Happy New Year.

Whoa. I haven't written since LAST YEAR!

Happy 2012, everyone. I hope your new year is wonderful.

Speaking of wonderful, that's an adjective to describe my Christmas. We had a lovely day, together as a family eating good food,opening presents, listening to Christmas music and taking a walk. Then, in the evening our good friends the Stephens came over and watched, It's a Wonderful Life. I'm really psyched, 'cause I GOT SKI'S FOR CHRISTMAS! Very excited about that.

Last Friday, everyone (minus Dad ): headed down to TN to visit family and see some friends It was a very nice time together. On New Years Eve, we watched the ball drop on TV, 

which is very overrated and ridiculous in my opinion. A couple 

minutes before, Will exclaimed, "When do we get to see the BOMB drop?"

Poor guy, thought a bomb was gonna drop from the sky and explode.  Next,  we tried to make as much noise as we could at midnight with those little squawker birthday-party things my Aunt bought, and old ladies pulled back their curtains and glared at us. Then I ran around the block and called people on my phone to wish them a Happy New Year. Next, I got lost in the neighborhood...smelled a skunk in the bushes and ran around trying to find my aunts house...and people were looking at me like I escaped from a mental hospital...Finally I found the house and Emma and I watched a western and dreamed of mules and six shooters and Apaches all night. New Years Day we went to the city of Chattanooga, walked across the TN river and ate delicious ice-cream. Monday was our first, real mall experience. The only mall I'd ever really been to was our mall which is so small you can stand in the middle and see all the stores. Also, it's always quiet and empty and we always see a lot of people we know there. This mall wasn't really huge compared to most, but there were at least 20,000,000 people in there. AND, it got a bloody nose in the middle of the man hallway-area...which was really embarrassing. 

Anyway, upon our arrival home, we were met with weather in the teens, high winds and a few inches of snow. I can't wait to go tear up the slopes. 

School is starting up tomorrow, Christmas break was divine. I seriously tried to convince Mom I had learned enough this semester in school to last for life. Which is practically true. 

Arrivederci, yall. 

FREEDOM!

Five minutes before I began this blog post, I finished my last school assignment of the year 2011, a chemistry test. I kept putting it off, and putting it off since I didn't understand the concepts I was going to be tested on. Until this afternoon, where I decided to conquer electron configuration and atomic mass and wavelength and frequency of light once and for all. Some major light-bulbs exploded in my brain after a lot of studying. After having all these moments of epiphany, I've decided light-bulbs-going-off-in-my-brain is one of the best feelings ever. Back to what I was saying, I AM OFFICIALLY ON CHRISTMAS BREAK. Hallelujah. With school out of the way, I'll really be able to enjoy the holiday season which means I'll have time to do some of my favorite things like eat chocolate, talk on the phone and mop the floor. (Really, I love mopping. And vacuuming. Ask my family or good friends)

Today was pretty average in a lot of ways. OK, I almost ran over a chicken,(that just sounds redneck. And let me tell ya, it felt redneck) Ava threw up on the floor after eating dubious tofu (she almost threw up on ME, but I stuck on the floor just in time) but really, nothing super exciting happened. 

Well, Merry Christmas everyone! <3

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men!"

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life!"

Tree fort in the woods

Thanksgiving dinner

Shooting.

What happens when Will and Ava are left to their own devices...

Adorable.

Mom and Dad!!

Will having a blast

Hiking!

PIE!

Miss Hannah.

December update!

Wow! I can't believe it's been about a month since I last posted. I'll try post more regularly from now on, but I'm not gonna be a politician and promise anything when realistically I can't grantee anything.
Life for us has been crazy busy. Sadly, (not) school is being pushed to the back burner and is being replaced by holiday activities. More accurately, school is pushed to the day before class...ah yes. Procrastination is my middle name.
Time flies--Thanksgiving was great (what a great holiday, btw. A day just to eat delicious food, and shoot guns, and be thankful!) Christmas season 2011 is already upon us. (just in case you forgot) I'm enjoying the festive decorations, parties, and music. So far, it's been an off year as far as snow goes. Last December, this time of the month, we had about two feet of snow. Now we only have lousy patches of snow.  Dude, I'm ready for skiing, and legit sledding parties-- the snow needs to start falling!

School is my life! My life is school!

I've been very negligent about blogging lately. All I've really been doing is school and that doesn't provide much blogging material. I'm enjoying it for the most part. Math always hangs over my head like an evil cloud of doom, and math's cousin, chemistry is known to do the same. History and literature on the other hand, are both very fascinating. Writing a full-blown literary analysis on the Iliad is difficult but rewarding. Our literature class is working on a movie with excerpts from the Iliad. It's a fun way to really understand the poem and exercise creativity. Today our chemistry class visited the water treatment plant in Boone. I'm glad we have well-water. :)
Ava and Will are my constant comic-relief during the long school days. 
I can't wait for Thanksgiving break, seeing family and eating a bunch of good food. Bring it on!!
As I said...I don't have much to say. Which is very unusual for me. Just ask my family. Speaking of not having much to say, my newest hypothesis; If I talk a lot, I'll be exercising my jaw and hopefully I won't get a double chin when I'm 85. Only time will tell. 

Sleet, Obama and Hydrogen dioxide.

As I'm sitting here, sleet is pattering on the windows and the wind is howling about the house. Just listening to these sounds of winter make me want to get on some fuzzy socks since my feet are freeezzzinnngggg! The last leaves of autumn are blowing away, carried by the same winds which are steadily bringing winter closer and closer. The change in seasons is upon us. Bring it on! I'll miss the warm weather, but winter is invigorating, breathtaking and energizing. I'm thankful God created different seasons. :)
OK. Speaking of "change". Obama came to little Boone Monday. The entire town was turned upside down. Police officers were borrowed from a bunch of the surrounding towns to take over blocking the 3 main roads. I think he received a mixed reception...some people lined up on the street shouting loud "BOOOO"s, then your occasional Mama-for-Obama over there hopping up and down cheering. I wasn't there myself; this is only what I've heard from others who were trapped in town. Although I certainly do not agree with Obama's policies or politics, it's very neat the president rolled through my town. The trip cost 37 million dollars. I hope the candy he purchased from the Candy Barrel was realllyyy delicious.
Lately, I've also been hoping I don't morph into a nerd 'cause when I hear the word "water" I start thinking: H20. Covalent compound. Hydrogen dioxide. Cannot conduct electricity. Left side of the periodic chart. Diatomic homo-nuclear atoms... you get the picture.
Later, taters.

"Autumn is the year's last, loveliest smile..."

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn."  ~Elizabeth Lawrence
"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."  ~Albert Camus
“Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.” ~William Cullen Bryant
Those poetic folks pretty much sum up what I want to say about fall-time. Basically, it's magnificent, breathtaking, brilliant, gorgeous and amazing. Mi sono innamorato!
We've been able to take advantage of the season by doing some hiking in the past few days, but the view out the windows are quite beautiful themselves. Hopefully, we will be going back-packing on the AT this weekend if Dad gets over a cold. We've never gone back-packing as an entire family so it should (actually WILL) be an adventure. We'll have to filter all of our water with a little filter. That will certainly be a full-time job. I decline from nomination! 


Here are some pictures from the past week or so. 

The new hair...haha

Emma! Hiking on the parkway

Cuteness. I can't get it to rotate though! Oh well.

The camera never captures the real beauty...

Looking out the front window! Ahh

Looking out the back window!

My peeps.

Albino Weather, Karate Chops and Class Warfare.

"The weather is so ALBINO!"

~Hannah. (She meant bi-polar)

As humans, I think diagnosing the weather somehow makes us feel more in control of something we cannot control. 

I don't know if the weather is albino, ADD, bi-polar or just plain confused, but my brain is not enjoying the fluctuating temperatures. Just when my mind transitioned into sweater, slipper and snowflake mode, I have to pull back out the short-sleeved shirts. Yes, I am aware  the weather is a boring thing to talk about, but I must mention that it snowed on Saturday, and today was at least 70 degrees. 

Life has been going well lately. No injuries. Oh wait. William did slice I mean slice, his foot open the other day. And, I was trying to karate chop Dad's knee and I really bruised the tendons on the side of my hand. It was kind of embarrassing... 

I've been hanging out with friends a lot lately, and squeezing in school. It should probably be the other way around...but...

Of course, I'm kinda curious what the outcome will be with all the stock market heckling going on. Class warfare, corporations, taxes... it seems like a big confusing mess to me, and I still haven't completely wrapped my mind around what is exactly going on. I'm gonna figure it out though. Tomorrow. Ah yes, tomorrow is always another day. 

Until later,

I remain,

CMC

P.S.

Our cat's name is Fezzik.