Improving Aliese

For those who know me know that I am a pretty picky eater. Well, I'm not sure that I am anymore. I mean I still don't like grapefruit, but neither does my Dad and he is not considered a picky eater. There are other things I still don't like, but I am not going to bother to write them all down. Anyway, so, last night I had Young Men Young Women mutual together and it was really fun. The young men made dinner and dessert for the young women! So, in turn I had to try things I would not otherwise try. I tried guacamole and deviled eggs. I kinda liked the deviled eggs, but I really liked the guacamole. It was kinda spicy and I didn't really like that, but it was so creamy and yummy! It is amazing that I like it. Then today I tried some humus with some carrots and I liked that, to! I remember at Lizzie's for Kate's birthday we had sandwiches with mustard and apples and meat on it and a while ago I would have been totally grossed out by that! But it was really good! Mom says I am officially becoming a grown up.

I think I am getting better at 'housekeeping.' I do the dishes really well (that doesn't mean fast), most other chores including laundry and I am getting better at cooking. I went to those cooking classes and Mom and I decided that maybe once a week I get to make dinner. I did that a bit back. I made a pasta with a yummy red sauce, garlic bread and salad. For the sauce I basically just sauteed tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper and some herb in a bit of oil then pureed it in the blender. It was so yummy! Mom said she could almost drink it. Believe it or not I got it out of a Strawberry Shortcake cook book that I have had for a long time. It is Strawberry Shortcake, but it has some really good recipes. Especially dessert. I love that cook book. I remember in the yellow house I would have 'restaurant' days when I would pick two meals to make for the family. I would invite my Grandma and Grandpa Leslie and serve them, too. I think I made several choices per meal like a real restaurant, took orders, made and served the food. Once I did it with my cousin Sayer and we made brownies. We were licking the little bits of dough left out of the bowl until the brownies came out of the oven! I think I put the food on styrafoam plates and then put them in the warmer. Now I know why the edges seemed to droop a bit more than they did when I put them in. Haha! It is funny that I would never do that now. I love to cook and serving does sound fun, but a bit of a hastle. Especially because I also had to clean up the mess afterward.

I love piano. I am getting much better at it, too. I don't argue with Mom during lessons (most of the time :) and I feel better about myself when I'm playing.

Well, I gotta go. Steve just went to Stater Bros., came back and realized we don't have milk so I am going to go get it. We can't have dinner without milk. Haha! :)

Not Much to Say

Well, not much to say, but I suppose I should probably say something.

Last evening I had New Beginnings. We did a Candyland skit where each character from the board game got a value that was taught to the kids going along the colorful path. We turned Lord Licorice into Lady Licorice and we had her tempt the kids like Satan tempts us. It went really well.

Today was a beautiful day, but we didn't really get to enjoy it because both Anna and Gracie are sick. Gracie has thrown up several times and Anna has a bad cold and headache. It is really sad. I hate being sick. It's awful. That is one of the things I am most looking forward to at the second coming. There won't be any sickness or disease. That sounds pretty good to me.

School has been good. I have made myself a rough schedule that helps me know when to do what. I try not to have time schedule so that I don't feel rushed, though. Piano is good. I have been doing better on my pieces and using the metronome. I have been using it a lot lately. I really like piano now that I have finished my flash cards and it is easier to read the music. Before I hated practicing because I had to practice flash cards, too, but now all I have to do is play. I like playing music better than just playing scales and stuff like that. I'm glad that it is easier for me so I like it better. Now I can actually like playing the piano since I'm going to have to do it whether I like it or not.

I hope that everyone is feeling better than we are. Haha! I love you!

So Random

I don't know what's happened. I used to post a lot more, but I sorta stopped. I think that if I just keep posting regularly (doesn't matter what it's about) I will get back into the habit. So, here's a bunch of random things.

I am not very good at volleyball. I am taking a volleyball class with Anna and Gracie. We should be practicing, but we haven't, so I haven't improved much. I can't set and can barely pass and serve. It makes me feel so weak, like I'm not strong enough to hit the ball hard enough. My Dad says that I am not less strong than an average girl my age, but I have a hard time using it, like I don't know how to get my strength out or something. I don't know. This week I am going to practice and hopefully it will help.

Gracie had a small bike perfect for her size. It was light pink with training wheels. She went out and rode it everyday and usually brought it up to put it under the stairs. One day she didn't. The next day it was gone. My first thought was that it was stolen, but Mom thought that the maintenance people took it somewhere until someone claimed it. So, she called them. They said that the maintenance people weren't supposed to take things. So, that meant it was lost somewhere. Gracie was very sad so Mom and Dad ordered a new one. It was rainbow with training wheels. Although it was a bit bigger than her old bike she loves it. Today she saw something and came in running. We all went outside and saw it. Her old bike was sitting outside a shed the maintenance people use. Mom rushed up and asked, "Was this just in here?" a guy came out and said, "Yeah, is it yours?" "Yes. I called the office and they said that you weren't supposed to take anything." "Well, here it is. It's just been in here." On the way back to the apartment Mom kept muttering things like, "Unbelievable. I can't believe it. I asked." It was pretty funny.

Is that random enough for you all? Haha! I love you!

February

I haven't posted for a while and I figured that I better catch up.

My birthday was on the fifth. I had a friend over the night before for a late night and we played with my cricut. She gave me some stickers and scarpbooking paper. It was so fun. I had crepes and hot chocolate for breakfast, nochos for lunch and Olive Garden for dinner. I don't know when I opend what, but total I got lots of books, cricut stuff and some jewelry. Just what I asked for. I also got a hot pink phone case. We went out to dinner with Lizzie's family and Steve and came back and had the ice cream cake that Lizzie makes for Shad all the time. The same one Tanner picked for his birthday. I'm sorry if I don't sound very excited. It feels like it was a long time a ago. Overall it was a great day. Thanks everyone for making me feel so special.

On Thursdays starting last week I have a cooking class. A chocolate cooking class. :) Last week we made chocolate chip cookies and brownies with a caramel chocolate sauce and toffee. Yesterday we made Taco Chocos with homemade chocolate ice cream. It was so yummy. And not to brag or anything, but I won presentation both times. They did look really good. I love the classes. They are so fun and educational.

This week we have a four day weekend and so does Tanner. Shad went out of town so we all came down for the weekend. We just got back from a really great picnic. It was a really nice day before and now it's raining. Bummer. We wanted to ride bikes later. Oh, well. Gracie, Tanner and Kate are playing hide and seek. They are like three peas in a pod. So cute playing together.

I thought that I had more to write, but I can't think of anything. Oh well. Haha!

DI Service Project

So, just so we are clear, I love to sleep in. I don't like to wake up early and I am not good at it. Since the new year our church has been at 9:00 a.m. For school we have a scheduele so I have to wake up early on school days, too. That leaves only Saturday to sleep in. Well, guess what I did on Saturday. I had to wake up early and be at the church at 8:30 in the morning. They had breakfast for us there (donuts!) so I didn't have to worry about that, but I still didn't get to sleep in. We left to go to DI (we do have one :) to volunteer. It was really fun. I was put in the knick-knack section with a leader and another beehive. Each thing had a sticker with a number on it. If the sticker had the numbers 3, 4 or 5 on it it stayed. If it had the numbers 1, 2 or 50 than it got put in the cart and later thrown away. When the cart was full we took it to the ginormous garbage bin and threw them away. We had to throw them in so they broke. It was so sad to just throw away so many nice things. But that's how they do it. After that we went back and put all of the new stuff on the same shelves. Then we were called to help with lunch. I broke apart the lettuce. All though, I wasted a lot because a lot of it fell on the floor because the bowl was too small. When we did all we could with lunch we went back and hung clothes. Finally when lunch was ready we ate and went home. When I got home my whole family was still lazing around and waking up and it was 12:30! Oh, well, I guess I probably wouldn't have been up and around anyway if I didn't do that project. :)

I must again say...

I'm growin' up. I just went to Danielle's blog to look for a picture of me from my last birthday. I knew she posted some because she was there for my birthday and she took pictures of me. I was scrolling down through everything because since she doesn't have a blog archive I couldn't just click and be there. As I was scrolling down I saw a lot of old posts that I had already seen. When I looked at the dates I was like, "It was that long ago?" It feels like it wasn't very long ago. Everyone says that as you get older time goes by faster. I have never really realized the truth of that until now. When I finally got to what I was looking for my mouth fell open. I looked really little! My hair was short! I wasn't wearing makeup and unless Danielle edited my skin, my face wasn't covered in zyts like it is now! It is really crazy how much I've grown and how much you can see it!

I am sorry to say that that is it for now. I felt like I should post. (And in case anyone was wondering, I still have not decided exactly what to do for my birthday:)

I'm Growin' Up

At the reunion everyone kept saying, "Aliese, you are so old!" I am not OLD, but I am OLDER. I mean, I am turning 13 year old next week! I can't believe that it is really that soon. Never has my birthday crept up on me like that. Usually I like, count down, but this year I haven't done anything. I can't believe it.

So, the rule in our home for parties is that we can either have a party with friends or we can go out to dinner with the family and bring a friend. We can always have a family party. Last year I had a sledding party with friends and had Danielle and Clay over for dinner and cake. So, this year I thought I would take my good friend Chelsie out to dinner and have a family party with Lizzie (maybe). Then my Mom says, "Well, you could have a character breakfast at Disneyland for your birthday." Great, Mom. Another choice. I know I sound really selfish having such a hard time choosing what to do for my birthday, but this is once a year and I am going to be a teenager this year. I think I want a chocolate moose pie or the ice cream cake that Shad really likes. The one that Tanner had for his birthday.

This is like the first year that I really haven't asked for any toys or something silly. Last year my big "want" was for a dress in the style from the time of Anne of Green Gables. My Mom couldn't find one and had to make one. It didn't last very long. I tried to put it on the other day and it almost choked me to the death! Thanks Mom. I loved it while it lasted. This year I have asked for clothes, jewelry, books, cricut stuff (if you would use that much money on me) and whatever anyone can think of. I don't have a big "want" like I usually do for birthdays and Christmas. This Christmas I asked for the same things minus the cricut stuff. All though I did get a big thing that I didn't even think about asking for. Face it, I'm growin' up. For my Dad's wedding I got a pair of high heels to wear. My Dad said, "Aliese, I am going to have to tell you that you have to stop growing." I replied, "I'm sorry, Dad. I am going to have to break a commandment because I cannot obey that." I can't.

But really, I will always be a little girl. I remind myself of an old babysitter. She also played barbies into her teenage years. :)