Vanilla @ The Plum Tree

Amy Has Curls!!

Recently we received hair curlers and decided to try them on Amy, because her hair is normally straight. Once she put on the curlers, she decided she was not going to let dad see her and said, “I’m going to hide under the blanket when dad comes home!” J  When dad came home, she tried to hide under the blanket, but dad pulled it off, and there she was-curlers and all. Dad took this picture. J Unfortunately, we forgot to take an after-picture so you could tell how they turned out, but she looked really nice. J

ALS

1-4-13

The Reason Why We Celebrate Hanukah

Today I want to talk about why we celebratre Hanuka. The first Hanuka occured about the 2^nd century BC. There was a king, Antocius II, who disliked the torah, another name for the Bible. He forbid the reading of torah and would comend anyone to death if they read it. God did not permit the Jews to sacrifice pigs, let alone on His altar. In the temple of God, Antocius II set up a idol of Zuez, burnt pigs on God’s altar, and poured pig’s blood over the torah scroles. Fortunantly, there was a priest who had a son Judah Maccabee. He and his brothers loved God with their whole heart, and they decided to get Jerusalem back and restore the temple. With only a few hundred people,the Maccabee’s made war against the greeks. Even though it seemed they shouldn’t have won the war, God helped them and they won! After they got he temple back, they had to light the lampstand that was in the holy place, but they had to use pure olive oil. The greeks had unpurified all the flasks of oil but one, which left only enough oil to last them one day; however, it lasted eight days. It took eight days to process new oil and purify it, which was used to keep the lampstand lighted as God had commanded them to do so. That is why we celebrate Hanukah for eight days, to comemorate the miracles God did for his people.

Happy Hanukah!! J

ALS

12-17-12

Happy Hanukah!!

This Saturday  was the biblical holiday of Hanukah. We made donuts and latkes for dinner. Afterword we looked for a Hanukah movie, but couldn’t find one. Before bed, we played a modified dreidel game called “Synagogue.” It has a timer, dreidels,  and a rolling deck. When it is played correctly it can be very fun. Another special event we engage in is to light the menorah each night for eight days! The first night we light two candles, the second night we light three candles and so forth. Hanukah is one of my favorite holidays.

ALS

12-12-12

Thanksgiving Turkey

This thanksgiving dad cooked his traditional “smoked turkey.”  First, he put some spice in the turkey.  Then, Aubrey cleaned out the smoker racks where the turkey would sit in the smoker.  Dad and Hannah started the fire, and dad placed the turkey.  During the day dad would check the turkey.  Late in the afternoon, dad said the turkey was perfect.  And it was the best we ever cooked! J I hope you come over next time!

 

ABS

11/25/12       

Joshua is brushing his teeth!

This picture is so cute.  It shows Aubrey holding Joshua and  brushing her teeth.  Joshua saw the brush and wanted to try.  He grabbed the end of the toothbrush and stuck it in his mouth.  He then started to brush like Aubrey.   He enjoyed it.   J He is so adorable.

 

ABS

11-11-12

Happy Thanksgiving To You All!

This week for Thanksgiving our grandparents came for three days: Wednesday, Thursday, and a half of Friday.  On Thanksgiving we had turkey stuffed with garlic, garlic covered potato chips in lieu of mashed potatoes, yams, and turkey decorated deserts.  Unfortunately, our cousins Jake and Kyle couldn’t come for Thanksgiving.  Papa said, “If Robert were here, he would be in heaven,” because Uncle Robert loves garlic.  After Thanksgiving dinner, Papa told us stories of when he was a policeman.  I thought that it was the best Thanksgiving dinner we’ve had in a long time, although it would’ve been better if Jake and Kyle were here with us.

 

ALS

11-25-12

Happy b-day Kailey!

This week was Kailey’ s birthday.  She is six years old.  For her birthday she had a tea party.  Since her favorite animal is a cat, mom and a few helpers baked a delicious chocolate cake in the form of a cat.  We had enchilada and crackers with different delicacies to top it off.  The tea party was a blast! 

 

ABS

11-15-12

Writing Story's

This month Amy and I have been participating in a program called Nanowrimo. The website is http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/.  We have the month of November to compete, seeing who can write the best story. Everyone who competes will have their book published if they reach their word-count-goal. The competition requires each user to set a reasonable, but high word-count-goal. My word-count-goal is five-thousand, so far I have three-thousand, three-hundred and four-hundred. The website has many different features, allowing its competitors to have writing buddy’s, chat with people and much more! The competition has been very exciting.

 

ALS

11-16-12

 

 

How Many Pomegranates Can You Get For A Hundred Dollars?

A couple weeks ago we began to hunt pomegranates. We decided to stop by a house that dad said had a lot of pomegranates. He also said that he could tell the family didn’t eat them. When we arrived, someone pressed a button and the gate swung open.  While dad asked them if we could buy some of their fruit, a boy said, “Yeah, two for a hundred dollars.” I was surprised. But the grandfather said, “Sure pick them and make me an offer.” So we picked two five gallon buckets and paid ten dollars. The store sells pomegranates for two dollars each, so what I want to ask you is, how much would the store charge you to fill two five gallon buckets? J

 

ALS

11-12-12

What's in YOUR Dryer?

For a couple of months our family has smelt something burning every time we used the dryer. We decided to find out what caused the problem.  Amy, Caleb, Dad and I took the dryer apart and literally found globs hair and bucketful’s of lint. We took out the lint, and had to untangle the hair from the spindles in the back of the dryer.  We cleaned all of the parts, and with white vinegar scrubbed off the hair that was burnt on the sides of the dryer.  It was a bit disgusting, but it was fun.  Dad said that everything we learn now will help us when we are older, and I agree with him.  Mom also said that sometimes we’re not thankful for something until we lose the use of it.

ALS

11-4-12

New Fire Wood

Every winter we use wood to make a fire inside our woodstove. This year we ran out of wood. After a little search dad finally found some wood. On Friday the man that dad bought wood from came by and dropped off a  3^rd of the wood that dad bought. The next day our family stacked it in our backyard.  And I think we did a great job. Here is a video of Gracie stacking the wood.  J

ABS    

11-04-12

How About Deep Sea Fishing Today?

 

This morning dad went deep sea fishing.  When he got to the ship he called to tell us good morning.  I said, “It must be fun to go out to sea.” A couple of years ago Caleb and dad went deep sea fishing. Dad told us that this time was more fun than when he fished with Caleb because the waves were bigger and he caught more fish.  I thought that the pictures were awesome!

 

By ALS

10-26-12

Joshua Is Hiding!

Joshua Is so cute.  Mom found Joshua in a gift bag.  It seemed like he was trying to hide, but instead he became stuck and started to cry.  The reason we think he got stuck is because he was attracted to the colors and went inside.  Then he trapped himself trying to get out the bag.    He loves bright colors  like red, blue, orange, pink, and  yellow.  Just take a look yourself! J

 

 

By ABS

10-12-12

 

Family Sports Day

This school semester we’ve been playing soccer.  My sister came up to me after the game, and told me a funny incident that happened on the field.  Joel asked Amy “How old are you?”  Amy said “I’m 10.”  Joel questioned “What’s your name?”  Amy responded  “I don’t know, we haven’t chosen one yet”  thinking that Joel meant the team name.  Joel exclaimed “Your name, your first name!”   Embarrassed, Amy responded, “Oh! Amy.”  I almost rolled over laughing. J

 

By ALS

10-13-12

Joshua's Crawling!!

Is it not wonderful how a baby learns new things?   In the past Joshua has had to push against something hard which helps him go forward.  That isn’t really crawling but we just call it that J.  This week mom spotted Joshua crawling on his own. Mom was watching him and said “Look guys, Joshua’s crawling!”  We were so excited.

 

By ALS

10-28-12

New play mobiles!

This week we celebrated a Biblical holiday called Rosh Hashanah, or The Feast of Trumpets.  We had a shofar contest to see who could play the best note or play the longest. Dad promised a surprise for the great job we did.  Later that week our family went shopping and all the kids kept asking about the surprise.  When dad bought the surprise, everyone was exited.  It was a box of play mobiles!  Guess what we played with the next day -  new play mobiles.

 

By ABS

10-20-12

 

 

Caleb's got a cast?

Wow!  Caleb has a cast.  Caleb was playing baseball with Amy and Hannah.  Caleb ran  for the ball, slipped, and bent his thumb backwards on  his right hand.  A few days later mom took him to the Med-Stop.  The doctors said he would need  to see a bone specialist.  Mom dropped Caleb off dad’s office that afternoon.  The bone specialist decided he needed a cast.  So much for piano lessons.   

 

By ABS

10-26-12

Celebrating Sukkot

We celebrate a holiday called Sukkot.  It is a biblical holiday  that reminds us when God will come and dwell with us forever.

On this holiday we build our tent in the back yard and sleep there for a week.   This year our family made a Sukkah which is common to the holiday.   Look at our family inside our new Sukkah.   We love this holiday!J 

  

 

By ABS

 

The Unkown Nail

The other day Mom and Dad were looking at Lisah’s finger since her finger hurt.  Dad remarked that it might be an ingrown nail.   Caleb  heard what Dad said and replied,  “Dad my toe hurts; I might have an unknown nail.” Our brother was being very silly.J

 

 

By ABS