Hello!  Today we went to the Russian Embassy and the National Cathedral!  Both were really cool, and I took lots of pictures.

So first we went to the Russian Embassy.........

This is the entry/first room we went in.........

Then we went upstairs..........

There were some really cool pictures in the first upstairs room or place at the top of the stairs we went to.  Here are pictures of the three pictures up there........

This is outside (taken from inside; where we were standing three pictures ago)............

Then we went into the red room............

We went into this room next............

I forgot what it was called, but anyway, here's a picture of a picture in it............

Then we went into the "Golden Hall"..........

It was really pretty (all the rooms were).  There were really fancy chandeliers (is that how you spell it?!?) all through where we went, so here are pictures of some different ones.........

Those were in the Golden Hall, and as you probably already saw, there are paintings on the ceilings.  Here's a picture up close.......

This is how the curtains looked.........

The Golden Hall also had big picture things (I forgot the name).  Here is us in front of one of them, and then the next two pictures are of the pictures by themselves............

I can't remember the exact order of the rooms we went in, so I'll just put the names, and pictures in whatever order.  Okay, so this is the yellow room........

It (the yellow room) had a cool white piano; here it is.........

Here's the green room...........

Here's the Navy room..........

Also, there were a lot of paintings and carvings (well, only two (that I saw) carvings, but there were a ton of paintings).  I'm not sure which rooms each of these are in, and of course I didn't take a picture of everything, but here's what I got.............

I think that's it for the Russian Embassy, so I'll do the National Cathedral pictures now.  Outside........

Inside............

Hello!  Yesterday (on Saturday) first I went to a Sonatina Festival and played for judges.  The annoying thing was that I had to sit through another six people before I could get out of there.  And the judges took awhile to finish writing on the paper, too.  But oh well...I played pretty well - I didn't make any major mistakes.  I just pressed a couple wrong notes, but just kept going.  The only thing that my mom said I did a little wrong was changing tempo a little bit.  I can't wait to see how I did - I'm gonna find out on my Wednesday lesson.

After that, we came home and picked Amy up to go to a Mother's Day luncheon at church.  That was fun, and the food was good.  We brought this chicken and veggies pie.  I think that's what it's called.  It was just like a casserole with veggies, chicken, cheese, and eggs - that kind of thing.

Then, we went home to drop off Amy so we could go to a Mother's Day tea with some of the girls and moms from this girls club (it's really like a Bible study) I go to at HTS.  That was good, too!  We brought lemon bars to that because we were supposed to - way too many, though.  They told us to bring sixty (two for everybody), but less than thirty (I think) got eaten.  So now we have lots and lots of leftover lemon bars.  My mom froze some for later.

Now it's Mother's Day (Sunday), so we have church.  And Happy Mother's Day to anyone who's a mother that's reading this!  Well, I better go...

Hello again!  Today was the last day of testing!  I had it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (today).  It went pretty well.  I think I got everything right except for in the listening section - I'm not sure how well I did on that.  Anyway, on Tuesday we only had some classes (Amy - Spanish and chemistry, Walter - nothing, me - science).  On Thursday Walter and I didn't have classes, but Amy still had geometry. 

Tomorrow I have a sonatina festival!  I hope I do okay!  I have to play my sonatina (Sonatina in G by Clementi).  After that, I'm going straight (well, we have to swing by the house and pick up Amy) to a Mother's Day thing at church.  After that, I'm going straight (well, we have to swing by the house and drop off Amy) to another Mother's Day thing with my mom and lots of other people at someone's house.  After that, I'm going home.

I guess that's it for now!  Until next time...

Hello!  Okay...I guess Monday was where I left off, so I'll start on Tuesday.  Tuesday: I was too sick to go to classes, so I stayed home. 

On Wednesday I had piano, and also I played tennis with my friend, Kelsey (same one who came over, because her dad had to go to the hospital), at a tennis court at a park called South Run.  Then we had church.  Thursday...I had classes, and my mom had ESL.

On Friday I had tennis classes.  On Saturday Walter, my dad, and I went to Home Depot for the kids project thing.  And then later we (Amy, my mom, and I) went to Les Miserables.  It was really good!  There was this guy who could sing SO good!  It was crazy...I mean, he could sing really low and really high!  Practically the whole piano (at least it seems like it )!  Anyway, he was really good high or low, and plus he was singing almost the whole time, because he was the main character.  (Everybody was really good, but he was the best.)  So yeah...it was good.

On Sunday we had almost normal: church, (now the unusual thing..!) great weather!  (which leads to nice dog obedience class), and Awana (I finished my book!).  Today (Monday) I have testing!  I guess that's it.  Whelp, I better go...

Hello!  On Thursday my friend, Kelsey, came over all afternoon and until about eight thirty pm (8:30 pm) , because her father was having chest pains , and her mother had to take him to the hospital .  He turned out being okay () from what the doctors saw without taking a scan (which they did on Friday).  It was something minor probably, but if it was a big deal, they caught it early.  That's what Kelsey's mom told me Thursday, but that was before the scan, so I'm not sure about anything else.

On Friday I had my first tennis lesson!  That was fun.  My forearm got kind of tired, though, because I'm not used to exercizing that part of my arm.

On Saturday Walter had a soccer game.  I didn't go, so I don't really know how he did.  Anway, later we went to our deacon's house for dinner.  Every so often our church has the deacons have dinner at their house.  So that went well.  We brought yakisoba and key lime bars.

On Sunday we had church.  Biscuit had his obedience class.  He did very well.  We're learning "heel" and "stay".  Biscuit already pretty much knows "stay", but he doesn't know "heel" that well.  He did good, though, when we practiced it at class.   After that, we went to Awana.

Today, Monday, the cleaning people are coming.  It's raining.  Biscuit was just playing with Elvis (his friend) outside and got all muddy.  I guess that's it.  This is pretty long.  Well, I better go.

Hello...I'm just doing this so I can put on a better "after" picture of Biscuit.  My mom said the last one wasn't very good because you couldn't really see his body, so here's a better one:

Biscuit moved his head right when I took the picture, so that's why his face is a little fuzzy.  Anyway, while I'm on here, I might as well say that I have classes today, and my mom has ESL (English as a Second Language).  I think that's it. 

Hello!  Yesterday was the HTS (classes) open house.  That went well.  It was kind of boring for my mom, but I had friends there and my science fair board (I'll tell about the science fair next) and needle arts projects.  I had the purse I made and a knitting project still in progress.  I brought the one still in progress because it was a really soft kind of yarn. 

For the science fair I did my experiment and made the board and report stuff.  At class we (the students) had to do oral presentations with our board (which we didn't know we had to do until we got to class! ).  It went okay, but I guess they could've given us a little more notice!  Whatever.

Also yesterday Amy went to a Shakespeare workshop (supposed to be interactive, but Amy said the only interactive thing she got to do was touch some swords () and answer like two questions).  When she got home she went on and on about how boring it was, and how this guy talking kept making dumb jokes, and everybody thought they were hilarious except her.

Today Biscuit went to the groomers.  He looks a lot different.  I'll show you what I mean.   Before:

He's so furry!  Now this is after:

Now he looks so skinny (as you can tell )!  So yeah..He seems a lot smaller now, but at least it should be easier to take care of his fur (which mats really easily).

After that I (and Walter) had piano lessons.  I was also supposed to have tennis today, but I got moved to the Friday class.  I guess that'll be better, since I don't already have stuff that day.  After dinner (which I have to go eat now), I'm going to church.  I'll write later!  

On Saturday Michael and Rachel came over again.  The "Telling the Truth" evangelism seminar was that day, too.  Rachel had a game in the middle of while they were here.  Her team won, and she was one of the ones to score (one goal)! 

Later, we (my parents, Walter, and I) went to a play called Momotaro (Peach Boy in English, Momotaro ("momo" means "peach", "taro" means "boy")).  It was okay, but different than the real story. And also, they made things like (the language) Japanese different.  For example, they said "chan" means someone whom you think is equal to you, when put at the end of a name (for example (the right way): Carrie-chan).  "Chan" really is just put at the end of a girl's name (by someone else) to be polite.  Then, they said "kun" means someone whom you make friends with, when put at the end of a name (for example (the right way): Walter-kun).  Really, "kun" is the same as "chan", except it's for boys, and not girls.  You're probably getting tired of me correcting the play, so I'll stop!

On Sunday, everything really was normal: church, bad weather (so that Biscuit's dog obedience class is canceled.  It's kind of annoying, but we're really only doing it so he can do agility.), and Awana.

Today is Monday and a pretty busy day.  First of all, a lot of school.  I had to finish my science fair project today, seeing as the science fair's tomorrow.  Amy had to finish her Tuesday work (we have classes Tuesday) so that she could go to her friends house 'til late.  They're going to dance the Virginia reel (I don't really know how to spell it (reel), but it's the kind of dance. ).  My mom had a doctors appointment today.  Anyway, we got our school done.  Amy also went to orchestra, and then went straight to her friends' house (she ended up finishing her work).

Tomorrow (Tuesday) there'll be an open house at HTS (classes), and the science fair displays will be at it.  Anyway, I better go.  I have to go to bed now.  I'll write later! 

Hello!  On Tuesday there were classes...That was pretty much all day for me - 9:30 am through 5:30 pm! 

On Wednesday Amy and my mom got their haircuts from a lady at church.  (They went over to her (the lady at church's) house.) My mom just got a shorter haircut, but Amy got bangs!  It looks nice, but totally different!  After that, Amy had her first viola lesson!  That went well, from what I heard, and they liked the teacher.  Next, Walter and I had piano lessons.  Amy teaches Walter, and I walk to a lady's house for piano. 

On Thursday we had more classes - Amy: geometry, Walter: science, and me: needle arts and P.E.  Then I went to my friend, Kelsey's, (who also has a Havanese, which is Biscuit's breed) house.  Biscuit jumped into their pond, so we (Kelsey and I) had to give him a bath.  Then, when he got out, he ran over to the garden, jumped in, and got muddy again!  (Little trouble maker!)  So we gave him another bath, and this time dried him off, and went inside.  But we had fun.  It would've been better if Biscuit wasn't so naughty, though! 

On Friday (today) we're doing school, and later, my mom and Amy are going to a "Telling the Truth" seminar at our church.  Some other kids, whose parents are going to the seminar, are coming to our house!  One of them is ten; her name is Rachel.  Her brother, Michael, who is eight is also coming over.

Well, I better go now...I'll update later!

Hello!  I'm (Carrie) like the only one who updates on here, so unless you hear otherwise, I'm the one updating!

Well, yesterday we were busy, so I'll tell about that...Walter had his soccer game (10:00 am-11:00 am), and he played pretty good.  At the same time Amy was having her ACT test at a high school fairly close by.  That was from, well, they (my mom and Amy) had to leave at 7:30 am, and then we picked her up (on our way to D.C.) at like 12:05 pm.  So we went to D.C. for the Japanese Street Festival.  It had really long lines.  I was going to take pictures, but there wasn't really anything to take pictures of, so yeah.  Anyway, the food was good!  They had other stuff, but the lines were so long that we didn't buy anything else.  It was pretty fun anyway.  We were going to just go home to get the cake and then to straight to the international dinner, but we just came home, because it wasn't that great.  We were going to have our next door neighbors take Biscuit out at like 5:00 pm (because from the beginning of the street festival to the end of the international dinner was too long for him being in the crate), but since we came home early, we didn't really need them to take him out.  (They're the owners of Elvis.)  Anyway, when we got home at 3:00 pm, they had already taken him over, so I just went to get him.  The international dinner was great and yummy  (as usual, though we've only been to two).

Today Biscuit had obedience class.  He did good (better than last time anyway ).  He didn't growl at another dog except for once; that was at a black and white boxer named Chloe.  He played with a little dog (the one he growled at last time, but now we think he was just playing) named Chewbacca.  He's a "Schnoodle", which is a Schnauzer/Poodle mix.  (They breed everything (well, maybe not everything!) with poodles now!)  He's very cute.  Maybe I'll put on a picture of him sometime (I haven't even taken one yet, though). 

Well, I have to go get ready for Awana now...Only five more weeks!  I'm going to have finished two books in one year.   Yay!  'Til next time...