Happy Halloween!

Hello everyone and Happy Halloween! Hope you had a fun candy-filled night (or are planning to have one in the near future). My sisters are just about to head out the door (after everyone can find their shoes) and I am going to hang at the house and pass out candy. Our neighborhood is really big, and we have a lot of trick or treaters. I can't wait to see what everyone dresses up as.

Here are pictures of what we went as this year. I did not go, as well as Lexi and Karriss. The rest of our family and friends did, and without further ado, here they are!

Here is everyone is their costumes. From Left to Right

Ella as a Jedi; Emily as a Wind-Up Doll; Hazel as a Cowgirl; Audrey as Bumblebee; Summer as Poison Ivy; Briana as a Civil War girl; Riley as a Woodsmaiden; Ariel as a Hula Dancer/Hawaiian; Morgan as a Hippie; Elizabeth as Cinderell; Samantha as a Minion; Kaitlyn as Minnie Mouse; Sierra as The Scarecrow; Gracie as an Ozian; Cameron as Dorothy; Ariana and Anna as Munchkins and Charlotta as a Dog Walker

Morgan thought it would be cool to experiment with different angles. It took a chair and a few times, but I love how this picture turned out.

Bumblebee and Poison Ivy

(DC Supergirls)

All of the girls from Oz.

Disney Characters

Themed Characters

My Favorite Costumes

Riley and Briana

Experimenting with lighting. I love how you can see Ella's shadow on the wall behind her.

Our Sweet Little Munchkins

Minnie Mouse spinning Cinderella

Look out Minnie! There's a Jedi behind you!

The Battle Continues between Poison Ivy and Bumblebee

Selfie

Oz meets Minions

So, the following pictures are little scenes we put together as mash-ups between different characters. I won't tell you the stories, so pick your favorite and comment on what the story is for that picture.

Scene #1

Scene #2

Scene #4

Scene #5

Scene #6

We hope you enjoyed getting to see pictures of all the girls in their amazing costumes. It's so much fun to see the unique costumes on the streets. Happy Halloween!

What were you for Halloween? And be sure to comment if you have a story for one of the scenes.

~Melodie

Black and White Photo Shoot by Sierra

Hi everyone! It's Sierra. Melodie and Morgan said I needed to do a post with some of my photography for the blog. I was so excited when they said I needed to post, cause I've always wanted to blog.

I have been experimenting with black and white photography recently. I have always enjoyed the simplicity of black and white pictures, and I always wanted to try doing some of my own. Here are the results of my experimenting. I used my puppy, Brownie, to do some, because she is so little and stays still for me if I bribe her with treats. I also used some of the objects around my room. Hope you enjoy.

 

Here's Brownie. Who can resist those cute puppy eyes?

Brownie with a blanket I got for her. What a sweetheart.

My feet with these rocks I got from somewhere. It took a little creativity to get this shot.

My hat. I wear this one whenever I am out taking photos in the sun. It is very stylish, and I love it.

Another picture of Brownie.

My stuffies. They are all animals from The Secret Life of Pets. I love that movie.

My little turtle I got on vacation one time.

Can you spot the elephant? I promise there is one in the photo.

So, that's all the pictures I took. I had a lot of fun taking this pictures. Hope you enjoyed them. Comment below i what your favorite picture was, and if you saw the elephant.

~Sierra

Blog Update

Hi everyone! In case you didn't notice, we added a new page to our blog. We have been working on this page for awhile trying to decide on the layout, and we are super excited to have it on the blog now.

The "Our Friends and Family" page is there to help you figure out who is who on the blog. We put a headshot of everyone along with their first and last name, grouping families together from oldest to youngest. We also put nicknames in quotes so you won't get confused when we call somebody by their nickname.

We hope this helps you figure out who is who on the blog, so you will always know which of our friends we are talking about.

~Melodie and Morgan

New Friend Times Two

Hello everyone! It's Morgan with a quick post. Some new friends just moved in across the street, and we wanted to introduce them.

Meet Cameron and Kaitlyn Johnson. They are twin sisters who moved to Tennessee from Georgia. They are so excited to have a post about them on the blog, so I am gong to let them introduce themselves.

Hi! I'm Cameron Leah Johnson, and I just moved in. I love jazz/modern, soccer, fashion and theater. I have been captain of my soccer team, and I am excited to join a soccer team here in my new home.

I'm Kaitlyn Lise Johnson, the younger twin. I love cheerleading, tumbling and musical theater, especially with my sister. I have done a lot of shows, and I can't wait to get involved in a new company.

Cameron and Kaitlyn are really nice. I think we are going to be really good friends, and I can't wait for our other friends to meet them.

What do you think of Cameron and Kaitlyn?

~Morgan

Throwback Thursday: "Over the Rainbow Photoshoot" Paper Blog Post

Hi there! It's Morgan with a Throwback Thursday post. If you are confused about the title, you should probably read our last post. Today's post was made by Melodie after she created an amazing costume. Without further ado, here is the "Over the Rainbow Photoshoot" post...

Hello readers! I am sure you are all wondering why I chose to call this post “Over the Rainbow” Photoshoot. As the name implies, my good friend Samantha did a Wizard of Oz themed photoshoot in my new…

Dorothy dress! I love this dress, and Sam was sweet enough to model it for me. The dress is a blue and white plaid material that my granny gave me on my recent visit. The white material was left over from a school project. The buttons and lace are also from my grandmother. The socks are Briana’s, which we believe are from American Girl. The shoes are Springfield Red Sparkly Flats (I don’t know if they actually have a name, so I made one), also from Briana. The personality is all Samantha.

I took a ton of photos, nearly sixty or so. I will share the best ones, along with a caption. The photoshoot is meant to copy parts of the movie that I could recreate with my camera. I hope you enjoy!

This is a before-the-photoshoot photo, so you can just see the dress. Cute!

Dorothy and Toto (Samantha and Lauren, my dog)

“Somewhere over the rainbow”

“Toto, you came back”

Running away

Over the Rainbow

“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore”

Red shoes?

Perfect fit!

“We’re off to see the Wizard! The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!”

Photoshoot on the Yellow Brick Road

Up above to the whole outfit

Another stunning view of the dress

Our Dorothy

I hope you enjoyed the Over the Rainbow photoshoot. I had a lot of fun making the outfit and taking the photos. Sam said this was probably the best photoshoot she had ever participated in alone, and she loves the outfit.

This post was very fun to look at again. If you would like to see older posts again, comment below and we will try to do more Throwback Thursday posts.

Would you like to see Throwback Thursday posts, and what did you think of the photoshoot?

~Morgan

How We Started Blogging

Hello everyone! It’s Morgan with a post about how we started blogging. The blog has been up for over a year now, and we thought we would love to talk about how we started blogging. Melodie and I are going to alternate talking, so I will be writing in blue, and Melodie will be in purple.

So our blog officially started on July 27, 2015, but we were planning the blog long before that happens. Our story starts in October of 2013. Lexi and I had known about a friend of ours’ blog for a while, but had never looked it up. So, one boring October afternoon, we Googled the blog. The blog is called The Salty Breeze, and it was started by our friends the Edwards. The blog is still up if you would like to check it out, but our friends haven’t posted in a long time. We were amazed by how they blogged and took photos of what they were doing, and we wanted to join the blog community.

We talked and pleaded with our parents for a blog, but they didn’t feel comfortable letting us start one. So, we had to find an alternative solution. Thus, paper-blogging was born. Paper-blogging is writing a blog post on the computer, and putting in pictures. It was Lexi’s idea and I loved it. We did it for years.

So, I should probably explain something. You may have noticed that I don’t look like Melodie and Lexi, and Ella and Ariana look a lot more like me. I am adopted, as are Ella and Ariana. We were all adopted around the same time, and we are now part of the Hayes family. I don’t come into the story until later, so I will let Melodie keep telling the story.

So, we kept paper-blogging. We also started to send them to a few friends, including the Edward girls, and all of our friends loved it. We used to post on an old PC, but then we had to switch to our very own computer. We kept posting about things that were happening in our lives, such as the arrival of new friends, and even family.

Ok, here’s where I come in. I was adopted in April, and Melodie and Lexi asked if they could paper-blog about me. By this time, Elizabeth and Anna had been adopted by the Raynes, our cousins; Hazel had moved in and also adopted Ariel, and Sam had moved into town. After I was adopted, the search was on for my half-sisters. That’s right; Ella and Ariana are only half-related to me. We have the same mother, but not father. After we adopted them in July, our family was complete.

So, we officially started the blog on July 27, 2015. We had talked with our parents for a long time, and they finally allowed us to start one. We were so excited! We welcomed people to our blog in the first post, then introduced all of our friends and family. Since then, we’ve posted about all sorts of things that have happened in our lives. Some of the highlights have been new friends, dancing and short stories with a few friends.

So here are the statistics. We have published 19 posts, which seems small but is quite huge for us considering our very busy schedules. We have four followers, and have had over 1500 view total from 10 countries. We are so grateful for everyone who takes the time to read our blog. You all mean so much to us, and we love getting to share our lives with you. Thank you for all the support over the past few years.

~Melodie, Morgan and all of the TN Girls

Ella and Ariana                Melodie, Morgan and Lexi

              Riley                                     Cheerleading

                       Riley and Charlotte's Trip to Pigeon Forge

        Dance Class                                    Summer and Audrey

                                               Emily and Sierra

Never Stop Believing: A Group Short Story

Hello everyone! I am so sorry that we have not posted in so long, but our summer is super busy. While some people relax during the summer, my family loves to do things together. I have been really busy hanging out with friends and dancing. So, here is a post like we did not to long ago. We got together with some friends and did another story off a prompt. (click here to see the other post we did like this) I will put people's names before their writing and alternate colors so you can see who is who. The colors are set so that the same people write in the same colors. We went twice around this time.

Prompt: For as long as she could remember...

Arietta: For as long as she could remember, she'd worn eye glasses. Her parents had always made sure she had them on and formed a habit. One day, she forgot to wear them and saw a...

Sierra: Fairy. She followed it to the old oak tree where she bad spent many hours reading. Today, however, she saw it was covered in fairies. She climbed the tree higher and higher...

Riley: Until she reached the top. The fairies surrounded her and lifted her off her feet. They flew over her city, only stopping once they reached a little but where...

Morgan: A magical unicorn lived. Her hair was made out of rainbows.

"Chosen one, you have returned."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You were stolen away years ago and made to forget that you can...

Sam: Save the fairy kingdom. Now, we need your help. The humans are trying to destroy us, making children stop believing in us. You must stop them."

The girl nodded....

Melodie: As the unicorn passed her a book. "Take this and you can stop the humans."

The girl opened it and found it was a book of fairytales. "Go quickly," said the unicorn...

Arietta: Suddenly, the words on the book started to melt together, forming a huge black blob that reached out of the pages of the book, forming a hand that clenched around the girl's neck. 

"AGGH!" She resisted, but the hand pulled her into the book. When she woke up, she found herself surrounded by....

Sierra: Other children. She looked around and saw that all of them were holding books similar to hers. Tears streamed down their cheeks.

"We have to get out of here!" she cried...

Riley: "We can't," said one boy. 

Desperate, the girl thumbed through the book. "This book is about us, and I'm in it. I am flying, and we're escaping. It's all here." The children looked in their books...

Morgan: "But you're flying," one said. "Can you do that?"

"I can try." The girl closed her eyes and said "I believe." The other children repeated her. The ground shook...

Sam: As their prison began to crumble. Adult voices could be heard saying "Stop! It's all a lie! There's no such thing!" A few children whimpered. "I believe!" the girl shouted...

Melodie: "I believe!" came the cry of the other children. The prison crumbled beneath them as the adults watched.

"No more shall you try to hide from us the wonders of fairytales. We have seen it, and we will not be silenced from sharing our views."

The adults nodded silently. The girl moved among the other children. "Never stop believing," she said. "No matter what."

What did you think of our story? We did the post a little differently this time, but I still think we came up with an amazing story. this is so much fun to do with friends. Here's how to do it at home.

Think of a prompt. It can be a simple phrase like we did, or anything else. Then get a few sheets of paper, a pencil and a stopwatch. Each person has one minute to write as much as they can, and then the next person continues it. You can have everyone do it once, or go around a few times. The last time you do it, the last person gets to quickly finish the story. They can use more than a minute if necessary.

If you do this with friends, comment down below how it went.

What did you think of this story, and are you going to try it at home?

~Melodie