Today is the beginning of the second week of school. I have to agree with Rebekah that I dread the beginning of school but then don't really mind it once I get used to it.
Jill Weiss's (formerly Roebuck) wedding was on Saturday. Mom played the guitar and sang twice during the service. It was really funny because right before the pastor said, 'You may now kiss the bride' one of the groomsmen yelled 'cut' and the best man, the brother of the groom, started putting makeup on the groom!  The ceremony was very nice, but I kind of wish there would have been some congregational singing, but I didn't realize that it was missing until after the service was over. Although, they did have a 'Sing-a-long' of Disney songs while we were waiting to congratulate the newlyweds. The wedding started at 1:30, but the reception wasn't until 5:30, so we waited for an hour or two playing ping-pong. At approximately 4:30, we left for the reception. Stephen, Rebekah, Katherine, and I had been requested to help serve the meal. I did enjoy serving people, but it was crazier than I expected. After the meal we danced. I enjoyed the dancing, especially the English country dancing, but I only was able to dance one of the English country dances, because I couldn't find a partner in time for the first one. When the dancing was over some of us talked to a couple of the other servers our age. I really like meeting new people at weddings.
Well, I still haven't finished spinning (well, plying) the alpaca for Julie Weir. There are four balls out of nine left to be plied, so I should be done... soon.
Apparently, our basketball team lost, 57-22, the game they played on the day of the wedding. Although I am hopeful for this next game since I originally thought that Stephen and I were the only players not there, but I found out yesterday that another good player wasn't there too. We'll see what happens on Saturday!

I'm bummed out. Our basketball game for today was cancelled, probably because of the snow. As, if that wasn't bad enough, next Saturday we are going to a wedding, so I'll miss the next game too. I do like going to weddings though.
On a brighter note, here are some pictures of some of the Punta roving that I got for Christmas that I dyed on Wednesday with Kool-aid. I think I'm going to make myself a pair of gloves with it.

That is a spindle full of white alpaca. That's eight ounces, folks! And, that doesn't include the weight of the spindle. I'm excited because I'm close to finishing spinning all the alpaca for Julie Weir. I'm hoping to be finished with it by the time Co-op (yikes!) starts on Tuesday.

Chili's and Julia

Yesterday we went to Chili's for supper to celebrate Dad being done with the move at his work. I ordered Cajun Chicken Pasta. Delicious! A bed of penne noodles bathed in garlic alfredo sauce, topped with grilled cajun chicken and onions, tomatoes and parmesan cheese. It also came with a piece of garlic bread.

On the way home, I was listening to Julia sing the chorus to 'Angels We have Heard On High'. I was marveling at how she skillfully hit all the notes, but then she started singing it wrong. I was disappointed until I realized that she was singing the soprano part to a song our choir sang at Christmas! She hit the high notes in 'Love Came Down at Christmas' almost perfectly with just a little bit of screeching. Julia regularly surprises me with how many songs she knows and how well she sings them.

Haircuts, hankies, and hangings (sounds like a western movie)

Kristian and I got our hair cut today:

 I recently spun and plied some silk hankies that I purchased at the Fold over the summer and dyed on the day I bought them.

 And last, but not least, I found Kristian at a crime scene:

One care bear was impaled on the railing through the formerly ripped hole in its back. The other victim was found hung by it's necklace.

Yesterday I went to see Courageous with Dad, Stephen, Rebekah and Katherine. I really enjoyed it. It's a movie about five men, four of them police officers. The plot is exciting, the acting good, and the music very fitting. I don't like trying not to ruin plots! I wish I could talk about my favorite scenes.
After we went to the movie, we went shopping for basketball shoes. We went to Panera Bread after that, and I had a warm chocolate chip bagel and an orange cinnamon roll.
Today was my second driver ed class. Apparently my teachers don't change, just the students I drive with. I worked on driveway and street turnabouts in neighborhoods around the school and angled parking in downtown Morris.

I've now watched all the episodes in Star Wars except the last one. I can't wait until tonight, when we'll probably watch the last one. I think I'm becoming a little too crazy about Star Wars. I just changed my blog font to Droid sans.
Yesterday, Dad signed Stephen and Me up to play in a basketball league at a church in Channahon. Dad is going to coach! I think that he might be doing too much with all the stuff happening at his work too, but I'm glad that he's going to be the coach. I'm also going to be a little over-scheduled soon too. My behind-the-wheel class started today, and it's going to be every other weekday, or something like that. The teacher that I had today, Mrs. Vahle, was very nice. However, I'm going to be rotating between teachers and the other students that I'm going to driving with. Anyway, I have the driving class and basketball until sometime in March, two piano lessons this semester, and co-op is going to start in a couple weeks. I also need to spin some yarn for Mrs. Short by March, and I need to finish spinning the alpaca fleece for the lady I did the spin-a-bag, get a bag deal with. I'm getting a little overwhelmed just thinking about it!

Party!

On Monday we had our last Christmas party. (Rebekah, however, insists that it's the first party-of the year, that is.) It was supposed to start at 2, but, as usual, some people didn't get there until 2:30. We started out with appetizers, including a wonderful cheese ball. The meal was catered by Rosati's, which is what Grandma did last year, too. At least I think she did. After the meal, we chatted and watched football games for a while before opening presents. I received two presents from Grandma B, but she gave one of them to me about a week ago, The Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook. A tin whistle was my other present. Grandma said that I'm supposed to learn to play it by St. Patrick's day. I've tried it out already and it wasn't as easy I expected. After most people had passed out and opened their assigned gifts, we began the grab bag. And I have to add that I did give a hand-spun, hand-crocheted hat to my youngest cousin, Justice. I wasn't totally delinquent in my gift-giving! The grab bag was really fun, as expected.  I received a Lego set, which was rather unexpected but not disappointing. Rebekah got a Darth Vader M&M's dispenser, and Stephen got a Lego set too. It was a grand party.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year all! I didn't watch the ball drop because I was watching episode II of Star Wars. Now I almost wish I would have watched the ball drop instead. Anyway, I watched episode III last night (and this morning... yawn).

I gave up on making presents. I just bought one thing and decided not to give anyone presents. I feel a little guilty about that, particularly since I have been reading a book I got for Christmas instead, so I don't have any excuse. I finished the Space Trilogy on Friday I think, and then when I finished that I started the fourth book of the Epic of Karolan, Darkness Gathers Round by Ari Heinze. I still haven't finished Darkness Gathers Round, but it's more than 600 pages long. I really recommend this series.

I'm excited to see that it's snowing, particularly since there wasn't any snow on Christmas. I guess we'll have a sort of white Christmas after all. 

All the fibery stuff I got for Christmas

I'm really excited about all the stuff I got for Christmas. I got a whole bunch of roving, another spindle (yay!), and three great books. (just in case you can't see the picture :) ). I love the fleece and fiber sourcebook: 400+ pages of pictures of wool, sheep, alpaca, llama, camel down... you get the picture I think. Oh, and three sets of needles.