School Days and A Birthday

Hi everyone! So, here are some things that we have been doing lately.

Mom and the boys have recently finished a Hosta garden. They had to go into the back field and get ceder chips in the truck. The boys were a big help.

Here is a picture of the host garden. No, this is not all they did. They made a really nice one that took a lot of hard, dedicated work to get done. I remember this summer, all of us kids had to move rocks up our sledding hill (phew)! And they were big rocks, too!

Noah has also been busy with things. He has been a little chef in the kitchen. Here he is with some of his Jelly's. I am pretty sure they were from Chestnut Crabs that we got from Applecrest. It is really good jelly; especially if you put in on his home-made bread!

And here is Noah climbing the rocks at REI in Minneapolis, MN. We had a lot of fun there. Benji also climbed the rocks but mom accidental pushed "record" instead of "automatic." oops! I will try to get a picture of him next time!

Now for those who don't know, my birthday is today. I turned 15. Here is a picture of me with my "Shakespeare" and some of my gifts...Notice the new mandolin strap that is "leather" and not "hay twine." Mom and Dad got me a new strap for my mandolin. I was pretty excited about that. I also got some very cool gifts from my siblings. They are all so great!

And here is a card that I got from my cousins. I think it is the best birthday card I have ever received! It is also the biggest card. They all wrote me a little something. They are so sweet!
It has been a really great day and tomorrow we are having a party over here. No, its not for me. We are having a guest speaker, Hank Thompson, come over and talk. He is a missionary to Thailand and does street witnessing in St. Cloud when he is in Minnesota. He is a very amazing speaker and I am looking forward to his talk. I will blog about that later, though. Bye! ~Hope