School

I uploaded Mandy playing Pachelbel's Canon in D at the talent show; you can find it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzvF-uRhxnM

Life still remains pretty busy over here. Seth and Dad are bracing for another quarter end, but things seemed to have slowed down a bit, but it will still have been a good quarter nonetheless. Mandy continues her homeschooling and still hates math (she and Mom spend probably close to two hours a day doing it); she was ecstatic last week to get her braces off, and she's adjusting to wearing her retainer. Mom continues her teaching Mandy and her college work in biology and algebra; ironically, she's not too fond of her science class this semester but, despite a huge load of work in the class, seems to be enjoying her math. Midterms for me and her are coming up soon, and it's so hard to believe that the semester is almost halfway through.

For myself, school is going ok, though I think this has to be my least favorite college semester. My anthropology is an easy class, largely filled with a bunch of slacker freshmen. My health class is also easy, but the teacher delights in sending us on extended guilt trips about the need to exercise and stop smoking (he should be grateful that I walk all over campus twice a week and take the stairs the other three days). American literature so far might be my favorite class, given that I seem to be doing good in it and that I like the smaller atmosphere of about ten students (most of the others have dropped out or don't show up), even if the teacher sometimes says things that irk me. History is probably my least favorite, given that the teacher spent way too much time discussing Islam and not history, mocking Christianity, and then only adding to the whole immature air of the class that sometimes feels like my adult classmates are freshmen, not juniors and seniors; and it doesn't help that his reading assignments are more than all my other classes combined and he isn't exactly helpful or precise on writing assignments. British literature is ok, but some of the time I feel like a fool in class discussions. Still, a good thing about this semester is that Mondays and Wednesdays I spend all day on campus but the other three are only one morning class, which means more time for homework (if I can stop procrastinating on Thursday and Fridays).

And... it finally looks like fall is coming at last. Ever since a rainy Sunday and Monday, it has been cooler, but we'll only know for certain if the temperature doesn't hit the 90's again in the next few weeks. This summer has been pretty hot, and we're all looking forward to pleasant fall weather. Maybe we can get some more snow this winter.

Talent Show

Well, the talent show went very well on Saturday night. Mandy did well in both Pachelbel and her skit (even though she's now embarrassed of both). I recorded bits of the show and have put them into a video that is sort of like a trailer; I apologize for the video quality, but this should give you a taste of what we experienced that evening. Mandy and Seth are both on "Faith of Our Fathers" and then Mandy is on "Pachelbel" and "Mrs. Murphy Isn't Home". And our cousin Noah makes a few appearances throughout in some of the singing and in "Pachelbel".



I will try to upload Pachelbel later, as blogger is not letting me do it.

Graduation and Myrtle Beach

The past two weeks have been busy, and they're only going to continue to get busier. Before I forget and leave you all in the dark, I will now tell of Seth's graduation and of our vacation to Myrtle Beach.

Seth's graduation was on the last Saturday in August. Mom did an excellent job preparing food for a hundred people, and the other ladies who helped with the food and with decorating the church did a wonderful job as well. The big day came, and everything was ready. The event went smoothly; we didn't run out of food, but, rather, we had just the right amount (except for the tea and lemonade, which we had in large quantities afterwards) because we had few leftovers. After the meal, we played the slideshow devoted to Seth's first 18 years of life; it was a big hit, and several people (myself included) got teary-eyed when they saw it. After that, then Dad gave the charge, and he and Mom gave Seth his diploma. It is truly amazing that Seth has graduated high school, remembering his earlier years when he had trouble talking and had to have therapy for it; but God was very good to him in providing him many mentors who taught him and helped bring him through high school. It was a wonderful moment, seeing Seth with his diploma. After the charge, Mom served dessert: chocolate kahlua cheesecake (an enormous hit), lemon curd cheesecake, and then a graduation cake from Costco (they make good cakes, not the sugary kind that makes you nauseous after one bite). We then cleaned up and went home. Seth and Mandy hung out with a few friends until later that afternoon when Mom and Dad went downtown for a Radiant party; then we had a bunch of Seth and Mandy's friends over for a get-together, which involved our new Wii (we've fallen in love with it), Mandy and Megan dancing to Mike Posner, and three ugly sombreros. It was a fun evening and a good day all together.

On Tuesday the 30th, after Seth got home from work and Mom and myself finished our morning classes at school, we packed up the van and began the long drive to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We left later than we wanted, and traffic and the stupid toll road didn't help. We ate dinner at Chick-fil-A, at which point something interesting happened; as we walked in to order and pick up our food, one of the ladies who worked there kept smiling at us, and we wondered why; after we left, Dad suggested that perhaps she was a homeschool mom and recognized us as homeschoolers because of how we kids interact with our parents. It was soon dark outside, and the directions we got on-line proved to be pretty much worthless. We got lost twice, and being tired didn't help very much. But, finally, after 11 PM, we arrived at the resort. The first day, after breakfast, we went to the beach. We only stayed an hour because the waves (probably due to Hurricane Earl) were huge and the lifeguards called everyone in; poor Seth battled the worst of it when the waves flipped him over twice and made him all dizzy, not to mention the fact that water got stuck in his ear and refused to come out, no matter the amount of hydrogen perioxide. We found solace instead in the resort pool, particularly the lazy river, which became a big hit with everyone. It was nice just to sit back and not have to go anywhere, which is something we all needed badly. On Thursday, it was cloudy (also probably from Earl), but it never rained; that day I taught Grandma Gail how to use facebook and told her what twitter and youtube were. On Friday, we girls went to Boardwalk on Broadway, which was a ton of fun. Basically, it was like an outlet center/ carnival, and there were virtually no crowds, which made it all the better. We walked to various stores, took pictures, and bought souvenirs. Mandy got two Ugly Dolls (one for her, one for Bethany), I got a Reeses' Pieces squishy (I love those things, and they are so hard to find nowadays), and Mom and Grandma picked up various things like candy and souvenir spoons. We went back to the resort to get the guys, and we returned to Boardwalk for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. The place was more crowded that evening, and the restaurant was particularly fond of its disco ball, loud music, and dancing servers. After dinner and some group pictures, we returned to the resort to pack up. After breakfast and hugs and good-byes on Saturday, we had an uneventful drive back to Georgia. We first tackled the house and the various disasters the cats had made, as well as taking care of other business like cleaning out e-mail inboxs and cleaning the church, and then we finally relaxed for the evening. All in all, it was a good week.

I don't have the pictures uploaded yet, but I will try to get them on facebook soon. Hopefully I will post them before the talent show on Saturday (more room to record Mandy playing Pachelbel :) )