Come Together

Right now!... This morning I was woken up between 3 and 4 AM... My mom poked her head in my doorway and said "Hey if you want to go with me you'd better get up!" So I got up and threw on some clothes and shoes. When my mom checked me a few minutes later I was searching my dark room for my wallet... Lex was still asleep in our room so I was in the dark, my dog sprawled out on my bed still asleep and me on the ground crawling around looking for my wallet. "What are you doing?" "I'm looking for my wallet." She laughed, "You lost your wallet? Halie that is so you! Only you, only you..." I didn't find it so we charged out into the 4 AM cold and into the car. Our first stop was a Walmart to look for a Band Hero. They had JUST sold the last one right before we got there. So we went to another Walmart and couldn't find them. When we asked a sales clerk in the electronics she said she hadn't seen one all day. She looked and looked at all these maps and things and finally found out that someone had set up a Rock Band display in the Bakery!!! So we went to the Bakery and there was this big stack of them - apparently not many people had noticed them there. We found two Wii ones and hurriedly got one and carried it immediately over to the registers - I felt almost thieflike carrying the big thing with my mom in such a hurry. We then went to Toys R Us. Most of the kids' Christmas lists had been made up of toys from this store. I would turn to piles of toys and recognize them (I being the Christmas list writer) and shout "Kate wanted that!" or "Sam asked for that TWICE and cried when I refused to write it on his list twice!" we left with a basket full of toys when I wouldn't quit saying "This place is filling up... We should go...." We saw the electronic section on the way out. They actually had a section walled off with two exits and security at each one! We didn't go in the line was big. Next was Kohl's. People at this store were actually way more mild mannered than at the other stores! As in hordes of people weren't rushing around - the hordes were a little more laid back and dignified... If that's possible.. Upon entering we met up with two of my mom's friends Esther and Sonya. We didn't buy anything when we saw the HUGE line for the registers that we thought stretched around the store (We didn't stay to find out...). We went to Big Lots because I wanted to see if they still had a slicK so I could check it out but when we got there they had no MP3 players at all! The lady there said that the first wave of customers had wiped them out as soon as they opened the doors! We then realized that was really the only reason we'd gone to that store so we left. My mom said "Why don't we go into Big 5?" trying to cheer me up a little so we did. This poor guy's job was to stand in the door and greet people. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt for work and it was freezing cold but he still greeted everyone really nicely! We went and looked at the airsoft things (See what my teacher did to me way back when?!?! I automatically [That's A-U-T-O-M-A-T-I-C-A-L-L-Y Brenten ;))] shy away from saying "Stuff" and instead say "things"). But we were really hungry so we left before too long. Then my mom and I, after admiring the RISING OF THE SUN (seeing as it had been down before this) went to eat. I voted for Denny's - it reminded me of my great granfather Franz (Yes Franz, he was born in Switzerland). My great grandpa (grossfadi LOL) Franz loves Denny's. Once when we went on a trip to San Diego (Awesome hilarious trip I'll have to write about it later) the only places we stopped at were Denny's'. So anyways my mom got a Grand Slam and I built my own slam because I didn't want to eat the pork bacon. I got pancakes, eggs, hash browns and turkey bacon and I was barely able to finish it! I actually didn't finish my eggs... Then I convinced my mom to take me to Radio Shack since it could be seen from the Denny's window - it was that close. SO we went and she ended up buying a Wii rechargeable battery station and a new phone for Lex and I and some other 'things'. The phone was really cool! The girl who was helping us had an accent and she kept saying "thas a rreally goodeal" rolling her r's. Then we went home and played lotsa Band Hero. My mom let us open it early as an early Christmas present. We still need a third Wii controller for the drums which I think mom and dad are getting today. The drum set is really cool because it has all five colors because it has three drums to hit and two cymbals above to hit. I can do the singing and guitar pretty well. Kate likes "Paralyzer" and my mom likes it when I sing "Bring Me To Life" which I also love singing. I like singing period.. My mom was kidding with me earlier that day because some guy on the radio said "I think in song now!" and I repeated it and my mom laughed and said "Halie! You're all 'That's not normal? I've done it since I was born!'". I really particularly like singing a song on there by Cheap Trick that I keep forgetting the name of... It has three Taylor Swift songs and Dirty Little Secret too. We've been playing a lot of Band Hero since Friday. I got to talk to Maddi via text and Andrew via Facebook. In fact Andrew said "I gtg Taylor and Brenten want me." and I said "You guys are lucky to live so close!" Andrew: "Who?" Me: "You guys and the Fillmores." Andrew: "Oh. Yeah. Brenten and Brenna are over. It's nice." then he left. I texted Maddi immediately "Brenten and Brenna are at the Laws'. I'm jealous. Wish we lived closer." I felt bad after that. Jealousy sucks. And I had no right to be jealous at all! Soooo if any of you read this that I just mentioned I'm sorry I tainted your thoughts with my jealousy. Annnnyways I remembered right after that that we live pretty close to the O'Neills so that's a definite he UGE plus ;)). But I'm getting tired and boring and would rather chat and write my story so I'll go. Laterz!!

Twist and Shout

Shake it up baby! (Shake it up baby) Twist and shout! (Twist and shout!) I really love this song but that's nothing new. The Beatles are awesome. Exactly why I looked like an idiot cleaning up my yard the other day chanting "I am the walrus! Koo koo kitchoo!" (Or however it is that you're supposed to spell that...). So two really exciting things happened yesterday. I mean among the other awesome exciting things of course because this house never stops! But Dad came home yesterday! He flew in in the morning from Alaska and my mom picked him up and brought him home. The kids were so funny, Kate was afraid to leave the house. "Kate!" I said laughing, "Go hug your dad!!" They warmed up quick and then found the Cooking Mama disk for our Wii. Did I ever mention my dislike for Cooking Mama? I really really don't like it! Plus my siblings got it for Nintendo DS so they can now take it anywhere and I'm convinced that it was created expressly for the purpose of HAUNTING ME WITH THE SOUND EFFECTS WHEREVER I GO. So anyways they got on that and I chrocheted and then Katlyn again asked me to teach her to chrochet. "Fine." I finally agreed, she'd been asking for ages! So that led, as previously suspected, to Abbie asking me to teach her, which led (hilariously enough) to Bradley asking if I would teach him... "Bradley," said Kate, "You want to learn to chrochet? Chrocheting's for gi- oh!" The "OH" signifies about the point where I signed for her to shut up. "Chrocheting is SO not just for girls, Kate! That's such a... stereotype? Nah something else. Bradley can learn, I'll teach him." So when Dad got home from an errand he'd run with mom the first thing Bradley said to him was, "Hey dad guess what? I'm learning to chrochet! I'm getting really fast! It's really fun! Do you want to learn dad?" Dad: "Well ah... Frankly I'd rather go dig a hole in the backyard or something Bradley... But I guess if I got really bored I could chrochet..." I sat in the corner smirking and trying to keep a straight face. I am responsible for teaching my brother to chrochet, and I don't think it's going to hurt the kid. I am personally going to make sure that boy can cook before he gets out of this house too. Having many skills never hurt anyone. Anyways so all that day we just hung out. And also I got a major creative streak. For me that means writing! In fact I've had my creative streak all week and I've been ignoring it. My creativity gets low sometimes and I end up not writing for long periods of time but when it comes back it comes back with a bang! I NEED to write and I get tons of interesting ideas and think of odd things I wouldn't think of when I was thinking less creatively. So finally yesterday I couldn't ignore it a second longer. I was sitting on the couch doing something when I just jumped up randomly and ran down the hall shouting "I need a pen and some paper! Guys, guys where's a pen?! My creative streak's here!" I sat on my bed writing for a looong time. Lex hates it because I read her pieces and I loooovee cliffhangers, meaning she's left to wonder what goes next when it's not even written yet. Anyways today my mom and I drove around to like three convenience stores before we found one with newspapers. We bought two he UGE newspapers and went home. All day we've been looking through them. I was put officially in charge of Christmas wish lists. THAT was hectic. All the kids surrounded me - I told them "You have to show me the exact ad! I want the name, price and at what store." Sam went totally crazy, he wants everything... I was looking at all the MP3 players. They look cool. I'm comparing stores brands and prices. I'm still not entirely convinced I shouldn't hold out and save for an iPod just because they're so awesome and durable, but I'm looking. I found one called a slicK. It's only a 4GB but it looked interesting (not as great as iPod of course) so we'll see what happens. Lex was really wanting a Literati which is like another eReader like a Nook. I liked the Nook, but there's just too many cool things to see in technology ;)). I have to admit though, the Nook did look cool, definitely a "Look into it more" type of thing. I have a lot of those right now thanks to the ads... But we had an awesome dinner and all ate lots and got to visit with my grandma and grandpa Hunley and great aunt and uncle Bruce and Karen. We watched the movie "How to Train Your Dragon". Or in my case most of it. I was late in coming but it was cute. Funny. My grandfather the Marine referred to it as "That brainwashing show" but then again he refers to most TV shows like that that aren't on the hunting or History channels or the like... LOL. By the way, Em, I MIGHT have declared it Beatles Appreciation Month because you said you didn't like them.... But come on! They're awesome! You'll see. They rock ;). Anyways I'm going Black Friday shopping with my mom tomorrow. It's going to be insane so I'd better go to bed now! Laterz!!

Love, Love Me Do

You know I love you! I'll always be true, so love, love me do! Alright so yesterday I got up at about 5:30… That’s right AM, lol. I did my whole “Ready in 10 minutes - wait where’s…?” thing and then entered the dark kitchen, an unusual sight for me when it’s supposed to be MORNING. I got out one of my most favoritest things to eat – a homemade pita with and egg, butter and cheese inside. Doesn’t that sound so healthy? My mom didn’t have anything to do with this one, after I started making pitas I decided I liked pitas but I didn’t like hummus so I eat other things in them. This is one of my favorites that I came up with along with something like a meatball sandwich pita style. I like them just with pizza sauce and parmesan because I’m not a big meatball person and don’t really mind their absence. Anyways so we ran around getting everything together, people kept running through the kitchen as I just sat there eating my pita thingy happily. Mom and Lex applied makeup – I ate breakfast ;). On further reflection I think their plan all along was to get donuts later but whatever. Kate, Lil, Lex, mom and I got in the car, I opened the gate as usual, it was really cold and I remember advising Alexis to put on a bigger warmer coat because it was cold, but she ignored me because she loves her black and white jacket. We got a call from Mrs. Fillmore, I answered my mom’s phone unwillingly, “Hello?” “Hey Tanya, we’re just-” “It’s Halie… Umm.. Here’s my mom…”. Anyone who’d only talked to me on the phone would really think I was mean! And illiterate. I should fix that. So anyways we dropped Katie and Lil off at grandma’s house and started off for 7Eleven where we were meeting the Fillmores. I tried to get my mom to let Brenten ride in our car, but I was still asleep and my persuasive skills were mediocre so it was a no. Mom and Lex got donuts in 7Eleven, I sat in the car trying not to fall asleep until Mrs. Fillmore brought me this elevator speech Brenten and Mr. Fillmore had written up to me. It was a long ride there, we turned up the radio (Which mom turned from 98.5 to Air 1, I almost always change it to 98.5 although I think Air 1’s epic). As I said before I was still asleep so my singing was horrible! Even worse than usual, but I loved it and it was really fun. It’s one of my newest things with my mom because she bought a pair of sunglasses she likes and one she’s decided she dislikes, so when she puts on hers I put on the other pair just for laughs. I’ve never worn them outside the car. So I wore the sunglasses and sang and sang and sang…. Yeah Air 1’s awesome ;). We finally arrived and the Ewens pulled up right behind us. It was still cold but we were all good. “Good morning, how are you today?” asked Mr. Ewen. I laughed, “Good morning! Me? I’m still asleep!” He laughed too and replied, “It doesn’t look like it - you’re smiling and talking.” SO apparently I wasn’t as slow looking as I was in my mind. The whole day was a blur really, we had the competition in a school gym and only 12 teams were there. We wandered around looking at other teams' projects but it wasn't long before Brenten realized a piece of their board was different from ours and when we tested our regular working programs it was clear that this was a fatal mistake. We had to rewrite several parts and our runs didn't go so well - several of our pieces were noncooperative or malfunctional and we scored 100 even for our first run. We were very optimistic though, we didn't let it get to us, we focused on the small victories one by one smiling and kidding around and high fiving. We went to Project where we encountered a very skeptic judge who was unimpressed by our play and kept talking about the similarities between our project and Obamacare and privacy issues. We forgot to say it was HIPPA compliant and we didn't actually have a trifold or handouts which I think might've helped our case, but we had fun doing the skit even if I stumbled over one of my more recently added lines and caused an awkward pause before I tried to correct myself in the line. It was actually kind of more like he was grilling us and the second juge only asked like one question. Then we went to Teamwork which we aced because we four are such good friends ;)). I mean really, I look at my friendships with a few of my friends like Brenten, Derek, Emily, Zach and such and it just makes other perfectly good friendships look almost akward because we're just so much ourselves together. Then we went to Robot Design, that went pretty well except one of our programs we were trying to show the judges had issues and destroyed one of the obstacles, I laughed nervously, "Ah we'll have to fix that, guys." and picked it up. They were really interested in one Derek built for the stent, funny that was Derek's favorite too. We should've showed it to them. Mrs. Fillmore made us wear our costumes around for the rest of the day. We had a LOT of fun!! And we shared lots of jokes, learned a lot and had an overall great time. I totally expected to be passed on to the next level but we weren't. We all did the YMCA, I did the motions at least, nothing more despite promting from various people - I just can't do things like that! There's no set way to do it so I have no confidence whatsoever that whatever it is that I'm doing is right... Anyways our team got the Judges' Award for as they said "Pretty much everything that could go wrong on the board for this team did, but they faced it all optimistically and with a smile." It was very true and I was being pessimistic when I said "So pretty much we failed everything optimistically..." because no, we didn't. We did really well and grew and improved our lives in my opinion (I almost just typed 'lices' instead of 'lives'.. "We improved our lices" that's horrible!). Afterwards I was disappointed to be leaving my friends even after spending the whole day with them! And we didn't even get to follow the Fillmores back "I think they're hooking up with friends" said my mom, thus dooming us to wander around without certainty where exactly we were until we finally used our GPS and found an In N Out Burger. Yumm. Then we stopped by Winco because my mom apparently knew what Tim Tams were and wanted some. We didn't find any but we bought some other cookies and went home. This time we listened to both 98.5 and 99.1 and by the time we got to grandma's to pick up the kids I was pretty much dead on my feet. I grouchily helped get the kids in the car and we went home where I joined the family for prayers before falling into bed and sleeping like a log until this morning when I realized I forgot to change my alarms from super loud waking me up at 5: 30... NOOOOOOO!!! Anyways Laterz!!

They Say it Sounds Insane

We say that we've been changed by the power of CRAZY LOVE! The world, they look at us like we're rediculous, maybe it's all because of CRAZY LOVE!! I'm watching Psych and chrocheting a scarf right now... This weekend was sooo boring I had total, as Brenten said cabin fever. I didn't really think of it as Cabin Fever because it's so much worse in Alaska! In the Summer it's one of the most amazing places to be! But in the Winter, if you don't have tons of awesome toys and get yourself out and about you'll go totally insane. So I rode with my mom to pick Sam up from his class because it was going on the third day in a row I hadn't left the house. We ended up stopping by Walmart on the way home and I went looking in the Sporting Goods for airsoft because Madison had said something about seeing it there reminding me that the guys always said it was there but I'd never seen it. Anyways I found it... The stock was pretty pitiful, one small shelf (And that's counting the half that was BB guns...). I was looking for awhile and then mom and Sam found me. I was looking at this Colt, "Is it made in the USA?" Mom asked. I checked it out, on the front it said USA in big letters but my mom looked it over suspiciously. "What do you think it's made in Usa?" I asked grinning. My grandfather told us about this place he discovered in China called Usa (he said it like "oosa") it's spelled like USA so when it's printed on packaging it looks like that's made in the USA but actually it's made in Usa China. Printed on the side of the bow was "Made in China". My mom and I had a good laugh. Today we got to hang out with Zach and Emily. We played 10,000, or at least they tried to teach me but I couldn't get the point system. I was going to teach them Bunco, but I forgot the points system on that too... So we just chilled out and talked and Zach and Em tried to walk on the RAILING and Zach repeatedly walked up the wall with his hands and feet in this smallish tunnely thing. I did my lesson and Mr. Johnson aked "You wanna start learning some Christmas songs?" "OH yeah!" I replied. I picked out two to start on, "Angels on High" or something like that that I always forget and "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree". Then we went to legos and recorded our skit. It was really funny and super fun! Lots of fumbling and stuttering and it turned out really great. I'll have to post it on my Facebook ASAP. I've still got a lot of touch ups to do after we move on to the second tier ;)). But for now it's pretty good for a starter. And now it's time to focus on the robot and work like mad!! Lex and I got to stay late at the Fillmore's because my mom was doing some fundraiser and they were awesome enough to keep us over awhile. We had lotsa fun, edited the video forever and then Mrs. Fillmore walked over and did in a few minutes what we three had been working on forever. We played ninja and ran around and got the tour (Apparently we were the 'Beta testers' ROFL) Lex and I kept signing to each other whenever B had his back turned. It was really funny he would whip his head back and forth and just as he had his back to one of us that one would start signing but the second he looked at them they'd stop and the other would start! Lex said "What ever major loser" once lol. He turned his head once just in time to see the end of my "Crazy" sign and grinned, "Thaaaanks". Then my mom got there and we walked to the end of the driveway. It was really fun and it was so nice out! So we walked and talked tons and when we got to the end we just waited. Lex kept jumping out on the road and pretending to be a hitch hiker, but not when anyone was driving by us thank goodness, I have no idea what we would've done if someone pulled over! I have officially declared the rest of November my "Beatles Appreciation Month". Which here means I'll have a new Beatles song of the day every day. A couple days ago it was "Love Me Do". Today my song will be "Hey Jude" because it's been stuck in my head so often lately... Anyways I'm tired and we're doing the Mural thing. Soooo today was totally awesome and I LOVED it! But I gotta go. Like I said. I'm tired. Laterz everyone!

This Is How You Remind Me

Of what I really am! Gosh Nickelback's so awesome! "SIMBAA! I AM YOUR FATHER!.. Star Wars, Mufasa, whatever..." Psych is soo hilarious! "So just lead us the way!" Yesterday we had a super long play practice because it's the last practice before the actual play. It's going to be at the Thankful Day Potluck and like 100 people are attending. But luckily for me only about 4 teens are coming, Claire, Maddy, Christian, and Savannah. No one who actually knows me well enough to read my blog or anything... So we had the long long play practice because there are so many little kids in the thing and it was really cute. I love our pilgrims! We have two pilgrims, a girl and a boy who are siblings. But they are so funny! They fit their parts well. The boy plays the negative one and the girl plays the optimistic one. They have two songs and the girl's tiny and sings extraodinarily well. The boy's bigger naturally, and pretty much tone deaf! But he's so adorable and together they're just the best. After that we went to Home Depot, Walmart and home again. I was tired... Last night I was restricted from the computer so I finnished this semester's literature and then laid on my couch alone and watched 21 Jump Street until 12:30 AM... I realized I should really go to bed when I was sitting there flipping through the New Arrivals and noticed I wasn't even reading the titles any more, I was just doing it to feel the vibrations in the remote. Today we shampooed every carpet in our house... Funnnn. I got to read a lot and since I had to clean out my entire room it's probably cleaner than it's been in... awhile. Books are still all over my bed, school books, tons of composition pads, puzzle books, and just general books from my bookcase. Very fun to look through. I even found a Sherlock Holmes book on my shelf! Not the full works, but a few of the stories, I believe I have the full works in Alaska. I always wonder what it would look like if I had all of my books from both California and Alaska together. It would be a lot of books, I'll tell you that much! Despite what I thought yesterday, today my mom said "Maybe" we could go to the airsoft game at Derek's tomorrow. I'm hoping, hoping, but in the end we'll just have to wait and see. "I know, you know that I'm not telling the truth! I know, you know we just don't have any proof..." Again, Psych is soo hilarious! I got to play chess with Zach this evening, which was a relief from scrubbing and cleaning everything down. Zach was sore all over from playing at Diamond Corps. (Ohhh noooo! Lexie just put on Cake Boss! That show sucks, I've really grown to hate it...). I'm really excited about my 16th birthday, my mom brought it up recently. She wants to start thinking everything over because she wants me to have an awesome memorable 16th. We're actually planning it on the 8th, Derek's birthday instead of the 6th, mine. We asked Derek of course, because of course I want Derek there, and it's his birthday! He's willing to let me have my party on his birthday because he's awesome like that so we can share some I guess, me, my party and he, his actual birthday. My mom's thinking we'll go to the Ranch, and instead of the usual barn we use we'll use another one there. We're thinking Rock Band and we'll hook it up to really loud speakers so you can hear it all over the barn. Another thing is my mom mentioned something about some new trend called "Glam shots". It's pretty much just really good (professional) photos taken at parties when everyone's really dressed up. So either it's going to be everyone dress up nice or like rock stars or what my mom decribes as "Glam Rock". And we were thinking we'd have my aunt Linsie take pictures (She's really good!) but now we're leaning towards uncle Jeremy, her husband (Who's also supposed to be really good lol) . And I can invite whoever and as many people as I want! But in the end if all of this fails I'll probably have an airsoft game at the Ranch which is also awesome. LOL. I really want to do the Rock Band thing though, it sounds super awesome so maybe I can convince my mom to let us do some airsoft too? Just thinking out loud no one call me on this! But maybe I can pull the "But it's D's birthday and he'd love it!" card. I've already mentioned something similar, but my mom's thing is she wants everyone dressed up... not in camo... I said they can bring their camo along too and dress up and her new concern was time.. Soooo the odds are looking a little bad, but maybe. Maybe. Laterz!!

How Can You See Into My Eyes Like Open Doors

Today we went over to the O'Neills' to put together our idea for the Mural contest. Lex and I arrived first, Abb accompanying us with her brand new DS. Grandma promised to get her a DS for her birthday, but she just now got it today, it's red. When she came back the first thing I asked was "Didja get Donkey Kong?" "Nooo...." "Aww, why not?" "They didn't have it... I looked..." "Aww you did? Way to go, that's awesome!" So we went and shortly after Megan and Derek pulled up, Derek driving. Which of course reminded me that I can take my classes after legos ends and I'm still dying to take my permit classes... Anyways we went in and got to work, I had a few pages of pictures I'd printed from online and Megan, Em and Derek had an awesome idea. Turns out Derek and Megan are the most artistic among us so they set to work making the perfect cancel sign to go around some awesome looking drugs that Megan drew (Wow I know that sounds wrong) and on the outside each of us drew things we liked to do. Derek's reflected perfectly I think - he drew an entire picnic bench with a picnic on it!! LOL. I just drew a rudimentary looking baseball bat and baseball. Megan drew caligraphy, and I frankly don't know what else was on there... But we had a lot of brownies and pumpkin chocolate chip bars. Megan cut the pumpkin chocolate chip bars and ya know what? Megan can cut some seriously straight lines!! Anyways we got one big copy drawn up as our rough draft and it needs a little work (like enlarging the objects encircling the cancel sign) but it looks pretty cool! Megan was an absolute perfectionist about her shading so it took a little while and during that time we got plenty of interesting conversation. Em drew an airsoft gun that Zach and Derek said looked like a hair dryer with an extra long barrel... They were laughing their heads off! "No seriously!" They said, showing it to me. I have to admit... it did look like a hair dryer... So they kept tweaking it, adding things and making it look so funny. Derek suggested that if it were real it would have the power to blow in the wall. Zach replied "Huh! The neighbors' wall!!" Anyways Megan finnished her shading and we all went out to play some ninja! Jeni arrived after we'd been out a few minutes so I got to hang out with her. I held her and when I asked her if she had had fun swimming she gave a very enthused "YEAH!" She was really talkative and as usual just adorable so I just chilled with her until she told me she wanted her mom and I took her in. I played some ninja and then the Ewens had to go. We only played a little ninja after that before we also had to go. Earlier today my brother Bradley walked up to me and said "Hey Halie." Me: "What?" Bradley: "Look!" He held up his gameboy and switched it on, as I took it from him I noticed the game in the back - Donkey Kong. "You can play it." He said. Me: "Oh my gosh Bradley seriously? I love you, dude! Thank you!" He grinned, "You're welcome." That was when I remembered hearing him earlier that day. His Gamboy had been taken away until he cleaned his room and he'd finally gotten the place spotless, he went to mom right away and said "Hey mom can I have my gameboy? I just found Donkey Kong and Halie really wants to play it!" He's such a sweet little brother to not only humor my Donkey Kong addiction, but think of me first when he gets his gameboy back! Later on I was on my bed sitting next to the literature I should have been doing playing Donkey Kong. Bradley walks in and sets two silver batteries next to me - "Here Halie, here's two batteries in case it dies so you can keep playing." "Aww thank you Bradley! You're so awesome!" It was about this time that I suspected he might want something from me, but that's the thing about Bradley. He almost never does things for people just so he can get something in return, and this was no exception, he was just being my awesome little brother. Of course later on when I was actually doing that literature in the living room he came for the gameboy which I relinquished knowing that I'd be able to get it back (one way or another!) to play Donkey Kong... Gosh.. You don't think I'm obsessed do you? Just kidding. I've got some work to do on the Sherlock Holmes skit so I have to get off. Laterz!!

It's My Life

I don't wanna live forever - I just wanna live while I'm alive! Today I went to the O'Neills' house earlier than usual, at about 11. My mom had some errands to run so I asked the O'Neills if I could go chill at their house early. We didn't get any replies from them until about 10 minutes before we walked out the door and Mrs. O'Neill called my mom to say we (it was originally Alexis and I) could come over. Turns out they'd been having some phone and internet trouble... Then Lex decided to go with mom to meet grandma Barbara and not to go to the O'Neills with me. So my mom dropped me off and Mr. and Mrs. O'Neill were out front trying to get cell reception. "Go on in," Mr. O'Neill invited. So I went into the silent place and walked back to Em's room and knocked on the door. It was opened and she didn't look very surprised although Mrs. O'Neill had told me they didn't know I was coming over. "Hey! You're... a little early?" I got to hold Jeni and talk to her, she's such a sweetie! I love her! Then Zach appeared, and we played some Speed. Speed is soo fun! I played both him and Em until their dad said they should go eat. Then we waited a little longer because their mom was making spaghetti. They tried to get me to eat and it looked good and everything, but I really wasn't hungry. I still can't remember if I'd eaten lunch before I left my house but I don't think so, I just wasn't hungry. Anyways, one thing I think is so neat that I've discovered from sleeping over at their house, is that the O'Neills sing their grace. Is that not just one of the coolest things ever?! So after lunch we left to go the O'Neills' music lessons, they got lessons with the same guy we did, and they got their lessons right before we take our lessons!! So we walked there and my (50 lb!! ROFL!) backpack really kept me back. You see my excuses? I blame my slowness on the backpack! Em and Zach ran almost the whole way, I ran in short spurts between walking and shouted up to them "My baseball coach would just about kill me if he saw this!" Anyways we finally made it to Em's lesson a few minutes late and she started. After their mom arrived to sit in and watch the first lesson Zach and I stood in the back of the church and watched for a few seconds before I said "Wanna play Speed?" "Sure." We sat cross legged behind the last pew in the church and played game after game after game of Speed while Em took her piano lesson. Then Zach took his guitar lesson and Em and I played Speed. She tried to teach me Rummy but I totally failed as a student and Em said "Well why don't we just wait until Zach's done and then he can help..." and then shuffled the cards for another game of Speed. Once Zach's lesson was done at Emily's request we went outside and for the few minutes before my lesson began we spun in circles in front of the church. We found every little dip and overlap in that pavement. Then Zach, looking at his watch said, "Okay you should go in now.. You should stop spinning." So I tried... It didn't end well, I couldn't stand straight up and ended up falling on my side in the grass after stumbling all over and just barely avoiding a landing on the road. Then I went in and took my lesson. Zach and Em sat through my lesson with Kate and Abb, who arrived about mid lesson looking bored. All four of them looked bored. Then I finnished and we went outside, "Let's spin!" Suggested Em. "Okay!" I agreed and we began. "The first person to stop spinning has to carry the backpack to my house!!" Emily had earlier picked up my backpack from inside when we went out between lessons and declared it weighed "like fifty pounds!!". "Oh it's not that heavy! It's probably not even twenty." I replied grinning. When Zach joined us outside he spun for awhile but quit after a while. We exclaimed over losing brain cells, and in my case losing my head and my breakfast... Then when the front of the church got boring I began to walk and turn at the same time - we circled the church a few times, entered and exited the parking lot and then went back to circling the church. We (or maybe just me ;) kept yelling things we saw like "Oh there's a white car! I won't run in to it. I'll watch out. Oh! TWO white cars! I won't run into either of them!" Of course I ran into one accidentally... "Ow! Oops! I just ran into the white car! Sorry! To whoever owns that car! Zach! Leave a note on the car! Tell them I'm sorry! Oh look! A tree! Grass.. So... much grass.. it's surrounding me.... AUGH! Don't look at the grass! DON'T LOOK AT THE SKY!! Ohhhh gosh I'm going to throw up! Augh! Look the blacktop! Oh - bar watch out for the - CLANG! - OUCH! bar! The bar hurts!!" Zach: "It's not a bar... it's railing..." "Okay well watch out for the railing... it hurts. Oh Em! Watch out for all those little metal poles! And the telelphone pole! I almost hit the telphone pole!" The list goes on - we continued spinning for at least half an hour nonstop without any pauses. Zach followed us grinning and saying "Okay guys, calm down... I think you need to stop spinning now... Are we going to walk home now?" Abbie even came out and watched for awhile. I shouted once mid spin "Hey Em! We could call this 'Halie and Emily's Weight Loss Program' - we could make tons of money!" She was collapsed against a metal gate laughing hysterically as Zach stood over her. Then I finally quit, it was something like this - "OH! Bench! I like benches! When I get home I'm going to go on Facebook and like benches! I'm going to sit down on this bench Emily!!" Yes I pretty much voiced everything I did. It was annoying. But it kept my mind off the endless rotations. Em came and sat next to me and layed over on me then I shouted "OH! Bathroom! I have to use the bathroom!!" And jumped up and ran off to the nearest bathroom. Em dashed off after me and we were panting and laughing hysterically, my sister Abigail joined us in the bathroom and Em said "Hey Abbie, go tell Zach we're in here barfing!" "Okay!" agreed devious little Abbie and she ran out. She returned shortly after saying "He says he believes it." Then we left the bathroom and walked in as straight a line as we were capable. "Deep breaths! Deep breaths!" Em and I put our arms on each other's shoulders and staggered along singing hoarsely "Put one foot in front of the other..." She ran me into a brick wall and it ricocheted and I crashed into her into a brick wall on the other side and my braces hit her head hard so that she announced "YOU BIT MY SKULL!!!" Zach just followed his routine and followed us around. We ended up on another big blue bench in the back of the church after much walking in straight lines and breating deeply and singing put one foot in front of the other. Then Abbie and Zach started turning on poles after Abb tried it once, purely for her own fun and I said "Augh circular motion! Stop!" Zach found the nearest pole and swung himself around it repeatedly. I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted "Oh I can hear it! Augh my stomach!!" We eventually decided to walk back to the O'Neills' house and Em helped me CARRY Abb back into the church so she wouldn't stay outside and get me into trouble. Just then Mrs. O'Neill pulled up - we hadn't told her we'd be staying longer than Zach and Em's lessons so it had been over an hour she thought we'd been gone. She thought Zach and Em had been kidnapped. She drove us to her house and there Em and I laid on her bed on our backs until Em had to sit up because our stomachs disliked that position. Eventually the big discomfort wore off and Em began asking me if she could draw on my arms, legs, hand etc... I refused, stole her pencil and then insisted we play a game. So finally after much prompting she broke out "Life". "We don't have Life," said Zach, "We lost it." Em grinned, "Yes we do - I hid it." She took it out and we set it up and we started before Emily decided "Life is a weird game." So we quit. Then my mom called Mrs. O'Neill and told her to send me over to the church because she was stuck in traffic and would be there soon. She drove me back to the church and Em accompanied us, but Zach stayed home. After my mom picked us up we stopped by Taco Bell. I was starving but I only actually ate about five bites before I was full and couldn't eat any more - my stomach still wasn't settled. We went to legos, and man I tell ya - it was SUCH a relief to get back to the lego room and be a part of the team. Mrs. Fillmore's special team improvement ideas put us all on tasks we hardly knew anything about all the while we were trying mints for our decisions on who got what job depending on who could guess the color of the mint put in their mouth. I ended up on programming. I really want to learn programming, but I never learn so I'm thinking I'm mentally challenged as far as programming goes... I eventually ended up back on skit which is, of course what I wanted and I got right to work on that. We're going to have to work out a few kinks but I think I'll get it done soon. It was Andrew's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW!!!) so he brought cupcakes and seemed really happy. (Yeah I ate a cupcake, yeah I get the irony...) I was just so pleased to be back surrounded by my team working on the project. Anyways got lots to do!!! Laterz!!

I Beg To Dream and Differ From the Hollow Rise

This is the timing of the rest of our lives! On Holiday. Friday I met with my ES and we had play practice.. I mainly did geometry throughout the play practice until my three line part came on when I'd rush in with my brothers. They throw a football, I run in and get them together and then say our few lines. The play practice was long and cute, but I was getting a headache when we went home.. Yesterday mom, Lex, Kate, Lily and I woke up at 6 AM and went to drop off Kate and Lil at grandma's. Then we drove to Sutter's Fort so mom could do training. We're going there to spend the night and do all the workshops and tons of educational things in February and my mom offered to be one of the helper parents so this was her training. She's going to help in the kitchen. Lex and I just stuck around doing nothing really.. I mean literally - she tried doing her biology but after about three seconds I realized I wasn't going to be able to focus and put my biology book away. I laid on my back on a wooden bench and... slept... In the middle of all the training chaos. Finally after a couple hours my back felt really bad and we left to go get lunch. They had offered lunch from Blimpie's at the training but mom wanted to get out and eat. So we did, we went around (got lost because we're really bad in Sacramento) and then just went to Blimpie's which was like across the street from Sutter's Fort. Wow. We sat parked on the side of the street eating and when we looked to our right some lady was standing in front of this church in a long leather jacket that went to her ankles with a grocery bag of something... And she was talking and pacing and waving her arms and staring at the sky... Then we saw some teenage guy launch himself off of this tree outside Sutter's Fort onto the ground and roll uphill before turning and running across the huge road's crosswalk. Mom suggested I ask if he was doing parkour. "But where is he?" I asked. We didn't know... So we went back into Sutter's Fort and mom went to the kitchen and Lex and I wandered around. We had an eeenteresting sisterly conversation and then we realized... We were in Sutter's Fort! People went there to check it out! It's a historical landmark! What had we been thinking?!?! We could explore! We went around to all the rooms and listened to the recordings about guns and John Sutter and the people who lived there. It was soo cool! And then we went to watch the blacksmith, he was making mini horse shoes for kids who visited. It was so so cool to watch and he just said "Come in! Come in!". So we did and we watched with some others, I loved it! He makes over 100 things. One man said "Blacksmithing is a lost art." "No it's not!" Replied the blacksmith, "I'm blacksmithing right now! That's the worst thing you could say to a blacksmith!" He continued to advise Alexis and I that if when we got married if a guy couldn't blacksmith we should consider our other options... LOL. Then we were going through these rooms reading all these things about John Sutter when my mom finnished her training and we had to go to the mall to meet for Hannah's birthday party. So we met up with her and then we all went into the mall. Twelve girls entered the mall, I saw us on the security monitor and it looked insane! I knew a few of the girls - Claire, Maddy, Sarah and Katherine. We went to the food court where it was announced that we were having a scavenger hunt in the mall. We split into two even teams of 6 from random choosing and were handed a bag that contained everything we needed. A whole bunch of clues, money for certain things we had to do and a pen. There were tons of things we had to do and we were assured they were embarrassing. And so they were! My team was Lexie, Claire, Sarah, a girl named Sydney, a girl named Julia and I. We RAN through the mall (and no one even stopped us lol!). We weaved in and out of people and ran up and down escalaltors. We went into the Vans store and took a picture of all of our left feet in our favorite shoes there. We realized why it was our LEFT foot when we got there and saw the wall full of RIGHT tennis shoes! And then a worker there took forever to bring out 6 boxes of size 8 shoes. We didn't all wear 8 but we were trying to be fast.... We rode the carousel and got the attendant's signature. We got three different pieces of candy from the row of 16 red candy machines. We each bought another team member a truffle from Godiva and had to accept it emotionally as if it were the best gift we'd ever recieved. We went into the Lego store and built something that represented our team (and had to explain why we picked it) and buy it (Our team chose the shape of 1 lol). We found the store with the working clock next to it's name and drew the face of it. We found the symbol on the side of a very certain tea box in one store. We bought "Happy Birthday Stickers" from Papyrus. We laid on the ground and took a pic of us all on the ground in front of one store but some crabby lady wouldn't let us! We found a specific brand and kind of eyeliner at Sephora and bought it. Funny thing is, we asked one lady where this brand was and she said they didn't have it there. A few seconds later a man asked if he could help us, we asked about the brand and he told us exactly where it was!! And then he hurried the people in line so we could get on with our hunt. And several other things. The most embarrassing thing we had to do was go to "The Calendar Store and find the 2011 Jusin Bieber calendar, one team member had to kiss the cover while the rest of the team screamed "I have Bieber Fever!!" (For the rest of the time we were running around people kept saying "Look it's Justin Bieber! Where's Justin Bieber? or I love Justin Bieber!" Awful awful! And our moms made us have them on speaker phone while we did it!! My team won! Then we went to "The Melting Pot". The car ride over was really funny, I rode with Claire, Maddy and Katherine. The place was really.... fancy. It was all fondue we ordered and had to specify like EVERYTHING lol. It was good, but sadly in my opinion not my favorite by any means. The dessert was the best, we had chocolate fondue of course and tons of things to dip in, it was the FOURTH course! lol. I got to sit with pretty much everyone because we did seat swapping and there was tons of talking. Mainly with Claire, Maddy, Katherine, Lexie and oddly Hannah's 'grammy'. We played ninja in front of the Melting Pot!! It was hilarious and super fun! And I even got to visit with my aunt Shannon later. By the time we went home it was lllaaaatee! We picked up the kids, I carried in my little brother, tucked him in and went to bed. It was soo great! Before I fell asleep I wondered what all my friends were doing that day... Then I passed out... LOL Laterz!

Get Your Back Off the Wall

So I had several boring hours of aloneness today. Legos is so much longer when you're not there... I sat at my kitchen table and did lesson after lesson of math. I did at least 10 math lessons today, and to some of you that might not seem like much, but for me that is a lot of math! I began listening to Family Force 5 while working, and it helped because it put me in a good mood. Get Your Back Off the Wall, Drama Queen, Love Addict, Numb, Earthquake and Watcha Gonna Do With It were all good for grins. Then I went to 1234, and a few others. I sang a LOT. Even after I started to get a headache from listening to so much FF5 I couldn't quit singing. Seriously. Several hours of "WAAAAOOWW! LIVIN ON A PRAYER!" I walk this empty street... "I play for keeps! Cuz I might not make it back!" etc... Probably to fill the empty air? I'm altogether too used to being surrounded by people all the time. So many siblings, so many awesome friends. And now for once in a blue moon I was totally alone. Of course I spent the main part of my time doing Geometry, but I couldn't, as usual, quit singing. I think I got everything from "Never Never Land" to "My Heart Will Go On," which frankly I only knew because I learned to play it on the piano. I haven't seen the Titanic. I've heard it's good, but I've also heard it's super long and sad and a romance so I'm not really all the anxious to see it. Kind of like people keep telling me to watch "The Notebook". What people don't realize is that "Tear Jerker" and "Romance" are about the worst things they could say to try to get me to watch a movie. They're their own worst enemy. LOL. So finally I've announced to my mom, "Mother, I don't think I can absorb any more knowledge today. I'm finnished for today!" I'll bet everyone thinks it's odd that I call my mom "Mother". It actually started as a joke! I would say "Mother" because it souded so funny and formal, but then it stuck... So now I subconscioussly call my mom 'Mother' sometimes and the rest of the time just the normal average 'mom'. Anyways I have to get some sleep! Plenty more math to get done tomorrow I;m sure. Love ya guys! Laterz!

I Was Only Kidding

When I said that I'd be faithful
When I promised I'd be true
When I swore that I could never
Be with anyone but you
When I told you that I loved you
With those tender words I spoke
I was only kidding
Now, can't you take a joke?
When I said that I need you, baby
When I told you that I really care
When I said that I can't live without you
When I said I'd follow you anywhere
When I said you could always trust me
When I said I'd never leave you flat
Well, guess what?
I was only kidding, baby
I can't believe you fell for that
You're so gullible (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
You thought that was for real?
I was only kidding
Now I'm sorry if you misunderstood,
but the fact remains (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
Baby, baby, I was (I was) only kidding
Well, I guess I got you pretty good
Now listen
When I said that I love you, baby
From the very bottom of my heart
When I said that I miss you so badly
Every second that we're apart
When I swore that you're just getting more and more
Beautiful every day
Well, I was only kidding, honey
What's the matter with you anyway?
Let me tell you something (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
You understand, don't ya?
I was only kidding
Well, I guess it probably hurt you a lot,
but you gotta know (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
Come on now, get a clue
I was only kidding
I really love you
NOT!
When I said you oughta marry me
When I said that we should settle down
Well, I was pullin' your leg there, honey
I was just foolin' around!
You see,
II never meant to upset you, darlin'
I never meant to hurt anyone
I was only kidding, baby
Why don't you just put down that gun?
Let's talk this over (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
Watch where you point that thing (I was only kidding)
Hey, I'm sorry if your heart is broke;
you gotta realize (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
Aww, yeah
I was only kidding
Now honey, can't you take a joke? (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
I was only kidding (I was only kidding)
I didn't lie to you
I was only kidding
Yes indeed (I was only kidding)
Baby, baby, you know (I was only kidding)
Hey!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EASaX0Zm6Lo


Yep I posted these lyrics because I was feeling absolutely horrible and that, apparently, my mind associated with this song... Nice right? Guess this song is pretty terrible. And I hate sad songs so I couldn't think of ONE when I finally needed one. Today I've been doing Geometry all day and about halfway through I realized that I was NOT going to be able to get it all done in time to make it to legos. It was about that time that my mind went "WHAT? AUGH I'm not working with you anymore!" I snuck off somewhere that I usually go when I get upset enough to actually not be able to ignore it anymore and I cried... Unusual. No I wasn't crying only because of the lego meeting, although admittedly that was most of it. I was just stressed out. Which is pretty much the only time I'll actually be driven to tears. When I'm extremely stressed. I mean honestly, who decided moody teenagers should go to high school anyway? And they pack those four grades with so much darn work that extracurricular activity is pretty much impossible. Seriously - who cares if Halie answered two pages of questions about "The Masque of the Red Death"? And besides how can anyone enjoy Edgar Allen Poe's stories anyways?!?! (Sorry Claire, but I just don't get it!). Who reads depressing things like that and says "Oh that was so enjoyable!"? Not I. Which is where my extreme dislike of sad songs stems from. I don't like to read or listen to depressing things because it doesn't make me feel good inside, or excited, or hopeful or anything except mean and grouchy. Lucky for me my mind naturally tries to resist and block out unhappy things so pretty much after I get myself all sad or something then shortly after my mind goes, "Well it's not the end of the world. Obviously there's a reason that was in God's plan. And life goes on, there's so many things to look forward to in the future, like...etc". All I can say is it really sucked that I missed the lego meeting and I'm going to work my hardest to ensure that I have all my work done in the future. I'm feeling better already. I'm weird right? And also I'm thinking maybe I shoudn't stay up SO late watching Heroes, and that I should eat something. I'm starving... How was I supposed to think on an empty stomach anyway? I won't be at the lego meeting tomorrow. I'm not at all sure what's going on, I think tomorrow's Hannah's birthday party at the mall and I might be going to that even though I've got no money to blow. Which is probably best in my case ;). Holy cow I feel soo much better! It's almost a lightheaded feeling now... I love it! The words on the page of my Teaching Textbooks Geometry book no longer look squished, incomprehensible and evil (That's right they lost their evil grins ;). So I think I can safely pop in the disk of torture and listen to that one thing in that one lesson that I just wasn't getting and then finnish the rest of my lessons to catch up before my ES comes tomorrow. I'll probably write more later. Laterz!

We Are Young!

Heartache by heartache we stand! Love is a battlefield... Aaarrgh 13 Going on 30! Why couldn't I get Thriller stuck in my head instead of THIS?? Yesterday I went to music lessons and then sat outside on the front lawn of the church with my mom, Lex and Lily. Lexie was doing Biology and mom was assisting so it was left mainly to me to chase Lil around. She's crazy! Mom didn't want us to go to the O'Neills' so we didn't. We just chilled. Then we went to legos and mom took the younger girls to the park. We did some things to the robot I think, but I'm not actually quite sure if anything was improved because I was working on the powerpoint mostly. I had to re un purple the slides, the text boxes weren't cooperating and I could hardly get anything on sliderocket to work with me! But eventually we got a powerpoint open which I worked on. Afterwards we went home and scoured the house... This morning we further cleaned the house because our ES was coming. She came and stayed a while and I just stayed in my bedroom doing Geometry on my bed. I was going on lesson 7 when I switched on my radio for a second and out blasted "DON'T STOP BELIEVIN!" I shut it off faster than I'd flipped it on, how had the volume gotten so loud?! It's always loudest when quiet is what you're going for! Math was enjoyable as usual. After our ES left we cleaned up the house some more, this place gets messy again in no time flat. Grandpa Moore came over and snaked our sink out because it's been having trouble lately. It's so much better now! Take it from me, the dish washer. Some Fed Ex guy dropped off a package for mom today, it was her new phone! It's called a backflip and it's soo awesome. It has a touch screen and full keyboard, it goes online and gets facebook updates. I love the thing! I've been playing with it every chance I get. I did not pause to pull out the instruction manuel and read the spanish half in my best mexican accent... This also means Lex and I get an old flip phone we have and they're adding a line for us. We probably won't talk much, as anyone might've noticed I'm not much of a phone person. But there's unlimited texting so I'd love to try that out. My friends, (largely Madison, Rachel and Emily Watson) have consistently encouraged my buying a phone and getting texting soo... Maybe. Mom went to get a sim card for her phone and I stayed at home to wash dishes and watch "Jackie Chan Adventures" with the kids, their newest favorite show. But when mom returned I realized I'd been put in charge of taking a cake out of the oven when a certain timer went off... I'd not only forgotten but missed the timer. The cakes were black! And so I was made to bake another cake to replace the one I'd neglected. Grandma Kathy and grandpa Butch were coming over for dinner since it's grandma's 57th birthday. Mom made enchiladas, which is always welcome here! Then grandma and grandpa arrived and we began to eat. We also watched a movie we got from netflix, 13 Going On 30 sound familiar Em? That's what we watched. I sat next to my grandfather the retired marine and watched this girly chick flick and, as my grandpa announced, "I still haven't seen a ninja." We ate double chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream and grandma opened her presents and we just hung out in general. Then they left and I picked up my mom's phone. I flipped to the facebook update section and it said "Brenten Fillmore updated: I lost the game!!!!!!!!!! 6 minutes ago". I announced aloud, "Oh COME ON! I lost the game." Lexie glanced over my shoulder, laughed, and said quietly "I lost the game." After the kids all went to bed mom called tech support to try and get her phone hooked up to our house's WiFi while Lex and I watched an episode of Monk. Then we switched over to Heroes. We watched several episodes and are still watching it... It's creepy at times, but it gets better I think. My dad used to have like all the seasons and we watched some once I remember. Besides I remember a few weird things about chillin with my dad. I remember once when I was littler he took me to some little convenience store when I was sick to get some Seven Up. We were walking up and down the isles trying to find it and my stomach was feeling worse and worse and finally we had to settle for Twist. And then... I vomited on the floor... Some poor young guy who worked there had to clean it up and we hurried out of there with our bottle of Twist and.. weird that I'd remember but... Jurassic Park 3. It had just come out and we were dying to watch it so my dad bought it. The case was all silvery and I was ecstatic. My stomach felt better immediately but I shall forever feel bad for that poor young guy who worked there... And Jurassic Park 3 was a hit I think. After watching it it was no longer my stomach that needed concern, it was probably my ever more easily frightened little sister Lexie. She was always easy to scare.. Yes I know that because I've taken advantage of it on occasion, why do you ask? I've had "Second Chance" by Shinedown stuck in my head a lot lately.. I always get that one stuck because it has my name in it somewhat lol. Anyways this has wound down into a spiraling ramble so I'll go watch some more Heroes and try to edit the Sherlock Holmes skit which I recently realized mainly consisted of information on various electronic devices and I have to take all that out and touch up the info on Barcode Scanners. I'll probably end up sending it to my email so we can edit at legos tomorrow together and I can go chill... Laterz!

Everybody Knows I'm In Over My Head

Over my head! With 8 seconds left in overtime she's on your mind... Last night. Halloween night. We all went over to the O'Neills' house at about 6:30. We'd considered going to the Paynes' haunted house but in the end we were just altogether too tired. Yes that sounds funny right? The Paynes' haunted house? It was Hannah's family. Anyways so we arrived with one Pig (Lily) Iron Man (Sam) a Ninja (Bradley) a Fairy (Abbie) an '80s Rock Star (Kate) and then Lex and I were pirates of course. Jeni and Zach and Em's parents and grandma had set out ahead of us so we set out fast in hopes of catching up the them. Jeni was a cat, she was soo adorable. But then, when isn't Jeni adorable? We went to lots of places, and managed for the most part not to obtain injury. I fell off of several people's front steps and lost my shoes several times (in the middle of the road!) We remembered lots of past halloweens including the last one when I'd twisted my ankle in the middle of the road and hobbled along with Sam for the rest of the evening. It HURT! One lady said "And a gypsy" when I walked up so now apparently (according to Em) I've gained ANOTHER nickname! I was NOT a gypsy! Eventually we went back, after Bradley had been complaining for awhile of his legs hurting and I actually carried the bear of a boy on my back for about half a block before my mother made me put him in the stroller. When we got there after my mom had left we sat on the O'Neills' living room floor and sorted through piles of candy. Exept Zach, Zach had dressed up and come along with us, but hadn't actually gone to any of the doors and gotten candy. It was awesome of him to come anyways though, we had lotsa fun talking. Of course before my mom left Em made a comment on how she liked my hair pinned back, my head immediately swiveled to my mom. She'd wanted to pin my hair back the night before for the Teen Mystery Dinner, but I wouldn't let her. Now Em said "Oh I like your hair pinned back." My mom had that knowing look of course. LOL. We watched some Monsters versus Aliens Halloween special and then Lex, Em and I shoved all the candy back in our bags and migrated to Em's bedroom with the laptop and a deck of cards. Zach questioned why we'd sorted it in the first place just to shove it all back in the bags, Em replied "Just to see what we got!" I got one piece of candy that wasn't even titled in english!! I also got a Warhead, which Zach and Emily assured me was the best and made me try since I'd never actually tried them before as far as I can remember. I popped the thing in my mouth and WHAM! lol my mouth is flipping out just remembering! They're a little sour ;). So in the bedroom Lex and Em got on the laptop and right away began chatting with Brenten on Em's bad. Zach and I sat on the floor and he began teaching me to play speed. Yess!! I finally got to learn! And guess what? I love speed! We played over and over and over and... Yeah. It was awesome! And Emily and Lex wouldn't quit laughing, every once in a while it'd get so loud Zach and I would finally have to ask "WHAT?!?!" Turns out they were playing Would You Rather again. When Zach took a "Sane Break" to go make hot chocolate I got on and talked to Brenten for a few seconds. During that time Emily fell on the keyboard, and both a backpack and a shoe among other things were launched at me! And I had to keep wrestling the laptop away from Em! Then Zach returned and I went back to speed ;). But Brenten, Emily and Lexie playing Would You Rather and laughing crazily? Never a good sign. In fact for one question Emily actually deleted the chat history... What does that say to you? Zach and I actually "got" to hear a few, after that it was easier to ignore them knowing that we really didn't want to know! Emily tickled me a LOT and it was mean! I can't believe how ticklish I still am! I also can't believe Em found out! Ugh! We stayed up very late like this and when Brenten got offline the hysterical laughing subsided somewhat. Lex and Emily started watching Victorious on Youtube. At one point Emily came and played speed with Zach and I each person left out playing the winner each time. Then Zach went to bed and after half a Wizards of Waverly Place episode we went to bed. Actually Emily drew on my leg and Lex's face and THEN we went to bed... but same difference of course. The next morning I woke up and tried to wake up Lexie and Emily. But they wouldn't get up! It was like 8:30! For goodness' sake! I tried a lot of things including :"WAKE UP JEFF!" courtesy of the Wiggles, but even when I said "Emily c'mon! I want to play speed!" She just rolled over and said, "Then go ask Zach to play." "Aw come on, I don't think he's even up! And you guys are really just going to sleep?" Yes. Yes they were. They slept for about half an hour more before they finally got up and Em got on the computer. She messaged her mom on facebook "Hey mom. Can you have Zach bring the deck of cards in please? Pause. PLEASE? PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP?" No response. So we eventually emerged when I couldn't bear to lay on top of hungry Lex any longer... lol. Everyone was up, Jeni's (Helper or what?) was there and Zach and Em's parents were talking to them. Zach wa at the kitchen table doing... well what do you think he was doing? Reading of course! We ate some candy, went outside and played some ninja, and then returned for breakfast. Lex ate Froot Loops, Em and I ate candy... LOL. Then we started our speed switch off thing again until Lex and Emily went out to karaoke. They yelled at Zach and I to join them until we did, Zach with some kind of mic he'd tried to rig on his MP3 player to record everyone. Em and I each took a turn singing "Livin' On A Prayer" for laughs. It seems I didn't know that song got higher in the end until I tried to sing it! I actually couldn't sing some of the last notes they were so high! My voice was pretty much physically incapable... Zach's recording of Em singing it really did sound like Elmo... Mine would've been worse I'm sure but he somehow didn't get it. Lex sang (WHAT? What did she sing?!?!) And finally Lex and Em got Zach to sing. He sang "Over My Head (Cablecar)" I Love that song! I know most of the words... Then we we were getting back to speed my mom arrived. We drove straight over to Tractor Supply and picked up some chicken feed. It's now become my chore to feed the chickens every morning... Fun fun. We stopped by the kids' gymnastics so mom could watch the kids do their stuff. I stayed in the car with my George Washington book. And might've fallen asleep... But I heard when Bradley left gym he had his sweatshirt on and my mom asked why he was wearing it when it was so hot and he replied "Oh, mom! The jacket's to DRY the sweat!" That kid is hilariously gross. Then we went to Winco for some groceries and then to Carl's Jr. for lunch (I'm serious, we NEVER go there! This was an extremely rare happening!). And then we went home! Hurray hurrah! Anyways I have music and legos tomorrow meaning it'll be the fourth day in a row I've been chillin with the O'Neills as Emily pointed out! Sha BAM!! Talk to ya all later. Laterz!!