Category Archives: Life

April Book Reviews: The Hundred Dresses

April 2, 2015 hanna 5 Comments

I’m posting again because it’s Thursday, but you can keep commenting your guesses on my “Mystery Quote” post until next Tuesday.

It was really hot yesterday, but today is cooler. We had a good thunderstorm last night–lightning and everything–that probably helped!

Due to the heat, Michael and Lucy played in the hose yesterday-afternoon. We have hot-water in the hose on the back-porch and someone left it on and used up all the hot water! We were kinda’ worried that the heater was broken, but then figured out it had just run out. Phew! We had hot water again by that evening, but I took a cold shower anyway–the weather was just that sweltering. Took a minute last night to thank God for running water!

Spencer is in Lincoln at TeenPact, which a class for home-school students about American government. You can read some of his homework on his blog, here.

Anyway: the book review! Sorry I am a little late in getting this posted, I ~~wasted~~ spent I-don’t-know-how-much time today watching songs from The Sound of Music with M and L! 🙂

Several years ago my Mom read The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes out loud to me, and I liked it from the start. Which strikes me as weird now, as it is a school-story, which I–being home-schooled–cannot relate to. But the common misconception that home-schoolers do not have friends is, after all, a misconception; and this book is more about friendship. It has some pretty stereotypical old-fashioned school tweaks, like popular girls/bullies, good- and bad-sides-of-town, clicks and cast-outs, and unpopular kids; but it has a unique twist. This book, though not directly Christian, has good morals; real, relatable characters; and is beautifully written.

Continue reading April Book Reviews: The Hundred Dresses →

Life, Literature

Module 7 story #1

March 17, 2015 hanna 19 Comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

I’m not wearing green. Just for spite, ’cause pinching always bothered me. Sorry. I’m like that.

Trusty wreath always gives me pictures to post on holidays! 🙂

Mom turned on Irish music; so I’ve spent all morning dancing around the house to the fiddles. 🙂 We switched to Rend Collective after lunch. Still Irish, right? Well, whatever you say, it’s at the top of my list–’cause Rend Collective’s at the top of all my lists. 🙂

Okay: this wasn’t actually what I was planning on posting today, but then I realized I should post this story, so I’m going to post that ‘other thing’ I’ve been saying I will on the Tuesday after I get done with this story.

So I’ve always really like science. But this year I started General Science and detested it. Especially when he started trying to tell me that math was an indispensable aspect of science. But we were reconciled when I got past pulleys and levers and how-to-perform-experiments, and started studying geology and archaeology.

But the tests were still torture. So Mom told me not to do them. She said I could write a page about the module instead. And that wasn’t so bad; but I wasn’t happy about how my papers turned out.

So (in a very round-about way) we came up with the idea of my writing a story for every module. I feel liberated. #ILoveHomeSchooling

So this story goes along with Exploring Creation with General Science by Dr. Jay L. Wile, Module 7. I borrowed a little information about how rocks form from Module 6. (7 is the first module I wrote a story about.) Okay, here it is:

My dear reader,

This story is probably the most scientific story I’ve ever written. It was inspired by a chapter in my science book. And, as it was only one chapter and I haven’t finished the book, I don’t really know if it’s accurate. The only thing I’m sure of is the information about fossils. I don’t even know anything about Siberia. Nothing. This is my idea of how something like this might go, based on what I’ve heard. Enjoy!

H.M.R. on 3/7/15

Module 7 story:

I pulled my scarf up over my mouth and nose with my stiff, mittened fingers. That was the one thousandth time it had slipped down around my neck—I was sure. I glared down at Dr. Peterson and Dad’s boots crunching in the snow ahead of me. My backpack had felt like lead before Dr. Peterson offered to carry it for me. The thrill of being here did not really make up for the nose-biting cold and the fact that we had to drag our luggage up here ourselves. Who cared that I was in Siberia—I was in SIBERIA for pity’s sake, and I couldn’t think of the last time I had been this miserable.

Continue reading Module 7 story #1 →

Life, Literature

Help me… again?

March 13, 2015 hanna 22 Comments

Please?

So, like I’ve been saying, I’m getting ready to write another story to post on my blog when I get done writing Searching For His Name.

Only I have a problem: I don’t have names for two of the characters.

Yep, names again. You and me, Savannah. Only, you come up with awesome names on your own… I think you just want the rest of us to feel included! 🙂

So:

I need a name for the King and Queen in my story. Could you guys help me out? Please? One kingly name, and one queenly name–but go ahead and comment more than one of each if you have the inspiration, if you would be so kind. I have no suggestions, just dump them on me!

Thank you!!!

Are you guys as excited as I am about next Tuesday? I love being mysterious! 🙂

Happy Friday!

P.S. It’s a few weeks late, but my home sweet home turned 148 this month! You can read about how Nebraska became a state on Spencer’s blog, here.

Life, Literature

“Into the Dragon’s Lair” #6

March 10, 2015 hanna 9 Comments

So, I had a bit of an adventure last night. Rather different from the big one I just went on, but an adventure nonetheless: helping Dad unclog the bathroom drain! Plumbing being something quite out of my experience, I was rather scared at the prospect. And, of course, Spencer was off swimming with some friends–and probably having the time of his life–so I had to do it. 🙂 Cue Dad’s comment about how Becca and I are now ‘learning what it means to have a brother’. Really, I think that should have been directed solely at me, as Becca just sat on the bed in the other room on her computer, using college as an excuse. 🙂 I must say that Dad did most of the work. And, that kind of thing is somehow less gross when you’re doing it, not just standing around watching your dad and brother do it. (I know, I know, that doesn’t follow.) But only a little less–to say I felt like I needed to wash my hands afterwards is an understatement; I felt more like pulling them off and throwing them away. Suddenly wishing I was a Lego mini figure and could grab easy replacements out of the toy-box! 🙂 Even after I washed them they still felt dirty–and probably would have for hours had I not already been planning to shower. Oh! and I bumped my head while climbing around under the sink. Pathetically classic.

Okay: enough about my adventure, let’s get to Hannah and Spenser’s!

Hey! one more thing: for those of you who were disappointed because you were expecting a more classic, medieval dragon-story–don’t worry: the next one is a good ole’ unoriginal, knight-in-shining-armor, princess-story.

And, in the original version part of this was in Chapter 4. I decided that the chapter ended better the other way, so I cut it off on here. And like always, here’s the last one. Now:

:-: INTO THE DRAGON'S LAIR :-: — :-: INTO THE DRAGON’S LAIR :-:

Hannah and Spenser pick up as much of the treasure as they can carry and start up the tunnel. It’s very difficult to carry twenty pounds of hold and diamonds over two miles, especially when all you have to carry it in is a bunch of old chests that are so rotten that when you pick them up the bottoms break because of the weight. It takes Spenser and Hannah three hours to move all the treasure back to the helicopter.

The two of them have a lot to tell Kirsten and Bekah on the way home! The day after they get home, Reporter Mike Joseph comes to to Spenser’s house. Hannah and Spenser get to tell their story on the news! After that Spenser calls Jason Daniels, who is the director of a museum in Omaha. Mr. Daniels says that he will buys the Rothfuss’ gold and diamonds and display it in his museum.

After that Spenser makes Hannah his official navigator, and The Darting Dragon becomes their official transportation.

Spenser, Hannah. Kirsten, and Bekah have many, many adventures together and become very good friends.

And someday, perhaps, I’ll write another book about this quartet! 🙂

THE END

_____________________________________________________________________

Which I never did! 🙂 And, yes, the smiley-face is original. *sigh*

So: what did you think of the first story I posted? Who was your favorite character? (I know characters were limited, so if you don’t have one that’s fine! 🙂 ) What was your favorite part? Any other comments, thoughts, concerns? I want your opinion! I won’t be offended if there’s something you think I should have done different!

Happy Tuesday!

P.S. And don’t give up on me. I have another surprise for next Tuesday! 🙂

Life, Literature, My Writing

“Into the Dragon’s Lair” Behind the Scenes

March 7, 2015 hanna 7 Comments

And just to dash all your hopes quickly, no, this is not a story-post. I decided I was going to do a post like this with all my stories right before the last chapter. I’m just going to take the time to tell you where I got my inspiration, where the picture came from, and other random things now.

* I hadn’t thought of doing this when I started posting, so I already told you where my inspiration came from. It was Spencer, me, Mom, Becca, and Michael that were on the geocaching trip; and Spencer made up titles for all of us that I used in my story–except I think M was the luggage or the passenger or something (because he was in the stroller that Mom was ‘pilotting’) and I just couldn’t go with that; so I gave him a different job (spoiler alert: you’ll see him and Dad in the last chapter). Oh! and Spencer actually left me alone and walked off out-of-sight in the trees looking for the geocache for a little while. Being left alone in the Bolivian jungle would be WAY worse though, the only thing that made it nerve-racking was pessimistic me. And I made the spider up off the top of my head–I don’t think there’s any such thing.

* The picture is actually of a tree in China, not Bolivia; and it’s not in the jungle, it’s in a park–but I thought it would suffice. With a selection like this, it was hard to choose:

* Like I said, all the characters are named after one of my family members, only spelled different. I also mentioned that in the original manuscript I spelled the explorer’s name S-P-E-N-C-E-R like my brother, but here I spelled it S-P-E-N-S-E-R. I also spelled the female dragon’s name F-O-G-G-Y-N-E-S-S in the first copy, but I changed it to the regular F-O-G-G-I-N-E-S-S for my blog. I don’t know why I spelled it weird in the first one. Maybe I didn’t know how to spell it right… I don’t remember. This way feels more natural (because it is) and my computer doesn’t give it that annoying red underline.

* I think I wrote this book in one day, or maybe two or three–not many! 🙂 I made almost everybody I lent it to read it one chapter at a time, because I love dropping people on cliff-hangers!

I hope you guys are enjoying my story! I can’t wait to post the last chapter! See you guys, and happy Saturday! 🙂

Family, Life

Never a Dull Moment!!!

March 6, 2015 hanna 9 Comments

Okay, some of these are going to be kinda’ old, but I thought I’d post about what we’ve been doing lately. First of all…

Dad and Spencer installed a slide in our basement by laying cardboard on the stairs. It’s really incredibly fun! 🙂

In motion. *sigh* But those two are always in motion, even without a slide! 🙂

Yes, even us “bigs” did it…

Including me. 🙂

Little brother enjoyed putting cardboard scraps down the slide during construction

I never thought I’d be the one to post about crafts, but this was just so cool, I HAD to post about it! It’s really simple: you just write/draw something on a piece of paper with a white crayon, and then water-color over the top. The white shows through!

Voice of Experience: make sure your crayon-lines are thick. Otherwise they don’t show very well. Oh! and if you don’t think it’s working at first; try painting a little more before giving up, because if takes a minute sometimes.

Guess who made this one? Mama made one that said ‘Joy’ and I went with the fruit-of-the-spirit-theme. And seriously what other one could I do???

I also made an “H” [for Hanna], but the crayon didn’t show up real well… I’m blaming it on my brush–and whoever stole my first brush (by mistake) and gave it to Lucy. Mama got me a different one that worked better, but it still only worked so well.

What’s that? Oh! no, there’s no point. Just me being artsie again, that’s all.

Lu saw people playing dominoes at grandma’s house, and was very interested. We got ours out and she played it with Becca and I one evening while the big boys were gone and Mom was putting Michael to bed.

I found dominoes quite picturesque:

We had these left over, and I figured out that they all went together…

Except this one:

Poor, lonely, little domino!

More costumes…

Butterflies this time. I have NO idea where that came from! We’re still crazy about Cinderella… though at the moment Kipper the Dog is playing in the background–Michael’s choice. 🙂

This is from a while ago, but I thought I’d post it anyway ’cause it was just way too cute!

Over and over and over and over…

There’s never a dull moment at MY house!!! 🙂

Happiest of Friday’s to you! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Family, Life

It’s Never Too Late, Right?

February 23, 2015 hanna 9 Comments

It’s still February. Which is my excuse for still posting about Valentine’s Day; but the truth is I’d still be posting it if it was April.

Really the only reason I feel weird about is probably the fact that we’ve already celebrated a different holiday. But I’m posting anyway.

I wanted to make sure I acknowledged the existence of Valentine’s Day, so I posted this, but I thought I’d share a little more about our day. Are you guys sure you don’t mind it when I bury you in pictures I took on my little silver camera?

Cinnamon rolls are a pretty typical holiday-breakfast at our house. I ask for them every year on my birthday! 🙂

It took me foreeeever to get a clear picture of those roses!

We hung bags on the back of everybody's chair for people to put Valentines in. We opened them after dinner. — We hung bags on the back of everybody’s chair for people to put Valentines in. We opened them after dinner.

This was taken through the red heart on the bag pictured below.

Little brother packaged up a (used) crayon and a scrap of paper with his initial on it. — Little brother packaged up a (used) crayon and a scrap of paper with his initial on it for me. Way too cute! 🙂

Photo-bombed... by a candy heart. It had a little help from someone :) — Photo-bombed… by a candy heart. It had a little help from someone 🙂

Happy Valentine's Day, folks! — Happy Valentine’s Day, folks!

P.S. I now know why someone came up with the abbreviation V-Day: typing out the whole V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E-‘S D-A-Y is monotonous!

P.P.S. This post about Valentine’s Day is sooo good! I’m not laughing. Seriously.

Note: I read the above blog with my mother, so we can discuss some of the more mature topics. This post shouldn’t be a problem, but kids should talk to their parents before browsing around.

Happy Monday!!! 🙂

Adoption, Family, Life

Our Chinese New Year Celebration!

February 21, 2015 hanna 13 Comments

Michael and Lucy helped make red, paper lanterns with Mom. The ones on either side are store-bought, but they made the middle one. (They made more than that; I’m not sure what happened to the other ones.)

Mama decorated our table the night before.

We had Asian food for dinner, and then lit off fireworks:

Preparations!

Michael stomping "snaps" with his little lawn-chair. Sooo cute! :) — Michael stomping “snaps” with his little lawn-chair. Sooo cute! 🙂

The noise was a little too much for some of us, so Mom and Becca went inside with the littles to watch out the window, while I stayed outside and took pictures.

I cannot believe I got such a good picture! I was just randomly snapping!

Sparkling juice:

Xin Nian Kuai Le, folks!

Life, Literature

Mothers

February 20, 2015 hanna 5 Comments

Mr. Burd sank into a chair before the fire. “Now, wait a minute,” he said. “After Jon gets me a drink of water and Sally fetches my slippers and Andy puts Molly in the barn and Mother sits and rests herself, I”ll tell you all about it” (26).

-“By Wagon and Flatboat” by Enid La Monte Meadowcroft

(Emphasis mine)

That sounds like something my Dad would say! Mamas sure work hard, don’t they?

Adoption, Life

Happy Chinese New Year!

February 19, 2015 hanna 6 Comments

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year! We got Chinese food last year (the Hy-Vee kind ’cause all the real Asian restaurants were packed out) but we’re going a little more all out this year with Lucy.

As it’s a two-week festival, we’re actually celebrating tomorrow night because Becca and Spencer work on Thursday evenings.

Happy Chinese New Year, folks!

I never thought I’d be the girl that posted about this… but I’m a lot of things I never expected to be. I’m a big sister, I’m a world traveler (kind of 🙂 ), I’m a blog-writer, and I’m crazy about China. Who would have thought?

Taking My Time

Category Archives: Life

April Book Reviews: The Hundred Dresses

Module 7 story #1

Help me… again?

“Into the Dragon’s Lair” #6

“Into the Dragon’s Lair” Behind the Scenes

Never a Dull Moment!!!

It’s Never Too Late, Right?

Our Chinese New Year Celebration!

Mothers

Happy Chinese New Year!

My world through my eyes