Hannah's "Sweet 16" Birthday (Part 1)

"And Hannah prayed and said:“My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation."

1 Samuel 2:1

Hannah officially turned 16 on Monday, June 21st:  the first day of summer.  :)  We decided to have her birthday party on Saturday the 19th, because Daddy and Mama were taking her somewhere special on her birthday.  Friday night after dinner, some of us went shopping nearby for birthday gifts for her.  Saturday Hannah and I were working at Lavender Fields, so Mama and Lexi (along with everyone else) cooked like crazy, wrapped presents, and decorated the house.  When we came back home, after work, everything was ready for us!  We got Hannah all dressed up, and then ate dinner about 30 minutes later.

The bouquet on the table.

The table was set with a tablecloth Grandma gave us (from one of their cruises), Mama's fine china and glass goblets.  It was so pretty!

The tablecloth.

Here you get a better idea of what the table looked like - it was much prettier in real life! :)

Lydia patiently waiting for prayer and dinner.

Hannah at the table.

Dinner that night consisted of grilled chicken, greenbeans, carrots, buttermilk rolls and mashed potatoes with Hidden Valley Ranch dip mixed in and topped with cheese!

Mi familia - minus me.

After dinner and clean-up everyone got comfy (put on jammies!), signed cards, and then Hannah opened presents when we were all gathered.

That's an "H" on the envelope - courtesy of Lexi.

Reading...

Then, she opened presents.  The biggest gift (from the siblings, that is) for everyone's birthday is...food! :) 

My beautiful sister.

Her cake. 

I made the cake on Thursday and then Lexi made the icing and decorated it for us!

Lighting all 16 candles.

Blow the candles out, Hannah! or is she sneezing :)

I forgot to add that after the presents were opened, we watched about half of Cecil D. BeMille's Ten Commandments.  After cake, we watched a tiny bit more and then went up to bed.

Before I close this post, here's some of Hannah's pictures:

Hannah is my best friend and I am so grateful the Lord gave her to me as an older sister!  She's always there to help me when I need it, or just to be quiet, when I need that too! :)  She is a gifted pianist and plays for us just about every morning, the sweet piano melodies filling the house.  She is a great example to all of us younger siblings, and she takes her role as the first born daughter seriously. 

We love you Hannah!

                                                             Kimber and all the Wasses'

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Before I end, I want to tell you about some friends of ours! :) 

Our friends, the Nice's have recently started a business, called Drury Lane Farm. They raise chickens on lots of open pasture - the way chickens are supposed to live :) - and sell fresh, yummy eggs and broilers/roasters now!  Somewhere in the near future, they may even start longhorn beef!

But back to the present, feel free to check out their website at http://www.drury-lane-farm.com/ and here's the Nice Family:

They really are a nice family (okay, I couldn't resist!) and some great friends of ours - so, check them out and give them a call or drop them an email if you're interested in any healthy, delicious chicken and eggs! :)

GUESSIT!

Hey Everyone! I had mentioned on my post "CONTEST- We have a Winner" That I could do something similar to that every two weeks.  I had a request to do more of those, so here is your first GUESSIT!

Can YOU GUESSIT! !?

Just leave a comment (or email us) of what you think it is and the winner will have his/her face (if we have a picture of him/her) posted on our blog along with their name!  Just for fun! 

His Princess,

Alexis ♥

HEAV Homeschool Convention

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Romans 12:2

Thursday, June 10th we all went to the homeschool convention in Richmond!  Our cousin, Sarah, came along with us (remember...they were in town). 

Alexis, Sarah, and Josiah trying to solve a crossword puzzle in the car.

Hannah's curl...isn't it pretty?

(I had the camera in my hands, and her curl was just hanging there, so I had to take a picture. ;)

Once we were in Richmond, Daddy found us a parking spot on the road and we all piled out.  Soon we were walking to the Greater Richmond Convention Center.

Mama on the move (and Josiah!).

Getting ready to cross a street.

Soon we arrived!!!

...these are the people who host the homeschool convention every year.  They do a great job!

Mama filling out name cards.

Once inside, Daddy and Mama told us older kids that we didn't have to have name tags to get into the Exhibit Hall on Thursday night.  So, we went ahead while they stayed behind to get the name cards for the rest of the convention.  Well, we started to go into the hall when the security guard stopped us and told us we had to have name cards.  So, we went back to the tables where Mama, Daddy, and all the little fellows were and got our name tags, before going into the hall.  This time we could gain entrance! :)

One of the history programs we looked at.

For those of you who haven't been to the homeschool convention (which is the majority of you reading this) the Exhibit Hall in the convention center is where hundreds of vendors from across the U.S.A. bring books, supplies, and anything you can imagine...to sell to us homeschoolers! :)  The exhibit hall is amazingly huge - sorry, I don't have a picture.

While we were in the exhibit hall, Na-naw, Paw-paw, Aunt Stacey, and my other two cousins, Kaitlyn and Rachel, joined us!

One of the highlights of the homeschool convention, is the escalators.  It sounds funny, I'm sure, but we love them! :)  Before we left, we rode them a few times - up and down, up and down.

Seth going up.

 

Everyone else going up.

Lydia had so much fun going up and down!

After around 1 1/2 hours of browsing and walking around, it was time to go.

We said goodbye to everyone (my aunt, cousins, and grandparents) and then went back towards the car.

Along the way, we stopped by the Marriott in Richmond, that was across from the convention center.  They had a pretty glass at the front of the hotel that water ran down and that changed colors.  Of course, we had to stop for a few pictures! :)

Lexi and Lydia.

'Tweedels.

(pronounced tweed-uls)

Lydia gazing at the display.

Seth touching the water.

Hannah and Daddy waiting for us.

We hadn't eaten dinner yet (we got to the convention as soon as possible) so we were all hungry.

Lex and Lydia.

Some Marriot flowers.

There's the Marriott we were playing by.  Mama, Lexi, and Lydia got stuck on one side of the street (too slow!), so we had to wait for them.   Isn't Richmond so beautiful at dusk?

(You can see the changing water-glass-thing, that we played in, by Mama, Lexi, and Lydia.)

One more thing about the above picture...on Friday and Saturday (June 11th and 12th) we ate across from the Marriott for lunch.

Josiah waiting for the others.

Like I said, Richmond is so pretty at dusk! :)

 

Caleb taking a break.

Eden smelling some petunias.

Mama and the rest soon made their way over to us, and we made it to the car in safety.  When we arrived home, Grandpa and Grandma were waiting for us!  (They came down to watch Caleb, Seth, Eden, Josiah, and Lydia for us, so we could go to the convention.)

We then ate the Papa John's pizza that we picked up and talked to G-pa and G-ma until it was time for bed.

Friday morning we woke up early (we meaning Hannah, Alexis, Mama, Daddy, and I) to get ready to go the convention.  The first session was at 8:30 A.M., and we live about 30 minutes away from Richmond, so I'll let you calculate what time we had to get up!  (Make sure to add in time for breakfast, showers, and finding a parking spot! :)

Mr. Jon arrived at our house right on time (he wanted to come too!), and then we were all off to the convention.  We made it in time but Daddy and Alexis sat somewhere away from us, because they had to stop and pick up Lexi's name tag and they couldn't find us in the huge room where the keynote sessions were held.

To make a long and great weekend short, we really enjoyed the convention and all the time being refreshed and renewed through Christian speakers.  It really was a wonderful time.  We also met tons of people that we knew...it was so much fun catching up with everyone!

Friday night we went to Outback for dinner.  (By the way, their food is a lot smaller in size now.  Did anyone notice that?)  Saturday morning we were up early again, but we left around 4:30 so we could get home.  

So, that ended our wonderful homeschool convention!

You can probably tell that I'm rushing through this, but I've got  lots to post about Hannah's birthday and such, so more posts will be up here soon!  (I hope...)

Delighting in Jesus,

Kimber :)

Before I finish...here's a funny picture of Mama:

Tonight...

we're celebrating this beautiful womans'16th birthday:

"Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."

1 Peter 3:3-4

(Two of Hannah's favorite verses and ones that she fulfills very well!)

Contest- WE HAVE A WINNER!

I am so excited to announce our winner for the "Guess what the football is made of" contest!  We actually had two winners!  The two winners were Mrs. Shelia Glass and Mr. Chris Coppedge!  The GRAND PRIZE WINNER IS..(drum-roll please)..Mr. Chris Coppedge!!!! (This was determined by drawing out of a hat one of two pieces of paper each of which had the winner's name on them)

"The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace." '

Numbers 6:24-26

 

Congratulations Mr. Coppedge!!

 

Now to reveal what the football  was made of!

 

CHEESE!

 

Daddy carefully grated a chunk of cheese into this abnormally fun shape!

I hope you all enjoyed the contest as much as we did!

If you would like more contests like this one, I could post a picture 2 times a month and let you all go at it!  If you would like this please leave a comment or email us with your answer!

 

♥ His Princess,

Alexis Wassenberg ♥

for all of the other Wassenberg members