Con-GRAD-ulations!!!

Hello everyone! Yes, I know that was a horrible pun, but it got my message across. You're all now wondering who is graduating. Is it Morgan, the author (no, it's not)? Is it a family member? Friend? The little pug?

Just kidding with you. No, Lauren the Pug is NOT graduating, although that would be cute. It's actually Melodie!

Yes, Melodie is graduating high school and going off to college next year.

But wait, why are we waiting until now to tell you this? One big reason was we never wanted to reveal our ages, for privacy. And the second reason is kinda complicated, so I'm going to hand it off to Melodie to explain.

(laptop is passed to older sister)

Hello! It's Melodie, and yes, it's true. I'm graduating high school. I'm really excited to be going to college next year. I've been hesitant to tell you, though, because I wasn't even sure I was going to graduate this year. Let me explain.

So, I've been homeschooled for most of my life. I've been part of a lot of homeschool co-ops and outside classes. Because of this, I've been able to get ahead in a lot of subjects. At the beginning of the year, Mom and I sat down and looked at all the credits I had for high school. In Tennessee, homeschoolers, and I guess everybody, need to take a certain amount and certain kinds of classes to graduate. As we were reviewing all my classes, we realized that I could graduate a year early. I would have to take one extra class, but other than that I could graduate. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but Mom encouraged me to treat this like my senior year. After thinking about it, I decided to do it.

So, what does that long explanation mean? Well, it means I'm graduating a year earlier than most people my age, and I'll be a year younger than most people when I start college. It's pretty cool, and I'm really excited (I think I've said that a couple times now)

My graduation is coming up, so look out for pictures of me in my cap and gown. I will be graduating under an official homeschool group in Tennessee, so I'll have a real graduation ceremony and everything!

What do you guys think? Are you excited I'm graduating?

Also, the pictures throughout are my senior photos, courtesy of Sierra.

~Melodie

Sam I Am

Hello everyone! Today I, Sam, am going to do a post about me. I am not on the blog quite as much. So, today I thought I would do a post about me. Enjoy!

So, my full name is Samantha Annette Parks. I go by Sam most of the time. I live with my mom and dog, Snowy in an apartment complex near Melodie's neighborhood. That's one of the reasons I'm not in a lot of posts, because I live a little farther away. However, I do see Morgan a lot. We take classes together, and I come over to play videogames with Lexi a lot.

 So, if you can't tell by the photo, I LOVE soccer. I have played since I was little, and I have kept it up even after my mom and I moved. I currently play on a traveling team, and I love it. It's very competitive, just like me.

I met Melodie when I first moved to Tennessee. My mom and I were living with my grandparents, who live just down the street from Melodie. I used to be at their house every day, because I didn't know anyone else. That's how I first got involved in this crazy photoshoot. You can read about it here (Melodie posted it as a Throwback Thursday). I was there when Melodie and Lexi were just making posts on Word documents (read about the history of the blog here).

Oh Lauren. She is a cute dog. I have a dog of my own (but I never take any pictures of him. I looked through albums of photos on my computer and I didn't have any that weren't blurry). His name is Snowy, and he is a Samoyed. He is pretty much a big puppy, which I love. We are both very active, and I take him with me when I come over to Melodie's so he can play in a bigger backyard with puppy friends. As I write this, he is lying by my feet, looking cute.

I used to take dance, but I've kinda given that up. I only take jazz class now, which means I see my friends a lot less than I used to. I still love dancing, but soccer is my first love.

This is a picture of my on my birthday. If you can't tell, I love the color lime green. I also like leopards, because they are fierce. My birthday is June 5th. My favorite movie is The Truman Show, because it's a good classic, and it's very thought-provoking. Comment below if you've ever seen that movie.

While all the TN Girls are my best friends, my closest friends are Lexi and Charlotte. Lexi and I hang out together all the time, and share a lot of the same interests. Charlotte and I have played soccer together since she moved here.

Here are some more recent pictures of me. I really enjoy spending time outside, and exploring. I'm not one to get dressed up. My favorite outfits are my athletic pants and soccer t-shirt from the second photo (it's black and white).

If I had to describe myself in 3 words, I would say I'm athletic, thoughtful and courageous. I love sports and being outside, but not so much being the center of attention. I like being part of a team, and having a group of close friends. I also am not afraid to take on new challenges.

Random fun fact: I was born in Georgia, but moved to Tennessee a few years ago. I love Georgia, but Tennessee is a lot of fun as well. I never had such close friends in my old home as I do now.

Something a lot of people don't know about me is that I like to write creative fiction. Nothing I've written has ever been amazing, and I don't usually finish many books, but I do it because I like to.

If I could go anywhere in the world, I would want to go to Boston (in the fall especially) or to Italy. I really enjoy the history behind Boston and its importance in the American Revolution. I also like Italy because I feel like I would enjoy touring all the different places and experiencing a different culture.

 So that is basically me. I hope to get to blog again soon, because this was really fun. I hope you all enjoyed learning a little bit more about me. Maybe Melodie and Morgan can make this into a series.

Comment below what little tidbit you enjoyed the most.

~Sam

A Group Photoshoot: All the TN Girls

Hello everyone! It's Melodie. Here is the second post as promised in our last post. I completely meant to post this yesterday. I had it all set up and all I had to do was hit "Publish", and then life happened and I was busy watching little siblings. So, back to this post. It's going to be kind of short, but I hope you enjoy seeing out little photoshoot.

So, before Christmas we got together with all our friends to take one big photo. We have a ton of friends, so it made it a little complicated, but we did get two amazing photos. I'll add the names from left to right so you know who is who.

From Top to Bottom, Left to Right:

Riley, Sierra, Briana, Morgan, Hazel, Kariss, Melodie

Emily, Kaitlyn, Cameron, Sam, Lexi, Charlotte

Elizabeth, Anna, Audrey, Gracie, Ariel, Ella. Ariana, Summer

Here is the last group photo we all took. This is from 3016, I believe. Everyone from the previous photo is in it.
From Left to Right:

Charlotte, Sierra, Morgan, Riley, Briana, Sam, Emily

Kariss, Hazel, Kaitlyn, Cameron, Melodie, Lexi

Ariel, Ella, Gracie, Ariana, Anna, Audrey, Elizabeth, Summer

From Left to Right:

Melodie, Lexi, Briana, Kariss, Gracie, Hazel, Sam, Elizabeth, Anna

Charlotte, Morgan, Ariel, Elizabeth, Anna, Audrey, Riley, Summer

Emily, Sierra, Cameron, Kaitlyn

After we took the first photo, we decided to take another one. This time, we had everyone positioned in order of how we met them. It goes oldest to youngest within families. It's kind of complicated, especially since people were adopted, so I'll link a post about how we started our blog. Another way you can see who is related to who is our Friends and Family page.

We hope you enjoyed our little photo shoot.

~Melodie

Kaitlyn and Cameron's Christmas

Hello everyone! It's Morgan. We are sorry we didn't post over Christmas break, but it was hectic, and then we all got colds. We're all feeling better now, so we're back to post. Kaitlyn and Cameron took a lot of pictures of their Christmas, so we decided to let them do a photostory about setting up their tree, as well as showing us what they got. Enjoy!

"Cameron, the tree's up!"
"Great, let's arrange the branches so it's looks good."

"Doesn't it look beautiful?"
"Why did we get a silver tree again?"
"Because it was what they had. It was that or a gold one. I think this one is much prettier."

 "Cameron, help me get these lights untangled."
"I think we're stuck."

 "At least we know they work. That's a good thing, right. Cameron?"
"Why did I agree to this?"

"Finally, we got the lights on! Thanks for helping me, Kaitlyn"
"No problem. Should we turn them on?"

"Ta-da!"
"They look amazing!"

 "My ornament is an orange M&M peeping out of box. He's so cute. What about you, Cameron?"
"Mine is the green M&M with a Santa hat. She looks fabulous, just like me."
"Oh Cameron."

"This looks really good. How does it look from your side, Kaitlyn?"
"It looks amazing. Kinda patriotic, with the red and blue. But I like it."

"This looks so pretty. I put up the little angel over here. Can you see it?"

"And from my side you can see the yellow and blue M&Ms. The tree looks absolutely perfect!"

 "We did good, Cameron."
"Agreed."

"One last look to make sure everything is perfect."
"The blue and red are so pretty, and I love the combination of both shiny and matte ornaments."

"One... last... one."
"Kaitlyn! It's done."
"Okay, okay. I think you're right. Besides, I don't want the tree to fall down."

 Christmas morning the girls gathered around the tree to open presents.

A closer look at the presents.

 Kaitlyn got a sleep mask, scarf and headband from her parents and a spa set from her sister that included a pillow, soft blanket and lotions.

Cameron also got a sleep mask from her parents, as well as a headband and scarf, except hers has penguins on it. She got a crocheted pillow Kaitlyn made with the word "amour" (French for love) on it.

Both girls also got Christmas dresses from their gradmother, but they didn't take pictures. They did wear them in a Christmas photo we took (stay tuned to see a post about taking a big group photo. We'll try to have it up by tomorrow night)

I hope you enjoyed seeing how the twins celebrated Christmas. Comment below what your favorite gift was.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
~Morgan

Twin Power: A Photoshoot

Hello everyone! It's Morgan with a photoshoot of the twins; Cameron and Kaitlyn. They took this photoshoot a month ago, and I was finally able to get the photos, do a few edits (such as lighting and color) and post it. Enjoy!

The original twin sisters of the blog (click here to see the first time I ever posted about these beauties)

Black and white. I love the look of a classic black and white photo.

Brighter lighting. I love how their outfits nearly match. Pink bottoms with teal/blue tunics

Black and white with a different top. They really are best friends like the shirt says

Brightened the lighting slightly, as the original was very dark. Don't they stand out against the beautiful green and brown in the background?

The original (no edits). I love how the light hits their faces from this angle.

I loved getting to post an amazing photoshoot of my best friends. They make our lives so much better.

Which photo was your favorite?
~Morgan

The Finale of the Arkansas Trip

Hello everyone! It's Sierra. I'm sorry that this is up later than we meant it to be. I wanted to the last post with Emily, but it isn't going to work out. I want to do a recap/extra photos soon, so Emily will MOST DEFINITELY be in that post. Anyway, so if you haven't seen our other posts, click here and here.

So, Emily and I didn't take any photos of our adventures on Wednesday, or Thursday. Wednesday we were gone all day with friends, and I didn't take any photos. Thursday was a typical Thanksgiving with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (Dear Evan Hansen's song was the BEST),  The National Dog Show, which our dogs loved 😉 (anyone else watch this?) Turkey with all the fixings, and spending time with family. Emily and I had such a great Thanksgiving together, and I was so happy to spend some quality time with her and my family and her family.

Friday we decided to go out for breakfast. Emily and I got up early and were ready before everyone else, so we decided to take another photo shoot for fun.

Best friends, best cousins

I am wearing a pink shirt with gold words that say "Best Friends" on top of a diamond, black and white striped leggings, new pink combat boots and a gold bow headband (you can see it better in the next picture. Emily is styling a pink shirt with grey cats all over, a dark jean skirt, zebra patterned leggings and new blue shoes that have stars on them (even though you can't see them in the picture)

Oh yeah, Emily is also wearing a peach colored bow on her ponytail. It's really hard to see because of the camera. You can see my headband here though. We put on our jackets cause it was kinda chilly.

Me from an angle. I love this picture and may use it on the "Friends and Family" tab.

The always amazing Emily. She looks like a sassy diva here, but that's just for the camera. My cousin is the kindest person ever.

I am so thankful for my cousin. Lots of love.

Together we reach for the stars. Emily is so creative and fashionable, and I enjoy finding art through photography.

I hope you enjoyed our little photo shoot on our last day in Arkansas. We had an amazing trip seeing our friends, spending time together and just getting out for a week. We've enjoyed getting to share our experience with you, and hope you enjoyed getting to be part of our trip.

Hopefully we'll get to post some extra photos and comments about our trip soon. I have thought about also showing some cute stuff I got while on the trip. What would you guys like to see? Comment below what you want me and Emily to post about to recap our trip.

What was your favorite part of Thanksgiving, and what do you want to see in our next (recap) post?
~Sierra