Charlie...

And Ava...

We got back from church last Sunday and since Charlie was all ready dressed in his plaid collared shirt, I asked him if I could take his picture. He wasn't in the best picture-taking mood... see how he opens his eyes really wide, or has a fake smile??? Anyways, he was still willing, so I took my pictures very quickly...

Which one's your favorite??? I like the third one from the top. :)

Birthday

My beautiful ice cream cake. :) 5

My main gift....... A cell phone! It is the Gravity T. After I got my cell phone, my Uncle took me shopping and begged me to get a sparkle phone cover.

These two were taken with pinhole effect. 56

Sand dollars. 6

All these were taken with my Mom's new Olympus camera. She has been trying out lots of different cameras and I think she has finally found one that she likes. :)

My birthday was very fun and full of soccer games and shopping. At 7:45 in the morning my family woke me up to my new phone's ring-tone. After that, we rushed off to go to 3 soccer games. Then my Uncle took me shopping. He drove me around saying, "Where do you want to go? What do you want to do?" Everyone I saw asked me, "Do you feel older?"

I don't know? Are you supposed to "feel older." As soon as someone asks me, "How old are you?" I'm going to say "Thirteen, Um, I mean Fourteen."

Zoo

The penguins, waiting in line for the bathroom... at least that's what we said they were doing.

First of all, I want to say I am so sorry I have not posted in what...about 2 weeks? I have been really busy with school. (Lots of extra reading)

~

Anyways, yesterday was our last day of the month to go to the zoo for free. We had not gone all month, and you HAVE to go to the zoo. We had lots of fun. Macie and I took about...200 pictures of leaves and flowers. Seriously.

~

I have to say, the giraffes are always my favorite. This time around, Cooper got attacked. Every time a giraffe came near him it would nudge its head into Cooper. Maybe it sensed fear. Ha Ha, just kidding. :)

Jump Rope

When you jump rope, it really takes a lot out of you. Your heart pumps, you breath heavy...

It wears you out. We have this gigantic rope in our backyard. We tie one end to a tree, that way only one person has to spin the other end.

We have tried double dutch. It's harder than it looks. Cooper started to get the hang of it but couldn't get past the third jump. Ava couldn't jump in, Charlie couldn't jump in. I did, but boy was it hard! You had to REALLY focus.

Homemade ice cream...YUM!

Go to the bottom and read up.

YUM!!!! Enjoy your ice cream!!!!

After 5 minutes, take out the bag.

...and then SHAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Make sure you shake for at least 5 minutes. This doesn't seem like a long time, but when your shaking a bag of melting ice...it seems like FOREVER! But keep shaking, otherwise it doesn't work.

(Watch the video at the very bottom)

Add the SEALED small bag...

Next, fill a GALLON Ziploc bag half full with ice. Then put 2 cups coarse salt in it.

Take a small Ziploc and put 1 cup of the mixture in it. Do this for 4 bags.

(everyone had to whisk it...)...yes, everyone.

Put them in the bowl and whisk all of the ingredients together.

Add half a cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Pour them both into a large bowl...

and two cups half and half.

Take two cups whipping cream...

Heavy Whipping cream. So fattening, but so good...

This was a very tasty treat, and also very messy. Make sure you do the "shaking" outside!

Here is the video! (turn OFF my music)