a winter wonderland

It started to snow on Saturday night - which made me extremely delighted. But it was only a little bit of snow, and really powdery (not much fun to play with). But this morning when I woke up and looked out my window...there was a winter wonderland of snow ;) I've actually never seen that much snow here in Ireland. It was pretty deep and the perfect consistency for snowballs and snowmen and the like. Here's a snowman that me and my two brothers made down by the lake:

See how tall it is? It's almost as tall as my dad:

Yes, Mr. Snowman is on a picnic table...and yes, his eyes and nose are spoons. We're quite a creative bunch, as you can see :)

And on Saturday morning I got to do some snow-photography; here's some of my pictures:

*happy sigh* it's already beginning to seem like Christmas-time. The snow...the pretty Christmas lights in town...the Christmas music...the hot chocolate...and it's not even December yet!


Hope you're enjoying your Tuesday (or whatever day it is when you are reading this.) :D

monthly book review - november

Wow...another month gone by way too fast. It's hard to believe it's been a whole month since I wrote my last review! And it's even harder to believe it's been 11 months since I wrote my very first review for Hannah's monthly book reviews link-up. Holy cow.


This month I'll be reviewing one of my all time favorite books. Or rather...3 of them. It's What Katy Did and it's two sequels What Katy Did at School and What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge. It's the second time I've read them, and that's saying something considering I barely ever reread books.


What Katy Did:

Although she means well, Katy Carr is constantly getting into scrapes and making mistakes. She's always making good resolutions, but never keeping them. Then one day something happens that will change her life forever...


I love this book. It's one of those books where "you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend" (-Paul Sweeny) All the characters are so realistic, and the author tells the story in such an entertaining and fun way. Even though I had read it before and know the story so well, it was just as amazing reading it for the second time. I really recommend it - it's a great classic.

What Katy Did at School and What Katy Did Next:


These two books are perfect sequels to What Katy Did although they are very different and based in entirely different settings. In What Katy Did at School, Katy and her sister Clover are sent to boarding school - and in What Katy Did Next Katy goes on a year-long trip to Europe. I love them both! One of the main things I love about them is that it really makes you feel like you were there - when I was finished with What Katy Did Next I felt as if I had just taken a trip all over Europe! I definitely recommend these two as well as the first one.




Make sure you head on over to Hannah's blog to read her review and maybe join in yourself ;)

the abc's of thanks

I saw this on Hannah's blog Aspire and I thought it looked like so much fun! It's a Thanksgiving link-up made by Rachel at Finding Joy. So, here's the ABC's of the random and not so random things I'm thankful for :)



A. Adam Young - if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have any Owl City to listen to! *shudders*


B. Books. Books are amazing.


C. Cameras


D. December 10th - my birthday and the day the new Narnia movie comes out!


E. Elizabeth Prentiss' books


F. Flowers


G. Google


H. Heather - my wonderful big sister :)


I. Ice cubes


J. Johanna (My friend)


K. Krispy Kreme donuts


L. Little kids


M. My Mommy and Daddy! :)


N. Narnia books


O. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies


P. Picnik (photo-editing)


Q. Quinlyn! XD


R. Rainbows


S. Snow


T. Thanksgiving


U. Up {the movie}


V. Veggie Tales


W. Words


X. Xtra-Vision (a movie renting store ;)


Y. Youth Group


Z. Zzzz.... (in other words...sleep!)




Yep, those are some of the things I'm thankful for :) I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow!

finally...

...a post! "Write a blog post" has been on my To-do list all week. But things kept getting in the way. By things I mainly mean school. Not only is it just harder this year, I have to do extra school-work in order to be finished by the time we have to leave to go to America for the summer.

I love going to America - seeing lots of friends and family and all - but I get home-sick just thinking of leaving Ireland.


On a happier note - the other day Caleb (my 10 year old brother) and I took a walk down to the lake (It's really close by - only like a ten minute walk) and fortunately I took the camera along. It was really beautiful! Here's some of the pictures I took:





I have more things to say, I wish I could just ramble on and on! But - I should save some things for other posts :) Have a great day!

learning to knit...

...I mean, I'm trying to learn to knit. It's harder than it looks!

It's hard to do it just right - not to pull too hard or make it too loose. That's the main thing that's hard for me.

I mainly learned by watching a bunch of "how-to" youtube videos. Not the most fun way to learn, but hey, it works!

And knitting gets kinda addicting. Really! When I'm doing it, after a while I get tired of it and want to stop. But as soon as I stopped I want to start it again. Yeah, weird.

By the way, isn't it funny how many things one can find to photograph? Flowers. Kittens. My knitting attempts. You name it!

I also thought I'd throw in this last picture. Because that's all I've been seeing out my window for days. Rain. Gray clouds. Fun.