopped by my Grandma's church to pick up a wheelchair really quick so it would be easier to get to the doctor's office then inching along the sidewalk a millimeter every five minutes. =)
The office was down in Costa Mesa so it was quite a few minutes before we arrived there. When we did arrive, Mom brought the wheelchair around to my side of the car. I scooted carefully out and went to sit in the chair when I found out that I could straighten my leg! Mom think the ride helped as I wasn't as tense (only on the turns =P) and relaxing a bit.
We went to the doctor anyway since we were already there, but they didn't know what caused it either. I have another appointment with the orthopedic tomorrow, so maybe they will be able to figure out what's going on.
God was so good today as he allowed it to straighten out and not let it be too painful. So I am very thankful that it wasn't any worse then it was!

Birthday Time!

Nope. It's not my birthday. It was actually my mom's birthday yesterday! And I'm not going to tell you how old she turned!
Annie, my dad, and I fixed pancakes and eggs for a special breakfast. It was very delicious. After breakfast, Mom opened her presents and cards. (I gave her a pretty cool watch.)

Around 10am, we loaded up the van and truck and drove down to Eldorado Park for bike ride. The leaves on the trees were starting to turn yellow and red and there was a nice breeze blowing. It was extremely lovely.

We rode for about an hour (until some of us got tired) and then packed the bikes back into the cars. We then drove to In-n-Out for a tasty lunch. By then it was around 12pm. After lunch, the boys went home and we girls went with Mom to do some birthday shopping (she had got some birthday money). She found some cute dressy clothes at Ross and then we also drove home. Annie and Emily stayed home, but Mom and I left once more to visit Walmart and do some other errands.
That night, Grandma came for dinner which was Cosco pizza and caesar salad. (yummy!!). We had dessert after dinner, a delicious cake, and then played a round of Pictionary.

Annie's drawing of a man eating corn on the cob. This was after we finished the game.

The day was very enjoyable, and I think Mom had a good time.
Here's to another year with our awesome mother!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!

First Week of School

    Well, we've just completed our first week of school, my senior year (in junior high, of course!). We took Monday to just go over the schedule, details, etc. Tuesday was our official first day of school on which we followed Monday's schedule. On Wednesday I have ballet, so Mom made a special schedule for that. Well, it was supposed to be Tuesday on Wednesday, but we had to do Wednesday's schedule on Wednesday. So Thursday was then Tuesdays schedule and Friday had to be Thursday's schedule. It was very crazy.
    My school is pretty light so far, so I am very grateful. I just hope it stays like that all year round.
    Jonathan, Annie, Mom, and I went swimming at my aunt's pool Friday afternoon. It was a perfect end to the last day of our first school week!
    I understand if you do not comprehend a single word of the above, so let me just say  this: It was a very good week and we look forward to the rest of the year!